Bulk Freight News & Industry Updates - Stay Ahead in Trucking

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14, 2011 -- /PRNewswire/ -- With pending legislation and advocacy issues threatening to dramatically raise transportation and supply chain costs, more than 10 industry associations have agreed to participate in a pro-trucking Washington fly-in on Feb. 1. This industry-wide event, called "Stand Up For Trucking," will bring together scores of transportation executives and key stakeholders in trucking. This orchestrated effort is historic because both shippers and carriers are work

December 15, 2011 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Referred to as "80,000-pound unguided missiles" by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, semi trucks pose a significant safety risk to all drivers and passengers on America's highways and byways. While the safety risk will always be there because of the sheer size of these vehicles, the danger created by 18-wheelers is increased when drivers engage in certain negligent or preventable behaviors, such as distracted driving or driving while fatigued. A deadl

tanker truck filled with thousands of gallons of gasoline exploded on the 60 Freeway in Montebello early Wednesday afternoon, damaging the roadway and overpass and shutting down a major transportation artery in one of the busiest vehicle corridors in the nation. The 60 was closed in both directions between the 710 and 605 freeways. Late Wednesday, the California Highway Patrol said the freeway would remain closed at least through the Thursday morning commute. State transportation officials

The owners of an Oklahoma trucking company were indicted Wednesday on charges of conspiring to defraud the United States. Related content Documents Trucking company owners accused of stealing jet fuel being delivered to military bases in Oklahoma and Texas. View the document. Doyle and Cynthia Latimer, of Elgin, are accused of stealing jet fuel bound for U.S. Air Force bases and Army posts in Oklahoma and Texas between November 2001 and February 2007. "It's all hogwas

GAYLORD, MI -- If you're looking for a job, listen up, a Michigan company is looking to hire you for the long haul. We have new information tonight from the truck-driving industry where job outlook appears strong. "The hours can be long some days, traffic can make a difference," explains truck driver Rob Pickett. Pickett will be the first to tell you it's not the career for everyone. "Definitely have to have the temperament. The way some people act in cars, they act sometimes like y

A former Arrow Trucking executive, Joseph Mowry, 45, of Houston, TX, was found dead in his home early Monday, Dec. 12. Mowry had served as the secretary and general counsel for the Tulsa-based flatbed carrier until its collapse in December of 2009. An autopsy was performed on Mowry on Tuesday, Dec. 13. Roxanne Mena, forensic investigator supervisor for the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences, told Land Line on Wednesday that the cause of Mowry's death has not been determined yet.

In a year of record agricultural earnings in the U.S., Steve Ruh spent a chunk of his income to build what's become an increasingly common sight at farms across the Midwest -- grain storage bins. The Illinois corn grower started with 250,000 bushels (2 million gallons) of storage capacity in 2009 and added 100,000 this year to avoid wasting precious harvest time in line at grain elevators. He can now hold crops in gluts, hoping to sell at higher prices when grain is scarcer, and is storing h

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- At the Port of Oakland, operations are slowly getting back to normal, after protesters forced a partial shutdown on Monday. But some of the very workers that demonstrators said they wanted to help wish the whole thing had never happened. One of the organizers said, "I think the protest went pretty well yesterday. We would say a huge success actually." Those words from a member of the organizing committee come one day after the march that shut down much of the P

ST. LOUIS, Mo.--Bunge North America, the North American operating arm of Bunge Limited, created Bunge ETGO L.P., a joint venture company with Twin Rivers Technologies Enterprises de Transformation de Graines Oleagineuses du Quebec Inc. (TRT-ETGO), a subsidiary of Felda Global Ventures Holdings Sdn Bhd of Malaysia. The joint venture combines the commercial activities related to the crushing and refining operations of Bunge's Hamilton, Ontario plant and TRT-ETGO's plant located in Bécancour, Quebe

Despite a few bumps along the way, the domestic intermodal segment has enjoyed a respectable to solid 2011. And if the railroads' 2012 and 2013 battle plans are any indication, the industry expects more of the same from the domestic front. Through October, domestic equipment loads--defined as an intermodal movement handled by rail--hit 600,000 loads, up from 560,000 through the same period in 2010, according to the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA), the trade group for the conti

