Demand takes toll on truckload performance

By Staff -- Logistics Management, 12/1/1998

Business is good for the nation's truckload carriers, but the pressure to keep up with business has caused on-time performance to suffer. Truckload carriers' transit-time performance fell to a 71.7-percent on-time rate for the three-month period ending Oct. 30.

Those figures are based on 8,393 shipments of 10,000 pounds or more that moved in 40 lanes around the United States. They were analyzed by Strategic Technologies Inc. for Logistics Management & Distribution Report. The STI report measures transit-time performance against the carriers' own published transit times.

As frequently is the case, performance varied widely by lane, from 100-percent on time in a dozen lanes to less than 50-percent on time in 10 lanes. On nine other lanes, deliveries averaged a day or more late.

As always, it's important to note that STI's figures look at the overall performance of numerous truckload carriers. Many individual carriers can and do operate at far higher on-time rates.

The accompanying table shows transit-time performance on a selection of the lanes studied by STI.

Transit Times

Origin Destination Published Actual % on-time

Fresno, Calif. Las Vegas, Nev. 1.00 1.00 100

Carrollton, Texas Cincinnati, Ohio 1.00 1.00 100

Los Angeles, Calif. Santa Fe Springs, Calif. 2.00 1.01 100

Cambridge, Ohio Atlanta, Ga. 1.00 1.21 92.4

Atlanta, Ga. Jacksonville, Fla. 1.63 1.89 72.4

Hudson, Ohio Albany, N.Y. 1.00 1.01 99.7

Canaan, Conn. Port Reading, N.J. 1.00 1.00 100

E. Greenville, Pa. Chicago, Ill. 1.35 1.35 100

Dallas, Texas Cleveland, Ill. 1.00 1.10 97.0

Morrisville, N.C. Bedford, Pa. 2.06 2.06 100

Melrose Park, Ill. Buffalo, N.Y. 1.00 1.21 81.2

Total sample (8,393 shipments) 71.7%

"Published" represents carriers' average published projected transit time in working days. "Actual" represents average actual transit time.

Source: Strategic Technologies Inc. (STI provides freight rating, payment, and reporting services and acts as a network for communication of electronic load tenders and shipment-status messages for shippers and carriers.)