Eric Weed hugs a rolled tarpaulin and bends at the knees repeatedly, performing his over-the-road workout routine in a truck stop parking lot. His phone, from a tripod nearby, captures video of his workout with his Melton truck and flatbed trailer in the background as he illustrates his healthy lifestyle as a truck driver. “The majority of the content I create is fitness and health inspired,” Weed said. “I really enjoy creating videos that will bring value to others, whether it’s from what to eat, how to work out while over the road or even mindset. I enjoy bringing something to the table that simplifies the process.” That video is posted to his TikTok account. Weed is a “driver influencer” for Melton Truck Lines. Other driver influencers include Terrence Small, Chris Womack and LaJames Williams. Small, a road trainer for Melton who showcases a lot of his students' journeys and what they can expect during the road training phase; he also films videos about securement best practices, mistakes to avoid, over-the-road lifestyle advice and more. Womack posts YouTube content about his everyday experiences, from a classic car museum he got to visit over the road, new food he got to try, securement tips and even productivity/miles advice. Williams posts primarily on TikTok and showcases a wide range of OTR lifestyle topics, from walkthrough videos of his meals over the road to a behind-the-scenes look at load processes. Melton launched its new driver influencer program earlier this year as a new-age method of word-of-mouth advertising, said Kennedy Ruley, digital marketing manager at the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based flatbed trucking company. She said word-of-mouth advertising, which has consistently been one of Melton’s top 10 hiring sources, trumps all when it comes to effectively communicating a message, especially in the trucking industry as drivers meet on the road at truck stops across America. But with the pandemic limiting in-person contact, and that becoming more of the norm post pandemic, her team realized the traditional method of referrals was diminishing. She said her team also recognized that much of their own buying and conversion habits on social media resulted because of influencer marketing. “With influencer marketing being such a popular and effective concept, it was surprising to realize much of this method of advertising had not been formally implemented in our industry’s fleets,” Ruley said. “While drivers have always created social media content and spoken about their experiences online, we identified that promoting this as a career path for drivers and incentivizing them would cultivate their content creation even further, thus increasing Melton’s online presence and referrals received and expanding our options for drivers in their careers.” Crafting a new career pathMelton has multiple career path opportunities for its drivers, from its Road Training and Melton Mentors programs to its Road Recruiters and Road Dawgs (drivers visiting CDL schools, and more to supplement their driving role and expand in their skills) programs. The influencers program, in which drivers create and share videos about their experience as a truck driver at Melton, is now one of these opportunities – all of which provide drivers additional compensation. Melton has members of its staff dedicated to the program. Social Media Coordinator Emily Bump manages the program, and a recruiter assists in calling drivers who may be a good fit. Ruley said the program, so far, has had up to nine driver influencers and currently has four with three onboarding and working toward meeting the minimum requirements, but the company is focused on scaling it to an indefinite number at this time. With the current headcount, she said Melton drivers altogether are posting between 20 and 25 videos each month with a total since April upwards of 100. The number of videos each driver influencer produces each month varies, but each is required to post at least one video a week, or four per month, to their preferred platform; Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, etc. “By far the most effective platforms have been TikTok and YouTube. With our online branding, it’s not enough anymore to post out any type of video content and hope it performs well. We take a much more data-driven approach to our video content these days, particularly thinking more about the type of video, specific message it entails, what platform it’s on, and who is delivering it. That’s how this program was formed, and that’s why I think these two platforms are our most successful,” Ruley said. “TikTok is our fastest-growing platform, and there’s so much opportunity in that space. It has been neat to witness a trucking community form in that space and exciting for us to accelerate our growth on there with influencer videos as ads and repurposing as main videos on our page.” Driver influencers are given guidance on best practices for each platform. For instance, TikTok videos should be short, shot vertically, have compelling audio and offer short-form content. But they can choose the type of content they post – workouts, cooking in the truck, trucking life hacks, their training experience, etc. – excluding any extremely negative conversations, vulgar language, safety concerns, etc. Drivers must mention Melton in their video but aren’t required to use Melton as a hashtag, tagline or in their profile name. “We want this to be as authentic as possible, and requiring those things may come across as an overly orchestrated effort on our part,” Ruley said. “Their story is theirs to tell, and we’re very open to them sharing that online. Our goal is for them to share their authentic experience, which includes the good, the bad and the ugly – all within reason.” The accounts are their own; Melton simply monitors them for new content. Ruley said Melton monitors its driver influencers’ video postings using a brand listening tool. The company doesn’t require drivers to share their engagement stats, but it does watch the number of views/engagements separately. It also uses a social media management tool to track analytics in real-time. Ruley said using social post data by platform and by tagged subject assists the team in curating a more effective social strategy, which helps the digital marketing team communicate content suggestions or best-performing topics to its influencers if needed. Engagement equals compensationMelton obtains permission from its driver influencers to use their videos on its own social platforms, mainly as advertising creative on Facebook and TikTok, Ruley said. Using TikTok Spark Ads, Melton promotes their videos using Melton advertising dollars. That helps driver influencers gain more views and better engagement, which they are compensated for. Ruley said they are incentivized based on their minimum video production requirement, and they can earn additional money if they meet certain engagement goals based on what Melton’s team has found converts better on certain platforms. Engagement goals are subject to change, but she said they are based on Melton’s