Mark Solomon joined DC VELOCITY as senior editor in August 2008, and was promoted to his current position on January 1, 2015. He has spent more than 30 years in the transportation, logistics and supply chain management fields as a journalist and public relations professional. From 1989 to 1994, he worked in Washington as a reporter for the Journal of Commerce, covering the aviation and trucking industries, the Department of Transportation, Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to that, he worked for Traffic World for seven years in a similar role. From 1994 to 2008, Mr. Solomon ran Media-Based Solutions, a public relations firm based in Atlanta. He graduated in 1978 with a B.A. in journalism from The American University in Washington, D.C.
What would happen if the nation went to a 97,000 pound gross vehicle weight limit on its interstate highways?
MillerCoors, the giant Chicago-based brewer, estimates it could cut by 25 percent the number of trucks it deploys each week to move products from its eight breweries to its six distribution centers. That would translate into 1.15 million fewer vehicle miles traveled each week, the company said. Based on a diesel fuel price of $4.50 a gallon, Miller estimates it could cut its weekly fuel bill by nearly $181,000 and reduce weekly carbon emissions by more than 4.5 million pounds.
Kraft Foods, the snack foods behemoth based in Northfield, Ill., says that, in a typical year, it would be able to move the same product with 66,000 fewer loads, resulting in a 33 million drop in vehicle miles driven, a savings of 6.6 million gallons of diesel fuel, and a 73,000-ton reduction in Kraft's carbon emissions.
Campbell Soup Co., the iconic Camden, N.J.-based canned goods producer, said it could cut its annual loads by 41,000, reducing vehicle miles driven by 23 million, saving nearly 4 million gallons of fuel, and eliminating about 39,000 tons of carbon from the atmosphere.
International Paper Co., the Memphis, Tenn.-based paper products titan, said it would carry the same amount of tonnage per year on 68,000 fewer truckloads, achieve a 27-percent annual productivity gain per truck, and shave up to 20 percent a year from its truck freight bill.
All compelling numbers, to be sure. For now, however, it is just data on fact sheets. Arguably the best shot to date to increase both the weight and size limits for big trucks plying the nation's highways has vanished into the legislative ether, helped into oblivion by a trade group whose members move these companies' goods for a living.
BITTER BLOW
For shippers that have long fought to effect what would have been the first legislative change to truck weights and size limits in 30 years, it was a bitter and expensive blow. By one estimate, though impossible to quantify, upping the per-vehicle weight limit to 97,000 pounds from 80,000 pounds would have yielded shippers between $32 billion and $37 billion a year in cost savings and productivity improvements.
In early February, Rep. John L. Mica (R-Fla.), chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, personally inserted language in a first draft of federal transport reauthorization legislation that would have allowed states to raise the weight limit for fully loaded trucks traveling on their portion of the interstate highway system. The vehicles would have to be equipped with a sixth axle to improve braking and to better distribute the load's weight in order to minimize road wear. Currently, six states—five of them located in New England—allow the heavier vehicles on their interstate highways.
The language would also have allowed the nationwide use of twin trailers each with 33-foot lengths, and would have permitted the deployment of triple-trailers in states that currently don't have them. The longer doubles are allowed in 22 states, and the triples in 16 states.
Shipper and business groups that have tried unsuccessfully for years to convince Congress to raise maximum gross vehicle weights were thrilled by the news. Unlike other bills that have been introduced only to quickly wither on the legislative vine, the initiative was being pushed by the head of the House committee that oversees transport programs, and it was included in the multiyear highway bill rather than standing legislatively naked on its own.
DASHED HOPES
However, even this version was not to be. Almost immediately, and expectedly, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) and the association representing owner-operator drivers came out in opposition. The railroads argued that heavier and longer trucks would jeopardize public safety and cause road damage that would put taxpayers on the hook for repairs.
The owner-operators group maintained that the heavier trucks would worsen an already-deteriorating infrastructure, and that longer trucks would put drivers and motorists at risk because of their limited maneuverability. The group also said there was no evidence that allowing bigger trucks on the highways would lead to an overall reduction in rigs and trailers.
Supporters of the Mica language knew the tide had turned against them when the full committee then called for a three-year feasibility study by the Transportation Research Board into the issue. But the death knell came on Feb. 13 from an unexpected source, when the American Trucking Associations (ATA) and the AAR penned an extraordinary joint letter calling on House members to move forward on a highway bill without the controversial language.
ATA Chairman Bill Graves made it plain in the letter that the group was urging the abandonment of the provision in order to maintain harmony among the many players with much at stake in the transport reauthorization process.
"What this agreement allows us to do is take one potentially controversial issue off the table in the interest of moving the legislation, which is nearly 30 months overdue, forward," the joint letter said.
As early winter turns into late spring, it is clear ATA's position hasn't changed. "Is it an important issue? Yes. Can it be the only issue? Unfortunately, no," Boyd Stephenson, ATA's manager for safety and security operations, said May 3 at an international trade conference in Norfolk.
Shippers' groups have come to realize what they probably already suspected: that the trucking industry as a whole pays lip service to the issue, even though a honcho like David S. Congdon, president and CEO of Thomasville, N.C.-based less-than-truckload carrier Old Dominion Freight Line Inc., has gone on record saying an increase in size and weight limits would represent a "quantum leap" in supply chain productivity.
TEMPORARY SETBACK?
For now, and perhaps for the foreseeable future, U.S. shippers will have to be content with the status quo, even though their two border partners, Mexico and Canada, have weight limits of 106,000 and 95,000 pounds, respectively. They are also left to ponder what remedies will be available to deal with the consequences of a doubling or tripling of U.S. truck volumes by 2025 on an infrastructure where truck traffic is already growing 11 times faster than road capacity.
