double stack you almost came off sounding right. almost, JBHunt and schnieder and swift and a few others have been and still are cut throat companies. JBHunt came in and would cut the rate for hauling then when fuel go up park his trucks and leave all the other companies to haul that junk,
Ed dont take this personal these guys dont care about the facts. Thier minds are made up. I know you have alot of information and can inform the forum.
You mention that most drivers do not have a choice of what is installed in “Their trucks.” Are they their trucks? I’ve never known an owner operator who couldn’t outfit “his” truck how he wanted. If you’re talking about a company owned truck, then that’s a different matter. That’s not “their truck” that’s the companie’s truck and their $80-90,000 spent on that truck.
If the company doesn’t provide a competive or reasonable environment in their truck, then you vote with your feet and move on to somewhere that does. I’ve seldom seen a driver who is afraid to do that. Hence the 140% turn over rate you mention above. Keep in mind thought that the market, moreso than the owner of the company decides what you get paid and what equipment the market will support. It would be great to give every driver a 70" condo, but when the first guy breaks ranks with that and comes up with a cheaper and lighter solution, the shipper is going to reward his “Low cost” position and
Ed, the settlement by your insurance carrier was/ or is still probably is a common practice in the Trucking industry. It is purely a gamble on a statistical reality… The public opinion is against trucking companies and or drivers. So the Insurance companies jump at the out of court settlement, it saves them money, purely a business decision based on prior experiences.
So in most cases where the action is against a trucking company, the insurance carrier will opt to settle. This is because the odds are against a favorable settlement to the trucking company. This is particularly evident in cases where a jury is sitting in judgement. It is nothing to do with justice,or right and wrong; it is purely a financial decision.
One case of evidence in this process is when a commercial truck is involved in an accident/incident with a privately owned vehicle. In most cases, the insurance adjuster sent to the scene, is authorized to write the injured party a check to cover damages. ( In most cases when asked, the individual will have no idea of the costs for repairs to their vehicle), so when asked by the adjustor, they will usually quote low, and that amount is the amount of the adjustor’s check. Which check when cashed (has a disclosure on the reverse side absolving the carrier or insurance company of any further liability when signed by the adressee).
Many large companies now days are self-insured up to a specific amount per incident; money is set aside as a part of normal operational costs. Trucking companies will sell their “risks” to insurance brokerage companies, which will resell that risk to an interested insurance carrier. Who will then “buy” that risk and cover damages as contracted. Usually the insurance brokerage company will operate a “stable” of available adjustors who will then go out to
`Doublestack realworld here for ONCE IN YOUR LIFE. A 12.7 liter Detroit rated at 500 HP in a C120 with a 70 inch Condo style Sleeper twin 100 gallon tanks 10 speed tranny weighs 16K FULL OF FUEL AKA WET WEIGHT READY TO RUN WITH MY 300LB BUT AND ALL MY CRAP FOR MY STAY ON THE ROAD IN IT. Source was CAT SCALE. 53ft Utlity Reefer with a 50 gallon tank and a Carrier Screw compressor Reefer unit was another 16K leaving me with 48 K for cargo 90% of the time unless hauling COORS OR BUDWEISER I would cube out before I would GROSS WEIGH OUT. Tractor had air weigh scales and I could get pretty close to 79500 before I would worry about weight. NOW THE SOB BOSS THAT LIKED THE 48 INCH FLAT TOPS HIS WERE 379 PETES WITH A CAT 3406 AND A 48 INCH FLAT TOP NOW EVEN TEAMS HAD TO RUN IN THESE. The C120 got between 7-8 MPG and the Pete with 150 LESS HP got 2 MPG LESS why because when we would hit the Mountains in the West you know those little things like Sherman ELK Cabbage CAJON GRAPEVINE DONNER PARLEY RATON Flagstaff and a WHOLE CRAPLOAD OF OTHERS we would lose 2 more gears than the 500 HP trucks beacuse of 400 LESS FTlbs of TORQUE and 10 kess MPH in speed. I could hit Sherman coming east 75 MPH with the C120 at 80K top of it be doing 45 and down 2 gears. However the Pete would hit at 68 company imposed speed limit and then at the top be doing 35 IF I WAS LUCKY and that was with a 60K Gross weight.
One of the largest changes is these 3PL that take 30-50% of the freight charges aka CH Roberson and then say well all we can pay you is .90CPM on a load that they got for 2-3 bucks a mile when all they did was make a few phone calls. Why do you think they got HAMMERED for 25 Million on a fatal accident that they allowed a carrier who had No INSURANCE to haul a load and he had a fatal accident.
