On the House side, House Bill Section 4139 of H.R. 3 – “The Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy For Users” (TEA-LU) currently specifies a requirement that motor carriers, brokers and freight forwarders must charge their shippers a fuel surcharge when the regional price of diesel fuel rises above a benchmark price. Section 4139 says that all motor carriers, brokers, and freight forwarders running truckload freight must implement fuel surcharges and they must pass 100 percent of those surcharges through to the person who actually pays for the fuel.

On the Senate side, there still currently is no companion language on a mandatory fuel surcharge. While not in support of the OOIDA language that is the House Bill version, and after several unsuccessful attempts to work out compromise fuel surcharge language with them, TCA supported the concept of inserting our own language in the Senate Bill on fuel surcharge, and hired an outside lobbyist a few months ago to work this issue in Congress. TCA has a policy to support a federally mandated fuel surcharge that has been reaffirmed on numerous occasions, most recently in October of 2004.

TCA's lobbyist has since met with members of the House Transportation Committee as well as members of the Senate Commerce Committee seeking a middle-ground on the OODIA/TCA differences, and short of a compromise with OOIDA, a Senate champion for our language has not been secured. Furthermore, we continue to meet with Conferee staff members, but to date, no champion for our language has surfaced. As if this wasn't enough, historically there has been little support for a mandated fuel surcharge in the Senate, and coupled with this, a large coalition of trade groups numbering close to forty, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Industrial Transportation League (NITL), the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), and numerous other industry trade groups oppose this issue. In addition, the White House has indicated publicly it's strong opposition to this issue and five of the top six employers in the United States have added statements of opposition.

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TCA Joins Other Industry Trade Associations in Filing of Brief in Support of Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment in DC Hazmat Case

In a July 11 memorandum to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, TCA joined with nineteen other industry trade associations whose members are interested in the safe and efficient transportation of hazardous materials (HM) as amici curiae in support of Plaintiff CSX Transportation, Inc.'s (CSXT) Motion for Summary Judgment on the D.C. hazardous materials ban case. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on May 3, 2005, handed down a preliminary injunction, favoring railroad company CSXT, that blocks the District of Columbia from enacting an emergency ban on all rail and truck shipments of HM within 2.2 miles of the U.S. Capitol. That decision reversed the preliminary ruling issued in April 2005 by U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan, who had denied CSXT's preliminary request to enjoin the enforcement of the HM ban. The Court of Appeals Decision instructed the district court to issue the preliminary injunction, preventing D.C. from enforcing the HM transportation restrictions.

In the brief, it states that the member companies of the trade associations filing transport HM within this “Capitol Exclusion Zone” established by the aforementioned Temporary Act, and moreover these companies ship and transport HM in other jurisdictions that will likely impose their own restrictions or prohibitions on HM transportation if the D.C. Temporary Act is allowed to stand. That said, this case has broad implications, as the D.C. Ordinance is indicative of a nationwide issue.

To this issue, taken verbatim from the brief, “the amici curiae herein support CSXT's motion. The Temporary Act, like the Emergency Act before it, is preempted by federal law. Both the Federal Railroad Safety Act (FRSA) and the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act (HMTA), as amended,… prohibit state and local acts of this type in order to promote federal uniformity and control in the regulation of HM transportation, including the enhancement of en route security of these materials. The Temporary Act is also an unconstitutional impediment to the free flow of interstate commerce, and should be invalidated pursuant to the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution.”

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FMCSA Comment Period Closes on Xora Application for Exemption from the Design Requirements for Automatic On-Board Recording Devices (AOBRs)

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) published a notice in the June 8, 2005 Federal Register , requesting public comment on Xora, Inc.'s (Xora) application for an exemption from the requirement in §395.15 that Automatic On-Board Recording Devices (AOBRs) for monitoring hours of service (HOS) compliance “must be integrally synchronized with specific operation of the commercial motor vehicle (CMV) in which it is installed.” The reason for Xora's exemption request is that their phone-based log system does not meet the aforementioned requirement in §395.15 of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs). At a minimum, the device must record engine use, road speeds, miles driven, the date and time of day. Certain Nextel phones (whom Xora is working with on this device) can record many of these parameters, but they are not “integrally synchronized with” the CMV. The deadline for the filing of these industry comments was July 8, 2005, although the agency has stated comments received after the comment closing date would be considered to the extent practicable.

