Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/599511
72 commercial carrier journal | november 2015 The 2015 American Trucking Associations Management Conference and Exhibition held in Philadelphia saw plenty of news from politicians, industry insiders, economists and vendors. Here's a brief roundup of the highlights, and for more detailed coverage, go to www.ccjdigital.com/tag/ata2015. By Jeff Crissey and Aaron Huff FMCSA's Darling seeks to partner with more carriers, drivers SCott DArling, acting adminis- trator for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, shared some of the agency's top priorities during a luncheon at ATA's annual conference. Looking toward 2016, Darling talked about a "year of partnerships" with mo - tor carriers and drivers. One partnership started last Decem- ber was the agency asking for carriers and drivers to provide data to assess the impact of the hours-of-service restart provisions. More than 220 drivers provided the agency with data from their normal routes. The data included more than 3,000 driver duty cycles captured by electronic logs and more than 20,000 days of driver sleep data. The study is currently in the analysis stage, with a final report to be submitted to the Office of Inspector General in the coming months. Darling also mentioned several other ongoing projects where partnerships have been essential to improve safety results: • A negotiated rulemaking for entry-level driver training that is on schedule to be published by the end of the year; • A final rule to be published on electronic logging devices; and • A safety and fitness notice of proposed rulemaking that will incorporate ongoing safety performance data and grade carriers based on their own performance. Scott Darling, FMCSA acting administrator, talked about a 'year of partnerships' with motor carriers and drivers. Economists blame 2015 freight slowdown on inventory THIS year, truck capacity has dropped 3.1 percent due to the driver shortage as freight volumes grew by 3 percent. These conditions drove freight rates up significantly, particularly in the spot market. Many manufacturers, shippers and retailers responded by stocking up on inventory to limit their transportation cost increases. Two economists speaking at ATA's annual conference blamed a glut of inventory for freight volumes slowing in 2015. That will all change, they believe, in the first quarter of 2016. "It is going to turn on a dime at some point," said Bob Costello, ATA chief economist. Costello believes freight growth in 2016 will return to 3 percent in concert with overall economic growth driven by consumer spending. In 2015, consumer spending grew by more than 3 percent due to declining energy costs and historically low interest rates, said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist for IHS Inc. Behravesh expects the U.S. economy to grow at 2.5 to 3 percent and be one of the bright spots worldwide among the major industrial economies. Looking at the different sectors of the trucking industry, Costello said refrigerated is performing best with load volumes up by 10 percent this year. Another overperforming sector is intermodal, as truckload carriers have increased shipments on rail cars by 7.5 per - cent this year. AtA chief economist Bob Costel- lo, left, discusses the state of the economy with Nariman Beh- ravesh, chief economist for iHS.