For Immediate Release
JUNE 22, 1999
Contact: Kristie Kehoe, Director of Communications
703-838-1950 or kkehoe@truckload.org
Dry Van Driver Survey Estimates $1.5 Billion Lost in Waiting
Time
The results of the Dry Van Drivers Survey were released at
the Truckload Carriers Associations’ Board of Directors
Meeting, June 16, 1999, in Arlington, Virginia. The study
found that dry van drivers wait an average of 33.5 hours a
week to load and unload as well as wait. If drop and hook
operations are excluded, the average increases to over 40
hours a week. The results are similar to the findings of two
studies conducted in 1998 and 1996 on refrigerated drivers’
waiting time. These studies concluded that refrigerated drivers
spend over 43 hours a week in unproductive time. The most
recent study conducted by Martin Labbe Associates concluded
that excessive waiting time results in more than $1.5 billion
in lost productivity.
The study found that the typical dry van driver has 5 stops
weekly to load and unload. He or she spends 2.4 hours per
stop waiting to load; 2.0 hours per stop waiting to unloading,
1.1 hours per stop loading; and 1.2 hours unloading, for a
grand total of 33.5 hours per week. At 5% of the loading stops,
the driver receives no assistance, compared with 9% of the
time when he receives no assistance at the unloading dock.
Similar differences were noted in the refrigerated driver
study. Lumpers must be hired at 3% of loading docks, compared
with 9% at the unloading docks.
"The excessive amount of time spent by dry van drivers
at the docks was a real surprise," said TCA Chairman
Gary Baumhover of Grojean Transportation. "It shows that
no segment of the shipping and receiving community is immune
to the problem."
Like the earlier refrigerated study, the drivers indicated
areas of concern: on the carrier side &endash better directions
and dispatcher attitudes, while on the shipper/receiver side
&endash excessive waiting time, receiver attitude, and
loading and unloading time. They also indicated the fairest
and least fair shippers and receivers.
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Dry Van Shipper Comparisons
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Fairest Shippers
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Least Fair Shippers
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Clorox
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Anheuser Busch
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JC Penney
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Heinz
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Owens Corning
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Ford
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Pella Windows
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Excel
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Inland
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R.R. Donnelly
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Fed Ex
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J.T. Reyerson
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Dry Van Receiver Comparisons
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Fairest Receivers
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Least Fair Receivers
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Clorox
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Wal Mart1
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Wal Mart1
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Food Lion
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Griff Brothers
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A&P
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Toyota
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Ford
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Fed Ex
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Ralph's
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1 Companies can end up on the best and worst list
because of differences at various locations.
Other interesting statistics developed in the course of
the study included:
- Over 77% are company drivers and almost 92% operate as
a single driver;
- Almost 50% have 10 or more years of driving experience
and have been with their current employer 4.2 years;
- 28% of the drivers are over 50 years of age; and
- About 33% of the drivers are home twice a month or less;
while roughly 50% would like to be home three or four times
a month.
To address the problems identified in the study, TCA has
set up a special management panel, chaired by John Ameling
of KAT. "We have already had two successful meetings
with the shippers and receivers to address the problem,"
said Ameling. "Based upon the results of this study and
the earlier ones on refrigerated drivers, everyone now acknowledges
that there is a problem. Our next step is to find the solutions."
Copies of the study can be obtained by calling TCA at 703/838-1950.
TCA is the only national trade association whose collective
sole focus is the truckload segment of the motor carrier industry.
The association represents dry van, refrigerated, flatbed,
and intermodal container carriers operating in the 48 contiguous
states as well as Alaska, Mexico, and Canada. Representing operators of over 200,000 trucks, which collectively produce an annual revenue of over $20 billion, TCA is an organization tailored to specific truckload carrier needs.
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