Freight Movement Data Released

The latest reading on freight movements in the U.S. shows the amount carried by the for-hire transportation industry was virtually unchanged in December from November, failing to rise after five consecutive months of increases, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Its Freight Transportation Service Index registered 123.8 in December, just shy of the all-time high level of 123.9 hit the month before, while November was revised upward from an originally reported level of 123.3. July, September and October indexes were also revised up while the August index was revised down.

Compared to December 2013 the Freight TSI gained 4.2% in the final month of last year was 30.9% above the April 2009 low during the most recent recession.

According to the report, trucking, rail carloads, and waterborne freight traffic grew in December but air freight, pipeline, and rail intermodal decreased, resulting in the overall freight index remaining almost level.

The fourth quarter of 2014 represented the second consecutive quarter of rapid growth after stability in the first half of the year. The third and fourth quarters of 2014 were the first two consecutive quarters with growth above 1.5% since the first quarter of 2010.

The Freight TSI rose 0.1% in the first quarter of 2014, fell 0.1% in the second quarter, rose 2.4% in the third quarter and rose 1.7% in the fourth quarter of 2014.

The Freight TSI measures the month-to-month changes in freight shipments by mode of transportation in tons and ton-miles, which are combined into one index. The index measures the output of the for-hire freight transportation industry and consists of data from for-hire trucking, rail, inland waterways, pipelines and air freight.

Please Check our Driver Hotline at 844-588-8785 for our newest update

We are thinking about nice sunny days here in snow covered Lowell, Arkansas today.  The call will include updates on the following topics:

 

February Safety

3 Day Freight Outlook

Bigger Trucks

Norpass

CAT Scale reimbursement plan

Detention Policy

 

Sound Familiar?

I found this quote on a smaller trucking competitor website:

We know how the old saying goes - “my dispatcher knows nothing about driving a truck." Well...we’re breaking that mindset by having our Fleet Managers and Truckload Leadership ride with our drivers for one week periodically. We want them to experience everything you experience out on the open road. Even though a number of them were previously drivers, this will give leadership a better understanding of what you do each day. Plus it’s a great time to get to know one another and create a healthy working relationship.

 

I'm Eighteen

The American Trucking Association has announced their agenda for 2015 which predictably lists HOS fixes and highway funding at the top of their priorities, but they also have one goal that’s a bit of a surprise. They want to lower the minimum driver age to 18 years old.

Currently, the federally mandated minimum driver age for Class A CDL drivers is 21 years old. There are multiple reasons for this, but the prevailing logic is that driving is dangerous, driving big trucks even more so, and teenagers tend to be bad drivers.

According to some however, a minimum age of 21 could be a leading cause of the “driver shortage.”

Dave Osiecki, Executive Vice President of the ATA, has says that trucking is missing out on a lot of drivers because when kids graduate high school, those who don’t move on to college go to trade schools or into another profession – but due to minimum age requirements, that profession is never trucking.
“We all know the 18- to 21-year-old period is a time where we lose kids coming out of high school that don’t go to college but go to trade schools and into construction and other competing industries,” Osiecki said.

He does admit however that “Not every 18- or 19-year old should be behind the wheel of a truck,” and points to good training and proper oversight and monitoring as a way to make sure these kids stay safe behind the wheel.

The ATA aren’t the only ones who think lowering the minimum age is a good idea. A rapidly aging work force with only a few younger truckers joining every year doesn’t paint a good picture for the future of the industry’s work force. Shannon Newton, president of the Arkansas Trucking
Association, shines some light on the grim situation in an interview with Arkansas Online.

“[The trucking industry] employed significantly more drivers in the 80s and 90s,” Newton said. “If you imagine, at that time, we attracted people who were somewhere between the ages of 25 and 40. Then you fast-forward 20 years, we still employ those same people. That does not set up for the future of the industry.”

Birthday Celebration in Lowell

Today we welcomed Michael Ellis, a 24 year veteran with J.B. Hunt, to our 4th floor celebration.  Michael enjoyed his birthday with 300 of his closest friends.  Pictured with Michael is Sarah White, his Fleet Manager. 

 

Michael is a 2 Million Mile Safe Driver.  What a great representation of a professional driver!   

Promotion Announcement: Brooke Guffey

Please join us in Congratulating Brooke Guffey! 
Brooke has been promoted to an ASM position covering the latter end of the week on the Columbus hub desk. Brooke has been with the company since April 2007. She has been in the Service Monitoring group and handled a variety of different service critical customers and projects over the years. She always has a positive approach to problem solving and has established many solid relationships across all departments. An interesting fact about Brooke is that she has been to 35 of the 50 states (plus Canada) and has visited 20 of our terminals in person!

