Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/1044881
Voices channel 19 4 | Overdrive | November 2018 Visit Senior Editor Todd Dills' CHANNEL 19 BLOG at OverdriveOnline.com/channel19 Write him at tdills@randallreilly.com. Discussions related to the "That's a Big 10-4 on D.C." trucker event in Washington, D.C., last month brought into the limelight a misunderstood aspect of small fleets. Clari- fication was of particular importance for those fol- lowing H.R. 5948, the bill that would exempt carriers that own or operate 10 or fewer trucks from the electronic logging device mandate. Some 10-4 participants noted regulators justified denial of the Owner-Oper- ator Independent Drivers Association petition to exempt small businesses on grounds that "it would ex- empt 90 percent [or more] of the industry" from electronic logs. The statistic has been something of a maxim for years: Compa- nies of fewer than 10 trucks [or insert other small number] control more than 90 percent of the industry. That's true when count- ing the number of com- panies with operating au- thority. But when it comes to counting the number of trucks controlled by those companies, it's a differ- ent story, as the graphics show. The source for these breakdowns is federal data mined by Overdrive sister data company RigDig Business Intelligence. These two perspectives show drastically different ways of defining the truck- ing industry. By power unit numbers, the exemption in the H.R. 5948 legisla- tion would not affect 90 percent of the industry, but closer to 10 percent. That's the approximate share of for-hire trucks controlled by fleets of nine trucks or less. Given the structure of many fleets, made up as they are of smaller entities, there are solid arguments to be made that small business generally is represented in much high- er numbers than that in trucking writ large. But for purposes of H.R. 5948, the exemption would be granted under the legisla- tion to companies with just 10 or fewer trucks running under the authority of the motor carrier, as I read it, whether those trucks are company or leased owner-operator or small fleet units. But a five-truck small fleet without au- thority and leased to, say, Landstar, wouldn't qualify for the exemption. Advocates of small trucking have hammered the "90 percent of the industry" language for so long, it seems, even regu- lators have internalized it. In this case, it's not helping those pushing for the small- fleet ELD exemption. As time ran short to underscore the reality with a distracted Congress at the D.C. event, participants advocated for H.R. 5948 in addition to hours of ser- vice, parking, training and other concerns. During the event, owner-operator Todd Campbell of the agricul- ture/short-haul Campbell Farms small fleet met with aides for his congressional representative, Republican Brad Wenstrup of the 2nd District of Ohio. "We've seen a vast knowledge improvement," Campbell says, among aides since visiting with the office in April, the last time Camp- bell was in D.C. "They're in support of H.R. 5948," he says, and noted that the office had been receiving information since then via OOIDA and other channels. "I send stuff constantly, too. … They're getting on board and supporting — not openly, but vote- wise, they're signaling they'll support it." Indeed, Wenstrup had not offi- cially come on board as a cosponsor as of the latest available tally. Confusion over proposed ELD exemption DISTRIBUTION OF FOR-HIRE TRUCKING COMPANIES (BY FLEET SIZE) DISTRIBUTION OF TRUCKS (WITHIN FOR-HIRE TRUCKING COMPANIES, BY COMPANY SIZE) 1 to 4 power units 51% 500+ 45% 5 to 9 20% 10 to 19 13% 20 to 49 9% 50 to 99 4% 100 to 249 2% 250 to 499 0.6% 500+ 0.4% 1 to 4 power units 4% 5 to 9 5% 10 to 19 7% 20 to 49 11% 50 to 99 9% 100 to 249 11% 250 to 499 8% WHO CONTROLS FOR-HIRE TRUCKING? The data show the smallest fleets make up half of the for-hire fleets, but the largest fleets control half of the for-hire trucks.