CHATTANOOGA, TN - Access America Transport, a leading third-party logistics company, has been recognized by Inbound Logistics as a Top 100 3PL provider for 2010. The Inbound Logistics editorial staff selected from a pool of more than 500 companies using questionnaires, personal interviews, and in-depth transportation research. Access America Transport is currently featured in the July issue of the logistics publication.
“We are excited to be identified as one the nation’s premier 3PL’s for the second year in a row,” said Access America Vice President Chad Eichelberger. “We believe the commitment and resolve of our employees to our customer base is second to none.”Read more on the Company News page.
Shipping your goods over the nation’s highways just got a whole lot more complicated. Why?
Compliance Safety Accountability 2010 (CSA 2010), the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), together with state partners and industry will work to further reduce commercial vehicle (CMV) crashes, fatalities, and injuries on our Nation’s highways.
CSA 2010 is a fundamental change in reporting of safety, compliance, vehicle, driver and regulatory violations. The FMCSA’s SAFESTAT reporting algorithm was the standard in deciding what a negligent carrier was and who was performing at their best. Now with the roll out of CSA 2010 the game has changed. SAFESTAT was a culmination of driver scores 74 or below was a satisfactory carrier, Vehicle scores would be the culmination again of 74 or below being satisfactory anything higher is unsatisfactory.
CSA 2010 takes it further by breaking the scoring to 7 basic principles. (BASICS)
- Unsafe Driving — Operation of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) by drivers in a dangerous or careless manner. Example Violations: Speeding, reckless driving, improper lane change, and inattention. (FMCSR Parts 392 and 397)
- Fatigued Driving (Hours-of-Service) — Operation of CMVs by drivers who are ill, fatigued, or in non-compliance with the Hours-of-Service (HOS) regulations. This BASIC includes violations of regulations pertaining to logbooks as they relate to HOS requirements and the management of CMV driver fatigue. Example Violations: HOS, logbook, and operating a CMV while ill or fatigued. (FMCSR Parts 392 and 395)
- Driver Fitness — Operation of CMVs by drivers who are unfit to operate a CMV due to lack of training, experience, or medical qualifications. Example Violations: Failure to have a valid and appropriate commercial driver’s license and being medically unqualified to operate a CMV. (FMCSR Parts 383 and 391)
- Controlled Substances/Alcohol — Operation of CMVs by drivers who are impaired due to alcohol, illegal drugs, and misuse of prescription or over-the-counter medications. Example Violations: Use or possession of controlled substances/alcohol. (FMCSR Parts 382 and 392)
- Vehicle Maintenance — Failure to properly maintain a CMV. Example Violations: Brakes, lights, and other mechanical defects, and failure to make required repairs. (FMCSR Parts 393 and 396)
- Cargo-Related — Failure to properly prevent shifting loads, spilled or dropped cargo, overloading, and unsafe handling of hazardous materials on a CMV. Example Violations: Improper load securement, cargo retention, size and weight, and hazardous material handling. (FMCSR Parts 392, 393, 397 and HM Violations)
- Crash Indicator— Histories or patterns of high crash involvement, including frequency and severity. It is based on information from State-reported crashes.
Deficiencies will be more meticulously scrutinized then before. The burden is solely on the carrier to take corrective action. This plan will also enable the DOT and FMCSA to monitor more problem carriers than before.
A carrier’s measurement for each BASIC depends on:
- The number of adverse safety events (violations related to that BASIC or crashes)
- The severity of violations or crashes
- When the adverse safety events occurred (more recent events are weighted more heavily).
After a measurement is determined, the carrier is then placed in a peer group (e.g., other carriers with similar numbers of inspections). Percentiles from 0 to 100 are then determined by comparing the BASIC measurements of the carrier to the measurements of other carriers in the peer group. 100 indicate the worst performance.
** Sound Complicated?? Well It is. **
What CSA 2010 means to you, if you are a Shipper?