overall average engagement per conversion on each social media platform the company operates on. “One example is if the driver obtains 5,000-plus views on their TikTok video, that meets the qualifications for earning an additional $25 that month,” she said. “We know that videos with that amount or more views on TikTok are likely to return a lead/conversion and are also valuable ad creative for us.” For now, those additional earnings are distributed in gift cards when driver influencers reach monthly goals. In general, some influencers earn money from the platforms they post to on the content they produce. Ruley said how Melton's influencers monetize their own profiles is completely up to them. Additionally, some influencers partner with companies on sponsored content. If a third-party reached out to a driver and wanted them to be a brand ambassador, Ruley said Melton would view it from the lens of potential drivers viewing that content and whether that brand aligns with Melton’s values. In addition to those opportunities and compensation based on engagement goals, driver influencers also earn referral bonuses if a driver is hired as a result of viewing one of their videos or via their profile application links. Weed said the majority of engagements with his videos comes from people in the 18 to 34 age group. Weed and Williams have 290 and 376 TikTok followers, respectively. Womack has 318 YouTube subscribers, and Small boasts over 8,000 subscribers. “I’ve gotten many comments, questions and interest because of the content,” he said. “As far as I know, we have one person starting in January that I’ve connected with from social media. I also have a couple of people who have applied after seeing the lifestyle.” Video attracts recruitsLindsey Trent, co-founder and president of the Next Generation in Trucking Association, recently said in a Truckload Carriers Association webinar focused on recruiting younger people to the driver workforce that the average Gen Z-er watches three hours or more of videos daily. “For us as an industry to listen to that statistic and to only have one or two videos on our website, I don't think that's going to do the trick. I think we need to be more video focused,” Trent said. “I love the idea of having a video ambassador for your company that can share what they're doing on a day-to-day basis.” Misunderstanding of the trucker lifestyle – often seen as unhealthy, which is mostly accurate – is a major barrier of entry for younger generations to enter the driver workforce. But they are desperately needed with a massive driver shortage at hand and a continual march of baby boomers to the line of retirement. Melton, which was recognized as a CCJ innovator in 2014 for its efforts to improve driver health and wellness, is proving that stereotype wrong with videos from driver influencers like Weed, who is regularly active over the road as seen on TikTok. Not only are videos like his helping bring new drivers on board, it’s helping retain drivers as well. Weed said this program shows the investment that the company places in its employees. “I think this program really creates a positive impact around trucking. It shows others that it is possible; you can change your life; you can become healthier; you can go travel the world; you can blaze a new path and try something new. I enjoy this program because it really shows what life can be like over the road as a flatbed driver for Melton,” he said. “It’s empowering to be a part of, and I really do think we’ve got something special here at Melton. There are many reasons I stay at Melton, but this (influencer program) is definitely in the top five.” Since the launch of its driver influencer program, Ruley said Melton has seen an increase in online referrals. She said it is important to note that Melton’s referral program involves several moving pieces, from its recruiting and field recruiting teams, and the influencers program is only one part of that. “However, we did see a dip in our average app-to-hire ratio from referral leads after launching this program in March to April of this year. We average less than 10 referral leads to one hire through our referral program efforts. We achieved our lowest app-to-hire ratio month in May of this year at a 4-to-1 ratio,” she said. “Given our time to hire, this was a great indication that the influencers program was a great value add in the months of March and April and is an effective supplement to our current referral program efforts.” She said Melton realizes there has been a shift into more of a social media age of referrals, and the company has seen a lot more referrals come exclusively from online videos that its drivers posts. Drivers use a personalized link for referrals so Melton can track them. On the other side of the videos helping with recruitment, they keep existing Melton drivers interested and challenged in their careers, improving retention. “Our purpose for the influencers program is to provide a growing, interesting career path option for drivers that allows them to earn additional compensation through the monthly payout plus referral bonuses earned,” Ruley said. “In turn, Melton’s online brand is amplified by their voice and real-world experience. It’s incredibly authentic and transparent content that we hope to only expand upon moving forward.” https://ift.tt/zfuLNcw
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Trucking news and briefs for Thursday, Dec. 1, 2022: Another driver requests exemption from parts of HOS regsFor the third time this year, a truck driver is seeking an exemption from certain provisions in the hours-of-service regulations. Owner-operator Lee Schmitt requested and was later denied an exemption from four provisions of the regs, and driver Ronnie Brown III, whose petition is still pending, requested an exemption from the HOS regs and the ELD rule. Wayne Moore Jr. is the latest individual to petition FMCSA for an exemption from four provisions of the hours-of-service regulations. Moore's request is similar to Schmitt's -- he's requesting a five-year exemption from the 10-hour off-duty rule, the 14-hour driving window, the 30-minute break requirement, and the 70-hours-in-eight-days limit. Of note, he is not asking to drive more than 11 hours in an on-duty period. FMCSA’s notice states that Moore has been a commercial driver for more than 25 years and currently works for a large transportation company in Indiana. The notice adds that Moore “states that he would like the ability to split off-duty time into periods that are more conducive to proper rest and sleep without having to comply with the HOS regulations.” FMCSA will accept comment on Moore’s request for 30 days beginning Thursday, Dec. 1. Comments can be made at www.regulations.gov by searching Docket No. FMCSA-2022-0199. Inmate seeks regs relief from driver training rulesRobert Towle, an inmate in the New Hampshire State Prison, is requesting an exemption from two provisions of the Entry-Level Driver Training (ELDT) regulations. The New Hampshire Department of Corrections operates a special school district within the prison walls, Granite