The state, local, and federal transportation logistics policies have different levels of impact on the reverse and forward flow of a retailer’s products in the market. In this category are the safety, land use, environment, security, energy and climate change, trade and economics regulations, and infrastructure investment policies (Rondinelli & Berry, 2000).
The policy at the federal level affects the coast guard rules for barges, the inspection of trucks and vehicles, and interstate speed limits. At the state level, the safety policy affects highway speed limits, restrictions on locomotive horns, and the enforcement of FMCSA truck rules. Rondinelli and Berry (2000) note that at the local/regional level, the safety rules affect parking and truck access restrictions and the local railroad and speed limits.
Policy Impact of retailer operations
The concern for the quality of life due to noise and air pollution, safety, and transport rules force truck drivers to take longer routes when transporting retailer products, which increases freight charges that are transferred to the retailer. Truck sizes and weight rules describe the maximum gross weight (Rondinelli & Berry, 2000).
For instance, the state policy regulates the weight and size of the vehicles, and the federal law, such as the 1982 Surface Transportation Assistance Act (STAA) policy, regulates and limits the parameters for the use of longer combination vehicles.
What policies affect this retailer? Why?
Retailers are affected by the federal law on truck limits, the state laws on maximum gross weight, and the local laws on routing (Rondinelli & Berry, 2000). Such laws lead to an increase in truck fees, highway agency costs, and vehicle safety regulations. The laws affect the retailer in that the costs of freights are passed to the retailer, such as the increased costs of readjusting the load limits.
Overriding national and international policies that affect transportation
The project of interest was to investigate how policies affect the retailers’ movement of products from the port to the destination using a land-based truck transport system. However, according to Samuel, Poole, and Holguin-Veras (2002), one of the overriding policies that affect the system is the grandfather clauses in federal law that allows trucks to operate without complying with state laws that are enacted to limit the weight limits of the trucks.
Samuel et al. (2002) established that the categories of trucks that do not comply with the state laws include those that vehicles with two trailers that have a combined length that is greater than the length allowed by the federal law. In addition, the trucks exceed the weight limit allowed by the federal and state laws because they have a gross weight of 80,000 lbs. However, the overriding law on truck weight leads to a reduction in transportation costs, enhanced highway safety, greater cargo capacity, less flue consumption, and a reduction in total shipper costs.
On the other hand, international supply chain systems are sensitive to changes in prices (Samuel et al., 2002). Here, the transportation routes and facilities used to move the products from source to destination are important in responding to the price changes and policies that have an impact on the complex supply chain systems (Samuel et al., 2002).
For instance, the policies on the environment might affect fuel prices and shift marine traffic to cheaper ports, which eventually might reduce or increase the cost of moving products to the destination depending on the location of the destination port. Onerous rules can also affect shipping routes and destination ports.
References
Rondinelli, D., & Berry, M. (2000). Multimodal transportation, logistics, and the environment: managing interactions in a global economy. European Management Journal, 18(4), 398-410.
Samuel, P., Poole, R. W., & Holguin-Veras, J. (2002). Toll truckways: A new path toward safer and more efficient freight transportation. New York: Reason Public Policy Institute.