Insights - March/April 2017 - 7

IANA NEWS
Meeting
to update
members on
task force
activities and
assess future
priorities. "Our
overall goal
is to continue
using the task
force format to
Lhotak
make operations
truly seamless between motor carriers,
ports and everyone else involved in
intermodal," Lhotak said.
Recommended practices for road
ready chassis are expected to be presented to the committee at the upcoming meeting in May, particularly steps to
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that critical equipment, Lhotak said. This
VCUMHQTEGJCUKFGPVKƒGFURGEKƒEGSWKRment issues, such as lights, that prevent
the supply of defect-free chassis.
Another task force, focused on temperature protection, has recently completed recommended practices to limit
risks when shipping various commodities,
especially beverages, in dry intermodal
containers during extreme weather.
Among the recommendations are
moving the product away from container
walls, using dunnage between the product
and the walls, moving the product off the
floor and loading from the nose to the rear
of the container before covering with blankets. The full complement of the recommended practices can be found at www.
intermodal.org/membership/committees/
commpractices.php.
The Driver Vehicle Inspection Reporting, or DVIR, Task Force is addressing a
key issue to enhance safety and operations arising from the legal obligation to
report defects when chassis are returned.
That task force is working on a video
and an informational piece for drivers
that members can use to adopt effective
practices. The task force will be hosting
one of the roundtable sessions at the May
Business Meeting to discuss its progress
and get feedback from members.
The fourth task force, addressing
safety in intermodal terminals, has followed up on its recommended practices
by developing a safety handbook to

spread that information throughout the
industry. Its recommendations, among
other items, include avoiding distractions
while working, maintaining three points
of contact when entering and exiting a
vehicle and doing a "tug test" before connecting brake lines.
Lhotak underscored the importance
of creating committee deliverables that
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commitment to all aspects of safety.
That goal is best accomplished, he said,
by broad industry involvement on the
committee. "We have stakeholders from
every corner of the industry sitting at the
table," he said. "We try to make sure the
task forces are well-rounded to make
sure everyone's views are discussed
and to prevent issues that pit one mode
against another. We don't want to tackle
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mode. We want to make sure we look at
the broader industry aspects."

"Our overall goal is to
continue using the task
force format to make
operations truly seamless
between motor carriers,
ports and everyone else
involved in intermodal."
- Kevin Lhotak, Reliable Transportation
Specialists
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turn times at terminals. They have had
some challenges addressing their mandate,
but recently have re-scoped their efforts
and are making some good progress
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times in order to establish a baseline to use
across the industry. This is a major issue,
and the work of this task force is an important voice to the dialogue. They will be
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committee meeting. The port and marine
terminal operator involvement on this task
force has been critically important to the
development of its work product.

More Committee Participation
A particular IANA focus in 2017 is to
effectively encourage more committee participation by marine terminal operators and
ocean carriers. "The key issue is how we can
continue to create more velocity throughout
the supply chain," said Hamlin. "There still
is a lot of frustration out there with various
stakeholders about velocity. We really have to
be on the front end in the committee process
to understand those issues and help with the
education process across every stakeholder
group."
Education is also a top committee
priority. To back up that commitment, both
the May Business Meeting and EXPO will
feature electronic logging device, or ELD,
implementation sessions.
The federal logging device mandate,
effective in December this year, will have
wide-ranging impact on the industry, Lhotak
believes, in part because moves within a
100-mile radius of carrier headquarters will
be exempted from the mandate. Lhotak
believes most carriers will introduce ELDs
even if their operations are concentrated
within that 100-mile radius. The ELD mandate, however, could prompt more drivers
to run shorter routes to ensure that they are
home more often.
Another question mark, Lhotak said,
is the role of independent contractors.
Some fleets may choose to focus only on
local runs that don't require ELDs. The ELD
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one, he said, though 99% of drivers who use
them don't want to go back to paper.
From a fleet standpoint, ELDs also can
JCXGXCNWGCFFGFDGPGƒVUUWEJCUEQOpiling fuel tax information and reporting
International Fuel Tax Agreement mileage,
Lhotak noted.
The Operations Committee will continue to keep an eye on the future, discussing
topics such as innovation and technology
applications including telematics and asset
utilization technologies on and off terminals,
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movement of terminals toward grounded
vs. wheeled operations, the chairman said.
In line with that topic lineup, the May
Business Meeting will include a committee
discussion on whether a new task force is
needed to develop recommended practices
for the use of telematics in the intermodal
business.
March/April 2017 | Intermodal Insights

http://www.intermodal.org/membership/committees/commpractices.php http://www.intermodal.org/membership/committees/commpractices.php http://www.intermodal.org/membership/committees/commpractices.php

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