State High School, that offers a CDL training class. Towle is requesting an exemption from the ELDT requirement that a training provider use instructors who meet the definition of “theory instructor,” and from the requirement that an individual who applies for the first time for a Class A or B CDL, or who upgrades to a Class A or B CDL, must complete training from a provider listed on the Training Provider Registry. FMCSA’s notice says Towle stated that the requested exemptions would allow eligible students at Granite State High School to receive the requisite theory instruction in order to obtain their Commercial Learner’s Permit as a step towards job-readiness as part of their community re-entry plan. FMCSA will accept public comments on the request for 30 days beginning Dec. 1. Comments can be made at www.regulations.gov by searching Docket No. FMCSA-2022-0180. Investment firm BlueJay Capital acquires warehousing companyBluejay Capital Partners, a specialist in logistics and transportation industry investing, has completed its acquisition of Best Warehousing and Transportation (BWT), a B2B warehousing and transportation business, with 30 locations across 15 states. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. “BWT has an exceptional track record serving industry leaders across many diversified supply chains,” said Josh Putterman, founding partner of Bluejay Capital. “They attract customers and grow with them in new services and locations. The strong team at BWT, coupled with the Bluejay Capital team’s growth expertise and significant industry experience creates a powerful combination.” Winston McDonald Jr., President and CEO of BWT, will retain a sizable ownership stake in the business. “Our partnership with Bluejay Capital marks the beginning of an important chapter of growth for our company and our dedicated employees,” McDonald said. “We are proud of what we have created and accomplished over the last 16 years and are excited to build upon that history, advancing our industry-leading position, expanding our market reach and broadening the scope of work and services we provide.” https://ift.tt/zfuLNcw The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed legislation to help sidestep a freight rail strike the White House fears would derail the U.S. economy. President Joe Biden on Monday called on Congress to pass legislation adopting the tentative agreement approved by labor and management negotiators in September – a deal that the majority of the unions in the industry have voted to approve, and one that includes a 24% pay raise, among other items. However, four of the 12 rail workers unions, including two of the largest, have rejected the deal, setting the stage for a potential work stoppage Dec. 9. Rail unions have what is generally referred to as a "me too" agreement where the terms agreed to by the last holdout will trickle down to all the others, and if all 12 unions don't agree, then all 12 could potentially strike. In a separate measure, the House also passed a bill adding seven days paid sick leave to the tentative agreement. "Let me be clear," said Speaker Nancy Pelosi from the House floor Wednesday, "a nationwide rail shutdown would be catastrophic. A shutdown would grind our economy to a halt, and every family would feel the strain. As many as 765,000 workers, including many union members, would lose their jobs in just the first two weeks. Experts project it would cost the economy up to $2 billion a day and raise prices on consumers' products." The bill to adopt the tentative agreement passed the House 290-137 with bipartisan support. Tacking on seven days sick time was tighter, 221-207, with just three Republicans voting in favor. Both bills now head to the Senate. The trucking industry is among the legions of concerned parties that have also called on Congress to intervene. Twenty-seven trucking associations on Monday co-signed a letter to Pelosi, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Leaders Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy. Separately, NATSO, the trade group representing the nation’s travel plazas and truckstops, and SIGMA: America’s Leading Fuel Marketers, the national trade association representing fuel marketers and convenience store chain retailers in the U.S. and Canada, said would "immediately disrupt" the flow of fuel and DEF to fueling locations and truck stops. The rail industry last went on strike in 1991, a national work stoppage that lasted a day before Congress intervened. The following year, a walkout at USX by members of the International Association of Machinists spread nationally and lasted about two days before Congress, again, intervened. Congress is authorized by the nearly century-old Railway Labor Act to block a strike and impose a labor agreement on the workers to prevent the interruption of interstate commerce in labor disputes. https://ift.tt/ZiuS2LG Some fleets believe that you have to spend a lot of money to achieve great fuel economy. They are both right and wrong. When it comes to achieving great fuel economy, spending time investigating options is as important as spending money; and when you do invest in fuel-saving technology it does not necessarily mean that you need to spend a lot of money. It’s important to remember that every fuel-saving technology is not right for every fleet. Before considering a technology, make sure you have a thorough understanding of the various duty cycles in which you operate. The next step is to begin looking at some of the technologies currently on the market. There are a number of things you can look at: aerodynamic devices for the tractor, aerodynamic devices for the trailer, idle reduction technologies and tires and tire pressure systems, for example. In addition to reviewing material from the manufacturers of these technologies, look for unbiased information on how a technology performed in an actual fleet operation. While wind tunnel and computer modeling are of some use, what you really need is data that shows how a device performs under real-world operating conditions. If you don’t have a big budget, start with some items that cost little to no money. Adjusting electronic engine parameters for fuel economy only takes time. Vented mudflaps and wheel covers are examples of smaller investments that result in fuel savings. Then, of course, there are things like chassis skirts, fairings, rear trailer devices, diesel APUs, battery HVAC systems and others that will require some investment, but also have a bigger impact in improving fuel economy. One important thing to remember when evaluating a technology of any kind – but especially one that improves fuel economy – is to look past the initial purchase price. You need to look at the total cost of operation: how much will that device save you in fuel over the life of the asset compared to what you are paying for it? In these days of $5-plus for a gallon diesel, even a tenth of a mile more from per gallon can result in big bottom line savings. When it comes to saving fuel, do a little homework and then make smart investments which can lead to big savings