The industry is starting to return to pre-recession levels and as a result, freight volumes are on the rise. More freight equals higher truck demand and the load capacity they yield. At the same time, previous fleet reductions and a decrease in the amount of available truck drivers has resulted in fewer trucks to go around. “Carriers lost a large number of trucks with the fallout from the recession, and most aren’t in a big hurry to bring equipment back online as they’re making money now with existing assets,” says TQL Executive Vice President Kerry Byrne.

This combination of rising demand and diminished capacity is creating higher logistics costs across the industry that are rising faster than the overall economy. Total transportation costs in 2010 were up 10.3 percent to $768 billion, says a State of Logistics Report by the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals. Read the full report.

TQL currently maintains relationships with the 58,000 freight carriers in our system, allowing us to identify the right trucking solutions when and where you need them. We understand how important your shipments are to your business, and we want to make sure your customers receive goods on time. Our superior technology and 24/7/365 staffing allows us to track your shipment from pickup to delivery and every critical point in between.

Are you concerned about your company’s carbon footprint when you ship freight? If so, you can take action by choosing to become a SmartWay Transport Partner Shipper. SmartWay is a program developed by the Environmental Protection Agency to reduce transportation-related emissions, reduce fuel consumption and improve the air quality for future generations.

As a SmartWay Shipper, you quantify your current environmental performance level according to SmartWay standards and then track your progress toward achieving better environmental performance. You can further improve by committing to ship at least 50% of your goods using SmartWay Logistics Partners. Further actions can include SmartWay shipper strategies such as “no-idling” policies at docks and modifying business practices at distribution centers and warehouses.

TQL is a SmartWay Transport Logistics Partner because we are committed to promoting greater energy efficiency and air quality within the freight transport sector. As a SmartWay Logistics Partner, we assist freight carriers in making better choices for their businesses and the environment and enable our shippers to move more freight with SmartWay Transport Carrier Partners to help improve your transportation footprint.

Just a few months ago massive snow storms paralyzed interstates, halted cities and idled trucks for days. February 1st and 2nd were particularly bad for North Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. 

City and highway snow removal costs were out of sight. The American Highway Users Alliance released a sixteen-state study highlighting the costly nature of weather-related shutdowns. The study found that hundreds of millions of dollars in economic opportunity were lost each day a state was stagnated by impassable roads. The study found Illinois lost $400 million per day, New York lost $700 million and Ohio lost $300 million each day that weather was a major concern.

Chicago is one city in particular that experienced a once-or-twice in a lifetime weather event, with up to two feet of snow falling on the city in just over 24 hours. While most were paralyzed by the weather, TQL Chicago was business as usual. For a glimpse at what it was like in the Chicago metropolitan area, click here to check out a brief video overview.

Many are worried about the growing shortages of drivers and what this might mean for their shipping costs. According to some industry professionals the transportation industry could be looking at a shortage of 400,000 drivers by 2012.

The issues the industry has been facing for years have not gone anywhere. This includes an aging driver population and a minimum driving age that prohibits recruiting recent high school graduates. Add to this a shrunken recruiting pipeline and you have a serious driver shortage looming in the future.

During the recession, fleets cut recruiting and training efforts to save on overhead. Many driving schools closed down, as well. As a result, some say the industry is hiring only about 100,000 drivers into the market each quarter. Because of this, even if there were an influx in the number of people who wanted to become drivers, only a certain number could proceed due to a lack of companies who are currently able to integrate new drivers into their organizations.

Bottom line: Most economic signs point to an increase in the amount of product needing to be moved and less capacity to ship them. While trucks may be hard to come by in the near future, you can count on TQL to help facilitate your transportation needs. 24/7/365 – it’s what we do.

Spearheaded by Public Citizen and supported by a variety of other groups, a petition was filed earlier this summer that proposed changes to truck drivers’ Hours of Service rules. Currently, the rules allow for 11 hours of driving within a 14-hour on-duty period, followed by a mandatory 10-hour rest. However, the groups claim that these rules create dangerous driving conditions. They argue that the new changes, which would cap driving time at 8 hours a day and lessen the maximum work day (including time spent loading and waiting) to 12 hours, would ensure a minimum of seven to eight hours of sleep each night as well as allow amble time for drivers to perform other daily non-work related tasks.

Under the new rule, daily driving time is cut by 3 hours and total work day by 2 hours. This may shorten the daily length haul for many truckers by as much as 100 to 150 miles, making it difficult for shippers with longer supply chains or tight just-in-time delivery networks. As a result, they say, shippers may need to rethink the locations of distribution centers or change delivery schedules in order to avoid delayed/disrupted deliveries or decreases in customer service levels.

Rates will likely increase as well. Consider how drivers’ per mile rate will change if they have fewer hours to work in a day or if they have to hire more drivers and buy more equipment to maintain available capacity. Finally, some fear the changes will lead to increases in overall highway congestion or a greater shift of truckload business to rail.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration reviewed the proposal and sent its recommendations to Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood in June. The changes currently sit in the hands of the Office of Management and Budget. A ruling is expected to be published by November.

Next: Read our ten tips on how your business can prepare for the Hours of Service changes.

Sources: The Journal of Commerce, Transport Topics, Federal Highway Administration's Office of Motor Carrier Research and The National Industrial Transportation League.