"If you move these drivers from independent contractors to full-time employees, the impact is going to be very significant" in terms of carrier cost structures, Regan said. The ramifications are clear: a change in status would force these independents to join the Teamsters in unionized carriers, and probably increase driver costs even in companies that aren't unionized in terms of benefits and other costs.

Fighting such a change is currently the top legislative priority of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), Regan said.

Regan also said he expects renewed efforts by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to require trucks to install electronic on-board recorders. While many carriers support this move and/or have already deployed the devices, such a requirement will add to a carrier's investment cost, and in practice (right or wrong) probably lead to a loss in productivity as drivers will no longer be able to sometimes skirt speed limits or HOS regulations.

Regan also said that despite some continued optimism on the part of the Coalition of Transportation Productivity that there is still a path for the move it has been pushing to allow a total weight increase for trucks from 80,000 to 97,000 pounds with the addition of an sixth axle, for the time being the opportunity is basically dead for now after it was tabled for further study in Congress earlier this year.

Ditto with legislative proposals to allow the length of double trailers to increase from 27 to 33 feet.

Together, these issues would tremendously improve trucking productivity, take trucks off the highways, and largely eliminate the growing driver shortage crisis, many in the industry say.

"The challenge is you basically have to educate a whole new set of legislators" who sit on key committees relative to this issue, Regan said.

Carriers Getting Smarter about Driving Revenue from Shippers

The issues discussed above are all of a government/regulatory nature. Regan believes shippers themselves also need to be concerned about growing carrier capabilities to drive more revenue per shipment.

For example, he said conversations he has had recently with executives at LTL carriers has indicated that there is a growing focus on maximizing the revenue per each trailer.

"If effect, what we do is sell space," he said one LTL CEO recently told him.

Mike Regan Said War on Trucking in Lull, to Resume

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That in part means LTL carriers will increasingly be implementing "dimensional weighing" programs similar to what has occurred in small parcel shipping by UPS and FedeX. The goal will be to see if a given shipment has been properly classified - and if not, change that classification, and hence the rate. Cube will not be just assumed to be accurate based on the class.

Regan also said that in both the LTL and truckload segments, carriers keep developing better and better data capture and processing systems, and will be focusing on increased accessorial fees to reflect the full set of services they are providing shippers.

He said the trucking industry is looking closely at what is happening in the airline market, and how air carriers have been able to rake in tens of billions of dollars in new revenue through fees for baggage, preferred seating, and other services.

Carriers are also getting smarter about declining "bad freight" that they can't move at a solid profit.

Gilmore summed up the conversation this way: "Sounds like we have a brief truce in the war on trucking for now, but that hostilities are likely to resume early in 2013, and that shippers have a lot to be concerned about in the way carriers are getting smarter and smarter - adopting some practices in other areas of transportation, to drive more revenue out of each shipment."

How do you see these threats to the trucking industry? Are carriers getting smarter about extacting more revenues per shipment? Let us know your thoughts at the Feedback section below.