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.

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.