subject: Freight Carriers Worried about Supply of Independent Truck Drivers [print this page] Freight Carriers Worried about Supply of Independent Truck Drivers
"If it's not one thing, it's another," seems to be the prevalent thought among freight carriers. According to the results of the Business Expectations Survey released within the past two weeks, the majority of carriers are worried about the potential wage hikes that may be demanded next year, but more are worried about the CSA 2010's implementation, and how it will affect their already dwindling supply of independent contractors. In fact, 75 percent of the surveyed fleets cited the supply of contractors as a concern, as 71 percent of those fleets either reported a shrinking number of contracted independents or difficulties in keeping their supply of drivers steady.
When you combine that with the expectations of increased freight volume and wage increases, as well as the steadily increasing patchwork of state and local laws regulating commerce that have been brought to light by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association's (OOIDA) petition to determine whether registries (like the mandatory drayage registry produced by the California Air Resources Board) are actually pre-empted by federal law, the picture that's forming isn't too appealing.
OOIDA President Jim Johnston expressed the sentiment that, "Registries and their required identification stickers are essentially a defacto re-regulation of interstate commerce [and] should not be carried out under the guise of compliance with environmental regulations."
Essentially, this web of red tape is denying some motor carriers the ability to work in several marketplaces, and holds the not inconsiderable possibility of fines as well. Coupling that with the more stringent maintenance requirements of the CSA, and it's no wonder that carriers are worried about their ability to continue working, especially those with smaller revenues.
It's certainly no cure-all, and it's admittedly an obvious step, but one of the ways to help ensure a company's continuation is to reduce costs. As an example: instead of paying for a costly and time consuming kingpin removal, you should consider the much less costly option of refurbishing the worn trailer kingpin, and getting the affected trailer back on the road in a fraction of the time, with a part that is as durable, if not more so, than a kingpin direct from the factory.
