LTL Freight News

A part of the spending bill recently approved by Congress and signed into law by the  President  will give truck drivers relief from two hours of service rules that are widely accepted as being a hindrance to truck driver productivity. Relief from the mandatory 34 hour restart, and more specifically the relief from the 1AM to 5AM rest period, and the 168 hour rule are now temporarily suspended. The funding bill did not suspend the mandatory 30 minute break period, however. This change will allow the hours of service rules to revert back to what was in place prior to the change on July 1, 2013.   Another part of the funding bill is a requirement that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) studies the impact that the rule changes have on safety, drivers and carriers. The FMCSA is required to study two groups of drivers - one group prior to the rules changes implemented on July 1, 2013, and one group studied after the changes were implemented - and according to wording

Right now there is a big driver shortage in the trucking industry and the ports are backed up for multiple reasons. This is causing chaos in the supply chain and shippers not aligned with quality partners are facing tremendous rate hikes and delays in transit. There are some key government regulations on the horizon for the trucking industry including electronic logging devices, speed limiters and your typical “going green” initiatives for cleaner emissions and more fuel efficient trucks. Additionally, many carriers have placed or will be placing new equipment orders for new trucks that should yield better fuel mileage, and these investment costs from the carriers in new equipment and driver training and retention will be passed along to shippers in the open market. Also, in an effort to improve productivity and better align pricing to reflect their costs, carriers have begun using density scanners to analyze the freight in their systems for a better understanding of the shipments