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What is a supply chain bottleneck? Imagine it’s a normal day and you’re headed to the grocery store to stock up. All of a sudden, you can’t find that last item on your list. You walk around the store searching from top to bottom, and you swear you saw this product the last time you went shopping. After a while of fruitless searching, you end up asking the staff for help. With a few steps and turns, you find the product.

Suddenly, when checking out the cashier finds the card reader isn’t working and scrambles to find a manager to fix it. For a long time, you stand there with your groceries, waiting for the staff to fix the issue. Once resolved, they apologize for the long delay, and you’re on your way. However, when you leave the store, it starts to rain. You scramble to get to your car without getting too wet. Inside your vehicle, your hair is soaked but your groceries are okay.

Most practitioners in the trucking industry wish they could go back to 2018 when there were tremendous freight volumes and increased customer demand. In that year, the overall industry revenue was $96 billion, a figure that was unachievable in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, the industry suffered a large drop in freight rates that left many companies struggling to cover their operational costs and pay their employees. But there seems to be some hope for freight companies and truck drivers in 2021. Should they look forward to a trucking rebound this year? Stick around to find out.