Sittin' on the dock … wastin' time?

Not if you want to stay out of trouble with your carriers. A leisurely pace won't cut it in 2004—at least where the loading dock's concerned.

By John R. Johnson

In his legendary soul ballad "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay," the late Otis Redding sang of whiling away the hours watching the tides roll in and out of the San Francisco Bay. If only life on the loading dock were so tranquil. But if days spent on the dock ever did unfold at a leisurely pace, that's all behind us. These days, it's strictly business. Get the truck in, load or unload it, move it out. No time for breaks. No room for delays.

If activity on the nation's loading docks has appeared particularly frenzied lately, you can credit the new federal truck driver hours of service (HOS) rule that kicked in Jan. 4. Aimed at preventing accidents caused by driver fatigue, the new rule cut back drivers'work shifts from 15 hours to 14. But more to the point, it overhauled the system drivers use for reporting their hours. In the past, drivers could go off the clock during idle periods. They were not required to count time spent waiting at loading docks or refueling as part of their work shifts. Now, there are no timeouts. Whether they're driving or idling, every minute counts.

Time has always been money in this business, but the new driver service restrictions have upped the ante. Carriers who once viewed delays at the dock as annoying now find them intolerable. To make the point, some are reportedly charging detention or demurrage fees of up to $100 an hour.

The threat of financial penalties has gotten their customers' attention. DC managers across the country are revamping their procedures and even upgrading their equipment in hopes of revving up operations … or at least cutting downtime. At Saddle Creek Corp., a Florida-based third-party provider of logistics services, for example, executives have been brainstorming ways of documenting truckers' arrival and departure times across the entire DC network. "This is an issue for all of us," says Bruce Abels, Saddle Creek's president and COO. "We're taking steps at all of our facilities to do a much better job of documenting that information because we anticipate carriers will make an effort to charge for detention or demurrage."

Another third-party warehousing company, Murphy Warehouse Co., has taken it a step further: The company has notified carriers arriving at its dock that they must now schedule appointments for outgoing loads. By limiting access to its docks during peak periods, the warehouse hopes to reduce congestion. It also hopes to avoid fines. Richard Murphy, the company's president and CEO, reports that one of his major customers has already modified its contract to include a provision holding the warehouse responsible for any fees levied by truckers for delays at the loading dock.

Other distribution center managers have rejiggered their schedules in order to stay open longer and smooth out peaks and valleys in dock traffic flow. Paul Delp, president of Lansdale Warehouse Co. in Lansdale, Pa., has instituted staggered hours for dock workers so he can keep the docks open longer. Though he hasn't yet added a second shift, he says he'll do so if that's what it takes to keep the loading dock congestion-free.

Delp and other DC execs predict that more carriers will adopt drop and hook programs in the months ahead. That's not a decision carriers make lightly. Drop and hook, which lets a trucker pick up one trailer while leaving another behind for the customer to load or unload at its convenience, would require them to keep extra equipment on hand. But truckers may be willing to accept the tradeoff if it cuts waiting time and, ultimately, their average cost per mile.

Level best
Then there are the companies that have DC building projects under way. In more than a few cases, dock equipment manufacturers report, anxiety about productivity has actually led companies to tear up their old plans and revise their dock layouts in order to move trucks in and out faster once construction is complete. Some have gone so far as to add docks to make sure they can load and unload cargo quickly and accommodate their carriers' drop and hook programs.

This new willingness to invest in docks is more common than you might think. Whether spurred by the HOS rule or by safety and security concerns, companies that once balked at replacing leaky seals are suddenly putting big money into their docks. "People are definitely spending more money on the dock area," says Mike Pilgrim, executive vice president at Systems Inc., a dock manufacturer in Germantown, Wis. "Years ago somebody might have invested $2,500 or so for a mechanical lift. Today, it's not unheard of to spend up to $25,000 to be fully outfitted with a master control panel, door seals and dock door."

Some distribution centers, for example, are replacing manual dock levelers with hydraulic push-button operated dock levelers, Pilgrim reports. Oftentimes they're motivated by safety concerns: Hydraulic levelers can reduce accidents by preventing free-fall of the leveler if a truck departs from the dock too early. That's a real danger, according to Pilgrim, who reports that almost two-thirds of all dock levelers are sold without vehicle restraints. Other times, companies are looking to boost productivity: Hydraulic systems are much easier to service than their manual counterparts, Pilgrim says. That reduces downtime and keeps dock operations humming.

Another popular feature is the master control panel, which consolidates the controls of multiple dock components into one easy-to-use centralized panel. Combining these controls in a single master system promotes safety by integrating the operations of the dock leveler, truck restraint, overhead door and other dock equipment. Installing a single power source also reduces electrical installation costs.

However, Pilgrim cautions, companies interested in installing master control panels should be aware that it's far cheaper to incorporate these panels into the original design plans than to commission them as an add-on once the DC is built. "We're spending a lot of time getting involved with upfront building design in order to save the customer money," he says. But it's clear that the message hasn't gotten out yet where the majority of docks are concerned. "Most control panels are sold after the fact, once the building is already designed," he says. "When that happens, the only winner is the electrician."

John Johnson joined the DC Velocity team in March 2004. A veteran business journalist, John has over a dozen years of experience covering the supply chain field, including time as chief editor of Warehousing Management. In addition, he has covered the venture capital community and previously was a sports reporter covering professional and collegiate sports in the Boston area. John served as senior editor and chief editor of DC Velocity until April 2008.
More articles by John R. Johnson

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