Company: CCIXW
Filing Date: 2025-12-05
Form Type: S-4/A
Source: 0001193125-25-309933
Chunk: 457

Company: Churchill Capital Corp IX/Cayman
Filing Date: 2025-12-05
Form: S-4/A
Chunk 457
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 $0.8 trillion in Europe for a combined $1.7 trillion. This scale underscores the sector’s essential role in enabling goods to move through complex supply chains and meet rising consumer expectations for timely delivery.

However, the industry faces numerous structural and operational challenges, including:

Asset Underutilization . Regulatory limits on driver hours of service restrict the operating time of commercial trucks, reducing asset utilization and freight capacity. In the United States, FMCSA regulations cap daily driving at 11 hours, while the European Union imposes stricter limits of nine hours per day and 90 hours over any two‑week period. Although intended to promote safety, these limits create structural inefficiencies by forcing downtime and underutilization in human‑driven freight operations.

Driver Shortages . The industry faces a chronic shortfall of qualified drivers. In 2023, the United States faced a shortage of approximately 64,000 drivers, which is projected to reach approximately 125,000 by 2028. Europe’s shortage is even more severe, with an approximate 233,000‑driver gap in 2023 expected to grow to approximately 745,000 by 2028. These shortages put upward pressure on wages and limit freight capacity. Labor costs, which represent approximately 43% of per‑mile expenses, rose approximately 30% from 2019 to 2023. We believe that the driver shortage and associated cost pressures are likely to persist or worsen over time.

Safety Challenges . Heavy trucks are involved in a large number of roadway incidents each year. In 2021, heavy‑duty trucks in the United States were involved in approximately 379,000 crashes resulting in property damage, 110,000 crashes causing injuries, and nearly 5,000 crashes resulting in fatalities. Studies attribute approximately 95% of serious accidents to human error, increasing financial and reputational risk for operators.

Fuel Efficiency and Environmental Impact . Fuel accounts for approximately 24% of per‑mile operating costs and is a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. Diesel prices in the United States rose approximately 40% from 2015 to 2024, further pressuring fleet economics. Heavy‑duty trucks are also responsible for nearly a quarter of U.S. transportation‑related greenhouse gas emissions.

These challenges are often experienced most acutely on long‑distance routes (200+ miles), where hours‑of‑service restrictions prevent drivers from returning home nightly, exacerbating asset utilization, driver availability, safety, and cost issues.

Headwinds for commercial trucking have