Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/1002866
Business 24 | Overdrive | July 2018 Company driver pay per mile surged in the first quarter of 2018 from a year ago, with the refriger- ated sector leading the way, according to the National Transportation Institute's survey of mid-size to large carriers. NTI founder Gordon Klemp says 6 percent of the fleets instituted per- mile pay boosts in the 7- to 11-cent range. "That's a staggering amount," says Klemp, who's tracked driv- er pay changes since 1994. Another 44 percent of fleets surveyed by Klemp boosted driver pay in the 4- to 6-cent range, also histor- ically strong gains, he says. The remaining 50 percent raised pay 1 to 3 cents. In 2017's first quar- ter, NTI saw almost no increase from the prior year. Pay moves didn't begin until last spring and summer, starting a cycle of wage hikes that has been shorter than most, he says. That eight-month cycle of pay increases appears to be ending, as four out of five fleets Klemp has studied have raised compa- ny driver pay in that time. "That's also very high," he says. "It tells us this pay cycle is going to end pretty quickly. There aren't many fleets left who haven't moved. We're going to con- tinue to see that last rough- ly 20 [percent] make their moves [soon], and I expect another round of pay moves to kick off sometime this fall." Refrigerated haulers saw the biggest average per- mile pay gains, 3.3 cents a mile. Flatbed driver pay climbed 3 cents a mile, and per-mile van pay climbed 2.7 cents. Sign-on bonus rates also surged in the first quarter, according to NTI. Bonuses for van drivers grew to a $7,000 average, NTI reports — a big jump from 2017's first-quarter $1,500 average. Bonuses for reefer drivers grew to $3,000 on average, up from 2017's first-quarter average of $1,000. Flatbed bonuses moved to a $6,000 average, up from $1,500. Klemp says April and May data show continued acceleration of driver pay in the second quarter as prior pay announcements took effect. – James Jaillet Company driver pay swelling in 2018 Driver pay in reefer, van and flatbed applications has seen strong increases in recent months, though this pay-raise cycle seems to be temporarily topping out. Photo by Jim Allen/365Trucking Carrier giant U.S. Xpress began trading shares on the New York Stock Exchange on June 11. The company was looking to drum up about $250 million from the initial public offering and ended up selling 16.7 million shares at $16 per share, meaning it should see gross proceeds of $267 million from the IPO. The $16 share price was slightly lower than the $18-$20 range the company said in its preliminary fil- ings that it had hoped to earn from its IPO. For 2017, the Chattanooga, Tennessee-based fleet reported $1.55 billion in revenue but a net loss of nearly $4 million. It also reported hundreds of millions in debt that it intends to pay down with its IPO earnings. U.S. Xpress, which is trading under the ticker symbol USX, oper- ates about 6,500 trucks and employs about 8,000 drivers, according to CCJ Top 250 data. While it has oper- ated as a privately owned company since 2007, its June IPO represents the second time that it has gone public. Founded in 1986, U.S. Xpress first began trading publicly in 1994 but ceased in 2007. – James Jaillet U.S. Xpress brings in cash with IPO