A couple days ago we held a lunch in Long Beach with representatives from the trucking industry to gather feedback on the design and implementation of the upcoming appointment system. We received a lot of really candid comments, suggestions and questions from the trucking industry that will help us as we move forward.
Prior to the meeting, we conducted a survey to gauge industry sentiment and hear valuable feedback to help us make sure the system works for truckers and meets industry needs. The survey was distributed to about 500 trucking companies, and we had a response rate of 25 percent.
Overall, the survey results showed that truckers are very concerned about the perceived increased costs an appointment system would add to their businesses and the issue of lengthy turn times at the terminals: 96 percent of respondents have experienced the impact of long truck queues outside the gates at certain times of the day and evening and 24 percent of respondents indicated they have found appointments to be helpful. Below is an excerpt from the survey responses.
