Transportation TIP List: Week of March 25th, 2018

This upcoming April Fool’s Day, there are endless possibilities for playing pranks and practical jokes on your peers. But we can promise you that this week’s TIP List was assembled without any tricks! Featured stories explore why Millennials should consider trucking as a career and some of the ways shippers are catering to drivers to combat the capacity crunch and driver shortage. Let us know if any of the industry trends below surprise you!

• Why Millennials Should Start Considering Truck Driving: A 2017 report by the ATA noted that the trucking industry needs to hire almost 900,000 drivers to meet rising demand. As the industry is getting desperate for talent, are Millennials a good option to fill the driver shortage?
• Capacity-Hungry U.S. Shippers Get Closer to Truckers: Whether it’s providing break rooms or just a cup of coffee, shippers are learning that catering to drivers and treating them with respect is key to keeping them happy – which keeps carriers happy and provides much-needed capacity.
• U.S. Shipper Spending on Surface Transport Hits Historic High: U.S. surface freight volumes and spending on trucking and intermodal rail remained higher in February than year-ago levels, resembling the 2014 marketplace in which the balance strongly tipped in favor of the carriers.
• Navigating Ongoing International Transportation Capacity Challenges: International transportation has dealt with recent ongoing capacity challenges as of late – including import and export spaces tightening up, a hot drayage market causing capacity constraints and volatile air freight rates.
• How Blockchain Will Transform The Supply Chain And Logistics Industry: Managing today’s supply chains—which include all links to creating and distributing goods—is extraordinarily complex. This complexity has caused a lack of transparency in supply chains and may open the door for blockchain to transform the industry.

What current transportation trends are you keeping a close eye on?