Doublestack Even JB Hunt quit Ordering COE’s when the Great Pumpkin fleet ordered Conventianls and they ordered CONDOS for all their OTR drivers. Word to the wise in the OTR industry not listening to your DRIVERS on what they want in a truck for comfort will lead to you losing drivers and higher costs. With the CVSA2010 hitting in a week instead of it being the Company leading the way it will be the DRIVERS BALL GAME again.
In the trucking industry right now, there is just too much capacity. YRC (parent to Yellow and Roadway) lost 2 billion in the last two years, right now they have one foot in the grave, and the other on a banana peel, if not enough people participate in their reorganization plan, they could go into bankruptcy by the end of January.
Ed has a point, brokers like Cheap & Heavy Robinson are taking way too much money for themselves, and not passing enough to drivers. A few weeks ago on satellite radio, there was a discussion on so-called “zombie truckers”, those that are broke but still trucking because banks can’t or won’t reposess trucks because they can’t even get back what they are owed by reselling the trucks. Quite interesting, hopefully they will replay it a few times over the holidays.
As for specs and weight, some companies are going lightweight because customers are demanding more weight be hauled, or lose the contract. My company truck (Kenworth T2000, Cat C15, 10-speed, 70-inch double bunk sleeper) scales out wet at about 19,000lb, with trailer, about 33,000 and change. I haul 46-47,000 lbs on a regular basis, and the lifetime average MPG is a flat 6, as of Nov 30. Our newer T660s are a touch lighter, and are getting about 7MPG with the same weight, with the Cummins ISX. They are also pulling the hills two gears faster than I am, though the top speed is still the same (66mph).
Another item that may play out very interesting is the switch to electronic logs from the paper version. With the electronic version, there is no cheating, period. This does not bother me too much, as I run legal 98-99 percent of the time, but it bothers most everyone else. This, comb
Its about time!
As comparison, this is what we came up with while trying to put together a temperature controlled double stack operation to move perishables from the west coast. (For those that don’t know “Tare” is empty weight.)
|
Container Tare |
13,691 |
|
Chassis Tare |
Thing is with DPF we just lost another 1000 lbs of weight also for product since you have to carry that crap around. Also Greyhounds anything your hauling Doublestack reefer freight the stuff is heavy as can be and would be in a 40 footer already. As for YRC I can tell you what the issues are there. Called way to many workers since they are a Teamster company Back in 1999 I had to drop a damaged pallet of product off for return at the Yellow terminal in the Stockon CA. Here is what it took to get that off my trailer. Step one drop my trailer since I was not allowed to back into their doors NOT A MEMBER OF THE IBT. Step 2 their spotter a regular trailer backed up to the trailer and hooked up to it however the driver did not get out to raise the dolly legs. A yard worker comes over raises the landing gear and then another person came over to hook the airlines and pigtail in.
Step 4 driver backs trailer into door he had to be a city driver used to a 28 footer because seeing this guy try and back up a 53 footer was FUNNY step 5 another worker opens the doors step 6 bump the dock and step 7 pull off the pallet. Step 8 pull out trailer 9 yardworker closes doors yard jockey brings me back my trailer for step 10. Step 11 another yardworker dollys down landing gear and disconnects the air and pigtail and pulls 5th wheel pin. Step 13 was driver pulls out. Can you see why YRC lost 2 BILLION in less than 2 years when it takes 5 guys to move one trailer. Here would have been me if THEY HAD LET ME get my door assignment open door back in get product removed pull out close door and leave.
I will never forget the time I was at the TS and a Yellow driver had a leaky gladhand. Me I would have hit the sucker on the water bucket and moved on. He on the other hand was sitting on the clock getting breakdown pay over a wornout
We needed the 53’ length to accomodate westbound dry freight backhauls. They need the cube.
Greyhounds instead of trying to be the first with a new idea. Look at things this way Where is the product at Where is it going How much product is it and also how fast do I need it to the west coast. I can tell you this you give a CERTIFIED number of loads that here is how many loads a day I need pulled and here is how fast I need them out to here they will give you a better price than ANY 3PL and also the service that will knock your socks off. That plus not needing the 2 sets of trucks at each end to deliver it will help.
Ed, I just sent you an email through Trains. If you want more information, I’ll provide it to you but I’m not confortable putting it out here for everyone to see.
I don’t know what you mean by a certified number of loads. We’re focusing on ag production and it’s volume is going to change with seasons and years. We know where the production and consumption are and who controls the routing.
“Being first with a new idea”, was kind of the idea. It will have significant competitive advantages which I will be glad to discuss with you via email. We don’t want to get into the truckers’ situation of providing wonderful “Knock Your Socks Off” service at little or no profit.
