DC Velocity - September 2013

www.dcvelocity.com SEPTEMBER 2013 DC VELOCITY 19 TIME TO TAKE STOCK Dave Osiecki, ATA’s senior vice president of policy and reg-ulatory affairs, said the agency should now spend less time on rulemaking and more time fostering a safer driving environment by utilizing proven methods that focus on unsafe road behaviors. Osiecki cited the court’s own language that FMCSA prevailed “not on the strengths of its rulemaking prowess, but through an artless war of attrition.” The court’s opinion should “serve as a warning to FMCSA not to rely on similarly unsubstantiated rulemakings in the future,” Osiecki said.

Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), said the industry must put the HOS squabbles behind it and now focus on strengthening training standards for new drivers. Although all new drivers must pass a test to obtain a commercial driver’s license, the test only covers basic operations and doesn’t prepare drivers either for the real world behind the wheel or for the growing number of regulations they must comply with, Spencer said.

OOIDA said it has launched a program called “Truckers for Safety” that’s designed to train the next generation of drivers. The program is aimed in part at offsetting the disruptions caused by rapid turnover and by older experienced drivers leaving the field and being replaced by younger, less-seasoned recruits, Spencer said.

PLAUDITS AND BRICKBATS FMCSA issued a brief statement praising the decision. “The ruling recognizes the sensible data-driven approach that was taken in crafting this important regulation to increase safety and reduce driver fatigue—a leading factor in truck crashes,” it said.

FMCSA’s statement, however, is drastically at odds with
the sentiments of much of the industry. In a letter to law-
makers last week, Bruce Carlton, president of the shipper
group National Industrial Transportation League, recom-
mended that the HOS study mandated under last year’s
transport funding bill be completed before the provisions
“adversely affect our economy.”
The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI),
ATA’s research arm, said in June that the rules would cost
the industry $374 million annually by reducing driver flexi-
bility and productivity. Trucking firms have estimated a 2-
to 10-percent productivity hit due to reduced truck miles
driven. Fleets may have to raise the pay of their existing
drivers to compensate them for the lost hours or hire more
drivers to fill the void. Either scenario would result in rising
costs that would be passed on down the line.

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING?

Because enforcement of the rules only began July 1, it is too
early to determine their impact on supply chains. Most over-
the-road trucking occurs east of the Mississippi, in densely
populated regions where the typical truck length of haul is
less than 400 miles, an easier run to schedule around the
new rules. Longer lengths of haul, where drivers are at
greater risk of running afoul of the rules, are becoming less
prevalent as a growing number of those movements are
shifting to lower-cost rail intermodal service.
Some experts believe shippers will need to improve their
scheduling if drivers are to make their normal runs without
violating the law or harming supply chain productivity.
According to Michael P. Regan, president and CEO of
TranzAct Technologies Inc., an Elmhurst Village, Ill.-based con-
sulting company, the key is for shippers to eliminate any slack
in their schedules. Because of the mandatory clock-stopping
period, shippers can no longer afford to delay drivers at the
loading dock and expect them to deliver a long-haul ship-
ment without bumping up against the new guidelines.

“The issue with shipper scheduling is going to be a huge factor,” Regan said. He suggests shippers and their carriers build some flexibility into their supply chains to allow drivers to take their mandatory 30-minute break at the dock instead of on the road with cargo.

If nothing else, the court’s ruling affirms that FMCSA’s clout has grown beyond highway safety and into the trucking industry’s business operations. Most expect an emboldened FMCSA to push for even tougher safety rules in the future. Highway safety advocates are not expected to rest either. In its new rules, the FMCSA maintained the 11-hour maximum driving time per day, even though safety advocates had aggressively lobbied to reduce drive times to 10. Safety groups are likely to continue pushing the agency to shorten the driving hours to 10, something the FMCSA seriously considered before staying with the status quo.

John G. Larkin, lead transportation analyst for investment firm Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., said safety advocates will not be satisfied until fatalities associated with big truck operations are significantly reduced, despite industry data showing that most accidents involving big rigs are actually caused by motorists or light truck operators.

“There is no stopping the highway safety ideologues,” Larkin wrote in an e-mail. “Logic and economics don’t legitimately enter the discussion, or so it seems.” ;

go figure …

32%

The growth of e-commerce shipping in the U.S. business-to-consumer (B2C) segment between 2011 and 2012. Year-over-year growth in 2013 is expected to hit similar levels.