Hiring military veterans as truck drivers can do more for a fleet than just fill empty seats. That was the message from veteran advocacy groups and fleets during a session last week at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Kentucky. Dave Harrison, Executive Director of Work Force for Fastport, outlined the benefits to fleets of recruiting veterans, which includes a much lower turnover rate than non-military veteran drivers, fewer safety violations and a bevy of “soft skills” that are mostly unique to military veterans. “They bring the skills that no one is getting in college, high school or at home,” Harrison said. “Things that no one else can offer. This is what they bring to the table.” Among the “soft skills” Harrison mentioned that veterans bring to a fleet are specialized training in challenging and purposeful high-stress situations, ethics training, leadership training and more, which the veterans will likely pass on to other drivers. Harrison noted that 94% of veterans who go through Fastport's Registered Apprenticeship program stay at their employer after completing their apprenticeship. He also said Fastport has found that equipment and driver violations are 15% lower for veterans than the industry average. Josh Mecca, the director of recruiting for American Central Transport, said about one-third of ACT’s drivers are veterans. With him at the event was ACT driver Ken Mateer, an Army and National Guard veteran, who is now a driver trainer for ACT. Mecca said Mateer – and drivers like him – are a big reason ACT operates the way it does. Mecca added, “the background he brings, his commitment, loyalty and just being a damn good human being.” Mecca said that’s what he sees in many of the company’s veteran drivers. Matt Roland, the vice president of sales for Veterans in Trucking (VIT), outlined how his group works with fleets to make them more attractive to prospective military veteran drivers. “We do the military-themed wrap, which recognizes the driver,” Roland said. “That driver becomes an advocate for the company. The wrap serves as recognition of the military driver. From there, we give additional decals for veterans. We introduce drivers to you as a company.” VIT also has a job board where it lists companies that it works with in getting jobs for veterans transitioning out of the military. The group also helps fleets build custom landing pages online for veteran recruiting. “If it’s custom – speaking the language of a veteran – you’ll get a higher response rate,” Roland noted. Mecca noted that once a veteran hires on with a fleet, it’s important to show appreciation and treat them well. “Take those moments [to] be intentional with veterans; to say ‘thank you,’” he said. “The most important part is to be genuine in who you are.” Kevin Ridings, an executive vice president with Clean Harbors, echoed Mecca’s thoughts. “Continue to make connections, protect the folks doing the job,” he said. “Sometimes we can get a little far removed from what the reality is. You’re servicing the person in that truck. Be willing to learn.” https://ift.tt/KcfP6LA
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Prior to 2007 when iPhone hit the market, if users wanted a better phone experience, they had to throw their phone out and go buy an entirely new one. Now, with iPhone and Android, users can simply update their software and keep their device. That’s what telematics Platform Science is doing for the trucking industry with its Virtual Vehicle platform, and Navistar, owner of one of the top truck brands in the U.S., is hitching its wagon to the company to bring that experience to its International trucks. Navistar is integrating Platform Science’s Virtual Vehicle, the first open OEM platform that enables fleets to access telematics, software solutions, real-time vehicle data and third-party applications directly from their vehicles. The collaboration provides International Truck customers with access to a customizable platform that delivers an unlimited canvas to fleets, allowing them to use, manage and deploy digital applications. Darrin Demchuk, vice president of solutions at Platform Science, said Navistar already has hardware in its vehicles, and Platform Science is adapting its platform to that hardware. “All these (trucking) companies are staring down a barrel of multi-million-dollar decisions to rip out a bunch of stuff to get what they want,” Demchuk told CCJ at the annual TCA Truckload convention in Las Vegas last week. “Hopefully it’s the last time they have to rip out hardware to get the software they want. Just get their box and pick out the solutions they need.” Navistar will begin deploying the Virtual Vehicle platform in 2023. Platform Science, in collaboration with Daimler Trucks North America, developed the Virtual Vehicle platform to enable enterprise fleets, telematics service providers, third-party developers and partners to access real-time data directly from connected vehicles with built-in telematics hardware installed on the production line. The goal is to help fleets save time, money and effort by eliminating the need for aftermarket installations. “The Virtual Vehicle platform brings a wide range of integrated Android fleet apps to customers, giving fleets choice and providing them with total flexibility to select the software solutions they need without the burden and expense of adding new hardware to access new apps,” Jake Fields, co-founder and CTO of Platform Science, said in a news release. The