This article first appeared in the October issue of Bulk Transporter magazine.
Trimble introduced enhancements to its Fuel Dispatch module during the 2020 in.sight user conference and expo.
The Fuel Dispatch module is a special-purpose dispatch and order entry module within Trimble’s TMW transportation management system (TMS) that is designed for the unique needs of fuel haulers and petroleum marketers.
The module, which features embedded business logic specific to the fuel supply industry, streamlines common tasks, improves order and billing accuracy, and offers improved visibility for operations, management and customer service. Features include Call-On-Demand Order Entry, Commodity Profile management, Card Planner trip view and Driver Shift planning; and available add-ons include the Fuel Information Exchange (FIX) for carriers and distributors, Titan cloud integration for fuel retailers, and a tank strapping import tool.
During the virtual Fuel Dispatch update session, Joe Ezzo, a product manager in Trimble’s energy vertical, highlighted new and improved features Trimble added in the past year, including tank compartment forecasting, forecasting to multiple asset types, product color-coding, tank model imports, tank wagon workflow and a new subscription service.
Compartment forecasting
Enhancements to compartment forecasting, which was added to Fuel Dispatch last year, include the abilities to build compartments that match the physical asset into the user interface, and to define light and heavy product limits for each compartment. The forecaster now can assign the exact amount of product for the number of compartments, and their sizes, on each trailer, while paying attention to the positioning of double bulkheads, so light and heavy products never are placed in compartments divided only by single bulkheads.
“When the forecaster runs, it’s going to optimize the product for that trailer,” Ezzo said. “So what we’ve done here is pretty much mirrored the trailer setup in the system, and we’re giving you the ability to tell the system how much of each product you want in each one of those compartments.”
The module now features improved configuration cloning, which saves time on setup when adding new trailers to a fleet. “We give you a broader way to look at the configurations to be able to clone them to other trailers,” Ezzo said. “So if you have a default trailer—say it’s a Heil 3123 trailer with double bulkheads between the first and last compartments—then you can actually build that trailer ahead of time in a configuration and give it a name, and then as you assign trailers in your fleet, you can say they’re the same trailers, so you don’t have to rebuild each one.
“You can select which ones you want and then clone that configuration to the other trailers.”
Users also can assign assets to companies for default forecasting to specific trailer types, and review order forecasts in Inventory Services, which enables tweaking of orders to see how they will fit on the trailer, or how the system is calculating window sizes, without needing to make major adjustments to the window.
“We want to keep the same window size,” Ezzo said. “What we’re trying to do is adjust the volumes. That way it fits on the trailer, and you don’t have a driver calling in and saying ‘Hey, this won’t fit on my trailer. What do I take?’ or them making a decision by themselves, and messing up your dispatch.”
Tractor compartments
Trimble Fuel now has the ability to add compartments to tractors, including tank wagons and small trucks with tanks pulling pup trailers, allowing them to be dispatched without a trailer. Compartments are in the tractor profile, so when the program runs, it’s looking for compartments, not whether the asset is a tractor or trailer.
Users can combine assets for order forecasting, and create multiple configuration that reflect the fleet, and the system will take all combinations of trailers and tractors and make a load match that asset or set of assets. As of update 2020.1, Tractor, Trailer and Trailer 2 now can be set up as a default asset combination.
“Last year, when we introduced trailer compartments, a lot of people were saying ‘Well, I have tractors with compartments on them,’ and ‘How can I configure the system for that?’” Ezzo said. “So, with this, this Truck and Trailer, Trailer 2, you can now set up your fleet exactly the way it is in the real world.”
Color-coding
Product color coding now is assignable by code or class, streamlining entry and helping catch costly product mixups before they occur. Users can go with standard industry colors or customized colors for unique purposes.
“Commodity colors make things a lot easier to see, because it’s easy to send the wrong product to the station, and then have it retained, or find out it’s not going to fit,” Ezzo said.
Tank model imports
Updates to the tank model imports feature introduced last year include a tank strapping chart that identifies the volume of liquid in a tank at any specific level, helping users quickly convert measurements into volumes with Trimble’s Fuel TMS.
“This is big for oilfield customers because above-ground tanks use what’s called tank strapping, which is taking a strap and going around the circumference of a tank and measuring that diameter,” Ezzo said. “And the reason why we have to do that is sometimes tanks get damaged, or they get run into or have had repairs done to them … so it doesn’t hold the full amount that you would think.”