As part of Xora's exemption request, they also requested the exemption to enable their motor carrier clients to use its HOS management system as an alternative to AOBRs that are integrally synchronized with specific vehicle operations. Xora believes its Global Positioning System (GPS) enabled handheld HOS monitoring system provides several advantages when compared to the handwritten records of duty status (RODS). Furthermore, they requested that motor carriers covered by the exemption be allowed to use a GPS-enabled wireless telephone that can record vehicle speed, detect small changes in motion and identify stop/start events.

To date the agency has received around 25 sets of industry comments on the Xora exemption request. After reviewing the industry comments, the FMCSA's decision on the Xora exemption request must ultimately be published in the Register and if they deny the request, the reason for doing so must be stated. If the decision is to ultimately grant the exemption, the notice must specify the person or class of persons receiving the exemption as well as the effective period of the exemption (which can go up to 2 years). These were the formal procedures – found in Part 381 of the FMCSRs -- that Xora (or any other entity) must follow, in an attempt to get their proposed exemption formally approved by the agency. It should be noted as well, that earlier this month on July 1, Xora released its cellphone-based driver log system -- called Xora DOT Logs -- despite the fact that it has not yet been approved for use by the FMCSA. More detailed information on this product can be accessed at Xora's website at www.xora.com.

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Ontario Trucking Association Endorses Mandatory Speed Limiter for Trucks

The Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) announced last week that it has launched a campaign to put mandatory speed limiters in North American trucks. The OTA is a business association representing motor carriers operating into, out of and within Ontario. Founded in 1926, the association's membership comprises trucking companies of all sizes, shipping all types of commodities, from all regions of North America. The OTA is also a member of the Canadian Trucking Alliance.

According to the OTA, speed limiters, which are mandatory equipment in Europe , provide improved safety, reduced fuel consumption, a more level competitive playing field and put less pressure on drivers. To these points, the OTA Board of Directors endorsed the principle that speed limiters on trucks should become mandatory, and the association will spend the upcoming months meeting with the stakeholders to nail down the details of its policy, which it hopes to ratify in the fall. According to OTA Chairman Scott Smith, “the direction of the board is clear – speeding trucks, and trucks that sit in passing lanes, should no longer be tolerated. We'll talk to car riers, truck drivers, government, police and motorists to answer questions like what speed trucks should be limited to, how to avoid tampering, how to deal with the fact that there are 60 jurisdictions in North America, but we are of the strong view that mandatory speed limitation for trucks is overdue.” Last month, Chairman Smith led an OTA delegation on a fact-finding mission to Europe to:

•  confirm that the perception that speed limit compliance and lane discipline by trucks is better in Europe than it is in North America ; and

•  determine why this is so.

The OTA representatives visited motor carriers, drivers, associations, legislators, regulatory officials and enforcement agencies in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, and France. Maximum truck speeds in the European Union have been controlled by the mandatory use of speed limiters, referred to as governors, for years and according to the OTA the system works extremely well.

The OTA representatives all agree that a North American-wide approach to mandating speed limiters would be optimal. That said, once a comprehensive OTA policy has been developed and adopted this fall, it will be forwarded to the national level in Canada and after that it is hoped to the U.S. trucking industry for consideration. However, according to Smith, “if there is resistance to a country or continent-wide approach, we are prepared to urge the Ontario government to ensure that at least all the trucks that operate into, out of and within this province are speed limited.”

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TCA Board of Directors Approves Formal Motion on FMCSA'S “State of Domicile ” CDL Issue; Discussion with FMCSA Administrator Sandberg Held

An issue of concern for a number of TCA's carrier members regards the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's (FMCSA's) current regulations found in §383.5 of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) on the definition of “state of domicile” for the Commercial Driver's License (CDL). The concern is that presently, many carriers hire students who graduate from truck driving schools, and a significant percentage of these graduates do not live in the state where the school is located. Many of the states in which these schools are located issue CDLs to nonresidents of the states. §383.5 of the FMCSRs requires a person to establish “domicile” in a state before receiving a CDL, and this rule would not allow any state to issue a CDL to someone outside the state.

However, in spite of this inconsistency, many states continue this practice. Effective September 30, 2005, any state not in compliance with the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act (MCSIA) CDL provisions will be scheduled for a loss of federal highway funds unless they come into compliance before October 2006. It is anticipated that all states will come into compliance thus eliminating the issuance of nonresident CDLs. Potential truck drivers can still go to out of state schools, but they would have to return to their state of domicile to get their CDL. This creates an undue hardship, as they will not have a truck to complete the skills test and it delays their ability to generate income. This development hurts both carriers and truck driving schools because the number of school graduates will decline due to this additional hurdle.

