Trucking Services Research Articles

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA): In the Matter of Cross-Border Trucking Services

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA): In the Matter of Cross-Border Trucking Services

Examining Industry Effects for Truck Drivers

Disaggregating truck drivers by industrialclassification, rather than using a private carriagefor hire distinction, a significant wage gap isfound between drivers in trucking services and driversin all other industries. The premium for drivers intrucking services is largest relative to drivers inwholesale and retail trade and agriculture, who aremost likely to be true private carriage drivers. Drivers in construction and mining, less likely tomeet the true definition of private carriage, havesmaller wage disadvantages. This suggests that thewage gap between for-hire and private carriage driversmay be underestimated in other research.

Japanese Regulation of Truck Transport

Since 1951 the Japanese ministry of transport has been vested with sweeping authority to restrict entry and set prices in commercial trucking. Perhaps it could have used this authority to cartelize the industry. The weight of evidence holds that it did not do so. There is little to suggest that the standard price schedules that the MOT continues to publicize and periodically revise are anything more than suggestions, widely disregarded by commercial trucking firms. There are no economies or diseconomies of scale and firms have expanded until industry profits are exhausted. The changes in truck transport regulation introduced in 1991 were mainly directed at freeing a new activity, parcel delivery service, from regulatory constraints, and spreading some of the benefits to others in the industry. The principle remaining effect of truck transport regulation in Japan has been to impose a cost on private trucking operations (companies that use their own trucks to deliver their own merchandise) by legally barring them from also undertaking commercial business. If this restraint were to be lifted, the supply of trucking services would be enlarged and in the transition to a new (zero profit) equilibrium commercial truckers would suffer losses and some would exit.

Deregulation and new technology: the case of truck brokers

Deregulation of trucking in the US led to the creation of a new industry - truck brokerage - to help market the trucking service. Brokers are particularly useful to small, newer carriers that need help finding shipments. Brokers help shippers by offering lower prices or more convenience, i.e. they can often find a carrier or a particular type of truck quicker than the shipper. Deregulation of trucking can help an economy improve efficiency and become more competitive on a global basis.

NAFTA and Canada–US cross-border freight transportation

This paper explores the transportation related impacts of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The specific area of concern is with the supply and demand for trucking services in the Canada–US cross-border market. The US represents the largest export market for Canada and in terms of the value of goods shipped, the trucking industry is the dominant mode of transport. On the supply side, changes in industry structure within this market and regulatory measures are reviewed. The changes in demand patterns involving the Province of Ontario are analyzed, employing origin-destination shipment data collected by Statistics Canada. Ontario is the industrial centre of Canada and the impacts of the NAFTA are expected to be greatest in this particular region. Understanding the consequences of this trade agreement are important for guiding future transportation related policies initiatives which affect the growing Canada–US cross-border market.

Economics of intrastate trucking regulation: Some empirical evidence

Abstract There is a widespread misconception that the Motor Carrier Act of 1980 thoroughly deregulated the U.S. trucking industry. Actually, the Act only partially reduced the federal regulation of interstate trucking operations. At the state level, the Act left the decision to deregulate intrastate trucking to state regulators who could decide (a) whether there should be any intrastate deregulation, and (b) the institutional arrangements under which such deregulation would take place. While several states subsequently adopted deregulation, most states continue to regulate either the trucking rates charged by intrastate motor carriers, the entry of new carriers, or both. One purpose of this paper is to identify the factors that influence the regulators' net political returns from regulating the trucking industry and the probability of a state regulating the trucking industry. In addition, we investigate empirically whether such regulation has influenced the rates charged for intrastate trucking services. Our results suggest that variables reflecting the relative strengths of special interest groups explain the fact that some states choose to deregulate intrastate trucking while others do not. Special interest groups exerting influence on regulation of intrastate trucking are: (1) providers of railroad services, (2) providers of sea transportation, (3) regulators, (4) and farmers. This paper yields some empirical evidence showing that as special interest groups gain or lose strength over time and/or across states it affects states' decisions to adopt or unadopt policies.

Regulatory Reform and the Structure of For‐Hire Motor Carrier Revenues in Ontario, 1987–1989

Regarding the impact of trucking regulatory reform in Ontario, the overall rate levels for trucking service and rate levels for shipments involving small / remote communities are examined. Analysis indicates that rate levels have not declined in most trucking service sectors. With respect to small / remote communities, the basic question concerns the existence of cross‐subsidization, which was found to be present in some industry sectors.

