It’s not always easy for busy truckers, operators, and owner-operators to stay up-to-date on what’s going on within an industry that’s literally and figuratively on the move. At Pay4Freight, we make it easy to always be in the know about such things as freight factoring, load boards, and other industry-specific news with convenient snippets. Here are the latest ones.
There aren’t enough drivers to meet a demand fueled, in part, by Amazon and other e-tailers:
• Several top executives are saying they can’t find enough truckers because of increased demand from e-commerce retailers like Amazon.
• The new electronic logging requirement has limited the number of hours drivers can be on the road, which has further increased the need for more drivers.
• Trucks account for approximately 70 percent of all tonnage moved in the United States.
• ELD implementation has resulted in a 10 percent reduction in productivity.
• In 2017, there was a record trucker employee shortfall of approx. 50k. This number is projected to reach nearly 175k by 2026.
New program hopes to encourage high school students to pursue trucking-related careers:
• Such efforts are being led by a California high school that offers what was one of the first high school truck driving programs in the United States.
• The program’s instructor, an industry veteran, previously spent summers teaching inmates how to drive trucks so they could get jobs when released.
• While it’s a good thing to encourage more people to get involved with an industry full of opportunities, there is some concern about safety. Fortune reports that more than 60 percent of fatal crashes involve drivers 18 to 20 years of age.
• However, drivers are not permitted to take interstate driving jobs until they are, at least, 21 years of age.
• Plus, the program maintains the highest possible industry standards, the ones established by the Professional Truck Driver Institute.
• The program has gone further with efforts to encourage and ensure safety by incorporating additional Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) standards that don’t officially go into effect until 2020.
• Students in the program get hands-on experience with various processes and procedures along with 80 hours of classroom instruction and 100 hours of lab-related activities.
Software firm wants to streamline how the trucking industry handles data, shares info, and even how contracts are signed:
• Software company Trimble Transportation Enterprise Solutions is hoping to update the $700 billion-plus trucking industry with an ambitious IT project.
• Many of the business processes involved with trucking-related activities are currently handled manually.
• The majority of the larger operators have already moved towards tech-based data handling solutions.
• However, “big players” only account for a small percentage of companies. In fact, 90 percent of the million or so trucking businesses in the U.S. have six or fewer vehicles.
• The company has developed software that makes it easier to gather data from multiple sources and devices.
• It’s done by collecting key pieces of transportation and logistics data and grouping that information into data clusters known as blockchains, the same technology behind the bitcoin craze.
• The California-based software firm claims its new program could reduce manual work by as much as 50 percent.
• The company says its software program has already effectively played a role in consolidating data from multiple sources for 95 percent of the carriers using it.
For access to tips on how to effectively use load boards to find some of the jobs generated by the rapid growth of e-commerce and other important resources and programs, turn to Pay4Freight. We’re proud to be a freight factoring company committed to being your go-to source for everything you’ll need to make confident, well-informed decisions.
