fastlane
An uncertain summer
ALTHOUGH IT FEELS LIKE THE TRANSPORTATION INDUSTRY
has been in a state of turmoil for some time now, this summer may set
a new record. There are a couple of reasons for that.
One has to do with an issue I’ve written about on at least two occasions—the push to allow larger, six-axle trucks on the nation’s highways. Dozens of studies have been done over the past few years on the
likely impact of such a move. The results show overwhelmingly that the
addition of a sixth axle would enable a truck to carry a heavier load
with no negative impact on safety, fuel costs, the environment, or highway infrastructure. But that hasn’t kept the effort to raise truck weight
limits from becoming stalled in the legislative process.
Last year, John Mica, the chairman of the House
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee,
included in the latest transportation funding bill a
provision allowing the states to increase weight limits on their roads to 97,000 pounds from 80,000 for
trucks with a sixth axle. Unfortunately, this provision did not make the final cut; instead, the new legislation, known as MAP- 21, directed the secretary of
transportation to conduct yet another study, with a
report due to Congress in two years.
The first public information session was held on
May 31, with three more sessions planned. At the
session, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers
Association stepped forward to object for safety reasons, citing the
recent collapse of the Interstate 5 bridge in Washington state (even
though it’s pretty clear the bridge collapsed because a truck struck the
overhead structure). More objections are sure to follow.
Then, shortly before his death on June 3, N.J. Sen. Frank Lautenberg
introduced legislation that would extend the current truck weight limits to the entire 220,000-mile national highway system. If passed, this
bill would of course preclude the 97,000-pound loads. In a statement
announcing the legislation, Lautenberg cited polls showing that the
majority of Americans oppose heavier trucks. The Coalition for
Transportation Productivity (CTP), a group of about 200 shippers and
affiliates lobbying for the deployment of bigger trucks, immediately
went on record charging that the poll asked “biased questions” and
didn’t take into consideration that all of the heavier trucks would be
required to have a sixth axle to increase stability and braking power.
Who knows how this one will turn out?
As if that were not enough, as I write this, the new truck driver
hours-of-service (HOS) rule is scheduled to take effect on July 1, and it
is still unclear how the regulations will impact motor carrier costs and
capacity. The American Trucking Associations
(ATA) has asked the U.S. Court of Appeals in
Washington, D.C., to overturn the proposed
changes to the rule, but at press time, the court
had not yet issued a decision.
The ATA and other organizations have also
asked the Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration to delay enforcement at least
until the court reached a decision, but the
agency rejected the request. So unless something has happened by the time you read this,
One thing is certain, however. The cost of truck service is going up. ABF, YRC,
and UPS Freight have
announced general rate
increases of 5. 9 percent, and
other carriers are expected to
follow suit. YRC cited new
technologies and processes
necessary to manage new
HOS regulations as one of
the reasons for its increase.
(This may be true, but we see similar increases
almost every year. The UPS and ABF press
releases made no attempt to justify the
increase.) All this notwithstanding, most industry observers predict the new rules will result in
productivity reductions—the extent of which
remains to be seen.
Bottom line: This summer and for the
remainder of the year, we won’t see larger
trucks on the roads. But we will see higher
costs—and depending on the economy, capacity issues as well. ;
Clifford F. Lynch is principal of C.F. Lynch & Associates, a provider
of logistics management advisory services, and author of Logistics
Outsourcing – A Management Guide and co-author of The Role
of Transportation in the Supply Chain. He can be reached at
cliff@cflynch.com.
