"Syfan Says" Winter 2018

LET’S WORK TOGETHER ON NEW ELD RULES Says W I NT ER | 2018 SyfanLogistics.com • National Recognition, Page 2 • 3PL Award, Page 2 • ELDWebinar, Page 3 • New Trailers, Page 3 • Fitness Honors, Page 4 • Hurricane Relief, Page 4 Inside: Greg Syfan, President As the trucking industry works toward the April 2018 deadline for trucks to be compliant with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s new ELD (Electronic Logging Device) rules, it is important for everyone within the industry to work together to make the transition smooth. Over the past year, we have worked with our customers and carriers to be prepared. Now it’s show time. The ELD mandate applies to all drivers required to keep records of duty status, except drivers who (1) keep records of duty status in eight or fewer days out of every 30 working days; (2) drivers in drive-away and tow-away operations; (3) and truckers operating vehicles older than model year 2000. The ELDs strengthen adherence to driver hours- of-service limits and will relieve drivers of the need to manually fill out paper logs. Most ELDs do more than just log hours. They can pass data to a system where a safety or fleet manager can see e-logs in near real-time. Many systems also integrate map and route solutions, which can help drivers navigate around construction and avoid high-traffic areas. At the beginning, most industry professionals expect up to a 5 percent drop in productivity. But we will work with drivers to better manage their hours. In the past, drivers could fudge their paper logs to exceed hours and meet customer demands. That won’t happen now. The drivers will have limited control and responsibility over edits to their log. A specific technical requirement in the ELD rule requires that the device prompt the driver when he logs in to the system to indicate whether he or she is responsible for unassigned mileage in the system, as well as accepting or rejecting any edits made by the home office. Another area to get used to is roadside enforcement. The ELD must support one of two data transfer options for downloading hours of service information. One way is telematics transfer of the data and the other is through Bluetooth or a USB cord. The details are many, but we’ll all get there, as long as we stay positive and focus on success. Beginning in April 2018, trucks must be ELD compliant.