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While driver detention has decreased slightly in the last few years, the overall costs of being detained at customer facilities for more than two hours is substantial, according to new research from The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI).
In 2023, drivers reported being detained in 39.3% of all stops. The frequency of detention was even higher among women drivers (49.1%), refrigerated trailer drivers (56.2%), and among fleets that operate in the spot market (42.5%).
Key takeaways:
- Based on industry-reported data, truck drivers were detained between 117-209 hours per year, depending on the sector. In for-hire trucking alone, the total time lost to truck driver detention exceeded 135 million hours in 2023.
- While 94.5% of fleets charge detention fees, they are paid for fewer than 50% of those invoices. As a result, the trucking industry lost $3.6 billion in direct expenses and $11.5 billion in lost productivity from driver detention in 2023. Additional ATRI impact assessments quantified supply chain inefficiencies, lost driver pay and driver turnover resulting from detention.
- Finally, an analysis of ATRI’s large truck GPS data at different customer facility types found that detention contributes to higher truck speeds. Trucks that were detained drove 14.6% faster on average than trucks that were not detained. Interestingly, trucks also drove faster on trips to facilities where they were detained, indicating that truck drivers know which firms and facilities will likely detain them.
