Trucking Services Research Articles

E-Collaboration at Celadon Trucking Services

Technology has influenced industries around the world. Not only is the use of technology essential to the success of a business, but the continuous improvement of technology is a determinant factor in obtaining a competitive advantage. Electronic collaboration (e-collaboration) has made a presence in the supply chain of international trade. The logistics industry, in particular the area of trucking, has to continuously improve their technology and use e-collaboration in order to continue having a profitable advantage in a highly regulated and competitive arena. Some methods of e-collaboration used by a particular trucking company along the U.S.—Mexico border will be discussed.

Employee or Independent Contractor? How the Effects of Classifications Impact Employer Liability

RECENTLY, awareness has begun to grow about the reclassification of workers as employees or contracts across all industries. (1) This heightened awareness is the result of increased enforcement actions and challenges by various governmental entities to the classification of workers as contractors. (2) For example, federal worker misclassification legislation has been proposed, (3) and the Internal Revenue Service has launched an initiative focusing on more aggressive audits of companies. (4) Classifying workers as employees or contractors can be extremely complex and vital to your case. The stakes are extremely high because consequences can be staggering. (5) A number of states have also increased enforcement. In California, the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach implemented mandatory concession agreements for drayage trucking services both ports. (6) The Port of Los Angeles provision required motor carriers providing drayage services to from using contractors to using 100-percent employees within a five-year period, beginning with at least a 20% transition to employees by the end of the fourth quarter of 2009. (7) In Maryland, the legislature enacted a Workplace Fraud Act in 2009 effectively creating a presumption that all workers are employees. (8) That Act authorized significant potential penalties to be imposed against businesses for knowing failure to properly classify individuals as employees. (9) The importance of these issues also extends to civil litigation. (10) The long established doctrine of respondent superior or imputed negligence provides employers can be held vicariously liable in tort law for the negligence of their employees under various circumstances. (11) The doctrine is premised on the notion one who is in a position to exercise control over the performance of a service must exercise it or bear the loss. (12) An is usually as a member of the employer's staff and subject to the control of the employer. (13) The employee's tortious acts committed within the course and the scope of his employment resulting in liability are, therefore, imputed to the employer due to the working relationship existing between the parties. (14) Generally, a business that contracts with an is immune from vicarious liability for damages to a third party for the negligent acts of the committed during the performance of the agreement. (15) An is commonly defined as one who contracts to perform a certain task or duty independently according to their own means and methods without being subject to the control of the hiring party except as to the ultimate goal or result. (16) Historically in circumstances where this level of independence existed, the imposition of liability on the hiring entity who only exercised limited control over the method in which the contracted work was performed resulted in inequity. (17) As stated in Prosser on Torts, the work is to be regarded as the contractor's own enterprise, and he, rather than the employer, is the proper party to be charged with the responsibility for preventing the risk, and administering and distributing against it. (18) Therefore, the distinction between an employee and an independent contractor can become a critical liability issue to the hiring entity. (19) This article will discuss the distinction between employees, contractors, and borrowed servants for the purpose of imputing tort liability to employers. Specifically, it will focus on the distinction between these classifications under the purview of two representative states that border one another--Missouri and Illinois. In this context, we provide a series of similar automobile collision cases from Missouri and Illinois depicting common employee-independent situations. As this article shows, similar facts and circumstances associated with the employee-employer relationship may lead to surprisingly different outcomes. …

Urban Freight Truck Routing under Stochastic Congestion and Emission Considerations

Freight trucks are known to be a major source of air pollutants as well as greenhouse gas emissions in U.S. metropolitan areas, and they have significant effects on air quality and global climate change. Emissions from freight trucks during their deliveries should be considered by the trucking service sector when they make routing decisions. This study proposes a model that incorporates total delivery time, various emissions including CO2, VOC, NOX, and PM from freight truck activities, and a penalty for late or early arrival into the total cost objective of a stochastic shortest path problem. We focus on urban transportation networks in which random congestion states on each link follows an independent probability distribution. Our model finds the best truck routing on a given network so as to minimize the expected total cost. This problem is formulated into a mathematical model, and two solution algorithms including a dynamic programming approach and a deterministic shortest path heuristic are proposed. Numerical examples show that the proposed approach performs very well even for the large-size U.S. urban networks.