Virtual Vehicle platform improves productivity with factory-installed telematics hardware, allowing fleets to maximize uptime by avoiding installation delays and costs for complementary hardware. It also allows fleets to create a software experience catered to individual business needs through a growing pipeline of developer-created innovations. It improves accessibility by leveraging edge, cloud and in-dash data to optimize networks, keeping data available 24/7/365, even when fleets are offline. And it’s cost effective with usage-based billing. Demchuk said there has been a history in the trucking industry of telematics companies partnering with OEMs at a solution level, embedding their specific telematics solution into the vehicle, but that is only useful to fleets that are customers of that specific company. “Our approach is a little different where we’re embedding an actual platform into their vehicle, which can host and support any solution provider offerings. “What we’re trying to do is make a common software platform available on all vehicles so application developers don’t have to worry about the hardware and how to get data off the truck; they can just use the development platform to access that data outright, so we’re basically separating hardware and software so innovators can focus on the software side and ourselves, who partner with folks like Navistar, can focus on the infrastructure to power it,” Demchuk said. “Our goal is to standardize the infrastructure needed to build great telematics products. Our goal is to support and enable that as best as possible so fleets end up with the broadest options and choices available to them, and they don’t have to rip a bunch of hardware out to make those choices.” Sean Slyman, director of Connected Services at Navistar, said this partnership is about the “power of choice.” Navistar has had a telematics device standard on its Class 8 trucks since 2019 and recently announced plans to put them standard on every commercial vehicle, classes six through eight. “We, as an OEM, probably have the largest partner ecosystem, and we do that through what we call an open framework that allows people to integrate with our vehicles and vice versa,” Slyman said. “What’s different with Platform Science is they’re going to be the first partner that puts their intelligence on our device, so that becomes important.” He said imbedding Platform Science’s Virtual Vehicle changes the way fleets receive data. Currently, he said, telematics devices send most data to the cloud, which causes delays in returns on calculations. With Virtual Vehicle imbedded directly on the telematics device, he said data is calculated in real time, providing instant feedback for drivers, helping to improve safety and cost efficiency. “Some of these trucks today, they’ll have a telematics device, they’ll have cameras, they’ll have multiple things with sim cards that are phoning information, and for every one of those black boxes you put on a vehicle after the vehicle is sold, it’s an additional fee you have to pay – an additional phone bill. There are some vehicles that have three to five different things that are phoning information,” Slyman said. “Data that’s coming off the vehicle then isn’t consistent always; it’s not as clean. So what we’re doing is trying to pull all of that together and say, ‘We’ll get you the data you need off the vehicle, and we’ll send it out to our partners.’ It makes it cleaner so the customer doesn’t have to buy all of these various things.” By integrating all of this data into one platform that is directly installed in the truck at assembly, he said it offers the same technology to smaller fleets that only mega fleets have been able to afford in the past. Slyman said it also addresses safety with driver training and coaching, and Demchuk said it can also help with the driver shortage. “There are some folks – after looking at the data – who argue that there’s a driver shortage; it’s just that there are more inefficiencies to clean up,” Demchuk said. “If we, through sensors, apps and technology, can make it so these fleets can operate their networks more comprehensively and efficiently, we might be able to fix the driver shortage without adding any new drivers to the equation at all.” https://ift.tt/KcfP6LA We conducted a study of mid-sized companies, analyzing their cybersecurity preparedness as well as the volume and nature of cyber risks those companies faced in 2020 through today. Of the six industries we studied – transportation, education, professional services, manufacturing, retail and healthcare – transportation saw the highest increase in cyberattacks, followed by healthcare, with transportation and logistics companies suffering a nearly threefold increase in cyberattacks beginning in 2020 – an increase of 198%. It makes sense that trucking companies are targeted more than ever by cyber criminals. Transportation and logistics companies have been digitizing rapidly to increase efficiency, visibility and responsiveness. Operational technologies deployed in vehicles, with vehicle operators and workers – and even in the shipments themselves – improve the bottom line. The downside is that new technologies come with cybersecurity challenges. The complexity of protecting the attack surface and of configuring and operating the necessary cybersecurity solutions often outstrip the available skill and resources of IT teams. With large, increasingly complicated IT operations, lean IT teams are