Michigan trucking business falls back to Earth

RACHEL WATSON

e early pandemic, conventional wisdom goes, was good to trucking. Retailers closed, stimulus checks arrived, and consumers bought goods that needed to be moved, rendering freight contracts seemingly pandemic-proof.

In reality, it was more complicated — and those same conditions are having an impact years later.

e transportation industry is on shaky ground, as depressed freight rates and volume meet rising costs brought on by in ation, labor shortages, stubborn supply chains and more expensive insurance. Trucking, which carries about 70 percent of freight tonnage in the U.S., bears the brunt of those headwinds.

Trucking companies large and small led for bankruptcy in 2022, and in Michigan, Holland-based Mulder Holding Co. shut down its trucking division altogether to focus on warehousing and brokerage.