CRST Expedited Boosts New Driver Pay 15%

CRST Expedited has announced a 15% pay increase for new contract student drivers, who have received commercial driver's license training through the company's sponsored training program.

“Our student drivers are a critical part of our team,” said Cameron Holzer, president of CRST Expedited. “Ensuring they are successful in starting out their professional driving career is a top priority to us.”

Many of the new drivers are trained at CRST's North American Driver Training Academy in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In addition to the driver training academy, CRST has invested in driver education over the past several years by building a driver training and truck repair facility in Riverside, Calif., expanding the driver training facility in Cedar Rapids, and implementing The Gold Rules initiative focused on improving the driver experience and reducing driver turnover.

Last year, CRST Expedited played a role in training 3,740 new drivers. The company offers on-campus lodging, classrooms, meals, and entertainment while offering training to its drivers at no-cost.

“As CRST continues growing, we want to continue to invest in our drivers,” said Mike Gannon, CRST group president and COO. “These drivers are critical to the future success of our industry as we face an increasingly challenging market to find qualified drivers.”

For more information on CRST's driver training program, click here.

Related: Driver Pay Analyst - No Silver Bullet to Solve Driver Shortage

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CVSA releases Roadcheck 2017 results

Violations for brake systems, cargo securement, and tires/wheels were the top causes vehicles were placed out of service during the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance's (CVSA) 2017 Roadcheck inspection blitz.

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Why the ELD Mandate is a Problem for Temp Drivers

One of the shortcomings of the new electronic logging device mandate that goes into effect in December is that it causes problems for drivers who are working for a driver service or a temporary driver pool.

These drivers are unable to transfer their hours of service information from one carrier to another. Even though this probably applies to a relatively small group of drivers, it will cause them considerable inconvenience.

This is known in the ELD world as inter-operability, and in drafting its rule, FMCSA choose not to address it.

"Continental and others submitted comments requesting the agency address the issue of inter-operability, but that is as far as we got," says Alexis Cappelle, ELD program manager for Continental Corp. "The standard addresses the electronic formatting of the data for export, for inspection, but it doesn't require ELD providers to accept incoming data, so nobody has made provisions to accept data from one ELD brand to another."

A driver working for Carrier A this week and Carrier B next week would have to print out the previous 7 or 14 days worth of logs from Carrier A and manually enter them into Carrier B's ELD so the hours would all be accounted for. Paper copies of the last week's logs might pass muster at a roadside inspection, but would be insufficient in an audit, because the Carrier B's system would not show the hours worked by the driver in the previous week.

"The driver will have to get his or her RODS [records of duty status] from each fleet he or she is working for," says Capelle. "To date there is no standard to exchange RODS information from one ELD system to another one, so the data import will have to be ...Read the rest of this story

Increased Costs Could Mean Less Favorable Trucking Conditions

Source: FTR

FTR's Trucking Conditions Index fell by more than two points in June as a result of increased costs for labor, fuel, and equipment, reflecting less favorable conditions for trucking.

The June TCI dropped to a reading of 4.54 for the month. Market tightness is seen as likely shorter than expected due to a possible drag on capacity caused by upcoming regulations, according to FTR.

“Despite the monthly drop from May to June, the TCI has stayed in a relatively stable range since this time last year,” said Jonathan Starks, FTR's COO. “It remains positive, but does not yet indicate that a significant change in operations is occurring.”

FTR is maintaining a favorable freight forecast for the rest of the year, but does not expect as strong of a result for 2018. It is projecting around half of the growth for next year with an increased risk of recession toward the end of 2018.

“The potential for such a change increases as we move through 2018, with ELD implementation and continued freight growth hindering truck capacity,” said Starks. “We are also beginning to hear stories of increased difficulty in hiring as the economy begins approaching full employment.”

The spot market has shown strong increases in recent weeks it could be an indicator as to how rates in the contract market are likely to move, according to Starks.

“Spot data in early August shows that the rate increases have hit the double-digit mark and are still moving up,” said Starks. “Market participants need to continue evaluating conditions ahead of the ELD implementation in December to make sure that they are prepared for the possible disruptions that could occur.”

Related: Controlling Creeping Fleet Costs

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