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Cutting Driver Detention Times a Top Priority for Cleveland Trucking Service
The term “driver detention” in trucking refers to occasions when a trucker’s fastest route is delayed at the location of either pickup origin or delivery destination – costing the driver and other stakeholders time and money and posing possible safety risks on the road. Our Cleveland trucking service providers are familiar with the old adage, “If the wheels aren’t turning, truckers aren’t earning,” and work to address these issues to improve efficiency and capacity and keep costs in check.
Loading dock times longer than a two hours is considered a substantial delay, and it’s become a common issue weighing heavily on the trucking industry the last several years.
Research by DAT Solutions found more than 60 percent of truck drivers spend in excess of three hours at shipper docks for each loading/unloading. A white paper analysis by J.B. Hunt Transport
reported that, on average, only 6.5 of the total 11 hours of drive time available under federal Hours of Service rules are spent actually driving. Much of the rest spent waiting to load and unload.
Working with a Cleveland trucking service with warehousing and logistics capabilities can help to identify which issues and individual suppliers/receivers pose the most driver detention risk and work to reduce those risks.
The Value of Supply Chain Visibility in Northeast Ohio Warehousing & Logistics
The concept of supply chain visibility wasn’t an issue many Northeast Ohio warehousing and logistics firms considered much until just the last couple decades. Supply chain visibility is the tracking of products or components from manufacturer to final destination and making this information readily available to all stakeholders, customer included, with the goal of strengthening and improving the supply chain.
Today, supply chain transparency is a top priority for logistics powerhouses, with top-level managers across a range of industries paying close attention.
The reason?
Businesses are under increasingly intense pressure from consumers, governments, non-profits and other stakeholders to delivery goods in tact and on time – and to do so in a way that is considered responsible and sustainable from ecological and humanitarian standpoints.
Cleveland Third-Party Logistics Help Businesses Navigate Trade War
However one feels about the politics of it, the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China has invariably imposed significant burdens on stateside supply chains. Cleveland third-party logistics firms do our best to help insulate our clients from the economic impact – which for now shows little sign of abating – or at least find ways to help offset the costs.
The trade war began nearly one year ago with President Donald Trump imposing tariffs on $250 billion Chinese exports. Administration officials cited China’s alleged theft of U.S. intellectual property (mostly in the tech sector), as the primary catalyst, but also noted a desire to incentivize American companies to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S.
The Chinese government retaliated by increasing taxes on American exports and decreasing taxes on most every other country.
This escalation has dragged on for months, with a 15 percent tariff on another $112 billion worth of Chinese goods going into effect early next month, bringing two-thirds of goods imported by the U.S. from China under additional taxation. Another 15 percent tariff on $160 billion in goods is slated to go into effect in December. If that happens, almost all Chinese imports will be under tariff.
Sharply divided are conclusions about whether this will be effective in bringing back U.S. manufacturing jobs or curbing intellectual property theft. What we do know for certain is that companies in Ohio can’t bank on this simply blowing over. The stakes are too high. They must prepare.
Smart Cleveland Supply Chain Strategies Support Business Growth
Dialing in business growth solutions in Northeast Ohio rarely involves a single factor, but the strength of a company’s Cleveland supply chain strategies can’t be overlooked.
Simply put, the supply chain is the flow of goods and services both within and among companies, domestically and internationally. It usually begins with raw materials and manufacturing, then onto production, processing and packaging and then transport and distribution – though your firm may only deal directly with one or two aspects. What is often not so simple – especially when that chain crosses state and international borders – is the logistics.
Ensuring goods get from Point A to Point B intact and on time is the foundation of our entire business model. Logistics management is a $1 trillion dollar industry in the U.S. – and it’s still growing, thanks to e-commerce and advancing technology.
Ohio University analysis shows that in just in the last decade, supply chain management employment has spiked by more than 50 percent – and that’s because business leaders increasingly recognize the upper hand it affords. The Cleveland and Columbus regions are especially active hubs, thanks to their central physical location, population and industry density and access to various transportation modes.
New Hemp Hauling Rules Vex Trucking Companies, Drivers
Cleveland trucking companies expressed alarm about the plight of several truck drivers in recent months arrested on serious felony drug trafficking charges – for hauling federally-approved industrial hemp across state lines. Along with its oil extract, cannabidiol (CBD), hemp was declared legal by Congress with the passage of the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill.
To be clear, hemp and CBD are not the same substance as marijuana, which contains the psychoactive ingredient THC. Both hemp and marijuana are parts of the same cannabis plant, but neither hemp nor its CBD derivative contains more than trace amounts of THC (0.3 percent maximum by law).
Hemp is a versatile plant used for thousands of years as a food and fiber source. It was widely grown in the U.S. prior to WWII, until the government chose to strictly regulate it alongside marijuana. Hemp-derived CBD is purported to have a number of health benefits for a range of conditions, ranging from depression to rheumatoid arthritis to epilepsy.
The problem for trucking companies in Cleveland and throughout Northeast Ohio is that this change in federal statute did not automatically alter any state laws. States have been tackling it one-by-one, and some still have the old laws in place. That means truck drivers hauling hemp and CBD material through these states will remain at risk.
Here in Ohio, lawmakers passed a CBD/hemp bill, SB 57, about a week ago – more than six months after the 2018 Farm Bill went into effect. The measure aligns state and federal law.
