TT Newsmakers

Infrastructure issues exacerbated by the pandemic, like kinks in the global supply chain and port congestion, have caused freight costs and delivery times to soar. Consumer demand may be growing but businesses are struggling to keep up and global economic recovery is being hampered.

At the American Trucking Associations' 2021 Management Conference & Exhibition, the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) released their annual report "Critical Issues in the Trucking Industry." For the fifth year in a row, the driver shortage led the list of top industry concerns.

While some ports have announced a move to 24/7 operations, supply chain disruptions are expected to persist through 2022 and - with holiday season around the corner - what does this mean for the nation's retailers?

Annual domestic estimates of trafficking victims regularly reach the hundreds of thousands. To aid law enforcement in combatting this crime, Truckers Against Trafficking trains truck drivers and other transportation professionals to observe their surroundings and look out for particular characteristics of human traffickers and their victims.

On August 10, the Senate passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and it now moves to the House for consideration. The passage of the bill would mean new funding for surface transportation programs, including the greatest investment in the nation's bridges since the formation of the Interstate Highway System.

In a recent review of highway safety in 2020, NHTSA reported the greatest number of fatalities due to traffic accidents since 2007, despite the fact that the number of miles traveled by vehicles declined by 13% from 2019. Understanding the underlying cause of these accidents and instituting preventative measures to reduce their numbers is essential to the greater safety of all who travel the nation's highways.

Current domestic estimates put the number of victims of human trafficking in the hundreds of thousands. One of the locations often exploited by traffickers is truck stops, given the transient nature of the crime. To help address this, Truckers Against Trafficking regularly partners with trucking companies, commercial truck driving schools, and law enforcement agencies to train drivers to recognize potential signs of human trafficking

For the last nine months, ports have seen record container volumes with movement limited and more supplies needed. As a lynchpin of our supply chain, managing a port requires high-functioning information systems to predict and plan for supply and demand as well as communicating with every link in the value chain.

Last month, the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) released "A Practical Analysis of a National VMT Tax System" which breaks down the benefits and the costs of instituting a national vehicles-miles-traveled fee system that would levy a per-mile charge on drivers

Last month, Locomation announced that it had formed a partnership with Rush Enterprises making them the primary installation and maintenance provider of Locomation's autonomous technology.

Just last month, a number of carriers announced driver pay increases mirroring a wider trend in the industry that emerged last year. Is this an effective strategy for combatting the worsening driver shortage? President & CEO of the National Transportation Institute, Leah Shaver, joins TT's Dan Ronan for a conversation about driver recruitment and retention in today's market and what tools fleet executives can use to succeed.

With a new administration comes a new plan, 100 million vaccines in 100 days. Who is helping to get us there and how? Vice President of Global Healthcare Strategy and Marketing for UPS, Dan Gagnon, joins TT's Dan Ronan to discuss the global rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, cooperating with companies like FedEx for national distribution efforts, and whether this will be a defining moment for UPS.

2021 welcomes a new administration and offers a new climate in which to negotiate freight hauling, but it must also contend with some of 2020's ailments, including a continuing pandemic and the wildly disparate performance of different business sectors. ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello joins TT's Dan Ronan to discuss this interesting economic moment and what it means for the trucking industry.

The latest economic report from ATA estimates the driver shortage to be over 60,000. What role has the pandemic played? Older drivers chose to retire while potential drivers found licensing difficult with the closure of state motor vehicles offices. The launch of the Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse database also impacted the number of drivers on the road.

President Life Sciences and Healthcare for DHL, Larry St Onge, joins TT's Dan Ronan for a conversation about managing the shipments of the Pfizer vaccine, and what care is being taken to ensure safe delivery. Watch now!

Accident risk lessened as the pandemic eased highway traffic this year. Fleets, however, remain subject to increased litigation and nuclear verdicts. Experts suggest that the wider adaption of advanced technology - including onboard safety systems, in-cab video, and telematics - could not only improve safety but also preserve relevant information in the case of an accident.