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Roemer Report – June 2007

In Search Of Parking: More trucks than ever are transporting goods on the nation’s highways, but the number of places that truckers can park to sleep is woefully inadequate. The lack of parking forces drivers to either trek miles out of their way to stop, pay for a private lot, or pull to the side of the highway. Building more parking spaces isn’t easy. Land close to highways is expensive; it’s hard to find 40 acres near a highway interchange that can be zoned for a truck stop; and some towns have passed legislation that prohibits the opening of new truck stops in their communities. Congress is finally paying attention. For the first time, Congress has authorized $24 million through 2009 for state and local governments to address the issue. States will use the money to find “parking solutions,” which involves creating new spaces or creating a system that alerts truckers to available parking spots. In the meantime, some big retailers let truckers park in their lots overnight, and private parking spaces are sometimes available, but they usually cost money, are located off the interstate, and lack facilities. Illegally parked trucks are generally hit with fines. One Maryland state trooper says he could spend his entire shift ticketing truckers for illegal parking, but he often just issues warnings and suggests a place to park. “The key thing is that you don’t want an accident,” he said.

Crash Raises Questions: Investigators still don’t know what caused a tanker truck to burst into flames on April 30 in Oakland, California, but they suspect speeding may have been a factor. The driver was hospitalized with second-degree burns, and no other injuries were reported. The episode has raised a number questions, including engineering issues (the 1950’s style freeway did not meet modern standards of resisting fire and explosions) and two other issues pertinent to trucking:

1. Safety inspections. It turns out the tanker truck in the accident was one of the most trouble-prone in its company’s fleet, having received 27 citations in the last two and a half years. Steve Keppler of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance said law enforcement officials issue millions of tickets each year for similar safety violations. Inspections are rigorous, but predicting human error is nearly impossible. “The only way you can prevent what happened to the driver in the MacArthur Maze, assuming he was speeding, would be to have an officer riding shotgun in the front seat,” said a local officer.
2. Background checks. The trucker in the accident had several drug-related convictions more than a decade ago, but he cleared a background check to obtain a valid Class A CDL. Despite his clean driving record, assemblyman Pedro Nava of Santa Barbara said it was “reprehensible” that the driver secured a license. The Transportation Security Administration responded: “He was going too fast. He may have fallen asleep. Would a more extensive background check have kept that from happening?”

So Far So Good: Early results from a study of biodiesel fuel in over-the-road trucking suggest there are no significant differences between the use of biodiesel and petroleum diesel fuel. The “Two Million Mile Haul” is a study examining two groups of trucks; the control group of 10 trucks uses conventional petroleum diesel, and the test group of nine trucks uses a 20 percent soy biodiesel blend (B20). After 500,000 miles, the study found no gelling problems and few operational concerns in either group. Winter fuel efficiency was slightly lower for the biodiesel group than for the control group (6.01 mpg for diesel versus 5.8 mpg for the B20 group), but researchers say this is not statistically significant since driver variability in fuel consumption varies so widely within both groups. The study tests engine performance, analyzes fuel for purity and consistency, and examines the effects of various fuel additives on the cold-flow properties. During cold-weather months, there were no fuel gelling problems in either group, and the plugged filters that did occur were not related to fuel quality. Researchers say the entire four-season driving cycle should be completed before conclusions are reached.

Mexican Trucks Get The Green Light: A yearlong pilot program is now in place that will allow approved Mexican trucks to enter all areas of the United States sometime in July. Currently, Mexican trucks can enter a small, restricted zone where they unload their freight, which is then picked up by U.S. trucks. Now that the pilot program is opening up the border, the debate has been reignited. Critics of the program say a flood of unsafe trucks will pour onto U.S. highways, compromising highway safety and threatening the jobs of U.S. truckers. Supporters counter that the trucks will comply with U.S. regulations and that an open border will save American consumers hundreds of millions of dollars. Up to 100 Mexican trucking companies will participate in the pilot program. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration says it already screened hundreds of Mexican trucking firms and rejected about 800 firms. The U.S. Department of Transportation says the pilot program meets stringent criteria addressing inspector training, inspection facilities, and safety procedures. State highway and transportation agencies and U.S. customs officials say the influx of Mexican trucks will not affect their work. They will continue to check every truck for safety compliance, with their primary mission being anti-terrorism, trade enforcement, narcotics interdiction, immigration enforcement, and agricultural protection.

The Bottleneck Dilemma: During the last 20 years, vehicle miles traveled on U.S. highways have nearly doubled, while lane capacity has increased a mere 4 percent. Congestion has never been worse, and about 40 percent of all congestion is caused by bottlenecks, areas where traffic backs up because volume exceeds capacity. According to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) freight bottlenecks cause about 243 million truck hours of delay each year, costing about $7.8 billion. The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) recently held discussions with shippers, carriers, academics, and policymakers to devise a Framework for a National Freight Policy to guide freight policy efforts in the coming years. The framework consists of seven major objectives, including improving the operations of the existing freight transportation system and adding physical capacity to the places that make economic sense. One example is in Ohio. The Ohio DOT analyzed major highway bottlenecks across the state, identified specific choke points, and found and implemented ways to ease congestion, such as repositioning merge lanes. The director of the FHWA’s Office of Freight Management and Operations said that carriers and other stakeholders should study the Framework for a National Freight Policy and “act on [it]. This is the only way that we will be able to overcome the issues we are faced with.”

The Evolution Of Health Care: Three-fourths of the nation’s large employers say they want to provide their retirees with access to health care, but they’d rather not fund the coverage, according to a survey by Pricewaterhouse Coopers. About 73 percent of employers said that retiree health-care coverage is placing financial pressure on their organizations. Still, support for the current system in which the employer provides health-care coverage for current employees is strong; 87 percent of survey respondents said employers should continue offering coverage for their workers. The survey also found that in an effort to cut health-care costs among current employees, employers are telling their workers to get healthy or pay a price. Almost two-thirds of employers polled agree that workers who have unhealthy habits, such as smoking or lack of exercise, should pay more for their health insurance. This number is up significantly from two years ago when only 48 percent of employers felt this way. Because of privacy and nondiscrimination laws, employers had been reluctant to get involved in employees’ personal health-care matters in the past, but that is changing. More employers are cautiously designing programs that discourage unhealthy behavior by charging higher premiums and that reward a healthy lifestyle by providing financial incentives for employees who lose weight or stop smoking.

Lofty Aspirations: Executives who embrace a Renaissance mentality will move far beyond the leaders who simply meet the basic needs of their organization. Martha Finney, author of In the Face of Uncertainty, says Renaissance leaders look beyond present concerns of profit and growth. They embrace learning and look for new ways to bring their visions to fruition. Here are some of the primary characteristics of Renaissance leaders:

1. They’re generous with knowledge. The more an organization shares its knowledge, the more competitive it becomes. For example, Motorola established itself as a billion-dollar leader in cell phones in China because it had the foresight to train Chinese engineers.
2. They create meaning for work. Renaissance leaders must help employees see the deeper value of their work. By doing so, they inspire workers to be driven not by a paycheck, but by a mission.
3. They love life. Renaissance leaders embrace all that life has to offer, from the arts, to music, to literature and the humanities. They recognize that these pursuits add meaning and beauty to life.
4. They value human ability. Many companies tout their technological capabilities in an effort to be competitive. The Renaissance leader recognizes that technology can never replace human ability.

 

It’s choice, not chance, that determines your destiny.
—Jean Nidetch, Founder of Weight Watchers