Cleveland 3PL Can Lower Client Liability Risk
Whether on a highway, an ocean freight or a customer’s doorstep, one key advantage of working with a Cleveland 3PL (third-party logistics company) is reducing the risk of liability – on several fronts.
How? A dependable Cleveland 3PL streamlines supply chains by reducing bottlenecks, constantly updating intermodal deliveries and preparing for exigencies with solid contingency plans. In taking on these responsibilities, our insurance assumes coverage for some of the risks our clients would otherwise have to burden alone.
That said, shippers/manufacturers are urged to carefully review their own liability insurance plans with a qualified agent to ensure their coverage is sufficient, but not excessive. Cargo insurance (land, marine, general) is not required of shippers, but it’s something for which many opt.
Although we can’t advise you on insurance, here’s what we can say:
At On Time Delivery and Warehouse, our committed Cleveland 3PL team strives daily to always provide the very best logistics services to our clients while also keeping our rates AND terms-of-service, fair, unambiguous and transparent.
What Is Liftgate Delivery Service & Why Would I Need It?
Liftgate delivery service is an economical means for LTL (less-than-truckload) shippers to onload, offload or transload heavy or bulky items while limiting the risk of damage to those goods and injury to workers.
As a longtime 3PL which also provides warehousing and trucking services, we’re committed to getting our clients’ shipments to their destination on time. But it’s going to be of little consolation to them or their customers if it doesn’t arrive intact. Liftgate delivery service helps ensure that.
It’s a fairly common add-on when you work with mid-to-large trucking/delivery services, but not everyone understands why it’s so important – and why contracting with a 3PL trucking company that knows how to properly spec all the weight requirements is imperative.
Does Your Cleveland Trucking Logistics Firm Have Staying Power?
Manufacturers, retailers and other businesses seeking to team up with a top Cleveland trucking logistics firm are probably mindful of recent “trucking industry recession” rumblings. Before on-boarding a new trucking 3PL, it’s reasonable to want assurance the transportation team chosen will having staying power.
Leaders at long-time Cleveland trucking logistics firm On-Time Delivery & Warehouse urge potential clients to bear in mind: The trucking industry has always operated in cycles of dizzying heights and sharp declines. That’s because our network of transportation logistics partners is not only national but global, and we serve a broad range of industries, leaving us more exposed than most to the fickle market fluctuations across industries and continents.
But we’ve remained strong in business all this time because of what we do best: Planning and preparing. We may actually earn more than other industries when times are good, but that allows us to prepare for fluctuations.
Our customers and partners stick with us because they know day-in-and-day-out, we plan extensively in ways that allow us to streamline, reduce waste, lower costs and get goods where they need to be – intact and on-time.
We’re going to take the same care in preparation for our own sustainability – because we want to be around to serve this community and beyond for many more years to come.
Highway Bottleneck Blues: 3PL Cleveland Trucking Solutions to Cut Costs
Bottlenecks – on urban roads and interstate thoroughfares – have been on the radar of our Cleveland trucking firm for some time.
Transportation bottlenecks in the supply chain could include:
- Congestion on a freeway in an intercity trucking freeway;
- A traffic light that’s poorly-timed on an urban trucking corridor;
- Routine crashes at an intersection that’s improperly-designed or outdated.
Everyone knows the pain of a traffic jam, but for the U.S. trucking industry, per a report last year from the American Transportation Research Institute, trucking industry time losses due to clogged highways collectively added up to 1.2 billion hours annually. According to the agency’s release, this is equivalent to more than 425,000 truck drivers sitting in idle mode – for a full 12 months. Total cost of this traffic congestion to the trucking industry (which ultimately affects shippers and consumers too) is nearly $75 billion.
Worst Trucking Bottlenecks in U.S. Supply Chain
Our Cleveland trucking company stays constantly apprised of traffic flow and congestion on major and minor routes, maintaining contingencies for alternative routes to help save time – and ultimately money. For example, if every UPS vehicle every day experienced a 5-minute delay, this would total $115 million in additional costs a year.
Are Your Cleveland Trucking Solutions Adaptable? Check With Our 3PL
A insatiable demand for online purchasing (commonly called e-commerce) has altered the landscape of many industries, with direct impact to Cleveland trucking. Businesses have always relied on effective supply chain strategy to satisfy customer demand, reduce delivery times and keep down costs. However, the reason e-commerce is a game-changer is because buyers are increasingly unwilling to trade cost OR speed. Many operations leaders are learning that developing and managing their own Cleveland trucking supply chain solutions is no longer cost-effective. This is especially true with increasing trucking bottlenecks. 
Although third-party logistics Cleveland trucking companies face the same challenges, the difference is about having network contingencies already in place. A dedicated 3PL has the existing capacity and adaptability on numerous fronts to help clients keep pace. That includes LTL (less-than-truckload) arrangements that allow retailers and business-to-business firms to get goods expediently to their destination, even if there isn’t enough product to ship a full truckload (FTL).
As a longtime Northeast Ohio trucking and logistics firm with solid connections at major ports in New York, New Jersey, Georgia, Virginia, Florida, Texas and California, we offer Cleveland trucking P.O.D. (proof of delivery) and invoicing so your team can measure delivery times and dependability, key values of a 3PL trucking partnership.
That kind of transparency is important to our operations too. It allows us the ability to quickly identify where WE can be better and make swift adjustments if necessary. On Time Delivery & Warehouse’s in-depth analyses of service quality is ongoing.