The Trucker Newspaper - October 15, 2018

Business
October 15-31, 2018 • 23
ATA’s Truck Tonnage Index (Seasonally Adjusted; 2015=100)
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Motor carriers’ average cost per mile
increases by 6 percent, ATRI reports
Lyndon Finney
editor@thetrucker.com
ARLINGTON, Va. — With economic activity
strengthening in 2017, the average marginal
cost per mile incurred by motor carriers increased
6 percent to $1.69, according to the American
Transportation Institute’s 2018 update to “An
Analysis of the Operational Costs of Trucking,”
which was released October 2.
Using financial data provided directly by motor
carriers throughout the country, this research
documents and analyzes trucking costs from 2008
through 2017, providing trucking industry stakeholders
with a high-level benchmarking tool and
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government agencies with a baseline for future
transportation infrastructure improvement analyses.
ATRI said cost increases were broad-based
in 2017, with growth in nearly every major lineitem
over the year.
However, even though the year-over-year average
marginal costs per mile increased both in
2016 and 2017, it is lower than it was in 2014,
when the costs per mile was $1.703.
Driver wages increased for the fifth consecutive
year. The combined cost of driver wages and
benefits represent 43 percent of the overall cost
per mile.
See Costs on p24 m
Tonnage slipped from July to August,
ATA says, but still above a year ago
Lyndon Finney
editor@thetrucker.com
ARLINGTON, Va. — The American
Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally
adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage
Index decreased 1.8 percent in August after
increasing 1.9 percent in July.
The August index equaled 112.9
(2015=100), down from 115 in July.
Compared with August 2017, the SA index
rose 4.5 percent, down from July’s 8.6
percent year-over-year increase.
Year-to-date, compared with the same period
last year, tonnage increased 7.6 percent,
far outpacing the annual gain of 3.8 percent
in 2017.
The not seasonally adjusted index, which
represents the change in tonnage actually
hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment,
equaled 120.4 in August, which
was 5 percent above the previous month’s
reading of 114.6.
“Truck freight remained solid in Au-
See Tonnage on p25 m
The Trucker: LYNDON FINNEY
The American Transportation Research Institute said operational cost increases were
broad-based in 2017, with growth in nearly every major line-item over the year.
In the world of trucking, there’s good, there’s better, and then there’s ‘robust’
Klint Lowry
klint.lowry@thetrucker.com
Lane
Departures
The good folks at Kenworth were very excited
a couple weeks ago about the official introduction
of their new W990 model. Who could blame
them? This is the heir apparent to the W900 series,
a superstar of the trucking industry since the
Kennedy administration.
It was such a big deal to them that they flew
16 of us trucking journalists to Las Vegas a couple
weeks ago and put us up overnight in a nice
hotel just so we could bear witness to the great
unveiling.
The gesture wasn’t lost on me, nor was the fact
that they rented out the Las Vegas Motor Speedway
for the night as the setting for the W990’s
debut. During the reception, they even arranged
to give guests free rides around the track in supercars
driven by professional racecar drivers.
Kenworth was pulling out all the stops for this
one. Still, it felt like something was missing.
After dinner, we all went outside for speeches
and a video that made the W990 look like a bona
fide movie star. Then came the big moment, as
eight shiny new W990s paraded out under dramatic
lighting and boisterous rock music. The
production was like a cross between Fashion
Week in Paris and the introductions at an NBA
championship game.
It was a doozy of a rollout, and yet, I was still
waiting for that one element that would put this
celebration over the top.
The next morning, Kenworth took us to a
local dealership where we could experience the
W990 up close. As I sat in a conference room between
test rides, I listened to Kenworth General
Manager Mike Dozier talking with a couple of
my colleagues.
That’s when he evoked the magic word that
in trucking signifies all that is truly magnificent.
The W990, he said, is “robust.”
The entire trucking industry is hopelessly in
love with the term “robust.” It’s a vague term,
but it has become the most coveted all-purpose
compliment that can be paid to any product, any
policy, any industry trend.
Look how many times you can find the term
in this or any trucking publication. That new tire
doesn’t just promise dependable performance, it
promises robust performance. That carrier isn’t
just offering substantial signing bonuses, they’re
offering robust bonuses.
I get it. “Robust” is one of the most virile
of adjectives. Just hearing it makes you feel
like going out and chopping some wood. Is the
industry experiencing healthy growth? That’s
nice. Substantial growth? Good to hear. Robust
growth? Yeah, that’s what we’re talking about!
You hear “robust” and you imagine a dude
with a booming voice and so much muscle he
can’t even button his shirt all the way up. Then
again, I’ve also heard that “robust” is just a diplomatic
way of saying, “he’s fat, but he has real
good posture.”
The actual dictionary definition is pretty broad
but it’s more in line with the first image, so it’s no
wonder trucking executives and the PR flaks they
hire spread “robust” around like testosteronelaced
fertilizer. Trucking is still mostly a man’s
world, and what guy, even the most enlightened,
sensitive, 21st-century type guy, doesn’t like to
feel a little jolt of “robust” now and then?
You may not have even noticed. Maybe
it’s a writer’s thing, but to me the endless “robusts”
are like the person sitting next to you
who won’t stop drumming with their fingers or
snapping their gum. It makes me want to shout
— but to who? — “Hey, there are approximately
42,869 adjectives in the English language.
Try another one for a change.”
Whether it’s cheesy (but effective) manipulation
or unconscious redundancy, who knows?
Maybe they are suckers for the “robust” rush
themselves. In any case, I’m pretty sure this is
something I’m going to have to learn to live
with.
But thanks for hearing me out. See you
back here in November. Happy Halloween —
no, make it a robust Halloween. 8