This fireside chat recap is from the FreightWaves Enterprise Fleet Summit.
FIRESIDE CHAT TOPIC: How fleets can power through inflation in an uncertain market.
DETAILS: Inflation is putting fleets under pressure as costs from fuel to driver pay soar. What can carriers do to control costs, especially as the markets soften?
SPEAKERS: Bill Wettstein, president and chief financial officer of Nussbaum Transportation, and Thomas Wasson, FreightWaves’ enterprise trucking carrier expert.
BIO: Wettstein has been with Illinois-based Nussbaum Transportation since 1998. He spent 21 years as CFO before adding president to his title in 2021. Wettstein focuses on sales and pricing. He also holds a CDL.
Key quotes from Wettstein:
“If you look at inflation and our costs in the last two years, it’s probably exceeded the previous 15.”
“We’re watching the market closely and keep our costs in line. I mean, we’ve done it too many times: You get fat and happy, get your costs out of line, and then the market softens and you pay the piper.”
“Fuel is up, whatever, maybe a buck in the last six weeks and so trying to adjust for that as our fuel costs have gone up [while] the spot market has cooled. We’re trying to educate our people: ‘Hey, look. Yes, we know that there’s some cooling in the spot market, but fuel prices are going up. So we need to consider that too.’”