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BestNow
The official publication of BestTransport, the leader in transportation management
BestTransport.com
OCTOBER 2018
OLL ON
As carriers battle through
the driver shortage, a
look at how shippers can
minimize the impact.

PORT OF ENTRY ASK REO
Electric
avenue
C
alifornia is home to almost
half the nation’s
electric vehicles and
its own winding road of
Catch-22s. The facts connect.
The Golden State taxes fuel
heavily, generating revenue
upon which it depends to maintain
a massive infrastructure,
including a vast road network
totaling nearly 400,000 miles.
The heavy taxes are intended
partly to discourage reliance
on petroleum, which pollutes,
and the intent is being fulfilled,
driving motorists to electric
cars in droves. That has driven
down fuel tax revenues, leaving
California short on money for
highway upkeep.
That’s why state lawmakers
decided last year to impose a
fee on plug-in cars. They also
launched a study into taxing
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motorists by miles driven, based
off odometer readings. All this
proves a point that BestTransport
Chief Operating Executive
J. ScOTT Cummans
President and CEO
Reo B. Hatfield
Chief Operating Executive
Reo B. Hatfield makes in the
latest edition of Ask Reo:
Scott Cummans, CEO,
Best: “Reo, the question I have
is about these new electric
trucks. Won’t they reduce our
fuel surcharge to zero?”
Reo B. Hatfield: Scott, I
have the Paul Harvey response.
The rest of the story, as he
called it, is interesting:
“Electric cars and trucks are
a good idea. We all have our
thoughts on pollution, fuel cost
and its impact. It is thought that
electric- (battery-) operated
trucks would really save money
for drivers and carriers, but
what is the rest of the story?
“Before we start counting on
the dollars we will save, let’s
think about it: Every gallon of
gas is taxed. Federal tax, state
tax and sometimes city or town
tax.
“The answer to the fuel sur-
CLICK HERE OR ON HIS NAME TO EMAIL REO HATFIELD
dEBORah (cHESNick) Llaneza
Vice President, Professional Services Group
1103 SCHROCK ROAD, SUITE 100, Columbus, OH 43085 | (614) 888-2378 | BestTransport.com

charge cost as we have today
will have to evolve. Taxes
never go away regardless of
what politicians say. They just
reroute the taxes.
“How you may ask? Well,
look at California. They
pushed people to electric
cars. That had an impact on
fuel tax revenues, which are
down. They in their wisdom
did not think about the impact
on state revenue. That
does not deter our professional
political leaders. Last
year, they passed the fee on
electric cars. Now, they are
discussing how to charge a
tax on the miles you run in
your vehicle per year.
“They can now track that by
inspections, by GPS or ELDs
in trucks, as a lot of states do
now. They will have you report
your taxes and road miles and
then you will keep your own
records and supply those to
the government.
“You might at first think this
is cool because I can write in
the amounts. Trucking companies
know that’s not how it
works. Carriers kept mileage
records under various state
and federal laws and paid
taxes based off those records.
Trucking companies know
that in the end, the regulators
can audit you and verify
exactly what you have been
doing. Reporting incorrectly
can get you many thousands
of dollars in fines.
“The rest of the story, as
Paul Harvey would say, is
explained quickly. The government
will find a way to get
its money at the state and
federal levels. They may not
manage well but I have found
that they really know how to
add up dollars.”
Demand makes
efficiency a key
How to meet low capacity’s challenges
a hot topic throughout freight industry
Efficiency always matters,
regardless of the industry
or the era, but rarely has it
been more vital in the world
of freight than it is today.
Those were among the observations
shared by business leaders
during the recent Intermodal
Expo hosted in Long Beach, Calif.,
by the Intermodal Association of
North America. Those views are
reverberating across shipping.
“Everyone’s awareness of the
capacity constraint on cost and
service levels is elevated to something
we haven’t seen before,”
Spencer Frazier, senior vice
president of sales for J.B. Hunt
Transport Services, said during a
capacity panel.
Not only are there fewer drivers
(see story on succeeding page),
but their productivity is down,
according to industry executives.
Then there’s the issue of freight
demand. Daily loads over the
summer were averaging 500,000
to 600,000 on Truckstop.com, an
online freight service, compared
to typical averages of 250,000
available. There are neither drivers
nor trucks to meet the need
— the backlog for truck makers
stood at 200,000 earlier this year.
“[T]ruckers are absolutely
crushing it on freight rates and
profitability right now,” Kenny
Vieth, president of ACT Research,
told the Wall Street Journal.
OPEN TOP
Concerns about capacity are
complounded when drivers arrive
at clogged terminals.
“Everyone knows how important
planning is,” said Reo B. Hatfield,
chief operating executive at
BestTransport, “but in today’s
world, it’s absolutely critical. And
you can’t do it without the right
technology, systems and processes
in place.”
