Trucking news and briefs for Thursday, July 15, 2021: Teamsters score first win at XPOFollowing a years-long battle, workers at XPO Logistics (CCJ Top 250, No. 6) in Miami, Florida, voted unanimously on Saturday, July 10, to ratify the first Teamsters contract at the transportation and logistics giant. “XPO management said workers in the U.S. would never ratify a contract, but never is now,” said Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General President. “I applaud the workers who stood strong and united over the past six years, despite the company’s horrific anti-worker actions and delays.” The drivers and dockworkers at the former Con-way Freight voted to join Local 769 in December 2014. While thousands of workers at XPO in Europe belong to unions, this is the first ever Teamster contract at the company. The contract includes “just-cause” protections, a grievance process, successorship language, job protection language and retirement protections, among other improvements. TuSimple partners with lidar developerSelf-driving truck technology company TuSimple has partnered with lidar developer AEye to help develop its autonomous technology. TuSimple is working with Volkswagen’s Traton Group to develop a commercial-ready fully autonomous system for heavy-duty trucks, and is co-developing Level 4 self-driving trucks with Navistar, targeting production in 2024. “TuSimple has the world’s most advanced autonomous driving system, with the industry’s best long-range perception,” said Chuck Price, Chief Product Officer at TuSimple. “AEye’s adaptive LiDAR complements our solution, with its ultra-long range, high performance enabling object acquisition and avoidance capabilities at highway speeds that are imperative for safe autonomous trucking implementations. AEye’s software-configurable hardware enables us to utilize a single sensor for both low speed, wide field-of-view cut-ins and high speed, long-range, small object detection – flexibility that is incredibly powerful for addressing the wide scope of trucking corner cases.” AEye’s lidar has a 1,000-meter range. It delivers more than twice the range and over two times the resolution of any other long-range lidar, the companies said. DAT: Van, reefer spot rates up so far in JulyThe weeks leading up to Independence Day typically mark an annual peak in spot truckload freight volume and rates following a rush to move goods ahead of the close of June and the July 4 holiday. While last year was an exception, 2021 is starting to follow a more typical pattern, albeit at elevated levels. According to DAT Freight and Analytics, spot rates for van, refrigerated and flatbed freight are on average 70 cents per mile higher than at this time in 2020 and nearly 76 cents higher than the five-year post-July 4 average. The number of available dry van loads on the spot market was down 17% during the week ending July 11, in line with expectations given the holiday-shortened workweek, DAT said. Van equipment posts also declined as truckers took time off for the holiday. The national average van load-to-truck ratio narrowed from 6.7 to 6.1 and the national monthly average van rate through July 11 was $2.75 per mile, 8 cents higher than June. Contract van rates are on the rise, with new routing-guide rates up 7% in the two weeks ending July 1 compared to the prior two-week period. The average contract van rate is now 37 cents higher than this time last year. The national average spot reefer rate through July 11 was $3.18 per mile, 9 cents higher than the June average. The number of available reefer loads fell 17% compared to the previous week and, with 2% fewer equipment posts, the national average reefer load-to-truck ratio edged down from 14.2 to 12.7. Demand for trucks is expected to ease in the coming months – between July 4 and Thanksgiving, weekly truckload volumes of produce typically decline an average of 21%, which translates to carriers hauling 7,300 fewer truckloads per week by the end of November. With fewer load and equipment posts last week, the national average flatbed load-to-truck ratio fell from 49.7 to 44.1. The average spot flatbed rate slipped to $3.12 a mile through July 11, down from $3.15 in June. Women in Trucking seeks award nomineesThe Women in Trucking Association and Freightliner Trucks are seeking nominations for the 2021 Influential Women in Trucking award. Over a decade ago, the award was created to honor women in the transportation industry who make or influence key decisions in a corporate, manufacturing, supplier, owner-operator, driver, sales or dealership setting, have a proven record of responsibility, and mentor and serve as a role model to other women in the industry. Nominations will be accepted through Sept. 1. The winner will be announced at the WIT Accelerate! Conference & Expo in Dallas on Nov. 7-9. Each finalist will be asked to serve as a panelist for the “How Remarkable Women Unleash their Leadership Potential” panel discussion. Last year, in an unprecedented tie, Kristy Knichel, CEO of Knichel Logistics, and Jodie Teuton, vice president, Kenworth of Louisiana/ Hino of Baton Rouge and Monroe, received the recognition in honor of their outstanding commitment and service to the industry. https://ift.tt/2ytPsnD
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United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 2069 members on Wednesday ratified a new six-year labor agreement, ending a strike at Volvo Trucks North America's New River Valley (NRV) plant in Dublin, Virginia, that had turned the corner toward six weeks. Local 2069 members last week rejected a third proposed labor agreement. That deal, which was okayed by UAW leadership, was shot down with 60% 'no' votes locally, but put back before the membership Wednesday as Volvo's "last, best and final" offer. "Our focus now will be on getting trucks to customers as quickly as we can, and strengthening our relationship with our employees.” NRV Vice President and General Manager Franky Marchand Local members Wednesday ratified the common overall agreement and hourly agreement by a margin on 17 votes each. Both failed last week 60% to 40%. Salary language failed Wednesday by 14 votes. UAW members will return to work on their