Executive Freight commissioned a survey of line haul carriers in May to collect feedback on the impending Electronic Logging Device (ELD) Mandate. We wanted to hear from our network of experienced Carriers to help us all prepare for the possible impacts of this federal compliance requirement, which is slated to go into effect December 18, 2017. This report summarizes the results of the survey, as well as highlighting some key observations and industry perspective on this important industry change.

summary observations - See Form below To Request A Copy of the report

  • Of the Carriers who have already implemented ELD, about 85% estimate that they’ve experienced a loss in productivity, with nearly half of those Carriers estimating the productivity loss at greater than 50%
  • While only about one-third of Carriers surveyed believe that ELD will have a negative overall impact on line haul prices, more than four out of five believe that it will negatively impact line haul capacity and also on detention policies
  • Of those Carriers who have implemented or will implement ELD, half expect the initial implementation costs to be up to $500 per truck, while some Carriers expect costs to exceed $1,000 per truck
  • Nearly one in three Carriers surveyed do not plan to implement ELD by the mandated federal government deadline
  • The majority of Carriers surveyed believe that instead of mandating ELD, the Government should simply have chosen to enforce existing penalties more aggressively
  • Just over one in four Carriers indicated that they’d close their doors as opposed to implementing ELD

Executive Freight Perspective

At Executive Freight, if our 15 years of experience have taught us anything, it’s that:

  1. Shipping customers need to take care to partner with established freight industry veterans who will ensure that they can reliably move their freight at competitive rates, and
  2. Any actions that negatively impact carrier capacity will ultimately challenge freight rates and service quality levels.

We believe that while the ELD mandate may have some undetermined positive impacts, its initial impacts will be to reduce the overall level of carrier capacity and competitiveness, resulting in higher long haul rates and more challenges moving loads on time with quality.

Our advice to our customers and to shippers everywhere is to:

  1. Be prepared from a planning and forecasting perspective
  2. To establish a network of reliable large national carriers combined with more nimble brokers, and
  3. To be prepared to adapt quickly as the market adapts to this new regulatory environment.

If you'd like to discuss your perspective with us, or explore how we can help your firm's preparedness, please email us at info@executivefreight.com, or just call us at 334-705-0779.

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