John Runyan, executive director of the Coalition for Transportation Productivity, which has lobbied extensively to increase truck size and weight limits, said the recent legislative setbacks are temporary and the joint ATA-AAR letter didn't make anything better or worse for the group's members.
Runyan said, however, that he would have advised ATA officials not to sign the letter.
"The days of a carrier group speaking on behalf of American shippers are over," he said. "They simply may not be aware of that yet."
Supply chain planning (SCP) leaders working on transformation efforts are focused on two major high-impact technology trends, including composite AI and supply chain data governance, according to a study from Gartner, Inc.
"SCP leaders are in the process of developing transformation roadmaps that will prioritize delivering on advanced decision intelligence and automated decision making," Eva Dawkins, Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Composite AI, which is the combined application of different AI techniques to improve learning efficiency, will drive the optimization and automation of many planning activities at scale, while supply chain data governance is the foundational key for digital transformation.”
Their pursuit of those roadmaps is often complicated by frequent disruptions and the rapid pace of technological innovation. But Gartner says those leaders can accelerate the realized value of technology investments by facilitating a shift from IT-led to business-led digital leadership, with SCP leaders taking ownership of multidisciplinary teams to advance business operations, channels and products.
“A sound data governance strategy supports advanced technologies, such as composite AI, while also facilitating collaboration throughout the supply chain technology ecosystem,” said Dawkins. “Without attention to data governance, SCP leaders will likely struggle to achieve their expected ROI on key technology investments.”
The U.S. manufacturing sector has become an engine of new job creation over the past four years, thanks to a combination of federal incentives and mega-trends like nearshoring and the clean energy boom, according to the industrial real estate firm Savills.
While those manufacturing announcements have softened slightly from their 2022 high point, they remain historically elevated. And the sector’s growth outlook remains strong, regardless of the results of the November U.S. presidential election, the company said in its September “Savills Manufacturing Report.”
From 2021 to 2024, over 995,000 new U.S. manufacturing jobs were announced, with two thirds in advanced sectors like electric vehicles (EVs) and batteries, semiconductors, clean energy, and biomanufacturing. After peaking at 350,000 news jobs in 2022, the growth pace has slowed, with 2024 expected to see just over half that number.
But the ingredients are in place to sustain the hot temperature of American manufacturing expansion in 2025 and beyond, the company said. According to Savills, that’s because the U.S. manufacturing revival is fueled by $910 billion in federal incentives—including the Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS and Science Act, and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act—much of which has not yet been spent. Domestic production is also expected to be boosted by new tariffs, including a planned rise in semiconductor tariffs to 50% in 2025 and an increase in tariffs on Chinese EVs from 25% to 100%.
Certain geographical regions will see greater manufacturing growth than others, since just eight states account for 47% of new manufacturing jobs and over 6.3 billion square feet of industrial space, with 197 million more square feet under development. They are: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Tennessee.
Across the border, Mexico’s manufacturing sector has also seen “revolutionary” growth driven by nearshoring strategies targeting U.S. markets and offering lower-cost labor, with a workforce that is now even cheaper than in China. Over the past four years, that country has launched 27 new plants, each creating over 500 jobs. Unlike the U.S. focus on tech manufacturing, Mexico focuses on traditional sectors such as automative parts, appliances, and consumer goods.
Looking at the future, the U.S. manufacturing sector’s growth outlook remains strong, regardless of the results of November’s presidential election, Savills said. That’s because both candidates favor protectionist trade policies, and since significant change to federal incentives would require a single party to control both the legislative and executive branches. Rather than relying on changes in political leadership, future growth of U.S. manufacturing now hinges on finding affordable, reliable power amid increasing competition between manufacturing sites and data centers, Savills said.
The British logistics robot vendor Dexory this week said it has raised $80 million in venture funding to support an expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered features, grow its global team, and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous robots.
A “significant focus” continues to be on expanding across the U.S. market, where Dexory is live with customers in seven states and last month opened a U.S. headquarters in Nashville. The Series B will also enhance development and production facilities at its UK headquarters, the firm said.
The “series B” funding round was led by DTCP, with participation from Latitude Ventures, Wave-X and Bootstrap Europe, along with existing investors Atomico, Lakestar, Capnamic, and several angels from the logistics industry. With the close of the round, Dexory has now raised $120 million over the past three years.
Dexory says its product, DexoryView, provides real-time visibility across warehouses of any size through its autonomous mobile robots and AI. The rolling bots use sensor and image data and continuous data collection to perform rapid warehouse scans and create digital twins of warehouse spaces, allowing for optimized performance and future scenario simulations.
Originally announced in September, the move will allow Deutsche Bahn to “fully focus on restructuring the rail infrastructure in Germany and providing climate-friendly passenger and freight transport operations in Germany and Europe,” Werner Gatzer, Chairman of the DB Supervisory Board, said in a release.
For its purchase price, DSV gains an organization with around 72,700 employees at over 1,850 locations. The new owner says it plans to investment around one billion euros in coming years to promote additional growth in German operations. Together, DSV and Schenker will have a combined workforce of approximately 147,000 employees in more than 90 countries, earning pro forma revenue of approximately $43.3 billion (based on 2023 numbers), DSV said.
After removing that unit, Deutsche Bahn retains its core business called the “Systemverbund Bahn,” which includes passenger transport activities in Germany, rail freight activities, operational service units, and railroad infrastructure companies. The DB Group, headquartered in Berlin, employs around 340,000 people.
“We have set clear goals to structurally modernize Deutsche Bahn in the areas of infrastructure, operations and profitability and focus on the core business. The proceeds from the sale will significantly reduce DB’s debt and thus make an important contribution to the financial stability of the DB Group. At the same time, DB Schenker will gain a strong strategic owner in DSV,” Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz said in a release.
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.