First and foremost I want to wish all of you and your families a Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving!

For those of you that were unable to participate in yesterday’s webinar hosted by Western Growers and C.H. Robinson, we recorded the webinar for you so you can listen to an Encore presentation to see what you missed out on, please visit ELDs: The latest information on implementation and impact.

Topics discussed during the Webinar included:

• Explanation of Hours of Service Regulations. 
• Description of the ELD unit, including a demonstration of how it works and what it records.  
• Information about how and when the ELD requirement will go into effect.
• Description of what police and weigh station personnel may access from the ELD.
• Impact of ELDs, with respect to enforcement of Hours of Service Regulations. 
• Potential penalties for noncompliance. 
• Tips for shippers to minimize the impact of the ELD requirement.

First of all the federal government’s new Electronic Logging Device (ELD) mandate, which takes effect on December 18, 2017,  only changes the way  a carrier logs its hours of service, nothing else, hours of service remain the same.  Instead of utilizing the hand-written log book, on December 18th an Electronic Logging Device must be utilized. What you as a shipper need to consider is how the ELD mandate may affect transit schedules.  Although the ELD will not change the current Hours-Of-Service regulations it may likely have an impact on the number of miles your carrier can initially travel once loaded and dispatched from your facility.  As a shipper, you should strive to keep loading times at a minimum, avoiding any unnecessary delays resulting from long wait times for the carrier prior to loading or slow or inefficient loading procedures. Adopting an efficient loading system will be beneficial for both you and the carrier, allowing the carrier to more fully utilize the 11 hour drive time currently permitted under the Hours-Of-Service regulations.  The same holds true for your customer in promptly unloading and releasing the carrier at destination.  As indicated in the Webinar presentation, the ELD mandate will result in a more accurate recording of the carriers’ activities, especially as it relates to the permitted number of hours for drive time.

Again, if you were unable to participate in the live Webinar, I strongly urge you, along with any other sales associates and others in your organization that may be involved in the scheduling or loading of carriers to take some time and listen to the recorded webinar, ELDs: The latest information on implementation and impact, featuring speakers Jason Craig, Manager, Government Affairs, C.H. Robinson and Luke Gowdy, General Manager, Sourcing, C.H. Robinson.

As always, should you have any questions please give me a call (949) 885-2269 or send me an e-mail at: TommyO@wga.com.