If you are a shipper using motor carriers to transport your products then you need to be knowledgeable about CSA 2010 as possible or you need to be utilizing a 3PL with a Compliance Department to protect you from hiring carriers with deficient scores and violations.
Access America Transport has a staff of compliance professionals that monitors these scores and regulatory requirements so the shippers don’t have to. Most transportation contracts stipulate that their shipments be transported safely with qualified carriers. Access America Transport has the means, the staffing and the know how to manage the risk and compliance for you.
Due to the fact that the scoring will change even top rated carriers, there is to be an expected reduction in motor carriers and qualified drivers on the road. Experts believe up to 75 thousand drivers could be out of business and the good ones are going to charge a whole lot more. Access America Transport can mitigate some of those increases because of its own economies of scale. Several hundred shipments a year is far less than the tens of thousands we do annually.
Gary Shostak
Director of Compliance and Risk Management
Access America Transport Inc.
I heard a wonderful panel discussion at the Truckload Carriers Association annual meeting. The panel was led by Bob Costello, the chief economist of the ATA (American Trucking Association) he had four different segments of our economy represented on the panel. I am definitely not a journalist, but did my best to capture their thoughts.
Bob Costello, Chief Economist for the ATA
- He said, ask eight carriers how they are doing right now and you will get eight different answers.
- Sees growth in 2010, but not “gangbuster growth”. After two horrible years, he believes this is a transition year. He believes 2011 will be very strong.
- Many good carriers have been slammed the 1st two months of the year.
- He doesn’t see inflation because companies are being so efficient.
- Warren Buffet buying the Burlington Northern caused a rail renaissance.
Bruce Carlton- President of NITL (National Industrial Transportation League)
- He is cautiously optimistic about this year. He thinks, the Great Recession is a “life changing moment” for many families. He thinks, buying patterns will be forever changed.
- Many shippers are nervous that carriers won’t want to pick up and buy more equipment, when their freight picks up.
- Many members have gotten “insane rates”.
- When talking about investing in our highways, bridges and infrastructure, he said his members are willing and ready to pay their fair share of taxes. He mentioned congress is using the additional tax revenue to pay down the deficit instead of using it where it was intended to go too.
Casey Chroust- President of Retail Industry Leaders Association
- His members range from Target, Best Buy, big box stores, to technology companies like Apple.
- It seemed to me, his members are a mixed bag. He has many discounters like Bj’s and Costco that have done extremely well. The high end stores are not building any new stores right now.
- His members have become very proficient with their supply chains. They have no extra inventory and their carrying costs have dampened.
- He mentioned Lowes will not setup up a carrier that is not Smartway certified.
- The international shift in manufacturing isn’t changing. He is seeing many companies finding new sourcing away from China to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and possibly Africa. Companies are finding even cheaper labor in these emerging markets.
- The Panama Canal is making a wider and deeper canal that will serve the biggest ships. These big ships can hold 8000 containers. Once the canal is built, the US east coast ports will take off.
- Told a great story about Wal-Mart and their power. Wal-Mart demanded that all of their laundry detergent suppliers sell them the concentrated liquid instead of the big bulky containers. By Wal-mart doing this, it saved the United States water supply the equivalent of 100 million showers a year. It also took thousands of truckloads off the road because you can get more product on a truck and saved millions of tons of plastic tonnage a year.
Kirk Pickerel- President and CEO at Associated Builders and Contractors
- He has mixed signals about economy, but tends to be optimistic. When he looks at all the data, it doesn’t seem good.
- Backlogs have been at 20%.
- Banks have to lend more, getting financing has been a struggle.
- He has seen data that suggests the unemployment in construction is at 24.7%.
- The power sector & highway sector have both fared well. The commercial building has been nasty, companies are losing money on projects to get business and keep employees. Margins have been slashed on every job.
- Doesn’t think the stimulus money created any jobs, but saved some.
