Fuel prices and lawsuit abuse have taken the top spots on trucking's annual ranking of industry problems, as reported by Commercial Carrier Journal. That pairing matters. One is a cost line carriers can hedge, surcharge or pass through. The other is a legal and political fight they cannot manage on their own.

The list reflects what carriers themselves rank as their most pressing operational and financial concerns. Its top two entries this cycle send a blunt message about where trucking executives see the pressure coming from — the pump and the courtroom.

Why fuel keeps its grip on carrier economics?

Diesel remains one of the largest variable costs in truckload operations. When prices spike, margins compress fastest among small fleets and owner-operators, who lack the fuel-surcharge leverage that large shippers extend to big carriers.

Surcharge programs cushion the blow for contracted freight. Spot-market hauls are a different story. There, carriers eat volatility until rates catch up, and in a soft freight market that catch-up can take months.

For shippers and forwarders, elevated fuel anxiety among carriers usually translates into stiffer surcharge negotiation and less rate flexibility on lanes with thin backhaul options.

What does 'lawsuit abuse' mean for fleets?

The second-ranked concern points at litigation risk — the so-called nuclear verdicts and rising insurance pressure that have pushed multiple large trucking companies to exit the industry entirely in recent years.

The commercial consequences are concrete. Carriers respond by raising insurance limits, installing safety technology, and tightening hiring standards — all of which raise cost per mile. Some simply fold. For brokers, that means a shrinking pool of well-insured capacity at the top end of the market.

The appearance of litigation abuse near the top of the ranking also signals where the industry's lobbying dollars will flow: tort reform at the state level, primarily.

Who reads this list and why?

Rankings like this one are watched closely by:

• Carriers, for benchmarking where their pain sits relative to peers
• Brokers and shippers, for early signals on cost and capacity pressure
• Insurers and equipment makers, for demand signals
• Policymakers and trade associations, for agenda-setting

When fuel and legal risk crowd out driver shortages, congestion or equipment costs at the top of the table, the read is that survival economics — cost control and liability exposure — have overtaken growth constraints as the industry's dominant worry.

What happens next?

Expect fuel to stay ranked high as long as diesel prices stay volatile, and expect lawsuit abuse to keep climbing the agenda as carriers push state legislatures for tort reform. Both issues point the same direction: higher structural costs for trucking capacity, which shippers will eventually see in rates.