Trucking

A pilot program that would allow teenagers to drive an 80,000-pound truck in interstate commerce is one of the worst ideas to solve the driver shortage, a top trucking executive with six decades experience in the industry says.

Trucking executives report they are rejecting record amounts of freight in this current booming peak freight season.Carrier executives say it’s about time rates were rising. It’s been over a decade, veteran truckers say, since profit margins were much above pennies on the dollar, they say.

While market conditions for shippers remain challenging, they appear to be not as dire, or “less worse” than earlier in the year, according to the most recent edition of the Shippers Conditions Index (SCI) issued this week by freight transportation consultancy FTR.

Seattle-based Convoy, a digital freight technology-enabled network, recently announced it secured $185 million in Series C funding.

For July, the most recent month for which data is available, the TCI hit 14.04, topping May and June at 11.4 and 11.18, respectively.

Logistics Managment's Jeff Berman recently talked to Echo Global Logistics CEO Doug Waggoner on a wide range of industry topics, including the freight economy, technology, last-mile logistics, and ELD, among others.

Cross-border truckload and intermodal shipping has increased greatly over the past decade and shows no signs of slowing.

In August, J.B. Hunt launched Perks – a rewards program available to carriers and their drivers who use the company’s J.B. Hunt Carrier 360 digital freight platform.

The retail industry encompasses a wide range of products, which adds complexity to logistics planning.

With a complete understanding of the problem this Chemical Pool Company was facing with its seasonal business, PITT OHIO was able to develop a reliable, comprehensive cross-dock solution.

Fleet operators want to have a solution that can help them manage driver behavior so as to reduce their insurance costs, accident probability, wear and tear on tires and parts, while all aiming towards the overall goal of the punctual delivery of goods.

Uber noted that this enables shippers to see instant upfront load pricing, tender a load with only a few clicks and track their shipment from start to finish. And it added that this platform was built in close collaboration with shippers to help transform a process that would typically take hours to finish and leave them without key information on pricing and carriers.

Pricing across the transportation modes

The recent capacity shortages in trucking have been felt across the nation, and if you’re responsible for shipping fresh food products or temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals, you’re probably particularly anxious.

Logistics Management Group News Editor Jeff Berman recently caught up with Larry Gross, President of Gross Transportation Consulting to talk about the 2018 Peak Season, capacity, pricing, and things shippers can do to get through the rough patches.