Driver Retention, Efficiency Among Fleet Managers’ Concerns
ORLANDO, Fla. — Time is money: That simple axiom drove hours of discussion on the harsh realities company executives face in meeting the demands of more freight to haul but fewer drivers to haul it.
"Historically, productivity in trucking was viewed as increased size and weight. Today, the biggest productivity problem we have in trucking is taking place at our customers’ docks when the trucks are sitting still," said Jerry Moyes, president of Swift Transportation Co. in Phoenix.
While economists, such as Bob Costello of ATA and Martin Labbe of Martin Labbe Associates in Ormond Beach, Fla., were pointing out that the go-go pace of the U.S. economy should slow in coming years, managers seemed more interested in hearing about how to stop the hemorrhaging of drivers as their freight volume grows and grows. Federal agencies reported that trucking accounts for about 70% of the U.S. business freight, whose shipments for the industry went up 19% in tonnage between 1993 and 1997 (1-4, p. 5).
 | |
| More coverage |
|  ATA Board: 65 is Fast Enough (Nov. 8)
|
|  |
Moyes was among the throng of executives and others attending the American Trucking Associations’ management meeting, which ran from Oct. 31 to Nov. 3, and conversing about moving freight and related issues.
 | |
For the full story, see the Nov. 8 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.
