Unpacking truck driver detention: Impact on productivity, safety, and strategies for reduction

Fontana: Communication, cooperation could be key to easing driver detention

Dec. 17, 2024

In a perfect world, there would be no detention delays. But reality is different, and communication and cooperation across the supply chain are the best ways to try to reduce the impact of detention.

Gino Fontana

Earlier this year, the American Transportation Research Institute analyzed the impact of truck driver detention at customer facilities. The study focused on the consequences of detention on productivity and safety. Driver detention is regularly cited as one of the top industry concerns. In ATRI’s Critical Issues In The Trucking Industry report, drivers ranked it fifth highest concern.

There are a variety of reasons detention occurs, including scheduling issues, inadequate parking and dock space, and insufficient staffing, according to ATRI.

There is a bit of good news on the detention front, and that is that detention frequency and duration are both decreasing. However, ATRI found that detention remains widespread and reported that drivers experienced detention in 39.3% of stops in 2023. In 9.9% of stops, detention lasted longer than two hours.

Driver detention can create all sorts of delays for trucking operations. Here are stats from ATRI on how this is affecting various industry segments. See more facts and figures from 2024 at FleetOwner.com/TBN2024

One of the significant issues with detention is its impact on hours of service. The study found that 52% of truckload drivers ran out of available HOS on-duty time because of detention. While a large majority of carriers, 94.5%, now charge a detention fee in at least some instances, a substantial proportion of detention is never actually billed, according to ATRI. Detention also wastes fuel as drivers often leave tucks idling while they are detained, which contributes to additional wear on the engine and negatively impacts mpg.

The additional cost is not the only impact of detention, according to ATRI. Based on GPS data, ATRI found that trucks that were detained drove 14.6% faster on average than trucks that were not detained. We all know the connection between speed and safety.

The analysis concluded with some strategies for reducing detention. Those include negotiating detention fees, arriving early to be first in line to be loaded or unloaded, and improving communication between all parties. Consider avoiding working with a customer who persistently has detention issues.

That last solution is probably not a viable one, but I think the one about better communication is a good one. The first step in understanding the nature of the problem is to know its full extent and ensure any detention issues are shared with the customer as soon as possible. Then work together to get to the root cause of the detention so that scheduling changes can be made to mitigate the problem.

In a perfect world, there would be no detention delays. However, the reality is quite different, and communication and cooperation across the supply chain are the best ways to reduce detention's impact.

About the Author

Gino Fontana | Chief operating officer and executive vice president at Transervice Logistics Inc.

Gino Fontana, CTP, is COO and EVP at Transervice Logistics Inc. Prior to this recent promotion, he was VP of operations at Berkeley Division and Puerto Rico. His operational expertise emphasizes cost savings, process efficiency and improvement, superior quality, and people management skills. He has more than 35 years of experience in the transportation and logistics industry with both operational and sales experience.