Trucking Industry

FAST Act Officially Extended by One Year

January 14, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Following President Trump’s latest signing of a funding measure meant to avoid federal government shutdown, the FAST Act highway law–a bill regulating United States transportation operations–has been extended for another full year.

Within the stopgap appropriations law, which is set to fund the government through mid-December, is a year-long extension of FAST Act, which was originally expiring on September 30th of this year.

The extension brings further temporary funding for transit and highway programs, as well as more time to implement a new highway policy bill, according to transportation policymakers. These lawmakers also claimed they ended up running out of time to properly reauthorize the FAST Act as planned.

“A full one-year extension of highway funding provides states and communities the certainty required to plan for critical road and bridge projects,” said chairman of the committee on highways, Senator John Barrasso.

Barrasso’s committee has a bipartisan plan to update the FAST Act in a timely manner, but republican leaders never took the plan to the Senate floor.

“The extension will give Congress more time to finish a long-term, bipartisan highway bill to rebuild our roads and bridges,” Barrasso explained.

House Democrats spearheaded efforts to pass a more-than-$1 trillion infrastructure package over the summer–a package that included a FAST Act reauthorization plan. The House-passed legislation was not considered by Senate Republicans, although the Senate highway proposals and the House both failed to propose any long-term solutions for the issues arising within the Highway Trust Fund.

The federal highway account uses fuel tax revenue to fund country-wide surface transportation systems, although the current diesel tax of 24.4 cents-per-gallon and the gas tax of 18.4 cents-per-gallon were set 27 years ago.

“With this one-year extension in place, we can continue [working] on a long-term, transformational bill that significantly boosts investment in our surface transportation network and moves our transportation systems into the 21st century,” said House transportation panel chairman, Rep. Peter DeFazio.

President Trump requested support from congress in regards to Barrasso’s highway measure in his State of the Union Address, but the White House has yet to release any comprehensive infrastructure policy plan after opposing the House’s bill proposal.

Additionally, Congress received further pressure to agree on a new highway bill before the September 30th authorization deadline by state agencies, transit operators, freight firms, unions, and members of the construction sector. Stakeholders also endorsed fuel tax increases as a method of bringing in new highway program funding.

“We look forward to working with Congress and committee staff on a reauthorization that will address the challenges facing surface transportation, including the need for a long-term fix for the Highway Trust Fund,” said American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials executive director, Jim Tymon.

Laborers’ International Union of North America general president, Terry O’Sullivan, agreed, saying: “The [FAST Act] extension provides some stability for states to continue important transportation infrastructure projects for another year, but unfortunately falls short of the long-term reauthorization that we had hoped for.”

COVID-related emergency assistance has also been a big ask of Congress by important transportation network sector members, with state agencies, transit operators, and airlines requesting multi-billion dollar aid packages. The House has been contemplating a pandemic aid measure of $2 trillion, as compared to the $3 trillion bill passed in the first pandemic relief package. So far, the Senate has not backed the effort.

“[Treasury] Secretary [Steve] Mnuchin and I had an extensive conversation, and we found areas where we are seeking further clarification” said Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “Our conversations will continue.”

The Democrats’ plan has been heavily criticized by Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader, as other Senate Republicans are looking for COVID relief aid for the sake of school re-openings, small business relief, and aid for health care providers.

“Speaker Pelosi’s latest offering still does not include a single cent of new money for the [Small Business Administration’s] Paycheck Protection Program, to help small businesses that are going under,” said McConnell. “It does nothing to help schools, universities, doctors, nurses, or employers avoid frivolous lawsuits.”

Tool to Better Understand HOS Changes Launched by FMCSA

January 13, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

As the trucking industry adapts to recent hours-of-service regulation changes which became official at the end of September, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has released a virtual tool aiming to help industry members fully understand the new rules.

The final hours-of-service rule was announced by former acting Administrator Jim Mullen, along with Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, on May 14th and consisted of four revisions the FMCSA says align with the biggest concerns they’ve heard from truckers. These revisions include changes to the 30-minute mandatory rest break, sleeper berth time splits, and maximum on-duty driving times.

