COVID-19

Trucking Companies’ COVID-Related Safety Procedures May Continue Post-Pandemic

July 13, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Fleets across the United States have had to implement a variety of new safety protocols in the midst of the coronavirus era, and many are deciding to keep such practices intact post-pandemic.

Drivers at Hub Group Trucking, for instance, began thoroughly disinfecting their trucks at the beginning and end of their work shifts, and continue to do so today, explained Hub Group’s executive vice president, Luke Simendinger.

“I think those are just going to be standard operating procedures for us going forward,” he explained. “We do quite a bit of slip-seating, so it was ensuring that all PPE was provided. Any individual that’s going in and out of truck had the disinfectant to do that themselves.”

Additionally, many trucking companies that gave out personal protective equipment to their employees have had workers continue to utilize the gear. Hub Group issued masks, gloves, paper towels and disinfectants to its 3,400 drivers, and both FedEx Corp. and UPS Inc. have employees loyally wearing their masks to this day.

Vehicle transportation service provider United Road also made company-branded fabric masks for its truckers to use–which, of course, they still do.

Professional driver wellness company, Rolling Strong, has noted that it expects its employees to maintain the safety measures that were put in place at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, because they help stop the spread of a variety of viruses and bacteria. Additionally, the company’s president, Stephen Kane, explained that many workers have made regular habits of these practices.

Still, vehicle maintenance has continued to be a major obstacle for fleets during the pandemic, said Hill Brothers Transportation manager of recruiting and fleet services, Scott Hill. Hill Brothers, which specializes in dry van and refrigerated shipments, is based in Omaha.

For example, technicians must wear gloves and masks, on top of thoroughly disinfecting all surfaces, when a driver brings a truck to the company’s terminal shop. They also must be careful to clean all buttons inside the cab as well as the steering wheel, which can be tedious.

These technicians do “whatever they can do to make sure we’re getting at least another shot at getting some of that bacteria out of the truck,” said Hill. “It’s definitely been tough, but our drivers are the backbone of what we do and we wouldn’t be there without them.”

Another area of change brought to the industry by the pandemic includes that of technology upgrades, which occurred as many fleets boosted their operation capabilities.

In an effort to easily share government health alerts in relation to the pandemic, XPO Logistics implemented an alert service on its XPO Connect platform’s digital dashboard, explained the company’s chief human resources officer, Josephine Berisha. This technology platform is used across the globe by carriers and customers alike.

For United Road, technology played an even bigger role during the pandemic as the company communicated with employees via technology when workers were the most stressed about the virus. In fact, the company implemented a specific email address for COVID-related concerns and held regular virtual town halls to answer employee questions and address worries.

Additionally, United Road set up a smartphone app to help with its electronic logging devices, and used that resource to implement a COVID-19 questionnaire for truckers to finish once every pre-trip inspection was completed.

“We keep a finger on the pulse of the drivers as well,” said Eric Madison, United Roads’ senior vice president of people and safety. “We get a heads-up if there’s ever any need for concern.”

Many companies throughout the industry also began using contactless delivery methods to help reduce bacteria spreading. UPS ceased any required signatures for packages, and Hub Group implemented paperless customer services–which was particularly helpful within handoff-heavy intermodal business.

United Road also switched to contactless deliveries, with drivers using electronic paperwork instead of collecting digital signatures.

“Quite a few of the customers we’ve worked with have physical paperwork that they have to hand to the driver,” said Hill Brother’s Scott Hill. “A lot of that has changed now to where that [paperwork] is emailed or it’s already sent to the end user. If any benefit comes from this, it’s [that] people are trying to figure out how to make things better due to this pandemic. It’s [those] things that are going to continue on even after the pandemic’s over, whenever that may be.”

Post-Pandemic Roadways Seeing More Traffic Once Again–What Does That Mean for Safety?

June 17, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

LOS ANGELES, CA – MARCH 22: Rush hour traffic fills the 101 freeway on March 22, 2006 in Los Angeles, California. According to a recent report by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Los Angeles ranks only behind New York with the dirtiest and most hazardous air to breathe. Although Angelinos breathe cleaner air than they did in the 1970’s, they face a cancer risk that is about twice the national average. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

At the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, we reported on data showing that although stay-at-home orders had cleared up a majority of traffic congestion throughout the nation’s roadways, overall levels of road safety had remained incredibly low.

“Unfortunately, the pandemic has exposed our road safety culture for what it is,” explained National Safety Council President and CEO, Lorraine Martin, at the time. “We did not reap the safety benefits we should have experienced.”

Martin noted that the clearer roadways motivated many drivers to drive much more carelessly than usual, and drivers are often tempted to reach dangerous speeds when roads are empty–they often may also fail to use a seat belt due to a false sense of security.

“It’s clear that our open roads have created somewhat of an open season for reckless driving,” Martin added.

Now, it seems that even those who did drive safely–or stayed home completely–during the pandemic have had trouble adjusting to roadways getting crowded once again as more drivers return to work, according to industry experts.