often forced to make bets on what they will and will not protect in their organizations. For example, only 1% of mid-sized companies have email malware protection. Shockingly, of those few companies that have any malware protection at all, 88% of those solutions were misconfigured. IT teams just can’t keep up. What’s worse, hackers have sensed this vulnerability in the market and are trying to capitalize on it before IT teams regroup and figure out how to secure their organizations. A single breach can paralyze a company for days or weeks, and the resulting reputational damage, lost profits, lawsuits and regulatory fines could put the company out of business. The NotPetya ransomware attack on Maersk in 2017 cost that company $200-$300 million dollars. More recently, a trucking company with 3000 refrigerated trucks had files and employee data stolen and held for ransom. The marketplace has been of little help to mid-sized transportation companies during this crisis. Products have split into large, big-ticket enterprise solutions that require large teams to operate, or smaller solutions that will only patch one kind of vulnerability effectively. IT teams must either greatly increase their security spending or sew together multiple disparate solutions to protect their organizations and hope they didn’t overlook any glaring vulnerabilities. There is hope for mid-sized companies seeking comprehensive solutions. AI systems and intelligent automation are solving the cybersecurity skills gap and resource challenges facing IT teams. AI and intelligent automation can be employed to watch a company’s IT systems, emails, cloud applications and endpoints for suspicious behavior. AI can detect when files are about to be exfiltrated, when possible malware is being forwarded in email and when endpoints or cloud applications might be compromised and then notify administrators or lock systems down automatically without human intervention. For the small percentage of issues that AI and intelligent automation can’t resolve, these solutions send a concise and clear notification to administrators who then quickly resolve the issue in moments. Our research shows that cyberattacks against mid-sized trucking companies are escalating in volume and sophistication. It’s never been more important for transportation companies to prioritize cybersecurity. Fortunately, advances in AI and automation make easy-to-implement and highly-effective cyber protection more accessible to mid-sized trucking companies than ever. Growing transportation companies must embrace AI-enabled cybersecurity to give their lean, busy IT teams much needed support and peace of mind so they can focus on running successful businesses and best serving their customers. Guy Moskowitz is the CEO of Coro, the all-in-one cybersecurity platform designed for small and mid-sized organizations, growing businesses and lean IT teams.
https://ift.tt/KcfP6LA Trucking news and briefs for Tuesday, March 29, 2022: Used truck sales, prices increased in FebruaryUsed Class 8 retail sales volumes (same dealer sales) were 16% higher in February than in January, according to the latest release of the State of the Industry: U.S. Classes 3-8 Used Trucks, published by ACT Research. Longer term, sales volumes were down 17% year over year. Average prices were also 7% higher in February compared to January, and 83% more expensive than in February of 2021. Average miles and age were flat sequentially, with miles up 3% year over year and age 5% higher than last February. “Used Class 8 same dealer retail sales volumes got an expected breath of life in February, jumping 16% sequentially,” said Steve Tam, Vice President at ACT Research. “Typical seasonality called for a 13% increase, so elevated new truck activity seems to have provided a little traction in the secondary market, but in all likelihood, the bump is not sustainable.” Tam noted that new truck sales seem to have lagged behind December’s production spike, which could translate to another month or two of strong used truck sales. As for the future of the U.S. used truck market, Tam said current market conditions should begin to bring used truck prices down. “Slowing freight growth, combined with the continued flow of new entrants into trucking, has effectively defined the start of falling freight rates,” he said. “Through mid-March, rising fuel prices have masked a rapid month-over-month decline in spot freight rates. We contend that this signals an impending slowdown in demand for used trucks, with prices to follow accordingly, and some dealers already reporting prices softening around the edges.” Electrical issue prompts International recallNavistar is recalling approximately 2,804 model year 2018-2023 International LT tractors equipped with a 1500W Purkeys inverter system, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration documents. In the affected trucks, the positive battery cable may be incorrectly routed, causing it to chafe on the side skirt frame and become damaged. This could result in an electrical short, increasing the risk of a fire, the recall says. Dealers will replace any damaged battery cables and install new inverter cable brackets and saddles, free of charge. Owners can contact Navistar customer service at 1-800-448-7825 with recall number 22507. NHTSA’s recall number is 22V-164. Great Dane recalls 1,200 trailersAn issue with the suspensions on approximately 1,261 trailers has prompted Great Dane Trailers to issue a recall, according to