Ezzo added that a safeguard built into the system ensures users can’t inadvertently override the tank chart, and make a mistake that could affect hundreds of tanks.
Tank wagon workflow
The tank wagon workflow feature is designed for carriers with multiple loading and delivery needs per order. It combines multiple stops into a single run for forecasted or manual orders, allowing smaller companies to take advantage of load forecasting.
“There are a lot of smaller companies out there that are still using spreadsheets,” Ezzo said. “There are currently over 6,000 carriers in the United States and Canada that are using spreadsheets to do their forecasting, where they’re making calls every day, and it’s cumbersome.”
Ezzo said Trimble still is working on improving the feature, but the imperfect, beta version is included with Fuel Dispatch. A new addition tracks the type and amount of product left in truck compartments, so when dispatch is scheduling the asset the next time, they will have a visual representation of the remaining product.
Road ahead
“We all know the industry is changing,” Ezzo said. “Everybody wants bigger, better, faster, stronger; they want everything at a click, and they want to know everything about every order they have dispatched. We hear you, and we are working toward that.”
One of the most recent updates is a Fuel Dispatch subscription service for fuel marketers and carriers that offers a standalone solution for improving planning and dispatch operations, streamlining in-ground inventory management and replenishment of products, and tracking fuel deliveries to ensure they’re made on time and in the right quantity.
The bundle is designed to help companies leverage cloud-hosting services that limit IT expenses and requirements, while also predictably managing their technology expenses through monthly payments without an upfront capital investment.
Users can access company data within Fuel Dispatch from remote locations, and yearly upgrades are provided at no additional cost. The service is ideal for small and mid-sized companies that don’t need a full-sized TMS and IT staff on the premises, Ezzo said. “The nice thing about that is it’s hosted on an individual server, so every client has their own individual server,” he added. “You’re not sharing your server with somebody else.”
And Trimble still is working on a full Fuel TMS revamp, Ezzo said, with the goal of making the system faster and easier to use, and adding more application programing interface (API) integrations, in a future release.
“Ease of use is the big thing for me to give our users, because I want to make sure when somebody sits down with our software for the first time, it’s easy for them to grasp what they’re doing, and how the flow goes throughout the system,” Ezzo concluded.
Visit transportation.trimble.com or contact Ezzo at joe_ezzo@trimble.com for more information.
This article first appeared in the October issue of Bulk Transporter magazine.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has a new deputy administrator in Wiley Deck.
But before leaving his position as acting FCMSA administrator at the end of August, Jim Mullen—who succeeded Ray Martinez in October 2019—moderated a virtual Trucking Safety Summit panel presenting the safety priorities and concerns of four trucking industry leaders: former National Tank Truck Carriers (NTTC) president Dan Furth, American Trucking Associations (ATA) president and CEO Chris Spear, Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) executive vice president Lewie Pugh, and Steve Owings, co-founder of Road Safe America.
After a video introduction by Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao, who thanked truckers “for all that you do for our country,” Mullen deemed FMCSA’s safety event an opportunity to hear how partners are prioritizing safety, and how solutions and successes they have discovered can help advance the shared goal of roadway safety.
“We want to thank everyone in the commercial vehicle industry for your tremendous efforts during the past several months to keep our nation’s supply chain moving and our roadways safe,” he said. “Your efforts have shown us all that truckers are American heroes. The department and the FMCSA want to make sure we’re doing our part to help keep all commercial motor vehicle drivers safe. That’s our mission and that’s our top priority.”
As examples of FMCSA’s work to promote safety on the nation’s roadways, Mullen cited critical updates to hours-of-service rules that they believe increase safety and add flexibility for commercial vehicle drivers; the launch of FMCSA’s Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, which he said had received reports of 30,000 violations since January; and emergency regulatory relief for truckers the agency helped secure during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He also referenced FMCSA’s actions to ensure continued access to commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) and permits, and truck stops, during the pandemic; and work with safety partners that delivered more than 3 million protective masks to truckers.
“It has been inspiring to see the collaboration with the agency, the CMV industry, our state partners, and local law enforcement throughout this pandemic,” Mullen said. “This type of problem solving and progress are exactly what the American people not only expect but what they deserve during this uncertain time.”
Mullen opened the discussion by posing three questions to all four panelists: What does the association see as its role in truck and highway safety, how can associations collaborate with the larger regulated industry and stakeholders to improve safety, and what are the association’s top priorities in those arenas.
