March 15th 2018
Its almost spring, but the weather has not been doing truckers any favors. That coupled with the ELD mandate and other market factors is continuing to make the domestic trucking capacity a challenge.
- Freight volumes are up
- Rail service has been congested an in many instances transit times are lagging
- Driver availability is down and very few drivers are entering the workforce
- The ELD mandate is about to become more stringent, meaning it will start to be strictly enforced on April 1, 2018.
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) started enforcing the electronic logging device (ELD) mandate requirements on Dec. 18, 2017. The out-of- service criteria (OOSC) associated with the ELD mandate will go into effect on April 1, 2018. On Dec 18, 2017, inspectors and roadside enforcement personnel began documenting violations on roadside inspection reports and, at the jurisdiction’s discretion, will issue citations to commercial motor vehicle drivers operating vehicles without a compliant ELD. Beginning April 1, 2018, inspectors will start placing commercial motor vehicle drivers out of service if their vehicle is not equipped with the required device.
We don’t not know the exact impact across the industry, however capacity may be even worse once enforcement personnel start putting drivers out of service. It is important to remember that 90% of the drayage market consists of Owner Operators who can pick and choose which work they want to take based upon price, mileage, weight, and proximity to home. Drivers don’t want to run out of hours prior to being able to return home. So, we may see the longer haul drayage environment becoming even more challenging? Much of that due to the ELD exemption that not everyone is aware of
https://www.foleyservices.com/news/hours-of- service-the- 100150-air- mile-exemptions/
Steamship lines seem to be punting on the issue too. They are implementing an Emergency Door Surcharge of approximately $300 per shipment in the US. In my mind encouraging NVOCC’s and BCO’s to go find their own capacity so they don’t have to worry about finding available equipment any longer. With our combination of Assets, Owner Operators, and Logistics network we have the capability to provide drayage, trans-loading and OTR trucking services at every port and rail ramp in the United States. We are putting solutions in place to ensure time critical JIT freight for production or fulfillment arrives timely, so clients can avoid supply chain disruptions. Many times, this has meant allowing us to get control of the cargo as quickly as possible, trans-load and put the cargo on Over The Road trucks. There is nothing more frustrating to clients than getting cargo stuck on the rail or at in-land ports and having no options.
Examples of suggestions and solutions we have been providing:
- Encouraged clients with HOT cargo to divert it and the port. Do NOT rail inland and get stuck in “jail”.
- Encourage clients not to send heavy 20’s. The tri-axle shortage puts them in a precarious
- situation
- Trans-loading of regional shipments. IE SAV to Suwannee, GA. Only a couple of hundred miles. Via trans-load we can deliver overnight. Waiting for direct drayage could be 2 weeks. Owner operators simply do not want a run in which they may get stuck and have to layover.
- Set up regional trans-load arrangements in the Midwest to service rail ramps. For example, in MSP we are trans-loading locally and delivering VIA OTR to places like St. Cloud, Red Wing, Eau Claire. Again, weeks for direct dray or overnight if we trans-load.
- Our expedited Drayage, trans-loading, and trucking service can provide exceptional transit times to meet production and fulfillment requirements. IE 48 hours from Long Beach to Dallas, this includes the drayage, trans-loading, and trucking.
For more updates, information, or to talk solutions on any ports in the United States
askus@portxlogstics.com or call me directly at 406 595 0631.