WATERLOO, Iowa — Iowa trucking industry officials say their business isn't exactly smooth these days, but they don't seem to be facing as many potholes.
Lower fuel prices have served as both a bane and a boon for the trucking business, industry officials told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier.
The price of oil has dropped to an 11-year low of around $36 per barrel, due in part to increased domestic production and less consumer demand. The low crude prices have cut into a fracking industry that boomed only a few years ago.
Waterloo native Bob Costello, chief economist at the Arlington, Virginia-based American Trucking Association, said the industry also faces a driver shortage.
"A driver shortage continues to be an issue, despite the slower growth in volumes," Costello said, noting that the industry has about 48,000 fewer drivers that it needs.
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Companies that can pass some of their fuel savings to drivers will retain more of them, Costello said.
"You got a shortage of drivers, driver pay is going to go up, so they're taking some of that savings and giving it to the drivers," he said.