NHTSA documents. The recall affects model year 2022 Great Dane Champion and Everest model refrigerated trailers. The suspension radius rod mounting bolts were not properly tightened on the trailers, Great Dane says, which could allow the bolts to come loose and fall out. Dealers will inspect and tighten the radius rod fasteners, free of charge. Owners can contact Great Dane's customer service at 1-877-369-3493. NHTSA’s recall number is 22V-159. Penske Truck Leasing opens new leasing facility in TampaPenske Truck Leasing recently opened a new facility in Tampa, Florida, which the company says will allow it to upgrade the service it provides to customers in the area. This is the second recent investment Penske has made in the Tampa market. The new facility is located at 7140 East Martin Luther King Boulevard. It offers both consumer and commercial truck rental, full-service truck leasing and contract truck fleet maintenance. It is also outfitted with the company's proprietary fully digital and voice-directed preventive maintenance process and connected fleet solutions, a value-added resource to help customers address issues and options related to onboard technology systems (ELDs, telematics, onboard cameras, etc.). The location is 28,406-square-feet and sits on 11.15 acres. It has five truck service bays, an automated wash bay system, and mobile truck lifts. https://ift.tt/KcfP6LA The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's acting chief Robin Hutcheson was on something of a whirlwind tour of outreach to various trucking constituencies during her time at the Mid-America Trucking Show this past week in Louisville, Kentucky. Thursday afternoon, she sat for a round of questions for a half hour with members of the trucking media. Among reiterations of Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg's recent commentary around the importance of -- and efforts to emphasize ways to combat -- the paramount truck parking issue, Hutcheson revealed plans around establishment of the Truck Leasing Task Force required by the big infrastructure bill passed last year. A call for participation is expected close on the heels of the recent similar request issued to potential members of the Women of Trucking Advisory Board. "Just a few weeks ago the Secretary [Buttigieg] signed the charter for groups that can now be convened," Hutcheson said. She noted the Women of Trucking Advisory Board, after the open call for participants, will undergo a review "sometime after April 8. ... Sooner rather than later we hope to have it up and running." The leasing task force, set to examine reports of predatory practices among some leasing companies, according to FMCSA, will also "examine common truck leasing arrangements, including the impact of inequitable leasing agreements on the industry, and resources to assist CMV drivers in assessing the financial impacts of leasing agreement." The press release announcing the open call for potential members was figuratively sitting "on my desk," Hutcheson said, also noting a timeline for actual implementation of the under-21 interstate driver pilot program already under way. ""We’re not going to launch the program until we have a very solid data collection methodology. We won’t start this program until late summer, at the earliest." [Related: Inside the FMCSA's under-21 interstate driver pilot program] Hutcheson's current post leading the agency in the absence of a more permanent head -- she is the fourth "Acting Administrator" since Ray Martinez left the Administrator post in 2018 -- comes on the heels of a 25-year transportation career spent mostly in public service, including time as the director of public works in Salt Lake City, Utah, and a similar post in Minneapolis, Minnesota. That final post had what she called the "most analogues to what we do at FMCSA. ... in any one week I might be presenting to city council on public policy and riding along on a bridge inspection … or standing and testifying at the state legislature." Her work there was about "operations in the field and taking policy and making it work in the field." At FMCSA, she is well aware, that responsibility extends to making policy work "both for the 800 field employees at FMCSA" and trucking professionals out there in the real world. The agency will at least be well-funded, she said, as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law boosted funding for "some areas of FMCSA’s work" by 60%, Hutcheson said, which she noted "goes straight out to communities" through a variety of programs. Hutcheson's immediately previous post at the Department of Transportation was as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Safety Policy, where she heard directly from trucking constituents during a variety of listening-session-type meetings, among other work. She referenced testimony of a second-generation operator who spoke of the pride his father had felt in being a truck operator delivering goods on the nation's highway. For the son's part, "he felt like that was slipping for him, and he wants that back for himself, and he wants that back for his children," she said. "That’s stuck with all of us, myself included." FMCSA has conducted sessions with female drivers in recent memory, likewise with union drivers, in addition to last year's first meeting of the driver advisory subcommittee of the Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee, where owner-operators are represented among other driver constituencies. "At these