“What we’re observing is that as the rest of us get back on those roads, we’ve forgotten how to share the road,” said Geotab’s executive vice president of sales and marketing, Colin Sutherland. ”We see cars pulling in directly in front of heavy-duty trucks on the highway, forgetting that heavy-duty trucks need more room for braking than the car does.”

In an effort to boost overall roadway safety, Geotab–a vehicle tracking service–collaborated in a campaign with Together for Safer Roads during the United Nations’ recent Global Road Safety Week. During the campaign, the two organizations called on commercial fleets to help bring an end to speed-related road accidents.

As we approach the Summer months, Sutherland warns that these days are the most important to stay particularly safe and aware while driving, as the number of road trips rises and more people than usual hit the road.

“That’s being borne out [of] the increase in accidents that are happening on the road today,” he explained. “An increase over pre-COVID, which is very scary.”

In 2020, America’s roadways saw more vehicle crash deaths than they have in the past 13 years–42,060 people are believed to have died in fatal crashes–8% more than in 2019, even though fewer people were driving throughout the year. All motor vehicle total miles driven even fell by 13% in 2020 from 2019.

The Safety Management Council of American Trucking Associations is currently studying the traffic changes and their effects from the COVID-19 pandemic while we wait for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to release its official 2020 truck and bus accident report.

“We are starting a benchmarking group and will hopefully have this data more readily available,” said ATA’s Safety Management Council executive director, Jacob Pierce. “There are [fewer] cars on the road, so you’d figure that there would be [fewer] accidents. However, [fewer] cars on the road equals probably more passenger vehicles driving [with more risk], driving faster, [and] really not paying attention.”

In regards to the differences that are expected between roadway activity as people return to the roads after lockdown and how drivers behaved on the roads during the pandemic, there is no way to make any real predictions.

“It could go either way,” explained Angela Savino, a business law attorney at Perez Morris. “There certainly was more trucking activity. So, [given] that alone, you might think there was an uptick. But It was a whole different set of circumstances–just the congestion on the road was different”

Many industry experts were genuinely shocked at the data coming from roadway traffic accidents in 2020.

“The last year had a surprising amount of activity–from my perspective–[more] than would have been expected,” said Bluewire’s chief legal officer, Doug Marcello. “Anecdotally, I had more accidents that we were engaged to deal with immediately over the first month of the pandemic than I did most other months, and all of them were situations where four-wheelers had thrown caution to the wind and ended up striking the truck in some way.”

Capacity Under Intense Pressure With Various COVID-19-Related Obstacles

June 15, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

The capacity market is seeing major additional obstacles regarding the high-demand trends brought about by the coronavirus pandemic.

As manufacturers and retailers continue to boost their inventories in the booming era of e-commerce (made much more prevalent during the country’s stay-at-home orders), the economy is beginning to finally recover–but capacity is under more pressure than ever.

“There are short-term and longer-term implications,” said CH Robinson’s vice president of retail and supply chain solutions, Noah Hoffman. “The retail space continues to put demand on all suppliers. The retail community can’t keep up with both inbound and outbound constraints and e-commerce continues to fuel that space. So, certain inventory for retailers are at record lows.”

Economic growth is being boosted, currently, by government stimuli and the opening-up of the economy after the COVID-19 vaccine has been more widely distributed. This means that the ways in which consumers purchase their goods is shifting–rapidly–including the kinds of items people are beginning to buy again.

“This is going to compound the demands on capacity that’s already not readily available,” Hoffman added.

Additionally, now, infrastructure spending is coming back at a rapid rate, and construction efforts are now underway on a large scale.

“What we’re seeing right now versus last year is capacity is coming back,” explained Hoffman. “This is positive news. The thing is, it’s just not fast enough to keep up with demand.”

In mid-2020, nationwide lockdowns caused the marketplace’s supply to plummet, with many truck drivers out of work. Now, capacity improvements have come often at the hands of small carriers, and capacity itself is seeing major shifts in a positive direction although it isn’t meeting the current demand as much as the industry would like–yet.

“As it relates to the Southeast region of the U.S., we had the cold snap in February,” Hoffman noted. “That delayed the production season–call it two to three weeks. On top of that, we had a rebound floral season that led to a $2.6 billion Mother’s Day and floral season–which is a record high. And so, you have compounding volumes of looming produce season, [and] a blooming floral season that puts a ton of pressure on the [temperature] control capacity.”

Still, with capacity under so much stress, new challenges are arising–especially with the recent shutdowns along the oil pipeline affecting pallet availability.

“I would say it’s not only just the increase in demand, it’s the volatility and the unanticipated levels of the demand,” said Douglas Kent, Association for Supply Chain Management‘s executive vice president of strategy and alliances. “Managing the supply chain networks for known demand is much easier than managing unknown demand.”

Now, with difficulty in predicting the long-term effects of these changes, there is a wide array of disruption possibilities.

“So, we’ve got variability and volatility in demand,” Kent added. “When you combine that with the concerns around capacity in the overall network, this is like the perfect storm of chaos.”

