Though well down from the peak levels in this economic cycles that were seen in 2007-08 (as diesel prices soared), the failure of US trucking firms continues apace, with 445 failures of firms with at least five trucks in the fourth quarter of 2009, as shown in the graphic below.

High Levels of Trucking Failures Continue

Interestingly, the chart was presented as part of making a bullish call on trucking stocks, the logic being that as more and more carriers leave the market, the supply-demand balance will at last start to swing modestly back into the truckers' favor.

That of course would lead to higher rates, and the number of firms leaving the market might eventually lead to capacity issues if and when volumes really start to rise again.

As Stifel, Nicolaus & Company transportation analyst John Larkin recently wrote: "With spot rates moving up, contract rates (the rates that really matter to the truckload carriers) can't be far behind."

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