sessions, we may hear about things that are not squarely within the authority of FMCSA," Hutcheson noted, but "listening sessions are really invaluable." Among action items to come out of the driver advisory subcommittee's meeting was one of those -- a recommendation to Congress, essentially, to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to remove the exemption from overtime pay for truck operators, codified almost a century ago. That recommendation was recently included in the late-February-released big list of recommendations from stakeholder groups to improve supply chains. The recommendation, No. 40 in a long list of policy recommendations, is the first such recommendation under the "Rule & Regulations" subhead in the document, titled "Supply Chain Assessment of the Transportation Industrial Base: Freight and Logistics." It would urge "Congress to eliminate the Fair Labor Standards Act motor carrier exemption," as the report puts it. "Under the current exemption, employers are not required to pay overtime to many truck drivers." [Related: Is it overtime for company-truck driver overtime pay?] To what extent DOT broadly, and FMCSA particularly, might play in advocating for such a change with Congress remains unclear, but it could become clearer over time as studies required by the infrastructure law get under way in earnest. In addition to a robust study of unpaid detention time, the law required a close look at driver compensation. "We’re partnering with external professional institutions to do these studies," Hutcheson said, cautioning those in the room that "really good data takes patience -- we’re looking right now at 18 months," at least, before completion. "I recognize that because these issues are so big for the industry," she added, that "18 months seems a long time. We’re looking for ways we can report out along the way" as research progresses. https://ift.tt/QRc0gfp The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's acting chief Robin Hutcheson was on something of a whirlwind tour of outreach to various trucking constituencies during her time at the Mid-America Trucking Show this past week in Louisville, Kentucky. Thursday afternoon, she sat for a round of questions for a half hour with members of the trucking media. Among reiterations of Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg's recent commentary around the importance of -- and efforts to emphasize ways to combat -- the paramount truck parking issue, Hutcheson revealed plans around establishment of the Truck Leasing Task Force required by the big infrastructure bill passed last year. A call for participation is expected close on the heels of the recent similar request issued to potential members of the Women of Trucking Advisory Board. "Just a few weeks ago the Secretary [Buttigieg] signed the charter for groups that can now be convened," Hutcheson said. She noted the Women of Trucking Advisory Board, after the open call for participants, will undergo a review "sometime after April 8. ... Sooner rather than later we hope to have it up and running." The leasing task force, set to examine reports of predatory practices among some leasing companies, according to FMCSA, will also "examine common truck leasing arrangements, including the impact of inequitable leasing agreements on the industry, and resources to assist CMV drivers in assessing the financial impacts of leasing agreement." The press release announcing the open call for potential members was figuratively sitting "on my desk," Hutcheson said, also noting a timeline for actual implementation of the under-21 interstate driver pilot program already under way. ""We’re not going to launch the program until we have a very solid data collection methodology. We won’t start this program until late summer, at the earliest." [Related: Inside the FMCSA's under-21 interstate driver pilot program] Hutcheson's current post leading the agency in the absence of a more permanent head -- she is the fourth "Acting Administrator" since Ray Martinez left the Administrator post in 2018 -- comes on the heels of a 25-year transportation career spent mostly in public service, including time as the director of public works in Salt Lake City, Utah, and a similar post in Minneapolis, Minnesota. That final post had what she called the "most analogues to what we do at FMCSA. ... in any one week I might be presenting to city council on public policy and riding along on a bridge inspection … or standing and testifying at the state legislature." Her work there was about "operations in the field and taking policy and making it work in the field." At FMCSA, she is well aware, that responsibility extends to making policy work "both for the 800 field employees at FMCSA" and trucking professionals out there in the real world. The agency will at least be well-funded, she said, as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law boosted funding for "some areas of FMCSA’s work" by 60%, Hutcheson said, which she noted "goes straight out to communities" through a variety of programs. Hutcheson's immediately previous post at the Department of Transportation was as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Safety Policy, where she heard directly from trucking constituents during a variety of listening-session-type meetings, among other work. She referenced testimony of a second-generation operator who spoke of the pride his father had felt in being a truck operator delivering goods on the nation's highway. For the