A review - septage management related regulatory and institutional aspects and needs in Sri Lanka

Urbanization, population growth and rapid development have created a notable shift in septage* management in Sri Lanka, necessitating a vast and rapid improvement in the service of mechanized septage collection by trucks and finding additional space to meet the increasing septage disposal needs. According to data collected in 2012, 58% of the Local Authorities (LAs) in Sri Lanka have access to septic truck services. Septage (from septic trucks) appears as a non-traditional and fairly new urban waste stream without proper regulatory and institutional arrangement to manage. This paper contains a comprehensive legal, regulatory and institutional analysis of the present situation, and identify the needs and gaps that need to be filled to establish a sustainable septage management service in Sri Lanka. This review has elicited the need for a new array of regulatory and institutional interventions from national level to local level to manage septage.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/suslj.v13i1.7658Sabaragamuwa University Journal 2014; V. 13 No. 1 pp 1-15

How thick is the border: the relative cost of Canadian domestic and cross-border truck-borne trade, 2004–2009

Despite the elimination of tariff barriers between Canada and the United States, the volume of trade between the two countries is less than would be expected in the absence of impediments. While considerable work has been done to gauge the degree of integration between the Canadian and U.S. economies through trade, relatively little analysis has parsed out the underlying costs of the border. The costs of crossing the border can be divided into formal tariff barriers, non-tariff barriers, and the cost of the transport system. This paper focuses on the latter by estimating the cost of shipping goods by truck between Canada and the U.S. during the 2004–2009 period. The incremental cost of import and export over domestic shipments is measured in both absolute and ad valorem terms. The latter provides an estimate of the border increment in transportation cost as a tariff equivalent. The incremental cost is further broken down into fixed and variable (line-haul) components. Higher fixed costs are consistent with border delays and border compliance costs being passed on to the consumers of trucking services. Higher line-haul costs may result from difficulties obtaining backhauls for a portion of the trip home, which may stem from trade imbalances and regulations that restrict the ability of Canadian-based carriers to transport goods between two points in the U.S.

Supply and pricing strategies of informal rural transport providers

Informal paratransit operators using a range of vehicle types (including pickup trucks, small buses, and motorcycles) are a major provider of mobility in rural areas of the developing world. The paper describes a mixed method approach used to examine such operators’ decisions about vehicle deployment, route frequency, network organisation, and pricing in three rural districts in South Africa. New evidence is presented showing that the condition of rural roads (both paved and unpaved) affects the quantity and quality of public transport services provided, as well as the fares charged to passengers. This strengthens the case for judicious infrastructure investment as a way of improving rural access and livelihoods, and suggests how this might happen by way of leveraging better private sector responses. We also describe the emergence of a differentiated service hierarchy involving a variety of vehicle types suited to different operating conditions, and based on intentional coordination among operators of minibus and pickup truck (‘bakkie’) services. We argue that governments should promote such coordination and innovation in rural transport markets.

Attributes driving the selection of trucking services and the quantification of the shipper’s willingness to pay

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.

ANALISIS PERHITUNGAN PENCATATAN DAN PELAPORAN PAJAK PERTAMBAHAN NILAI ATAS EKSPEDISI ANTAR PULAU PADA PT. TAJUR JAKARTA

Value-added tax represent the source of revenue for very dominant state,to fulfill requirement of people. Company as a taxpayer have to carry out their tax liability in accordance with the provisions of the tax laws are dynamic and constantly changing according to the rate of development of country’s economics. PT. Tajur Jakarta was established in 1967 which is located in Jl. Jati Baru No. 83 where the main activities of company is a shipping that uses trucking services, and that companies that count, reecord, and report Value Added Tax on the consumers of services on goods subject to Value Added Tax.The method in this research is using descriptive analysis which is describe the case studies and literature. Case studies conducted in PT TAJUR Jakarta while literature conducted by collecting data from the literature relevant to the Value-added tax. Pursuant to result of obtained research from the study,the company calculating, recording and reporting properly and in accordance with the Law No. 42 of 2009,using the rate of 10% for each taxable service / goods taxable, and also the results obtained also that the company has to deposit and tax reporting using e-SPT return and paid through the bank by the 15th of each month after the end of the tax period in accordance with law No. 42 of 2009 on Value Added Tax.