over the life of your vehicle. https://ift.tt/ZiuS2LG When trucking goes electric it will transform not only the industry, but also the country and its physical layout, according to a new study from National Grid, one of the world's largest publicly listed utilities. The study looks at 71 sites across New York and Massachusetts, where national grid operates in the U.S., and Geotab’s ITS Altitude transportation analytics platform to estimate how much power charging site will need if these states are to hit their emissions goals. As both states have adopted California's Advanced Clean Trucks regulations, they're slated for a phased progression to 100% zero-emissions medium and heavy duty vehicle sales by 2045. The chart below shows how these sites will have to grow until many are consuming as much electricity as a small town or a large factory. In short, the demand for on-highway fast-charging will have a massive impact on the grid. By 2030, a typical highway gas station will need as much power as your favorite major league sports stadium. By 2035, that could climb to the level of a small town. By 2045, a simple truck stop could demand as much power as an automotive manufacturing plant or aluminum refinery. While these numbers may seem eye-popping today, remember that the U.S. already transformed itself into a nation of billions of miles of road and 64,000 gas stations once before. While the challenge of electrification looms large, the study's authors and other experts were confident that the nation can once again meet the task. What trucking needs to know about electrificationPerhaps the biggest takeaway from National Grid's study shows fortune favors the trucking industry. Truck stops, for the most part, sit along highways, and so do a lot of high-voltage transmission lines, the study's authors said. "These are places where it makes sense to do big charging installations because the transmission is right there," Charlotte Fagan, one of the study's authors said. "We can bring the chargers to the big wires instead of bringing the big wires to the chargers." Fagan and her co-authors didn't account for the many ways that trucking companies and logistics professionals could schedule duty cycles to allow for off-peak and depot charging, but rather simply measured where vehicles stop and go and need power currently. So, while smart fleets can make extensive use of their own charging infrastructure to control cost, the study indicates that a lot of the heavy lifting of fleet charging will be taken off their plates at prime on-highway locations. As anyone with any experience in building infrastructure and extending power lines knows, these are tricky projects and often a hard sell to the voting public. National Grid knows that "those big wires, if you have to move those many miles, it doesn’t make the neighbors happy," said Fagan. "To me, if anything, we need to make sure we're building in smart places with the lowest cost and to serve the most passenger and heavy duty vehicles." Also, National Grid's can-do attitude toward charging infrastructure represents something of boon to small and medium fleets, as well as trucking's independents. "We see that public charging and having public charging sites is essential to supporting small fleets and carriers who aren’t going to build infrastructure at home or at their five-truck operation," she said. Where will all the power come from?The U.S. trucking industry currently burns about 46 billion gallons of diesel annually. Each gallon contains bout 37 kilowatt hours of energy, meaning that if EVs run as efficiently as diesel trucks, there's about 1.7 trillion kWh to make up if we stop pumping diesel. Importantly, this study looks at passenger vehicles as well as trucking, but it still presents clear takeaways for the trucking industry. The study's authors said the country would need to generate an extra 15% to 20% more power to fully fuel vehicle electrification, "which isn't necessarily a huge increase," Gideon Katsh, another of the study's authors said. "A lot of that will be renewables too." Overall, the National Grid study authors projected complete confidence in their ability to add more capacity. After all, they are in the business of selling power. "Our state has very clear goals when it comes to electrification, and our role as utility is to support our state to get there," said Fagan. She went on to say that despite the large task ahead, she found the study an "optimistic story of saying the transition to the electric future is coming." Katsh similarly lauded the "tremendous environmental and public health benefits to electric transportation, not just in terms of carbon, but also particulate matter," and driver comfort. Since it's National Grid's problem to worry about generating all the power, all fleets need to worry about is getting it into the vehicles. The study's authors encouraged fleets to contact local utilities when building depots, and to shoot for "no regrets" infrastructure that's overbuilt and future-proof. [Related: How to build a future-proof truck stop or freight facility] "Build the grid infrastructure once, and build it right," the study recommends. https://ift.tt/ZiuS2LG Since the start of 2022, the Energy Information Administration's reported average price for a gallon of gasoline has climbed from $3.14 to $3.49, with the most common gas price in America right now at $2.99. Diesel, on the other hand, climbed over the same period from $3.61 to $5.31, or about a 38% jump while gasoline only moved a bit more than 10%. But compared to gasoline, diesel is a less-refined product, and for decades, up until about 2004, it fetched a lower price. Outside of a few fleeting moments, diesel has been more expensive than gas ever since. GlobalPetrolPrices.com writes that gasoline costs more than diesel in 84% of the 161 countries it tracks, with diesel in most on average 9.8% cheaper. (Recent price swings may have moved those figures a bit.) So why would a product that's easier to make, that's more vital to essential economic activities like construction, farming, and yes, trucking, sell at a premium to one that's harder to make? And why do four-wheelers seem to make out on the deal? [Related: Only 25 days of diesel left? What to make of low inventories] The EIA pins the answer on three main causes: Diesel demand has grown, transitioning to lower-sulfur diesels has impacted fuel production costs, and the federal excise tax for on-highway diesel sits at 24.3 cents per gallon while it's only 6 cents on gasoline. But that sub-18 cent tax premium on diesel hardly explains the yawning chasm between the two prices in today's world, and ideally a free market would adapt to industry and demand changes to provide diesel at a lower cost. Tom Kloza, the global head of energy analysis at Oil Price Information Service, said that the answer to expensive diesel starts with the barrel of crude oil itself. Today, "diesel is the profitable part of the barrel," he said. "Gasoline is not a loss, but not very profitable. Throughout the world, diesel is the molecule that still has some support" in terms of