Risk Factors for Lung Cancer Among Nonsmoking Illinois Residents

The purpose of this study was to examine possible risk factors for lung cancer among nonsmokers. The Illinois State Cancer Registry was used to identify all nonsmoking lung cancer cases diagnosed between 1985 and 1987. Subjects were classified as nonsmokers only if their medical record specifically stated that they had never smoked during their lifetime. These cases were compared with nonsmoking colon cancer cases. White male nonsmoking lung cancer cases were more likely to have worked in the construction industry than controls [odds ratio (OR) = 1.6, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.2–2.3] and to have worked in the bus service and urban transit industry (OR = 2.6, 95% CI = 1.0–6.9), in the trucking service industry (OR = 2.1, 95% CI = 1.3–3.6), and in blast furnaces, steelworks, and rolling and finishing mills (OR = 1.9, 95% Cl = 1.0–3.6). White female cases were more likely to have worked as registered nurses than were the controls (OR = 1.9, 95% Cl = 1.0–3.5). Negative associations between lung cancer and farming were found in both white males (OR = 0.6, 95% CI = 0.5–0.7) and white females (OR = 0.1, 95% CI = 0.01–0.6). Several other less plausible associations between employment and lung cancer were also found. To determine whether urban residence and associated air pollution increased the risk of lung cancer for nonsmokers, rates among nonsmokers in Cook County were compared with those in the remainder of Illinois. Cook County rates of nonsmoking lung cancer were elevated among white females and nonwhite females, but not among males. Residences of the white female and nonwhite female lung cancer cases were mapped to determine whether clustering within Chicago had occurred. The absence of observable clustering suggests that the excess of female lung cancer cases in Cook County is not attributable to pollution.

The Adequacy of Trucking Service Supplies for Produce: Trends in the 1980s

AbstractOver 90 percent of interstate produce movements are by truck. In recent years, concerns have been raised regarding the adequacy of motor carrier services. Reasons for these concerns include the possibility of increased costs or service erosions resulting from relaxed economic regulations, an eroding road infrastructure, increasing congestion, more stringent safety regulations, demographic trends suggesting the onset of an increasingly severe driver shortage, and declines in rail capacity devoted to produce haulage. In this study, trends in the adequacy of trucking services for trucking during the 1980s was examined employing data sets developed by the USDA regarding haulage from five growing areas to six metropolitan areas across the United States, and a case study based on over 9,000 interviews with drivers hauling Rorida produce, conducted between 1982 and 1989. The results of the study suggest that there have been no erosions in service adequacies.

MARKET DEFINITION AND ASSESSING THE COMPETITIVE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RAIL AND TRUCK TRANSPORTATION*

. In this paper we develop a method for establishing market definition in studies of intermodal competition. We employ the proposed method in a transportation model that yields estimates of the substitutability between truck and rail services for the transport of fresh fruits and vegetables. The model includes the produce being shipped as an input into the production of delivered produce. Our results demonstrate that fairly disaggregate market definitions are required to characterize adequately the intermodal substitution possibilities of interest. While disaggregate data are required for econometric estimation of the cost function, it is essential that elasticities be calculated at a disaggregate level as well. The elasticities reported are larger than reported in earlier work and provide strong evidence of vigorous intermodal competition in produce transportation markets.

The contemporary motor carrier salesperson: An analysis of shipper and carrier perspectives

One of the continuing concerns of the motor carrier industry is the need to upgrade the knowledge and skills of its salespeople. The paper reports the findings of a study which attempts to identify the specific characteristics of salespeople that require upgrading or improvement. The study is unique in the sense it examines and compares the views of both shippers (i.e. “buyers”) and carriers (i.e. “sellers”) of trucking services. Overall, both the univariate and multivariate analysis indicate that shippers and motor carrier sales managers have very different perceptions regarding desirable salesperson attributes, with shippers advocating less emphasis on personal traits and more attention to service and knowledge-related attributes. This suggests that motor carriers, in general, have been slow to adapt their sales management policies and practices to the realities of the contemporary transportation environment.

Heavy Traffic: Trucking Deregulation, Federalism, and Canadian-U.S. Trade

Trucking deregulation, in the interest of competition and efficiency, removes rate controls and grants free entry to the market. When the United States deregulated trucking in 1980, it opened the interstate market to Canadian carriers. Heavy volumes of trade by trucking between the two countries make entry conditions an important bilateral issue. Deregulatory symmetry between the two countries would produce a de facto regime offree trade in trucking services. In 1987 the Canadian federal government adopted deregulatory measures similar to those of the United States, but with more complex and problematic results. The reasons, broadly characteristic of the evolution of Canadian federalism, lie in the ability of the provinces to thwart federal initiatives. Trucking regulation is under provincial control, and to achieve a practical effect, the federal government depends upon the provinces to bring their practices into accord with its policy. Because of differing provincial views about deregulation and pressures from Canadian truckers for continued protection from American competition, much diversity and contention have delayed and compromised the federal government's purpose. Regulatory reciprocity is also a question of the provinces and states, with a mixture of strict and easy entry policies complicating the achievement of bilateral balance and equity. The larger implications of deregulation and transborder trucking for Canada lie in the ability of a decentralized federal system to pursue necessary initiatives coherently.

