newsworthy
Bring out your trucks!
Whoops, they’re already
here!
FORECASTING THE LOOMing truck capacity crunch has
become a cottage industry.
Nary a week (or industry
conference) goes by without someone opining about the lack of drivers
and rigs, and the impending impact on shippers.
The latest came from consultancy FTR Associates, which reported
last month that its “shippers conditions index” for February hit - 9. 5, a
shade below the - 10 reading that indicates an unfavorable climate for
shippers. This came several weeks after the firm reported its February
truckers index had jumped to 12. 9 percent, well above the 10 reading
that indicates nirvana for truckers. FTR commented in its shippers
index report that shippers haven’t faced this dire a situation since 2004,
but unlike that period, which the firm characterized as a “one-time
blip,” the current trends could persist for years.
That may eventually turn out to be the case. But for now, that’s news
to buyers of trucking services who gathered around the NASSTRAC
campfire at the group’s annual conference and exposition in Orlando,
Fla., late last month. No shipper interviewed or participating in round-tables (all spoke on background lest they be flogged by their companies) reported problems finding rigs, trailers, and drivers.
Bradley S. Jacobs, founder and CEO of Greenwich, Conn.-based
freight broker, forwarder, and expedited transport firm XPO Logistics—
who went on the record because he runs the place—expressed similar
sentiments. “Capacity is very loose,” he said in an interview at the conference. Jacobs noted that XPO’s load boards, which are chock-a-block
when the coffee is brewing in the morning, are usually swept clean by
lunchtime. “That tells me all I need to know,” he said.
CONTINUING SHIFT TO RAIL
What’s keeping the capacity wolf away from the door? For one, a continued conversion to rail intermodal service. Matthew K. Rose, chairman, president, and CEO of Fort Worth, Texas-based BNSF Railway,
told the conference that domestic intermodal traffic rose to 24 percent
of BNSF’s total volumes in 2012, up from 20 percent in 2006. Last year,
BNSF converted more than 30 truckers to intermodal service, Rose said.
This year, it’s added 14.
Shelly Simpson, president of the Integrated Capacity Solutions unit
of Lowell, Ark.-based J.B. Hunt Transport Services, reckons that
between 7 million and 11 million shipments a year that are p. 18
N.Y. state budget cuts imperil
future of nonprofit logistics
subcontracting firm
It’s not easy being nonprofit these days.
The New York legislature has cut
$700,000 in state funding to The
Rehabilitation Center, a nonprofit group
that hires disabled individuals to work in
various industries, notably the logistics
field. The action will make it harder for
the group to find work for severely disabled people, according to one of its top
executives.
Brian Eddy, the Olean, N. Y.-based organization’s general manager, business
development and marketing, said the
cuts, which are permanent, reduced its
budget by 4. 5 percent. The cuts are part
of $90 million in annual state budget
reductions that will hit all nonprofits.
One of the group’s most visible divisions is SubCon Industries, which provides traditional forward and reverse
logistics support services to large third-party providers that have overflow work
they would like to offload. The unit,
which employs approximately 200 people, was formed more than 50 years ago
to provide forward logistics services. It
expanded into reverse logistics in 2005.
Eddy said the budget cuts came as a
shock to the organization. “We must
adapt in order to survive,” he said in an
e-mail to DC VELOCITY.
Eddy said the organization would
explore potential alliances with for-profit
organizations that may be interested in
collaborating to build what he termed
“social enterprises” that could benefit the
for-profit companies while still providing
work for those who need and want it.
Since its founding, the group has been
committed to not turning away any individual who wants to work.
“We are trying to see what we can do
to maintain the quality of our services
and to remain focused on our core mission to create brighter futures for people
with disabilities,” Eddy said. ;