son's part, "he felt like that was slipping for him, and he wants that back for himself, and he wants that back for his children," she said. "That’s stuck with all of us, myself included." FMCSA has conducted sessions with female drivers in recent memory, likewise with union drivers, in addition to last year's first meeting of the driver advisory subcommittee of the Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee, where owner-operators are represented among other driver constituencies. "At these sessions, we may hear about things that are not squarely within the authority of FMCSA," Hutcheson noted, but "listening sessions are really invaluable." Among action items to come out of the driver advisory subcommittee's meeting was one of those -- a recommendation to Congress, essentially, to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to remove the exemption from overtime pay for truck operators, codified almost a century ago. That recommendation was recently included in the late-February-released big list of recommendations from stakeholder groups to improve supply chains. The recommendation, No. 40 in a long list of policy recommendations, is the first such recommendation under the "Rule & Regulations" subhead in the document, titled "Supply Chain Assessment of the Transportation Industrial Base: Freight and Logistics." It would urge "Congress to eliminate the Fair Labor Standards Act motor carrier exemption," as the report puts it. "Under the current exemption, employers are not required to pay overtime to many truck drivers." [Related: Is it overtime for company-truck driver overtime pay?] To what extent DOT broadly, and FMCSA particularly, might play in advocating for such a change with Congress remains unclear, but it could become clearer over time as studies required by the infrastructure law get under way in earnest. In addition to a robust study of unpaid detention time, the law required a close look at driver compensation. "We’re partnering with external professional institutions to do these studies," Hutcheson said, cautioning those in the room that "really good data takes patience -- we’re looking right now at 18 months," at least, before completion. "I recognize that because these issues are so big for the industry," she added, that "18 months seems a long time. We’re looking for ways we can report out along the way" as research progresses. https://ift.tt/QRc0gfp Checking a weather forecast for home is pretty easy, but when you're clocking 500-plus miles per day across multiple states it's not uncommon to run into some weather-related surprises. Just last week a storm system dropped multiple tornadoes across Texas and Louisiana before pushing north and eastward, placing almost 70 million people across the Southeast and into the Great Lakes region under a severe weather alert. When you're dragging a 53-feet-long wind sail, or trying to schlep 80,000 pounds up a snowy mountain pass, an unexpected change in weather is both frustrating and dangerous. To take some of the guesswork out of weather awareness, Bridgeview, Illinois-based Distance Trucking partnered with AccuWeather to integrate tailored weather alerts, including long-range forecasts and up-to-the-minute data geared specifically for trucking operations into a customizable personalized app installed on drivers' phones. Distance Trucking drivers receive severe weather alerts in real time via the app, both as they travel and before they get on the road. As long as the driver's location services are turned on, they will receive personalized notifications about the weather conditions on their route, including alerts in the event of bad weather. "There was a huge tornado in Kansas in November and Distance Trucking had several of its trucks in the area," recalled Bojan Radojicic, owner of Distance Trucking. "The tornado came out of nowhere with little prior warning. Luckily none of our trucks were impacted, but they easily could have been." That close call with a handful of its drivers was one too many, and Radojicic immediately kicked off a search for a solution for his 34-truck, FedEx-contracted fleet. AccuWeather notifies the Distance Trucking team about strong winds, snow spreads, fire risk, lightning detection, storm potential and more types of dangerous and disruptive weather. AccuWeather's app also provides team members with the option to customize which notifications a driver wants to receive, filtering data for the most relevant and essential updates for their specific needs and routes. Each app notification specifies the weather category, threat level, expected duration, locations affected and detailed comments from an AccuWeather expert meteorologist alongside Distance Trucking's recommendations and protocols for how drivers should respond in a given situation. Back at the office, Distance Trucking's admin team will receive weather alerts for their fleet and will monitor the weather developments in the entire U.S. on a large screen. One of AccuWeather's over 125 meteorologists is available 24 hours a day for any Distance Trucking driver or dispatcher requiring immediate information from a certified expert. Radojicic said among the benefits of having these real-time updates is that's its allowed the company to pull drivers off the road sooner, rather than waiting for them to actually hit severe weather and search for parking along with every other driver on the road. "The most important thing is once you get to the ice storm conditions, for