18 DC VELOCITY DECEMBER 2018 www.dcvelocity.com
newsworthy
Author Michael Lewis sees turbulent future for freight markets
in age of big data
The freight industry could see sweeping changes in leadership as the sector adjusts to a new age of big data and
analytics, author Michael Lewis said in keynote remarks
at a transportation industry conference in Dallas. “We’re
living in a moment where we’re beginning to understand
that data has magical possibilities,” said Lewis, who is
known for his nonfiction books Liar’s Poker and The Big
Short.
Speaking at FreightWaves’ MarketWaves18 conference,
Lewis cited an example from the world of public policy,
noting that data compiled by the U.S. Department of
Commerce recently revealed the depth of the nation’s opi-oid crisis. Similarly, he said, the vast troves of data collected
by the National Weather Service have enabled analysts to
create five-day forecasts that are as accurate as one-day
forecasts were 30 years ago.
Now, a similar revolution could be coming to the world
of freight and transportation, as the federally mandated use
of electronic logging devices (ELDs) creates mountains of
raw data that analysts can mine for hidden patterns and,
ultimately, insights into how trucking companies can operate more efficiently, he said.
In the face of that change, many transportation and
logistics companies will soon be hiring experts in statistics
and analysis, instead of drawing their leaders from the tra-
ditional ranks—executives from family-owned fleets and
relationship-based businesses, Lewis predicted. “Either the
trucking industry is going to change or the people in it are
going to change,” Lewis said. “I would look for massive
change at the management level as they adapt.”
That pattern would mimic the impact made on a dif-
ferent industry by Lewis’s 2003 book Moneyball, which
described how Oakland Athletics manager Billy Beane
pulled off a coup by using statistics to expose inefficiencies
in how teams had traditionally signed baseball players.
Beane soon started winning games, and in short order, most
professional teams in the league had hired data-driven ana-
lytics experts and fired the talent scouts who had operated
by gut instinct.
The transition in the freight world could be painful, Lewis
warned. Just as many old baseball scouts lost their jobs in
the new age of baseball analytics following the publication
of Moneyball, an older generation of transportation professionals may soon find themselves displaced by statisticians,
and truck drivers may be replaced by autonomous vehicles,
he said.
“Really old businesses don’t adapt really quickly. You
can’t turn back the clock; it’s managing the change that’s
hard to do in a way that you don’t break lives,” he said.
—Ben Ames
Transplace, a provider of transportation management
services and logistics technology solutions, was hon-
ored with a SmartWay Excellence Award from the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as an industry
leader in freight supply chain environmental perfor-
mance and energy efficiency. This is the fourth time
Transplace has been recognized for its contributions to
protecting the environment through its participation in
the SmartWay Transport Partnership. … The Tennessee
Department of Environment and Conservation, in partner-
ship with the Tennessee Department of Transportation,
has recognized for-hire carrier Averitt Express with
one of its 2018 Tennessee Sustainable Transportation
awards. The awards recognize outstanding initiatives
to improve the efficiency, accessibility, affordability,
and sustainability of transportation systems in the
state. … Family-owned global logistics company Dachser
has been honored with the German CSR (Corporate
Social Responsibility) Award, presented by the German
CSR Forum. Dachser
won in the “engage-
ment for the civil
society” category.
… Bag packaging
systems manufac-
turer Automated
Packaging Systems has been recognized by Crain’s
Cleveland Business as one of Northeast Ohio’s largest pri-
vately held companies, ranking 28th on its list of the Top
50 based on annual revenue. … The National Tank Truck
Carriers association has honored Dupré Logistics with its
Personnel Safety Award. Dupré won the award for its
2017 safety record in the 31.5- to 40-million miles-driven
category. … The American Trucking Associations has
recognized Herschel Evans, a professional truck driver
with Holland and an “America’s Road Team” captain,
with the first-ever Trucking Cares Foundation Premier
Achievement Award.
accolades
DACHSER
