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FMCSA Soon to Conduct Detention Time Survey
Detention time is the time commercial motor vehicle operators spend waiting at shipping and receiving facilities. This extra space of time is created due to delays in loading and unloading cargo. The unfortunate nature of this time is it usually goes unpaid for drivers. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, of FMCSA, will soon collect information regarding this time gap to gain a better understanding of how it affects safety and trucking operations.
The study was approved by the White House Office of Management and Budget to formalize it to be allowed by FMCSA. FMCSA plans to collect data from the survey, analyze it to see trends in the frequency and length of times of detention time, and then explore options to reduce detention time based on their findings.
The survey will be sent out at random to approximately 80 carriers and 2,500 commercial motor vehicle drivers.
Notices will be sent to those randomly selected and they will have until October 23rd to respond. The FMCSA will then take time to analyze the responses and conduct research to find a proper solution to improving detention time waits.
Currently, there is no definitive length of time that identifies a wait as detention time. However, several do operate with a certain idea in mind. Generally, most in the CMV industry, as well as several U.S. government organizations, operate under the idea that when dwell time, the total amount of time spent at a facility, is more than two hours, there is detention time.
Detention time is unpaid time for the drivers, so higher detention times result in lost revenue.
FMCSA released a statement discussing the fact that lowering this detention time would help drivers' pay increase and likely lower costs for carriers as well. It would also benefit trucking schedules overall as there would be fewer delays in deliveries and drivers would have a higher likelihood of arriving on time.
This would be the second FMCSA study on detention time.
In 2014, the agency sent a survey out on detention time as well. They learned a lot about detention time but also learned a lot about how to send out a better and more accurate survey. The previous survey was sent out mostly to larger carriers and excluded the experiences of many smaller CMV drivers. Also, the survey did not include a long enough length of time, only covering a few months. They are taking what they learned from this survey and using it to improve this upcoming study.
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Three Big Trucking Names Work Together on EV Plant
Accelera by Cummins, Daimler Truck Holding, and Paccar, three big names in the trucking industry, are working together on a new business practice to help the environment. To do their part in the fight against climate change, they have invested in an electric vehicle plant that will significantly speed up the production of batteries for electric vehicles. They also proudly announce that this plant will provide hundreds of jobs for manufacturing in the U.S., helping contribute to positive economic growth. The three companies have not yet shared where the plant will be located.
The three main companies, Accelera by Cummins, Daimler, and Paccar, will each own 30% shares in the company and the remaining 10% will go to Eve Energy Co.
Eve Energy Co. is a smaller investor in the company as they are more limited in their contributions. They will predominantly act as a partner focused on technology. They will provide battery cell designs and expertise in battery manufacturing.
The heads of the three main companies have all been very outspokenly happy with this union and project. Chair and CEO of Cummins, Jennifer Rumsey, spoke about the obligation they have in contributing to decarbonizing. She spoke about the merger calling it “best for all of our stakeholders and the planet.” Martin Daum, the CEO of Daimler, said that partnerships are essential for the company’s success as they work toward more sustainable practices and transportation methods. Lastly, Preston Feight, the CEO of Paccar, described the vision for the project. He explained it as ultimately seeking the “highest quality, locally produced battery technology to enhance the operations of our customers.”
Together, the companies have strong faith in their union and joint venture. They have confirmed that initially, their business will focus on developing lithium-iron-phosphate battery tech. These batteries would be used as commercial batteries for electric trucks.
The final, smaller investor, Eve Energy, is fairly new, but rapidly growing.
They are based in China and focus on developing, manufacturing, and distributing battery products. They have grown significantly in just a few years and are now a publicly traded company as well.
The future of electric, battery-operated trucks looks brighter and brighter with business moves such as these. Working together instead of apart is the quintessential step in this process that makes it so different from other attempts. While the phrase is cheesy, teamwork really does make the dream work and these four companies understand that.