Terminal Tractors Archives - Page 4 of 6

2018 Truckload Market Trends – What to Know

Will you be hauling trailers for autonomous vehicles with your yard trucks in the coming year? Times are rapidly changing for the truckload industry. Here’s what to be on the lookout for in the near future:

2018-2019 Truckload Market Trends:

Hyper-Efficiency Continues
With truckload utilization efficiency of 95%+ since the 2011 pull-up from the recession, the market trend of efficiency in for-hire capacity is expected to continue, albeit at the price of elasticity in the market.

New Trucks Enter the Market
FTR Transportation Intelligence expects 60,000 more trucks than necessary will replace retiring trucks in 2018. Will you need more yard trucks? Whether this is additional/replacement capacity remains unknown.

Labor Issues Remain
Driver availability will continue to pose challenges. An abundance of parked equipment does not matter if hauling personnel remain absent. Several factors will continue to play a role here, including an aging workforce, wage increases, immigration, housing, and a shared labor pool with the oil, gas, and manufacturing industries.

Strengthening Economy Adds to Pressures
As GDP and manufacturing grows and strengthens, the demand for transportation will increase, adding pressure to already flailing fleet growth.

E-Commerce Continues to Change Freight Patterns & Efficiency
Orders shipped from retail, fulfillment, and manufacturing locations continue to alter the historical flow of freight, requiring higher cube for the same goods, and boosting market capacity used.

Fuel Prices Continue to Climb
45% higher compared to a year ago, despite fluctuations, the cost of crude oil is expected to continue its climb.

ELD Mandate Remains In-Question
Electronic logging and closer tracking of driver behaviors may/may not shift HOS behaviors, influencing availability.

Are you prepared to meet the coming years’ varied needs? Ensure success, boosting efficiency and preventing injuries with electric yard trucks from DJ Products today.

Tips on Understanding the Importance of Your Load Dimensions

Our electric terminal tractors can handle a wide range of trailers, but transporting flatbed loads over the road involves a different set of issues. In an effort to reduce risk to both drivers and products, states have instituted a number of regulations for oversized and wide loads that must be followed.

Guidelines for Transporting Oversized and Wide Loads

1. Know the Legal Limits

Here are the standard limits in the United States:

– Maximum height and width is 8’6″ each way

– Maximum length is 48′ to 53′

– Maximum weight is 46,000 pounds

Anything beyond these measurements is considered an oversized or wide load. Dimensions may vary slightly from state to state, so perform due diligence for any state through which your trucks pass.

2. Understand How Measurements Are Calculated

Weight restrictions are determined per-axle. While a load may not exceed total weight limits, it may go beyond per-axle limits, so rearranging the load can remove it from the oversized category.

3. Use Travel Escorts and Special Markings as Necessary

Shipments wider than 12′ often require travel escorts, sometimes referred to as pilot vehicles. Red flags and amber lights are required for the tractor or trailer to improve visibility, and these markings are also necessary for the travel escorts.

4. Factor Oversized Travel Rules into Your Schedule

Most states enforce specific hours of travel for oversized loads. Drivers also require permits for each state that outline the exact route to be traveled.

Battery-Powered Terminal Tractors from DJ Products

Maximize efficiency and improve worker safety with our popular Electric Yard Dog, which lets a single employee safely move trailers up to 100,000 pounds. Our friendly sales engineers are standing by to assist you on our convenient online chat feature.

Cryptocurrency Payments Coming to Container Shipping; is Trucking Next?

Cryptocurrency is increasing its impact on various industries through the world of finance. Since its inception in 2009, digital financial avenues are beginning to widen. The container shipping industry has now jumped on the cryptocurrency bandwagon.

Certain companies (like those involved in manufacturing) benefit from the cost-effective solutions cryptocurrency provides, directly or indirectly. One logistics business that is considering using digital currency in their day-to-day is the trucking industry. The implementation of cryptocurrency increases time and cost-saving opportunities, much like what quality products provide to trucking companies who incorporate their use in day-to-day operations.

Transporting Solutions

The trucking business touches all aspects of commerce, including manufacturing. From transference of products from place to place to employing yard trucks to make loading simpler, the trucking world is ripe with potential. And their need for sufficient data logging and record-keeping is well-known.

