Last year, the U.S. Department of Transportation released a report that pointed out that the U.S. supply chain is facing increasing challenges!

Growing freight demand;

Changing consumer preferences, especially consumer demand for fast delivery, are increasing day by day.

Attract, train and retain industry labor;

increasingly complex global supply chains;

Climate change causes increasingly frequent damage;

While ensuring safe development, adapt to new technologies.

Over the past two years, the epidemic has led to temporary closures of ports, shortages of workers and equipment, increased congestion and delays, and frequent fluctuations in freight rates have exacerbated supply chain problems and challenges, and supply chain flexibility must be enhanced to guard against long-term impacts. The U.S. Department of Transportation believes that supply chain flexibility should include six characteristics: diversity, redundancy, plasticity, adaptability, connectivity, and flexibility. Among them, the concept of redundancy (redundancy) has rarely been mentioned before. However, the huge risks brought by the new crown epidemic to international production have attracted the attention of U.S. policy makers. Enhancing the resilience of the value chain can be achieved through moderate redundancy and increased backup, however, this requires giving up certain economies of scale, thus allowing more stakeholders to integrate into the global logistics value chain and supply chain.

Redundancy has two meanings. The first meaning refers to redundant and unnecessary parts. The second meaning refers to artificially repeated parts. The purpose is to back up the original single part to enhance its security. This is widely used in information and communication systems.

Then, for the U.S. Department of Transportation pointed out that the supply chain is facing challenges, whether our logistics enterprises to their own operations, formulate an effective logistics strategy to meet the new and old supply chain challenges. Technology and diversification are essential. Working with a range of suppliers can help companies spread risks and other problems. New technologies can make it easier to optimize routes and identify the most valuable carriers!

U.S. truck drivers' wages are at an all-time high!

The latest report the National Drivers Salary Survey of the National Transportation Institute and the National Drivers Salary Index shows that the basic salary per mile of truck drivers with only one year's work experience has increased by more than 5% compared with the first half of 2022. The national driver's salary and the national driver's salary index show that the salary of truck drivers will continue to increase in 2023!

the National Transportation Institute report pointed out that the news came at a time when the fleet continued to increase compensation additional provisions such as bonuses, productivity incentives and auxiliary compensation. Although the freight market has adjusted and the economic situation is constantly changing, in the first quarter of 2023, wages in various market segments, trailer types, fleet types and driver experience levels continued to grow. However, the increase has slowed compared with the last few months of 2022, but the report shows that the wage growth momentum is still unabated, especially for new drivers. The report also shows: "For drivers with one year's work experience, the salary per mile increased by 5.4 percent over the first quarter of 2022. The basic salary of drivers with three years of work experience increased by 5 percent year-on-year. The basic salary of the highest-paid drivers increased by 4.3 percent. Drivers paid by the hour also increased by a similar percentage."

Compared with the previous quarter, the number of teams offering signing bonuses increased by 10% year-on-year. Compared with the end of 2022 and the same period last year, the contracted amount provided by the team also increased. The popularity and amount of recommended bonuses are still rising! In other words, truck operating costs are still increasing!

Source: American International Logistics Association