- Congress doesn’t have the “guts” to invest in infrastructure like China and Brazil. We have to find a way to fund a long-term transportation bill.
Stephen Sibert- Senior Vice President of Industry Affairs of Grocery Manufacturing Association
- They have members that range from Nestle all the way down to small companies that produce their own soups.
- He sees a lot of consolidating in his industry. The big boys are gobbling up their smaller competitors.
- Seeing major growth in private labeling.
- Higher end restaurants have suffered, but Mcdonalds and Taco bell are way up.
- Who would have ever thought Starbucks would sell freeze dried coffee? Companies are trying new things to improve sales.
- % of costs of goods for transportation have dropped from 6.9% to 6.5%! Carriers have cut costs to keep their business.
- Packages have gotten smaller, because the United States is on a healthier eating trend. He has also seen some companies have gone to square packaging to minimize claims.
CHATTANOOGA, TN - Access America Transport, a leading third-party logistics company has been selected by the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce as the Business of the Year for 2010. The announcement was made on Wednesday at a chamber luncheon in front of 1,200 audience members from various Chattanooga businesses and civic organizations.
“It is great to receive recognition from the chamber and our peer businesses in the Chattanooga area, said Ted Alling, Access America Transport President. The award is a testament to the hard work of our employees and their desire to see the company succeed.”
Read more on the Company News page.
Moving oversized loads out of job sites can be very challenging. Some of the factors that can cause problems are:
* Site readiness – often times, a site can be muddy, or have a narrow or unsuitable entrance. A lot of times the specialized equipment used to move job site machinery has a low ground clearance and the load to be hauled is wide, high or long. Thus, the entrance must be level and dry, and big enough to move wide or long equipment in and out. It is not uncommon for a site to require improvements such as grading or added gravel.
* Inaccurate dimensions – Many times the owner of the freight has not even seen the commodity, or has only a rudimentary awareness of the dimensions of the material to be shipped. It is always a good idea to send a company representative to a site to verify reported measurements.
* Communication – Jobs site are often situated in rural areas with poor or no cell reception. Thus, it can be really hard to communicate with the driver or shipper during the course of loading the equipment.
You can usually count on something going wrong when shipping used equipment out of a job site, no matter how prepared you think you are. The best way to remedy this is to do a lot of research and lay appropriate ground work with your customer. Send someone you trust out to the site, or go there yourself. Make sure you get your own measurements, and get a good look at the site to see if it can accommodate the kind of equipment need to do the job. Also, make sure you have good contact information with back-up numbers in case the reception is bad at the site. Finally, let your customer know in the beginning that unexpected occurrences are a definite possibility and could result additional charges.
Access America Transport is a third-party, non-asset based logistics company. We have loyal and dedicated customers that count on us daily to deliver their freight in a safe and timely manner, in turn we always have freight moving at all times. We always strive to work with carriers that are experienced, dependable, and safe. We use all types of carriers with different capabilities to haul for us including: LTL, full truckload shipments including van and refrigerated/frozen, flatbed, intermodal, and specialized heavy haul freight shipped by either truck or rail.
We have become a third party leader with our carriers, because not only do we take care and provide for our customers, we also do the same with our carriers. We pay our carriers every 28 days, even if our customer does not pay us. We also provide a quick pay service paid by a comcheck that only charges a 4% penalty. This type of service is offered with fuel advances as well.
Access America Transport is also an ISO 9001 certified company and we take great pride in that honor. We attain this by taking rigorous precautions to hire the safest carriers that we can. We interface our software with Registry and Monitoring, a company that automatically updates our carriers insurance in our system and alert us should a carrier have any insurance cancellations or have their authority revoked. We also check each carrier’s safety score as well as their safe stat score on Carrier 411 and even go the extra mile to check their accident reports on the FMCSA government website. By doing this, we as a company are doing our due diligence to make sure that our carriers, our customer’s shipments, and the general public are safe out on the roads. Without the safety and dedication of our carriers, Access America would not have a business. Access America Transport… Driving towards a safer tomorrow.