The man-hours required to ensure invoices, arrival dates, load documentation, supply chain info and other valuable data is properly secured and accounted for is astronomical. In the past traditional methods have proven woefully inefficient without utilizing advanced technology to make workloads lighter.

Cryptocurrency is a data safeguard for companies that have an internal and external need for accurate data transfer. Trucking logistics requires keeping accurate ledgers, inputting vital information, and producing proficient timing that works in sync with warehouses and other businesses.

Compiling information that is secured through digitized algorithms and computer coding protects blocks of data from illegal interlopers. Cryptocurrency offers the element of efficiency to an industry that thrives on timing and information security.

Like cryptocurrency, quality machinery by DJ Products through their line of quality yard trucks can move the truck industry towards better efficiency and an altogether less strenuous work environment.

An Update on Amazon’s Logistics Automation Plan

Shipping with Amazon (SWA), the online giant’s fledgling delivery service, is a self-contained system that covers the entire shipping process from seller to consumer. Eventually, SWA will offer shipping services to other companies in direct competition with UPS and FedEx.

The impact of SWA on the logistics industry cannot be overstated. In addition to utilizing state-of-the-art physical equipment such as an electric yard truck, traditional carriers need to embrace automation to stay competitive in the logistics industry.

Benefits of Logistics Automation

Why should carriers integrate automated logistics?

– Most organizations have a primary goal of scaling their business, a process that’s immeasurably more difficult without automation.

– Automation makes it easier for providers to manage and coordinate the efforts of dissimilar functions, including manufacturing, distribution and transportation.

– Automated delivery management systems include robust functionality for tasks such as truck load mapping and dispatching.

– Productivity improves when less time is spent correcting avoidable errors.

Using a Workflow-Driven Approach

Conventional wisdom holds that automation is more suitable for companies with large fleets, but even those with smaller fleets can reap the advantages of automation with targeted workflows.

With a workflow-driven approach, a simple task such as scanning orders at pick-up and drop-off becomes more efficient with automation. Accuracy increases, which in turn reduces the number of time-consuming disputes.

According to Dan Stoll, technical product manager at Nintex, automation hasn’t been a priority for legacy shipping providers. Stoll believes that “the Amazon effect” will prompt many of these companies to make some long-overdue changes.

Move Trailers Safely and Efficiently with the Electric Yard Dog

Using a battery-powered yard truck from DJ Products is like adding another person to your team. Visit our website and learn more from our friendly sales engineers.

Less than Truckload (LTL) Shipping – Is It Right for You?

What’s in the trailer your terminal tractors are hauling? Less-than-truckload (LTL) shipping is on the rise due to its potential for cost savings. However, with a reputation for complexity, it’s not for everyone. Is it right for you?

LTL is Seen as Challenging for a Number of Reasons:

– More dynamics to juggle
Freight classification, cargo weight, and pallet count increases in complexity with LTL hauling.

– Benchmarking challenges
Direct comparisons with other shipping operations can be challenging.

– Ignorance to cost drivers
Accepting LTL at face-value, and not digging into shifting patterns of supply and demand, prevents businesses from realizing the true potential of LTL.

However with the Right Data & Pricing, LTL Offers Tremendous Potential
Tariffs, or rate bases, published by carriers on an annual basis, are commonly used in calculating shipping costs. LTL costs aren’t quite as cut-and-dry, however, with LTL carriers offering discounts. Making discounts negotiable (and in correlation with freight volume/revenue) is common. Minimums are also commonly negotiable.

Avoid Pricing Obstacles
The biggest obstacle to surmount in LTL classification and pricing, is avoiding overuse of FAK cargo designation on invoices. Obscuring shipment data by lumping it under this classification prevents you from gleaning essential data as to the specific classes of cargo shipped and relative cost, increasing the chance of inaccuracies.

Incomplete or obscure data is the proverbial wrench-in-the-works for LTL shipping ventures. Capturing essential data elements effectively is key to effectively calculating and streamlining pricing, as well as improving network efficiency and ensuring profit.

