I think the best companies are taking their focus on cost efficiency and looking for ways that its increased fuel efficiency and reduced energy use and carbon emissions; and instead of keeping it in the back office, instead bringing it to the front of the store to promote those results as a way to create market differentiation.

Pro-TREAD is a driver safety training program that we've developed that focus on things like speed management, driving more efficiently, idle-reduction techniques, all of which can increase the fuel efficiency of your vehicles significantly.
We've seen improvements in the neighborhood of 35% between a poor performing driver and one that follows the techniques taught in our Pro-TREAD program. And that 35% can go directly to the carrier's bottom line, as well as to the customer in reduced fees

I think they will. There's been a lot of interest in the Ryde Green program from our customers, so I think programs like this can be attractive and economically viable. We're seeing a good portion of our customers at the very least inquiring about it, as well as a number of customers that have committed to it, with demand for the program increasing.

I think companies should start thinking outside the box. One of our initiatives is what we call our Ryder Green program. It involves a line of tractors and trailers that are aerodynamically designed for increased fuel efficiency. In our sleeper tractors we have a battery operated climate control system, eliminating the need for idling during non-driving times. We also have special tires that are designed for increased fuel efficiency and we use retreads instead of buying new, saving approximately 15 gallons of oil per retread vs new.
So there are many different things we do in our tire program and in our maintenance program and the equipment that we offer that constitutes our Ryder Green line of services.

I think there are a couple of different things carriers can do. The EPA sponsors a voluntary program called SmartWay, which provides carriers with the tools to benchmark their progress around efficiencies gains in transportation and fuel. They have a number of tools and ROI calculators, as well as apples-to-apples metrics that a company can then pass on to there customer; who can then turn around and market those results to their customers.
I also think that a lot of the back office functions that carriers can use, such as driver re-training, idle reduction, tire management programs, preventative maintenance programs, are all things that carriers can pitch to prospective prospects as a way to leverage value from these initiatives.

We want our customers to outsource their transportation function, to let them focus on their core specialty. So when the cost of fuel goes up, it creates a unique opportunity for carriers to make the argument that outsourcing shipping is the way to go because trucking companies have the resources to invest in the technology and training to control costs, and because we have the advantage of leveraged purchasing - keeping costs lower than a private fleet could.
So, although we're all dealing with the impact of the current economic conditions, in another way it's presenting opportunities for carriers to create new business from shippers that don't have the expertise to deal with it themselves.

I think our industry has historically focused on bottom line cost efficiencies. Our customers outsource to the transportation sector specifically because we can do it better and cheaper and more efficient than they can.
For years now one of our top costs in the trucking and transportation industry has been fuel. With that in mind, our industry has been working for years to find ways to improve vehicle efficiency, to train drivers to drive more efficiently, all to aid the bottom line.
Historically, that's been a back-office function, but now that consumers are shippers are asking for it, it's being moved to the front of the store.

I think the main reason the trucking industry is embracing the 'green' movement and taking environmental issues seriously is that the customers are asking for it; and our customer's customers are requiring green products want to understand the impact that the customers supply chain has on the environment. And when you talk about impact on a supply chain, you end up going back to your transportation providers and your logistics providers, forcing carriers to respond to the requests of their customer base and shippers to their customer base.
Also, at the same time, because of all this attention by consumers, politicians have taken notice, leading to new regulatory efforts and proposed legislation around controlling the impact that that the trucking and transportation sectors are having on the environment. Now the trucking industry, which is a carbon-powered industry, is finding itself front and center in this debate.

Going back to the 60's and 70's, if you recall, the Cuyahoga River was burning in Ohio and that really spurred the environmental movement around pollution and the waterways, but really what it ended up doing was creating a whole series of regulations, many of which impacted the transportation industry: underground storage tank regulations, waste oil and solvent disposal regulations. Even the Clean Air Act, which was passed in the 70's, ended up creating the vehicle emissions and engine technology requirements that we're dealing with today.
So there's a unique history with a grass roots environmental movement that had a profound impact on regulations and how the transportation industry does business today.