The trucking industry continues to bounce back from the 2020 pandemic, but the recovery hasn’t been all smooth sailing. According to the American Transportation Research Institute’s (ATRI) 2022 survey, 2021 was the costliest year on record for the trucking industry, and the trend was expected to continue with 2022 (source 1).

In September 2022, 97 people across six Midwestern states became infected with E. coli. More than 40 were hospitalized and 10 were diagnosed with a serious kidney condition. What did they all have in common? They had all eaten at the same popular fast-food chain restaurant at some point during the previous two weeks (source 1).

The insurance market can be a tough place for Florida’s residential subcontractors working on new construction. While there are still sufficient standard markets on the commercial side for small subcontractors, those working on new residential construction such as condos, tract homes, and townhomes are finding it’s more difficult to obtain coverage. This makes it challenging to meet the insurance requirements often set by general contractors or lenders.

Hyperinflation of material, labor, and equipment costs is having widespread ramifications for the construction industry, including project funding issues, cancellation of contracts, and contractor defaults. Despite the flurry of current construction happening around the country due to infrastructure investments and the demand for new housing, it’s a challenging time, especially for smaller trade contractors. In 2021, the annual construction input inflation rate reached a shocking 19.6%. For the sake of perspective, the non-residential construction inflation rate was 4.4% in 2020 and 1.8% in 2019. The vast majority of contractors in today’s industry haven't had to navigate an inflationary environment that exceeded 5% for more than 30 years, which means many have never experienced hyperinflation and are struggling with how to handle it as well as the negative impact it can have on the bottom line (source 4).

Commercial trucking often serves as a trusted barometer for the U.S. economy. In 2020, America’s truckers carried 10.23 billion tons of freight and generated $732.3 billion in revenue (source 1).