Are you equipped for LTL shipping success? Ease moves, improve speed and efficiency, and boost profit potential with the help of terminal tractors from DJ Products today.

Could the Blockchain Concept Work in the Trucking Industry?

Blockchain may be the “Holy Grail” of the trucking industry. We have enough trucks and drivers to fill demand, but matching up shippers and carriers in the right place at the right time can be tricky, even with a yard truck to position trailers where they need to be at a moment’s notice. Blockchain technology is the other piece of the puzzle necessary to make trucking the efficient industry that it should be.

Blockchain for trucking looks a bit different than Bitcoin, which runs on a public blockchain. Transportation companies use a private blockchain. Both offer a distributed ledger of highly secure data, but the private version requires an invitation.

A co-founder of Transfix, a trucking marketplace, recently laid out how blockchain is used in transportation and what needs to happen for it to be wildly successful:

– Trust: Shippers and carriers must trust the system. This requires an agreed-upon process of vetting and contracts.

– Small business participation: We’ll need to see close to universal adoption by small firms, which make up the vast majority of shippers.

– Standardization: Things will only go smoothly if everyone involved uses the same data type.

The Yard Truck for a Hyper-Efficient Trucking Industry

If your warehouse could have a driver ready to take every piece of freight to the next destination, would you even be ready for it?

While blockchain may revolutionize the data, you need boots-on-the-ground preparedness to make use of the improved warehouse efficiency.

The TrailerCaddy electric yard truck from DJ Products can tow any trailer up to 100,000 pounds with speed, safety, and incredible efficiency. Load trailers up to the dock, move them around the yard, and be prepared for the new wave of blockchain for distribution. Contact us for more info.

The Uber Concept for Logistics Movement – Is It Right for You?

Could your next yard truck be robotically driven? Alongside autonomous or ‘self-driving’ cars, autonomous tractor trailer technology is entering the market. Turns out Uber isn’t just interested in toting people around … It’s in it for the long-haul. Literally.

Uber Ramps Up Robo-Trucking Efforts

Uber’s been trying to rule over the self-driving big-rig market since it acquired Anthony Levandowski’s self-driving truck company, Otto, in 2006. But it’s far from the only contender battling for market share. Daimler, Tesla, Waymo, Volvo, and even some startups are parrying for position in what’s seen as the future of long-haul trucking.

Driver Shortage Fuels Efforts

Online shopping is pushing out the traditional retail purchase, and with Americans ordering and shipping more and more stuff, and a driver deficit, the market is primed for new players. And though it’s tough to get vehicles to drive themselves in the city, on the freeway is another story.

Dangerous Curves Ahead

Still at issue: The difficulty of trucks safely negotiating industrial yards, intersections, and areas with pedestrians. To navigate such issues, those in the robo-trucking game are trying-on different tactics. Startup Starsky is looking to remote operation on service streets, like an RC car.

Uber is trying out the ‘bar pilot’ model, using humans to pick-up shipments and transfer them to robo-truck transfer hubs situated highway-side, with a hand-off in reverse at the exit. For now it’s trying the task at weigh stations off I-40 in Sanders and Topock, Arizona. Their goal is not only safety, but logistical efficiency, to maximize profit and minimize liability in an arena of multiple players sharing the same tote.

Is your staff safe? Save time, boost manpower, and prevent injuries with the help of an electric yard truck from DJ Products today.

Could Your Fleet Qualify for an ELD (Electronic Logging Device) Exemption?

Check to See if Your Fleet May Be Eligible

The electronic logging device mandate has stirred up a polarizing debate. Some call the rule “Orwellian,” while others insist only those guilty of fudging paper records are upset. Many fleets are happily incorporating ELDs by using terminal tractors to reduce wait times with faster trailer towing around the docks. Still, you may be wondering if you qualify for an ELD exemption.

An owner-operator exemption request has not prevailed thus far. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has only granted a handful of ELD exemptions and waivers. These apply to old vehicles and situations where other safety measures are deemed sufficient:

– Vehicles manufactured before 2000

– Drivers who don’t use paper logs more than 8 days a month

– Trucks rented for 30 days or less; waiver through April 19, 2018

– Trucks rented for 8 days or less; exempt through October 11, 2022

– Agricultural commodities; waiver through June 18, 2018

– UPS drivers; exempt through January 19, 2022

– MPAA commercial drivers; exempt through January 19, 2023

Additionally, vehicles with the old AOBRDs are enjoying a two-year grandfathering period before a required upgrade by December 16, 2019.

