When I first began working at Atlas Sand, it wasn’t a problem to find a trucking company that met all of our requirements. Today, that’s changed. Our insurance requirements are becoming increasingly challenging for trucking companies to meet. Many of the companies we’ve worked with in the past no longer qualify to work with us now because they can’t afford the insurance we require. Some have flat out gone out of business because they can’t afford insurance period.

It’s even becoming more difficult to find new companies to work with. I spoke recently with a female trucker who was working with a company that took 30 percent of her profits to pay for her insurance. She owned her own truck and was looking into starting her own business, but simply couldn’t afford the insurance. It always comes down to the cost of insurance, and the risk of lawsuits is often the reason it’s so expensive.

Because the costs are increasing for the trucking companies, their cost is increasing for us as well. We’ve been paying more for the same trucking contracts, when we can find anyone at all to haul our sand. We had an especially difficult time finding trucks during the pandemic.

The majority of the companies we work with have fewer than 100 trucks, and we work with quite a few that have less than 50 and less than 10. It’s the small trucking companies that are hurting, but it’s also the small trucking companies that keep us in business.

We support the trucking companies and we understand their value. We understand what they’re going through. We operate a small fleet of pickup trucks, and even our insurance for those small trucks has increased. We feel fortunate that we’ve been able to get through the pandemic, but we know a lot of other companies haven’t been so lucky. Ultimately, we need the trucking companies to stay in business so we can stay in business.

Pam Grooms,
Atlas Sand Co.