Review the Highway Safety Coalition presentation on the new HOS rules here.
FMCSA published their revised Hours of Service (HOS) final rule 6/1/2020. Driver must operate under this new rule starting 9/29/2020. The final rule changes four provisions;
Seminars will discuss the four key revisions to the existing HOS Rules:
•The 30-minute break rule requiring a break after 8 hours of consecutive driving
•The sleeper-berth exception to allow drivers to split their required 10 hours off duty into two periods
•The adverse driving conditions exception
•Changes to the short-haul exception available to certain commercial drivers
Dates & Times
September 10, 2020 @ 9:00AM
September10, 2020 @ 1:00PM
September 22, 2020 @ 9:00AM
September 22, 2020 @ 1:00PM
To Register for a Seminar, go to:
https://forms.gle/VwKeHUJok14Yr9x47
Operating costs were up across the board last year, costing fleets an average of $71.78 per hour to run freight, according to the American Transportation Research Institute’s latest Operational Costs of Trucking report.
The 2019 update to ATRI’s report looked at trucking industry operating costs during 2018 which saw a robust economic environment for carriers and drivers. While times were good for fleets overall, the economic boom also put upward pressure on nearly every line-item cost center experienced by carriers, according to ATRI.
ATRI found that a good economy, difficulties in finding and keeping drivers, and increased fuel and insurance prices all contributed to year-over-year cost increases. The average marginal cost per mile, which includes costs due to fuel, equipment, maintenance, insurance, permits, licenses, tires, tolls and driver wages and benefits, increased 7.7% in 2018 to $1.82 per mile.
Costs went up in every category except tires, and fuel costs saw the largest increase at 17.7%. Not far behind fuel cost increases, were insurance costs at 12%. Driver wages and benefits continued to make up the largest portion of operating costs and 2018 was a year of substantial driver pay increases industry wide.
Driver wages and benefits increased 7.0% and 4.7% respectively as a strategic response to the severe driver shortage that existed in 2018, according to ATRI. On an hourly basis, average costs due to driver wages increased from $21.97 to $23.50 in a single year. Benefits increased from $6.78 to $7.10 per hour. Wages and benefits represented 43% of all marginal costs in 2018.
Repair and maintenance costs increased 24% since 2012 to 17.1 cents per mile on average.
These numbers represent an average of the trucking industry, however ATRI’s report also analyzes costs by sector which can have varying costs due to the type of activity. Specialized carriers have the highest cost per mile at $2.02, with additional factors such as HazMat and OS/OW permit costs, complex maintenance requirements and higher driver compensation contributing to increased costs.
Truckload carriers have the lowest operating cost per mile at $1.71, despite a 14.8% increase from the previous year, mostly attributed to driver pay increases.
Below find an article by the United States Postal Service Office of the Inspector General. Technology does not solve problems. People solve problems using the right technology in the right manner.
Case in point: Dynamic Route Optimization (DRO), a technology-based initiative to reduce miles and costs for surface transportation. The U.S. Postal Service did not save the $22.4 million it projected for fiscal years (FYs) 2017 and 2018, our recent audit report found.
DRO allows Highway Contract Routes (HCRs) to change from a fixed-price contract with set, or static, routes to a rate-per-mile contract with varying departure times, travel plans, and mail types transported based on mail volume. This “dynamic” approach allows the Postal Service to optimize routes to reduce mileage and transportation costs – critical for containing costs in the overall HCR program, which moves mail between post offices and other designated stops. In FY 2018, the Postal Service spent $4.3 billion on HCR transportation.
The Postal Service awards DRO contracts for sites selected for conversion from static to dynamic contracts and uses an approved commercial off-the-shelf software and a web application to generate weekly dynamic manifests at the DRO sites.
But USPS didn’t identify and resolve program issues before national rollout of DRO and thus fell short of planned savings. Despite spending $32.7 million in total investments on DRO in FYs 2017 and 2018, most of the sites were still running static routes. Only five of the 34 sites were fully optimized and only one was operating dynamically.
Our audit found that the commercial software and web-based application the Postal Service used for its national rollout required continual re-configuration. We also found management and oversight of the program needed better controls. We noted that USPS has initiated improvements to the program this fiscal year, including appointing an acting national program manager for DRO.
Join us at the 8/24/2018 from 3 – 5 PM CDT for a listening session with the FMCSA. Topic is Hours of Service (HOS).
It will be held during the Great America Truck Show at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center; 650 S Griffin Street, Dallas TX 75202.