Satisfy ELD and HOS Rules with Terminal Tractors

DJ Products can help your fleet comply with ELD mandates by using our TrailerCaddy Terminal Tractor. These replace your shunt trucks and any employee can operate them, so your CDL drivers don’t need to waste time moving trailers in and out of docks.

Terminal tractors save time and money. A TrailerCaddy costs less than 25 percent as much as a shunt truck, yet easily moves trailers up to 100,000 pounds and provides a long battery life.

For more info about how our terminal tractors can help ease the burden of ELD and hours-of-service rules, contact DJ Products today.

Why Would Amazon Want to Start Its Own Shipping Network?

Check Out Our Yard Truck Products

Amazon will soon be adding a yard truck to its extensive assortment of warehouse equipment at its distribution centers. The online giant is preparing to launch a delivery service for businesses that will pit them head-to-head with established companies FedEx and UPS.

Shipping with Amazon

Amazon’s announcement of the new service initially caused stock prices for both FedEx and UPS to dip. While the current partnership between Amazon and UPS is expected to continue short-term, it’s unclear how it will be affected down the road.

The service, to be known as Shipping with Amazon, will begin by delivering shipments from the company’s third-party suppliers. Shipping with Amazon will kick off in the Los Angeles area before branching out.

Why Expand into Delivery?

Experts speculate that there are several reasons why Amazon is pursuing this new venture:

– Amazon’s lucrative Prime membership service offers free two-day shipping on specific items, but that perk is lost when customers order from a third-party supplier. By assuming more control, Amazon is hoping to drive additional customers to purchase a Prime membership.

– With the massive size of its operations, Amazon prefers to be as self-contained as possible. Taking charge of delivery service will minimize problems, such as delayed shipments during the last holiday season.

– Shipping causes a lot of red ink on Amazon’s books. In 2017, the company spent $20 billion getting orders to customers. That figure can be sharply reduced with in-house delivery.

– UPS recently reported quarterly revenues of $18.83 billion. Even for Amazon, it’s hard to resist the lure of that kind of money in their coffers.

Move Trailers with the Electric Yard Dog from DJ Products

Our battery-powered yard truck allows any employee to safely move trailers weighing up to 100,000 pounds. Call 800.686.2651 to learn more.

Investing in Supply Chain and Terminal Management Technology Starts with Staff Training

Innovation to Drive Future Production

Has your supply chain company fully committed to the high-tech advancements that are revolutionizing the industry? Embracing technology like data capture and terminal tractors is the most strategic way to attract a talented workforce.

Solving the Supply Chain Employment Crisis

The supply chain sector is facing a dire shortage of qualified workers. According to the 2016 MHI Annual Industry Report, approximately 600,000 manufacturing positions in the United States go unfilled and 58 percent of survey respondents reported major difficulties in hiring and retaining skilled workers.

Rather than continuing to search within the same talent pool, why not target the next generation that’s preparing to enter the workforce? The challenge is making an older-skewing industry appealing to younger workers.

Changing the Perception of Supply Chain for a New Generation

Today’s twenty-somethings have grown up with technology, so it’s an integral part of their lives. Incorporating technology in your company makes the business more relevant to them and offers a way for younger workers to express their ingenuity and creativity.

Technology was once seen as merely a way to automate and simplify repetitive tasks. Younger employees, who are familiar with the range and application of technology, want to use these methods to manage and grow a business.

Do you need another reason to invest in technological solutions for your company? In addition to making your workplace attractive to younger generations, technology cuts costs in the long run by improving productivity.

State-of-the-Art Technology for Material Handling Solutions from DJ Products

Our Electric Yard Dog easily moves loads up to 100,000 pounds and includes the latest safety features to reduce risk of accidents and repetitive motion injuries. Contact us for more information about our electric terminal tractors and other pushers, tugs and movers.

Tag: Terminal Tractors