 

Please Check Out This Week's Version of our NIGHT Driver Hotline 844-588-8785

We will be covering the following subjects:

 

This Weekends Safety Performance

 

Weather Expectations This Week

 

Your Opinion On Our New Fuel Network

 

Reflections from my Week On A Truck

 

 

Have a great week!

One Week Later

Last week we were driving up the Grapevine Pass in Southern California.  Our truck had not been washed in 4 months and there was no designation regarding the safety accomplishments of the driver behind the wheel.  With the efforts of many different people, we have rectified these issues.  Our Bigger Truck is headed to Bakersfield, California with a sparkle it has not seen since it left the assembly line.  Every driver that passes our truck now knows it is driven by a 2 Million Mile Safe Driver.

Tonight Edwina will be able to watch television from the safety of her cab.  The cabinet in her Bigger Truck is no longer just for the storage of a microwave.

 

Every day we have the ability to impact a driver's life.  It might involve the freight that our drivers have dispatched on their trucks.  It might be getting them home on time.  Or, it might be helping them know they are appreciated and not just an alpha code assigned to a truck.  We have many items on our list to help our West Network drivers be more successful.  Edwina is one of 150+ drivers that want to believe in J.B. Hunt.  Lets help deliver what our drivers deserve.   

Our Actions Matter

Many people in our Truckload group and support teams rolled out the red carpet to make our visitor, Edwina Jackson-Webb, feel comfortable and appreciated during her visit to Lowell, Arkansas this week.  She sent a note that everyone needs to see:

There are no words to describe to everyone how I felt regarding one of the most memorable days of my life.  Yesterday was a very humbling and joyful experience.  Thank you to the J.B. Hunt family!

 

Your friend always,

Edwina  

Please Welcome

Ryan Laine, our of our Georgia Pacific drivers.  Ryan lives in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.  Ryan has a crafty flair.  He designed this wood picture for his Fleet Manager.  Is that cool or what?

 

 

 

 

Ryan has been with J.B. Hunt since October 16, 2012!  

Announcing...January Drivers of the Month

Congratulations to our January Drivers of the Month!

Asset Truckload

Joe McEwan

FM: Thomas Biocic

Asset CCF

Tommy Minter

FM: Keith Allen

IC/LP

Kyle Spears

FM: Doris Miles

 

PCS Network

Bradley Cornett

FM: Dean Parker

 

PCS Pop Up

Mobile Conversions

FM: Candice Anderson

Run for the Roses

This weekend is Valentine's day (don't forget!), but an extremely important date is upcoming for our Eastern Network and Georgia Pacific drivers.  Productivity Bonus #6 is set to finalize at midnight on the 14th of February.

 

Do you know what drivers are close?  Are we pushing to get drivers to the maximum bonus they can earn?  This variable pay is an important part of our driver's compensation.  Productivity Pay Bonus #5 involved two holiday periods, so this latest version should show improved results.  

 

 

A Great Coaching Tip For Road Warriors

So often articles written by trucking professionals discuss the driver shortage, cost of fuel, new types of equipment, and revenue per mile.  However, rarely do we talk about the ugly truth about trucking…the impact trucking has on the truckers family.

 

The sad part about our business is that we hear the stories from drivers regarding the impact trucking has had on their family.  Divorce, family disconnection and loneliness are very common traits within the family of a trucker.  However, there is HOPE!  Our drivers life can be strong and fulfilling even when they are on the road.

 

Here are some tips on how to coach them to keep their family connection strong while your drivers are truckin’:

Use technology and social media to your benefit

1. Get a smart phone with a camera feature on it.
2. Use their smart phone to take pictures of their travels. Take a minute to snap a photo of downtown city skyline, a national monument, city capital buildings, historical markers, sunsets, sunrises, oceans, mountains, etc.  Capture pictures that tell their story while on the road.
3. Learn how to email or text these photos directly to their family each day. Let their family see the country through their eyes.  Their pictures will tell a thousand word and help their family appreciate what they do.
4. Use these pictures as talking points with your children and family. Ask them to look up interesting facts about the image you sent them and talk about it during your next call home.
5. Learn how to use facebook and/or twitter to keep a record of your life and your travels. Post their pictures on facebook directly from their smartphone.  Get a twitter account for the driver and their family members and send each other tweets.  Facebook and Twitter can be a wonderful tool to let their family communicate thoughts and feelings with their loved one.
6. Learn how to use facetime or skype. These tools are like video phone calls.  The driver will get get to see faces, smiles, braces, etc.
7. Set up a daily video call home. If their log book can be managed so that they can be stopped everyday at 8 pm, schedule a daily call or video call home at 8 pm.  This helps everyone get on the same page and get everyone around the computer at the same time.
8. Make it fun!! Have them ask their family to send them texts, tweets, funny selfies, group photos, whatever their family finds interesting and funny.

Trucking is the backbone of the American economy.  What our drivers do as a trucker is important and meaningful.

 

Promotion Announcement: Zeb Undernehr

Please join us in congratulating Zeb Undernehr on his promotion to Fleet Manager from Dispatcher.

Zeb was born and raised in Bentonville, AR. He attended the University of Arkansas for Computer Science. Zeb worked as land surveyor assistant, customer service representative at Sam's Club, and  project manager at Walmart before joining J.B. Hunt night/weekend dispatch in March of 2012. Zeb loves sports, especially Razorback football and basketball and MLB baseball.

Congratulations Zeb!

 

The Bug Box- Trucker Talk for a Border Protection Station

California’s Border Protection Stations (BPS) are the first line of defense in our pest exclusion efforts. At these stations, vehicles are inspected for commodities infested with invasive species. California established its first agricultural inspection stations in the early 1920s. Today there are 16 of these facilities located on the major highways entering the state. At these stations, vehicles and commodities are checked to ensure they are pest free and meet all regulatory requirements.

Most years, more than 20 million private vehicles and 7 million commercial vehicles were inspected at the BPS. From these vehicles, inspectors rejected over 82,000 lots of plant material (fruits, vegetables, plants, etc.) because they were in violation of California or federal plant quarantine laws.

We had a Tetra Pak load of cardboard, so it was an extremely fast inspection.



The Rose City

We traveled to some less desirable locations last week.  We saw some treatment that was less than admirable.  But, Edwina watched with glee as I snapped picture after picture from the passenger seat .  

 Mt Hood as seen from Portland, Oregon

 The mountains of southern Oregon 

Portland is known as a city of bridges.

 Kenneth and I crossed this span taking an intermodal shipment to the BNSF yard destined for Ohio 

Beautiful pine trees in the hills of Washington and Oregon 

 Downtown Portland, Oregon

 

 Treacherous highway in southern Oregon 

Chinatown in downtown Portland 

Chinatown 

 

The California Hole

After spending a week in California I wanted to share some west coast knowledge about being loaded legal on the left coast:

 

 CA requires 40' distance between the kingpin and the center of the rear trailer axle. If the distance from the center of the rear axle and the kingpin is 41' then you are illegal to drive in CA and will be ticketed.

As Nightfall Comes We Say Hello To One More Friend

 Joseph Sliney was at the Petro Truck Stop in Lebec, California enjoying dinner during his 30 minute break.  He has been with J.B. Hunt for 4 years and enjoys his job.

 A clean and shiny Western Region Truck belonging to Mr Sliney.

 Sun sets on the desert of the Central Valley late Friday afternoon.

Oil and Agriculture fight for the attention here in the Central Valley between LA and Sacramento.

Thanks for Stopping By

Yesterday we welcomed Terry Haynes to corporate. Terry is from Mt. Vernon, IL and he runs for our Automotive fleet on a Ford Motor lane from Frankfort, KY to Kansas City, Missouri. He visited with his Fleet Manager Regina Carmean at the office. Regina and Ed Page then treated Terry to lunch. We were glad to have you Terry! Please come back soon!

Road Realities-Funny Who You Meet atThe Truck Stop

Saw this Western Network truck parked at the Pilot Truck Stop in Weed, California. 

Lucky Us!  We met our driver coming back to his truck.  It was James Bracey.  James had been in Lowell several weeks ago.  He raved about the EOP team of Jessica and Sandy.  James lives in Phoenix, Arizona.  He was glad to see friendly faces out here.

 

Edwina likes the town, not the crop!

 

Bags of money?  No, bags of chains for drivers who don't carry their own.  When you are in the mountains of Southern Oregon, you better have your chains.

Road Realities-Why Do These Drivers Always Want PU/Delivery Customer Codes?

They don't normally want the directions sent over in text format.  If you give them the customer code they can insert in the location search screen and it will use Navigo to route you to your destination.  Works like a charm!

Safe Haven-Sumner, WA Terminal

The Sumner, WA is a welcome sight when you go from truck stop to truck stop and they are full.  This is a full service terminal that is primarily used by Intermodal.

The trailer and tractor shop were open late the prior evening and were very friendly.

The driver breakroom is nice and clean. 

 This is the main dispatch room.  Like every other intermodal facility in the west, the managers work in a bullpen setup and are easily accessible to their drivers.  

 The yard quality is a constant battle.  We are located near a river and water quality is an issue.  The chat rock yard is not the best option for a quality surface. 

 

Containers are even worked on outside of the shop.

 

Edwina and I debated dropping a line in this fishing hole and seeing if we could catch lunch.  She asked me if it was true that people "noodled" for catfish down in the south.