At the halfway mark for 2014, we’ve seen some interesting developments in the vehicle transport industry. Here’s a quick breakdown from both the haulaway (truck) and rail perspectives.

Truck Driver Safety

In industry language, a “haulaway” is a truck designed for the transportation of automobiles. As safety is of primary importance to transport providers, we regularly monitor trends and legislation affecting trucking and driver hours.

The Senate Appropriations Committee recently voted in favor of an amendment proposed by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, to suspend the hours of service ruling for one year while the Department of Transportation conducts a deeper study of the rule’s impact on safety.

The rule was introduced by the Federal Motor Safety Administration (part of the DOT) and was designed to improve safety on the roads by reducing truck driver fatigue. The rule would have limited the average work week for truckers to 70 hours. Suspension of the rule reinstates the maximum driver work week to 82 hours. Additional rules govern consecutive driving days and appropriate rest periods.

The vote to suspend the rule needs to be passed by the full Senate and then reconciled with the bill in the House of Representatives.

Rail Transport

A very harsh winter disrupted the rail network in both the United States and Canada. As such, a short railcar supply caused a nationwide backlog across the industry of more than double the average number of vehicles awaiting transport. The delays caused many vehicles to be stored at various offsite facilities, thus adding to the total transport cost.

While OEM’s traditionally use rail for distances of more than 300 miles, the shortage of available railcars has caused them to look at other vehicle distribution options (such as short-sea shipping from Mexico to the U.S.). Many have found that trucking can be cost competitive up to a radius of 700 miles.

The railroads are projecting relief in the backlog during the traditional summer auto plant shutdowns.

Transport providers understand that rail will remain a critical component of the finished vehicle distribution network, and most will advise auto dealers accordingly depending on their needs and time frames.

Martha Garcia-Perry is Director, Account Management with MetroGistics (www.metrogistics.com).