After a late planting season for many local farmers, nature delivered enough of what was needed to raise better than expected yields, but that doesn't necessarily mean better than average profits, they say. "When the combines started rolling, we had better than average yields. ... Now the prices are down from the overall economy and nervousness of investors," West Creek Township farmer Dan Sutton said. "Not many farmers here are selling now. They're hoping it will come back, so they're putti

CARLYLE -- A Clinton County grain elevator operator has pleaded guilty to two counts of mail fraud and could face up to 20 years for each offense. John Kniepmann, 47, of Breese, entered his plea Monday in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis for offenses committed during an 11-month period in 2007-08, when he defrauded and withheld information from the Illinois Department of Agriculture and a bank. During his plea, Kniepmann admitted that in December 2006, he falsely increased an insura

Emboldened by federal legislation allowing Maine and Vermont to keep 97,000-pound trucks rumbling on their interstate highways, Kraft Foods and Home Depot are pressing more states to follow. Companies including Kraft, which says its trucks would drive 33 million fewer miles a year with higher weight limits nationwide, say they need to carry loads more efficiently to combat high diesel-fuel prices. Safety advocates say more heavy trucks would accelerate an increase in truck-related accident d

China and India remain big factors in whether or not the current good times in agriculture will continue, according to a panel of finance lenders at the National Grain & Feed Assn. Annual Country Elevator Meeting held Dec. 11-13 in Chicago, Ill. Dan O'Neill, managing director and head of MetLife Investments' agricultural portfolio unit, said in the grain sector, one must be mindful of the capacity to produce and respond to emerging markets' growing demand. "People in China and India may fo

Trucking companies from across the country volunteered their services this month to deliver donated wreaths to veterans' tombstones in conjunction with Wreaths Across America. Wreaths Across America, a nonprofit organization, coordinates wreath-laying ceremonies each year at Arlington National Cemetery and at other veterans' cemeteries and locations throughout the nation and beyond. On Saturday, about 90,000 wreathes were placed at veterans' headstones in Arlington, the most in Wreaths Acr

Recent industry reports indicate that truck capacity continues to tighten, according to Peter Nesvold. Nesvold, an analyst with Jefferies Equity Research Americas, reasons there is a "further tightening of trucking capacity" under way and that the firm is "hearing that the strength in demand continued through November." To support that analysis Nesvold pointed to seasonally adjusted (SA) truckload volumes, as recently released by the American Trucking Assns. (ATA), exceeding expectat

An Illinois farmer made so much money this year he made loan payments on one tractor a year in advance and exchanged some older ones for newer models. An Iowa farmer upgraded his combine and also paid off debt, while an elderly Oregon farmer poured into retirement funds a bundle of his $2 million take from a well-timed sale of much of his turf and equipment. While much of America worries about the possibility of a double-dip recession, such stories of prosperity are cropping up as U.S. far

Launched earlier this year, Drive Axle has already gained a reputation in the trucking industry for enabling truck drivers to scan and send freight documents using iPhone and Android smartphones. Now, in addition to capturing freight documents within minutes of delivery, small trucking companies can also store and manage those documents online. "Small trucking companies are drowning in a sea of paper." said Kevin Survance, Eleos CEO. "Many owners dream of going paperless, but scanning and ind

A University of Wisconsin-Madison analysis of the emissions generated from shipping freight via truck or by train shows that shipping by train delivers a big reduction in CO2 emissions. Researcher Erica Bickford said much of the environmental benefit boils down to simple efficiency. For each ton of freight they carry, trucks go about 150 miles on a gallon of diesel whereas trains can move the same load more than 400 miles per gallon. "There's a 31 percent decrease in carbon dioxide pr

Independent truck drivers from all over the Netherlands plan a go slow on the roads on Monday morning in protest at what they say is unfair competition from eastern European drivers, the NRC reports. Between 11.00 and 12.00 hours, truckers will drive no faster than 60 kph in an effort to draw attention to their campaign to improve safety standards and introduce a level playing field. They argue eastern European truckers can get a heavy goods vehicle driving licence within two hours, while

