Standing Room Only to Hear
Truckers from Around the Globe
OTA hosts first gathering of
world’s major trucking nations
(Toronto, Nov. 28, 2005) - The recent Ontario Trucking
Association’s annual convention kicked off with a bang as the association
hosted “the first-ever gathering of the world’s major trucking
nations,” according to OTA president and CEO of the Canadian Trucking
Alliance, David Bradley. On Nov. 17 a two part International Trucking Forum
whose panelists featured the CEO and a carrier representative of the American
Trucking Associations; the Australian Trucking Association; the International
Road Union (Europe); and the Road Transport Forum New Zealand, drew such a crowd
that it was standing room only.
Convention delegates, including some international
attendees from as far away as the Netherlands and South Africa, were eager to
hear about trucking industry challenges around the globe and compare them with
their own.
They were also eager to learn how Canada and the US
are coping with problems closer to home, such as border crossing wait times,
hours of service and cabotage.
The session was moderated by the Canadian trio of
Scott Smith (JD Smith & Sons) who is chairman of the Ontario Trucking
Association; Canadian Trucking Alliance chairman John Cyopeck (Canpar Transport
LP) and David Bradley.
What delegates learned was that trucking companies
around the globe face many of the very same problems, with minor variations
dependent on geography, politics and climate.
Fuel prices and the carrier’s ability to
negotiate fuel surcharges were universally acclaimed as the most common problems
plaguing trucking companies worldwide.
“Fuel is a big issue for us,” said Denis
Robertson, Managing Director of Roadmaster Haulage of Sydney, Australia. One of
Australia’s, largest meat carriers, Robertson’s company is
constantly working to make shippers aware of the rising cost of
fuel.
“If they don’t pay, we don’t carry
for them,” said Robertson. “What shippers have to understand is that
it’s in their best interest for us to increase rates to cover our costs --
because if we don’t they’ll end up having to deal with a
monopoly.”
Robertson said fuel surcharges, or levies, as he
called them, are his company’s way of covering increasing fuel cost.
“And more and more Australian companies are doing it,” he said.
“Fuel costs are something a carrier has to follow day-to-day and adjust
surcharges accordingly monthly.”
Other fuel savings techniques used by Roadmaster
Haulage include strict route controls, the use of technology to keep efficiency
at its peak.
Speed limiters are another method of increasing fuel
efficiency, pointed out panelists from the European Union, where speed
limitation is already enforced on heavy trucks. (The OTA proposed just such a
measure be adopted by the Ontario government at a press conference Nov. 16). But
fuel surcharges are also key to keeping trucks on the road, they
added.
“Our fuel prices increased by 25 per cent this
year,” said Wim Voss, General Director of Voss Logistics, headquartered in
Oss, Netherlands. “So we’ve had to negotiate quite a bit with
shippers to have diesel surcharges added on to our prices. They eventually
accepted them because they’re sick of us asking,” he joked, to
general laughter.
“The problem is that companies also go to tender
for hauling rates, so when everyone bids, prices are bound to go down and the
surcharge disappears. That said, the list of bankruptcies of carriers in the EU
has increased since the first half of this year, and now because of the
increased capacity of goods, the carriers are on the right side of the
bargaining table. We now follow a more opportunistic policy when it comes to
pricing. Today we get our price.”
In New Zealand, carriers have to absorb a road user
charge as well as the fuel price increase, said, Warren Hamilton, owner of
Cromwell transport Ltd. in Otago, N.Z.
“Our fuel costs have increased 40 per cent over
the past 12 years and we have to pay a road user charge of 35 cents per km for a
maximum of 44 tonnes.” He said. “So our operating costs are
substantial. But now people are starting to realize that in order to cover these
costs we have to pass them on through rate increases and fuel surcharges.”
As for mandatory speed limiters, Hamilton said companies in New Zealand are
considering asking the government to make them mandatory on all truck engines.
In the meantime, fuel efficiency initiatives include “driver education,
maintenance and technology,” said Hamilton.
US carriers are trying to convey the fact that the
fuel price increase is just as much a shipper’s problem as it is a
carrier’s, chimed in Steve Williams, Chairman and CEO of Maverick
Transportation Inc. out of Little Rock, Ark. And immediate past chairman of the
American Trucking Associations.
“In a way, the record high fuel prices are a
blessing because shippers can’t deny that it’s an issue,” said
Williams. “Now they’re asking questions about how their
transportation budgets are being destroyed, because the people on top are
starting to realize there’s a crisis due to fuel prices and the driver
shortage. Thanks to the fuel crisis trucking is very visible right now and
it’s up to us to take the opportunity to better manage our fuel costs, by
passing them on to our customers.”
