The driver shortage seems to have receded along with the economy. Sooner or later, it will return. In 2005, a report produced for the American Trucking Associations by Global Insights predicted that by 2014 the driver shortage would reach 111,000.
Driver demographics are not likely to change. Therefore, fleet executives will have to find ways to significantly reduce the number of drivers and trucks they need to deliver freight.
In coming years, the very paradigm of transportation will have to change from one of competition to collaboration, says Brittain Ladd, director of logistics and manufacturing for Cognizant Technology Solutions.
Prior to his role as a consultant, Ladd worked in senior management at several major carriers and shippers, including Dell. He has concluded that current solutions for driver shortages and asset utilization are too simplistic and ineffectual for carriers.
Ladd developed new delivery models for transportation that he calls Transportation Rendezvous Zones (TRZ) and Driver & Trailer Share. These models, if enacted, could ease the driver shortage by improving asset utilization and thus requiring fewer trucks and drivers, he says.
The idea behind TRZ is for drivers on long-haul routes to deliver trailers to staging areas located outside major cities. Trailers would be shuttled to and from final pickup-and-delivery locations by trucks running on alternative fuels such as liquid natural gas and electricity.
The TRZ concept is similar to the relays, hub-and-spoke operations and interline agreements that carriers use today, but it expands these operational efficiencies on a much broader, national scale to reduce congestion and pollution. Ladd says the Environmental Protection Agency currently is modeling his concept.