Integrated Virtual Logistics Network for Quick Responses

Trucking is a vital segment of the transportation system that supports Indian Manufacturing. Trucking companies are attempting at providing such non-traditional trucking services as warehousing, distribution, inventory management, picking and packing - assembly operations and return goods management as part of their value added services thus making manufacturing (brick and mortar) activity competitive in the information (click) age. The major stakeholders in this exercise are (i) manufacturing industries (particularly Small and Medium scale enterprises - SMEs), (ii) logistics service providers (transportation, warehousing, clearing and forwarding agencies), and (iii) government and financial agencies (Central Excise and Customs, Regional Transport Organizations, Surface Transport Agencies and Banks etc). The present scenario warrants an integrated quick response mechanism to extend complete logistics solutions in a seamlessly integrated manner to reduce costs rather than extending the services in a disjointed way. In this context, this paper attempts at: 1) Study of the present IT architecture, business processes of different agencies, involved in providing and using logistics industry's services in India, like Transportation sector (Trucking agencies, trucking brokers and 3PL service providers), Customs & Central Excise of India internal processes and their external interactions with EDI partners (like Airports Authority of India, Port Trusts, Banks etc.,), Manufacturing Companies' IT infrastructures [Small and Medium scale industries enterprise resource planning (ERP) and supply chain management (SCM) platforms), and 2) Developing a framework for Integrated virtual logistics network for Quick Responses which would factor in the existing processes, systems and organizations' roles and the government's proposed investments in the e-commerce and e-governance infrastructure, and designing a technology transformation road map.

The North American Third-Party Logistics Industry in 2011: The Provider CEO Perspective

The North American Third-Party Logistics Industry in 2011: The Provider CEO Perspective

A Comparison of Contract Types for Procuring Trucking Services: A Case Study of A Large Swedish Retailer

AbstractWe found that a large Swedish grocery retailer was missing a structured approach for deciding on contract type when procuring trucking services in shipper-forwarder relationships. In this context, we identified four contract types: dedicated services, periodical services, truckload services, and less-than-truckload services. From previous literature, we found that trucking costs, utilization, and coordination costs impacted prices when tendering for trucking services. Thus, the purpose of this article is to compare the four contract types for trucking services based on trucking service costs, which includes a tradeoff between utilization and coordination costs. Using an applied research project, we worked together with the grocery retailer to compare contract types. Our results show that it is possible to compare contract type using trucking costs, utilization, and coordination costs associated with each contract type.

DEVELOPING AN INTEGRATED SOFTWARE OF SHIPMENT CONSOLIDATION AND LOADING OPTIMIZATION FOR INDUSTRIAL CLUSTERS

In this paper we introduce our transportation logistics software, CONSLoad. This software is designated for third party logistics (3PL) providers who serve cluster industries or multi-plant manfacturing companies that needs Less Than Truckload (LTL) container trucking services. This software has been developed based on theoritical and practical researches beforehand. In order to increase their transportation efficiency, 3PL providers need to consolidate their clients’ shipment orders. The individual orders, whose size is less than truck capacity, needs to be consolidated into a truck. Thus, the number of trucks required can be minimized. However, to deal with this, the 3PL providers face two main operational problems. The first problem is about how to select the orders to be consolidated while the second problem is how to increase the space utilization of the container used. There are some aspects to concern: order specifications (volume, weight, due date, and destination city), vehicle specifications (volume, weight, costs and availability), and route specifications (intercity distances, maximum loads allowed for each route). Using CONSLoad, the 3PL providers could solve these complicated problems easily and produce a set of efficient iterinaries and loading scenarios.

Transport Prices and Costs: The Need to Revisit Donors’ Policies in Transport in Africa

This study is the first comprehensive and empirical effort in the last fifteen years to measure and quantify the determinants of transport costs and prices in Africa. Based on trucking surveys for more than 400 companies in thirteen African countries, it demonstrates that contrary to what most literature has presented, transport costs (cost to transport service providers) are not excessively high in the Sub-Saharan region but transport prices (costs to shippers) are, especially in Central Africa. This is mainly a result of official and unofficial market regulation and structure in trucking services, notably in West and Central Africa. In order to seriously tackle transport-related constraints on corridors in Africa, the donor community should support as a first priority transport market liberalization but also collection of data in the trucking industry and the use of country specific trucking data in the economic analysis and design of road maintenance strategies because, in most cases, investments in roads will probably not lead to decrease of transport costs for end-users of transport services.

Stuck in the Slow Lane: Undoing Traffic Composition Biases in the Measurement of Trucking Productivity

It is easy to confuse true productivity advances in transportation industries with changes in ton‐miles per unit of input that are the result of changes in the composition of traffic, as initially happened with the mid‐20th century U.S. railroads. Transportation productivity varies enormously by traffic type, for example, with long‐haul versus short‐haul traffic. Measurements of changes in physical productivity can easily be biased by modest changes in the traffic mix. We control for endogenous changes in the composition of truck traffic and find that trucking has in fact lagged the U.S. economy as a whole in productivity growth over the period of our data, 1982‐1997. Loosening of weight, length, and speed limits is the likely explanation for the growth we do observe. Improvements in information technology have brought real improvements in the quality of trucking services (in reliability, predictability, speed, order tracking, etc.), but as in other service industries, true physical productivity improvements in trucking are limited.

