In an increasingly real-time logistics world, paced by rising expectations driven by ecommerce, one might think detention – the times trucker drivers wait to load or unload their trailers – would be headed down.

But you would be wrong, according to a new report from the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI).

Based on a survey of about 1000 trucks drivers, wait times of two hours or more are actually growing versus 2014, while he percent of shorter wait times of under two hours is decreasing, as shown in the chart below from the ATRI report:

Source: ATRI

So, just what causes excessive detention? Anecdotally, driver primarily cite shipper/consignee inefficiencies, but also believe that is that shippers are not increasing labor and dock capacity to reflect increased freight movement and truck activity.

Almost one in five drivers complained that their preloaded trucks were not ready by the time of their appointment, products were not ready, or were still being manufactured. Another common complaint in both driver surveys pertained to shippers and receivers overbooking appointments, booking more trucks than there is space/docks, and not having enough equipment to load and unload trucks.

Given all that data, what kind of changes to process and policies are needed? Really, just getting better at the basics, drivers said, such as shippers being more organized and communicating better. Drivers also cited opportunities for better scheduling, keeping appointments, and more use of "drop and hook operations" as solutions to the detention problem.

Your Comments/Feedback