Transportation TIP List: Week of September 27th, 2015

Transportation TIP List: Week of September 27th, 2015

Autumn’s arrival brings shorter days, colorful foliage, pumpkin-flavored everything and, for the transportation industry, some interesting new trends. Our first TIP List of the fall season covers truck driving, intermodal, the Internet of Things and other promising opportunities. Check out the list below and let us know which trends are on your radar this week!

• Truckers Are Struggling to Recruit Young Technicians, Mechanics: As trucks have become more advanced, transportations companies are increasingly in need of technicians with computer skills. But truck operators say negative perceptions of the industry are making it difficult to compete for tech-savvy talent.

• Report: FMCSA’s Driver Training Rule Advances, Carrier Scoring Rule Slated for This Month: A federal rule proposal to implement minimum driver training and certification standards has moved a step closer to publication, according to a report published by the U.S. DOT last week.

• Trucking Makes a Comeback, but Small Operators Miss Out: A recovering U.S. economy is driving record demand for trucking. But many smaller operators, who make up the vast majority of the roughly 470,000 for-hire fleets on the road today, say they’re missing out on the boom.

• More Business Awaits if Intermodal Service Improves Further: Railroads have made progress in enhancing service quality this year, compared with last year’s delay-plagued operations, but they will have to keep improving to win more business from customers.

• How Millennials Can Help Manufacturers Adapt To Change: Research predicts there could be as many as 2 million unfilled manufacturing jobs by 2025, up from initial estimates of 600,000. Add a whopping 77 million Millennials coming into the labor force, and what do you get?

• How the Internet of Things Connects Supply Chain Links: The Internet of Things, or more specifically machine-to-machine communication, may currently make headlines for innovations such as the self-driving car of the future, but, in reality, IoT-driven processes are making much bigger headway in the supply chain right now.

• Truck Tonnage Dips in August as Retailer Stocks Remain High: For-hire trucking demand cooled in August, but was still higher than a year ago, according to the American Trucking Associations. Seasonally adjusted for-hire truck tonnage fell 0.9 percent from July to August, but was up 2.1 percent year-over-year.

What’s on your TIP List this week? Let us know in the comments!