Shipper Strategies to Navigate through Q4

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Shipper Strategies to Navigate through Q4

3 years ago

These are challenging times for shippers. Driver, labor and truck shortages, port congestion, escalating freight and fuel costs, coupled with the lingering effects of Covid are making life difficult for shippers across the world. Here are a few coping strategies 1. Work in Partnership with Procurement to Create Alternate Sourcing Strategies for both Raw Materials […]

New Year / Same Challenge: Finding Truck Drivers

4 years ago

As we begin the new year, trucking companies throughout North America are facing the same challenge – – – finding qualified truck drivers. There are several forces shaping the supply of drivers. The coronavirus is making drivers sick and some have not come back; the virus is also causing older drivers to retire. A surge […]

2020 – The Freight Transportation Year in Review – Part 1

4 years ago

The Covid-19 pandemic, and the response of the Canadian and U.S. governments and citizens to the virus, is clearly the major story of 2020. The pandemic did not just have impacts on the health of many Americans (i.e. over 11 million cases, 250,000 deaths) and Canadians (i.e. over 306,000 cases, 11,000 deaths); it also had […]

What are Some Lessons that Shippers Can Learn from the Past Two Years?

5 years ago

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 […]

How to Retain Truck Drivers in 2019

6 years ago

Annual turnover of over the road truckload drivers is currently in the range of 95 percent. The cost of replacing a driver is approximately $8000. This high turnover ratio came during a year in which truck drivers in many fleets received multiple and significant bonuses and pay increases. This begs the question of how well […]

Attention GM Workers: The Trucking Industry Needs You

6 years ago

On Monday, November 26, 2018, General Motors announced that it will be closing five plants in North America in 2019, four in the USA and one in Canada. In addition to the closures, 6000 hourly workers and 8000 salaried employees will lose their jobs. “The actions we are taking today continue our transformation to […]

Driver Compensation – The Devil is in the Details

6 years ago

Over the past few years, one of the defining challenges in the freight transportation industry has been a shortage of qualified drivers. In April of this year, I posted a blog (https://www.dantranscon.com/index.php/blog/entry/what-are-trucking-companies-doing-to-solve-the-driver-shortage ) that examined the range of compensation tools and benefits that are being offered to recruit and retain drivers. In another blog (https://www.dantranscon.com/index.php/blog/entry/trying-to-solve-the-driver-shortage-try-paying-them-a-salary […]

The Truckload Freight Industry in North America in 2018 – “Maybe the Best Freight Market we have ever seen”

6 years ago

The truckload sector of the freight industry is different from the LTL and small parcel segments in two significant ways. Unlike the other two segments, anyone who can buy or finance the purchase of a tractor-trailer unit and can drive the rig, can enter the industry. Freed from the requirement to build cross-dock facilities […]

What are Trucking Companies Doing to Solve the Driver Shortage?

7 years ago

Last week’s TruckWorld event at the International Centre in Toronto was a great opportunity to connect with old friends and get updated on the state of the freight transportation industry. It was clear from the huge attendance at the show that is a very good year to be in trucking. The negotiating leverage has clearly […]

Time to Become a “Shipper of Choice”

7 years ago

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 […]