vHub Blog

All good business owners and managers need to know what their day-to-day expenses are and how they impact their business's overall balance of profits and losses. Within the trucking industry, many contributing factors can influence these costs. Everything from the cost of negotiating semi-trailer leasing and semi-trailer lease to own terms to managing payroll and fleet maintenance expenses, there are many factors to consider. Managers, carriers, and brokers alike need to consider costs first and foremost when planning short- and long-term goals. 

In today’s competitive logistics marketplace, it’s more important than ever for businesses to have access to fast, flexible semi-trailer leasing. With more options than ever, what's the most cost-effective way for shippers to find a semi-trailer for lease? 

SAINT-GEORGES, Quebec—JD Redmon has signed on as the new Chief Revenue Officer of vHub, indicating the company is ready for growth and targeting a larger audience in the US and North America.

The ongoing driver shortage has forced shippers back to the basics of figuring out new ways to source capacity. Missing drivers, shippers are asked to take a second look at the potential benefits of a semi-trailer lease agreement. 

As supply chain issues continue to roil the logistics industry, shippers must find new ways to optimize their internal transportation procurement processes. For many businesses, this means interrogating their freight asset management; leasing trailers from semi-trailer leasing companies can be a quick, simple solution to the ongoing capacity issues many businesses face. 

Waste is rampant in the supply chain, and according to a 2020 survey by the FMSCA, 70-hour drivers spent more than 6 hours waiting to unload or load trailers per week. However, those times could be slashed if the trailers were already loaded and ready for a simply pickup and haul. These drag-and-drop, or haul-and-drop or hook-and-drop programs, depending on who is describing the process, are critical to reducing the wasted time. In fact, let’s consider how much time is going to waste and how an innovative universal trailer pool marketplace — vHub — is getting big benefits for shippers, brokers, owner operators, fleet managers and carriers.

In October 2021, Transport Dive reported that “the truck driver shortage is at its highest point since the American Trucking Associations began monitoring it in 2005.” Amid this worsening crisis, shipping businesses increasingly turn to semi-trailer rentals to solve capacity issues. 

The longer it takes for a load to arrive and get loaded, the higher the cost of shipping and receiving will be for shippers and transportation service providers. The key is to have a way to minimize the waiting time, thereby decreasing the cost of transportation. One way to do this is by utilizing freight trailer pools and power-only trucking. Trailer pools allow truckers to drop off their load and pick up another rather than waiting hours for their incoming shipment to arrive, thus saving time and expenses. 

Shippers have faced blow after blow the last few years between COVID-related shutdowns, supply chain disruptions, inventory shortages, and fluctuating consumer demands. This instability and uncertainty have led to a need for better truck trailer leasing options. Freight shipping, logistics, and supply chain management are the nation's backbone and critical players in local and national economies. The need for innovative services, like semi-trailer pools and access hubs, continued to be a primary issue for transportation service providers. Meanwhile, the American Trucking Associations expects freight tonnage in the U.S. to grow 24% in 2022, pushing revenue 66% higher, reports Supply Chain Digital. Still, that demand means shippers must use all available resources better, especially as stockouts and limited new trailer manufacturing remain disruptions. As a result, more flexibility in truck trailer leases and better trailer sharing and repositioning options have made it a little earlier for shippers who know how to take advantage of these opportunities.

Obtaining shipping container trailers the traditional way, it seems as if there’s always some obstacle(s) that come in the way. Commercial trailers might get backlogged, or there may be a delay when the right one becomes available. Supply and demand for containers seem lopsided. And even when a trailer is available, there is a good possibility that it will be an empty one. So now, the driver has to go to another location to load the container hauling trailer. These issues are due to a lack of transparency and communication between providers and users.