But fuel surcharges aren’t the one and only way
to better manage fuel costs, the international panel of carriers
agreed.
“We also have to spec our equipment for better
fuel efficiency, and manage our drivers better, teach them how to drive for
better efficiency,” Williams added, pointing to wide base tires, auxiliary
power units and driving simulators for drivers as other ways his company reduces
fuel costs.
Financial incentives for drivers with better mileage
are among the driver management techniques being used,” said Williams.
Eliminating idling time is another, and so is reducing wait times prior to
lading and unloading. Mandatory activation of speed limiters is also something
that Williams said he could support if it applied to everyone.
“Loading and unloading time is very well managed
in the EU,” said Wim Voss. “Now in the EU, just in time delivery is
much more common than before.”
Another problem shared by some, but not all the
countries from which panelists hailed, was the driver shortage.
Countries the most affected by the shortage, according
to the panel, included Canada and the US, while Europe, Australia and New
Zealand were less affected.
“Obviously driver retention is critical to our
well-being, but when I compare our needs to those of North America I think
we’re not doing too badly,” said Denis Robertson. “Still the
average age of a driver in Australia is 50, so we do have an aging population,
which is a concern.”
Paying drivers well is one way Robertson’s
company keeps them, he said.
“And other companies are addressing the problem
with fuel mileage incentive programs, and bonuses for running with them for a
certain amount of time. “
A foremost concern for his company’s drivers is
lifestyle, said Robertson.
“Endeavoring to make our company a better place
to work is how we keep drivers,” he said. “We give them a career
path and we give them a comfortable environment to work in. We have drivers
joining at 50 who are still long distance hauling into their 70s because our
trucks are so comfortable. “
The problem, for everyone on the panel it seemed, was
getting new drivers in to replace the ones getting older.
In the Netherlands, the shortage of well-trained
drivers is reaching a crisis point, said Wim Voss.
“With Poland joining the EU, there are lots of
people willing to work, but they’re not necessarily well-trained,”
said Voss. “That’s why we have our own education centre. They spend
three weeks on the road training with a driver then two weeks in the classroom,
and then another three weeks of practical training with a supervisor, for a
total of eight weeks of training with the company. At the end of that they
should be ready to deal with international traffic.”
Voss said the investment in driver education makes for
higher retention rates.
“It creates a team of drivers we can relay on
for decades,” he said.
And a standard of excellence for truck driving is soon
to be adopted across the EU. Voss added.
“Next year there’ll be a certificate of
competence for EU drivers, and the cost will have to be covered by the companies
who hire them. As far as my company goes, we support it. We support anything
that’s good for the industry.”
In some countries, driver education is even backed by
government financial incentives, said Robertson.
“In Australia we used to get incentives for
educating our drivers, ad we realized how beneficial it was,” Robertson
said. “Now most companies in Australia have recognized the benefits as
well. And continue to train their drivers, even if there are no longer financial
incentives available.”
Chris Althaus, CEO of the Australian Trucking
Association, said that in the 70s a major source of drivers had been the
military, particularly Viet Nam vets. Today, he said the industry must look to
non-traditional sources. “Companies are investing in trucks with automatic
transmissions to try to attract more women to the job.”
Bill Graves, CEO of the American Trucking Associations
said that the military has served as an important source of drivers in the US,
but lamented the fact that while the industry has “reached out to the
Department of Defence for ex-military personnel, trucking is not listed as a
place of potential employment because (truck driving) is not seen as a desirable
occupation. It’s a tough sell.”
Tony Friedlander, CEO of the Road Transport Forum of
New Zealand, said his industry “has lost a few drivers to Australia”
and had a tongue-in-cheek warning to Canadian carriers who might try to recruit
Kiwi drivers. “We will have some carriers meet you at the airport and
shake you warmly by the neck if you try and steal our
drivers.”
In short, the health and safety of roads, loads, the
transportation industry and international and local trade as a whole had always
rested squarely in the hands of trucking companies themselves, even though, over
the long term, it really shouldn’t, panelists agreed.
“As far as shippers go, they really
couldn’t care less what we do to carry the loads, they just want them
moved from Point A to Point B,” said Umberto de Pretto, Deputy Secretary
General of the International Road Transport Union headquartered in Geneva,
Switzerland.
“So we’ve always taken responsibility for
everything, from the size of the vehicles we use to carry loads, to how much
we’re allowed to carry on the roads available to us. What we have to do is
let the shippers do some of the fighting when it comes to making truck
transportation work better.”
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