KNIGHT TRANSPORTATION Phoenix, Arizona; Trucker Keeps A Steady Hand On The Wheel.(THE NEW AMERICA)

Byline: ALAN R. ELLIOTT

No, truckers are not the last real cowboys. But a lot of them are Teamsters -- which means they're descended by trade from mule skinners and such -- so it's fair to call the two next of kin.

It's also fair to say there are fewer of both around.

"The trucking industry's general opinion is that there is a shortage of drivers and it is going to get worse," said Peter Swan, a supply chain management specialist at Pennsylvania State University.

Estimates for the extent of that shortage vary from 40,000 drivers to as high as 200,000 in coming years. As a result, freight rates are back on the rise after a decade of slumping prices.

"In 1994, if you spread our revenue over all the miles we drove, we were in the $1.29 (per mile) range. I think our 2003 number was $1.28," said David Jackson, chief financial officer for Knight Transportation. "In 2004, (we blew) past that. Now we are in the low $1.40s."

Knight, one of the industry's younger, higher margin operators, kept a broomstick to the gas pedal in 2004, holding to its carefully mapped growth strategy.