Every year, truckers lose over 1.2 billion productivity hours because of traffic on the nation’s highways. Intermodal drayage drivers lose additional time as a result of port and customer delays, empty miles, and waiting for chassis equipment. In recent years, safety regulations, such as electronic logging devices and hours of service, have also constrained capacity and the ability for drivers to make a decent living. Add to this the increased volumes at all major sea and inland ports, and rail ramps, and you have truck capacity that’s being squeezed from all ends.
These inefficiencies and market conditions make it increasingly difficult for drivers. Many are leaving the industry, and a large number are retiring. The American Trucking Associations has indicated the driver shortage could exceed 200,000 by 2020.
Is there a solution? New innovative technology has entered the market to deliver relief from some of the challenges facing container drayage. While ELDs have been constrictive from an HOS standpoint, they have inversely granted us greater visibility across the final mile. Greater visibility helps to streamline and respond to containers at maritime ports, railroad networks and yards, and intermodal terminals, improving supply chain reliability, planning, and response while reducing cost.
There are also new industry initiatives that are improving drayage productivity, such as E*DRAY, a collaborative port logistics platform that delivers a new coordinated standard for drayage operations at terminals and container yards. E*DRAY standardizes and scales the block stow, flow stack, and export street turn processes to reduce congestion, improve productivity, and lower network costs by reducing wait times and empty miles.
These tech solutions have helped RoadOne IntermodaLogistics work better and smarter in the current environment and support our drivers need to be more productive to improve earnings. We need to work together to reduce intermodal drayage pain points and boost driver pay to attract much needed driver candidates.