Insights - July/August 2017 - 5

poses. Images of drivers standing by or in
their trucks are preferred.
Please send stories and images to
insights@intermodal.org. Standard size,
hi-res photos are acceptable in the following formats: pdf, eps, ai and psd. For more
information, contact Alex Shtogren at
alex@intermodal.org.

TTX to Lead
Market Trends Webinar
TTX Company representatives Pat
Casey, vice president, fleet management;
Edgar Gutierrez, director, market
development; and Peter Wolff, director,
market development, will discuss the
second quarter Intermodal Market Trends

& Statistics Report in an Aug. 15 webinar
hosted by IANA. They will focus on current
intermodal market performance, long
term trends and how IANA members can
apply equipment and corridor results at
their companies. For more information,
visit the events section of the IANA
website.

IANA Replies to Slanted USA Today Drayage Article
Editor's Note: IANA submitted the following op-ed as the
intermodal industry's response to a controversial USA Today
article that improperly portrayed port truckers. USA Today
declined to publish it.
A June 16 USA Today article, "Rigged," was in fact rigged
against the port trucking community and the thousands of
motor carriers and drivers that service this industry, as well as
the many customers that depend on these services.
High quality, committed intermodal motor carriers and
drivers transport over 60 million shipments of international
cargo every year, filling store shelves around the country with
products we all consume. The circumstances of specific
individuals that were portrayed in the article are unfortunate
and unacceptable, however, this story deliberately misleads
readers with the premise that the profiled drivers' experiences
were standard operating procedures for all motor carriers who
use independent, owner-operators.
The article claims to expose the underbelly of port drayage operations and cast dispersions on the successful business model of independent contractors. There is a reason that
over 80 percent of the companies engaged in port drayage are
owner-operators. It affords people the ability to be an independent business man/woman, owning and operating your
own asset(s) and deciding who with, when and where you do
business. It also provides the ability to be at home every night
vs. spending days and weeks out on the road.
Driver shortages are a challenge for all cargo transportation service providers - and it is projected to get worse in the
coming years as the industry's older drivers retire. A shortage
of available drivers matched against an increasing volume of
goods to be transported requires motor carriers to constantly
improve operating conditions for drivers, not penalize or push
them out of the business. Productivity issues such as waiting
and turn times at intermodal facilities, driver pay and the quality of equipment that is being picked up are in the forefront of
industry discussions and improvement initiatives.
Trucking companies in Southern California have also been
impacted by stringent state air quality regulations. These
rules, in part, required the replacement of older equipment,

largely owned by the independent, owner-operators. There
were several different approaches motor carriers used to help
the owner-operator community make the transition to the new
equipment standards. Some motor carriers chose to offer
lease-purchase arrangements to their owner-operator partners as a way to help them bridge from the older asset into
owning a new compliant truck. Had it not been for the implementation of motor carrier sponsored financial programs,
such as the lease-purchase, many owner-operators would not
have had the resources needed to upgrade their equipment to
continue working at the ports.
It is a well understood legal requirement for all owneroperators, as well as any motor carrier, to fully comply with
the federal Drivers' Hours of Service Regulations. It is a safety
issue for the drivers and for people sharing the roads with
trucks. If there are violations of these conditions, there are and
should be swift resolution through the proper channels to the
state and federal authorities. It is unfortunate that there are
still drivers and managers willing to violate these important
rules - but as an industry we are firmly committed to operations that are in full compliance with all laws and regulations.
We are not alone in the opinion that this article was
written with a preconceived narrative. Our colleagues at the
American Trucking Associations, the California Trucking Association and the Harbor Trucking Association have weighed in
with their perspectives on this article as well. We support their
efforts to provide a more informative and unbiased overview
on the status of port truckers not only in Southern California,
but across the country.
IANA must speak out against any mischaracterization of
a vitally important link in our nation's supply chain based on
a few bad actors. The negative publicity generated by USA
Today's article cannot go unchallenged, precisely because
it creates a biased depiction of an industry and its people
who focus on providing safe and cost-effective service that
strengthens the foundation of the U.S. economy.
We stand behind and are grateful and proud of the
hundreds of thousands of men and women who transport
intermodal containers every day on behalf of the consumers
and businesses that the intermodal industry supports.

July/August 2017 | Intermodal Insights

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Insights - July/August 2017