Electric Pods to Move Freight

Here’s a solution for the truck driver shortage—Eliminate the tractor. Then you don’t need drivers—Hence no more driver shortage.

Of course, that’s a drastic solution, far into the future. But the University of Arkansas recently hosted a conference which proposed a freight shuttle system with no drivers as one answer to current transportation problems.

Cranes would lift shipping containers directly from ships onto electric shuttle cars, called ‘pods’, which would run twenty- four hours a day, taking containers inland from ports to terminals. Estimates place the cost of the automated system at about ten cents a mile per container. Designers of the pod system emphasize the security of the freight and low environmental costs, as well as the dependability of the electric motors.

The freight pods could operate within a highway median and transport six thousand containers daily. Of course, then the containers would have to be taken from the inland terminals to final destination. So truckers would be back in the picture, just waiting somewhere outside the port city limits. So what do you think? Would a pod system ease the port city traffic that much? Would this system reduce interstate traffic significantly? Do you see a possible future with no trucks within any city’s limits ? If you’re a container hauler how is this going to effect you? And what about the over the road trucker, is this going to be a benefit or not?

Something to think about …

Driver Shortage Fact or Fiction

A year ago, the American Trucking Associations sounded the alarm about a truck driver shortage. So did National Logistics Management Company. But the alarm is still ringing, and nothing’s been fixed.

ATA said there was a shortage of about twenty thousand truckers nationwide.

National Logistics Management’s white paper recommended raising truckers’ average pay to sixty thousand dollars a year. This rattled a few cages since the industry average is only forty two thousand per year.

National Logistics defended its figures by noting LTL carriers which pay drivers an average of sixty five thousand dollars per year have a tremendously lower turnover rate of less than twenty per cent. This is as much as one hundred per cent lower than the turnover rate some other carriers are experiencing at this time.

Background to the turnover rate is of course the old law of supply and demand. While truckers and trailers are in short supply, the demand for shipping has increased. Today shippers pay much higher rates to get their goods hauled, whether cross town or cross country.

There you have it. Shipping rates are up, huge trucking companies profits are reported in the news daily, and no one seems able to find a solution for the drivers.

So is there an actual shortage of drivers? Or are the figures not accurate because so many drivers are changing companies at dizzying rates, getting themselves counted into the averages perhaps three or four times instead of once? Would better pay help retain drivers? If not, what would? Would you drive for a company whose only virtue was a little more money in your pay envelope?

Something to think about….

Driver Safety Tracking not just Carriers

They already inspect your truck, are you prepared to be inspected as well?

A system similar to safestat, which rates the safety performance of trucking carriers, is being proposed for truckers themselves. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) wants to develop such a system to track the safety record and performance of each driver.

They point to research showing a motor vehicle driver who previously violated safety regulations is more likely to be a repeat offender as one of the reasons for issuing these inspections. FMCSA will publish its initiative in the Federal Register, allowing inspection of commercial drivers. The driver inspection system would be tagged ISS-D, similar to the ISS Carrier Inspection System now in place. Any driver flagged in the new ISS-D system would undergo a review of his or her documentation and carrier credentials.

Companies and law enforcement officials could also track a driver’s history, whether the driver changes employers or drives for several carriers at the same time.

Even more alarming, enforcement agencies would have the authority to check not only the driver’s logbook but other documents including medical records.

Who’s going to have access to this information?

What is the acceptable level of information the government can accrue with out violating ones personal rights of privacy?

Will the gathering of this information eventually lead to some type of profiling of truckers?
Where do you draw the line on personal rights versus safety?

Is this just a knee jerk reaction to appease the safety lobby, or is it a sound solution to the problem?

Something to think about …

Big Money for Big Trucking Companies

TRUCKING COMPANIES ARE MAKING BIG PROFITS, BUT ARE YOU?

BIG EARNINGS FOR THE LAST QUARTER IN TWO THOUSAND FIVE AND EVEN BIGGER RETURNS FOR THE FIRST QUARTER IN TWO THOUSAND SIX LEAVE SOME ANALYSTS WONDERING WHETHER THE CURRENT TRUCKING CLIMATE CAN LAST MUCH LONGER.

THE TWO BIGGEST EXPENSES FOR THE INDUSTRY, NUMBER ONE, DRIVERS, AND NUMBER TWO, FUEL, ARE BEING BLAMED FOR THE LARGEST INCREASE IN SHIPPING RATES.

THE DRIVER SHORTAGE AND ONE HUNDRED THIRTY FIVE PERCENT TURNOVER RATE CONTRIBUTE TO THE INDUSTRY’S NUMBER ONE EXPENSE. HOW MUCH ? STANDARD AND POOR FIGURE THE TURNOVER RATE COSTS TRUCKING COMPANIES ABOUT THREE BILLION DOLLARS EVERY YEAR.

TREMENDOUSLY INCREASED PRICES FOR FUEL, THE INDUSTRY’S SECOND-LARGEST EXPENSE, ARE BLAMED ON HURRICANES, LESSENED OIL PRODUCTION AS REFINERIES NOW MUST RETOOL FOR LOW SULFUR FUEL, AND HUGE WORLD-WIDE DEMAND.

MANY COMPANIES HAVE ADDED FUEL SURCHARGES TO THE SHIPPERS’ BILLS. OTHER COMPANIES RAISED THEIR RATES FOR A VARIETY OF LARGE AND SMALL REASONS, SUCH AS EXPENSES FOR NEW EQUIPMENT, INCREASED OPERATING COSTS, AND EVEN HIGHER INTERSTATE TOLLS.

ANALYSTS CONTINUE WATCHING THE INDUSTRY, CONCERNED OVER HOURS OF SERVICE RULES AND THE SYSTEM STRAINING TO FULFILL DEMANDS FOR SHIPPING. HOWEVER, THEY WERE PLEASED WITH TRUCKING COMPANIES WHICH HAD SEVERAL PROFITABLE APPROACHES TO THEIR BUSINESS, WHETHER COMBINING REGIONAL TRUCKLOADS WITH BROKERING FREIGHT AND REFRIGERATED HAULING, OR EXPANDING ON A NATIONAL SCALE.

SO HOW ARE YOU DOING IN COMPARISON TO THE COMPANY YOU DRIVE FOR? DO THESE REPORTS WHICH SHOW TRUCKING COMPANIES IN THE BLACK MAKE YOU SEE RED ? ARE THERE ANY STRATEGIES THE BIG COMPANIES ARE USING WHICH COULD BE SCALED DOWN AND PUT TO WORK FOR YOU? WHAT CAN YOU DO TO RECEIVE A BIGGER SLICE OF THE PIE? NEGOTIATE A BETTER DEAL, GET YOUR OWN AUTHORITY, OR BUY STOCK IN THE COMPANY?

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT …