Tucker Blog
Showing posts with label Letters From The CEO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Letters From The CEO. Show all posts
Friday, October 28, 2011
Tucker Wins New Business Awards
In keeping with our 50-year legacy of intensely guarding our information and that of our customers and carriers, we’ll be brief and intentionally vague, but we’re too excited and pleased not to let you know what’s stirring. During the past few months, Tucker has been awarded new business from new customers, and some significant new business from existing customers. Most of this has been years in the making.
The business includes a variety of industries, including energy, healthcare, express freight, chemicals and more, but the common thread is the need for excellence.
Tucker has worked diligently for 50 years to develop the best, most comprehensive and intelligently designed freight brokerage/3PL model in the country. In challenging economic times, we’re grateful for the opportunity to grow.
The business includes a variety of industries, including energy, healthcare, express freight, chemicals and more, but the common thread is the need for excellence.
Tucker has worked diligently for 50 years to develop the best, most comprehensive and intelligently designed freight brokerage/3PL model in the country. In challenging economic times, we’re grateful for the opportunity to grow.
Earthquake, then Hurricane Irene Test Tucker’s Emergency Operations
For nearly 30 years, Tucker has been honored to be trusted relied on as a first responder, supporting the United States military, FEMA and other U.S. government agencies, and many non-governmental first responders, with emergency trucking, transportation and storage services. We’ve supported emergency relief for hurricanes, floods, tornados, the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster, and Ground Zero on 9/11, to name a few.
A few weeks ago, Tucker’s own emergency preparedness was put through a tough test, when Hurricane Irene was predicted to strike our area directly. Our team prepared and performed admirably, with members from operations, sales and senior management preparing during the days before the storm, going through emergency preparedness, and preparing backups to our backup plans.
While our area was close to Irene’s eye, and we experienced major flooding and some wind damage, amazingly our office never lost electricity or phone service. Business crisis averted! Just a few of our team members lost power at home for up to a couple days. As with every experience, we’ve identified some opportunities for improvement that we’re already pursuing.
As far as natural disasters go, New Jersey is generally insulated from most (Housewives of New Jersey and Jersey Shore television shows, noted). Tornados, hurricanes and earthquakes are exceedingly rare here. Last month, we had all three hit in the same week. Thankfully, our teamwork prepared us well.
A few weeks ago, Tucker’s own emergency preparedness was put through a tough test, when Hurricane Irene was predicted to strike our area directly. Our team prepared and performed admirably, with members from operations, sales and senior management preparing during the days before the storm, going through emergency preparedness, and preparing backups to our backup plans.
While our area was close to Irene’s eye, and we experienced major flooding and some wind damage, amazingly our office never lost electricity or phone service. Business crisis averted! Just a few of our team members lost power at home for up to a couple days. As with every experience, we’ve identified some opportunities for improvement that we’re already pursuing.
As far as natural disasters go, New Jersey is generally insulated from most (Housewives of New Jersey and Jersey Shore television shows, noted). Tornados, hurricanes and earthquakes are exceedingly rare here. Last month, we had all three hit in the same week. Thankfully, our teamwork prepared us well.
Freight Activity Holding Strong
The U.S. freight economy is still good, despite the U.S. credit rating downgrade, ongoing European economic troubles, and a leaderless Congress that can’t pass any important bills. Thankfully, the manufacturing sector is holding its own during a lull in our economic recovery. Good news, for sure.
According to the American Trucking Associations (ATA), truck tonnage declined 1.3% from June 2011 to July 2011; however, July 2011was still 3.9% stronger than July 2010 (YOY growth).
Data reported by TransCore reinforces ATA’s findings, and shows additional insights. According to TransCore’s North American Freight Index, spot market truckload freight volume jumped 22% in July 2011 when compared to July 2010, while July’s volume dropped 24% from June’s volume. But don’t sweat it. TransCore suggests that this is normal market behavior. According to them, in the last 10 years, June to July load volumes in the same calendar year have declined on average 19%, and the predictable June-July decline has exceeded this year’s 24% in 4 out of the last 10 years.
Traditionally, August marks the start of each year’s second and largest “freight season.” Hopefully for the American and world economies, we continue to move forward and upward. Very few recoveries have been exclusively up, up, up, without pauses or hesitations along the way. We may not be in the most robust recovery, but let’s keep it going.
According to the American Trucking Associations (ATA), truck tonnage declined 1.3% from June 2011 to July 2011; however, July 2011was still 3.9% stronger than July 2010 (YOY growth).
Data reported by TransCore reinforces ATA’s findings, and shows additional insights. According to TransCore’s North American Freight Index, spot market truckload freight volume jumped 22% in July 2011 when compared to July 2010, while July’s volume dropped 24% from June’s volume. But don’t sweat it. TransCore suggests that this is normal market behavior. According to them, in the last 10 years, June to July load volumes in the same calendar year have declined on average 19%, and the predictable June-July decline has exceeded this year’s 24% in 4 out of the last 10 years.
Traditionally, August marks the start of each year’s second and largest “freight season.” Hopefully for the American and world economies, we continue to move forward and upward. Very few recoveries have been exclusively up, up, up, without pauses or hesitations along the way. We may not be in the most robust recovery, but let’s keep it going.
Ten Years After 9/11—A Blundering USDOT HazMat Disconnect
Ten Years after 9/11, America, has a spectacularly inexcusable problem regulating motor carriers who haul hazardous materials (“HazMat”). The United States Department of Transportation (“USDOT”) and its bureaucratic dysfunction are to blame.
Under the law, shippers of HazMat freight are required to use only motor carriers who are HazMat certified. Unfortunately, shippers can’t turn to USDOT for timely, reliable information about which carriers are, or are not, certified. What is more, USDOT, the sole source of this kind of information, cannot rely on its own data to determine which motor carriers are authorized to handle hazardous materials. Yes, you read that correctly.
USDOT’s knowledge of certified HazMat haulers is spotty, at best. Shippers seeking to verify a carrier’s certification face substantial uncertainty. Verifying hazardous materials certificates from carriers of course is a good idea, but relying on faxed paper certificates presents risks of forgeries, expired certificates, and other significant risks.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (“FMCSA”) is the agency within USDOT that regulates motor carrier safety, except for issuing HazMat certificates. Goodness knows why, but HazMat certificates are issued to motor carriers by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (“PHMSA” pronounced “Fim-suh”)—a different USDOT agency. PHMSA is failing in this critical national security and safety responsibility.
PHMSA HazMat data is made available to the public in a file named “REGIS10.” This file is intended to list company names, certificate numbers, and expiration dates and so on, so the public can identify and verify HazMat-certified carriers. Unfortunately, the REGIS10 file is useless, fraught with errors and omissions, with few, if any database rules to prohibit alpha characters to show in numeric-only fields. It’s a disaster. Shippers, law enforcement agencies, and carriers, depend on PHMSA to do its job, so we can all do ours. PHMSA’s failures leave our nation and our citizens on the roadways in harm’s way.
Over at FMCSA, they are busy completely overhauling America’s motor carrier highway safety regime with its new Compliance, Safety and Accountability (“CSA”) program. FMCSA issues and revokes operating authority, and regulates every interstate motor carrier in America, and many intrastate carriers. FMCSA’s CSA program is designed to improve commercial vehicle safety and FMCSA’s ability to review more carriers each year.
Here’s FMCSA’s problem. Partly, because PHMSA’s data is so appalling, the FMCSA isn’t connected to the PHMSA database. This leaves FMCSA in the unenviable position of not knowing what motor carriers are certified HazMat, so it must (gasp!) guess.
CSA more strictly scrutinizes and regulates HazMat carriers, compared to non-HazMat carriers, by design. In order to do this, FMCSA has been forced to develop a system for (literally) guessing which are HazMat carriers. FMCSA’s first attempt at guessing was to count every carrier who self-reported that it hauls HazMat. Wrong! The FMCSA’s second attempt at guessing, announced August 22, 2011, was to track data reported via roadside inspections or safety audits, identifying where a carrier was carrying placarded quantities of HazMat. An ever so faint improvement, but it is still guessing.
No guess will ever be as effective or justifiable as getting the data cleanly and clearly from PHMSA—the source of the problem, err, data. Then yes, by all means supplement that HazMat certified data with roadside inspections, audit findings and hazmat permits.
Under the law, shippers of HazMat freight are required to use only motor carriers who are HazMat certified. Unfortunately, shippers can’t turn to USDOT for timely, reliable information about which carriers are, or are not, certified. What is more, USDOT, the sole source of this kind of information, cannot rely on its own data to determine which motor carriers are authorized to handle hazardous materials. Yes, you read that correctly.
USDOT’s knowledge of certified HazMat haulers is spotty, at best. Shippers seeking to verify a carrier’s certification face substantial uncertainty. Verifying hazardous materials certificates from carriers of course is a good idea, but relying on faxed paper certificates presents risks of forgeries, expired certificates, and other significant risks.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (“FMCSA”) is the agency within USDOT that regulates motor carrier safety, except for issuing HazMat certificates. Goodness knows why, but HazMat certificates are issued to motor carriers by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (“PHMSA” pronounced “Fim-suh”)—a different USDOT agency. PHMSA is failing in this critical national security and safety responsibility.
PHMSA HazMat data is made available to the public in a file named “REGIS10.” This file is intended to list company names, certificate numbers, and expiration dates and so on, so the public can identify and verify HazMat-certified carriers. Unfortunately, the REGIS10 file is useless, fraught with errors and omissions, with few, if any database rules to prohibit alpha characters to show in numeric-only fields. It’s a disaster. Shippers, law enforcement agencies, and carriers, depend on PHMSA to do its job, so we can all do ours. PHMSA’s failures leave our nation and our citizens on the roadways in harm’s way.
Over at FMCSA, they are busy completely overhauling America’s motor carrier highway safety regime with its new Compliance, Safety and Accountability (“CSA”) program. FMCSA issues and revokes operating authority, and regulates every interstate motor carrier in America, and many intrastate carriers. FMCSA’s CSA program is designed to improve commercial vehicle safety and FMCSA’s ability to review more carriers each year.
Here’s FMCSA’s problem. Partly, because PHMSA’s data is so appalling, the FMCSA isn’t connected to the PHMSA database. This leaves FMCSA in the unenviable position of not knowing what motor carriers are certified HazMat, so it must (gasp!) guess.
CSA more strictly scrutinizes and regulates HazMat carriers, compared to non-HazMat carriers, by design. In order to do this, FMCSA has been forced to develop a system for (literally) guessing which are HazMat carriers. FMCSA’s first attempt at guessing was to count every carrier who self-reported that it hauls HazMat. Wrong! The FMCSA’s second attempt at guessing, announced August 22, 2011, was to track data reported via roadside inspections or safety audits, identifying where a carrier was carrying placarded quantities of HazMat. An ever so faint improvement, but it is still guessing.
No guess will ever be as effective or justifiable as getting the data cleanly and clearly from PHMSA—the source of the problem, err, data. Then yes, by all means supplement that HazMat certified data with roadside inspections, audit findings and hazmat permits.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Our Strong 2007 Continues in 2008
Without you, there can be no us. Thank you for your support. Tucker had a strong 2007, despite a recessionary transportation industry. Revenues increased over 22% and service offerings expanded into new areas. We recognize and appreciate your contributions to our growth and success. With your support, we will continue to differentiate Tucker’s services for your benefit and further invest in our people. Below reflects some of our progress.
In 2007, we launched new and challenging safety, quality and productivity iniatives. Perhaps most challenging to our business was strengthening our risk management procedures for qualifying motor carriers in an effort to reduce risk for our customers. Overnight, our carrier capacity was stretched thin relative to many 3PLs and freight managers, who often operate without similar standards and practices in place.
This initiative coupled by trade association involvement on this subject launched several new business opportunities and gained us a national audience on the subject of negligent hiring, negligent entrustment and motor carrier safety and compliance. We launched a formalized Consulting Service and expect to launch an entirely new business in 2008 focused on motor carrier safety and compliance.
ISO 9000 training launched in 2007 has already improved productivity. Even before we implemented the enhancements proposed by our Billing Accuracy Team we realized a 50% reduction in billing errors in 2007 vs. 2006! We are tackling some other big improvement opportunities and are enjoying the team building experience along the way.
Our space and talent grew too. We added new offices in Boston, Albany and now Buffalo, plus our sales team moved into new office space after our Cherry Hill headquarters expanded by 50%. We added several strong individuals with varied and complimentary backgrounds improving our team’s depth.
We expect the difficult 2008 economy to continue and for fuel to continue its rise into $100+ per barrel. Many experts see minor improvement in the trucking industry late in 2008. Sadly that improvement is largely reliant upon the exodus of trucking companies to bankruptcy and the pressure of fuel and economic conditions. Against this backdrop, Tucker Company is thankful to be budgeting for growth in 2008 and beyond through increased freight sales, consulting revenue, productivity improvements and other new service offerings.
In 2007, we launched new and challenging safety, quality and productivity iniatives. Perhaps most challenging to our business was strengthening our risk management procedures for qualifying motor carriers in an effort to reduce risk for our customers. Overnight, our carrier capacity was stretched thin relative to many 3PLs and freight managers, who often operate without similar standards and practices in place.
This initiative coupled by trade association involvement on this subject launched several new business opportunities and gained us a national audience on the subject of negligent hiring, negligent entrustment and motor carrier safety and compliance. We launched a formalized Consulting Service and expect to launch an entirely new business in 2008 focused on motor carrier safety and compliance.
ISO 9000 training launched in 2007 has already improved productivity. Even before we implemented the enhancements proposed by our Billing Accuracy Team we realized a 50% reduction in billing errors in 2007 vs. 2006! We are tackling some other big improvement opportunities and are enjoying the team building experience along the way.
Our space and talent grew too. We added new offices in Boston, Albany and now Buffalo, plus our sales team moved into new office space after our Cherry Hill headquarters expanded by 50%. We added several strong individuals with varied and complimentary backgrounds improving our team’s depth.