“New hours-of-service rules now in effect!” said FMCSA in a tweet. “FMCSA has built an online education tool for hours of service to help drivers and carriers understand the new rules.”

With the new Educational Tool for Hours of Service (ETHOS), users are able to input their duty statuses into a digital logging system and see potential regulation violations.

“September 29th is an important day for our nation’s commercial drivers–the start of the revised hours-of-service rules providing greater flexibility to drivers and carriers without impacting safety,” said Wiley Deck, FMCSA Deputy Administrator. “Our team has worked hard preparing for this launch. [ETHOS] is a prime example of that effort. Its simple, scenario-based system is user-friendly and very helpful, particularly given the uniqueness of runs and drivers situations.”

Industry representatives having a firm grasp of the new rules is of the utmost importance, and this tool is going to be a huge help in that regard, said American Trucking Associations vice president of safety policy, Dan Horvath.

“The more educational materials FMCSA can provide to safety directors [and] to drivers, the better, because folks are going to be on the same page as far as understanding the new hours-of-service rules and complying with them,” Horvath explained. “Unfortunately, as we’ve seen with past rule-making, there’s always some gray area that exists with confusion when there’s any rule change, whether it be hours of service, [or] whether it be any regulatory rule-making changes.”

With ETHOS, a user can enter the day, time, and type of event he or she wishes to examine against the rule changes, including both driving and off-duty occurrences. Then, the user can select a pre-populated example prepared with the rule revisions in place–such as driving window times, rest break requirements, or sleeper berth provisions. Then, ETHOS can give a Record of Duty Status regarding the given information that reflects the intervals of time spent on-duty, off-duty, driving, or resting. Finally, potential violations are listed occurring to the day and time they may have taken place.

According to Horvath, this kind of helpful visualization tool will play a huge part in helping trucking industry members better understand hours of service rules. Truck drivers, dispatchers, safety directors, and employers can create a “mock duty day” on ETHOS if they are used to looking at logbooks or electronic logging devices each day.

“That [method] is often a very easy way to understand the hours-of-service rules as compared to providing a driver with regulatory text and saying, ‘Here’s what you can and cannot do,’” said Horvath. “When you take that regulatory text and put it in the context of an actual logbook for that driver’s day, it’s a lot easier to understand, it’s a lot easier to train, and that way, everyone’s on the same page.”

Horvath also notes that because the ETHOS’ system is based on what industry members use in their usual day-to-day responsibilities, it is incredibly user-friendly.

“Having an example of something that drivers and safety directors are using on a daily basis is going to be much more beneficial to the industry in understanding it,” he said.

ETHOS is meant to be a helpful educational and visualization tool for truckers and safety directors, and will only find the potential violations at hand in a given situation. It is not meant to monitor overall hours-of-service rule compliance, according to the online tool’s website. FMCSA also will not retain any data entered within ETHOS.

To find more information regarding ETHOS and to begin using it, click here.

COVID Demand Calls For Boosted Efforts from Healthcare Fleets

January 12, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Healthcare industry fleets have had to meet the demands of a world in the midst of a pandemic and utilize as many safety-focused operational methods as possible during this new reality.

McKesson Medical-Surgical vice president of transportation, Mark Rigdon, said that his company had to find a way to make faster and more efficient decisions in order to help everyone calling on them.

“There were many complex areas we had to work through,” he explained. “I think our teams were very effective at identifying problems, developing alternatives, making the decisions they could, and escalating other alternatives to senior leadership.”

McKesson put in place new protocols to protect its delivery drivers who joined other truckers working on the pandemic’s front lines. The safety procedures included implementing mandatory mask wearing, regular temperature checks, vehicle and equipment sanitization, and maintaining a 10-feet distance between drivers and others at all times.

McKesson also prefers that its more than 1,000 delivery workers use curbside delivery options when possible.

Cintas Corp. has been stepping up the plate too, and has been working hard to get N95 respirators and hand sanitizer where needed throughout the current health crisis.

