Shipper Rates In A Tight Transportation Market

Greenway Transportation Services, Inc. has been handling truck load freight in a 3rd party position for over 36 years. We have been in business long enough to see trailer lengths go from 42 ½’ to 45′ to 48′ to the now 53′ industry standard length. We have seen improvements in the safety of both trucks and trailers. Automatic transmissions, microwave ovens, refrigerators, TVs that are common in tractors now were not even a consideration years ago. All these amenities are to make the driver’s job easier. We have also seen more industry regulation changes in the last six years than all the previous years Greenway has been in business.

Shipping Industry Problems in 2018

The transportation leg of supply chain management is under extreme stress at this point. It does not seem to be a regional issue or be mode specific.

  1. We are seeing availability issues in Refrigerated, Frozen, Dry Van, Intermodal, FTL and LTL.
  2. These issues have been elevated by Electronic Logs (ELDs), Hours of Service (HOS), Food Modernization Safety Act issues (FSMA) and an extreme lack of drivers for Class 8 trucks nationwide.
  3. The driver shortage in the United States is approximately 50,000 drivers. When you add the age demographics of the existing drivers of Class 8 equipment in their 50s and 60s there will be a driver shortage of over 170,000 drivers in less than ten years. Due to these issues during the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2017, we saw an extreme shortage of available equipment nationwide.

The employees at Greenway Transportation Services, Inc. see these issues in real time by the volume of shippers we do not currently work with calling us to augment their existing transportation partners to cover their freight. We have not seen these issues abate in the 1st quarter of 2018.

How Do Regulations and Driver Shortages Affect Shippers?

The transportation leg of supply chain management is a large expense in the delivery of your companies finished product. A sale is not complete until your product is delivered. Our position at Greenway Transportation Services, Inc. is that shippers should consider the current and ongoing stress of the freight industry. They should also consider the stability of their transportation partners along with the caliber and quality of the equipment they supply you for your finished product. The drivers and equipment delivering your product are a representation of your company. If your existing supply of equipment is not to your wanted standards within volume or quality maybe it is time for your company to review a competitive supplier.

Supply Chain Solutions

If you are a shipper looking for a new company to review your freight needs and give you competitive rates we believe you should consider Greenway Transportation Services, Inc as a viable option for all of your transportation needs. Greenway has thirty-six years of experience. We are financially and employee stable with many employees having been with us for decades. We have a 4 Star BCA rating, A Transportation Member in the Blue Book and we are ranked in the top ten percent of Brokers in the country by NASTC. Many large shippers use and continue to use Greenway Transportation Services, Inc. from Coast to Coast for their transportation needs due to our ability to supply quality drivers and equipment for their freight needs. We would appreciate you allowing us to be one of your supply chain solutions for your freight needs. Please feel free to contact us at:  or view our shippers page.