pricing, "and for now, it's still a molecule in tight supply." Diesel, as a fuel that uses a higher share of the overall barrel of crude, competes with jet fuel and other pricey petroleum products in a way that gasoline doesn't. "You can take the diesel molecule, crack it, and turn it into gasoline," Kloza said. However, "nobody has figured out yet how to make" gasoline into diesel. As a thought experiment, Kloza walked through the example of a refinery taking in 100 barrels of crude. Under ordinary circumstances, the refinery would try to get maybe 50 barrels of gasoline, 30 of diesel, and about 10 of jet fuel alongside some other petroleum products. [Related: Highly incentivized renewable diesel impacting supply of convention fuel] These days, "every single refinery is trying to maximize the diesel cut" to maybe get 45 barrels of diesel and maybe 30 of gasoline, he said. "There's clearly motivation to make as much diesel as possible," with refiners making $50 or more on every barrel, and billions of barrels to sell. "This is unusual. There has been no other December in the history of this country or the world where diesel has fetched $50, $60, even $80 above crude," he said. That's one reason diesel has risen so fast and remained so high: Everyone, from retailers to traders to governments, are worried about serious supply chain disruptions. Kloza said "very, very low stocks of diesel in the U.S. and E.U." saw the fuel of trucking trading so high above the price of crude, with worry soaring over a potentially cold winter and demand for heating oil, where diesel would become highly sought after because it doubles as a heating oil in much of the U.S. Northeast and Europe. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has battered traders' outlook for natural gas and other heat sources, focusing a lot of attention on diesel at a time of historically low supply. So really, a big part of widening diesel/gas price differentials owes to traders hedging against the chance of a very cold winter requiring a lot of burning of distillate, said Kloza. "I think the only reason diesel fetches such a premium is that people are worried about winter and heating oil, but so far in Europe" winter "hasn't been that bad." Kloza said traders typically look at the market 40 days ahead, so they're currently trying to estimate demand in January, when they expect gasoline demand will die down from holiday highs, but diesel demand could stay up. Oil traders speculating on higher futures can cause oil producers and retailers to hold onto their stock or raise prices in anticipation of greater worth. Add to all of it the the possibility of a rail strike, which might hobble bulk hazmat movement. Kloza said DEF, not diesel itself, may find itself in trouble, and more likely it would harm gasoline prices rather than diesel, as ethanol, a critical component of popular E10 gas, wouldn't get its normal rail shipments. [Related: Rail strike back on the table, this time for December] https://ift.tt/ZiuS2LG Trucking news and briefs for Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2022: FMCSA denies HOS request from livestock haulersThe Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has denied a request from several agricultural groups seeking an exemption from certain hours of service provisions. The requested exemption was made on behalf of drivers who transport livestock, insects and aquatic animals. Groups seeking the waiver included the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, Livestock Marketing Association, American Farm Bureau Federation, American Beekeeping Federation, American Honey Producers Association and National Aquaculture Association. The request would have allowed drivers, after 10 consecutive hours off duty, to be on duty for 16 hours after coming on duty, and to drive a total of 15 hours during that 16-hour period. The groups filed the exemption request in February 2019. At the time, regulations allowed livestock haulers to operate within a 150 air-mile radius of the source of the agricultural commodity, and time spent operating within that radius did not count against a driver’s daily and weekly hours limits. The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law added to that to also include a 150 air-mile radius of the load’s destination. Livestock haulers also remain exempt from the ELD exemption, FMCSA said. “If the agency were to grant the exemption, drivers transporting agricultural commodities would be allowed six or more hours of driving time within the 150 air-mile exempt zones for the transportation of agricultural commodities, in addition to the 15 hours of driving time outside the zone,” FMCSA said in its denial. “The agency finds that allowing 21 or more hours of driving during a work shift would not likely achieve a level of safety that is equivalent to, or greater than, the level that would be achieved absent the exemption.” A. Duie Pyle expands into West VirginiaA. Duie Pyle (CCJ Top 250, No. 67) has announced it will bring its asset and non-asset-based services to the entire state of West Virginia. The company is expanding its supply chain offerings to strengthen routes and transport of goods. The service move into West Virginia comes on the heels of its expansion into Virginia earlier this year, where it added three LTL service centers in Roanoke, Richmond and Manassas. The strategic location of the Roanoke facility, combined with its service centers in Pittsburgh and Hagerstown, allow Pyle to provide a broader range of coverage and operational efficiency to its customers. Pyle said the move strengthens its service commitment to customers by expanding access to key areas and clients across the state. Adding West Virginia to Pyle's roster completes its Northeast/Mid-Atlantic core footprint. "We are thrilled to expand our direct service coverage and industry-leading expertise into West Virginia," said John Luciani, COO of LTL Solutions at A. Duie Pyle. "Adding West Virginia to our network allows us to build stronger relationships with our customers and positions us to continue offering exceptional service to the entire Northeast." Bestpass acquires HVUT e-filing firmBestpass, a payment platform provider and toll management firm for commercial fleets, has acquired ExpressTruckTax, a Heavy Vehicle Use Tax (HVUT) e-filing system for truckers, fleet owners, and tax preparers for e-filing Forms 2290 and 2290 Amendments. Bestpass is acquiring ExpressTruckTax from SPAN Enterprises, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based company that serves more than 200,000 businesses and has provided e-filing services for more than 5 million trucks. “We are thrilled to add ExpressTruckTax, the industry’s leading HVUT solution supporting 200,000 customers, to the Bestpass product offering for fleet managers,” said Tom Fogarty, Bestpass CEO. “Bestpass has been well recognized as the leading toll management solution for trucking fleets and owners, and this is another step to provide more value to our customers. The team at SPAN has built an excellent product, and I am delighted to build HVUT e-filing and payments into