January 2018

Head’s up! It looks like we will have more shipping challenges this coming year. There are also some policy and price changes ahead. With the help of Jim Anderton from Mode Transportation, below is a summary of the issues and possible impacts:

• Not enough truck drivers. The American Trucking Association reports a need to hire 90,000 more truckers per year over the next 10 years. While this impacts over-the-road trucking the most, it is also affecting local and dray trucking.
• Expect freight bottlenecks. Last year, we saw major delays and bottlenecks with intermodal freight caused by natural disasters (hurricanes, fires, etc.) as well as economic situations (CSX in the SE) causing container imbalances and significant delays this past year. Such issues can happen at anytime.
• Dray services are under significant pressure. Dray capacity throughout most all of the US is running at or above capacity. Areas like the Pacific Northwest have high demands for intermodal freight near rail ramps, like Portland and Seattle. These areas have growing traffic problems. Supply and demand economics favor shorter runs. Dray providers will be more selective on how far they will want to travel.
• Multiple pickups/drops will be either not allowed or priced adversely. Dray carriers simply don’t have any extra time. Extra pickups will be either not permitted or very pricey. Layovers, delayed loading and unloading will also have more severe charges. We may see more weights cut to 41,000 to ensure avoiding any over weight issues.
• ELD Laws will compound problems. With drivers on the clock as soon as they start their truck, some drivers will just quit. A 10% loss in driver number is projected. Those dray drivers who stay will be pressed even further to make sure they use their driving hours to get the most turns on boxes from and to ramps.
• Expect to see price increases and selective service for certain lanes. Intermodal carriers are in the box moving business. They want to move as many boxes as possible. Long runs, equipment imbalances, dray capacity, and ELD laws will factor into their pricing. Carriers will favor profitable regions and penalizing lower profit routes.