To get set up with us as a carrier, please contact Lindsey O’Hara at 866-272-2057, ext. 147, or email at lohara@accessamericatransport.com. We look forward to doing future business with you!
Tradeshow shipping seems hard, but let Access America Transport take this worry off of your hands and be the seamless shipping that you deserve. We are the experts in the industry for shipping tradeshow booths all over the US. Many times the real problem is that shippers choose the wrong carrier in the beginning to ship their freight. Not every carrier is contracted by the Tradeshow vendor that is running the show, but by using Access America Transport you no longer have to worry about that.
Also, what happens if you know who the carrier is, but don’t have a good discount with them? Access America has rates with over 45 carriers and will be able to not only save you time, but most importantly money with your tradeshow shipments. We provide free quotes so you know exactly what you will be charged before the tradeshow even begins…how many times have you come home from a tradeshow and found out weeks later that your cost changed significantly, well this will never happen again. We will handle both shipping out to the tradeshow and handle the return shipment as well, please call us today to show you the right way to ship tradeshow materials.
Paperwork is not an issue as we handle all of the necessary Bill of Ladings for you. We personally dispatch the carrier so we know that your important shipment will be picked up and delivered back to you as it should. We will handle EVERYTHING!
Just because a company utilizes green initiatives doesn’t only mean that it cares about the planet, it now effects the bottom line. Today more and more industries are thinking green because waste costs money and efficiency produces more profitability.
Let’s talk about the cost of not thinking green first. Petroleum producing companies have had record profit earnings in the 200% to 400% range since the 1990’s. This does not trickle down to the long haul trucker on the road. Those record profits only mean that fuel indexes are through the roof and the driver and the consumer are paying for it. How do you combat that? Think Green. If a long haul trucker can utilize more Green efficient means of fuel consumption the costs for the trip to your business and your grocery store will be more profitable to them. In turn the operating costs will be lower and the charges to the commodity purchased by the consumer will be lower.
How about negotiating green. Purchasing managers and Suppliers have been fighting the commodity cost vs. the transportation costs for years each utilizing their strengths. “If I buy a bulk order of this product will you give me a break on transportation?” Now imagine being Supplier at the negotiating table and knowing that you hire trucking companies who utilize green transportation models and your transportation costs are lower than your competitors. Now you can forecast based on production schedules instead of fuel indexes.
Now let’s talk about growing green. The EPA started a program called the EPA Smartway Partnership Program in 2004. T he SmartWay brand identifies products and services that reduce transportation-related emissions. However, the impact of the brand is much greater as the SmartWay brand signifies a partnership among government, business and consumers to protect our environment, and reduce fuel consumption. To be a part of this initiative a corporation must also hire green. If you are a trucking company who has invested in the reduction of fuel emissions and fuel consumptions then Corporate America wants you. Fortune 500 companies are having symposiums all over the world to try and green their supply chain.
Access America Transport is an EPA Smartway Partnership partner. We arrange transportation services for several fortune 500 companies and we strive to hire trucking companies who think as green as we do. You can lose profits by not thinking green or you can negotiate better, increase profitability and grow your business simply by thinking and hiring green.
One of the United States top export commodity is Bulk agricultural products. Sales for the U.S. in 2008 were estimated at $73 billion and corn and wheat would be on the top side of this figure. Another top bulk export was Coking Coal, Thermal Coal and Iron ore. With the majority going to developing nations Like China, Brazil and India as well as the Europe Union and Japan. The most efficient and cost effective way to transport these products, from the fields of Middle America and the coal plants of Virginia directly to the Ports for export is via rail.
The US is also a top consumer of bulk commodities coal represents 54% of our electrical demands. The most efficient way to get the bulk commodities from the Mines to the Plants is via rail. Shipping bulk commodities has come a long way from the open car unit trains that to this day still dominate the bulk business.