FMCSA
NTTC’s take
Furth, who was last to respond, began with a joke about batting cleanup, then reviewed NTTC’s mission of championing safety and success in the tank truck community through advocacy and education before pointing out that the tank truck sector is “a little bit outside that box, a little bit different,” than the larger trucking industry.
One key difference for tank carriers—operating cost. “Our trailers are four times what other people pay,” he said. “Our insurance, our risk profile, is incredible, and becoming increasingly more complicated. We’ve said for years we have a great deal of barriers to entry. Now we actually have barriers to stay, so it’s troubling what’s going on.”
Furth said he’s proud of NTTC’s strong partnership with FMCSA, with the two groups working together on cargo tank training for more than 20 years, helping provide education for “thousands” of trailer technicians, whose jobs are almost as dangerous as loading and unloading tank trailers. “If you go and work on a trailer that has a former product in it, you’re talking risk,” he said.
Because of the singular complexity of the tank truck business, and its unique risk profile, Furth said his association’s members and industry stakeholders often are misunderstood, making it critically important for the NTTC to work with everyone else in the trucking industry, as well as the enforcement and emergency response communities.
And, he maintained, tank truck industry leaders are more than willing to do their part.
“Our guys, generally, our members, are leaders,” he said. “They’ve led with their wallet. … You don’t just buy one (tank truck), you buy many. And we’ve had success with (the U.S. Department of Transportation). One of our members (Groendyke) recently had a victory with the brake-light exemption on the back of their trucks, because we’re having all sorts of people, as Chris mentioned, with distracted driving, just driving right into the back of our trucks, all the time. It’s not once in a while—it’s all the time. And frankly it’s extremely dangerous given the product that’s in that truck.”
Groendyke
Among top priorities, Furth pointed to the NTTC’s recent work on relief from the Federal Excise Tax (FET)—and the increasingly heavy burden that tank fleets bare. “We’re paying, in our case, $30,000 per tractor-trailer unit,” he said. “It seems wrong.” Furth also said NTTC was working on filing a petition to allow HAZMAT carriers to use electronic shipping papers. “Because of the COVID situation, the last thing we want our drivers to be doing is handing papers back and forth, pens back and forth, and a large percentage of the time, you can’t get them the shipping papers anyway. That’s why we have the placarding system.”
Also on the legislative side, Furth lamented the near victory on NTTC’s dry bulk axle tolerance request, emphasizing its “not an increase in size and weight” by repeating it three times. The request only pertains to loads like flour or plastic pellets shifting in transport. “We just want to get that behind us and move on,” he said.
Finally, Furth said NTTC members would be open to hair testing drivers to screen for marijuana or opioid use if the federal government were to promulgate guidelines affording them the option of using hair testing in lieu of urinalysis. “I think our guys would move to it almost immediately because, again, you take a tractor and a trailer, it’s $250,000,” he said. “It’s like flipping keys to a Maserati to somebody. You want to make sure they’re in the right physical and mental state to drive it. It’s extremely dangerous. We can’t have it.
“So I think we’d be huge adopters of it if it was promulgated.”
ATA’s take
The U.S. trucking industry spends more than $10 billion each year on safety, which includes technology, training, and compliance measures, according to the ATA. Despite those efforts, two-thirds of the accidents involving commercial trucks are caused by passenger vehicles, Spear said. “This multibillion-dollar investment has really been spread thinner over recent years, making it even more important to spend that money wisely to make a concerted effort to reduce the overall number of fatalities each year,” he maintained.
Spear then broke down what the ATA sees as the top three factors that are fueling the industry’s spending on safety. The first is driver safety. Singling out speeding and distracted driving, Spear referred to the use of smartphones and social media apps as “technology-born problems, where innovation may be the only solution.”
Secondly, Spear highlighted the nation’s ongoing war on opioid use, coupled by the increasing number of states that have legalized recreational marijuana use. ATA staunchly believes that more tools are needed to screen talent within the trucking industry.
“Urinalysis has reached its limits, and with opioid and marijuana use on the rise, hair testing must be finalized by the Departments of Health and Human Services and Transportation if we’re to keep people driving trucks and cars safe on our nation’s highways,” Spear said. “Furthermore, populating the test data in the Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse and fixing the CSA score card are both common-sense catalysts for safety.”