It seems like a done deal except for the specifics: The 60 Freeway - like an industrial belt holding up the San Gabriel Valley's economy - is a straight, flat shot from the twin ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles via the Alameda Corridor to the warehouses of Industry and the Inland Empire. It's a dream for truckers because there's hardly any grade to climb, unlike the 10 and 210 freeways. So it was not surprising that Southern California Association of Governments approved a double-decker

CHAMAN, Pakistan • Sleeping in a freezing cab, running out of money and worried about militant attacks, Ghulab is one of thousands of truck drivers stranded as a result of Pakistan's blockade of the Afghan border to NATO and U.S. war supplies. But they and the businessmen who run what has been a lucrative trade for most of the last decade say they support the decision to shut the frontier in retaliation for coalition airstrikes almost two weeks ago that killed 24 Pakistani troops in two remot

Dawn Transportation, Inc, formed in 1999, is a transportation and logistics brokerage firm based in Battle Ground Washington. D.T.I services diversified freight movements; specializing in Hopper and Self Unloading (dry bulk), Vans and Flat Bed loads throughout the United States and Canada. Dawn Transportation services both national and local accounts. Client references are available upon request. The Dawn Transportation Inc. staff has an equivalent of 50 years experience in the transporta

Some people believe in tillage, others in no-till. Some people believe in planning; others in fate. Ask an American farmer if he believes a big part of his destiny includes feeding the world, and he'll likely say, "Yep." The answer is quick and sincere because somewhere in every farmer and rancher's makeup is a "feed the world" gene. Our fathers probably picked it up back in the 1970s. They passed it to us, and now it's just part of our DNA. But believe as we may, the numbers – here, th

Port seeks comment on draft environmental impact report on export site The Port of Long Beach released the draft environmental impact report on a proposal to build a grain export facility at the Total Terminals International container terminal at Pier T. The export facility would transfer grain from rail cars into marine containers. It would have a capacity of 750,000 to 1.5 million tons of grain per year, and would utilize existing rail and container shipping facilities on Pier T. H

A busy street in downtown Kennesaw remained closed Friday night after a tractor-trailer got stuck on a railroad grade crossing and was hit by a freight train, police said. Channel 2 Action News A tractor-trailer was slammed by a train in Kennesaw after the truck became stuck on the tracks. No one was hurt as the driver escaped before the collision. . The crash happened about 6 p.m. after a westbound Atlanta Foods International truck got hung up on the Cherokee Street crossing of the CSX

I am a Canadian wheat and barley producer; who values and respects democratic process. I want to protect the environment, preserve wild life habitat and I am very concerned about climate change The Harper government is intent on destroying our Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) (BillC-18) before Canadians have time to become aware of the negative effects this fundamental change to grain marketing will have on the environment and many other aspects of Canadian life and our food. IMPACT ON THE ENV

WILKESBORO -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration issued a ruling Friday that increases certain protections for poultry and hog farmers. One change sets criteria for determining whether or not it is unlawful for a company to require growers to make expensive upgrades. Typically in the poultry industry, the poultry company owns the chickens and the processing plant, but the farmer owns the farm and makes capital investments to the c

Shifting a fraction of truck-borne freight onto trains would have an outsized impact on air quality in the Midwest, according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Much of that impact boils down to simple efficiency, according to Erica Bickford, a graduate student in UW–Madison's Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. For each ton they carry, long-distance trucks go about 150 miles on a gallon of diesel fuel. Trains can move a ton more than 400 miles per gallon. Shi

An 80-year-old woman in Lynn, Mass., faces charges after she fed the birds at her local pond. Town officials have filed criminal charges against Claire Butcher after she repeatedly violated a local ordinance that prohibits feeding the birds. But Butcher couldn't seem to stay away from her winged friends and has been charged with violating a 2009 No Tresspass Order that prohibited her from visiting local parks. In the years since the order went into effect, police said they contin