Although a variety of consumer trends can change demand, the key to capacity is equipment and drivers. Not only has the nationwide driver shortage been a long-term obstacle for the trucking industry, but the current shortage in semiconductor chips has been an added difficulty.

“Now, with this chip situation, which is fallout from the pandemic and China, they’re not able to make enough [semiconductors] for the demand out there,” explained chief operating officer for Aim Integrated Logisitics, David Gurska. “Fortunately, we have a leasing arm, Aim NationaLease, so we’re fortunate to have slots and everything available, but if you’re just the average company, trying to buy a semi right now isn’t the easiest thing.”

This limitation within capacity means the industry needs to boost its overall optimization–any volatility will make it difficult to efficiently allocate resources and employees when they are readily available.

“A lot of it is course-correcting the last couple of years,” said FourKites’ senior vice president of customer success, Glenn Koepke. “So, it was a buyer’s market for a couple of years. And then, typically, what happens is there’s some sort of…black swan event that triggers the change because it was a buyer’s market for so long.”

Additionally, motor carriers have seen more of an ability to increase compensation for workers with the disruptions coming at a time of such high demand–and this isn’t likely to stop any time soon.

“Why is capacity continuing to crunch? A lot of it is just [an] imbalance of supply,” explained Koepke. “There’s always talk over whether we have a true trucking shortage or not. I think one could argue it’s just an imbalance.”

Trucking Companies Making Major Efforts to Get Employees Vaccinated

June 2, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

The coronavirus pandemic has continued on, and the nation’s truck drivers have remained on the frontlines to ensure individuals, medical institutions, and grocery stores are always able to receive the deliveries they need on time.

Luckily, trucking companies across the country are working hard to make sure truck drivers and other employees are able to receive the COVID-19 vaccine as quickly as possible in order to keep the number of potential illnesses down and to ensure the industry is able to keep up with its duties efficiently.

Now, fleets are helping their employees to utilize paid time off, giving them access to on-site clinics, and creating online platforms to help them stay healthy and get their vaccines right away. For example, UPS Inc. workers have been given additional paid time off, vaccination appointments, and other medical benefits through COVID-19 compensation packages, according to Matthew O’Connor, a spokesman for the company.

Cargo Transporters has also been making efforts to ensure all of its drivers are vaccinated and has worked in collaboration with North Carolina’s Catawba Valley Health System in order to do so.

“The drivers will call into human resources,” said the company’s vice president of human resources, Kristy Hedrick. “Human resources then gets them an appointment.”

Cargo Transporters will also make sure its employees’ second vaccination appointments are scheduled within about four weeks after the first vaccination. According to Hedrick, the company makes sure all second appointments take place at the same location as the first, and drivers have ongoing communication with company leaders in order to make sure this process goes as smoothly as possible.

To help all employees get the vaccine quickly, Ryder System Inc. is providing six hours of paid time off to all of the company’s workers. Since the end of March, nearly 700 Ryder employees have used this opportunity to get vaccinated.

“Our employees have been very receptive to it,” explained Ryder System’s chief human resources officer, Frank Lopez. “I think they welcomed it and they appreciated that we were doing what we can do to ensure that they have the ability to take the vaccine.”

Melton Truck Lines has also been making getting vaccinations as easy as possible by implementing an on-site vaccination clinic, and by helping employees get their vaccinations at other locations if needed.

“We partner with CareATC and have a clinic on-site at our main terminal in Tulsa,” noted Melton’s vice president of human resources and safety, Lisa Mason.

In areas where resources are easily accessible and employees are eligible, Yellow Corp. has been making similar efforts, and is working in collaboration with pharmacy providers to offer on-site vaccinations, as well.

“Yellow is providing all employees with essential services documentation to assist them with getting prioritization of the vaccination,” said Heather Nauert, spokeswoman for Yellow Corp.

Many trucking companies are also doing what they can to keep their truck drivers–and all employees–well-informed in regards to all aspects involved with receiving the vaccine. These efforts include providing workers with information about the best locations for them to get vaccinated and what they need to know about their eligibility in their respective states.

Werner Enterprises, in particular, has been focusing on spreading as much helpful information as possible by launching a website just for its employees to find the state-by-state information they need in regards to becoming vaccinated.

“The company is seeking out opportunities where we can provide easy access to vaccine clinics, whether it be on-site or close to one of our network locations,” explained Werner’s vice president of human resources, Stefanie Christensen.

FedEx Corp has also been helping employees find the most efficient ways to utilize their eligibility in their own states.

“We strongly encourage all team members to take advantage of vaccination opportunities as they become available, and are actively working to ensure team members are aware of opportunities,” said a spokesperson for the company.

Companies like U.S. Xpress Enterprises are taking their informative efforts a step further by bringing in resources like licensed physicians who can help answer vaccination-related questions and address any employee concerns.

“We’re using regular touch-points like town halls, newsletters, and even social media content to communicate key information,” explained the company’s chief people officer, Amanda Thompson.