From a Freight Transportation perspective, the past two years have been among the most tumultuous in decades. Throughout 2018, an economic surge, a shortage of qualified drivers, and the implementation of the ELD mandate in the United States, created a shortage of freight capacity, particularly in the truckload sector. Shippers struggled to find trucks to move their loads.

To address these shortfalls, many shippers were forced to pay significantly higher rates, establish dedicated fleets and/or change their freight operations to become a “Shipper of Choice.” Rather than simply tender their loads, shippers were advised to become more “carrier friendly.” This encompassed a range of activities.

Becoming a “Shipper of Choice”

Shippers learned that they could improve their chances of securing needed truck space by giving carriers advance notice of a pending surge in business volumes. Another way to improve carrier relations was to help fleets keep their trucks on the road, rather than sitting in warehouse yards or at loading docks. To avoid carrier detention fees for long waits, shippers and receivers were encouraged to improve appointment scheduling and freight loading / unloading processes.

In last week’s blog, I highlighted the tight freight capacity being experienced across North America (https://dantranscon.com/index.php/blog?view=entry&id=310 ), and that it is likely to continue for another year or two. For shippers that are experiencing shortages of trucking or rail equipment, there is a series of steps that need to be taken to prevent service failures and loss of market share. Here is a link to some blogs I wrote on this topic last summer (https://www.dantranscon.com/index.php/blog/entry/shippers-need-to-become-more-carrier-friendly-to-minimize-freight-rate-increases and https://www.dantranscon.com/index.php/blog/entry/two-keys-to-maintaining-truck-capacity-this-winter ).

The following are some additional steps to take to become a Preferred Shipper.

1. Integrate a Freight Transportation Strategy into the company’s Business Plan

On October 11, my company co-hosted the 2017 Surface Transportation Summit with my partners at Newcom Business Media. I am very pleased to report that we had another packed house for what has become the premier educational and networking event in Freight Transportation in Canada.

The day was again kicked off by one of Canada’s leading economists, Carlos Gomes of Scotiabank and by two investment analysts, Walter Spracklin, CFA, Equity Research Analyst - Transportation Sector, RBC Capital Markets and John Larkin, CFA, Managing Director and Head, Transportation Capital Markets Research, Stifel Financial Corp., who provided an American perspective. These gentlemen highlighted that 2018 will be a year of economic growth. This economic growth, coupled with the ELD mandate and the limited supply of quality drivers in the United States, will translate into tight capacity and higher freight rates.

One of the slides that caught my eye was the one inserted above from the John Larkin presentation. John’s views are consistent with what one of the largest US trucking operators, J.B. Hunt Transport Services, is telling its shipper customers. They are advising them to budget for transportation cost increases as high as “10 percent or more” as the peak fall distribution season and electronic logging mandate intensify a driver shortage. “This is one of the highest periods of turbulence and volatility in supply we have ever experienced, and we don’t think it will abate any time soon,” John Roberts, president and CEO, and Shelley Simpson, chief commercial officer, said in a letter to J.B. Hunt customers.

As the long, slow recovery from the Great Recession continues, shippers and carriers have become used to modest economic growth. Demand for freight services has been steady but not robust. The muted demand for freight services has not put undo pressure on truck capacity; rate increases have been limited in recent years. This may be about to change.

Regulations have placed constraints on the management of trucking companies, particularly full load carriers. The Hours of Service regulations coupled with the ELD (electronic logging device) mandate are placing limits on the number of hours that a driver can legally operate a truck. These directives limit truck capacity. The difficulties in finding quality drivers and the high turnover ratio among current drivers provides additional challenges for many truck fleets. To address the potential erosion in capacity, truckers are applying a variety of technologies.

Good quality transportation management systems are allowing truckers to better manage their routes and balance their lanes. Dimensional scanners are helping LTL carriers manage the space available on their trailers by matching freight rates to cube utilization. ELD technology provides carriers with information on how long their drivers and equipment are held up at customers’ facilities. The net result of all this is that small parcel, LTL and truckload carriers can be much more accurate in tailoring their freight rates to the “carrier friendliness” of their clients.

How can shippers become more "carrier friendly”?  Here are a few items to consider.

The essence of successful freight rate negotiations is an honest exchange of information. Carriers count on shippers to supply them with complete and accurate information on shipment weights, dimensions, volumes by lane, seasonal spikes and any special service (i.e. job site deliveries, weekend pickups etc.) requirements. Shippers expect carriers to be able to supply them with the correct types of equipment to pick up their freight at the designated time, to provide adequate amounts of equipment at the right time to move their loads, to meet their designated transit times over 95% of the time and to provide good customer service and quality information as they outlined in their submission and interview.

While this all seems so straight-forward and reasonable, there are a host of challenges that get in the way of committed shipper-carrier relationships. Here are a few to consider.

Changes in Shipment Volumes

Business conditions are constantly changing. There are ebbs and flows in the general economy that can impact on many industries, including both shippers and carriers. There is ongoing competition in the market where shippers win or lose customers every day. Then there are mergers and acquisitions and new product launches (or old product cancellations) that can lead to rationalization of locations for factories or distribution facilities. The net impact of these changes is that the shipment volumes discussed in an RFP may not come to pass or the actual volumes by lane may vary over time.