Sunday and Monday shifts. “The democratic process played out at Volvo Trucks. UAW Members stood together through their strike and now the overall agreement and hourly agreement have been ratified despite the company's actions earlier in the week,” said Ray Curry, President of the UAW and Director of the Heavy Truck Department, adding the UAW Constitution provides for an established process that will work to address the concerns raised by members over the salary agreement. Volvo on Sunday said it would begin this week ramping up new truck production, and would honor the terms of its third offer to any UAW members who returned to work, even though the UAW strike was formally ongoing. Volvo Senior Vice President of Communications John Mies said Wednesday afternoon that some workers had returned, but declined to comment on how many. Brian Rothenberg, UAW International director of public relations, noted "it was less than a handful." Volvo's NRV plant employs more than 3,300 people, about 2,900 of whom are UAW members. The plant is in the midst of a $400 million investment for advanced technology upgrades, site expansion and preparation for future products, including the VNR Electric truck. The plant has added 1,100 jobs since the current union agreement was implemented in 2016 and is on track to have a net increase of approximately 600 positions this year. Contract negotiations between UAW and Volvo started Feb. 8. UAW Local 2069 workers went on strike Saturday, April 17, following the lapse of a 30-day extension to a five-year contract that expired March 15. The union strike ended April 30 after a two-week work stoppage when the parties reached a tentative agreement on a new five-year deal, but local members ultimately rejected the proposal. The new six-year agreement includes elimination of the second tier; health care premiums protected for the life of the agreement; provides protections around shift scheduling and plant operations; as well as providing a major signing bonus and aggressive annual wage improvements every year of the agreement. “This agreement allows us to continue providing our employees with a great quality of life, with guaranteed wage growth and excellent benefits,” said NRV Vice President and General Manager Franky Marchand. "It will also help secure the plant’s long-term growth and sustainability. Our focus now will be on getting trucks to customers as quickly as we can, and strengthening our relationship with our employees.” https://ift.tt/2ytPsnD A new shortage is impacting the red-hot freight market and it has nothing to do with drivers7/14/2021 A panel of trucking industry experts came up with a new way of looking at the trucking industry's number one problem that just might turn the conventional wisdom about a "driver shortage" on its head. This, in addition to a look at the U.S. economy's response to the pandemic pushing the trucking industry to historically high rates and tight capacity comprised FTR Transportation Intelligence's webinar on Thursday last week. "In a nutshell, the economy is doing well," said FTR Vice President of Trucking Avery Vise. "We've seen a strong rebound from the contraction early in the pandemic, but neither industrial production or manufacturing output is where they were before." Overall, FTR's panel of experts predicted rates would slightly drop off all-time peaks but stay high through 2022, trucking capacity will remain an issue, and a meteoric rise in small new trucking companies may be muddying the waters around the industry's much feared labor shortage. Here's what the experts talked about, and what fleet owners and drivers alike need to know about the current state of the economy. Is there a truck driver shortage or not?FTR Transportation Intelligence FTR's panel looked at recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to see there are about 38,300 fewer drivers employed in June 2020 than at the beginning of the pandemic. This number often gets cited to support the idea that the industry suffers from a driver shortage, but the number bears closer examination. By definition, the BLS's payroll data only looks at drivers employed by a company. For equipment owner-operators who work for themselves, that number becomes much more difficult to track. The U.S. government does not track what industries self-employed people belong to, but there's good reason to believe that the number of drivers on payroll has shrunk while many of those same drivers made their way toward self-employment, leaving the total pool of drivers untouched but projecting the appearance of a driver shortage. From 2018 to the dawn of 2020, only four months saw more than 4,000 new for-hire trucking companies launch. In 2021, not a single month has seen fewer than 6,000 new for-hire trucking companies launch, with more than 10,000 such companies starting in June. The "unprecedented surge in new and mostly very small trucking companies probably affects how we look at the employment figure," said Don Ake, the Vice President of FTR's Commercial Vehicles division. "Most of these new carriers are very small, so if even a tiny portion of those former employee drivers became owner-operators, that could offset the picture we're seeing." According to Ake, the huge uptick in new companies is a "new phenomenon" that upsets the way industry analysts "usually depend on payroll employment" as reported by BLS. As many as 157,000 drivers may have moved from payroll positions to opening up a new business, he said. That said, the trucking industry still faces a tremendous uphill battle in attracting and retaining talent thanks to an unprecedented mix of circumstances following the pandemic. Economic threats to truckingFTR Transportation Intelligence FTR cited several factors keeping drivers away from trucking: reduced CDL training and testing during the pandemic; constraints in the broader labor market; competition from industries like construction, warehousing, and parcel delivery; positive drug and alcohol tests sidelining 64,000 drivers; and generous unemployment payouts. According to the panel, the industry can expect CDL training to return to normal as the pandemic continues to ease, and unemployment benefits will expire nationally in