HOS

If things are improving for shippers lately, there is a chance that it will not be lasting, according to the most recent edition of the Shipper Conditions Index (SCI) from freight transportation consultancy FTR Associates.

The average price per gallon of diesel gasoline snapped a ten-week stretch of declines, rising 2.1 cents to $3.866 per gallon this week, according to the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Freight transportation consultancy says that continued moderate growth in conjunction with HOS and other regulations, will cause trucking rates to firm up in the coming months and improve carrier profitability.

DAT said that first quarter sport market freight volumes were up 7.7 percent annually and 11 percent ahead of the fourth quarter of 2012.

FTR said that the SCI represents “deteriorating conditions” for shippers early in 2013, with the SCI forecast expected to continue moving down as the year moves on, approaching negative double-digits by the end of 2013.

The government’s proposed changes to the complex truck driver hours of service regulations had their day in court on the Ides of March and certainly anybody that expected clarity on the issue should have been beware.

When it comes to the ongoing quarrel between the American Trucking Associations and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration over the pending motor carrier Hours-of-Service (HOS) changes, did anyone really think that ATA would not have the last word, at least for now anyhow?

The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) is fully aware of the challenges this is likely to present for the industry and recently released a second survey to collect data on the impacts that may accrue from changes to the 34-hour restart rule.

At this week’s American Trucking Associations (ATA) annual Management Conference & Exhibition ATA President and CEO Bill Graves laid out all the issues facing the trucking industry on the table in a wide-ranging keynote address.

An election awaits us, political promises are being made and the calendar turns to September. That is one way to surmise the post-Labor Day landscape as we shake the long weekend cobwebs out of our heads and come back to our desks rested and refreshed, of course.

Trucking interests are back in court challenging the government’s latest attempt to reduce the hours a truck driver can legally work—and they are getting some help from some of the largest shippers in the nation.

Trucking interests are back in court challenging the government’s latest attempt to reduce the hours a truck driver can legally work—and they are getting some help from some of the largest shippers in the nation.

Shippers need to brace for sharply higher trucking rates because of steadily rising truck fleet costs that range from rolling stock to drivers to fuel while productivity levels are under threats from increased government regulation, top carrier officials are saying.

At a truckload panel at NASSTRAC, two top truckload executives provided a frank and candid assessment of the sector’s travails, and the regulatory and pricing environment, among other topics.