Long Distance Specialized Freight Trucking NAICS 484230

Sep 25, 2025 - Proposed Legislation to Enforce Livestock Hauling Standards

• A proposed bill introduced to Congress would directly impact the specialty trucking sector that handles livestock. The Humane Transport of Farm Animals Act would give the US Department of Transportation authority alongside the Department of Agriculture to enforce the long-standing Twenty-Eight Hour Law, which requires drivers to offload animals for food, water, and rest after extended hauls. For livestock haulers, this adds a new layer of oversight, with compliance monitoring shifting from largely ignored regulations to active enforcement. The legislation also prohibits interstate transport of animals unfit for travel, potentially limiting loads and requiring more pre-trip screening. With millions of animals moved by truck annually, carriers may face new operational costs, tighter schedules, and stricter liability. This comes amid other trucking-related bills, such as restrictions on double-deck horse trailers and adjustments to hours-of-service rules for livestock haulers, signaling increased scrutiny and evolving standards in this niche of the trucking industry.
• The freight trucking industry increased both volume of shipped goods and spending in Q2 2025 for the first time in three years, a welcome bright spot for an industry having a tough year of tariff woes and overall economic unease. The US Bank National Shipments Index rose 2.4% from Q1, while the National Spend Index grew 1.2%. All five regional trends also improved shipment volume over Q1, with the Southwest leading the way at 6.7%. While positive in the short term, the year-over-year results still show a shrinking industry - shipments down 9.8% and spending dropping 4.9% compared to Q2 2024. Amid an economic environment of uneven manufacturing activity, marginal consumer spending growth, and an up and down housing market, industry experts caution that the positive financial results could be from lower trucking capacity rather than higher demand from customers.

• Shipping volatility due to trade war back and forth, as well as consumer spending cutbacks, disproportionately increased the number of trucking businesses leaving the market in early 2025, according to a supply chain report from ITS Logistics. About 7,400 trucking companies left the market in April, the highest rate in the last 12 months and a 26% increase over March. Reefer and flatbed truck haulers in particular will face challenging months ahead, per ITS, with spot rates increasing only marginally so far in spring 2025. Consumers are pulling back on discretionary spending on traveling and dining, squelching demand for reefer truck goods. In addition, anemic housing construction starts, which fell 11.4% year over year in April per the US Census Bureau, is also hurting the specialty trucking industry with less demand for flat bed trucks hauling construction materials.
• The trucking industry’s transformation from diesel-powered fleets to environmentally cleaner electric versions came to an abrupt halt when the second Trump administration ended the federal government’s EV mandates in January 2025. The changes were widely expected, so much so that California - the country’s most aggressive testing ground for EV mandates - preemptively killed its new rules that would have drastically reduced emissions and boosted funding for building related charging station infrastructure. With a new government in power that is hostile towards the industry’s EV transformation, the uncertainty surrounding mandates and the expectation that the EPA will no longer support the moves throws trucking’s electric vehicle transformation effort into doubt.