Trucking companies normally expect to see every available rig on the road at this time of year, but there are indications that the lead-up to what's supposed to be the busy season is not happening.

A slow November for truckers seems to validate predictions by retail experts and economists that stores, concerned about an excess of unsold goods at the end of next month, will be very careful when ordering holiday goods and are micromanaging their inventories.

Rafael Duenas, president of Hi-Speed Trucking Inc., a combination trucking and warehouse operation based in Ontario, said his freight volume is better than it was a few months ago. But it is looking like a disappointing holiday season.

Hi-Speed has 19 employees and a fleet of 15 trucks, and Duenas said earlier this week that only 11 of the rigs are currently rolling. The volume at their warehouse is also off.

"By these days we should be extremely busy," Duenas said. "Sometimes we'd even have to refuse loads. Now we're begging people to let us ship something."

Imports at the Port of Los Angeles in October were down 8.7 percent from October 2008, which represents an improvement compared with the first nine months of the year, when import traffic was down by almost twice as much.

Traffic at the Port of Long Beach last month was 22.4 percent lower than the same month in 2008, a slight improvement over the first three quarters.

The latest report from the state Employment Development Department for Riverside and San Bernardino counties shows that trucking and warehousing companies added virtually no new people in October. Those sectors have about 6 percent fewer workers than in October 2008.

Although small companies are taking most of the lumps, many in the industry are waiting to see what happens to YRC Worldwide Inc., a large national company that employs more than 1,000 Inland workers, said Jack Kyser, founding economist with the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. YRC recently closed several facilities in the Midwest .