Bulk Freight News & Industry Updates - Stay Ahead in Trucking

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor | Feb 3, 2012 8:08PM GMT The Journal of Commerce Online - News Story Washington | Regulation | Infrastructure | Trucking | Government + Regulation | United States NASSTRAC-led group calls for less regulation, more highway funding About 170 shippers participating in a "fly-in" to deliver a pro-trucking message to Congress Feb. 1 arrived just as House Republicans unveiled a transportation plan. The trucking advocates arrived in Was

America's most astounding crop? Betty Fussell's "Corn: The Myths and History, The Culture and Agriculture, The Art and Science of America's Quintessential Crop" (357 pages, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1992) makes a strong case. Everything in a supermarket has been touched by corn -- everything! Corn grows in more places than any other grain, and produces more energy, quicker. "Anything made from a barrel of petroleum can be made from a bushel of corn." It hybridizes so easily that there are thou

Canadian cattlemen have a legitimate beef when they claim a negative impact on their industry from ethanol subsidies, says an Athens-area farmer. Kim Sytsma, Leeds County representative on the Ontario Cattlemen's Association, told The Recorder and Times Friday she supports the findings of a recent study that blames ethanol production for a $130-million rise in annual costs facing livestock producers across the country. "Livestock producers are not criticizing the grain farmers – they are t

As America struggles to reignite its flagging economy, a policy debate is raging in Washington, D.C. about how to increase our productivity, create jobs in our economy, and enhance our ability to compete globally. At the forefront of this debate is finding a workable solution to the nation's surface transportation infrastructure needs, and how that solution can bring productivity gains to all sectors of transportation to the benefit of every business and consumer. Among the issues being dis

Grain farmers in Ontario are disputing a report that suggests crop-based ethanol is diverting corn from livestock use. The Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) said that a report by the George Morris Centre, an independent agricultural think tank, is "falsely accusing" the ethanol industry of causing harm to livestock farmers. In a statement, the GFO said that, "Since one-third of the corn used for ethanol becomes livestock feed through an ethanol byproduct called distillers grain, the effect

By John Boyd & Megan Strader KWCH 12 Eyewitness News 9:21 p.m. CST, February 2, 2012 (ARLINGTON, Kan.)-- Firefighters at the Arlington Grain Elevator have given the all clear. An evacuation order has been lifted and nearby residents are returning home. Reno County Sheriff Randy Henderson says K-61 and the railroad through town will reopen shortly. Residents living within a quarter mile radius of the elevator were evacuated Thursday evening for fear of a second explosion. The headh

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- A former president of the Arkansas Farm Bureau and the former director of the Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission are among the five people being inducted into the Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame. The hall announced that the late Stanley Reed and the late Jon S. Fitch would be inducted at a March 9 ceremony in Little Rock. Reed, the former chairman of the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees, died in a car crash in July. Fitch, a former state senator, died of

Dozens of cattle were killed when a semi-trailer collided with a CN freight train in western Manitoba on Tuesday night. The accident happened at about 11 p.m. CT, at the point where the tracks cross Highway 5 just north of Carberry, Man. There was dense fog in the area at the time, according to police. "It was very messy. The train subsequently derailed," Cpl. Jerrid St. Pierre told CBC News on Wednesday. "Three of the cars struck a local Viterra elevator storage shed, causing substan

(Silver Spring, Md.) From transporting cattle through the desolate, sun baked roads of the Australian Outback to carrying fragile loads through the icy, treacherous Indian Himalayas, eight of the world's most experienced truck drivers go head to head in some of the harshest environments on earth in WORLD'S TOUGHEST TRUCKERpremiering Monday, February 13 at 10pm e/p following the season premiere of American Chopper on Discovery. Each journey/challenge lasts three days and contestants must face

While legendary financier Jim Rogers is bullish on agriculture , Archer Daniels Midland ( ADM , quote ) has been posting bearish results due to falling demand around the world for its products. The agribusiness conglomerate announced on January 31 that second-quarter net income had plunged 89%. Earnings were $80 million, or 12 cents per share, down from $732 million a year earlier. According to ADM Chairman and CEO Patricia Woertz, "The operating environment was challenging. Ongoing weakn

