If long-haul rail, short-haul trucking going to succeed; then what changes need to be made on the trucking front to convince truckers and make the investments worthwhile?
I stumbled on this site and didn’t realize how much truckers are against long-haul railroading.
It is probably some extremist ranting on about how much he hates railroads, but the commenter Linda brings up issues in the trucking industry I didn’t know.
Competition between truck and rail isn’t what it once was…after all, trucks and trains are just tools of the trade. These days the focus is on transportation, logistics, and supply chain management. Thus, the answer to your question, the changes that need to be made are mostly evolutionary in nature…ie…e they’re already taking place. Trucking companies and railroads are evolving to become transportation companies…the most progressive of these are going even further and becoming supply chain management companies that not only supply and manage transportation but go even further in managing the material needs of shippers and their own customers. Competition is so intense in transportation that there’s really no money left to be made in simply moving freight…the real money is in the planning and on the management side where suppliers may differentiate themselves in the marketplace. Ten or 20 years ago it would have been sufficient for carriers to go to a shipper and present rates to various points they wished to service… Now the bar is higher…much higher. Now carriers need to be able to look at shippers’ entire transportation requirement…inbound loads…outbound loads…LTL… truckload…international…domestic…shorthaul…longhaul warehouse requirements…and come up with a plan that minimizes cost while ensuring well defined service levels are met…not an easy task even when the shipper is small and relatively simple.
Unfortunately the numbers don’t support the writer’s rant…rail tons are up over the last 10 years and no railroader has proposed door to door rail service…the goal was never to replace trucks completely. At most it was (and is) to gain market share in lanes that are rail competitive…The old rail verses truck argument was more relevant prior to deregulation. Aside from improving market share in some lanes, most carriers have moved beyond that and are focussed on improving services regardless of mode.
One would be treat the DRIVERS as Humans when it comes to Idle restrictions. Are you aware that a DOG has more rights in CA when it comes to staying warm or cool than a human being that is in charge of 80,000 lbs yet he or she can not stay warm even if it is below 30degrees or try and stay cool even in the middle of the Mojave Desert because the State of COMMIEFORNIA says idling an engine will kill a fly. Yet you have a dog on your truck you can run it 24/7 and there is NOTHING THEY WILL SAY OR DO TO YOU because it could kill a dog.
Also states need to stop thinking as trucks as ROLLING ATMS more than one state has tried and lost in Federal court for having a seperate fine structure for trucks over cars. Also Split Speed limits DO NOT SAVE LIVES THEY TAKE THEM. Study after Study has shown and in state after state that has GOTTEN RID OF IT that keeping traffic at the same speed saves lives. Why some IDIOT in a BMW is not going to have to throw his car out into the other lane because he looks up from his Cellphone and in a panic realizes that either move over or eat a bumper. Last rant for now since any CDL holder has to undergo Drug testing after a accident lets make it MANDATORY that if your in any accident with a OTR truck you have to undergo drug tests and if your under the Influance you lose the RIGHT TO SUE. Sorry this is from Personal experiance I was hit in 1996 by a man with a BAC of .24 yet because I was 2 inches on his side of the centerline his wife won over a million bucks because of her husband NOT WEARING A SEATBELT.
Of course long haul truckers are against railroads. How would you feel if a company or system wanted to replace you in your chosen occupation.
However the system is built to serve the shipper, not the transportation method. An integrated system that works best for the shipper will be the one that survives. The truck driver, or the railroad employee is just a tool in that system.
YOU were not hit by the man with a BAC 0f .24, you HIT HIM. Yes, he was wrong for probably being too drunk to evade bring hit, and likely was injured much more seriously because of not wearing a seat belt; but the bottom line is that you were over the centerline. Why was that?
FWIW, I do agree with you about the discrepancy in traffic laws and liabilities for truckers. I am frequently amazed at the incredibly stupid things auto drivers do in front of and around big rigs. If above-mentioned idiot in his BMW gets smacked by you while he was on the phone, it is certainly not fair that only the trucker should be tested; I’ll go further and say that either BOTH drivers should be tested or NEITHER driver should be tested.