The third factor on Spear’s list is the need to invest in modern infrastructure. He cited as evidence the nation’s “decaying” roads and bridges and “the abhorrent lack of federal investment.”
“Our roads and our bridges are without question safety hazards to anyone who drives on them,” Spear said. “Truckers currently lose $74.5 billion sitting idle in traffic each year. That equates to 425,000 drivers sitting idle for an entire year, emitting 67 million tons of CO2.
“Infrastructure is not free and it’s not cheap,” he continued. “Devolving the responsibility to the states is not only irresponsible, it poses multiple threats to public safety.”
Spear said that one example is states adopting tolling schemes, which end up pushing truck traffic off primary arteries and into residential areas.
“We feel very strongly and have testified multiple times in front of the Senate and House on this issue. I am very pleased to see the House majority finally move a comprehensive infrastructure bill,” Spear emphasized. “We call on the Senate and the president to take a stand and get this done. It’s for the betterment of the country, our economy, and certainly our industry—and, most importantly, public safety.”
OOIDA’s take
Speaking on behalf of owner-operators and truck drivers across the nation, Pugh expressed his hope that FMCSA’s summit would address solutions to improve highway safety and make the trucking profession a more equitable and attractive career.
“This starts by listening to real truckers,” he advised. “By that I mean, listen to the professionals, the men and women who make their living behind the wheel.”
“It’s no secret that most drivers don’t like ELDs,” Pugh added. “The ELDs have created more stress, more cost and more fatigue. There is simply no safety justification whatsoever for the ELD mandate.”
OOIDA does, however, support the revisions made to the federal Hours of Service (HOS) rules, which were set to take effect Sept. 29. Pugh lauded FMCSA’s approach to the revisions, which allowed thousands of commercial drivers to provide input.
Pugh also addressed the newfound national appreciation for truck drivers and the sacrifices that they make every day.
“Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, truckers were busy keeping grocery store shelves stocked and delivering critical health care supplies to medical professionals,” Pugh emphasized. “They did this under extreme difficulty working under harsh economic conditions. Freight rates collapsed, professional protective gear wasn’t readily available, and many drivers were hundreds and even thousands of miles away from home.
“This all highlighted something that we’ve been saying at OOIDA for decades: The supply chain does not value the drivers,” he continued. “Too many drivers are forced to haul cheap freight, too many motor carriers mistreat and underpay drivers, and too many shippers and receivers detain drivers for excessive periods of time. This has to be addressed.”
Pugh called on FMCSA to move forward with OOIDA’s petition to improve broker transparency. He also urged the industry to properly compensate truck drivers.
In addition, Pugh said OOIDA discourages FMCSA from any further delays to the entry-level driver training rule, which now has been pushed back until 2022.
“The initial delay means more drivers will enter the industry without the basic skills needed to operate safely,” Pugh explained. “Driving a truck is a highly skilled profession. More professional instruction would reduce crashes and help prepare individuals for a safe and viable career in trucking.”
OOIDA also has been working with Congress to enact H.R.6104, the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act.
“I started trucking myself in 1994, and some of the issues have gotten worse since then,” Pugh said.
“These issues won’t disappear, and I sure as hell hope that we won’t be having the same conversations 25 years from now.”
HOS revisions
Mullen reiterated that revisions to the HOS rule were scheduled to take effect Sept. 29.
“Four petitions have been filed, but there is no effort to abate or hold off on the Sept. 29 date,” he said before leaving his position. “As of right now, we are on track for that.”
On June 1, FMCSA revised the HOS regulations to provide greater flexibility for drivers. Here’s a recap of what is changing:
- Short-haul exception: Expands the short-haul exception to 150 air-miles and allows a 14-hour work shift to take place as part of the exception.
- Adverse driving conditions exception: Expands the driving window during adverse driving conditions by up to an additional two hours.
- 30-minute break requirement: Requires a 30-minute break after eight hours of driving time (instead of on-duty time) and allows an on-duty/not driving period to qualify as the required break.
- Sleeper berth provision: Modifies the sleeper berth exception to allow a driver to meet the 10-hour minimum off-duty requirement by spending at least seven, rather than at least eight hours of that period in the berth and a minimum off-duty period of at least two hours spent inside or outside the berth, provided the two periods total at least 10 hours, and that neither qualify period counts against the 14-hour driving window.
FleetOwner’s Cristina Commendatore contributed to this report.
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