September. But recruiting is still a challenge. "The unemployment compensation represents a real issue," said Ake. "We did an analysis and looked at the median wage of a truck driver compared to maximum unemployment benefits and the difference was less than $5,000 a year in 22 states. That's not a big delta when you consider that one is doing nothing and one is doing a difficult job." But according to Ake, states that have done away with the expanded benefits have seen more drivers returning to work. CDL holders know they can easily reenter the workforce, so they may simply be taking advantage of the free money. The U.S.'s uneven economic recoveryFTR Transportation Intelligence Basically, the broadest measure of the U.S. economy's output, GDP, has come roaring back to life since Q3 of 2020, and the explosion in goods transported, which includes imports not included in GDP, has dwarfed even those massive growth figures. As the U.S. government pumped nearly $5 trillion into the economy, mostly on the consumer side via stimulus payments and enhanced unemployment insurance benefits, Americans found themselves cash-rich with few options for travel and entertainment due to COVID-19 restrictions. This resulted in an explosion of e-commerce and, with that, an extremely high demand for goods movement. But during that same period, the pandemic hamstrung global supply chains creating a "huge stall in industrial production," according to Vise. Industrial production in the U.S. swung wildly in 2020, with a 42% crash in Q2 and a 45% rebound in Q3, but in 2021, the Q1 uptick came in at a weaker-than-expected 3.6%. FTR expects Q2 of 2021 to show a more respectable 6.5% bounce, but the supply chain disruptions that suppressed production in previous quarters show no signs of abating. Relatedly, the panel expected rates to stay near all-time highs as capacity and labor remained tight and a semiconductor shortage threatened new builds. The real shortage impacting the trucking industryFTR Transportation Intelligence Surprisingly, the real shortage impacting the trucking industry may not have to do with drivers, but instead with high tech semiconductors used in building trucks and automobiles. For months now, the pandemic-induced shortage of semiconductors has hamstrung production of automobiles and trucks while other commodity prices – namely lumber, steel, and rubber – have combined to drive up prices for tractors and trailers alike. "Looking at the supply chain, basically as far as Class 8 goes, the number one problem is the shortage of computer chips," said Ake. "The good news is there’s been reports that the semiconductors will start flowing into auto manufacturers in August, but some reports from financial groups out there that claim the shortage is getting worse." Ake couldn't confidently predict when the semiconductor market will get back to normal, but he pointed out that it takes 15 to 35 semiconductors to build a truck. "If you can't get enough, you can't build a truck," said Ake. This has pushed the industry to a gap of about 40,000 units, meaning demand that at this point in 2019 (when the industry also saw great demand for Class 8 trucks), 155,000 trucks had been built, whereas in 2021, that number sits just around 115,000. https://ift.tt/2ytPsnD Vision Zero is one of the newer strategies looking to eliminate deaths and severe injuries due to road traffic and unsafe infrastructure. First successfully implemented in parts of Europe, the strategy has recently gained traction in North American cities, in addition to the new administration. Since the inception of roadways and traffic, most drivers were conditioned to think fatalities on the road were inevitable, but the reality is that there are now many resources that can prevent these tragedies. The key is to take a proactive, preventative approach that prioritizes traffic safety as a public health issue. With more than 40,000 people killed in crashes in the U.S. last year, something needs to start changing immediately. The significant loss of life exacts a tragic toll. Moreover, pedestrian deaths in 2020 increased by 21% from 2019 – even with fewer vehicles on the road that year. Not only is there personal loss, but also deep community impacts – including economic costs and emotional trauma – as well as increasing taxpayer spending on emergency response and long-term healthcare costs. Committing to change with new strategies and new technologyVision Zero specializes in showing a different approach to traffic safety. It is much different than the traditional approach used today in that it starts with the ethical belief that everyone reserves the right to experience safe use of the roadway, and it is the shared responsibility of policy makers, system designers and technology experts to ensure safer roadways. The traditional approach of traffic pushes responsibility onto an individual, however with system designers working together to create smart infrastructure through the new strategy of Vision Zero, various different aspects of the roads and traffic will ultimately become safer. Vision Zero also differs from traditional approaches by acknowledging the many factors that go into creating safe mobility in communities. Collaborations are integral between traffic planners, engineers, and policy makers alike. Committing to Vision Zero means unlearning old ways of the roads and making room for new strategies to better the transportation infrastructure we use every day. This means that system designers and policy makers are expected to improve the roadway environment and policies in addition to other related systems in order to dramatically lessen the severity of crashes. Advanced technologies, including video analytics solutions, use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning approaches to analyze large quantities of video streams in real-time to then provide actionable insights on complex traffic situations including road hazards, congestion and traffic collisions. For example, companies like Waycare, Derq and Applied Information provide software that analyzes behavioral patterns of vehicles, pedestrians, and traffic flows from existing traffic infrastructure in real-time to identify and predict potential road