Actually, until someone invents a test that will only show CURRENT levels of impairment, then all testing should be abolished, both in the workplace and on the road.
also, often carriers can’t act on a postive drug test result. In some jurisdictions a positive test result is considered a sign of a disability…and you can’t just fire people for having a disability. This happened to an employer I worked for some years ago… Driver tested positive…carrier fired him…driver took it up with human rights…and he had to be reinstated. And carrier was obligated to pay the driver’s rehab cost and then put him back on the road when he was deemed “cured”.
This is why carriers really need to pay attention to ensuring drivers are obeying all laws to the letter. Let’s say a driver is running past his allowed hours of service and a drunk driver hits him…that carrier and truck driver are still liable for the accident because it can be argued that the truck should not have been operating and had it not been on the road the drunk driver would not have hit it. Bottom line is if you’re involved in any kind of accident you had better be sure that everything is right and proper on your end…anything that isn’t up to snuff will hang you in court…even if the other guy is stoned and hammered out of his mind.
Ulrich states the obvious, the trucking industry, while in competiton with the railroads are potential partners in the supply chain, each bring to the table necessary adjuncts to the picure of manufacturing and retail industries. The old model of the adversarial relationship is rapidly going by the boards. The trucking industry suffers from a drop in the supply of drivers willing to go out and stay out. To run their dispatches as long as they have hours available.
The model today is for some trcking companies to get driverrs home on prmised schedules; ( out so many days or weeks, and then home for days dependent on the time they were out.) The problem with this is that the drivers is taken out of the reloading computer model, and is planned on shorter trips to get them home, as promised ( read this as the driver does not make his income potential). Because they do not make the expected income the driver becomes unhappy, and a targety for another recruiter,AND HIS PROMISES OF GREENER PASTURES.READ AS TURNOVER IN DRIVERS;a costly expense for large (or small) trucking companies. As well as other aspects of the business which create movement of drivers in the industry. Edbenton has illustrated very well, some of these aspects and pitfalls, from the owner/driver angle.
Enter Intermodal, The ability to move freight in trailers or trailer sized containers (45’,48’,53’), and move them long distances rapidly. The problem of thhismode is the drayages, at loading and destination. The potential for delays for any number of reasons. Unavailibility of tractors, drivers, or chassis, or any number of potential delays at any location. Drivers don’t like the problems with Intermodal, porly loaded freight (potential damage to explain or justify), overloads (problems of all sorts), The hassles of chassis’s with damage, flat tires, light issues, ad nauseum)&nb
Hey Zardoz that man that HIT me sorry but when your truck has a mechincal failure aka a BLOWN air line your along for the ride. His job from discovery in the case was a Crane Operator at CAT he had also been thru the company rehab program 3 times and was on a Judical Driving Permit meaning he could only drive to and From WORK due to having been hit with 4 DUI’s in 10 years. Also think about it as a RR worker 2 inches that is about the thickness of the Handrails on a Locomotive. His speed at POI was 75MPH speed Limit was 45 MPH in a CONSTRUCTION ZONE ALSO. There was even a Width Restriction no wider than 10 feet because of the construction at the time. I was 102 or 8 feet 6 inches wide which gave me 9 inches to play with.
The impact force was strong enough to remove the cab of a truck MINE from its frame spin it 90 degrees lay it on its side and come to rest 5 feet from the radiator. He then carried on hit the drivers side fuel tank tore a 2 foot long gash in it bounced off my drive axles and hit my landing gear leg on the driver side on the trailer and BENT IT 90 degrees to the frame of the trailer. Now to do that on the trailer you are talking about bending 1/2 inch heat treated plate steel with a bend strength of over 100K lbs of force. Then he flew backwards and landed across the constuction zone in the ditch for the new lanes 30 feet away. This reconstruction of the wreck comes from my insurance company reconstructionist. He had at the time 25 years of OTR accident reconstruction experiance and he stated that this was the worse accident he had seen were the driver of the truck SURVIVED. Yet come the civil case we could not use the Autopsy or HIS DRIVING RECORD FOR OUR DEFENSE.
