From expedited transportation services to shipping technology integration, 2019 is shaping up to be a year in which shippers evolve to meet the growing demands of both B2B and B2C sales. To help transportation managers cope with the changing appetites of a growing demographic we'll take a look at some developing supply chain trends in 2019.

Department of Transportation will launch a pilot program to permit 18-to-20-year-olds who possess the U.S. military equivalent of a commercial driver’s license (CDL) to operate large trucks in interstate commerce. The Trucking industry has been struggling to meet driver demand for the last 20 years.

We thought we might take a break from our usual industry topics to draw attention to a serious issue; driver safety, particularly, over the holiday weekend. Transportation analysts expect a record number of people in the U.S. to travel during the Independence Day weekend. The travel group AAA says almost 45 million Americans will take trips to destinations at least 50 miles from home during the holiday period. Unfortunately, reported road rage incidents are on the rise. The increase in holiday traffic can only add to driver frustration. Do what you must to keep your patience in check this holiday for the sake and safety of your family as well as other travelers. Be cognizant of the stopping distances required by a fully loaded semi-truck.  A fully loaded semi-truck has a gross vehicle weight, depending on its cargo, of up to 80,000 lbs. Compare this to the average loaded weight of a passenger vehicle of 4,000 lbs, and you can see the difference in energy produced by both vehicles.

The Trump administration on Friday escalated a trade war between the world’s two largest economies, moving ahead with tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese goods and provoking an immediate response from Beijing. Today Trump suggested possibly moving forward with additional tariffs which may exceed $200 million. The shipping community has been on edge about the impact the tariffs may have on the logistics market since the tariffs were proposed some 18 months ago. Before we examine the potential fallout lets outline precisely what industries will be affected.

There are several developing factors refining the world of freight transportation as we currently know it. Technology in the form of ELDs is forcing fleet managers to become more scientific in the management of their assets. The apparently insatiable appetite for immediate gratification from the millennials will force carriers to improve speed to market. This will likely put pressure on trucking companies to better integrate their small parcel and LTL operations so local distribution centers can concentrate on meeting on time final mile deliveries. Data engineering will be at the forefront of everything that goes on in supply chains. Data engineering, according to Dr. Michael Watson of Northwestern University, is "the art and science of blending data from multiple sources, automatically cleaning and filtering the data, and transforming the data to be useful for analysis."  You may have heard the term "Big Data" referring to the volumes of pertinent data accumulated from various sources along the supply chain. This big data will be the source of information in the data engineering process. Another term you've likely heard is IoT or The Internet of Things. The IoT is the network of physical devices, vehicles, home appliances and other items embedded with advanced electronics capable of exchanging data with a central computer over the internet.  

Expedited transportation is something to know about. When to request it. How much weight are your shipping. What is the protect time. These are all considerations when something goes wrong in either the manufacturing timeline, finished goods refinement or shipping scheduling.  It doesn't matter where in the supply chain the problem occurred. It matters how you make up the time to avoid the ultimate disaster...a plant or partial plant shut down. At this point you are talking big money.  I know if we shut down any portion of an automotive plant in the 80's it was $10,000 per hour for every hour the truck was late. Extrapolate that to today's standards and you can appreciate the severity of tardiness in our business.

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) International Road check will take place June 5-7, 2018. Over that 72-hour period, commercial motor vehicle inspectors in jurisdictions throughout North America will conduct inspections of commercial motor vehicles and drivers. This year’s focus is on hours-of-service compliance. Here is a quick summary of the HOS rules:

Rideshare service Uber suspended autonomous car testing nationwide after a self-driving car struck and killed an Arizona woman crossing the street. Even though the video appears to show the pedestrian jaywalking as she walks a bicycle across a street the incident raises many more questions about the main concern of, and hurdle, for the practical commercial use of the autonomous vehicle. Uber has halted testing of autonomous vehicles until officials complete their investigation.

Today's marketplace has generated a paradigm shift in customer demand and expectations. I would argue the millennial started all this "gotta have it now" pattern but it makes no difference from where the demand was generated. There is no going back. I just wonder if it can get any worse. As the saying goes, “adapt or die”, and that is what most companies are doing now. The findings from the “26th Annual Study of Logistics and Transportation Trends” suggest that more companies are realizing that competitors and new business models are shifting customer requirements. Firms like Amazon are departing from traditional business practices, using true supply chain management thinking to blur the boundary between days and think more in hours.