In view of the foregoing, language was drafted -- which was voted on and unanimously approved by the TCA Board of Directors at their meeting on June 23 in Chicago -- to be forwarded to the FMCSA to address this problem. This resolution concluded with the following statement: “In consideration of the foregoing, the Truckload Carriers Association petitions the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to modify the language of 49 CFR 383.5 to eliminate the ‘domicile' requirement and to replace it with language to the effect that an applicant must establish citizenship within the United States or one of its territories. TCA further proposes that this modification be processed as expeditiously as possible, either by ‘technical correction' or an ‘expedited rulemaking proceeding'.” A copy of the complete resolution can be accessed here.

Subsequently, on June 27, two TCA carrier representatives and a member of the ATA staff met with FMCSA Administrator Annette Sandberg to see if this inconsistency between the federal and state laws could be eliminated so that out-of-state students could still receive CDLs from states other than their own, so long as they went to the state for legitimate training purposes. Administrator Sandberg stated that the agency's current focus on the hours of service issue precludes immediate attention to this problem. She did add as well that the agency is required to formulate the regulations for the REAL ID Act of 2005, which was passed by Congress this past May. The Act requires the states to follow a more uniform and secure set of procedures for issuing driver's licenses. She stated that the FMCSA will address the “domicile” issue as a part of these new regulations, and it is anticipated that these regulations will be completed within the next year. Obviously, TCA, ATA and carrier members hope a “fix” will be developed that will prevent the further erosion of the potential driver pool.

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Highway Bill Officially Extended Again; Impending Short Time Frame for Completion

On July 1, President Bush officially signed into law the eighth extension of the Highway Reauthorization Bill (TEA-21), giving the Conferees until July 19 to resolve their differences on a new multiyear spending plan. This latest extension does provide for the funding through July 22. However, with time running very short on this latest extension of the current Highway Bill, and with the Conferees off for the week of July 4 th , a ninth extension is well within the realm of possibility at this juncture. By way of reminder, the latest agreed upon funding number for the bill is $286.5 billion.

This latest “impasse” regards two major issues – how much of the bill's funding is covered by state equity calculations and the division of earmarked funds for highway projects between the House and Senate – have yet to be unresolved. When discussions between the House and Senate Conferees begin in earnest again this week, other issues to be debated include tolling of interstate highways, mandatory fuel surcharges, roadability of intermodal chassis safety and the potential “codification” of the current hours of service (HOS) rules. At present, there is fuel surcharge language in the House version of the Highway Bill, but not in the Senate version. In addition, while the respective bills contain various industry-specific hours of service exemptions, the HOS “codification” language is not in either present version of the bills. However, the intent has been all along to have the HOS language inserted into the respective bills when they are taken up in conference.

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NHTSA Issues Final Rule on Hydraulic and Electric Brake Systems

In the June 30, 2005 Federal Register , the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued a Final Rule which amends it's Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS No. 105) for parking brake systems to include all trucks, buses, and multipurpose passenger vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) greater than 10,000 pounds. Previously, this parking brake standard requirement applied only to school buses. The effective date of this Final Rule is June 30, 2006.

In explaining the safety need for this Final Rule, the agency stated its belief that parking brakes are an important operational safety feature and tentatively concludes that it is in the interest of safety to require that all vehicles be equipped with parking brakes that comply with the Federal requirements. Furthermore, to remove any ambiguity about the vehicle types to which FMVSS No. 105 applies, this Final Rule amends the application section (S.3) by stating that the standard applies “to multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks, and buses with a GVWR greater than 3,500 kilograms (7,716 pounds) that are equipped with hydraulic or electric brake systems. The Rule also corrects an error in the description of the conditions that may be indicated by illumination of the brake-warning indicator. In addition, it should be noted that a commenter to the proposal supported extending the new rule to retrofitting parking brakes on vehicles over 10,000 pounds GVWR, however, in the Final Rule NHTSA did not adopt this suggestion.

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Make Hiring Drive Your Business in the Right Direction

A recent report by ATA has found that the U.S. long-haul trucking industry has a driver shortfall of 20,000 -- and it is expected to rise to 111,000 by 2014, although 40% of this shortfall is due to industry growth, over 60% is due to attrition. Moreover, with turnover rates hovering near 120%, carriers who want to turn this industry-wide challenge into a competitive advantage will need to begin addressing applicant sourcing in new and innovative ways.