incidents. These advanced video analytics can then activate a pedestrian blinking sign to alert a distracted driver and prevent them from colliding with a pedestrian about to cross the road. They can also alert a city operator so emergency responders can be dispatched to the location of the incident if a collision is detected. Furthermore, real-time AI analytics provide additional context in the form of incident identification, near-miss heatmaps and accurate traffic counts to traffic engineers and operators, which ultimately allows them to better understand traffic patterns and proactively improve the safety of roads. The U.S. administrative plan for infrastructureThe Biden administration has proposed to spend an estimated $1 trillion on infrastructure projects. The proposed bill was negotiated among a group of bipartisan Senators that includes a large piece of the bill targeting innovations for smart infrastructure. The administration’s transportation infrastructure goes hand in hand with the Vision Zero strategy as they are both working to fix the same problem. Through increased funding for roadway projects, the bipartisan proposal puts roadways on the right track to decrease fatalities, and hopefully lead to zero fatalities over the years. It’s estimated that the infrastructure plan will spend $312 billion on surface transportation projects, with $109 billion invested in roads, bridges and other major projects. From there, $20 billion is estimated to be put toward improving the safety of all roadway users, with a specific emphasis on bicyclist and pedestrian safety. The proposed plan includes increasing funding on existing safety programs, while also creating a new program called “Safe Streets for All.” This new program will provide funding for state and local governments’ Vision Zero plans. Preventing roadway incidents is key to Vision Zero, and advanced technologies like real-time video analytics play an integral role in smart infrastructure. While legislation is a good first step, it will not work without new technology to enable better road safety. It’s important that local city and community leaders adopt the mentality of Vision Zero to enable smart infrastructure advances. While access to the data collected through sensors being deployed is a crucial first step, the implementation of technology solutions is necessary to move forward to actually improve road safety and reduce traffic fatalities. Dr. Georges Aoude is the CEO and Co-Founder of Derq, an MIT spinoff powering the future of connected and autonomous roads, making cities smarter and safer for all road users and enabling the deployment of autonomous vehicles at scale. Derq provides cities and fleets with an award-winning and patented smart infrastructure platform powered by AI that leverages existing traffic cameras and sensors to help them tackle the most challenging road safety and traffic management problems. https://ift.tt/2ytPsnD In addition to the educational, networking, and advocacy offerings from TCA, another benefit of membership is eligibility for member company’s employees and their families to participate in the TCA Scholarship Fund. Since 1973, the Fund has been providing scholarships to students associated with the trucking industry. Each scholarship recipient must be a student in good standing attending a four-year college or university and must be associated with a TCA member company as an employee, independent contractor, or the child, grandchild, or spouse of an employee or independent contractor of a TCA member company. Earlier this month, the Fund announced that 57 undergraduate college students with ties to the trucking industry will be awarded scholarships for the 2021-22 academic school year. Each student will receive a scholarship ranging from $2,725 to $6,250 from a total pool of $163,775 – the most in the Fund’s history. Additionally, the Fund announced a new, fully-endowed Past Chairmen's Fund scholarship — the Robert D. Penner Scholarship. Penner served as TCA’s Chairman from 2017 to 2018. What an accomplishment! Congratulations, Rob. Thank you for your continued support of this program. The inaugural recipient of this scholarship, in the amount of $3,250, is Abbigale Brown, whose mother works at Long Haul Trucking based in Albertville, Minnesota. Brown will be a junior at the University of Wisconsin–River Falls and is majoring in elementary education. As mentioned in my inaugural column last month, I’m pleased to introduce a former TCA Scholarship Fund recipient, Manhattan Associates’ Michael Glasgow. Glasgow was born into the industry. His family owned a 1,500-truck operation, Munson Transportation, which was deemed a Top 100 fleet in the late 1980s. One of his first jobs was washing and fueling trucks, being a mechanic, and he even coined himself a “tire man.” Fast forward a few years, Glasgow had enrolled at a local community college where he received his associates degree. Still involved with the family business, his cousin recruited him to be a dispatcher. A short time later, Glasgow decided it was time to go back to school and enrolled at Western Illinois University. “I was complaining one day about how horribly expensive a university can be,” he shared, as he was working nights and taking day classes. “It just so happened as I was standing in my cousin’s cubicle, he points at a piece of paper. ‘You should apply for this!’ my cousin said. ‘We’re a member of this organization, TCA, and they have this scholarship they award to members’ family members.’” At first, Glasgow was deterred, as he assumed he’d have to write a lengthy essay. Despite his initial hesitation, he started through the application and pressed submit. To his surprise, he was announced as a recipient. Now, as a father to three college-aged boys, he urges them, as well as any student affiliated with TCA member companies, to apply. “It’s free money! What is wrong with you?” he said with a laugh. “It will only take a few minutes. Complete it, write an essay, and submit.” Since its inception nearly 50 years ago, the TCA Scholarship Fund Trustees have hosted raffles, galas, and dinners to raise funds. “I always buy raffle tickets as the program is near and dear to me – need to return favor,” shared Glasgow. “I’m eager to help promote the fund more.” “The trucking industry has been phenomenal for me,” he shared. “The thought of doing something other than trucking never crossed my mind.” He urged TCA to find a Mike Glasgow at every company – a scholarship recipient to advocate for the fund. Are you a Mike Glasgow? Want to showcase this opportunity to your colleagues and commercial vehicle operators? Contact [email protected] to get involved. Jim Ward is president of D.M. Bowman, a 382-truck fleet based in Williamsport, Md. Under his direction, the company has transitioned from truckload carrier to a full-service transportation company, offering its customers dedicated fleet services, short haul, linehaul, brokerage, logistics and warehousing for dry van, flatbed, bulk and specialty services. Ward is the 2021-2022 chairman of the Truckload Carriers Association.