An 8.7% spike in the number of people killed in crashes involving large trucks in 2010 compared to 2009 is igniting debate on several fronts – regulatory and otherwise – concerning the trend line where trucking safety is concerned. While the Dept. of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that 32,885 people died in U.S. motor vehicle traf­fic crashes in 2010 – a 2.9% decline from the 33,803 killed in 2009 and the lowest number of highway fatalities si

What is going to happen with 2012 trucking rates? It is budget time for many companies. The question of rates and costs is always on the minds of logistics leaders, but more so in the last quarter of the year (in October for most retailers) as they put together their budgets for the next fiscal year. Many good shippers use benchmark processes on their performance, employing the data processed by Chainalytics and Transcore for contract truckload services. Other shippers will turn to their

A man was run over by a semi-truck and killed at a grain export terminal at Kalama. The Cowlitz County sheriff's office says 23-year-old Harold J. Cozine of Dayton, Ore., was a passenger in another truck that had stopped Wednesday at CHS Inc. He got out, stepped backward into a moving semi-truck and was run over by the trailer. He died at the scene of internal injuries. The Daily News reports ( http://is.gd/xyqdOL) the driver of the moving truck was not aware of the accident and will not

OTTAWA, ONTARIO, Dec 07, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- The Canadian Trucking Alliance is hailing today's Canada-US border agreement announced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and US President Barack Obama as a historic achievement that takes meaningful steps to bringing the Canada-US border into the 21st century. Trucks are the major mode of transborder freight transport between the world's largest bilateral trading partners. "This is a great day for the trucking industry and the trade com

In the last few weeks I have heard a lot about the trucking industry as being a business that has a lot of greed and selfishness to it. This is not so. I am a trucker who has only been in it for a few years and understands what truckers have to go through. I have driven in a few industries, including school bus, oil field, construction and over-the-road (OTR). In each of these it has become apparent to me that not only do regular vehicles (which I will call four-wheelers from here on out in this

EUGENE, Ore. -- Harold Chase, 54, from Springfield plead guilty to wire fraud on Wednesday. Chase sold more than 4.2 million pounds of corn that was falsely labeled as organic. By using a false label, Chase was able to double his profits, and sold the corn for more than $450,000. Most of the corn was purchased by companies that would use it as organic feed for livestock. Chase sold 4.2 million pounds to Grain Millers, Inc., a company from Minnesota. To hide the false claims of organic

The first thing you notice when you focus on the trucking industry is that it has mostly recovered from the Great Recession. Such is the read you get from looking at the ATA Truck Tonnage Index, which you can check over at Calculated Risk. Then, if you turn your focus to the trucking stocks - namely those with a market capitalization over $300 million (which excludes those such as YRC Worldwide [YRCW], that went under because of the Great Recession), you notice a few more things: Many of t

KITCHENER -- Witnesses to a fiery crash on Highway 8 late Monday night said they're amazed no one was killed. Two vehicles -- a car and a transport truck -- were involved in the crash that closed the eastbound lanes of the highway for about eight hours. Despite a blaze that consumed the cab of the truck and sent flaming fuel running down the road, both drivers escaped serious injury. "We thought the truck driver was dead," said Janelle Brouwer, who was driving behind the truck on the sl

The Federal Reserve Board of Governors said it has appointed Paul DeBruce to another year-long term as chairman of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank. DeBruce is CEO of DeBruce Grain in Kansas City, Mo. The board of governors said it has appointed Barbara Mowry, CEO of GoreCreek Advisors in Colorado, as deputy chair. View Original Post

MUSCAT: Producers of animal feed, including poultry feed in the country are eagerly waiting for a government decision on subsidy, in view of administered price for these products. Dozens of animal feed producers, including major players like Oman Flour Mills, have already presented their case to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, seeking financial assistance, similar to those available for cement and wheat flour makers. It is learnt that the government is considering the proposal and

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. announced that it has been selected by Con-way Truckload, the North American full-truckload transportation subsidiary of Con-way Inc., as its principal supplier of wide-base truck tires for its fleet of 2,700 tractors and 8,000 trailers. Con-way Truckload says it has converted its tractors and more than 90 percent of its trailer fleet to wide-base tires. Con-way Truckload selected Goodyear's G392 SSD drive and G394 SST trailer wide-base tires, both of which con