While many carriers have recently made great strides in addressing “on-the-job” benefits such as driver pay and scheduling to improve driver retention, more focus should be given to sourcing strategies and making recruiters' lives more productive and pleasant. Unfortunately, carriers can often fall into the trap of hiring anyone who comes close to meeting minimum driver requirements and thus they inadvertently hire someone who quickly leaves the company. Breaking this cycle is imperative.

Implementing one or more of the following strategies has proven to meaningfully and measurably impact recruiting and retention efforts.

Find New Recruiting Sources

The same ATA report also found that truck drivers are overwhelmingly older white men from rural America . As a result, those carriers who are able to identify recruiting sources that tap into new labor pools such as women, minorities, and the younger generation, will have a leg up on the competition. For example, the majority of individuals in their 20's and 30's are now accustomed to applying for jobs online.

Most people start their working careers in the retail world where over one-third of the top 100 US retailers now rely solely on on-line applications as the way to apply for work. As a result, utilizing technology to look and apply for work is an expected part of the process. Therefore, those companies that offer job applications on their Website will be in the best position to capture these job seekers. But beware, there are many nuances to Internet recruiting and ways to maximize your company's Website for true success.

Because many drivers are only passively looking for a job, (versus actively looking), companies who employ sophisticated candidate relationship management tools will also enjoy a competitive edge when it comes to sourcing and hiring. Candidates who apply for a position that is not currently open or who are otherwise on good terms with your company need to be kept in touch with. Do you have an automated program that will ensure 100% of those candidates receive on-going positive communication from your company?

Another example is candidates going through the hiring process. Having a system or process in place ensuring that 100% of them know exactly where they are in the process at all times can make the difference between hiring them or losing them to a competitor. With driver churn at near all time highs, having a solid candidate relationship program in place can be one of your most strategic sourcing tools. Of course, there are many more sourcing strategies—from 1-800 numbers and specific community outreach programs to working with driver schools and advertising.

Measure sourcing results

Because there are so many sourcing strategies, what is equally important to using them is measuring them. While many carriers rely on the same recruiting sources for every position and every region, this can be a mistake. There is no silver bullet and each region or city will require a different sourcing mix. One carrier, for example, found that while newspaper advertisements worked well in one region, they were poor performers in another. Measure your applicant flow by recruiting source–and more importantly–make sure you measure the quality of applicants you receive from each source. You can then maximize your recruiting budget while increasing the quality and number of driver applicants you receive.

Maximize recruiter productivity

For many truckload carriers the problem they face today is not the quantity of driver candidates, but rather the quantity of quality driver candidates. In fact, many carriers I've worked with receive 40 or more inquiries for every hire. If they were to put in place the perfect sourcing mix and double or triple the number of candidates, they would create another problem – the need to help recruiters quickly and easily identify the best candidates from the group, before a competitor signs them up for orientation.

When it comes to sourcing, recruiters need the best tools and technology available to ensure that they communicate as quickly and effectively as possible with candidates. Most carriers are sorely lacking in this area. As a result, those who adopt technology to achieve this goal will reap significant rewards in recruiting.

Similar to utilizing technology to capture job applications online, there are several significant nuances that should be maneuvered around for success. For example, many carriers are still hesitant to utilize psychological screening up-front which enables recruiters to prioritize who they should call first versus fortieth. Even if you don't utilize this screening today, it's something your system should be able to accommodate in the future. At a workshop I facilitated at TCA's Annual Conference, the two companies in the room with the lowest turnover were those employing what is described above – recruiting technology combined with psychological screening questions to identify best fit candidates. Remember, by helping your recruiters identify and hire the best people, you can dramatically lower your ongoing sourcing needs as turnover is subsequently reduced.

Again, we all know there is no silver bullet when it comes to finding and hiring drivers. However, appropriately using the strategies and tactics listed above will help increase applicant flow, and will help carriers identify and hire dependable drivers who will remain loyal, productive employees for years to come.

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Thank Your Employees With Driver Appreciation Week Gifts

TCA is happy to offer you the opportunity to purchase National Truck Driver Appreciation Week items for your drivers. This year National Truck Driver Appreciation Week (NTDAW) is August 21 - 27, 2005 and the official logo is "Good stuff: Trucks Bring It." Purchase these items and send a message to America that the trucking industry is indispensible to our way of life. View the NTDAW items for sale and download an order form. Items must be ordered by July 25, 2005.

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