https://ift.tt/2ytPsnD Trucking news and briefs for Wednesday, July 14, 2021: XPO board approves logistics division spin-offThe board of directors for XPO Logistics (CCJ Top 250, No. 6) has approved the previously announced separation of its global logistics segment, GXO Logistics, through the distribution of all the outstanding shares of common stock to holders of XPO common stock. Following the separation, GXO and XPO will be independent public companies with distinct investment identities and service offerings in vast addressable markets. GXO will be the largest pure-play contract logistics provider in the world, and XPO will be a leading provider of transportation services, primarily less-than-truckload transportation and truck brokerage services. If the distribution is completed, each XPO stockholder will receive one share of GXO common stock for every one share of XPO common stock held on the record date of July 23. GXO will officially go public on the New York Stock Exchange on Aug. 2. Spot volume, rates fall during July 4th holiday weekData from Truckstop.com and FTR Transportation Intelligence for the week ending July 9 mostly reflect the fact that the week included the observed Independence Day holiday on July 5. A 16.5% decline in spot volume was almost exactly the scope of the decline seen during the week that included Memorial Day. Volume was down sharply in all segments, the firms report, but flatbed also had seen a sharp decline during the prior week while dry van and refrigerated had posted small gains. Declines in both weeks could imply more than just holiday weakness for flatbed, the firms note, as it has been falling steadily since its mid-May record level. Flatbed volume is down 49% from that peak but is on par with volume seen prior to the surge that began earlier in the year. At least some rebound coming off the holiday week could be expected. Aside from the expected weakness during the holiday week, the firms said dry van and refrigerated volumes are still holding strong at levels close to record if you exclude the distortions due to February's extreme weather and May's International Roadcheck event. With the holiday distortions, it might take a few weeks to understand whether the second half of 2021 will display seasonal weakness as June traditionally has been the peak of volume for the year. Total spot rates were down about 8 cents, which is the largest drop since the first week of the year. The decline in truck postings lagged the drop in volume, and the Market Demand Index declined to 158.7. https://ift.tt/2ytPsnD Experts say that electric trucks have far fewer parts and require much less maintenance compared to internal combustion. Naturally, this translates to fewer tools, equipment, parts and even technicians required for service. While personnel and inventories inside a shop may decline with EVs, the shift will require new tools, equipment and company-wide practices to service these high-tech workhorses. Few commercial EVs are in service today compared to internal combustion, yet optimism for fleet savings is strong but shops accustomed to a robust level of service revenue are cautiously approaching the mandated technology as it slowly but surely pulls into view. [Related: Quick spin in Volvo's electric VNR] “EVs are expected to require less maintenance and the industry will likely be doing more swapping of components versus rebuilding engines, which will likely result in less billable hours in a shop, and likely the need for less technicians, once EVs achieve critical mass in the market,” said Jason Gildenmeister, vice president of fixed operations for TEC Equipment, a Volvo Trucks North America dealership group in Portland, Oregon. TEC Equipment, which is headquartered in Portland and has locations in Arizona, California, Nevada and Washington, Arizona, sells and services Volvo’s all-electric VNR day cab and sleeper. CCJ asked Gildenmeister if battery-powered trucks required fewer tools since they have less parts than conventional powertrains. Tom Quimby“That is correct,” he said. “There are less engine-specific tools, as well as a reduction in certain types of shop equipment that would be required to service an EV truck. There is some EV-specific tooling required but it is not as significant as what is required for a traditional internal combustion engine.” The all-electric 2022 Ford E-Transit and 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning claim to offer fleets a roughly 40% cut in total cost of ownership compared to conventional. The reduction in TCO parallels a 40% drop in moving parts which will translate to some changes at the shop. “From a technician’s perspective, the amount of tools needed to service an EV is likely to be reduced, as there is less need for specialized engine, transmission or driveline tools,” said Elizabeth Tarquinto, manager of technical support operations at Ford Customer Service Division. She also added that while overall fewer tools may be needed, new shop equipment will be necessary. “Repair shops will have an investment in EV equipment in order to lift, move and charge the battery,” she said. [Related: Transition to zero emissions puts pressure on reefer fleets] While the need for conventional, wrench-wielding technicians may drop, other new positions will emerge to support EV service. “Although EVs require significantly less maintenance, which results in significant operation and maintenance cost savings, the growth of EVs across all segments will also see a growth of a multitude of roles, such as technicians, customer support, driver trainers, electrical engineers and software developers,” said Joanna Hamblin, senior marketing manager at Motiv, a California-based company that specializes in electrifying work trucks, step vans, shuttles and busses. “Also, new higher-skill work in facility-vehicle management is emerging to ensure reliable and optimized charging of EV’s within the context of a facility that uses energy in increasingly diverse and complex ways,” Hamblin continued. New tools, new methodsProfessor John Frala, longtime alternative fuels training coordinator at Rio Hondo College in Whittier, Calif., said a laptop has become the tool of choice for techs working on electric trucks.