Marginal cost pricing of truckload services: A comparison of two approaches

A useful input to the pricing of truckload trucking services is the marginal benefit to the entire system of an additional load going from one region to the next. Two approaches are reviewed for estimating the marginal system benefit. The first is based on a well-known deterministic network formulation in which certain easily obtainable shadow prices provide an estimate of the marginal benefit. The second is based on a nonlinear stochastic formulation which incorporates uncertainty in demand forecasts. Each procedure is reviewed in detail and evaluated in terms of the accuracy with which the actual change in total system profit (found by increasing the demand on a link and completely reoptimizing) matches the estimated benefit.

Is Regulation Necessary for Value-of-Service Pricing?

This article presents evidence for the existence of value-of-service pricing in the neverregulated market for trucking services to haul Florida produce. Rates per truckload are found to increase by eleven to twelve cents for every one dollar increase in the average daily loss in the value of the cargo due to product deterioration, ceteris paribus. This result is at variance with the commonly held belief that value-of-service pricing in transportation is a form of price discrimination made possible by the policies of rate bureaus and regulatory agencies.

THE ROLE OF TOWING SERVICES AT MOTOR VEHICLE CRASHES

A survey of tow truck services operating in a defined area of the south-east suburbs of Melbourne was undertaken to determine their potential for delivering emergency medical care at the scene of crashes. Most towing firms have an association with a panel-beating shop, and operate within a limited area of one to three miles radius. The rapid response of tow trucks to crash scenes is due to their well-developed intelligence network of "spotters" and the short distances the trucks travel. Very little first aid is provided by the drivers, although one-fifth had some first aid training at some time. In about one-half of the calls to crashes a damaged vehicle is still at the scene, in about 20% an ambulance is called, and in about 5% a hospital admission occurs. Direct observation of 22 crashes suggests that on average, tow trucks arrive at a crash scene five minutes before the ambulance, and fifteen minutes before the police. There is a good case for making first aid training a preerequisite for issue of a tow truck operator's license.

Truck services expanded

Truck services expanded

Estimating Some Social and Environmental Effects from Rail/Road Substitution in the Trans-European Transport Corridors

This paper deals with estimating possible effects in terms of mitigating the social and environmental impacts which could be achieved by operating the rail freight train instead of the road truck services in the given Trans-European transport corridor during the specified period of time. In general, these impacts embrace noise, congestion, traffic incidents/accidents (Safety), and energy consumption and related GHG emissions (Greenhouse Gases). Each type of impact, specific to particular mode, is analyzed and modeled, thus enabling its quantitative estimation and intermodal comparison under the given circumstances. In particular, energy consumption and related GHG emissions and their costs have been under focus. The total costs of the above-mentioned impacts in the given case have also been estimated. Thus, they both represent a solid base for the assessment of the social-environmental feasibility of the future similar cases.

Wartime Transportation of Farm Products

T HE combination of many independent farmers each owning one or more motor vehicles and of a considerable number of companies and individuals who supply trucking service has resulted in the development of transportation habits and customs that are more or less wasteful of motor vehicle mileage. While inefficiencies were generally recognized, relatively little had been done to ascertain their nature or extent prior to the beginning of World War II. The shortage of strategic materials and of manpower arising out of the war effort now makes it imperative that all transportation be conducted as efficiently as possible. Consequently an increasing amount of attention is being devoted to this problem. From one standpoint, the scope of this paper is more limited than that suggested by the title, but from another it is more inclusive. It is more limited in that it is concerned chiefly with transportation by motor vehicle rather than by rail, water, or air. It is more inclusive in that it deals with the local transportation of the farm family, and with the local hauling of supplies to farms as well as with the hauling of farm products to local and distant markets. In the preparation of this paper it has been necessary to draw rather heavily upon a war emergency transportation study made in Martin County, Minnesota by the Division of Agricultural Economics and the Agricultural Extension Service of the Department of Agriculture, University of Minnesota.1 At other points the present writer has drawn heavily upon the published works of others. Martin county was selected because it was believed that farm motor vehicle and commercial truck transportation arrangements in this county were fairly typical of most of south central and southwestern Minnesota. It is located about midway in the state from east to west, bordering Iowa on the South. The average size of farm is about 175 acres. It is an important agricultural county producing considerable beef, pork, dairy, and poultry products.

The end of an era

This paper investigates the selection of trucking services by shippers that require the movement of truck shipments. A set of pragmatic attributes are postulated to describe trucking services. They are used in a stated choice experiment that collects data and preferences from shippers. A mixed logit model is estimated in order to test the attributes and quantifying the shipper willingness to pay for them. The results are used to provide meaningful negotiation guidance for truck-related shippers and carriers, a significant contribution to literature in transportation, logistics, and supply chain management. A numerical example illustrates the use of the model.