International Roadcheck Week ran from the 16th to the 18th. Over 1.8 million inspections have taken place since 1988 over these 72-hour blitz periods. This year, CVSA-certified inspectors with be focusing on vehicles ABS and drivers’ cargo securement. While these are the 2 main focuses for inspectors this year, that doesn’t exclude the possibility of a level I or V inspection to take place. These inspection types do not always require a driver’s presence and include vehicle safety items from: coupling devices, steering, lighting, and, tires (just to name a few); to driver safety including HOS documentation, clearinghouse status, operating credentials, driver impairment, and seatbelt usage.
Last year during Roadcheck Week, “CVSA-certified inspectors conducted 59,026 inspections and placed 12,456 commercial motor vehicles and 3,714 commercial motor vehicle drivers out of service.” In the U.S. alone, a little over 33,000 Level 1 Inspections occurred during last year’s Roadcheck Week resulting in almost 8,000 vehicles and 2,000 drivers being placed out of service. The top 5 vehicle out-of-services reasons last year, in order, were: braking systems, tires, defective service brakes, lighting, and cargo securement. On the driver side the top 5 out-of-service reasons were: false logs, wrong class licenses, hours-of-service, suspended license, and failure to provide a medical card.
Other relevant topics this week include: April’s Logistics Managers Index reaching an all-time low at a 50.9, breaking the previous months all-time low of 51.1. Of the index’s 8 subsets, warehousing utilization and inventory levels saw the most significant deterioration. The decrease in inventory levels, according to the report, represents more of a balancing act between participants supply abundance and anticipated demand over the past year. Initial Jobless Claims shot up last week to its highest mark since October of 2021. While claim numbers can be volatile week to week and have not reached recessionary fear levels around 300,000. The spike accompanied with continued downward C.P.I. pressure may be enough to keep rates from rising during the Feds’ next meeting in June. Interest rate stabilization, when considering discretionary spending, can play an important role in transportation as the movement of goods in large part is greatly impacted by the consumers’ confidence level in the future economy.
This has been your Bridge Logistics Market Update for the week of May 15th 2023