I was unaware of those details; from the account you provided, I find it totally absurd that any jury could have possible sided with that loser. That must have been quite an incident.
From the sparse info in your earlier post I jumped to a poor conclusion. My sincere apologies.[B)]
My insurance company made the choice to Settle. Why the second I was over the centerline even though it was a Mechanical Failure and with 2 judges rulings the First being that the other Parties BAC was NOT admissable and the Second was his Prior DUI History was also NOT Admissable we were SCREWED. When those rulings came down against us we as a group my employeer myself and the company insurance company chose to settle the case.
The Judge ruled that even though the victim in the accident was driving Drunk and had 4 prior DUI’s was doing close to 2X the speed limit not one of those factors were the main reason he died. He ruled the main reason that he died was hitting my truck. BTW this Judge was also we found out AFTER THE CASE WAS SETTLED getting major cash for his elections from the UAW and was a member of the same Country Club as the Plaintiffs ATTY.
Ed I can tell you some things that would have possibly won that case but Trust me in that I know exactly what your saying and what happened and how you are singled out. the law does not play fair all the time.
In response to the rant above about driver working conditions in CA, every driver has a choice, albeit an economic one to install a cab cooler, webasto or Espar heater or one of the many all-inclusive APU units w/ heat and a/c. They make a lot of economic and environmental sense, using one of these to heat / cool the truck while parked vs idling a 300-400 HP engine to run the AC. … and yes, I’ve installed them on fleets, so I do have some first hand knowledge. I also know that many states allow additional GVW to accomodate the weight of the unit.
To the original post, look at who the largest truckers are in the US? Schneider, JBH, Swift, etc. Who are also the largest carriers of domestic intermodal freight. SAME GUYS! It’s not an either - or. When will people get that through their head.
Some freight will never, ever move on the train. It won’t happen, accept that and move on. Some freight has very specific delivery needs (not just JIT auto freight) a lot of other things do to. The Shipper decides how it moves and intermodal doesn’t always provide the most reliable service. It is not as reliable as OTR truck. It’s also a little slower in a lot of cases. (Keep in mind that speed and reliability are two very different things to the shipper.) Often the shipper will accept both of those if the invetory value fits and if the impact of a stock-outage fits - given the price difference between intermodal and truck.
Time to trot out the B/S card here. Explain why, over the last decade JB Hunt formerly one of the largest long haul truckers in the US has shifted to having about 4 x the number of containers as they do tractors and hwy trailers.
Most US Truckers are in the “LOGISTICS” business, not in the trucking business. They provide the service that the customer needs, which often times has little to do with an OTR truck.
Most DRIVERS do not have a CHOICE as to what gets INSTALLED IN THEIR TRUCKS. 95% of ALL OTR TRUCKS OUT THERE ARE COMPANY UNITS THAT MEANS THE DRIVER IS AT THE MERCY OF A PENNYPINCHING SOB THAT WOULD MAKE HUNTER HARRISON GREEN WITH ENVY. The Normal OTR driver has about as much chance for specing his truck as we do to get the RR’s to bring back steam. I served on a Driver commitee at one company we were asked what we wanted in the next years trucks we asked for more power and a larger sleeper. Remember at this company we ran west and stayed out for weeks however the boss decided he was going to stick with his 350 HP and 48 in flat tops. He wondered why he had a 140% turnover rate. Considering the next company had 70 inch condo Freightliners with 500 HP and also we were governed at 78 MPH and were paid well.
Deregulation did in the trucking industry back in 1980, Don’t ever think the trucking industry is in healthy shape, Its not trust me i have been driving for over 20 years and have over 2 million miles with no wrecks, Knock on wood, But there is alot of discounting on freight rates sometimes up to 85%, I work for a large LTL trucking company, Some of these company’s are barely getting by. I was over the road for my first ten years of driving, And two of the OTR company’s i worked for went under. Sad shape indeed heck some company’s have an Operating Ratio of 122%. I could go on and on about this but will stop for right now.