From highway bottlenecks to cargo theft, here's how the year sounded

The year that's about to expire was a busy one for trucking industry news, and we captured a lot of it on The Truckers News Podcast. We talked about attracting young drivers and holding onto the veteran ones. We discussed highway bottlenecks and cargo theft. And, we spoke with carriers who are doing unique things to stay competitive. Here's how trucking industry news sounded in 2022.

Few things drew as much attention as the busy mergers and acquisitions scene that took place in the industry in 2022, and we had as a podcast guest a man who knows plenty about companies changing hands. Spencer Tenney's firm, the Tenney Group handled many of the transactions that saw some companies meet their needs for drivers, equipment, and facilities by purchasing other firms. In this edition of the Truckers News podcast, Tenney talked about what was driving the growing number of mergers and acquisitions. The industry veteran also talked about what these company transactions meant to individual drivers.

Thomas Frain is a veteran trucker and in 2022 he was named the winner of the William A. Usher Tanker Driver of the Year Award given by the National Tank Truck Carriers organization. When we spoke with Frain for The Truckers News Podcast, the 30-year trucker talked at length about how important safety is as he goes about his daily driving for Highway Transport.

America's need for truckers was a recurring theme in 2022, as it has been for the last several years. This past year, much of the focus was on the need to recruit younger drivers to replace older ones who were retiring or changing careers. During one of the episodes of The Truckers News Podcast, we spoke with a founder of an organization whose sole purpose is to introduce trucking as a career option to high school students.
One of the highlights of every truck show year is the annual Walcott Truckers Jamboree held in July at the Iowa 80 Truck Stop. During an episode of The Truckers News Podcast, we talked with Heather DeBaillie, vice president of marketing for the Iowa 80 Group. She explained all that was happening at the Jamboree and how it all began.
Not every trucking company is pinning its hopes on younger drivers. One Texas flatbed company has determined the best way to keep drivers in its trucks is to make driving opportunities more attractive to older drivers. To do that, Lone Star Transportation created a program that offers drivers over the age of 50 maximum flexibility when it comes to how often they drive, as well as when and where. We learned about it in this episode of The Truckers News Podcast.
Cargo theft continued to plague the trucking industry in 2022. In this episode of The Truckers News Podcast, we spoke with an expert on the topic. The Travelers' Scott Cornell talked about the amount of cargo theft that goes on, what thieves are looking for, how they operate, and what truckers and the companies they work for can do to mitigate the risk of having a load stolen. Cornell explained the three-layered approach he and his team use to help companies and drivers avoid cargo theft.
Part of the Iowa 80 Truck Stop is a truck museum and this year it underwent a major expansion. As the museum's curator Dave Meier oversees the collection of trucks and trucking memorabilia, the programs that are presented, and for the past year, he kept an eye on the building of a 32,000-square-foot addition. Meier joined us on the Truckers News Podcast to talk about the expansion and what it means to the museum.