In our last blog post, we touched on the recruiting challenges facing the American trucking industry. According to some industry experts, this trend is so alarming, and has the potential to create such significant changes in the marketplace, we felt it deserved its own blog. According to the American Trucking Associations (ATA), the industry is about 30,000 drivers short of the number of drivers needed. Most alarming, however, is the prediction that Over the next 10 years, that number is set to rise to 200,000.
While freight volumes continue to be high, there are several major issues facing the trucking industry in the United States. Among the top of the list is capacity issues combined with driver shortage. One study shows that as a whole, the truck driver population in the United States is aging. One of the biggest obstacles faced by trucking companies or carriers is recruiting quality drivers.
Often, shipping managers are quick to pick the lowest priced carrier for an LTL shipment. While price is certainly a big factor, there are some other things that should be considered in addition. Factors such as transit time, carrier safety records and on-time performace are key elements in making sure that you pick the right carrier for a given shipment. Frequency with which shipments are damaged by each carrier should also be given priority in the decision making process.
Plastic pallets are becoming a common sight these days. The reasons are quite clear - plastic pallets have many advantages compared to their wood counterparts.
For starters, plastic pallets are easy to sanitize because they can be washed and disinfected between shipments. In foodservice logistics, this feature can help to reduce cross contamination and can also prevent the spread of foodborne illness because they don't absorb pathogens.
Policies enacted by the Obama administration have been designed to stimulate economic growth. The US manufacturing industry is one of the cornerstone supporters of local economies in ways that people may not realize. The manufacturing sector accounts for a large number of new American patents & the the research dollars behind their creation. Fields like 3D printing and digital manufacturing are the fastest growing segements of the market. It's a fact that the growth of the American manufacturing sector is outpacing the growth of the economy overall.
The following some general best practices for shippers with regard to dealing with oversized items being shipped by common carriers.
Choose pallets large enough to prevent overhang of shipment pieces. Many times, shippers will place oversized items (even if only by a few inches) on standard sized pallets. This means that sections of the freight will hang over the sizes of the pallets. Not only can this cause problems with billing, if the pallets can't fit next to other freight int the truck, but it can also result in damage to the item being shipped.
Find out 3 of the top reasons that most of the nation's largest companies use 3PLs and freight forwarders to help manage their supply chain.
1. Flexibility- Forwarders and 3PLs often have a network of carriers who can move a shipment at any given time. Having many options means that by working with a 3PL, you automatically have access to different carriers who can come through if an original plan falls apart. This means less disruption and an increased likelihood of on-time delivery.
As most shippers know, carriers and 3PLs consider LTL (Less than Truckload) to be 6 or less standard sized pallets. Usually, LTL shipments weigh less than 10,000 lbs. Conversely, FTL (Full Truckload) shipments occupy an entire trailer (or close to it). The shipments which are too large for LTL, but smaller than FTL are referred to as Volume shipments. Volume shipments are similar to a partial load, and are moved via common carrier (UPS Freight, Saia, Conway, etc).
Trucking companies who transport LTL and FTL freight run on a precise schedule for pick-ups and drop-offs. The same could be said about all truck drivers everyday. During the winter months in certain regions of the United States, the daily schedules of truck drivers could be dangerously impacted due to the impending cold weather and winter snowstorms.
