Photo credit: Brittany Palmer/NATSO
The Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s electronic logging device (ELD) mandate will take effect later this year, changing the way millions of drivers on the road operate. The new regulation will bring changes to both the trucking and truckstop industries alike, and those within the industry expect to see drivers that are more starved for time as well as productivity losses for fleets.
ELDs automatically record a driver’s hours-of-service and duty status and will be used by all drivers currently required to complete paper logs. One NATSO member told Stop Watch he believes ELDs will revolutionize the industry as much as deregulation did.
Fleet Consolidation
“It is changing how companies respond,” the member said, adding that he expects to see an increase in the number of companies using relay drivers, which means more drivers will return home at night, as well an increase in consolidation among fleets. “I think trucking companies will get bigger and bigger.”
Consolidation could be the biggest single concern for truckstops. As the trucking companies get bigger, they’ll have more negotiating power with truckstops...