Insights - June 2016 - (Page 5)

BUSINESS MEETING - from page 3 ommended practices, along with an updated Drayman's Safety Handbook, were brought to a vote in the Operations Committee meeting and adopted by unanimous support of the voting members present. Chassis Maintenance Also under the safety umbrella, chassis maintenance was the attention of a number of task forces reporting to committees, as well as a roundtable organized by the Intermodal Chassis Mechanic Qualifications, Certification and Training Standards Task Force. In the latter's interactive poll an overwhelming 96 percent agreed that a uniform curriculum for chassis mechanic training is needed. There was strong agreement among those engaged in the roundtable discussion that proper training and certification would help eliminate FMCSA violations and generally benefit the intermodal industry. Asked about the impact FMCSA violations had on their companies, 71 percent said violations had a major impact and 11 percent said a minor impact. 91 percent of the roundtable participants said standardizing pre-trip inspections for drivers and mechanics would be beneficial. An additional consensus view was that recommended practices would help ensure consistent chassis repairs industry wide. Questions were raised about the cost of training and what resources might be available at state and local levels. Drivers and Terminals At the nexus of safety and productivity is driver treatment, leading Ken Kellaway, president and CEO of RoadOne IntermodaLogistics, to observe that intermodal trucking is the most fragile link in the supply chain. "When you look at the overall global logistics marketplace of $7 trillion plus, and you look at the activity in and out of the United States that's tied to these global supply chains, it's really controlled by the bottom of the funnel - it's contin- gent on expanding drayage capacity." Kellaway and Shawn Tibbetts, chief operations officer of Virginia International Terminals, facilitated a roundtable discussion of driver treatment at intermodal facilities, highlighting the state of the industry and then addressing a series of questions related to driver productivity and treatment, which were often used synonymously. The connection between chassis inspection, maintenance and driver satisfaction was clear from the first poll question presented to the roundtable. Participants unanimously agreed that the thing that would most improve driver productivity and treatment at terminals, is having sufficient roadworthy equipment available at the time of interchange. One topic for discussion was how technology, and ELDs in particular, can help improve driver treatment. The conversation grew into how ELDs could be a tool for measuring not only truck performance but terminal performance as well. These discussions fed into a separate roundtable that dealt with terminal turn times led by representatives of The Tioga Group and the South Carolina State Ports Authority. Polling validated the connection between safety and productivity with turn times at the center. A key question before the roundtable - and the focus of the Optimal Turn Times at Intermodal Facilities Task Force - was how to define turn times among differing facility types. Gate Control Common themes among the Business Meeting Roundtables were equipment interchange processes and gate control. Tom Martucci, vice president of technology for Consolidated Chassis Management, kicked off the discussion by sharing the intermodal equipment providers' viewpoint. The facility operators' perspective was covered by UP's Gerry Bisaillon. Participants were asked which were the major issues IANA could help address relative to gate control. The top item, selected by 40 percent of participants, was the lack of a common system to pre-authorize and validate the chassis interchange. Reporting from the various smallgroup discussions suggested roles for IANA that included developing a common central database for preauthorization, helping to define standard processes, and establishing a commercial database of contract terms for chassis interchanges. A telling observation was that all of the proper components exist but they are not meshing together. IANA has the mechanisms in place to validate both chassis and container interchanges to truckers, it was pointed out, but all stakeholders need to provide current, consistent data. State of the Industry and Federal Partners Moderate Growth and Continued Cooperation Alongside the committee and task force work, attendees of the Business Meeting were treated, during the General Session, to Pat Casey's annual "State of the Intermodal Industry," and heard from several of IANA's Federal agency partners, Commissioner William Doyle at the FMC and Darrell Ruban from the FMCSA. Casey, vice president of fleet management for TTX, shared his outlook on intermodal trends and provided industry observations including: * * Inventory increases could play a significant role in the modest growth expected for early 2016, but oil prices should have a more positive effect - notwithstanding slight rises that are currently being experienced. Job growth is good, averaging about 220,000 per month, and a recession appears unlikely. Manufacturing has started to come back in recent months and is growing rather than shrinking. June 2016 | Intermodal Insights 5

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Insights - June 2016

Restart Legislation Gets a Restart
Speed Limter Rule May Advance
FMCSA Sends Clearinghouse Rule to OMB
Silver Kingpin Award Ballots Due June 30
Business Meeting Roundtables Advance Safety and Productivity
EXPO Curtain Raisers Spotlight Industry Leaders and Analysts
State of the Industry and Federal Partners
At 25, IANA Exceeds Goals
Port Trucker Case is Tip of he NLRB's Spear Aimed at Contractor Status
Sustainability News
Freight Reports
Port News
People in the News
In Brief
2016 Sponsors
Welcome New Members
Intermodal Calendar

Insights - June 2016