our comprehensive mobility payments solution.” Truckers and fleet owners are required to pay Heavy Vehicle Use Tax (HVUT) and file Form 2290 annually with the IRS to remain in good standing. This annual tax is levied on all heavy vehicles weighing 55,000 pounds or more that operate on public highways. For fleets of 25 trucks or more, e-filing Form 2290 is required, but for fleets or owner-operators with less than 25 trucks, e-filing is strongly preferred by the IRS. With the 2290 e-filing solution from ExpressTruckTax, drivers can easily file their forms electronically and take advantage of built-in error checks that improve the accuracy of their filings. https://ift.tt/ZiuS2LG Netradyne customer SDS Recycling offers a $25 gift card each week for the driver with the highest GreenZone score – a system on the Driveri platform that captures and analyzes driver behavior like speed and following distance, among other things. It’s an incentive that has driven better safety for its fleet. Netradyne’s scoring system is based on “science of change,” and one of the its principles is positive reinforcement. A study at a New York State hospital where the goal was to increase the frequency at which medical staff washed their hands before entering patient rooms found that staff knowing they were being recorded by cameras was not enough to change behavior. With the addition of an electronic board in the hallway of the unit that gave employees a positive message and displayed the shift’s current hand hygiene score, compliance rates reached 90% within four weeks. Austin Schmidt, director of performance marketing at Netradyne, said that’s operant conditioning where people are wired to adjust their behavior, often even subconsciously, to obtain the outcomes we want. That’s one key factor in transforming safety from a cost center to a cost saver, Schmidt said during a recent Truckload Carriers Association webinar. “I really love this quote from Charlie Munger, a Warren Buffett business partner, that explains operant conditioning: ‘Show me the incentives, and I'll show you the outcome,’” Schmidt said. “Cameras or most other technologies on their own will not automatically reduce your operational costs. But the good news is that leveraging two key principles of the science of change within your organization will.” The other principle is instant feedback. A study called Timing Matters: The Impact of Immediate and Delayed Feedback on Artificial Language Learning assessed the impact of immediate versus delayed feedback on learning a second language and found that even a two- to three-second delay reduced a student's ability to learn from their mistakes by 21%. Those studies illustrate that simply adding a driver-facing camera won’t change behavior; drivers need to be incentivized. They also show the importance of instant feedback because delaying feedback by waiting until a monthly or quarterly safety meeting reduces a driver’s ability to correct their mistakes. But there are cost-saving opportunities and solutions, Schmidt said, which are becoming increasingly important with the rise of operational costs and the fall of freight rates, creating an unsustainable economic environment for fleets. “Our environment is requiring all of our businesses to rethink parts of it at this point. There's a quote from Charles Darwin, who's best known for his work in the theory of evolution, that says ‘It is not the strongest of the species that survives nor the most intelligent; it is the one most adaptable to change,’” he said. “So in this environment, what if you could coach more drivers more often without needing additional hires or get your drivers obsessed with saving fuel, driving safely and preventing violations or keep your best drivers longer to reduce those recruiting costs and control your insurance costs to have lower increases than your competitors?” The first cost saving opportunity is fuelAggressive driving behavior, characterized by speeding, rapid acceleration and braking, can lower fuel economy by 15% to 30%, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. And according to the North American Council for Freight Efficiency, fuel economy is reduced by one-tenth of a mile per gallon for every mile per hour over 60. Schmidt said real-time coaching can help improve fuel economy. It is crucial, he said, to provide live alerts so drivers can understand the issue and correct it before burning more fuel or receiving a ticket. To follow up, he said provide live feedback with positive reinforcement when the behavior is corrected in the future and give drivers insight into how they’re performing against their own aggressive driving reduction goals to incentivize that mindset shift. CSA scores and accidents are nextCost savings opportunity No. 2 is moving violations, which impact CSA scores.CSA scores, while difficult to calculate profitability impact, can be meaningful, Schmidt said. For example, poor CSA scores can reduce access to the best-paying loads in competitive freight markets, increase insurance premiums and increase audit risk. The third area of cost savings is accidents and litigation. According to the American Transportation Research Institute, the average verdict or settlement costs a fleet $367,757. And since 2009, injury accidents per mile have been on the rise. Schmidt said that correlates with the use of smartphone adoption. “I'm suggesting that perhaps it's the drivers in passenger vehicles like all of us that are texting and driving or maybe TikTok and driving out there and making the road a more dangerous place. So despite the fact that you guys are doing the right things – investing in technology – the environment that your drivers are operating in is getting more dangerous, and unfortunately, some of that is outside of your control,” he said. “This is an example where the environment that we operate in has changed so our businesses must change as well.” The solution, Schmidt said, is complete visibility with 360-degree camera vision around the vehicle that records and analyzes 100% of drive time in very high resolution. “I can't tell you how many customers we've talked to over the years that did the right thing; they invested in technology; they got cameras in their trucks; they did everything they were supposed to do, but when a serious accident occurred, the camera missed the event because there wasn't a triggering event that captured the video,” Schmidt said. “So when they needed the camera, it did not come through for them … Your businesses don't stop; your risk doesn't stop; so why should your camera stop?” He said fleets also need a proven culture of safety because attorneys will often go after the fleet safety record rather than the event itself, meaning quarterly safety meetings are no longer enough. He said the new standard is a proactive, weekly approach. Keep the back office leanTo be able to invest in safety technology, Schmidt said fleets need to look at cost savings opportunity No. 4: running a lean back office. A single additional safety hire can cost $90,000 to $130,000 annually, limiting the ability to invest in technology