Page 10 - Arkansas Trucking Report Volume 23 Issue 2

NEWS IN BRIEF

WAGES ON THE RISE FOR can expect that trend to continue as the owners to generate revenue from idle
TRUCKERS enforcement of electronic logging commercial vehicles by pairing them
The American Trucking devices went into full effect on April 1. with users looking to affordably expand
Associations announced the findings Drivers are now required to have an capacity.
from its Driver Compensation Study electronic record of their hours, a more Ryder, which provides short-term
show that the annual salaries of profes- accurate account of driving time. truck rentals and fleet-management
sional truck drivers rose between 15% Enforcing the ELD mandate may services for companies, said that during
and 18% from 2013 to 2017, as the mean more drivers will be needed to the work week over 8 million, or about
demand for freight has increased. meet existing demand, said Noel Perry, 25%, of U.S. commercial vehicles sit
YEARS chief economist for Truckstop.com. unused for more than a day.
“The easiest way to get drivers is to pay In a press release, Ryder stated that
them more. And they are,” said Perry. fleet owners could list their vehicles on
the digital platform, set vehicle avail-
COMMERCIAL VEHICLE-SHARING ability for idle periods, and receive
PLATFORM IN DEVELOPMENT automated payments from a trusted
Ryder System, Inc. announced the business owner. Business owners seek-
launch of COOP by Ryder™, a new ing vehicles could then search the plat-
asset sharing platform and the first of form by location for available vehicles,
DRIVER WAGES its kind for commercial vehicles. The including vans, trucks, tractors, and
trailers, and pick up the vehicle from
digital platform offers businesses the
opportunity to list and rent underuti- the listed location.
Private fleet drivers have seen lized commercial vehicles within a net- The company’s new service first
the biggest jump, earning as much as work of trusted peers. launched in January in the Atlanta
$86,000 annually in 2017, up from The Airbnb-like marketplace for metro area with more than 100 fleet
$73,000 in the group’s 2013 survey, on transportation assets will allow fleet owners, but Ryder plans to fully expand
top of benefits like paid leave and more-
generous retirement plans.
“This latest survey, which includes
data from more than 100,000 drivers,
shows that fleets are reacting to an
increasingly tight market for drivers by
boosting pay, improving benefit pack-
ages and offering other enticements to
recruit and retain safe and experienced
drivers,” said Bob Costello, ATA chief
economist.
Costello notes that freight demand
continues to increase, so drivers are able
to work more and earn more, doubling
the impact of the pay raises.
Shippers that see their rates
increase with the rising driver wages 

10 Issue 2 2018 | ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT