Program helps truckers meet logging deadline

MINNEAPOLIS — About 1.7 million commercial truck drivers in the United States are mandated to install electronic logging devices, or ELDs, by Dec. 18.

The problem is that many truckers aren’t even close to complying.

C.H. Robinson has a vested interest in helping the truckers make the deadline.

The Fortune 500 company, based in suburban Minneapolis, is one of the top logistics providers in the country and needs those truckers to get products to customers on time.

So the company has teamed with One20, a free membership community for professional drivers, to provide discounted equipment and training.

The ELDs, mandated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, or FMCSA, will automatically record driving time and monitor engine hours, vehicle movement, miles driven and location information.

The devices will make recording hours of service data easier — and hopefully more accurate — greatly reducing the need to manually record them in paper logbooks.

Duane DeBruyne, an FMCSA spokesman, said the agency estimates the ELD mandate annually “will save 26 lives and prevent 562 injuries resulting from crashes involving large commercial motor vehicles.”

The thought is that the electronic devices will make it harder to drive more than the mandated hours or miles, increasing commercial motor vehicle safety.

Even the best solutions come with a learning curve for drivers and carriers, but the FMCSA estimates conversion to an ELD can save drivers 20 hours a year by eliminating the recording of hours in paper log books.

Yet the mandate adds expenses in an industry with tight profit margins. Most drivers either own their own rigs or work for small carriers with 10 or fewer trucks.

To ease the resistance to change, Christian Schenk, the president and CEO of Minneapolis-based One20, made the connection with C.H. Robinson to offer One20’s F-ELD device at a discount to small carriers.

The FMCSA has approved more than 90 ELD devices from scores of companies.