Opinion: Don't Forget Freight

Many people don’t think twice when they go to the grocery store, gas station, bookstore or their favorite restaurant about how the products and goods arrived there. They just expect them to be there.

At the same time, more businesses and customers are demanding that products be delivered faster. The air freight business, which ensures delivery anywhere from overnight to several days, has grown exponentially in our country over the last 10 years and is expected to see even greater growth over the next 20 years.

The way goods get to our local stores or businesses is much more complicated than most people realize. Certain products may be transported by several modes prior to their final delivery. In many cases, the handling of these goods is orchestrated by a very sophisticated logistics system that ensures that these goods are moved quickly and efficiently across the country. Fortunately for the United States, our freight industry is the most efficient system in the world.

Although this system has performed very well over the years, enabling our country’s businesses to import and export their goods relatively inexpensively, the honeymoon could be over if we don’t begin to seriously plan for the future.

To a large extent, the forces that pose the greatest threats to reliable goods movement in our country are beyond the control of the freight community. Highway congestion constitutes the greatest challenge for goods movement. Like others, truck drivers find themselves increasingly tied up in traffic, not only lengthening their time on the highways, but also affecting delivery time for goods. These delays translate into increased travel time and represent real costs to the trucking industry, which ultimately must be passed on to businesses and shippers and finally consumers. These costs make our nation’s businesses less competitive with businesses in other countries or areas of the world where such heavy congestion does not exist. The “hidden” cost of congestion has easily translated into billions of dollars over the last several years.

Another problem is the growing number of restrictions by local communities and states on when, where and how trucks may operate in their jurisdictions. Although freight operators understand the frustrations and concerns of state lawmakers and local decision-makers, they also realize that these same restrictions will make it more difficult to not only serve those communities but also other communities or stops along a particular route.

A final problem has been the proliferation over the years of regulations and paperwork required of freight movers. These additional rules and regulations have meant more paperwork and time, which has further added to the costs for transporting goods in our state. Missing or forgetting one of the many credentials necessary to operate a truck could literally lead to a driver being stopped for a long period of time until a copy of the form can be produced.

What’s the answer? A national freight policy and greater emphasis on freight planning throughout the country.

A national freight policy could establish specific goals and strategies for the future toward improving and enhancing freight movement in our country and, in turn, strengthening our nation’s economy. By bringing together public officials with professionals from the freight industry, along with shippers and businesses, we could identify a series of key measures, strategies and guidelines for the future that would allow us to improve the efficiency of our freight system and keep the U.S. competitive in the years ahead.

On the planning level, we need to ensure that freight movement receives adequate attention in the transportation planning processes at the national, state, regional and local levels. At this time, very few states or communities truly consider freight needs in their planning processes. Where it is considered, it has usually been very limited in scope.

Although this situation is improving, it still has a long way to go. To some extent, this situation is more an issue of benign neglect and a lack of understanding of the dynamics of the freight industry than a deliberate act on the part of transportation planners.

Although some of the responsibility lies with public officials, the freight community also bears a part of the blame, as we have not done a good job in articulating our concerns and needs. To remedy this problem we must insist that there be a freight component in all transportation plans at the state, regional, and local levels, and that this freight component be developed by individuals familiar with the freight industry and that such plans incorporate the input of our industry.

In addition, we should seek the development of freight advisory councils — such as those in Philadelphia and Kansas City — in all our major metropolitan areas. These councils could provide a forum to bring together freight transporters with shippers, other businesses, and public officials to identify issues and needs faced by the freight industry, and, in turn, identify a plan to address these issues.

If we hope to continue our robust economy, we will need a first-class freight system to transport goods in and out of the United States. Now more than ever, it is critical that we plan for such a system.

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