“It’s firmware basically and we can do all of that online,” Frala said. “We can flash firmware while the trucks are parked sleeping.” The National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) in Leesburg, Va., said it’s possible that EVs may bring about two groups of technicians in the shop. “While EV maintenance might not be as significant as ICs, the vehicles still will need regular maintenance on all the other systems: brakes, HVAC, suspension,” said Trish Serratore, senior vice-president of communications at ASE. “There is some thinking that there will be a single tech or team to handle the EV side and the other techs wil handle regular maintenance. Tech population here will be flexible until EVs are a great source of the car park.” [Related: Great interest in electric trucks as utilities swoon] Tom QuimbyIt’s not just the vehicles themselves that will require a new set of tools and personnel, but infrastructure as well. “While the vehicles themselves require significantly lower maintenance there will be significant upgrades needed in the infrastructure systems associated with electrification and other alternative fuels,” said Bill Van Amburg, executive vice president at CALSTART, a national non-profit that works with key industry stakeholders to help advance clean transportation technologies. “Technicians will be needed across the sector including charger installation and troubleshooting, ongoing utility upgrades, and vehicle-to-grid integrations,” Amburg continued. “The infrastructure installation and maintenance may outweigh any vehicle production and maintenance. There will be a time of transition and CALSTART strongly supports smart and long-term workforce training and transition investments.” The transition to new EV tools, equipment and a new breed of mechanic will be a long one. “Eventually we could see less demand for techs based on the lower maintenance requirements with EVs. However, the need to service ICE vehicles will continue for the near future,” Tarquinto said. Mike Roeth, executive director at the North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE), also believes that the switch to all-electric commercial vehicles will be more of a marathon than a sprint. After studying various technologies through NACFE trials, including most recently all-electric trucks, Roeth is convinced that both diesel and electric will fill fleet rosters for years to come. “We will need to continue to do both,” Roeth said. “It is a mistake to compare diesel needs to electric ones. We should all be thinking diesel now, diesel and electric for decades and ultimately just electric. But that is quite a ways off.” https://ift.tt/2ytPsnD Sales of trailer tracking and monitoring systems have been healthy among truckload carriers. This year has seen a record high with fleets upgrading to 4G and 5G devices with expanded functionality to avoid service disruptions from sunsetting 3G CDMA cellular networks. Use of the technology has been far less common in the less-than-truckload industry sector. Comparatively, LTL fleets operate trailer equipment in a tighter network with more terminal locations, but this doesn’t make assets any easier to manage. With rising demand from e-commerce, LTL carriers are under pressure to increase capacity. Some are turning to trailer tracking as a way to accomplish this and other needs. Estes plans fleet-wide rolloutRecently, Estes Express became the first major LTL carrier to begin a fleetwide deployment of a trailer tracking system. The company has been having conversations with a vendor, Spireon, for three or four years to understand how to leverage the technology, explains Rich Schwartz, Estes vice president of engineering and corporate optimization. Richmond, Virginia-based Estes is an end-to-end transportation and custom logistics solutions provider with 90 years of freight shipping expertise. Schwartz is planning to use the technology to give fleet operators better tools to do their jobs and to automate and optimize a wide range of yard, dock and pickup and delivery (P&D) processes. The plan for the deployment, he said, is to “think big and start at a smaller scale.” Estes will start by using location data from trailers to optimize processes for yard checks and to manage detention at customer sites. To perform a yard check, Estes currently prints out a list of trailers at the site that have a city or over-the-road linehaul manifest. This information comes from its legacy software system. Workers then have to go through a manual process of identifying trailers on-site that are not on the list and then physically opening their doors to verify they are available to use. Estes has trailers at more than 250 terminals and at thousands of customer sites. Doing a yard check takes significant time, especially at large terminals such Joliet, Illinois, which has 750 trailers on any given day, he said. Schwartz is most excited about using the technology to save drivers time. Estes plans to provide drivers with the location of trailers they are assigned to pick up at company and customer sites anywhere in the United States. Estes will have Spireon data integrated with the fleet’s mobile platform from Trimble that drivers use. “The last thing we want is for drivers to go into other app to look for a trailer,” he said. Expanding efficiencyEstes will also integrate trailer