INTERMODALISM\\\


The COVID Impact on Trucking By Alexandra Walsh


Good news for the trucking industry during the COVID-19 pandemic: While down over 10% sequentially in April, truck tonnage did not fall as much as other economic indicators that month. Bob Costello, Chief Economist


for the American


Trucking Associations (ATA), reported in a press release that the advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck


customers. “We used to think of ourselves as very collaborative and team-oriented. All of that had to change, at least in a literal manner, in a minute as we implemented social distancing and very quickly changed our core operating processes.” He


says when they


realized they had to change their Standard Operating


“Demand for LTL services in the past 12 weeks has been very volatile.” -- Geoffrey Muessig, PITT Ohio.


Tonnage Index contracted 1% in May aſter falling 10.3% in April. Costello also notes that this


means that any rebound is tougher since tonnage did not fall substantially to begin with. And there are indications that freight continues to improve as more and more states and localities liſt lockdown restrictions. The ATA statistics bear out


the experiences of trucking companies in the first few months of COVID-19. “Demand for LTL services


in the past 12 weeks has been very volatile,” notes Geoffrey Muessig, Executive Vice President/Chief Marketing Officer for PITT Ohio. “In March and April, overall demand for PITT OHIO’s LTL services fell by double digits. By late June, shipment volumes had rebounded to pre-COVID-19 levels.” He added that flexing their


workforce to provide reliable service and control cost has been challenging in this volatile environment. “Towards the end of March


and the beginning of April, we saw a precipitous decline in shipping, but less worse into May,” says Fritz Holzgrefe, CEO of SAIA LTL Freight. “Adding to uncertainty, companies are restocking inventories, but shipment order patterns were not traditional for the second quarter. There’s no playbook for a pandemic except to have the ability to pivot as needs arise.” Holzgrefe notes that SAIA


always has many employees cross-docking freight and drivers interacting with


of their driver, to facilitate social distancing, Muessig notes. “We’ve implemented temperature checks at all our facilities and we have streamlined our administrative processes to maximize social distancing and minimize the handling of paperwork between customers, drivers and dockworkers.”


In addition, Muessig says


more of their customers have gravitated towards digital bill of lading solutions in the second quarter of this year compared to all of 2019. “Moving forward, PITT OHIO will continue to work with our customers to transition from paper bills of lading to digital bills of lading,” says Muessig. “There is also an


Issue 5 2020 - FBJNA


opportunity to replace paper with digital delivery receipts.” One change in operations


at SAIA was moving administration and the back- office function to work from home. “Customer service, sales, HR – we found in many cases these functions can be performed just as well as from home,” Holzgrefe says. “There are some challenges, and it’s still early to say what process


15


and operational changes will become permanent. All these things open to consideration.” Holzgrefe says the big


consideration to mange through the past few months has been first and foremost, keeping their people safe. “We have the opportunity to work safely and take care of our customers at the same time,” he says. “We are focused on these key values that are the fiber of our business.”


Procedures, the companies’ engineers redraſted the operating manual and implemented new procedures in a small terminal on a Monday and went company- wide two days later. “It was a seismic change in a short period of time with bumps along the way.” One of the first issues to


address was how to check drivers into facilities without doing it in person. “Electronic data interchange was being used, but now there’s just more emphasis on it,” Holzgrefe says. “Drivers are checking in and clocking in on hand-held devices.” Holzgrefe says that was part


of the process of recognizing all the touch points and paper involved in transactions. “There


are more efficient


processes that can be packed into a handheld. It was a natural evolution for us as we were moving towards a next generation device anyway.” PITT OHIO has implemented delivery


signatureless


receipts and encouraged shippers to pre-sticker their shipments prior to the arrival


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