“Our supply chain has worked feverishly to satisfy this demand,” said Cintas CEO, Scott Farmer. “I’m proud of their ability to adapt and persevere in the midst of unprecedented adversity.”

Cintas has also been delivering pandemic staples such as scrubs, towels, sanitizer sprays, disinfectants, and personal protective equipment–including face masks and face shields–to its healthcare customers as efficiently as possible.

“Our employee partners have been consistent and diligent in their care of our customers, providing essential products and services to healthcare facilities, pharmaceutical companies, grocery store chains, food processing plants, and many others,” Farmer explained.

Private fleets have the ability to make sure quality service levels can be provided to customers when the industry sees major spikes in demand, according to SJ Consulting Group founder, Satish Jindel. This is especially true when healthcare companies make use of contract carriers, and in times like these, the partnership stays strong.

“It is almost like a private fleet committed to you, but they operate the truck and provide the driver,” said Jindel.

In regards to a dedicated contract carrier model, various distribution companies have been utilizing the concept due to the continuity it can bring to employees, said Kenco Logistics vice president of operations, Michelle Kunde.

“We developed a corporate response team that worked with customers to ensure it adhered to all of the various regulations,” she said. Kenco brings a dedicated service to an array of customers throughout the healthcare sector, and has adapted its resources to the needs of that industry during this time.

Speaking of which, the COVID era has in fact increased the need for transportation companies to boost responses to industry changes, according to Ryder Supply Chain Solutions senior vice president of dedicated transportation solutions, Steve Martin.

“Now, you just have to be ready for it to be part of your day, every day,” he explained.

Ryder brings contract carriage service to healthcare customers, such as those requiring medical equipment and in-home respiratory services. The need for oxygen therapy hit a spike this year, so drivers had to be able to deliver the equipment when needed and also be able pick it back up to be cleaned and redistributed.

“We had to make sure the drivers had the oxygen equipment as a priority as a return shipment,” said Martin.

For Greenwich, Connecticut-based XPO Logistics, shipments to hospital networks rose by up to 40% as compared to typical numbers.

“The shipments were critical medical supplies, including masks, gloves, gowns, IV components, trays, and surgical kits,” said XPO North American transportation group president, Drew Wilkerson.

As trucking companies work to keep their drivers safe, they know the priority is getting PPE and other medical resources to hospitals and pharmaceutical companies quickly and efficiently, and to ensure all patients can receive their medications as expected during this time of astronomical demand.

Unitrans International Corp. president, Andrew Schadegg put it best: “That supply chain needs to remain intact.”

Supply Chain Employees Step Up to Heightened Roles During Pandemic

January 11, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

“We’re a distribution center. We’re not clinicians, but the thing we point out as we look at those videos is the bouffant cap, the isolation gown, the N95 masks, the booties and the gloves,” said supply chain distribution and logistics vice president at the Northwell Health Integrated Distribution Center, Paul Spodek. “We remind all of our associations, our employees, and our drivers that all of these items came from us.”

Spodek speaks about his watching of videos showing coronavirus patients leaving Northwell’s hospitals, as do many other employees at Northwell Health’s distribution center as they take in their key roles in the health care supply chain that has become so vital throughout the pandemic.

Northwell Health is the largest healthcare employer in New York, operating 23 hospitals and partnering with Penske Logistics for its supply and resource transportation needs.

“We did the receiving, the pick, pack, and ship, and the Penske drivers did the deliveries,” said Spodek. “What goes on behind the scenes is such a key part of the whole healthcare process.”

Penske has more than 1,100 drivers working within the dedicated contract carriage sector to deliver materials to hospitals, according to senior vice president of operations for dedicated contract carriage at Penske, Jeff Jackson.

“Each hospital is unique in terms of the delivery point,” he said, adding that there are even sometimes various delivery points in one hospital.

This is true at Northwell Health, and Spodek noted that Penske provides intense transport and loading training to its drivers that end up serving Northwell.

“Every one of our hospitals is different,” Spodek said. “The loading docks are different. The supply rooms are in different locations.” Northwell has items brought in on rolling carts and in plastic shipping totes, he noted. “We’ll wrap those and load those on a truck a certain way.”

