Tag: capacity: Page 3

Electronic Logging Devices

ELDs’ impact under study by C.H. Robinson/Iowa State University

With a white paper due as early as October, the broker is working with researchers to help the industry understand what ELDs could mean for hours, what productivity/capacity issues would result and what improvements could be made to ease the transition.

August 29, 2017

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Electronic Logging Devices

ELDs’ capacity squeeze assumption no. 1: Fewer miles

Examining the assumptions behind the varying predictions of the post-ELD mandate demand situation. If some predictions come to pass, there’s reason to believe rates may rise enough to be a notable reward from an unwelcome imposition.

August 7, 2017

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Overdrive Radio

Podcast: Cold water on the ELD mandate’s potential rates impacts

While recent polling shows most owner-operators view the ELD mandate’s chances of positively impacting rates either short- or long-term as good, don’t count OOIDA board member and B.L. Reever Transport small fleet owner Monte Wiederhold among the true believers.

May 12, 2017

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Loose capacity a ‘speed limiter’ on rising rates in van freight

The national average van rate held tight at $1.68 per mile last week. Still, rising lanes continue to outnumber falling lanes in what’s been a slow and steady trend.

April 26, 2017

The national average van rate held tight at $1.68 per mile last week. Still, rising lanes continue to outnumber falling lanes in what’s been a slow and steady trend. Loose capacity in some parts of the country has put something of a speed limiter on rising rates so far this spring.

What ELDs might mean for owner-operator gross revenue in flatbed

With recent speculation that the “mother of all capacity shortages” may not materialize with ELDs, necessarily, one owner-operator’s experience making the transition a couple years back.

December 9, 2016

Chuck Shaffer hauls in a big red 2007 Volvo 780.

Parking capacity issue, redux: Va. DOT shelves truck rest area plans

The parking capacity issue and one state’s attempt to put a dent in it runs into a wall of local opposition — such that Va. DOT has moved publicly to suspend the project and explore alternatives,

November 10, 2016

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Spot market update: Seasonal reefer slump continues, van and flat show more strength

In this weekly spot market demand update, trends show the typical mid-July freight slump isn’t as bad for some truckers as it was in previous years. Flat rates are rising, van volumes holding, but reefer is showing typical seasonality.

July 28, 2016

Atlanta, Dallas and Houston are the top three markets for load posts on DAT load boards, but outbound van rates are dropping in all three places. When rates fall in so-called “head haul” markets, however, the return rates tend to rise. You don’t have to go into Denver or Seattle to enjoy a rate increase, just be aware of the trends in both directions of any round trip before you choose a load and a destination. As for the lightening demand picture in the map compared to prior weeks: “If the past is the preface to the future,” says DAT’s Ken Harper, “look for the color to come back into the Hot States maps in late August to mid-September.”

State of freight: Market pressure on driver pay stalled?

Though recent years have shown better trends, with pay rising fairly sharply for company drivers and independents alike, there’s evidence from carrier surveys that such increases have now lulled. Lower volume expectations indicate increases in driver pay could be limited in 2016.

February 11, 2016

The above could represent what Perry considers a “reasonable forecast for the year, but at the same time, you better be cautious” of downside risks, of which anyone paying attention to the stock markets around the world will be well aware. A significant global slowdown could bring the U.S. along for the ride. 2017, he added, shows much weaker in the graph given downside risks becoming more prominent in the wider global economy. The 2017 picture is what this year could look like if downside pressures build enough, he added, in which case “we’re talking down to 1 percent growth, not three percent.”

Driver shortage: Where are the empty shelves?

How the “driver shortage” topic became a mainstream media staple, marked by stories that often stress the job opportunity angle, occasionally conjuring images of empty trucks and bare store shelves.

February 4, 2016

POLL: How often is finding a parking place a problem for you?

How much time do you spend looking for parking on average — and how often is finding a spot a serious issue on the road? Call 530-408-6423 to scale in with a message and/or vote in the poll here.

September 24, 2015

Detention détente: Tables turn in carriers’, drivers’ favor in pay/rate negotiations

The tables finally are turning, as examined in this multipart feature. Fleets and owner-operators, for years in a losing battle with brokers and shippers over compensation for wasted dock time, are exercising improved leverage in negotiations.

September 14, 2015

Nine-truck, mostly flatbed fleet owner-operator Ben Cadle, an agent for Bennett Motor Express, guarantees detention pay for his drivers after two hours, a fact his shippers know well, helping mitigate detention problems. It can still be a problem, however, he notes, with detention pay coming into play on about half of all his loads. If the entire trucking industry demanded a change, he says, “things would get better.” Read more about how he establishes base hourly rates for wait time at this link.

Next recession could hit as early as late 2016, say analysts

FTR Associates’ “state of freight” seminar/Q&A reflected readers’ recent suggestions that owner-operators ought to start the belt-tightening now to prepare for a cyclical economic downturn — starting as early as late 2016.

July 9, 2015

At once, Starks pointed to distressing signs for long-haul owner-operators in the spot market, where, despite rates controlled for fuel fairly close to levels relative to performance last year, market demand overall is measuring at “half of what it was in 2014.” He cited the Truckstop.com Trans4Cast market demand index for that measure. “It speaks to the loosening of the capacity situation” as year-over-year growth in total truck loadings (particularly on the long-haul side, reflected in the graph at right) has slowed considerably with sluggish industrial-economy and business-investment measures. Still, with consumer activity continuing to prop up the economy, Starks projected “better growth as we start into next year.” Of those “super long-haul loadings,” most reflective of what’s happening on the spot market, he said, “we’re seeing a lot of weakness right now.”

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