MEMA panel: Fleets prioritize uptime over brand-name parts sourcing

Commercial carriers are eagerly working to increase their capacity to capitalize on increased freight rates and demand but the stronger market doesn’t mean the operational challenges experienced during the prior freight recession have totally gone away, fleet panelists shared during MEMA Aftermarket Suppliers’ Mid-Year Fleet Check-In webinar Tuesday.

Better business conditions and higher margins make problems easier to solve, but carriers state rising fuel costs, parts sourcing struggles, regulatory unevenness and driver recruitment and retention remain as much problems today as they were in prior years.

“The last two to three years had been so bad we were often taking anything we could get,” David Schnautz, president at Clark Freight Lines, told moderator Molly MacKay Zacker of MacKay & Company and attendees during Tuesday’s webinar. “Now we’re trying to make hay while the sun shines.”

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And Schnautz and his fellow panelists — Joe Richley, vice president of maintenance at Gronedyke Transport, and Mike MacDonald, vice president of fleet readiness at B&H Transfer — say the sun is definitely shining on the freight market again.

All three state their company’s revenues are up in 2026, driven by a combination of higher freight volumes, pricing or both. The improved conditions have led the trio to add new equipment, either through purchase or lease, with plans to add even more units in the months ahead. After a multi-year stretch of parking equipment, the carriers say they are finally overwhelmed by demand — and facing the unique challenges that creates.

“We are turning down freight at this point,” says Richley, who estimates his power unit utilization rate is around 85%. In one segment of the business where demand is high, Richley says Groendyke could add up to 90 drivers. The problem is finding good ones.

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MacDonald feels the same way. He says every morning he drives into his office and sees a line of trucks parked in front of his window. Demand for the units is there but B&H struggles to find the right people to drive them.

“Our challenge is the same thing you would have heard me say 20 years ago — hiring the right people,” he says. “You can always hire people.”

Schnautz has a smaller fleet so his utilization rate is higher than the other panelists but he echoes their frustration on meeting demand. He says Clark Freight Lines has turned down loads because it lacks the bandwidth to fill every request. And as a carrier that doesn’t hire from driver schools and relies on word of mouth, scaling up its driver pool can take a while. But Schnautz says the company doesn’t plan on changing that method because at least he knows when drivers are hired they’ll be reliable.

Reliability has become the top maintenance priority for the panelists as well. With driver utilization rates high, the carriers say they can’t afford to have equipment sidelined for any extended period. All three say they stopped sidelining equipment for service reasons earlier in the year — trucks and trailers that can repaired quickly are getting fixed — and have enhanced their evaluation of parts suppliers with a focus on maximizing uptime.

On this note, Schnauz says he’s focused his procurement on availability, working to develop and sustain relationships with distributors and vendors he knows will keep his fleet moving. As for components, Schnauz says he still prefers some brands but isn’t as brand conscious in his purchasing as he used to be because it’s no longer financially beneficial to do so. He references manufacturers who have allowed their premium brands to be undercut by private labels selling the same components at lower price points.

“I can’t afford to pay three times the price for the exact same part because of the name on it,” he says.

Richley agrees. He says his equation is the best deal on the best quality part, with the best distributor to boot. He says far too often pricing will vary wildly on a single component available from multiple OE or aftermarket distributors. He says Groendyke has focused in 2026 on buying from the distributors it most trusts to deliver value at optimal fill rates.

MacDonald has had a similar focus. The company took request for quotation (RFQ) bids across its parts operation last year in an effort to streamline vendors and pricing and says ultimately B&H didn’t change “many vendors but sharpened our pencil on price.”

Finding better parts pricing for quality items has been essential as other costs have rose. The trio all identify fuel and lubricants as the biggest parts risers in 2026, and cite the war in Iran as a reason for the change. Richley says he’s asked his vendors if the conflict ends “am I going to see that [price] come back down?” but hasn’t gotten clear answers.

MacDonald also has dealt with uneven pricing and references several vendors who have failed to meet the RFQ prices they committed to entering the year. In some cases they’ve renegotiated; in others he’s reopened the bid.

“Whenever you buy, you need to buy at lowest quality price,” he says.