DC Velocity - September 2019

www.dcvelocity.com SEPTEMBER 2019 DC VELOCITY 31 freight volumes grew.

CFI’s Orr cited challenges posed by recently enacted fed-
eral regulations intended to set across-the-board standards
for entry-level driver training. Essentially, under the new
rules, candidates who want to enter the industry will need a
certificate of completion or diploma from a certified driving
school in order to get a commercial driver’s license (CDL).
Third-party schools today already are at capacity. “They are
not building the capacity to handle the [coming] surge,”
Orr says. “That’s potentially a chokepoint in the industry’s
ability to produce enough drivers with the required train-
ing. And that will impact capacity.”
CFI engages with local community colleges, supporting
their formalized driver-training curriculum and providing
graduates with a path into a driving job. Once hired, those
graduates are put through an over-the-road “finishing”
program with an experienced CFI driver-trainer to com-
plete their training before going solo.

Crumbling infrastructure and increasing congestion also
made the list of top concerns from carrier executives.
“America’s roads and bridges are dangerously deteriorated,
and our interstate system is over 60 years old,” notes FedEx
Freight’s Smith. “Our federal and state governments need
to work toward modernizing our infrastructure ... and [to]
adopt common-sense policy solutions, such as [allowing
the use of] longer-combination vehicles to increase the effi-
ciency, safety, and capacity of our transportation system.”
Looking at the big picture, SJ Consulting’s Jindel sees
reason for optimism in trucking’s future, citing yet-to-
be-realized technology advancements and benefits, con-
tinued stable demand and solid growth projections for
trucking services, and no viable replacements. He has three
observations:
“The number of people coming into the industry is not
going to increase [appreciably], creating a cap on capacity.
That’s going to favor [carrier] pricing, so manage capac-
ity for profitability because you don’t have control over
demand.

“The cost of shipping in America is cheaper than in just
about any country in Europe, so be happy.”
And finally, “It can’t be exported to India or China.”