Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/725427
COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2016 51 More fleets soon may be singing the praises of electronic logs BY AARON HUFF W ith just over a year before electronic logging devices become mandatory in December 2017, about 44 percent of for-hire and private carriers have yet to implement them. Twenty-six percent are in the process of outfi tting their fl eets. These results come from a recent CCJ survey of fl eets with more than 10 power units, which also found that the main reasons for stalling on ELDs are cost (40 percent) and loss of driver productivity (24 percent). Some productivity loss is expected when drivers no longer use paper logs to hide ineffi ciencies such as delays at shipping and receiving docks and traffi c congestion. But many fl eets are realizing that having real-time visibility of drivers' hours can help regain lost ground by improving route planning and scheduling. One of the challenges of e-logs is predicting when and where drivers will be available so load assignments can be pre-planned. In the past, drivers could make themselves available by making up for lost time on paper. As ELD use continues to grow, carriers and technology providers are fi nding ways to use their newly acquired data to solve operational challenges that go beyond compliance. Making the most of ELDs After decades of experiencing hours- of-service regulations and paper log- books as a driver, owner-operator and fl eet owner, Steve Rush has reached a conclusion: ELDs are the "best thing to happen" to the trucking industry. Rush started his career in 1965 as a union driver for a New Jersey motor carrier. Back then, interstate carriers were granted operating authorities for specifi c lanes by the Interstate Com- merce Commission. HOS compliance, he says, was not much of an issue since he had a predict- able work schedule. Cheating on logs happened, "but not a lot," Rush recalls. That all changed in 1972 when he became an owner-operator in the tanker business. "The more you cheated, the more money you made," says Rush, who founded Carbon Express in 1983 during the dawn of ICC deregulation and today serves as president. As new carriers entered the market, rates went down, and he admits that Carbon Express' company drivers and owner-operators regularly exceeded HOS limits to survive. The culture of noncompliance con- tinued until one day in 2006 when the safety director of the Wharton, N.J.-based fleet paid a visit to Rush's office. An industry association, the National Tank Truck Carriers, had invited the safety director to chair a committee, but he said he would not accept it. They both knew that the company's façade of HOS compliance was a lie. "I looked at him and thought about it," says Rush, who then told his safety director, "You have my word. We'll change." The change came, but it was not easy. Wharton, N.J.-based Carbon Express has been using e-logs from its onboard comput- ing supplier, Omnitracs, for eight years.