location data with a proprietary application it uses for dock and yard operations. Trailer locations in the yard will be communicated to the mobile computers in vehicles it uses for jockeys. Schwartz is in the process of putting new metrics to use to monitor how the fleet is utilizing trailers at each location for P&D and linehaul operations. Tracking usage in terms of miles will help the company better maintain equipment, he said, and move equipment to locations to balance supply with demand. In addition to using the Spireon Fleet Locate technology on box trailers, Estes will be installing devices on its fleet of 800 intermodal containers. Having visibility of containers will help the fleet reduce its chassis rental costs, which start once the chassis leaves the rail yard. Since containers are not connected to a power source, Estes is using a solar-powered device from Spireon. Another planned use for the technology is tracking the location of converter dollies to automate inventory checks. Currently, Estes does a manual inventory count of dolly equipment twice a year. “It is a challenge for every carrier to know where every piece of equipment is at,” he said. Tracking dollies will help with planning equipment purchases. If the data shows the fleet is only using 5,000 of the 7,000 dollies in the fleet, “we have some things to consider.” Future considerations include getting tire pressure and cargo sensor readings from trailers through the Spireon platform. If the company had a cargo sensor, “we would never have to open another trailer in a yard to know if it was empty or has freight,” he said. Schwartz is also intrigued by the possibility of monitoring how the capacity of trailers are utilized. A cargo sensor that measures cargo volume, for example, could be used to determine how efficiently dock workers are loading trailers to “put more science into our true capacity. If we had trailers that are not full, we are going to back them in and fill them.” “One of the things we looked at with trailer tracking devices is we wanted something we could build upon,” he added. “To digest all that data from day one would be very tough for us.” Spireon is in the process of installing the Fleet Locate platform at 20 locations of Estes that have the highest velocity of trailers passing through. The plan is to install 1,000 trailers per week and have all 40,000 trailers in the fleet completed by year end, he said. https://ift.tt/2ytPsnD Trucking news and briefs for Tuesday, July 13, 2021: Trucker shut down by FMCSA following DUIThe Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has effectively shut down truck driver Robert L. Webb after a DUI arrest on June 28. Webb was stopped by Delaware State Police for a load securement violation in New Castle, Delaware, during which troopers detected the smell of alcohol coming from Webb. Webb was transported to a Delaware State Police Troop where he was administered a series of sobriety tests and a breathalyzer test that showed a blood alcohol content of .254, which is six times the legal limit for commercial motor vehicle operators. Accordingly, Webb was performing a safety-sensitive function, driving, while having an alcohol concentration greater than .04 in violation of 49 CFR § 382.201. Additionally, while searching Webb’s vehicle, troopers found an open 12-pack of beer in the sleeper with only two remaining and an opened, still cold, beer outside the box. This was Webb’s second driving under the influence offense. On March 10, 2014, he was convicted for driving a commercial motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol with a BAC at or over .04. The state of Delaware charged Webb with operating a commercial vehicle with a BAC of .04 or above in violation of Delaware Code § 21-4177, possession of alcohol in violation of § 21-4702 and in violation of federal regulation 49 CFR § 392.5, improper load securement in violation of § 21-2702 and in violation of federal regulation 49 CFR § 393.110, and failure to remain in a single lane in violation of § 21-4122. Webb may not operate a commercial motor vehicle in the United States until he successfully completes the required return-to-duty process overseen by a Substance Abuse Professional. Calif. trucking company owner arrested for PPP loan fraudThe owner of trucking companies in the Inland Empire and elsewhere in California, who was out on bond awaiting trial in a separate federal criminal case, was arrested last week on a criminal complaint alleging he fraudulently obtained more than $667,000 in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) COVID-19 pandemic relief funds. Carl Bradley Johansson, 62, of Newport Beach, was arrested July 8 and is charged with one count of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Johansson was on pretrial release in a separate case that remains scheduled to go on trial on Sept. 14. In that matter, Johansson is alleged to have schemed to defeat federal transportation laws by ordering the illegal repair of an oil tanker that resulted in a fatal explosion in 2014, and to have unlawfully avoided the payment of at least $298,562 in federal income taxes from 2012 to 2017. According to an affidavit filed with the complaint, in April 2020, under Johansson’s direction, the Ontario-based trucking company Western Distribution LLC applied for a PPP loan in the amount of $436,390. Johansson’s son was listed as the company’s owner on the loan application and the loan application was approved. Under Johansson’s direction, Western Distribution immediately spent its PPP funds in May and June 2020, in large part on expenses unrelated to its payroll. Rather than use the funds to keep the company’s employees on staff, Johansson laid off most of the company’s employees, but rehired many of them in late 2020. Also in April 2020, a different Johansson-controlled trucking company – a Merced County-based business identified in the affidavit as “Company A” – applied to another federally insured bank for its own PPP loan in the amount of $286,505, according to the affidavit. Johansson’s 85-year-old mother was listed as Company A’s owner on its PPP loan application, which was approved in the amount of $286,500. To create the impression that Western