‘Landmark truck industry research’ has been released in a joint effort between an independent research panel and Isuzu Australia to tackle the ever-changing challenges in road transport.
‘The Future of Trucking Report: The Way Forward’ is one of the largest surveys conducted in Australia, with more than 1300 respondents from across various sectors of the industry. This includes transport operators across general freight and last mile fleets, construction, government, health and other industry niches.
One of the major highlights of the report is the rapid evolution the industry is set to go undergo across the next three years, with the shift to alternative fuel sources increasing alongside the ever growing freight task and driver shortage.
Zero emissions vehicles are continuing to prove popular amongst operators, even though estimates on when they will be completely adopted is still mixed. Many participants believed that going electric will act as a key solution to the industry’s issues in the near future, being the next 10-15 years.
Profit margins will continue to become tighter and fuel prices will continue to rise, the report finds, making the squeeze on operators continue to grow.
“An important goal of this year’s report was to identify and monitor emerging and entrenched trends, and to look at how operators are navigating these within the Australian truck industry,” says Isuzu Australia director Andrew Harbison.
“The second instalment of the study uses this critical lens to delve into these issues—with the intent of better understanding overall industry sentiment, evolving technology systems, as well as procurement and maintenance requirements.
“There’s no doubt that our industry is on the cusp of transformation, especially in relation to technological and regulatory change.
“Pleasingly, our updated findings paint a confident picture of a strong and proactive sector ready to grapple with these challenges head-on.”
One of the other areas that the report focused on was the ways that operators now go about buying and using their trucks. Of the responses, it was found that the average tenure of new truck ownership still lasts around six years.
Operators are developing more of a purchase preference for pre-built OEM vehicles as opposed to custom built trucks.
When it comes to safety standards, the report found that operators are listing the safety that new truck technology can provide as one of the main motivating factors behind deciding which truck to purchase for their business.
Autonomous safety features including Lane Keep Assist (LKA), Blind Spot Monitoring (BSM) and Electronic Stability Control (ESC) are amongst these.
“Be it regulatory, societal or technological, a key theme emerging from the report is that change within our sector is as constant as it is ongoing,” says Isuzu head of marketing and customer experience John Walker.
“Overwhelmingly, our latest report shows significant positivity about the overall position of the road transport sector. We trust that this ongoing research project will arm and assist strategic thinking and decision making within our industry.”
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