and even canceling out the operational cost decreases afforded by the technology. He said the answer is smarter coaching – both driver-led and manager-led. Again, give drivers instant feedback on risky behavior and reinforce good behavior with incentives. But that’s not always enough, he said. Schmidt said fleets should look for solutions that offer virtual coaching with a weekly video review of what a driver did right and wrong. And for the drivers that need additional help beyond driver-led coaching, he said managers can step in with in-person coaching, but remember to include positive feedback as well to reduce driver turnover. Talent retention is cost savings opportunity No. 5.A study conducted by the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute estimates that the average cost to replace a driver is $8,234, and the cost of losing a great driver is incalculable, Schmidt said. He said the positive reinforcement piece and monetary incentives are incredibly powerful, but drivers also need “smart incentives,” meaning an easy-to-understand method of tracking toward their goals. He said fleets should offer an app that gives drivers the ability to see and understand what they need to do to meet their goals and ultimately improve their paychecks and retention, which is how customers use Netradyne’s GreenZone scoring system that can gauge the risk and cost savings of a single driver, a whole fleet or an entire terminal team. Schmidt said looking holistically at the entire terminal team is an important factor in retention. “Let's say you are (having) drivers (focus) on speeding reductions, but your dispatch team on time deliveries, but your safety coaches on the pure volume of safety meetings they can have in a week. These different priorities can conflict in unexpected ways that sometimes can create a lot of friction and turnover,” he said. “In balancing safety and cost reduction opportunities, that retention piece needs to be there.” https://ift.tt/ZiuS2LG Trucking news and briefs for Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022: ATRI seeks input from victims of predatory towingThe American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) on Monday issued an open call for motor carriers and drivers that have been victims of predatory towing. The group opened a survey, which can be found here, to collect data on the impact of predatory towing in the trucking industry.“We all know that predatory towing is an issue, yet until now there has been no robust analysis on how, when, and where it happens or the impact of legislation designed to regulate these predatory practices,” said Shawn R. Brown, Cargo Transporters Vice President of Safety. “By participating in ATRI’s data-driven research, carriers will be helping to answer these questions and outline solutions.” Predatory towing is any incident in which a tow truck operator egregiously overcharges, illegally seizes, damages by use of improper equipment, or withholds release of a truck and/or cargo. Recognizing its persistent negative impact on the industry, ATRI’s Research Advisory Committee (RAC) identified the need to better understand this problem as a top research priority earlier this year. The short survey asks fleets to share which types of predatory towing they deal with most frequently, what fees or delays they consider predatory, and in which states they have encountered predatory tows. It also seeks participants for a second round of more detailed data collection that will allow ATRI to quantify the frequency and operational impact of each type of predatory event. All data collected will be kept completely confidential. Averitt opens new Memphis-area facilityAveritt Express (CCJ Top 250, No. 26) recently opened a new 260,000 square feet facility in the Memphis area slose to the Memphis International Airport and the Memphis area railyard, The area is in the heart of one of the nation’s busiest manufacturing and customer-dense regions, as it’s within a day’s reach of numerous major markets including Atlanta, Cincinnati and Dallas.The new facility raises the company’s total warehousing space to over 2.5 million square feet of space across more than 40 locations. “We’ve eagerly awaited the opening of our Memphis distribution & fulfillment facility,” said Ed Smith, Averitt’s vice president of distribution and fulfillment. “It just took the right partnership with the right facility. And once we found that, it created the perfect opportunity. Memphis is one of the largest intermodal markets in the country.” For-Hire Trucking Index suggests rate bottoming process underwayThe latest release of ACT’s For-Hire Trucking Index, a monthly survey of for-hire trucking service providers, showed the Supply-Demand Balance increased as volumes ticked up, and freight rates continue to decline."The reading reflects a loose trucking market and a late stage in the freight cycle," said ACT Research Vice President & Senior Analyst Tim Denoyer. "We believe the bottoming process has begun, and it’s possible that supply factors – including tight diesel inventories – could shorten the downturn.” ACT estimates show spot rates are further below costs than ever before, "which could shorten the bottoming process," Denoyer said. "We also polled our fleet friends on contract terms and found some shippers pressing for more shorter-term contracts.” "The seeds of the next tighter environment are being sown as rising costs and falling spot rates threaten the viability of the significant small fleet capacity which has recently entered the industry," he added, "and for the mostly larger fleets in our survey, capacity growth has slowed for three straight months." Tesla CEO says electric Semi passes 500 mile, 81K testWith initial delivery set for Thursday of an all-electric tractor that was originally due in 2019, Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Saturday tweeted that his long-awaited Telsa Semi Class 8 truck made a 500-mile trip while grossed to 81,000 pounds. Electric trucks get a 2,000 pound cargo weight exemption, allowing them to gross upwards of 82,000 pounds. Musk offered no additional details on the trip – like whether or not the truck stopped to charge along the way; how long the trip took, when it took place and in what part of the country; or how much of the 81,000 pounds is the truck itself. Pepsi is set to take delivery of the first production Semis Dec. 1, and during the company's third-quarter earnings call, Musk announced Tesla would produce 50,000 Semis a year starting in 2024. https://ift.tt/u9SNWIQ
Jacobs Vehicle Systems provides a closer look at how Cylinder Deactivation (CDA) and Active Decompression Technology (ADT) improves emissions, fuel economy and driver comfort in an International LT625.
