In this Keynote at the NIT League 2018 Summit, Derek Leathers, the CEO of Werner Enterprises, gives an overview of the transportation landscape, the issues we're facing, and how we got here. He also touches on how we might get out of problems we're in now.
Derek discusses the economic factors that affect how much demand there is for truck capacity and the challenges in finding new drivers. One example he shares is that of the 113K applications they received last year, only 3% were qualified drivers that they could safely put on the road.
Concerning the ELD issue, he mentions how overall it may not have a drastic effect on capacity, but certain lanes where a large percentage of the drivers are not ELD compliant could be hard hit.
He also touches on the needs for infrastructure and how to fund it.
One last subject he addresses is the future of driverless trucks. While this may have an impact down the road, he cautions, "Planes have been able to take off and land for 20 years without a pilot - nobody in this room got here that way." Still, it is something that is being watched closely.
