To those wringing their hands over the possible impact of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance's (CVSA's) upcoming three-day international vehicle safety inspection on delivery deadlines in an already-pressurized North American motor freight market, Collin B. Mooney, the group's executive director, has a one-word message: Chill.
Each year for the past 30, CVSA, which co-ordinates commercial vehicle roadside inspection activities in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, has overseen 72 consecutive hours of roadside inspections. This year's event, scheduled for June 5 and 7, is designed, as all the others have been, to call attention to the importance of comprehensive vehicle and driver inspections to keep North American roads safe, Mooney said in a phone interview.
"In reality, we don't do anything different (during the three-day period than) during any day throughout the year," Mooney said. He added that there should be no impact on supply chain performance as a result of the three-day inspection cycle, believed to be the world's largest targeted safety probe of commercial motor vehicles. During the period, 17 trucks and buses are inspected, on average, every minute, according to CVSA estimates.
What is different this year is that, effective April 1, inspectors were authorized to place drivers or vehicles out of service if a truck was not equipped with an electronic logging device (ELD) to monitor a driver's hours-of-service compliance. Mooney acknowledged that conducting the inspections just two months after the start of ELD enforcement could be a factor in the event gaining more visibility than it has in past years.
Transport consultancy TranzAct Technologies Inc. issued an e-mail communiqué today saying that shippers "may see shipment delays or find it more difficult to book transportation during this window." Many truckers schedule their vacations around the program to avoid the hassle of being stopped and having their vehicles inspected, TranzAct said. As a result, capacity generally tightens during the three-day cycle, according to the firm.
The controversial ELD mandate, which was written by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and took effect last Dec. 18, applies to trucks built after the year 2000. The original regulation included some exemptions, such as for drivers operating vehicles on runs of less than 150 miles and for vehicles used in certain rental operations. CVSA, for its part, frowns on exemptions because they pose challenges to an orderly, uniform inspection system. However, it agrees that, in some cases, exemptions are warranted.
The ELD mandate is believed to have curtailed fleet productivity by up to 10 percent because drivers can no longer manipulate paper logbooks to, for example, log dock waiting times as time off instead of those hours being included in a driver's 14-hour workday. Not surprisingly, some are concerned that in a market where certain lengths of haul that used to be covered in one day are now done in two, any detailed roadside inspections could make things harder for drivers to make their delivery commitments.
During the event, known as "International Roadcheck," inspectors will primarily conduct the group's standard "Level I" inspection, a 37-step procedure that includes an examination of both driver operating requirements and vehicle mechanical fitness. Drivers are asked to provide their operating credentials and hours-of-service documentation, and they will be checked for seat-belt usage.
If no critical violations are found during a Level I Inspection, a CVSA decal will be applied to the vehicle indicating that it passed inspection. If an inspector identifies critical violations, he or she may issue an out-of-service order against the driver or the vehicle, meaning the driver cannot operate the vehicle until the violation or violations(s) are corrected.
There are about 13,000 state and federal roadside inspectors monitored by CVSA.
The number of container ships waiting outside U.S. East and Gulf Coast ports has swelled from just three vessels on Sunday to 54 on Thursday as a dockworker strike has swiftly halted bustling container traffic at some of the nation’s business facilities, according to analysis by Everstream Analytics.
As of Thursday morning, the two ports with the biggest traffic jams are Savannah (15 ships) and New York (14), followed by single-digit numbers at Mobile, Charleston, Houston, Philadelphia, Norfolk, Baltimore, and Miami, Everstream said.
The impact of that clogged flow of goods will depend on how long the strike lasts, analysts with Moody’s said. The firm’s Moody’s Analytics division estimates the strike will cause a daily hit to the U.S. economy of at least $500 million in the coming days. But that impact will jump to $2 billion per day if the strike persists for several weeks.
The immediate cost of the strike can be seen in rising surcharges and rerouting delays, which can be absorbed by most enterprise-scale companies but hit small and medium-sized businesses particularly hard, a report from Container xChange says.
“The timing of this strike is especially challenging as we are in our traditional peak season. While many pulled forward shipments earlier this year to mitigate risks, stockpiled inventories will only cushion businesses for so long. If the strike continues for an extended period, we could see significant strain on container availability and shipping schedules,” Christian Roeloffs, cofounder and CEO of Container xChange, said in a release.
“For small and medium-sized container traders, this could result in skyrocketing logistics costs and delays, making it harder to secure containers. The longer the disruption lasts, the more difficult it will be for these businesses to keep pace with market demands,” Roeloffs 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.
National nonprofit Wreaths Across America (WAA) kicked off its 2024 season this week with a call for volunteers. The group, which honors U.S. military veterans through a range of civic outreach programs, is seeking trucking companies and professional drivers to help deliver wreaths to cemeteries across the country for its annual wreath-laying ceremony, December 14.
“Wreaths Across America relies on the transportation industry to move the mission. The Honor Fleet, composed of dedicated carriers, professional drivers, and other transportation partners, guarantees the delivery of millions of sponsored veterans’ wreaths to their destination each year,” Courtney George, WAA’s director of trucking and industry relations, said in a statement Tuesday. “Transportation partners benefit from driver retention and recruitment, employee engagement, positive brand exposure, and the opportunity to give back to their community’s veterans and military families.”
WAA delivers wreaths to more than 4,500 locations nationwide, and as of this week had added more than 20 loads to be delivered this season. The wreaths are donated by sponsors from across the country, delivered by truckers, and laid at the graves of veterans by WAA volunteers.
Wreaths Across America
Transportation companies interested in joining the Honor Fleet can visit the WAA website to find an open lane or contact the WAA transportation team at trucking@wreathsacrossamerica.org for more information.