ARLINGTON, VA, and MINNEAPOLIS, MINN., DECEMBER 5, 2011 – Cargill Animal Nutrition of Wooster, Ohio, is the 2011 Feed Mill of the Year, as named by the American Feed Industry Association and Feedstuffs, the sponsors of the annual program. Southern States Cooperative's Winchester Mill in Winchester, Ky., is the runner-up. "Wooster," as the winning plant is known, is managed by Susanna Wright, only the second female plant manager to win Feed Mill of the Year. She described of the honor, "To be

Production increases and the re-opening of the Suncor refinery plant in Edmonton may soon provide relief from the headaches Western Canada's diesel shortage have given farmers and truckers in recent weeks. Ted Stoner, vice-president of the western Canadian division of the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute, said problems with western Canadian diesel supply started in October. A fire at the Consumers Co-operative Refineries (CCRL) facility in Regina caused diesel production to fall by 20 p

Two men have died in the collision of a freight train and a dump truck in southwestern Missouri. The Missouri Highway Patrol identifies the victims as the truck's driver, 34-year-old Chad Lee, of Ava, and his father, 58-year-old Gary Lee, of Seymour. The accident happened shortly after 8 a.m. Monday. The patrol says the dump truck was crossing the railroad tracks on a Webster County road about one mile east of Seymour when it was hit broadside by the Burlington Northern train. Patrol of

NEW YORK, NY, Dec 06, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Railroad stocks have performed well in recent months as better than expected freight data has renewed optimism in the industry. Tight truck capacity and high fuel costs have also benefited the sector by leading a shift in the way the economy transports its goods. The Bedford Report examines the outlook for companies in the Railroads Industry and provides research reports on CSX Corporation /quotes/zigman/223740/quotes/nls/csx CSX -0.73% and U

A new bank in Reading opened today and accepted new customers while Reading Grain & Lumber started to get back to normal. "We are getting computer systems and bugs worked out," said Jaret Moyer, the president of the Citizens State Bank & Trust Co. in Reading. "...We've had a good stream of customers come in all day today. "We have been opening accounts... Just doing all the transactions and even talked to some people about some loans. It's been a busy first day, but that is exciting." T

The departments of Agriculture and the Navy announced plans Monday to buy 450,000 gallons of non-food biofuels -- at a cost of $16 per gallon -- in what will be the largest federal purchase of biofuels in U.S. history. The purchase is being authorized by an executive order under the Obama administration's "we can't wait" campaign. Administration officials gave no indication why they're not going through Congress, instead using a program that was established to promote rapid job growth b

Lee Enterprises Consulting of Little Rock, Ark., announced the formation of a strategic alliance with FCStone Merchant Services LLC, a subsidiary of INTL FCStone Inc., a Fortune 500 company. FCStone Merchant Services provides feedstock financing for plants to help them produce maximum capacity. Affiliate FCStone's Renewable Fuels Group's expertise covers the entire spectrum of activities related to renewable fuels, ranging from a full understanding of both inputs--grains, oilseeds/fats and energ

The Tower came crashing down during a planned demolition but wasn't supposed to fall into the river. View Original Post

If a company leases 300 tractor-trailers from John Flynn, president and CEO of Fleet Advantage, the fleet operator will be able to tell, on a daily basis, what kind of fuel economy each tractor is getting, how far it has been driven, if it's performing efficiently and how well -- or badly -- the driver is handling the $100,000+ rig. Using data provided by Fleet Advantage computers installed on each tractor, customers also will be able to decide how long they can economically operate each uni

Crete Carrier Corp. wants to know how well its drivers are sleeping. The Lincoln-based parent company of three trucking operations -- Crete Carrier, Shaffer Trucking and Hunt Transportation -- is one of the transportation firms doing more to ensure that its drivers are healthy and alert when they hit the highway. That means providing information about wellness, both online and at terminals around the country, along with offering blood pressure and heart rate testing. But it also means offe