And that requires expertise
in the industry, and in the challenges
it faces in the current milieu.
The good news is that the
economy is robust and demand is
high. The bad news is the capacity
to meet that demand is badly
strained.
“These are times like we’ve not
seen before,” Hatfield said. “But
here at Best, we have the experience
to know what needs done
and how to navigate all the difficulties
we’re facing.”
It’s all put the men and women
behind the wheel in the driver’s
seat, which is why some shippers
have taken extra steps, ensuring
facilities offer the comforts of
home, such as parking, Wi-Fi and
restrooms.
“Shippers need to be looking at
all the angles in ways they hadn’t
before,” Hatfield said. “Certain
investments can save you money
over the long run. This is part of
what we look at when we work
with shippers.”
october 2018 3

MAIN FRAME
Undriven
The driver shortage isn’t
just a worry for carriers.
Shippers face the impact, too.
Here’s how to minimize it.
The message from one of the shipping
world’s major players was shocking
and seemed, at first glance, counterintuitive.
“We’ve created it,” Yone
Dewberry, chief supply-chain officer
at Land O’ Lakes, said over the summer during
a supply-chain summit in Atlanta. “We’ve done
this to ourselves.” His point was
captured in an accompanying
headline on Forbes.com: “Shippers
Caused the Driver Shortage.”
By the end of last year, the U.S.
trucking industry’s supply of drivers
was roughly 51,000 short of
the need, a 42 percent increase
from the previous year, and the
gap is widening, according to Bob
Costello, top economist at the
American Trucking Associations.
This is happening even as trucking
companies offer drivers signing
bonuses and handsome pay
raises.
Technology, specifically, selfdriving
vehicles still are far away
from being a quick fix. Immediate
solutions, meanwhile, appear
nowhere in plain sight. Modern
workers are chafing at the demands,
long days sitting behind
the wheel on the road, time away
from family, a long list of federal
requirements and more.
Another aspect of a storm
that’s painfully perfect — low
unemployment not only means
there are plenty of alternatives
to driving a truck, it also means
consumer spending is up, driving
higher retail demand, which
means more drivers desperately
are needed.
It all makes for an especially
troubling picture for shippers,
who rely on the trucking industry
to deliver more than 70 percent of
freight across the United States.
No wonder consumers already
are feeling the impact in the form
of price increases and stalled
deliveries for goods shipped by
truck.
As Dewberry explained during
the 3PL summit, truckers face
an array of challenges beyond
the shortage, and most of these
are beyond their control, such as
increased fuel costs to go with
boosts in driver pay.
For Land O’ Lakes, these kinds
of complications are exacerbated
by the seasonal and frequently
CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE
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FROM PREVIOUS PAGE
unpredictable nature of the agriculture
business. Dewberry is
getting creative in its response.
The company is working on
predictive analytics to help cope
with one of another in the string
of factors complicating life for
both trucking and agriculture, the
volatile nature of dealing witht he
weather. By using these analytics,
the company is better able to
forecast arrival times for loads.
Similarly, technology is being
used to compensate drivers for
factors beyond their control, such
as traffic tie-ups and inordinately
long load times at the dock.
“This is how all of us need to
think,” said Reo Hatfield, Best-
Transport’s chief operating executive.
“If we want to be successful
on the shipping side of the operation,
we need to understand what
trucking is dealing with and how
that impacts pricing to shippers.
If we can do that, we can work together
to find solutions that will
result in the best outcomes for
everyone.”
Working with private rather
than carrier fleets is another step
being taken by Dewberry. He
explains that private fleets still
are at only 50 percent capacity,
compared to company fleets at
90 percent. Technology also is
helping cut empty backhauls, an
efficiency killer for trucking companies.
Finally, the company is
working with thelarger industry
to find big-picture answers, such
as whether shipping on weekends
frees capacity.
“The critical thing is working
together to find answers, and using
technology to help,” Hatfield
said. “This is where our emphasis
is. We’re constantly looking
to find efficiencies in all aspects
of the shipping transaction, and
that’s why our expertise both in
trucking and technology is so important.
We win by working as a
team, That’s what we’re here to
make happen.”
FIFTH WHEEL
Crossing lines
poses hazards
Shipping across borders is a challenge
that only can be met with the right help
As if the modern
challenges of domestic
shipping
weren’t quite
enough, there are
also the greater
difficulties in shipping on the
continent across U.S. borders.
The business of two-way
trade across American borders
is big, totaling some $880 billion
in annual volume. More
than 2 million trucks rumbled
across the border in one Texas
city in 2016.
But making it all work is
tricky. Shippers and carriers
who run afoul of a sea of regs can
face massive delays in getting
goods shipped and be slapped
with hefty fines.