To keep supplies moving, workers in warehouses and distribution centers also have to work quickly and efficiently, according to Spodek.

A McKesson distribution center in Dallas, Texas also stepped up to the plate after receiving a crucial call from American Medical Response. The group asked for 81 oxygen tanks for ambulances and crew heading to coronavirus hot spots throughout New York and New Jersey.

To meet demands, McKesson brought in additional automation to its distribution centers to help workers, and was then able to bring more efficient service to those in need–even during the huge upticks in demand.

“Team McKesson jumped into action and pulled together a multi-department crew that immediately took the job to heart and formed a fast-paced assembly line,” said Ammie McAsey, McKesson’s senior vice president of distribution operations. She added that the team was able to package all 81 requested oxygen tanks within a span of 30 minutes.

McKesson’s independent pharmacy chain, Health Mart, is also partnering with eTrueNorth–a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services contractor–as part of a collection site in order to boost access to coronavirus testing.

Testing supplies, customer support materials, and personal protective equipment were all brought together into a McKesson distribution center and shipped to all participating Health Marts throughout the country as part of national virus testing efforts.

“McKesson’s hub-and-spoke distribution network has enabled inventory to be deployed to hot spots on a daily basis,” said McAsey.

Mckesson has also been able to collect additional important products, including backup products, to be able to ensure equitable distribution and the proper allocation of supplies through business continuity planning, according to the company’s senior vice president of supply chain management, Chris Alverson.

McKesson also continues to collaborate with industry partners, government agencies, and manufacturers to be ready for pandemic-related shortages and to respond to higher-than-usual demands for medication and other resources.

Dependability is also high within Kenco Logistics, where company vice president of operations, Michelle Kunde, has a team working to provide high-touch, white-glove service. To meet accountability, Kenco facilities provide extensive training and coordination regarding the needs of every customer.

One aspect of Kenco’s responsibilities include the handling of temperature-controlled non-narcotic pharmaceuticals, which, of course, requires extreme care and expertise.

“We’ll have dry ice containers, so there are unique handling requirements that require experienced drivers,” said Kunde.

Trucking Industry Embraces Contactless Delivery and Electronic Bills of Lading in Midst of Pandemic

January 10, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Electronic bills of lading are becoming more and more common as both trucking companies and customers adopt the technology as an extra precaution to keep truck drivers safe.

The coronavirus pandemic rages on, and shippers are still doing what they can to ensure the safety of truckers serving at the front lines of America’s pandemic response efforts. Many companies have already been using electronic documents in lieu of traditional paperwork for years, as electronic bills tend to improve transaction efficiency and workflow, but with the focus on safety and limited person-to-person contact, virtual documents have become more prevalent in the industry than ever.

“Because of COVID, and the health and safety component, it shined a light on an issue that was ripe for further discussion and refinement, said Tom Madrecki, vice president of supply chain and logistics for the Consumer Brands Association, which recently implemented a Contactless Delivery Task Force. “All of a sudden, it became really paramount that everyone in the supply chain stayed safe.”

Soon, the task force grew to nearly 40 members throughout the industry of packaged goods, including carriers, tech facilitators, and retailers alike.

The task force, which focuses on furthering the current momentum of finding more contactless delivery options, is working to boost the widespread utilization of contactless delivery as a practice. These methods include the updating of delivery processes, data sharing, and carriers’ current delivery platforms.

Task force member and Coyote chief network solutions officer Nick Shroeger believes supply chain workforce safety is extraordinarily important right now, and that universal contactless delivery practices are a no-brainer.

“If you think about where there’s the most interaction between different companies between carrier and shipper, it is when the driver is checking in and checking out, so how do we reduce the amount of manual touch points and contact points between two individuals?” Shroeger asked. “When you’re intersecting with so many independent drivers that check in and out of the facility, it’s hard to have that standardized process or practices to ensure safety for your people.”

This worry brings the chance to create an industry-standard solution, he explained.

Madrecki agreed, adding that companies also need a solution that will be easy enough to use across the industry and across current company technology. Additionally, Shroeger and Madrecki both mention the “app fatigue” that already exists among many truckers who have been adapting to so much new technology on the job.