We expect the difficult 2008 economy to continue and for fuel to continue its rise into $100+ per barrel. Many experts see minor improvement in the trucking industry late in 2008. Sadly that improvement is largely reliant upon the exodus of trucking companies to bankruptcy and the pressure of fuel and economic conditions. Against this backdrop, Tucker Company is thankful to be budgeting for growth in 2008 and beyond through increased freight sales, consulting revenue, productivity improvements and other new service offerings.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
The Fourth Quarter at Tucker
The traditional fourth quarter peak season is here, and like last year within the freight shipping industry, many shippers are experiencing a less robust market than in prior years, though certain segments of the markets are quite busy. Through this time period, Tucker Company continues to grow expeditiously.
Through careful planning, great relationships with both customers and carriers, a strong team and a little bit of good luck, we are continuing our solid growth and expansion. Our expansion includes additional field offices, more office space at headquarters and hiring additional people to keep pace with our rapid growth.
We opened two new field offices in 2007. In the spring we opened a Boston, MA field office and on October 16 we began operating a branch of our Dedicated Logistics Division from our new Albany, NY field office — both field offices arestaffed by company employees. We are also hiring for two new sales positions. As we stated in prior months, Tucker’s headquarters is expanding to add roughly 50% additional space and capacity. The construction is progressing nicely and on time.
On October 3, 2007, we were pleased to welcome back Rossie Knight (formerly Grasser) from 13 months of active military duty. Rossie is a senior customer service coordinator and is now working from our Albany field office, managing service to some of our Dedicated Logistics accounts. Paige Webster joined Tucker Company as executive assistant, supporting the Tuckers and Hugh McLaughlin.
Tucker Company’s consulting business is developing nicely and is beginning to establish itself quickly as a leader in the area of motor carrier qualification; insurance and risk analysis, standard of care/contract harmonization and general risk assessment. Tucker has presented on these issues numerous times in the past year in various national venues.
Early in October, we hosted our first Carrier Appreciation Golf Outing at Riverton Country Club, here in New Jersey. It was well attended by many carriers. We had a fantastic time. After golf, most of our sales and customer service team joined everyone for dinner. It provided a chance for us to say “thank you” and for some newer members of our team to meet some of our carrier friends for the first time.
On a bittersweet note, we are left a little bit empty around the office now that Bridget Wherrity has retired to care for her family. Over her 12 years at Tucker, many countless callers of Tucker Company have gotten to know Bridget Wherrity. Among her many important and unbelievably varied duties here, it was Bridget’s voice when callers dialed “0” for assistance. People who know her, know her as a strong, sweet, caring person and a dynamic worker and team player. Congratulations and thank you, Bridget.
Sincerely yours,
Jeffrey Tucker
Through careful planning, great relationships with both customers and carriers, a strong team and a little bit of good luck, we are continuing our solid growth and expansion. Our expansion includes additional field offices, more office space at headquarters and hiring additional people to keep pace with our rapid growth.
We opened two new field offices in 2007. In the spring we opened a Boston, MA field office and on October 16 we began operating a branch of our Dedicated Logistics Division from our new Albany, NY field office — both field offices arestaffed by company employees. We are also hiring for two new sales positions. As we stated in prior months, Tucker’s headquarters is expanding to add roughly 50% additional space and capacity. The construction is progressing nicely and on time.
On October 3, 2007, we were pleased to welcome back Rossie Knight (formerly Grasser) from 13 months of active military duty. Rossie is a senior customer service coordinator and is now working from our Albany field office, managing service to some of our Dedicated Logistics accounts. Paige Webster joined Tucker Company as executive assistant, supporting the Tuckers and Hugh McLaughlin.
Tucker Company’s consulting business is developing nicely and is beginning to establish itself quickly as a leader in the area of motor carrier qualification; insurance and risk analysis, standard of care/contract harmonization and general risk assessment. Tucker has presented on these issues numerous times in the past year in various national venues.
Early in October, we hosted our first Carrier Appreciation Golf Outing at Riverton Country Club, here in New Jersey. It was well attended by many carriers. We had a fantastic time. After golf, most of our sales and customer service team joined everyone for dinner. It provided a chance for us to say “thank you” and for some newer members of our team to meet some of our carrier friends for the first time.
On a bittersweet note, we are left a little bit empty around the office now that Bridget Wherrity has retired to care for her family. Over her 12 years at Tucker, many countless callers of Tucker Company have gotten to know Bridget Wherrity. Among her many important and unbelievably varied duties here, it was Bridget’s voice when callers dialed “0” for assistance. People who know her, know her as a strong, sweet, caring person and a dynamic worker and team player. Congratulations and thank you, Bridget.
Sincerely yours,
Jeffrey Tucker
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