Avoiding those pitfalls requires
navigating a labyrinthe
of customs paperwork and confronting
an array of security
hazards, all while dealing with
the ordinary volatility of the
weather and working through a
multitude of carriers.
“There are so many different
factors to consider when you’re
shipping across borders,” said
Reo Hatfield, BestTransport’s
chief operating executive. “If
you think there’s a lot to worry
about shipping here in the
United States, it all multiplies
when you’re shipping into places
like Mexico. We can help you
through all that.”
Here are five of the top considerations
for which to prepare:
• Security: Mexico is a hotbed
of crime, the Wild West of
North America, a place where
lawlessness frequently prevails.
That’s evidenced by more than
4,000 cargo thefts last year,
more than double the total from
the year before. The risks are
lesser in Canada, but differences
in how thieves operate there
compared to the U.S. or Mexico
pose other challenges. Good
guidance on security is a must.
• Capacity: Trade imbalances
have impacts beyond economic.
The more than $5 billion
gap between outbound and
inbound freight from Mexico
means that shippers in need of
trailers for loads going north
might be out of luck. Planning is
essential.
• Go local: Find local people
with whom to work rather than
trying to go it alone in foreign
place. Local help can be the difference
between successfully
navigating pitfalls and tumbling
into them.
• Experience: There’s no
substitute for know-how built
on experience when it comes to
shipping across borders. Best
brings decades of experience
in logistics and transportation
management for shipments
around the world. That kind of
expertise is a must-have.
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october 2018 5

Back HAUL SOME PARTING THOUGHTS
BY VINCE CIROLI
Playing the
lane game
First of two parts
Lane management has not changed
much for most shippers for nearly 100
years. Shippers do lane RFP the same
way hoping for better results than their
current rate structure provides.
The problem with doing the same
old, same old is that the entire truck transportation
space has changed and continues to change at
a rapid pace.
Technology has provided more visibility of freight
for carriers. That makes freight from smaller shippers
just as desirable, if not more so, than that provided
by large shippers.
Just a quick glance at the current market place
and you see more regulation, ELD and driver hours
of service and driver shortages causing much of the
pain as well.
The bottom line for shippers: If carriers are experiencing
problems these problems will be passed
down in term of higher cost and lower service levels.
The causes and cures can be narrowed down to a few
things: Time, money and management.
TIME
To start addressing potential cures, shippers need
to understand what the carrier and driver are facing
in terms of regulatory oversite.
ELDs exist to enforce the DOT’s Hours of Service
regulations. These rules dictate how much a driver
can work before being required to take some mandatory
time off. The HOS rules can be confusing, so
here’s a quick refresher course:
Statuses
A driver’s HOS log consists of time spent in four
basic statuses:
Off Duty: The driver is not working.
Sleeper Berth: The driver is resting in the
truck’s sleeper area.
Driving: The driver is driving the vehicle.
On Duty: The driver is doing work other than
driving, such as fueling, inspection, unloading
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freight, etc.
HOS rules
11-hour driving rule: A driver may drive up to
11 hours total before he is required to take a 10-hour
break. The 11-hour clock only ticks while the truck is
being driven.
14-hour on duty shift rule: As soon as a driver
changes his status to On Duty or Driving to start his
day, a 14-hour clock starts ticking. This clock does
not stop, even if the driver switches to Off Duty or
Sleeper Berth. Once the 14 hours is up, the driver
must take a 10-hour break before driving more.
70-hour in 8 days rule (or 60 in 7): Total time
spent Driving and On Duty cannot exceed 70 hours
in any 8-day period. So add up the time spent Driving
and On Duty today, plus the prior 7 days. That
total cannot be over 70 hours. A driver may “gain
back” time at midnight when the oldest day in his
8-day window falls out of the time range. To completely
reset the 70-hour clock requires a 34-hour
restart (see below). There is also a variation of this
rule that works the same way, but limits work time
to 60 hours in 7 days. Fleets can decide which of
these two variations they want to use.
8-hour, 30-minute break rule: When the
driver comes off a break and changes to On Duty or
Driving, an 8-hour clock starts ticking. Before the 8
hours is up, the driver must take at least a 30-minute
rest break in Off Duty or Sleeper status. After the
30-minute break, the driver has at most another 8
hours to work before he is required to take another
30-minute break.
10-hour break: If time on the 11-hour or 14-hour
clock has expired, the driver must take at least 10
consecutive hours in Off Duty and/or Sleeper Berth
status to reset those clocks.
34-hour restart: If a driver is running low on
time on his 70-hour in 8 days clock (or 60-hour in
7 days), he can complete a 34-hour restart to reset
the 70-hour clock. A restart must be 34 consecutive
hours of Off Duty and/or Sleeper Berth time.
Next time: I’ll take a look at the Money and Management
side of the lane management equation.