example, even if you're trying to pull up on a truck stop, they're already jammed," he said. Radojicic continues to work with AccuWeather on deeper customization, removing notifications for territories the fleet doesn't cover and hazardous conditions that aren't applicable to his fleet (like wildfires), but add capabilities to notify the fleet of strong crosswinds and customize notifications based on the level of snow accumulation in specific areas. https://ift.tt/QRc0gfp Trucking news and briefs for Monday, March 28, 2022: Kenworth BEV eligible for voucher in NJBattery electric vehicles are exempt from New Jersey sales tax. Lease deals are also eligible with a required term of at least 36 months. Applications are being accepted on a rolling basis and can be found at the NJZIP website (www.njeda.com/njzip). The K370E also has a range of 100-200 miles and features a 469 hp direct drive motor. The T680E is designed for pickup and delivery, regional haul and drayage applications, and is available as a day cab as either a tractor or straight truck. The T680E has an 82,000 lb. gross vehicle weight rating and estimated 150-mile operating range, depending on application. 40th SuperRigs will be in June in MissouriThe 40th Annual Shell Rotella SuperRigs will be held June 9-11 at Branson Landing, a 95-acre waterfront development in Branson, Missouri.Numerous events and activities are planned to honor 40 years of SuperRigs and the significance truck drivers play in our everyday lives. Contestants, their families, and the community will be able to see some of the best-looking and hardest-working big rigs in North America, all while enjoying the amenities of the historic Branson Landing throughout the three-day event. Shell Rotella SuperRigs competitors compete for 24 awards including best chrome, best lights, and of course, best of show. Events are still being planned for the 40th celebration, leveraging the unique activities that Branson has to offer. Twelve drivers will be selected to have their trucks featured in the 2023 Shell Rotella SuperRigs calendar, which will also feature the surrounding area of Branson. Show highlights include:
The Shell Rotella SuperRigs competition is the premier truck beauty contest for actively working trucks. Hardworking owner/operator truckers from across the United States and Canada compete annually for more than $25,000 in cash and prizes. There is no fee to enter SuperRigs and the weekend is designed to be fun for the whole family. https://ift.tt/QRc0gfp Trailer manufacturers are closely watching order intake, keeping numbers relatively consistent month to month. February net U.S. trailer orders hit 27,041 units – up about 1% from the previous month and 6% compared to February 2021. Before accounting for cancellations, according to ACT Research, new orders of 28,100 units were virtually unchanged compared to January but up almost 3% from the previous February. “Tight order control, bordering on order allocation, continues to be the norm for the industry. While demand for equipment continues at a torrid pace, OEMs are carefully metering orders to production levels,” said Frank Maly, director of commercial vehicle transportation analysis and research at ACT Research. "Small fleets and dealers continue to struggle to obtain equipment, as discussions point toward larger players willing to make large volume commitments.” OEMs have kept a backlog-to-build ratio in a tight range between 7.4 months and 8.4 months since June. "However, February’s 8.1-month level commits the industry into early November," Maly said, "and we will soon be approaching a backlog-to-build ratio that will extend into the new year, where new model years and new pricing commitments could complicate order acceptance.” Some reports indicate that fleets are willing to make sizeable commitments that would extend well into 2023, but Maly said it seems some OEMs are unwilling to push the order board to those extremes. "Support from the supply chain, as OEMs attempt to ramp output, will be the controlling factor on any order surge," he said. Despite widespread volatility – including surging diesel prices, falling truckload rates and a ground war in Ukraine that's dragged on for two months – ACT’s President and Senior Analyst Kenny Vieth said there is still much to like about the current U.S. economic setup, as jobs continue to outstrip the supply of labor, corporate profits come off record performance in 2021 and consumer balance sheets remain well positioned. For buyers of commercial vehicles, Vieth said the coronavirus continued to bend consumer spending to goods and away from services in early 2022. Port backlogs and inventory restocking should support freight volumes through the first half of this year, he added, "but the longer oil prices remain elevated, the more business and consumer dollars will be diverted.” "In addition to significant lingering port congestion, pent-up demand in the manufacturing sector broadly remains elevated, and corporate profits continue their record-setting run, allowing businesses to invest in productivity enhancing equipment," Vieth said. Used commercial vehicle prices are at record levels across Class 8 age and mileage nodes and similar data indicates record valuations for medium-duty trucks and trailers. “As 2022 progresses, it is becoming increasingly clear that any victory in the form of higher production and sales is going to be hard fought," Vieth said. "Be it inflation, supply chain or now heightened geopolitical