This weekend I drove from Atlanta, GA to Charleston, SC to see the Yorktown aircraft carrier (a great tour for those who haven’t been). As I was driving back early Sunday morning on interstates 26 and 20 I couldn’t help but notice the semi-tractor trailer trucks that were passing me. I was not going slow, about 5 over the speed limit to 75 mph but many of those trucks were easily doing 90 mph.

The Nixon administration passed the national maximum speed law in 1974 primarily as an energy conservation response to the 1973 oil crisis. It was predicted that 2-6 mpg would be saved for every car and truck on the road. Most consumer products and much of the raw materials for discrete manufacturing in the country are transported using motor carriers (18 wheelers). One of the contributing factors to the slowed growth of the economy from 1974-82 was the loss in shipping productivity.

When the national maximum speed law was repealed in 1995 some of the arguments for it were economic growth due to increased shipping productivity and there was no longer a fuel crisis. Fast forward to 2008 – nearly $4.00/gal for diesel, increased sensitivity to global warming and an economy that’s in rough shape. The radio chatter is that a 2009 democratic administration could resurface a maximum speed law for environmental and dependence on foreign oil reasons.

Are you prepared for increases in shipping/in-transit times? Are your just-in-time inventory and replenishment systems smart enough to adjust? Do you have the supply chain visibility for at-risk promise dates and the ability to track carrier performance?

What’s in my MP3 player today. “I can’t drive 55” by Sammy Hagar (honest, it is)