Jacobs reports that CDA, equipped with Dynamic Skip Fire software from Tula Technology, can cut fuel consumption by up to 25% while slashing NOx 77% and carbon dioxide by 13%. A display screen inside the LT625 shows when CDA activates and deactivates engine cylinders as the driver accelerates and decelerates the truck at the Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park in Thompson, Connecticut. “You can see when we’re decelerating, we have zero cylinders active,” Justin Baltrucki, principal engineer at Jacobs Vehicle Systems, explains as he takes his foot off the pedal when driving the truck towards a turn. Conversely, various cylinders are activated (look for the green lights illuminating on the display) as Baltrucki presses the accelerator to power the truck ahead. [Related: Engine brakes changing to meet greater variety of engine types] Testing over the past four years has shown “up to 12% fuel economy savings,” explains Rob Janak, Jacobs’ director of new technology. Jacobs also demos active decompression technology (ADT). Janak points out how ADT can eliminate cab shake to help drivers get better sleep when their trucks start and stop periodically to charge batteries needed to keep HVAC systems up and running. ADT requires less powerful starting systems and, like passenger cars and pickups on the road today, paves the way for a fuel-saving “auto stop-start system,” Janak says. Contents of this video00:00: Intro and interview with Rob Janak, director of new technology at Jacobs Vehicle Systems, who explains cylinder deactivation (CDA) 00:37: Steve Carlson, vice president of Dynamic Skip Fire at Tula Technology, talks about software role in CDA 01:10: Justin Baltrucki, principal engineer at Jacobs Vehicle Systems, explains CDA display metrics in truck demo 01:25: Janak explains why CDA works best under low load 01:41: Carlson describes how CDA deactivates cylinders 01:54: Baltrucki’s truck demo shows CDA under deceleration vs. acceleration 02:39: Janak talks fuel economy an NOx improvements with CDA 02:58: Carlson talks meeting EPA’s 2027 emissions regs with CDA 03:31: Active Decompression Technology (ADT) intro 03:50: Bob LeBlanc, warranty manager at Jacobs, demos ADT 05:30: Janak explains benefits of ADT Video transcriptRob Janek (00:12): Hello. My name is Rob Janek. I'm the director of new technology at Jacobs Vehicle Systems. We're here at the Thompson Speedway to do our cylinder deactivation and active decompression testing and demonstration. (00:22): This is technology that we created cylinder deactivation primarily for improving the thermal management of the engine. Thermal management allows us to lower NOx, lower the criteria pollutants coming out of the after treatment system. But we can do that also with improving the fuel consumption. We actually lower co2. Steve Carlson (00:37): Steve Carlson from Tool of Technology. We're a software company that provides whole software implementation for cylinder deactivation. We're here today to demonstrate dynamic skip fire and cylinder deactivation with Jacobs. Justin Baltrucki (01:09): On the display here you can see the torque that we're running. We don't really run the CDA until we're down under 500 newton-meters, but you can see when we're decelerating, we have zero cylinders active. Rob Janek (01:24): Cylinder activation is not a technology that's really deployed too much on the high load conditions, so it's not a performance improvement on that side. This is all about when the engine power isn't needed, so fleet runs that are using diminishing loads, return home to base empty, then the idle conditions is when cylinder de activation is used. Steve Carlson (01:40): When you get to that low load, it's still pumping six cylinders worth of air through the after treatment system. With the deactivation, you can shut down the other cylinders that aren't needed and supply the power needed with maybe two, three or four cylinders. Justin Baltrucki (01:54): Again, as we coast, we go to zero cylinders and you can see the temperature very slowly decreases. Whereas in six cylinder operation, you're pumping a large volume of cold air through the after treatment. The goal of CDA is to try to prevent that cool off that occurs so that the heat generated during the high load operation can be maintained and you can keep that SCR system in an efficient temperature. (02:21): The other benefit from the zero cylinder motor, you might notice the truck doesn't really slow down much. We have a much lower motoring friction on the engine. With that you'll see a real world benefit. It's like reduced rolling resistance. You'll see a real world benefit from that that's not shown on an engine Dino test. Rob Janek (02:38): The testing that we've shown and we published in the past four years so far is we showed in a low load cycle that's one of the certification cycles that are in the market now, we can show up to 12% fuel consumption savings while still reducing NOx to, I think it was over 80%. Even in FTP cycle, we showed between 3% and 5% fuel savings at the same time of reducing NOx. Steve Carlson (02:58): Some of the benefits that we're finding with this is really to focus on the 2027 emission regulation reduction, which is a NOx reduction largely. Rob Janek (03:07): But at the same time, there's already existing yield that are on greenhouse gas, which are about reducing co2, improving fuel consumption. Those both have to happen at the same time just on different schedules, so technologies that can do both, fuel consumption saving and can raise temperatures or improve the after treatment system is what's needed. Steve Carlson (03:31): The second technology is active decompression. That allows us to decompress the engine that gets rid of that shake as the engine shuts down and also improves the start ability of it. We're hoping that's going to improve the acceptance of stop start because we reduce the wear out of the start and stop of the engine. So we get rid of idly whenever it's not needed. Bob LeBlanc (03:50): My name's Bob LeBlanc. I'm the warranty manager in North America for Jacobs, and I'm also the test development truck driver. Today we're going to demonstrate our ADT. Currently we have it deactivated. This is going to be the standard engine shutdown that we're going to demonstrate. You can hear the rattle and the shaking and the roll of the chassis. (04:11): Then on standard startup, you're going to hear the standard engine starting up under compression and so on. Here we're just going to activate it. This is now with the system activated and you're going to feel a very smooth wind down of the engine and there will be no shake of the cab. Then on startup, you're going to hear a small whine and you're starting the engine under with no compression and therefore there's a less load on the starter, less load on the batteries, and so on. Rob Janek (05:31): It's the sleeper cab. When the truck has to auto start in the middle of the night to recharge the hotel batteries, when it shuts down that death rattle, that shake gets quite extreme, it can actually wake up a truck driver so that's how that system was originally developed was to actually get rid of that shake. It was through the development of it and the testing that we proved out that we could actually improve the startability and the cold start, all those extra benefits that allowed us to maybe promote this as a stop start system. https://ift.tt/u9SNWIQ |
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