22 DC VELOCITY APRIL 2015 www.dcvelocity.com
The chairman and CEO of FedEx Corp. said there is a “good
chance” Congress will increase the length limit for each truck
trailer on a double-hookup when it eventually passes a transportation funding bill.
Frederick W. Smith told analysts during a recent conference
call that the company is “very hopeful” that lawmakers will
extend to 33 feet from the current 28 feet the maximum allowable length of each trailer that is part of a twin-trailer configuration. Federal law has kept the current limits in place since 1982,
though 18 states allow so-called double 33s on their portions of
the interstate highway system.
Smith said raising the permissible length of each trailer is the
“biggest thing the federal government can do” to immediately
increase productivity, conserve fuel, and reduce carbon emissions without damaging the surface transport infrastructure by
adding more weight to each rig. Smith said the change would
add 18 percent of cubic capacity to the system without increasing the number of trucks on the road or the number of miles
traveled.
Memphis, Tenn.-based FedEx has actively lobbied to change
the law governing truck lengths. Smith said the twin-trailer
initiative enjoys widespread support across the transport spectrum. Congress has begun debating the merits of the next transport reauthorization legislation to replace the extended version
of the 2012 law. The current reauthorization law, which was
extended last August, expires at the end of May.
Double trailers are mostly operated by package-delivery and
less-than-truckload (LTL) carriers, whose shipments nearly
always fill out a trailer’s cubic dimensions before their load hits
the federally mandated 80,000-pound weight limit. Given that
the explosive growth of e-commerce will dramatically increase
the demand for moving lightweight packages, a combined
10-foot cubic increase would allow carriers to more cost-effectively manage their capacity, according to supporters of the
concept.
—M.S.
FedEx chairman confident
Congress will extend length limits
on twin trailers
Agile hires senior editor at
DC VELOCITY; promotes
long-time staffer at Supply
Chain Quarterly
Agile Business Media, parent company of
the supply chain management industry’s two
leading publications, said in March that it has
hired Benjamin B. Ames to be senior editor of
the monthly magazine DC VELOCITY and that
Susan Lacefield, a long-time staffer, has been
promoted to senior editor of CSCMP’s Supply
Chain Quarterly.
“We are pleased that Ben Ames has agreed
to join our staff, which was already the most
seasoned group of journalists covering logistics, material handling, and supply chain
issues,” said Peter Bradley, Agile’s editorial
director. “Ben brings more than 20 years’
experience as a business-to-business writer
and editor. He brings particular strengths in
reporting for and managing digital publications. Those qualities are especially important
at Agile as we move aggressively to expand
our content-delivery portfolio to readers and
customers.
“I am also delighted to acknowledge Susan
Lacefield’s substantial contributions to the success of Supply Chain Quarterly,” Bradley continued. “She has been with the magazine since
we launched it in partnership with the Council
of Supply Chain Management Professionals
(CSCMP) more than seven years ago. Her work
has much to do with its growth and success.”
In her seven years with Agile, Lacefield has
helped oversee content development for SCQ
and, in addition, has written extensively on a
number of logistics, supply chain, and material
handling topics for DC VELOCITY. Prior to joining Agile, she was part of the founding staff
for Supply Chain Management Review.
