Trucking and Coronavirus: One Year Later

The Coronavirus Pandemic Rolls On, And So Do Truckers

March signified one year since the Coronavirus pandemic began, and while the past year has seen more people staying in and working from home than ever before, trucking and transportation workers have been on the front lines and adapting to ever-changing health and safety protocols while taking care of business.

While the Coronavirus headlines are trickling in more slowly than they were at this time last year, its impact on the trucking and transportation industries is ongoing and still a mixed bag of highs and lows.

The Continuing Saga of Supply Chain Bottlenecks

There's been a joke in the media recently about the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach being able to open their own parts distribution businesses right now due to the bottlenecks and delays in the supply chain. These two ports are the nation's largest, so experiencing some delay is common, but COVID-19's impact on global manufacturing and distribution has now made chaos a daily occurrence at these ports.

Nearly every industry that relies on the global supply chain has been hit with delays, with the Wall Street Journal reporting in January that ships were waiting as many as five days to reach ports and containers. And even after offloading, there were also multi-day delays with truck or railcar loading. In the aftermarket, this has often translated to more orders than vendors can keep up with. Although there have been some talks of transitioning to domestic sourcing, the lack of domestic production capabilities still leaves the industry short of a sustainable, long-term plan.

Despite this chokehold on the supply chain and no relief expected til late this year or early next year, suppliers are still diligently working to get as close to 100 percent as possible.

Increased Demand for Deliveries Leads to Infrastructure Focus

Amazon and the age of e-commerce have made our lives more convenient long before the pandemic, but lockdowns and quarantines over the past year and the surge in online ordering have put America's infrastructure into the spotlight.

With everything from household goods to groceries now available for delivery during the pandemic, the increased need for reduced-distance routes and last mile deliveries coupled with record high spot freight rates mean that changes may be on the way for transportation. According to the N.A. Commercial Vehicle On-Highway Engine OUTLOOK released this year by ACT Research and Rhein Associates, a renewed focus in infrastructure – including alternative powertrain adoption and alternative fuel options – can signify a positive move forward for transportation, especially vocational vehicles.

Roadside Inspections Decreased; Reporting Affected

To quote Kerri Wirachowsky, director of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA)'s roadside inspection program, "It was definitely a strange year for inspectors." The pandemic saw several agencies halt inspections completely over the past year, only stopping vehicles when an urgent issue was noted. Overall, there were about 2.7 million inspections last year – a 0.8 million decrease from 2019 inspection numbers.

Even the CVSA's annual International Roadcheck inspections were down 25 percent, and the inspections that did take place saw very different interactions between drivers and inspectors, such as documents passed back and forth in Ziploc baggies. While it's been largely understood that truckers needed to be able to deliver essential goods and direct Coronavirus relief nationwide, the emergency declaration that's been in place for over a year presents a unique situation for collecting safety data. Under the emergency declaration, truckers who are providing Coronavirus relief are given Hours of Service relief as well as weight and other exemptions, skewing violation data for the year for the CVSA to gather insights on possible improvements to roadway safety.

As the CVSA rallies to conduct its annual International Roadcheck in May, it'll be interesting to see how inspections are carried out moving forward and if a level of normalcy will return this year.

Truckers: America's "Soldiers on the Front Lines"

Between the Great Toilet Paper Shortage of 2020 and delivering essential medical supplies and vaccines where they're needed, the importance of trucking continues to be evident as we all navigate the pandemic a year later.

American Trucking Association President Chris Spear said in a media interview, "Truck drivers became soldiers on the front lines of our response to the pandemic: delivering food, medicine, [personal protective equipment] and other essentials that made our long quarantines possible," he said. "And now, as the tide is turning, delivering the literal shots in the arm we need to finish the fight."

Relief in the form of open rest stops, PPE, sanitation supplies, and economic stimulus for transportation companies has helped keep truckers comfortable and safe, and the industry continues to be the backbone that keeps America running.