Drivers

Washington is considering a measure that would crack down on unsavory leasing practices in the trucking industry that backers say trap truck drivers into long-term debt and prevent them from becoming profitable owner-operators.

The Teamsters said earlier today that UPS is preparing to roll out later this month what it called “an illegal plan” to buy out full-time Teamsters-represented UPS employees, labeling it a corporate scheme which directly violated its contract with UPS that represents 340,000 delivery workers.

For April, the most recent month for which data is available, the TCI fell to -0.81, following a 0.28 March reading. This followed a -0.21 February reading, which marked an improvement over January’s -2.56 reading, and nearly erased all of the growth seen in December, which posted a 2.67 reading. Which was preceded by November’s 3.02, its highest reading going back to April 2022.

ATA said that this helps to bring back a definition for independent contractors drafted during the first Trump administration, which it said had more clarity and brought order to the law. And it added that the trucking industry has relied on independent contractors going back to the inception of interstate trucking, and court decisions over the last nine decades, continually reaffirming the legitimate role independent contractors play in the economy.

President Donald Trump signed a new executive order on Monday requiring commercial truck drivers in the U.S. to pass an English literacy test. This move could impact the supply chain by causing drivers to be pulled off the road.

Company officials said that these investments include the introduction of another 20 driving and delivery simulators throughout the United States, which almost doubles its number of simulators at its facilities.

The long-simmering problem of how to correctly classify trucking industry workers—either as contractors or employees—has arisen once again. In a precedent-setting move, the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) general counsel is alleging two trucking companies are misclassifying drivers as independent contractors in violation of federal labor law.

GEODIS officials said that bringing Velocity into the fold expands GEODIS’ Capacity Solutions freight brokerage offering in North America at a time when the industry continues to face ongoing driver and truck shortages.

There are fears the summer driving season could be curtailed by a looming driver shortage for gasoline tank car drivers. Of course, word of driver shortages is nothing new for the overall trucking industry, which estimates it is approximately 50,000 drivers short of what carrier executives say they could use to fill trucks as the nation emerges from the post-coronavirus lockdown.

The owner-operator business model in trucking, an essential part of the industry that uses upwards of 1 million independent contractors at any given time, is under attack in California and the U.S. Congress in Washington.

The November TCI, which is the most recent month for which data is available, came in in 10.26, down from October’s record high reading of 16.17. And the firm said that the trucking environment remains strong, as rising freight rates continue to power robust trucking conditions.

Greenwich, Conn.-based global freight transportation and logistics services provider XPO Logistics said today that it reached a new high-water mark with its digital freight marketplace, XPO Connect, noting that the Drive XPO app, which is used by carriers and truck drivers to access XPO Connect, has now been downloaded more than 300,000 times.

Averitt said that this new facility is less than 18 miles from downtown Greensboro and is comprised of a 46,0000 square-foot dock and 102 truck doors, in order to handle the flow and distribution of inbound and outbound freight. Averitt’s presence in Greensboro goes back to 1990, when it opened up its previous facility there.

Annualized turnover rate for large and small truckload carriers was up in the third quarter.

After nearly two decades, the federal government is finally close to establishing the first national database of drug and alcohol-impaired truck drivers. The database is expected to improve highway and heavy truck safety but at the expense of perhaps a few thousand drivers who fail random drug and alcohol testing but still manage to evade the system to find jobs in the trucking industry.