Welcome to 2014.  In looking back over prior year end reports it seems that the last few years the New Year sentiment was one of simply “holding on” and hoping for the best.  This year it feels like more people are actually looking forward to an upturn in 2014 for the transportation and insurance industries.  There is a general cautiousness, likely associated with the apprehensions we all faced these last few years, but the overall mode is positive.  While insurers and motor carriers change and reformat their business plans they continue to remain dedicated to staying in their respective industries.  We are thankful that you do!

For CAB, the start of any year gives us a moment to reflect on how we have changed and to focus on plans for the future.  We remain excited at the new features and enhancements that we have put into place and promise that you can expect more this year.  Feedback is really important to us.  Most of the new features came directly from suggestions that you made.  As other groups involved in the transportation and insurance industries have turned to us to get the CAB Advantage, we look forward to the new ideas that they bring to us and will continue to work at a fever pitch to implement as many of the ideas as we can.  Whether you operate as a motor carrier insurer, a motor carrier, a shipper, a broker, or any of the other businesses that utilize motor carrier information, we will continue to strive make your life easier in evaluating and monitoring commercial motor carriers.

CABs LAB: By now, those of you that frequent our Carrier Search page will have noticed the dramatic changes that were released at the beginning of the new year. One of the most popular functions of the search tool is the ability to quickly identify associations and relationships between entities. With this new release, all names, addresses, phone numbers and emails can be viewed directly in the search results together with the sources of the information. We’ve also enhanced the ability to search for multiple matching entities with a single click. Make sure to tune in to this coming month’s Focus Training webinar to see all the details and to view them in action first hand. Details for signing up for the webinar are below.

We have a number of training and information opportunities up-coming. Our regular monthly CAB Basic Training will be on February 11 at 2:00 PM EST. The link to sign up for it is: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/204883385. The Focus Training session in February will be on all the new features of the Carrier Search introduced above. It will be on February 12 at 2:00 PM EST. The link to sign up for it is: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/246035041. There will also be an informational demo and training session for retail agents. Underwriters may want to pass this on to their retail agents who do not already take advantage of our AgentAdvantage program. Agents who use the AgentAdvantage program are able to present better and more complete applications to underwriters. The session for retail agents will be on February 13 at 2:00 PM EST. The link to sign up for it is:  https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/281831040. Finally, looking ahead to March, on March 12 at 2:00 PM EST there will be a very special Focus Training session specially designed for people involved in claims that will show all the ways the CAB website can be used for claims to help achieve better results. This special session will be led by Jean Gardner and the link to sign up for it is:  https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/413093200.

This month we report:

TRUCKING BANKRUPTCIES – We also take a moment to remind you how important it is to monitor the financial stability of a motor carrier.  Our analysts stand by ready to assist you with our comprehensive review of financial statements. Financial statements (balance sheet and income statement) can be emailed to ratings@cabadvantage.com for review. Avondale Partners reports that failures rose to the highest level in more than three years during the fourth quarter.  A total of 335 fleets with 7,775 trucks failed during the fourth quarter, the highest since the third quarter of 2010 and more than double the 150 carriers and 2,515 trucks in the final quarter of 2012. Failures also rose from the 2013 third-quarter total of 235 carriers and 4,985 trucks. A total of 21,775 vehicles were removed from the road in 2013. Financial instability has long been linked to reduced safety performance. The breakdown of the ratings distribution for carriers reviewed by CAB is available here.

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For those of you celebrating the Christmas holiday, we hope Santa brought you everything you were asking for.  Christmas in the middle of the week really throws everything off and the general consensus from those we have spoken to is that it becomes a two week lull.  Hopefully the New Year will put us all back on track.  It was a fairly quiet month this December as the country, expect for those dealing with all of the weather issues throughout the country, settled in for the winter break.  We hope you fared well if you are located in one of those hard hit areas.

There is great interest in our webinar training sessions. So in January we will again offer our CAB Basics session, which is an hour long and will include an overview of our new features as well as a refresher of the features and navigation of the CAB website.  We will also offer a focus session in December and this month the subject will be using the CAB Report to understand the area of operations of a motor carrier. We would like your feedback on topics for future focus sessions or any other comments on our training options.  Please email us by clicking here with the topics you would like us to cover or other comments. To register for this month’s sessions click on the following:

Jan. 14^th 3:00 EST – CAB Basic:   https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/864655784

Jan. 15^th 3:00 EST – CAB Focus:  https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/882729089

This month we report:

OPERATION QUICK STRIKE – The FMCSA announced that 52 companies and 340 vehicles were ordered out of services following Operation Quick Strike, an eight-month intensified effort to shut down unsafe motorcoach companies. The enforcement campaign began in April and concluded in November. This was part of a 3 phrase program to raise safety standards. The agency reported that:

• 214 top-to-bottom compliance investigations were completed (More than 30 companies had since transitioned to intrastate-only service, which FMCSA does not regulate, or had gone out of business, the release noted.  Be careful because you still insure that exposure);
• 20 motorcoach companies were immediately shut down for violations and posing an imminent hazard to the public; 
• 32 companies were issued “Unsatisfactory” safety ratings and shut down after failing to remedy critical and acute violations; 
• 28 companies took corrective action to fix the safety violations investigators uncovered to avoid being shut down; and
• 340 vehicles, of the more than 1,300 vehicles that were inspected during the investigations, were put out of service for safety and maintenance violations.

BROKER BONDS – The increase to $75,000 for broker bonds has gone into effect and the FMCSA is moving quickly to address brokers with inadequate limits.  We expect an increasing number of out of service orders this month for brokers not in compliance with the $75,000 requirement.

DRIVER TURNOVER RATES – The ATA reports that the annualized driver turnover rate at large truckload fleets dipped two percentage points to 97 percent in the third quarter of this year. Turnover at truckload fleets with less than $30 million in annual revenue dropped eight points to 74 percent, its lowest level since the first quarter of 2012. Turnover at less-than-truckload fleets jumped seven percentage points to 13 percent in the quarter – the highest level since the first quarter of this year.

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