Rail Shippers have the choice to also ship with super sacks. The airtight system is vented to an integral dust collector that vacuums displaced air and dust, and collapses empty bags dust-free. The bulk filled bags can be handled with the use of Loops and the shipper can ship large quantities without the need for any palletizing. Bulk commodities can be loaded onto box cars quickly, and more efficiently than before.
Clinker cars are a very efficient way to Trans load; Gypsum, Cement, Ash and other granulated or pulverized bulk commodities from the mines to distribution sites everywhere.
Access America Transport is uniquely positioned to assist in the transfer of Bulk Commodities via Rail. Our current relationships with all major US railroads enables us to use our volume purchasing strength. We can provide the bulk commodity shipper better than average rail pricing as well the advantage of capacity. Our coast to coast trans load partners enable us to efficiently transport your shipments where they are needed most.
As a third party logistics provider, Access America Transport has taken a new approach to increasing supply chain efficiencies by providing sustainable solutions. It is a common misconception that today’s economic climate is slowing the momentum of companies considering implementation of green processes. Access America Transport continues to look for synergies that are lean, sustainable, and environmentally conscious.
As a company, we take a holistic approach to doing business with our customers and carrier partners. We have implemented processes that benefit our company, customers, and carriers. Access America, like many third-party logistics providers, continues to embrace initiatives such as load optimization and rail-to-truck conversions. These practices take into consideration efficiency and cost, while delivering value-added green services to our customers. However, our most far-reaching green concept has been the conversion of private non-for-hire fleets into for-hire carriers.
Private fleet assets make up roughly 50% of the trucks on US highways. Two years ago, Access America started a program to encourage our customers who operate private fleets to obtain for-hire authority for their equipment. We noticed that many of these fleets operated at much lower asset utilization levels than similarly sized common and contract carriers. According to the National Private Truck Council, the average deadhead percentage for private fleets is 28%. This is substantially higher than typical deadhead for-hire carriers. Private fleets often look at their assets as a fixed cost that is necessary to effectively service their customers or to address complexities in their own supply chain model.
Access America began marketing this additional capacity to its customers and worked closely with these private fleets in understanding their dedicated freight lanes. We have been successful in locating backhaul revenue sources that align with these dedicated freight lanes. In many instances, we have been able to increase asset utilization by over 20%. This increase in asset utilization has resulted in small increases in fuel expenditures and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from these fleets, but has been more than off-set because these lanes were previously hauled by for-hire carriers. This increase in private fleet utilization decreases the number of for-hire carriers on the highways, which leads to an overall reduction in the industry’s carbon footprint. In addition to our success here, we also noticed many intangible benefits for our customers due to the regularity of utilizing the same trucks and the very low rate of driver turnover.
It is our belief that private fleets are an emerging market and present a tremendous opportunity to reduce the number of trucks on the road. This practice has enabled Access America to provide its customers with an opportunity to reduce their net environmental impact. According to the American Transportation Research Institute, there were over ten billion loads of freight hauled by for-hire trucking companies in 2007. If we assume that 95% of these loads were hauled by common or contract carriers, it is feasible that a 1% shift in volume to private fleets could reduce common and contract volume by 95 million loads per year. This type of reduction in volume has the potential to remove over 200,000 trucks from US roadways each year and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 25 million metric tons of GHG emissions.
We believe the practice of utilizing private fleets is here to stay. Access America is continuing to search for new avenues to take more trucks off the road. These steps have helped us solidify our customer partnerships and created sustainable relationships that are mutually beneficial to each party. We continue to put resources into developing our intermodal and load optimization programs. We feel these initiatives and many more will allow Access America to contribute to the overall greening of the supply chain while helping our customers maintain a lean and efficient transportation model.
Bibliography:
American Transportation Research Institute
American Trucking Association
Environmental Defense Fund and NAFA Fleet Management Association
National Private Truck Council
Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) / U.S. Department of Transportation
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