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Transport Activity * USA - Show Modest Increases, Fed Says
Washington,DC,USA -Transport Topics -2 Dec 2009: -- The U.S. economy improved modestly from October through mid-November as consumer spending rose in most areas and transportation activity showed some signs of improvement, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday... Transportation sector improvement was cited in four of the Fed’s 12 districts — the Chicago, St. Louis, Cleveland, and Kansas City regions — the Fed said in its latest “beige book” report, released eight times a year... Cleveland district freight executives reported little change in shipping volume, though two said they plan to purchase replacement equipment during the next 12 months... The report, prepared by the New York Fed, was based on information collected from Oct. 13 though Nov. 20...* USA - Analysis: New Regulations will Increase Trucker’s Costs
New York,MY,USA -GLG Inteligently Connecting, by Jay Thompson -December 1, 2009: ... Pushing mandates versus normal evolution; the acceleration of all of the noted issues; and the general tax / economic problems has number crunchers sharpening the pencils... The Cap and Trade (or cap and tax for truckers) ends up being mostly a math issue. If we take a normal trucker running 120,000 per year getting 6MPG, it means they burn about 20,000 gallons of diesel. Each gallon of diesel accounts for about 20 pounds of carbon, so each such a truck produces 200 Tons of Carbon. If Carbon is traded at $10 per ton (today it’s only $0.15 in US but 15 Euros overseas), it’s $2,000 or $0.016 per mile. If it’s at the target price of $20 per ton, it would be $0.03 per mile. There is no real benefit in the trading schemes for truckers for a variety of reasons, but instead the fuel cost savings most are trying to achieve today anyway... Hours of Service are more about politics than statistics, as the rate of crashes / fatalities have dropped since the latest rules were implemented. Knocking the dust off my old logbook program, the big issues have to do with the number of hours driving (11 versus old 10), the 14-hour daily clock start now, hours in the sleeper (10 continuous with no split time versus old 8 with split) and the 34-hour reset. For most fleets that don’t have trucks that max out hours, a change backwards will not be notable. For those who plan for maximum utilization (i.e. the most productive fleets), it can cost up to 10% in utilization or up to $0.05 per mile, Those running routes (distribution) are also negatively affected. Drivers are unhappy too, as our surveys show that the 11 and 34-hour rules are most popular. Allowing for splitting sleeper time (i.e. no penalty for stopping when tired) is still desired, but will most probably not be addressed... But just rolling up these costs the potential increases are over $0.20 per mile. If one uses today’s $1.30 per mile base rate (without surcharge), it’s a 15% increase in costs. This does not include the internal operations costs. Regardless, the costs will be passed on - since $0.03 fleet profitability pales in comparison!... (Photo by Michael Keating / The Enquirer - Truck traffic in high volume as seen from a passenger car's rear view mirror and windshield along northbound I-75/71, the legendary "cut-in-the-hill" in Covington, Ky.)Labels: trucking industry analysis USA
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