Regional small fleets appear to be lagging behind national fleets when it comes to adoption of mandatory electronic logging devices, according to the latest weekly survey numbers from CarrierLists.

Although the ELD mandate went into effect last month, there is a phased-in enforcement period until April 1, as many fleets were scrambling at the last minute to comply.

CarrierLists, which offers lists of carriers to freight brokers and shippers, has been conducting weekly surveys of fleets on its lists about ELD compliance. As of Jan. 15, according to 205 interviews running fleets from five to 100 trucks, the ELD compliance rate came back down to earth from the polling high of 89% in the first week of the year to 79%.  

When asked about the drop, CarrierLists President Kevin Hill explained, “It is due to the mix of regional and longer haul fleets. ELD compliance rates for shorter haul regional fleets have consistently been about 20 points below longer haul nationwide and super regional fleets. As the preferred lanes aren't known before our calls, the mix between regional and nationwide carriers swings week to week.” 

The three-week moving average, however, surpassed the 80% mark for the first time, climbing five points to 82%. Carrierlists says the main themes it has heard on the phones over the past two weeks include: 

​ELD compliance rates for regional fleets are still roughly 20 points below longer haul OTR fleets. Back-ordered ELD hardware is coming in and being installed quickly. Driver training on ELDs for the procrastinators is problematic and is causing disruptions with pickup and deliveries times. ELD enforcement is still inconsistent and difficult to measure. Trucking companies are now asking about loading and unloading times much earlier in negotiations to determine which loads to accept.