Impact of Land Bridge on Port Market Area

A land bridge as an intermodal freight transport mode seamlessly integrates long-haul rail and short-haul truck services to provide transcontinental delivery of containers that can be alternatively transported by maritime transport mode. To evaluate the impact of the Myanmar–China international land bridge on the Shanghai, China, port, this paper first proposes a novel concept of the probability-based port market area to measure the service area of a port by assuming that costs and times of the intermodal freight transport routs are the normal distributed random variables. The analytical expression of the probit-based market area of the Shanghai port is then derived for two competing transport routes to the Dubai port: one involves the Myanmar–China land bridge and the other uses the direct port-to-port maritime link. The probability-based market area curves in relation to transport cost and time of the Shanghai port are established for two operational scenarios of the Myanmar–China land bridge: ( a) current state of operation and ( b) a possible future state of operation with efficiency similar to that of the U.S. continental land bridge operation. Each of these curves possesses one branch of a hyperbola curve representing a contour of the impact level of the land bridge on the Shanghai port. Differences of the impact contours of the two scenarios provide an indication of the market area of the Shanghai port that will be affected by changes in the efficiency of the land bridge operation.

Stuck in the Slow Lane: Traffic Composition and the Measurement of Labor Productivity in the U.S. Trucking Industry

Mirroring the railroad industry of the 1940’s and 1950’s, the trucking industry today appears to be achieving impressive productivity gains. But it is easy to confuse true productivity advances in transportation industries with changes in ton-miles per unit of input that are due simply to changes in the composition of traffic, as initially happened with the mid-20th century U.S. railroads. This is due to the fact that transportation has vastly different productivities in different settings – for example, when moving long haul versus short haul traffic – and the measurement of changes in physical productivity can be overwhelmed by even subtle changes in the traffic mix. After controlling for endogenous changes in the composition of truck traffic, we find that trucking has in fact been a lagging sector of the U.S. economy over the period of our data, 1982-1997, with observed productivity changes much more likely due to changes in speed limits and the dimensions of vehicles than adoption of information technology. Our finding of a slow improvement in the physical productivity of trucking inputs does not deny the real improvements in the quality of trucking services (reliability, predictability, speed, order tracking, etc.) that have taken place in the last quarter century. But as in other service industries, true physical productivity improvements in trucking are hard to find.

Field study to evaluate driver fatigue on air-inflated truck seat cushions

This study conducted a series of road tests with a commercial trucking service to better understand the relationship between vehicle seat design and driver fatigue, improve two newly proposed objective methods for evaluating driver fatigue, and provide design guidelines for evaluating and improving vehicle seat characteristics in terms of driver fatigue. Based on these results, we find that the air-inflated seat cushions tested are preferred to foam. We also show that the objective measure aPcrms highlights characteristic differences between seat cushions not highlighted by previously existing objective measures. This indicates that aPcrms is a useful measure and should be considered when evaluating the subjective quality of seat cushion designs under dynamic conditions, such as those existing in commercial truck driving.

LIFE WITHOUT TRUCKS: THE IMPACT OF A TEMPORARY DISRUPTION OF ROAD FREIGHT TRANSPORT ON A NATIONAL ECONOMY

Twice over the past 30 years Britain has suffered severe paralysis of its road freight system. This paper explores the likely consequences of a complete cessation of trucking services over the period of a week. By analysing inventory levels, lead times, dependence on road transport and opportunities for substitution in critical sectors, it forecasts a rapid rate of economic collapse.

Benchmarking the operational efficiency of major U.S. trucking firms using data envelopment analysis

In an era of downsizing and financial cutbacks, the operational efficiency of trucking firms dictates their competitiveness and survival. In an effort to help trucking firms develop a winning formula in the fiercely competitive logistics industry, this research aims to develop a meaningful set of benchmarks that will set the tone for best practices. In particular, a data envelopment analysis (DEA) is described. DEA has proven to be useful for measuring the operational efficiency of various profit or non-profit organizations. Using the examples of major trucking businesses in the United States, the usefulness of data envelopment analysis for the continuous improvement of trucking services is illustrated.

The First Use of a Combined-Value Auction for Transportation Services

Combined-value auctions (CVAs) allow participants to make an offer of a single amount for a collection of items. These auctions provide value to both buyers and sellers of goods or services in a number of environments, but they have rarely been implemented, perhaps because of lack of knowledge and experience. Sears Logistics Services (SLS) is the first procurer of trucking services to use a CVA to reduce its costs. In 1993, it saved 13 percent over past procurement practices. Experimental economics played a crucial role in the development, sale, and use of the CVA.