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.
Easter Sunday (and April Fool's Day) begins the next phase of the odyssey toward electronic logging device (ELD) compliance, as state motor vehicle inspectors begin writing out-of-service orders to drivers whose rigs lack some form of electronic equipment to monitor adherence to federal driver hours-of-service rules. While some have forecast ugliness, others think April 1 will be a non-event.
One who shares the latter view is Noel Perry, principal of Transport Futures, a research firm. Perry bases his thesis on data from Truckstop.com, which operates load boards for the truckload non-contract, or spot, market, and which Perry does work for. In an interview today, Perry said driver compliance with the ELD mandate surged between last Dec. 18—the date the mandate took effect—and the beginning of 2018. The reason, Perry posits, has nothing to do with hard compliance numbers—precise data of that sort is difficult to obtain. Instead, it stems from the unusually explosive spike in shipper load activity during the two-week period, as measured by Truckstop's "Market Demand Index," which tracks load and truck postings.
It has been widely believed that ELD compliance will reduce fleet productivity by between 3 and 5 percent (some have forecast a more pronounced percentage hit) because the many drivers who in the past had deliberately exceeded their legal driving hours without worrying about electronic tracking would no longer be able to do so. Mindful of this, anxious shippers ratcheted up their postings, thinking that most drivers had already become compliant and that the ELD-related hit would be a reality sooner than April 1, when many thought the crunch would begin, Perry believes.
Perry surmises that compliance levels are currently in the low- to mid-90-percent range. That squares with data from DAT Solutions LLC, the industry's other big load board operator, that shows 91 percent of small, independent truckers—the segment that has been the last to meet the guidelines—were compliant either by adopting ELD technology or by being granted temporary exemptions from the federal government. Seven percent planned to comply by April 1, while the remaining 3 percent were unsure whether to comply or exit the business, according to DAT estimates. Eileen Hart, a DAT spokeswoman, said she's been told by some ELD vendors that compliance levels are around 75 percent.
Others are not as sanguine about the impact of the April 1 deadline. Greg Ritter, chief customer officer for Greenwich, Conn.-based transport and logistics giant XPO Logistics Inc., said on a webinar Wednesday that the "worst is yet to come," and warned of a "tsunami effect that will shut down carriers" as enforcement begins to bite. During the same webinar, Jeff Rogers, CEO of Universal Logistics Holdings Inc., a Warren, Mich.-based transport and logistics provider, said he's been told that federal and state officials are going to take a hard line on enforcement starting next week. That contrasts with comments from Benjamin J. Hartford, transport analyst at the investment firm Baird, that post-April 1 enforcement will "likely be more gradual than acute" because of uncertainty over the uniformity of state enforcement regulations. Hartford said ELD-related carrier attrition will also be gradual, as continuing robust spot market demand keeps more truckers in the game.
A driver found in non-compliance will have the truck placed out of service for 10 hours. After that period, he or she can proceed to their final destination. The driver must then become fully compliant with the mandate before being dispatched on another trip. Fines for non-compliance range from $1,000 to more than $10,000 per offense. Carriers or drivers that accumulate multiple violations will face hits to their safety records, driving up their insurance premiums, and perhaps keeping them off shipper, broker and third-party logistics (3PL) provider carrier lists. Many shippers and brokers now require their drivers to show proof of ELD compliance before they will tender them loads.
Another reason to be compliant sooner than later, according to Perry, is to protect against a safety audit down the road or, even worse, potential liability should a carrier be sued as a result of an accident. The last thing any carrier or driver wants, he said, is to be in the crosshairs of an auditor or a plaintiff's lawyer and not be able to demonstrate ELD compliance.
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 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.
Serious inland flooding and widespread power outages are likely to sweep across Florida and other Southeast states in coming days with the arrival of Hurricane Helene, which is now predicted to make landfall Thursday evening along Florida’s northwest coast as a major hurricane, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
While the most catastrophic landfall impact is expected in the sparsely-population Big Bend area of Florida, it’s not only sea-front cities that are at risk. Since Helene is an “unusually large storm,” its flooding, rainfall, and high winds won’t be limited only to the Gulf Coast, but are expected to travel hundreds of miles inland, the weather service said. Heavy rainfall is expected to begin in the region even before the storm comes ashore, and the wet conditions will continue to move northward into the southern Appalachians region through Friday, dumping storm total rainfall amounts of up to 18 inches. Specifically, the major flood risk includes the urban areas around Tallahassee, metro Atlanta, and western North Carolina.
In addition to its human toll, the storm could exert serious business impacts, according to the supply chain mapping and monitoring firm Resilinc. Those will be largely triggered by significant flooding, which could halt oil operations, force mandatory evacuations, restrict ports, and disrupt air traffic.
While the storm’s track is currently forecast to miss the critical ports of Miami and New Orleans, it could still hurt operations throughout the Southeast agricultural belt, which produces products like soybeans, cotton, peanuts, corn, and tobacco, according to Everstream Analytics.
That widespread footprint could also hinder supply chain and logistics flows along stretches of interstate highways I-10 and I-75 and on regional rail lines operated by Norfolk Southern and CSX. And Hurricane Helene could also likely impact business operations by unleashing power outages, deep flooding, and wind damage in northern Florida portions of Georgia, Everstream Analytics said.
Before the storm had even touched Florida soil, recovery efforts were already being launched by humanitarian aid group the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN). In a statement on Wednesday, the group said it is urging residents in the storm's path across the Southeast to heed evacuation notices and safety advisories, and reminding members of the logistics community that their post-storm help could be needed soon. The group will continue to update its Disaster Micro-Site with Hurricane Helene resources and with requests for donated logistics assistance, most of which will start arriving within 24 to 72 hours after the storm’s initial landfall, ALAN said.