Industry Insights from Vertrax

The transportation industry has undergone difficult changes in the past few years. Serious complications like rising fuel costs, driver shortages, and compliance with new mandates are just a few of the issues currently plaguing fleet leadership.

In this unpredictable environment, companies can be reluctant to invest in fleet management technology. After all, with revenue decreasing all around, why should businesses spend money on software?

While this is an important question to raise, the long-term benefits that fleet management technology provides far outweigh the price of the investment.

With the transportation industry rapidly changing, we wanted to create a playbook that will help educate and guide organizations through the industry. Learn everything today’s fleet leaders need to know, highlighting industry problems, future trends, tools and strategies, and much more.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) recently released an 80-page document titled “Preparing for the Future of Transportation: Automated Vehicles 3.0,” or “AV 3.0” for short. It expands the DOT’s voluntary guidance on the development of what they consider “automated vehicles.” This document builds on last September’s AV 2.0, with the intention of introducing a “comprehensive, multimodal approach toward safely integrating automation.”

The Electronic Logging Device mandate went into effect in December of 2017 and full enforcement began in April of 2018. It has been a bumpy road in terms of implementation and enforcement thus far. The mandate requires “ELD use by commercial drivers who are required to prepare hours-of-service (HOS) records of duty status (RODS),” states the FMCSA. Drivers that utilized automatic onboard recording devices (AOBRD) before the December ELD deadline are grandfathered in and can continue using these devices until December 16, 2019.

The ELD mandate that took effect at the beginning of the year has been a hot button issue. The mandate’s purpose is to make the roads safer for everyone travelling them, so with it came a greater focus on the Hours of Service (HOS) requirements for drivers.

The capacity crunch the trucking industry is currently facing poses a major threat to all parties involved. There are a myriad of reasons for the tightness in the market, with each one compounding on the next.

Almost every aspect of business operations are moving online — and for good reason. The accessibility and organization which online services offer improves operational efficiency and reduces costs — and as we’ve previously covered, operating costs in the transportation industry are on the rise.

Historically, margins in the transportation industry have almost always been slim. But in recent years, various factors have been increasing operating costs, thus decreasing margins even more. According to an analysis by PLG Consulting, trucking costs are poised to rise 8% to 10% this year. While most of these factors cannot be controlled, it is essential to be aware of them so that you can prepare for the future.

The emergence of real-time analytics has revolutionized the logistics industry. The advantages it holds cannot be argued, and the return on investment can be huge if utilized correctly. When talking about analytics, many people think of strictly numbers being crunched in a back room regarding how fast a truck got from point A to B, but real-time analytics is much more than that.

The transportation industry is rapidly evolving and adopting new technology, but many people are still not convinced that the investment in new technology is worth it when there are so many other operating expenses. This aversion to new technology will eventually lead these individuals to an ultimatum — adopt the new technology or get left behind.