WASHINGTON -- A new highway bill introduced by U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr. would allow states to increase weight restrictions for tractor-trailers and allow one truck to haul three trailers. The American Energy Infrastructure Jobs Act, which encompasses a wide array of transportation legislation and would spend $260 billion over five years, is up for a committee vote this morning. To Duncan, R-Knoxville, chairman of the House Transportation Committee subcommittee on highways and transit,

Joe Cogliano DAYTON,Ohio (Dayton Business Journal) - County officials from around Ohio are mobilizing against a measure that would allow bigger trucks on the nation's roads. The U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is slated to vote Thursday on whether or not to allow bigger trucks, up to 97,000 pounds for single-trailer trucks and more than 100,000 pounds for double- and triple-trailer trucks on American roads. Currently, the limit is 80,000 pounds. Montgomery Coun

(Reuters) - Truck and engine maker Navistar International Corp (NAV.N) is joining forces with Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens in a bid to get more natural-gas-powered heavy trucks on U.S. roadways. While the bulk of the nation's heavy trucks are currently powered by more expensive diesel fuel, the pair is betting that abundant domestic supplies of natural gas will make it a viable alternative if they can overcome two supply problems: making trucks that burn the gas and building service stations

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor | Feb 1, 2012 8:42PM GMT The Journal of Commerce Online - News Story Truckload | Trucking | United States Broker reports 7 percent truckload volume growth through end of January Strong truckload demand pushed revenue up 10.4 percent in the fourth quarter to $2.6 billion at C.H. Robinson Worldwide, the largest U.S. freight broker. Truckload volume rose about 7 percent in the quarter from the previous year, though higher fuel costs cut i

GRAIN VALLEY, Mo., Feb. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Small-business truckers across the United States are speaking out against a provision in the proposed highway bill that would increase truck size and weight limits. Those increases, included in a draft legislation released by the U.S. House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, would not only compromise highway safety and infrastructure, but also lead to significant new cost increases for 90 percent of the trucking industry which is

MINNEAPOLIS and ST. PAUL, Minn., Feb. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Cargill and CHS Inc. (NASDAQ: CHSCP), announced today the two agribusiness companies are expanding the scope of their TEMCO LLC, grain export terminal joint venture to include other Pacific Northwest export assets owned by the companies. TEMCO, which operates an export facility in Tacoma, Wash., is a 50-50 joint venture between CHS and Cargill. The expanded joint venture will include the Tacoma facility along with an export te

Jan 31, 2012 9:55 AM, By Charles E Wilson Some dry freight drivers may be discovering that they are considered tank truck drivers by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). This means they could be cited during roadside inspections if they don't have a tank truck endorsement with their commercial driver license. Affected drivers work with truck fleets that transport intermediate bulk containers (IBCs) in van trailers or on flatbeds. FMCSA's requirement for a tank truck e

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) is gearing up to fight provisions in the House Republicans' long-awaited surface transportation bill that would allow states to increase truck size and weight limits. The bill to improve the nation's "crumbling" transportation infrastructure would accelerate road and bridge damage and result in taxpayer subsidies to the trucking industry, said AAR President and Chief Executive Officer Ed Hamberger in a prepared statement. The truck size and wei

State lawmakers will have to revisit the issue of raising the diesel tax in the 2013 legislative session. The Arkansas Trucking Association which supported, then deserted a diesel tax hike proposal last year, says it will try again to persuade legislators to support the tax. ATA President Lane Kidd says the tax will fund investment in state road and bridge repair. He says truckers pay at least 90 percent of the states diesel tax. Kidd says the ATA pulled their support of the tax propos

When Margarita Louis-Dreyfus took her 13-year-old twins on a weeklong trip to Brazil for school break in October 2010, it wasn't a beach-filled vacation. She and the boys donned coveralls and hard hats. Then they toured the ports, plantations and juice factories of their namesake company, Louis Dreyfus Holding BV, in a crash course on the world's biggest cotton and rice trader. It was uncommon terrain for Margarita. A self-described indifferent student, she says she studied law at Moscow

