'Data explosion' predicted to unlock unused trucking capacity

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor | Jun 23, 2015 11:29PM EDT

SAN DIEGO — Truck drivers may be legally drive 11 hours a day, but do they? Trucking technology provider PeopleNet reviewed data from more than 200,000 onboard computers used to log driver hours and concluded many drivers don’t even come close to that limit.

“We’re constantly measuring how many hours a day fleets are actually getting per driver,” Mark Kessler, general manager for trucking at PeopleNet said at the SMC3 Connections conference here Tuesday. When the company crunched the data, it found the average daily driving time for the drivers using its electronic logging devices was only 6.09 hours, Kessler said.

That data could include daily duty hours for various types of drivers, including shorthaul or regional or less-than-truckload drivers with shorter routes and more non-driving duty time, as well as long-haul truckload drivers, but the average number still points to a problem.

“We don’t really have a driver shortage problem, we have a capacity utilization problem,” Kessler said. Time, in trucking, really is money, and also capacity. Drivers that aren’t able to fully use the hours available to them can’t complete as many turns per week, effectively taking capacity out of the market. And most drivers, PeopleNet concluded, can’t run out the clock.

When asked why, Kessler placed much of the blame on shipper and consignee delivery windows. “Drivers were getting to destinations early (to meet delivery windows) and were kept waiting,” Kessler said. “Some fleets are going back now and saying let’s shorten that delivery window” so drivers that arrive on time can load or unload and get back on the road.

Many other events or factors cut into driving time too, of course. Congestion is a major problem, especially in heavily populated urban areas, where much freight is delivered. Truck maintenance, fueling, weigh stations and inspections can cut into driving time, as can weather. Detention at shipper or consignee docks, however, is an issue that can be addressed.

“We could solve these big problems if we really collaborate,” Kessler said.

Successful collaboration will increasingly depend on the kind of data PeopleNet gleaned from its installed base of onboard computers — data that technology companies say wasn't available or couldn't effectively be analyzied a few years ago.

And collaboration between shippers, trucking companies and logistics operators will become critical as federal truck safety regulations make achieving high utilization of drivers and tractor-trailers even more difficult. The suspension last year of some provisions of federal  hours of service rules returned some efficiency to motor carriers, but more rules are coming.

In particular, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is expected to issue a final rule this fall mandating the use of electronic logging devices by commercial drivers. Although those devices can help fleets improve productivity, many truckers expect an initial hit to productivity as they install the devices and learn to use them.

The FMCSA also plans to require speed limiters on trucks, which will also cut into the miles some trucks drive in a day or week, effectively reducing capacity. Better data and better technology will be needed to get the most miles and hours, safely, from trucks and drivers.

As electronic logging devices or onboard computers are installed in millions of trucks, “we’re going to have the biggest data explosion we’ve ever had in transportation,” Kessler said. “It will be expiting to see what innovations come out of the next few years,” as the ELD mandate is rolled out, He said. “There will be a lot of ideas jotted down on the back of napkins.”

And there will be numerous entrepreneurs and investors willing to realize ideas that can make the transportation networks moving freight throughout the U.S. more efficient, and less costly.