Schneider National says it’s still too early to tell what the total impact the new Hours of Service (HOS) rules are having on the industry. But so far productivity losses caused by the more restrictive rules are in line with the carrier’s projections.

“We’ll really begin to know what the impact the new HOS rules are having once we get through the second quarter – largely because the weather was such a major variable in our operating results in the first quarter this year,” Mike Norder, Schneider’s spokesman, told Fleet Owner at the recent Mid-America Trucking Show. “However, from what we’ve seen so far, productivity losses are in line with the 4% to 19% projected by our models last year.”

Norder added that Schneider’s entire corps of company drivers and independent contractors has gone through its HOS training curriculum, with the carrier focusing now on remedial training for drivers that may need it based on Schneider’s own internal logbook auditing program.

“Even though the DOT (U.S. Department of Transportation) is still not enforcing these new rules 100% to allow fleets to get an understanding of them, we are,” he said. “We are auditing all of logbooks internally to make sure everyone is compliant.”