By Anthony Clark Staff writer Published: Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 6:57 p.m. Last Modified: Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 6:57 p.m. Veteran tractor-trailer drivers said Tuesday that cars regularly cut them off and make sudden stops while they are carrying a full load. The drivers who were resting after traversing a stretch of I-75 that was the scene of a deadly pileup Sunday morning involving several semis said that, from their experience, car drivers are usually at fau

CAMPION, Colo. -- Less than 24 hours after a major child sex-trafficking ring was busted in Colorado, truckers are taking action. A non-profit group called Truckers Against Trafficking is mobilizing drivers and educating them about the telltale signs of human trafficking. "Traffickers are recruiting kids out of our schools and out of shopping centers," said the group's national director, Kendis Paris. Paris said truckers are uniquely qualified to help law enforcement combat the problem. "T

Rice farmers are being reminded that grain quality is becoming more important to buyers. "The mills are starting to look at the quality of these different varieties," said Steve Linscombe, LSU AgCenter rice breeder, to north Louisiana rice farmers at their annual meeting on Jan. 26, adding that farmers with better quality rice may get a premium for their crop. The CL 152 variety, released in 2011, has better quality and more lodging resistance than CL 151, and it should yield slightly les

Officials at Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) said today earnings were $80 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31, down 89 percent from $732 million for the same period a year earlier. Net sales and other operating income for ADM's fiscal second quarter was $23.3 billion, down 11.4 percent from $20.9 billion for the same period a year earlier. ADM Chairman and CEO Patricia Woertz attributed the tough quarter to ongoing weakness in global oilseeds margins, lower results in corn a

Doug Haugen believes that losses from a fire that broke out at his business Sunday will be well over the initial estimate of $150,000. No one was injured in the fire at C.D. Haugen Trucking in Eckles Township. The fire was reported about 2:45 p.m. by a truck driver who returned to the site after completing a route and noticed smoke coming out of the building. The fire, according to Bemidji Fire Chief Dave Hoefer, began as a vehicle fire in one of the semi tractors. While the fire was conta

ALBANY--A commercial truck driver who was stopped by State Police for erratic operation on the NYS Thruway has been arrested for operating a motor vehicle with nearly four times the legal threshhold for intoxication. Police received a report of an erratic vehicle about 6 p.m. Sunday operating northbound on the Thruway in the area of Exit 22. Troopers located the vehicle which was transporting food products to Massachusetts. The troopers' subsequent interview and sobriety testing lead to

A California trucking tycoon has pledged £15k to enable a British youngster to fly the U.S. for life-changing surgery. Steve Towers, 52, first read about eight-year-old Theo Bishop's plight on the Lancashire Telegraph's website. Theo suffers from cerebral palsy, a neurological condition that can affect movement and co-ordination, and as a result he can only walk with a frame. A California trucking tycoon has pledged £15k so that Theo Bishop (pictured) can undergo life-changing surgery, e

(AP) SPICEWOOD, Texas -- Tanker trucks loaded with water have become the lifeline for a Texas lakefront village that came precariously close to becoming the state's first community to run out of drinking water during a historic drought. Spicewood got its first delivery of water Monday under dark clouds and rain. The 8,000-gallon water delivery arrived after it became clear the village's wells could no longer produce enough water to meet the needs of the Lake Travis community's 1,100 resident

CALGARY - Trimac Transportation Ltd. (TSX:TMA) plans to buy a majority interest in the parent of Fortress Transport Inc., which provides bulk transportation deliveries throughout Central Canada and in the United States. Financial terms for the acquisition weren't disclosed in Monday's announcement. Calgary-based Trimac is Canada's largest provider of bulk trucking services with operations from coast to coast. It also does repairs, maintenance and cleaning for its own fleet and other com

The family of an Arkansas teenager who died after being hit by a tractor-trailer in Texas last year has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the driver of the truck and his employer. The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas alleged the driver of the tractor-trailer, Marc Simard, was talking on a cellphone shortly before the Aug. 19 accident along Interstate 30 near Hooks, Texas, that killed Tommie Roden, the Texarkana Gazette reported for a story in Sunday