newsworthy
Yusen Logistics (UK) Ltd. received an award for
“Exceptional Contribution” at Honda of the UK
Manufacturing Ltd.’s 2013 Supplier Convention. … For
the third consecutive year, England Logistics, a Utah-
based third-party logistics service provider and freight
brokerage firm, has earned a spot on Inc. magazine’s list
of the 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in the
United States. … Penske Logistics recently earned
Whirlpool Corp.’s Finished Goods Warehousing Provider
of the Year Award. …
Lighting system company
Finelite is the winner of
the Reusable Packaging
Association’s second
annual Excellence in
Reusable Packaging
Award. … The University
of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) has received the
2013 Earl G. Reubel Healthcare System of the Year
Award from Owens & Minor, a provider of distribution
and logistics services to the health-care industry. The
award recognizes UMMS’s efforts to improve diversity in
the health-care supply chain. … Jay Steinmetz, CEO and
founder of Barcoding Inc., a supplier of mobility solu-
tions, has won one of Baltimore SmartCEO’s 2013 Circle
of Excellence awards. … Fleet Advantage, a provider of
truck fleet business analytics and equipment financing,
has been named to the American City Business Journal’s
list of the fastest-growing privately held companies in
the state of Florida. … SDV has earned the Leadership in
Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold
Certificate from the U.S. Green Building Council and has
been verified by the Green Building Certification
Institute for its new facility in Singapore. … Inc. maga-
zine recently recognized Associated Solutions, part of
the Raymond Lift Truck Sales and Service Network, in its
seventh annual “Inc. 500|5000,” a ranking of the
nation’s fastest-growing private companies. … This
year’s United Seamen’s Service 2013 Admiral of the
Ocean Sea Award (AOTOS) recipients are Philip W.J.
Fisher, president of Chas. Kurz & Co., operator of
Keystone Shipping Co.; U.S. Rep. Peter King of New
York; and Emanuel Rouvelas, a maritime attorney and
partner at K&L Gates. … Former U.S. Secretary of
Transportation Ray LaHood accepted the 2013 WTS
Navigator Award. The Navigator Award recognizes
recipients for extraordinary efforts to attract, retain, and
advance women in the transportation industry.
accolades
acute driver shortage by the middle of the decade, said
the market is overdue for a sustained upward spike in rates
as a result. While the labor supply has diminished, freight
demand is “moderately positive,” Perry said. In addition,
fleet operators have been unusually reluctant in the past few
years to push through wage increases, he said. Carrier executives burned by the downturn have focused more on controlling costs than adding capacity or boosting the revenue
line with price hikes, according to Perry.
A quarterly carrier survey issued in mid-October by consultancy Transport Capital Partners found that conservative
habits die hard. The number of carriers expecting capacity
additions of less than 5 percent has risen to 45 percent
today from 22 percent in February 2011. The number of
respondents that expected to increase capacity fell to
between 6 and 10 percent today from 25 percent in
February 2011, according to the survey.
Part of that may be due to a change in shipper views of
end demand. A quarterly survey of shippers by investment
firm Morgan Stanley & Co. found that 45 percent plan to
reduce inventory over the next six months. In June, the last
time shippers were polled, the figure stood at 39 percent.
About 19 percent of respondents said they plan to boost
inventories, up from 17 percent in the June survey. The firm
said the decline in shipment activity correlates with ship-
pers’ projections that capacity will loosen among all trans-
port modes.
But even if capacity eases, will that be enough to offset the
scarcity of labor? Klemp of NTI said the pool of qualified
drivers remains very shallow and few new drivers are entering the trade. The situation is so critical that recruiting
managers are making “exceptions” to their base driver qualification criteria just to put drivers in the seats, he said. The
anecdotal evidence is supported by NTI’s survey results that
show a decline in the minimum experience levels of driver
candidates, Klemp said.
The difficulty in retaining truckload drivers is exacerbating the problem. ATA said the annualized turnover rate at
large truckload fleets—defined as carriers with more than
$30 million in annual revenue—rose to 99 percent in the
second quarter, up two percentage points from first-quarter
numbers. This pushed the turnover rate to its highest point
since the third quarter of 2012 and just above the annual
rate of 98 percent in 2012, ATA said. Klemp expects the
third-quarter turnover rate to hit 100 percent. ;
—Mark Solomon
FINELITE
