3 Minute Update: Key Transportation News
June 20, 2023
We give you a quick recap on key transportation news.
NHTSA Eyes Mandatory Side Underride Guards
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced in April it has named members of a new Advisory Committee on Underride Protection to make recommendations to the secretary of transportation about equipping new truck trailers with side underride guards. The current rule requires rear impact guards on trailers and semi-trailers with sufficient strength and energy absorption to protect occupants of passenger vehicles in multiple crash scenarios. Adding the side underride guards is estimated to cost the industry up to $1.2 billion.[1] But carriers are concerned about the cost of the mandate and believe the evidence doesn’t show the benefits will outweigh the costs. Learn more and read public comments here.
CVSA’s Unannounced Brake Safety Day Sidelined 750 Commercial Motor Vehicles
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) inspected CMVs throughout Canada, Mexico and the U.S. as part of CVSA’s unannounced Brake Safety Day. Inspectors found brake-related critical vehicle inspection items on 11.3% of the vehicles inspected. Brake Safety Week is scheduled for Aug. 20-26 when they will conduct more inspections on large trucks and buses. The CVSA is a nonprofit organization comprised of local, state, provincial, territorial and federal commercial motor vehicle safety officials and industry representatives.
Industry Snapshot:
Fuel prices: Although the gasoline index increased 3% in April, it has fallen -12.2% over the past 12 months and the fuel oil index also fell in April by -4.5%.[2] The average U.S. regular gasoline retail prices averaged $3.534 per gallon on 5/22/23 which is over a dollar less from the average a year ago.[3] And the retail diesel prices were $3.883 per gallon on average and $1.688 less than it was one year ago.[4]
Tonnage: The for-hire truck tonnage index lell 1.7% in April after decreasing 2.8% in March. ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said “The goods-portion of the economy is soft and as a result, even contract truck freight is now falling, albeit not nearly as much as the spot market. The tonnage index hit the lowest level since September 2021 in April and has now fallen on a year-over-year basis for two straight months.”[5]
Economy: The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 4.9% over the last 12 months according to the U.S. Bureau of labor Statistics.2 The CPI rose .4% in April after only rising .1% in March. The index for shelter was the largest contributor to the monthly all items increase, followed by increases in the index for used cars and trucks and the index for gasoline. The CPI measures the change in prices paid by consumers for goods and services.
Putting a Stop to Bogus API Rates:
Technology has provided a lot of benefits to the logistics industry but also has uncovered some frustrations for shippers. Some providers have given API rates a bad name because there were no trucks to back up the rate. However, here at Simple Logistics, we have launched our SIMPLE CHECK system as a way for shippers to get real-time rate quotes within seconds, backed with 100% tender acceptance and our round-the-clock relentless service! This was our acceptance rate in Q4 2022 and we continue to work hard to produce a substantial cost savings for shippers via Spot Market or API rates. Try it out and see the difference! Get signed up >
