Posts Tagged “hours of service”
Kevin Bowling has been trucking since 1986, but his truck is now sitting at his 
home in Tampa, FL and he is driving for a large fleet.
The 44-year-old former owner operator says he parked his truck because of poor economic conditions and excessive government regulations.
The driver for MK Express of East Butler, PA was fueling at a Petro Truck Stop at Vienna, GA. He hauls primarily produce out of the Southeast and dry freight on the return haul.
Bowling says a main complaint with hauling produce are the delays associated with getting loaded. Although this is not as serious a problem working with his current carrier, he notes too often product is still in the fields when arriving at the loading docks. Maintaining proper load temperatures also is cited as being very important.
While Bowling loves the independence associated with trucking, he says U.S. Department of Transportation regulations are excessive and challenging.
“The DOT is always wanting to put more regulations on you and it just makes it harder,” he states. More specifically, he cites most recent hours of service regulation changes. Bowling says the changes, involving the 14-hour rule may be better for some drivers, but worse for others.
He is referring to the 34-hour restart once a week with two sleep times from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m., plus there is the 30-minute rest break following eight hours of driving.
“For some guys it would be too much time off, but for others it might help keep them from driving when they are tired,” he says.
The hours of service rule changes are not major, but they are confusing. A 
greater focus is needed on prevention of stolen produce loads, and there are discussions of alternatives to using trucks to haul produce, but the alternatives are not that impressive in most cases. These are just a few of the topics addressed at the United Fresh Produce Convention, held May 1-3 at the Dallas (Texas) Conventi0n Center. The session was titled Examining Today’s Transportation Challenges and Alternatives. (To read more about this session see the report published on May 3rd)
Dan Vache’, vice president of the United Fresh Produce Association describes hours of service as a top concern of the produce indutry.
Gary E. York, general manager, C.H. Robinson Co. Worldwide Inc. describes the hours of service rules as “complicated”, specifically noting that twice a week driver’s are not allowed to drive between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m.
“If more drivers were able to operate 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. it would mean less drivers on the road during high traffic hours,” York adds.
A member of the audience points out the hours of service regulations were altered for safety reasons, “but in some cases the changes make it less safe.”
Another audience member asks the panel about compliance of rules and regulations for truckers. York replies that technology is helping to improve compliance and will do more so in the future.
On the topic of stolen loads, Vache’ relates there are no good answers, “but we have to police ourselves.” For example, if a truck shows up with a load of nuts, the receiver or buyer needs to know from where it came.
There also is a lot of contraband crossing the U.S. border from the Southern hemisphere and being distributed throughout the USA and Canada. Vache’ notes the U.S. and Canadian governments are working together to reduce this problem.
With the seasonally high volume of produce, less available refrigeration equipment and rising rates, the topic of alternatives to truck transportation are addressed. Panel members indicate there are certain commodities and routes for transporting produce other than truck, but it is limited.
Alex Crow, national trucking manager, Hellman Perishable Logistics, says, “I don’t think we can replace trucks on certain routes, but we can do some things like with Washington state to Chicago on certain items (like apples, onions and potatoes).
York indicates railroad service has improved, pointing out a rail delivery from Washington state to Chicago can occur within 12 hours of what a single truck driver can deliver. Rails are now delivering loads to the East Coast in six days.
However, York adds that a problem with rail service is the lack of intermodal equipment. There also is the challenge of rails being able to compete with trucks when it comes to backhauls, or return loads. Rails remain an option, are slowly increasing their volume, but York doesn’t see any significant improvements in the next three to five years.
An audience member comments there are transportation problems in moving potatoes out of Idaho. The challenge is getting the equipment to Idaho to make the hauls.
Concerning the CSA safety enforcement systems for trucks that used to be known as SafeStat, Vache’ says in the future the scores will have more meaning as the government is better able to track carriers.
“It’s going to force carriers to be more selective in the drivers they hire,” Vache’s states. “It is going to revolutionize the industry. It will result in liability becoming a bigger issue for carriers. Technology will result in more efficiency to the industry, but more liability.”
If you want to know how produce trucking issues are viewed by some folks in 
the produce industry, you should have been at the annual convention of the United Fresh Produce Association, held in Dallas. Specifically, the session was held on May 1st by wholesalers/distributors and titled Examing Today’s Transportation Challenges and Alternatives.
The 60-minute meeting was held in the same Dallas Convention Center that will host the Great American Trucking Show August 23-25.
Among the issues dealt with were the driver’s shortage, detention, and hours of service. (Within the next few days I’ll provide more coverage on the session ranging hours of service to stolen loads and dicussions of alternatives to trucks for moving produce).
On the program was moderator, Ron Carkoski, head of Four Seasons Produce, Inc.; Alex Crow, national trucking manager, Hellman Perishable Logistics; Ken Nable, president of Kington and Associates Marketing, LLC; Dan Vache’, vice president, supply chain management, United; and Gary York, general manager, C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc.
Concerning the availablity of drivers, Crow noted there was only a “moderate” shortage of drivers — amounting to about 200,000. “We need to treat drivers as professionals. We are feeling the shortage,” Crow related. His logistics company had even hired professional “head hunters” to find more drivers. “We (as an industry) expect drivers to be professional, but often don’t treat them like professionals.”
Crow believes the driver shortage results from issues such as not paying them enough, to excessive waiting times for loading and unloading. “With the multi pick ups and multi drops we have to let the customers (receivers) know they need to pay (extra) for that.”
York at C.H. Robinson concurs. He points out driver salaries trail other occupations and many would be truckers chose higher paying jobs in construction and elsewhere.
“In 2004 we saw 1.6 million housing starts. Today there are about 600,000. Housing starts next year are projected to be about one million, and “drivers tend to go where the work is. As the economy improves, the driver shortage will increase, and transportation will cost more in driver wages.”
Vache’ of United, who has an extensive background with in-tranist temperature recording devices (such as Ryan Instruments and SensiTech), adds, “Drivers are tired, not just of being treated like second class citizens, but third and fourth class citizens. They are away from home a lot and they have families to support. What can we do to make it more attractive for drivers to enter trucking?”
York urges shippers and receivers to work on efficiency in reducing wait times at the docks. There also needs to be faster turn around times between loads. He notes while detention charges certainly are not “mainstream” in the produce industry, detention charges are being applied more than in the past.
A benefit for drivers will be advances in technolgy, York believes, which can be used to expedite action on loads involving claims. Technology can help “lay the blame” in a claims dispute and thus reduce the amount of claims arising.
Regarding efforts to increase gross vehicle weights for Class 8 trucks from 80,000 to 97,000 pounds, no one expressed much hope Congress will deal anytime soon with this issue.
Vache’ says increasing truck weight limits will be safer because of the industry continues to improve its safety record, equipment is better, etc. Heavier loads will also reduce the number trucks on congested highway.
York calls the idea of bigger trucks “appealing.”
Nable adds that heavier trucks will reduce the “footprint.” In other words, it would be good for the environment.
While the panel emphasizes the pros of increasing weight limits, the downside from a driver’s point of view were largely ignored. For example, increased weight limits will result in more wear and tear on trucking equipment, consume more diesel fuel, and result in higher costs of operation for the trucker. Will the produce industry willingly increase rates accordingly? Most truckers I have talked to believe they will be expected to haul the heavier loads without additional compensation. The prospects of the produce industry increasing freight rates for hauling heavier loads was not addressed by the panel.