Blog Posts - Your White-Glove Freight Concierge Specialists

Trump administration working to relax truck safety standards

7/30/2019

Trump administration working to relax truck safety standards
Logistics Management, Jul 19
In no particular order, the Transportation Department wants tweak drivers’ hours of service rules, and is proposing a two-year delay of certain provisions in a driver training rule to allow states more flexibility in how Commercial Drivers’ Licenses are issued. On the other side of the regulatory coin, two U.S. senators are trying to place mandatory speed limits on heavy trucks.
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Volumes are up in 2019, but not rates.

7/22/2019

Roadcheck is over, but some van rates keep climbing

6/21/2019

Summer freight is on its way, just as spring has finally sprung -- and it’s not all about Roadcheck.

The annual Roadcheck inspection blitz kicked off the month by tightening capacity for much of the first week in June. The lane rates that rose sharply during that week dropped back down again after the inspections ended, but van load volumes and rates continue to climb in the Southeast and along the West Coast.

The end result is a big increase compared to the average rates for May. Expect rates to go up some more, at least until the 4th of July holiday.

Van, reefer truck demand grows from April to May

6/14/2019

The van and reefer load-to-truck ratios saw month-over-month (MoM) growth in May with the van ratio growing by 22% and the reefer ratio growing by 10%, according to DAT. The ratio can be used to measure demand in the spot market: the higher the number, the harder time a shipper will have finding a carrier.
Flatbed's load-to-truck ratio, meanwhile, was down 43% from April into May.
All three trucking modes saw decreases in their load-to-truck ratio compared to May 2018. Van was down 54% year-over-year (YoY), flatbed was down 85.7% YoY and reefers slid by 60%. The Electronic Logging Device mandate likely accounts for these large differences, according to Stephen Petit, a spokesperson for DAT. Enforcement of the mandate began last April, resulting in a temporary downturn in trucking capacity and an increase in the load-to-truck ratio.

Tariff Watch...

5/31/2019

New tariffs could imperil Best Buy, Dick's and Bed Bath & Beyond
SuplyChainDive, May 29
Earlier this month, Macy's CEO Jeff Gennette called the proposed fourth tranche of tariffs "the big one." It would leave few products and few retailers untouched by steep levies as the Trump Administration tries to renegotiate the country's economic relationship with China.
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U.S. Postal Service Starts Testing Self-Driving Trucks

5/24/2019

U.S. Postal Service Starts Testing Self-Driving Trucks
WSJ, May 21
The U.S. Postal Service is testing self-driving trucks on a more than 1,000-mile mail run between Phoenix and Dallas, the post office’s first use of the technology for long hauls. The move comes as investors and vehicle makers are spending millions on trucking automation.

Better weather helps push van rates upward

5/17/2019

Better weather helps push van rates upward
DAT, May 6
After declining for several weeks, van rates seem to have turned a corner. The national average rate for May so far is $1.82/mi., which is above the April average. Individual lane rates are also trending upward. Last week on the top 100 van lanes 53 were up, 35 were down and 12 were neutral. It's been six weeks since we've seen more rising lanes than falling. Spring has also brought increased demand: last week the van load-to-truck ratio rose 10%, after climbing 25% the week before.

Spotted Lantern Fly Quarantine Permitting

5/15/2019

Please be aware several states (including Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware) have issued an Order of Quarantine for the Spotted Lanternfly. The quarantine prohibits anyone from intentionally moving any viable life stage of the spotted lanternfly. The Commonwealth of PA is requiring carriers to obtain permits for moving equipment out of the Quarantine Zone (currently this consists of the following counties: (1) PA - Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Chester, Dauphin, Delaware, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton, Philadelphia, and Schuylkill; (2) NJ – Hunterdon, Mercer, and Warren; and (3) DE – 19702, 19703, 19707, 19711, 19801, 19802, 19803, 19805, 19807, 19809, 19810). These permits will be good for NJ and Delaware as well.

Carriers doing business and operating equipment in the quarantine zone are required to train drivers how to identify and remove any stages of the spotted lanternfly from vehicles they are operating that originated from the quarantine zone. If a driver finds any spotted lanternfly, they must take steps to properly dispose of them.

Please be wary of shipments into or out of the locations mentioned above. If sourcing motor carrier services for the affected region, please request evidence of proper permit prior to dispatch.
Additional information can be found using the following links:

PDA SLF Quarantine Information

PSU SLF Information and Reporting

Permit FAQs

Current List of SLF Permit Participants

Beware: Carrier/Broker Frauds!

5/9/2019

Please see below on how to recognize and avoid being scammed and defrauded. We fell victim to this last year and it was a supreme headache!

The Scam & How to Avoid it

It's a two-sided scam: First they steal your brokerage identity by re-using your broker/carrier packet and load information, Once they have that they are able to call innocent carriers on their posted trucks and offer that same load for More Money while acting as you. Once the real carrier delivers the load they will ask you for a Quickpay and disappear. It won't take long for the real carrier to start calling you and your customer for payment.

The second part is: They steal the identity of the carriers as well so they can repeat the cycle over and over by booking with other brokers under new identity.

Try not to send any setup paperwork, rate confirmation or verbal load information before screening the carrier first through FMCSA to make sure the phone number they are calling from matches what is on FMCSA. If it doesn't, you can always call that # and make sure that person is affiliated with their company. Link for FMCSA: https://safer.fmcsa.dot.gov/CompanySnapshot.aspx

Try not to offer any Fuel Advances or Prepayment - (that is the quickest way to get ripped off, more and more companies are getting rid of this)

Pay attention to the number of trucks the carrier has. If they have 1 truck but you are giving them multiple loads. That is a Redflag for double brokering. This information is also Public on FMCSA: https://safer.fmcsa.dot.gov/CompanySnapshot.aspx

Take a few extra minutes to make sure your customers freight is in good-hands. It could be the difference between keeping and losing the customer you worked so hard to get.

C.H. Robinson Isn't Afraid Of Amazon... We aren't Either!!!

5/6/2019

C. H. Robinson isn't afraid of Amazon
FreightWaves, May 1
C.H. Robinson (NASDAQ: CHRW) is not afraid of Amazon’s entrance into freight brokerage and welcomes the competition, incoming chief executive officer Bob Biesterfeld told Wall Street analysts on the company’s earnings call this morning. After prepared remarks by Biesterfeld, John Wiehoff, Robinson’s outgoing CEO, and Scott Hagen, the company’s controller and interim chief financial officer, the executives answered questions from equities analysts on both secular and cyclical issues.
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