“Carriers don’t want 15 apps when they pull into a facility,” Madrecki said. “Everybody wants a solution, just one, that accounts for those different use cases and needs.”

Bills of lading–which work as contracts between consignors and consignees, as well as freight receipts and official documentation of transfers of goods–had already been heading towards becoming widely electronic before the pandemic. Now, electronic bills are becoming standard much more quickly than previously expected due to the safety concerns arriving with COVID-19.

“It takes a lot of human interaction to pick up and deliver a load,” said Robert Solimani, Vice President of Stevens Transport. “What COVID has done is have people thinking outside the box. It has spurred the industry into advancing current technology into the 21st century to allow carriers, shippers, and receivers to be on the same page as to how to make us more efficient.”

Zonar Systems has been utilizing electronic bills of lading consistently for about four years already, after releasing Zonar Forms (ZForms) to replace paperwork in an effort to expedite the driver-to-dispatch process. A ZForm allows for electronic signatures and digital bill of lading records.

“Obviously, with the [electronic logging device] mandate, that changed a lot of carriers and how they managed their [fleets],” explained Zonar’s vice president of safety and compliance, Fred Fakkema.

Electronic document management has also been made available within ELD and trucking tech provider KeepTruckin, whose fleet management software allows drivers to manage documents, including bills of lading, right on its mobile app.

“Paper logs, bills of lading, and manual paperwork are a big pain point for drivers,” said KeepTruckin’s head of safety and compliance product team, Abhishek Gupta. “Historically, they had to store paperwork in the truck and had to fax it or drop it off. It is time-consuming, error-prone, and not easy to keep track of. We built this app to streamline the process.”

Although many trucking company leaders say a 100% switch from paper may not be possible anytime soon, Gupta believes electronic documentation has only just begun.

“The uptick has been there since the mandate, and with COVID, it is more important than ever,” said Gupta. “But the benefit of the technology for the driver or back-office staff has been so remarkable, it will only continue the trend. More fleets and drivers will realize that embracing technology will be beneficial in the long-term. In a post-pandemic world, the trend will only accelerate.”

Levinson and Stefani Help With Publication of New Edition of Auto Injury Case Litigation Book

January 9, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

The 2020-2021 Edition of Litigating Major Automobile Injury and Death Cases has just been released, and Levinson and Stefani have contributed to the book.

Litigating Major Automobile Injury and Death Cases is divided into two separate volumes and aims to give plaintiff attorneys proper guidance in regards to major automobile injury and death case representation. It also provides specific strategies for using the least expenditure of effort in order to win the largest damage awards as possible.

Volume 1 of the book, Law and Forms, explains how an attorney can build the best possible case by “incorporating litigation strategies that undermine expected defense strategies and affirm [the] case.”

Volume 2, Forensic Science, is medical reference-based and offers data regarding injury mechanism topics. These are meant to “prove causation and damages for a variety of crash types and crash injuries, including epidemiology, injury risk by crash type, injury pattern analysis, biomechanics, and more.”

Levinson and Stefani took the initiative to contribute a section written by Louisville-based attorney Jay Vaughn, who specializes in remote depositions. Vaughn was able to add guidance on this topic in an effort “to help practitioners during the pandemic working remotely,” which will also be “for use even when things get back to normal,” explained Ken Levinson.

In this particular contribution, Vaughn details certain technology basics, a ‘Best Practices’ checklist, court reporter instructions, the sharing and usage of exhibits, and deposition notice samples for Zoom.

The book also features tools such as focus group, trial consultant, and juror interview guidance; ways to construct the best visual aids and prepare effective presentations for a jury; procedures that give step-by-step guidance from a client’s first meeting all the way to a winning judgment; legal resource references for litigating a case to a favorable verdict; air bag, seat belt, and other auto safety-related technical articles; and scientific articles to help attorneys obtain expert and opposing expert critical testimonies.

To purchase an individual volume or the full set of the latest edition of Litigating Major Automobile Injury and Death Cases, click here.