It’s still too early to get a complete picture and data regarding the economic effects of the Coronavirus on the U.S transportation sector, but the current numbers are already scary. At the end of April, 823,257 people were infected, 44,228 died and 75,177 recovered throughout the United States. The number of cases and deaths keeps rising every day.

Obviously, this sanitary crisis affects every country’s economy. On February 21st, the Down Jones was 28992, reaching his lowest rate of 18591 on March 23rd, slightly recovering in mid-April around 24000. On top of that, more than 20 million people filed unemployment claims, it is the highest number reported in the United States, beating the 1982 record of claims.

The Trucking industry has shown how important are their operations to the economy of the United States, especially those related to groceries, where everyone involved in the supply chain has been giving their best to attend people’s demand.

Even with the industry suffering with understaffing, the workers from the sector are giving their best and working together to provide fast and efficient service. Something that was definitely favored by the exemption of FMSCA’s HOS rules regarding critical goods such food products, water and medical supplies. The empty highways, thanks to staycation, have also helped enhancing the delivery times. But the transportation companies and owner-operators have limits to survive under this actual full pressure conditions.

It is predicted that the potential effects and problems caused by COVID-19 on transportation will be driver shortage, since the transportation companies may have problems to find qualified Class A drivers and detention time because loading and unloading cargos are already being affected due the lack of staff at the warehouses.

The transportation companies need to be prepared to adapt their businesses and must manage this crisis caused by the COVID-19 by practicing the following steps:

- Being prepared with their key personnel availability, by increasing their drivers training, in order to count with a higher number of available drivers.
- Being implicated with stakeholders and government to define the most important requirements of the transport network.
- Build contingency plans in case the demand for their services grow fast.