Dive Brief:
- Trucking rates could rise 10% to 20% as a result of a new federal rule requiring electronic logging devices (ELDs) in commercial trucks, predicted Todd Amen, president of owner-operator financial services provider ATBS, at last week's Great American Trucking Show.
- Amen added most operators would likely wait until December 2017, when the rule goes into effect, to install the devices. As a result, he predicted a truck shortage of 200,000 to 300,000 units at that time.
- The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), backed by other groups, is challenging the rule in court claiming it overlooks privacy concerns, erodes drivers' rights, and does not justify the costs.
Dive Insight:
A shortage-induced rate hike would inevitably translate into higher logistics costs for supply chain managers. Some worry the federal government's recent push on highway safety may induce a general capacity crunch despite truckers' best efforts.
The government seeks to decrease heavy vehicle speeding and driver fatigue through the ELD rule and a recently proposed speed-governor mandate.
The OOIDA opposes both rules: slower transit speeds coupled with stronger hours-of-service enforcement would require more drivers to deliver the same amount of goods, while decreasing independent drivers' earnings. As a result rates would likely increase, regardless of operators' implementation of the devices.