Distribution had spent more of its PPP loan on its payroll than it actually did, in September 2020 Johansson moved 21 of Company A’s employees onto Western Distribution’s payroll, even though those employees never worked for Western Distribution, the affidavit alleges. This allegedly occurred just before the company’s 24-week window for spending its PPP funds closed. As a result of this ruse, Western Distribution could falsely claim on its PPP loan forgiveness application in January 2021 that the company had met the requisite threshold of spending at least 60% of its PPP loan on payroll, according to the affidavit. In March 2021, Johansson allegedly caused Western Distribution to repeat the same fraudulent representations concerning its employee lists and payroll numbers when the company submitted a second PPP loan application, this time for $231,527. The second loan application was approved. The total loss alleged in this case is approximately $667,917. If convicted of both charges, Johansson would face a statutory maximum sentence of 70 years in federal prison. Houston trucker gets prison time for human smugglingA 32-year-old truck driver based in Houston, Texas, has been ordered to federal prison for conspiracy to transport illegal aliens, according to U.S. Attorney Jennifer B. Lowery in the Southern District of Texas. Brodrick Keith Rhodes pleaded guilty to the charge on April 7. He was ordered to serve a 50-month sentence in prison, immediately followed by three years of supervised release. In handing down the sentence, Judge Drew B. Tipton noted that Rhodes had transported an exceptionally high number of immigrants in his trailer. On Jan. 12, Rhodes arrived at the Freer Border Patrol checkpoint driving a truck with a reefer trailer. He claimed he was hauling lettuce, but authorities noticed discrepancies with his bill of lading. They also noted he appeared nervous and that the trailer was set to 30 degrees but with an internal temperature of 68. At secondary inspection, law enforcement ultimately found 119 immigrants in the trailer’s cargo area. Rhodes claimed he worked for a business in La Porte, Texas, but the bill of lading indicated he was transporting lettuce from a Laredo produce company to a location in Sugar Land, Texas. The business indicated Rhodes had never been employed with them nor do they even transport outside the Houston area. The other two companies confirmed they had no record of the shipment. The immigrants told authorities they had been taken to a truck and told to get in the trailer. It soon departed and did not stop until it reached the checkpoint. J.B. Hunt pledges $5 million donation to children’s hospitalJ.B. Hunt Transport Services (CCJ Top 250, No. 3), recently announced it would donate $1 million a year for the next five years to help fund the expansion of a children's hospital. This new commitment of $5 million brings J.B. Hunt’s total contribution to Arkansas Children’s Northwest to $10 million. The company made a $5 million leadership gift in 2016 to support the construction of ACNW, and this additional $5 million investment supports future capital expansion. The donation capped a $250 million campaign by the hospital. https://ift.tt/2ytPsnD World-class customer service is now an expectation from end-user consumers who have gotten used to clicking a button, ordering it now and having it at their doorstep tomorrow — or in some cases, later that same day. And now corporate decisions makers have a heightened sense of what constitutes good customer service having seen what is possible in their personal lives and migrating those expectations to their businesses. Unfortunately, too often customers service is seen as an output triggered when something goes wrong and a customer complains. In today’s competitive environment, that is a very short-sighted way to look at customer service. If you view customer service this way, you run the risk of missing out on growth opportunities with your existing customer base. A customer-centric organization is one that works hard every day to make sure that every interaction a customer has with the organization is positive. The idea of world-class customer service has to permeate the entire organization; from the very top of the organization all the way down so that every employee knows that taking care of the customer is their first priority — regardless of their job description. When you align sales with the rest of the organization, it allows you to deliver a more personalized customer experience, which will lead to better business outcomes. When your salespeople have better insight into how a customer has interacted with other employees in your organization, this allows them to see opportunities to grow business with that customer. It is common knowledge that when customers have a great experience with your business, they are more likely to be more loyal, buy more from you and share their experience with others. It is hard to put a price on the value of that kind of word-of-mouth “advertising.” In order to provide world-class customer service, your employees need to be able to adapt to new situations as they arise in order to respond to changing customer needs. They also need to leverage their knowledge of the customer to provide other associates within your organization with the support they need in their interactions with that customer. As a manager, it is your job to make sure all employees have the customer service training they need to best interact with your customers. A good customer experience is based on speed, convenience, consistency, friendliness, transparency and the human touch. When all those elements come together, it helps create real connection between you and your customers and that is how you gain loyalty and continued business. Doug Adamson is Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing at Transervice, overseeing the North American sales organization and directing all marketing efforts with a special focus on creating strategic initiatives for new business development. He has more than 25 years of experience in sales and sales management in all aspects of transportation, logistics and logistics design.
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