FTR Conference: Digital Disruptions and the Future of Trucking

Steve Sashihara, CEO of Princeton Consultants, talks about digital disruption at FTR's annual conference. Photo: Evan Lockridge

INDIANAPOLIS -- Expect big changes over the years in the way trucking and supply chains are managed, including turning it upside down. That was one of the messages those attending the FTR Transportation Conference heard Thursday morning.

A survey of both trucking/logistics and supply chain firms shows that drones, self-driving trucks, so-called “Uber” for freight transportation as well as the “internet of things” and “big data” all have the power to disrupt today's ways of moving freight over the next seven to eight years, according to Steve Sashihara, CEO of the information technology and management firm Princeton Consultants.

In fact, changes in many of these five areas already are moving rapidly. For example, he pointed out, over the last year drones have moved beyond a high-tech hobby, with the federal government issuing its first commercial drone rules and actual commercial deliveries being made – which included 7-11 Slurpee drinks, a chicken sandwich, donuts, hot coffee and candy.

The concept of self-driving vehicles in the past couple of years has moved from a “wacky” idea from companies such as Google, Apple and Tesla, with Freightliner unveiling its prototype autonomous trucks for licensed road tests. The last year has been filled with news of self-driving technologies from every major car manufacturer, and many start-ups.

But when will self-driving/autonomous vehicles become an common reality? When people stop being so defensive about such new technology and there is what what Sashihara called an “inversion” of conversation.

“Until we stop saying, 'When will self-driving trucks be safe enough to put on the road and be good as a normal driver,' and we start flipping it and saying, 'Self-driving trucks are not 100% bullet proof but they are safer than commercial drivers,'” Sashihara said. “We ...Read the rest of this story

Spot Rates Improve Little Over Past Week, Month

Spot truckload freight rates saw more declines than improvements in both new weekly and monthly figures released by DAT Solutions based on its load boards.

For the week ending Sept. 10, refrigerated freight posted the only gain in the three major sectors, with the average rate increasing 1 cent from the week before to $1.93 per mile. Prices showed gains in Philadelphia and Grand Rapids, but were lower in Dallas.

Dry van rates were unchanged at an average of $1.66 per mile, while flatbed rates dropped 3 cents to an average of $1.87 per mile. Outbound dry van rates rose in Dallas and Philadelphia, but fell in Los Angeles, according to DAT.

The number of total posted loads fell 13% from the previous week as truck posting declined 15%. The average fuel cost during the period fell 0.4% to a national average of $2.40 per gallon.

The drop in truck postings, however, translated into a 21% improvement in the flatbed load-to-truck ratio, coming in at 12.2 loads per truck.

In contrast, load-to-truck ratios fell for both reefers and vans, 9.1% and 0.4%, respectively. Reefer load posts fell 17% last week while truck posts declined 9%, yielding 6.0 loads per truck.

Van load posts and truck posts both declined 17%, indicating relative strength for the four-day Labor Day week, said DAT. More importantly, the van load-to-truck ratio held steady at 3.2 loads per truck, the highest ratio for vans since July.

Looking back at the entire month of August, spot truckload freight availability climbed as the number of loads on the spot market surpassed same-month levels from the previous year for the first time since December 2014, according to DAT's North American Freight Index.

Led by a 32% jump in van loads and a 31% gain in refrigerated freight, spot freight volume on the DAT network of load ...Read the rest of this story

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