The issues at YRC have nothing to do with the IBT. The problem as usual has been poor financial management. Your ten year old “story” doesn’t hold water today.
This discussion seems to have drifted very far from the question into union/management strife, regs., etc…
Yeah, this is not really the direction I wanted this discussion to go. I am more looking at what needs to change to make short-haul trucking a more viable option for truckers, trucking companies, and the railroads. Have less long-haul trucking movements on Interstates.
Fine then make the Intermodal yards quick and easy to GET IN AND OUT OF. Second have a REPAIR FACIALITY FOR THE CHASSIS AND TRIALERS THERE AND IF THE DRIVERS FIND A PROBLEM DO NOT TELL THEM PULL IT OR WE WILL FIND SOME ONE THAT WILL. Remember that Preacher that had his FAMILY wiped out by a Trucker the Light assembly FELL OF A CONTAINER CHASSIS. Yes the Driver was UNqualified however Maintance records showed that the Chassis had been written up 20 times for that same problem AND NEVER FIXED.
Any of you ever been to an Intermodal yard to get a Triler or Container out of there I am betting NOT. I had to fill in for a few weeks for a driver that got hurt when I was first starting out and IT IS NOT FUN. Trailers are packed in there so tight that the only way to get to the dollys in crawl on your knees. They were designed for 40 foot trailers and we are trying to get 53ft long ones in and out of there. Three gates and workers that could care less if they do their jobs and 200-300 trucks all trying to get in and out per HOUR. This is how it is at all the Major RR’s BUT THE OLD Santa Fe in the Chicago Area. Go into a old Santa Fe terminal and they ask you for the Trailer or Can your picking up then they tell you the spot it is in then you go there and there is ROOM TO GET THE SOB. Put it to you this way the only way the Long Haul OTR Driver will die off in this country will be when the FMCSA tells the carriers that all drivers must sleep at home everynight.
You could start by looking at the JB Hunt transistion from being a 100% over the road trucking operation to being primarily an intermodal operation. It’s worked very well for them and the railroads.
Then you need to understand why the same transition is not happening with the vast majority of the trucking industry. Some large OTR truckers, such as Schneider, are following the Hunt model to varying degrees. (Schneider is the #1 truckload carrier, JB Hunt is #2.) But most trucking companies remain on the Interstate System.
Most trucking companies are relatively small and the railroads have dificulty dealing with “small”. This isn’t a knock against the railroads. It’s a normal fact of business life. It’s a normal business problem known as “Descrepancy of Size.” It’s generally solved by usiing middlemen that aggregate small customers Think of Ford. People don’t buy cars from Ford, they buy cars from a Ford dealer who buys from Ford in quantities Ford can cope with. If Ford itself tried to sell individual cars, it wouldn’t work.
Such middlemen, known as “Intermodal Marketing Companies” do exist to “retail” rail intermodal service to samller customers. They aggregate smaller “onesie twosie” shipments into volumes the rails can deal with. The problem is that, due to a legacy of regulation, the rail rates these middlemen use apply from the origin IM terminal to the destination IM terminal. The rates should apply from the origin freight dock to the reciever’s freight dock. The rates should be inclusive of the pick up and delivery.
Greyhounds got your proposal. 1st off your making some HUGE assumptions on the backauls out of the Midwest. 90% of the companies coming out to the West coast are using PRODUCE as the BACKHAUL back to their SHIPPERS. I would haul a load from Madison WI were Kraft has a very Large plant or Davenport IA were they have another and haul tail to the west coast. Then get a reload with produce then haul my tail as fasst as possible BACK to the Midwest. On the Protein one never will happen for one reason. You can never set a loading time as to when the animals will be killed and then loaded on your trailer. I would sit for days waiting on HOGS to be killed processed and loaded up then have barely enough time to get my butt to another plant to see them made into Bacon. Then get to the bacon plant in Cocoshton OH and reload for Stockton CA.
See the trouble is Greyhound the Origin Destination pairs are way to many and can be changed. More than one time I would have a load change ENROUTE to a differant consignee because of WHO KNOWS. Were your system would be great is not in the produce or Protein but try and get in Farmed Catfish. You could haul the food in as your Backhaul and the Catfish out as the outbound haul.
Good point. New ideas and implamentation look different in the light of a new day.
Thanks for the input. It’s often that hands on knowledge that makes or breaks a concept.
I don’t see the problems you point out as insurmountable - but geting cheese loads as webound hauls seems like a good plan.
You are right that an important key is having the westbound load assured. The produce is there for the eastbound backhaul.