concerns, makers and buyers of commercial vehicles will face more challenges in discharging their duties this year.” https://ift.tt/UMW4Zxk Christenson Transportation set to roll out 500 autonomous trucks operate nearly around the clock3/25/2022 When fourth-generation truck driver Don Christenson became a driver right out of high school, autonomous vehicles were merely a thing of the future. Christenson, now president and CEO of Missouri-based Christenson Transportation, Inc., is leading his trucking company into that future with plans to deploy 500 autonomous trucks. The company recently signed a deal with autonomous trucking technology provider Locomation to restructure its operating model to run its trucks 20-plus hours a day, followed by deployment of 500 trucks equipped with Locomation’s Autonomous Relay ConvoySM (ARC) systems on five separate Autonomous Relay NetworkSM segments. Christenson said his company will begin with a hub in Nashville, featuring six lanes – each 500 miles – along the I-40, I-24 and I-65 corridors. “Not only do we think we’ll be 100% Locomation autonomous vehicles within the next few years, but we believe we’ll be able to grow our fleet and improve the quality of life for our drivers and capacity for our customers,” Christenson said at the Truckload Carriers Association conference in Las Vegas this week when the deal was announced. The company expects to increase capacity by 52%, reduce empty miles by 50%, improve fuel efficiency by 18% and reduce its greenhouse gas emissions for shipper customers with Locomation’s freight optimization. The impact of the increased loaded miles and 30% reduced operating cost, combined with increased market share on the lanes in which they operate, is expected to quadruple Christenson's bottom line net profit. “ARC enables a carrier to safely operate two trucks up to 22 hours a day, delivering twice the cargo, twice as far and twice as fast, which means a big boost to their capacity, efficiency and profits,” said Locomation Co-founder and CEO Çetin Meriçli. He said the system dramatically increases utilization, cuts idling time and reduces – and in some cases eliminates – empty and deadhead miles. According to a peer-reviewed study by Boundless Impact Research & Analytics, Locomation’s technology also allows for a 20% reduction in fuel consumption and another 22% in greenhouse gas emissions, providing a new value proposition for shipper customers who are interested in reducing their Scope 3 emissions. Locomation’s ARC system is a human-led convoy of two trucks that are electronically tethered, enabling one diver to operate the lead truck, while the second driver rests in the follower truck. The Human-Guided AutonomySM solution allows carriers to safely operate two trucks for 20 to 22 hours a day while remaining in compliance with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s hours-of-service regulations. Christenson said it was important to him to deploy a model that didn’t seek to replace the driver. The second phase, he said, will be two trucks with one driver. “We believe there still needs to be a pilot in charge of the vehicle. In commercial airlines, we’ve had autopilot for probably well over 50 years now, but we still have pilots in the plane,” he said. “We wanted something we thought was going to come to market sooner than later by not forcing the driver out of the cab on day one.” He said it will also be helpful in recruiting new drivers. Andrew Erin, director of safety and risk at Pennsylvania-based PGT Trucking, said capacity is his company’s biggest problem, and this technology will help expand its capabilities to deliver more customer freight. PGT said last year that it plans to deploy 1,000 Locomation AVs. “Drivers are our primary limiting factor. Even in times like now (when) we can’t get trucks, drivers are our primary limiting factor,” Erin said. “Despite every good idea we’ve come up with over the years, we still turn down like 98% of loads that we’re offered. We’re very excited to partner with Locomation to potentially double the amount of loads we can move with our existing driver force.” Bruce Stockton, vice president of fleet services at Missouri-based Wilson Logistics, said the pool of eligible truck drivers has been shrinking for the 35 years he’s been in the industry. As trucking companies compete for the same driver, he said this technology increases the number of eligible candidates to become a commercial vehicle operator and reduces the number of operators required to cover capacity. Wilson Logistics was the first adopter of Locomation’s technology and renewed its commitment just ahead of Christenson’s deal to deploy 1,120 ARC units on its southwest routes starting in 2023. Meriçli said Locomation is working with Wilson to engineer six freight lanes for full autonomy valued at $524 million in annual revenue and an estimated $120 million in operating profit once the technology is fully deployed. Those numbers, he said, are based on the high rates of asset utilization and operational efficiency expected from Locomation’s autonomous trucking system. He said Locomation, which has a fleet of 12 ARC units and is in the process of building another 20, aims to finalize its core technology development and ramp up production by the end of this year with a goal to deploy hardware to early customers in 2023. https://ift.tt/UMW4Zxk |
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April 2023
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