5 trucking trends that defined TCA 2018
It’s that time again: this week marked the 2018 edition of the annual Truckload Carriers Association convention, and there was certainly no shortage of industry-altering topics up for debate.
For TCA’s 80th year, carriers and logistics services providers descended on Central Florida to talk revenue, regulation, driver retention and the wide range of tech tools now available to trucking companies.
The LoadDocs team was proud to be on hand to demo our on-the-road communication tools. During a jam-packed few days, we even found time to breakdown our biggest trends from the action at TCA 2018:
1. Retention
By now, the fact that the trucking industry faces some daunting math when it comes to filling more than 50,000 vacant jobs isn’t new. What is evolving, however, is the conversation about what’s fueling the driver shortage, and what can be done to stop the bleeding.
Perhaps the most noticeable shift was the number of panelists owning up to the fact that they themselves sometimes contribute to low driver supply by perpetuating low pay, bad culture and generally treating drivers as a commodity. To address these dynamics, several participants honed in on better training and better pay. Nussbaum, for instance, starts detention time after one hour; even if they don’t collect from the customer, they’ll pay out the drivers.
Lacking communication with drivers was another focal point in discussion about poor retention. On top of technologies like digitization and document scanning that can help reduce red tape for drivers, two CEOs added that they’ve instituted new open door policies so that drivers feel comfortable raising relevant issues.
2. Size matters
Mid-sized carriers represented a large block of attendees at TCA this year, underscoring a broader trend toward consolidation reshaping the trucking industry.
As indicated by sessions with names like, “Building Your Company for the Future: Are You the Right Size?” small-scale operations are being forced to reconsider their value proposition in a rapidly-evolving market. With the flurry of M&A activity over the past few years added to new regulations and other factors, many fleets are growing in order to compete.
3. Thinning the ELD herd
After rising to the top of the buzzword pack, Electronic Logging Devices, or ELDs, appeared to lose some of their luster with large carriers in particular already getting out ahead of last year’s ramped-up driver monitoring mandate. Though the topic wasn’t on the tip of every attendee’s tongue like in recent years, several developments make ELDs an area to keep watching.
One consensus was that a significant number of citations are already being written up during the current soft-enforcement period, spurring many carriers to expect stricter regulation down the road.
Competition in the ELD market is another moving target. Some 300 ELDs were certified in the past year. The wave of new entrants is already inspiring guesses about how many providers will end up going away after failing to gain market share or getting acquired.
4. Rate anxiety
One big variable in the discussion about ELDs is how shipping prices might be affected by tighter oversight of operating procedures like hours worked. One large fleet owner said that the impact is already being felt, estimating that market capacity has dropped by 7 percent since the mandate went into effect, which could soon boost rates for carriers.
Though increased regulation is synonymous with anxiety about higher prices, ELDs were also just part of the conversation about rate fluctuation. Pricing models — namely spot rate freight vs. contract rates — were also front and center.
Several audience members worried about difficulty renegotiating existing under-priced contracts or being undercut by competitors. The answers in the room: go directly to customers to discuss changing negotiated rates in the current market, and don’t get greedy when it comes to pricing.
5. Cybersecurity
Even a few years ago, the idea that a cybersecurity panel would rank among well-attended sessions at a trucking industry event probably would have been hard to imagine. Times have changed.
Though specific vulnerabilities for industry companies are still up for debate, audience questions demonstrated an understanding of the risks involved with increasingly relying on software and connected hardware.
In the realm of the secure record keeping, blockchain sessions were also well-attended. As we’ve noted, basics like agreed-upon standards are still largely missing from the conversation, making it hard to actually realize potential logistics applications. One game changer to watch out for: government recognition of smart contracts, which could add incentive to migrate toward blockchain from older administrative technologies.
Interested in learning more about the next wave of trucking innovation? Try out a free LoadDocs demo here.