HYDERABAD: One worker died and three others had a narrow escape after they fell into slush at a poultry feed manufacturing unit at Shamirpet, near here, on Friday. The accident took place at Vimala Feeds which manufactures poultry feed from maize corn and other ingredients. "There are three large overground tank-like structures, each 10 metres high, which can store nearly 3,500 quintals of feed," Secunderabad station fire officer Vijay Kumar said. When maize corn is mixed with other ingred

Gavilon LLC of Omaha, Neb., plans to import palm and coconut oils through the Port of Stockton and will build a facility near the waterfront to process, store and distribute the edible oils. After completion in 2013, the facility is expected to employ about 20 full-time workers, port officials said. "It's a state-of-the-art vegetable oil processing and distribution facility," Port Director Richard Aschieris said. "I'm very pleased to have a company that is this formidable, that could have

The threat of a rail strike has been averted until at least Feb. 8, and looking at the big picture, the freight picked up by trucking during a strike would be offset by the overall harm to the entire freight movement sector, said a representative of a major trucking stakeholder. "Nobody sees this as being great for business," said Curtis Whalen, executive director of the American Trucking Associations' Intermodal Motor Carriers Conference. "To me, the more rails move, the more ocean frei

The for-hire trucking industry added 3,600 new payroll employees in November, according to preliminary numbers released Friday, Dec. 2, by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. BLS, however, revised downward its preliminary figures for October by 600 jobs. Compared to November 2010, trucking employment is up by 33,800 jobs, or 2.7 percent. Payroll employment is up by 62,600 jobs, or 5.1 percent, since the bottom of trucking employment in March 2010. The number of trucking jobs -- nearly 1.29 milli

Dangerous interstates in the Phoenx area have been the site of several series trucking accidents recently. December 04, 2011 /24-7PressRelease/ -- On a heavily-traveled section of Interstate 10 between Phoenix and Tucson, disaster struck on September 8. An eastb

The National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) in the United States has urged Congress to prepare to enact emergency legislation to avert a potentially 'calamitous' national freight rail strike that could occur at the start of Tuesday December 6. President Obama on Oct. 6 established a Presidential Emergency Board and an additional cooling-off period to provide time for the nation's Class I railroads and unions to reach agreement. Subsequent negotiations resulted in agreements be

Considering the United States Postal Service's well-documented financial struggles, it's no surprise that it's looking to follow in the footsteps of some public transportation fleets by selling ads on some of its vehicles. As part of a pilot program, USPS and advertising partner, Denver-based Lighted Promotions -- which installs lighted outdoor ads on big rigs -- have sold advertising on the back of 17,000 USPS freight trucks in 11 states. Advertising on the trucks cost $500 to $600 for

Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011 – Truckers stand to pick up more freight, with higher rates, in the next week or so as shippers brace for a possible strike in the freight-rail industry. Strike action by railroad unions could happen Dec. 6, and shippers are already taking precautions by diverting freight to long-haul trucks. One industry analyst says that certain segments in trucking could capitalize on the situation, including expediters, owner-operators and fleets that specialize in team driving.

Nov. 30 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. consumers would pay higher food prices under a proposed regulation limiting truck drivers' hours, a grocery executive told a House panel. Food stores would pay 3 percent more for shipping, Glen Keysaw, executive director of transportation and logistics of Associated Food Stores Inc., a retail cooperative based in Salt Lake City, told the House oversight committee's regulatory subcommittee in Washington today. "This industry operates on a razor-thin margin," Ke

The Scoular Company's food ingredient business has expanded its product offering to include new innovative soy ingredients for manufacturers of functional foods and nutraceuticals. The ingredients are produced by Soy Labs, LLC, for which Scoular will serve as a North American marketing partner, the company announced today. The addition of Soy Labs' products to Scoular's existing product line is a natural extension of Scoular's portfolio of ingredients suited for supplements, beverages and ba

Grain trading has moved into its typical pre-holiday mode with outside market action being the primary driver of prices. There really will not be any fundamental news of significance until the key January 12 government reports are furnished. On that day USDA will release the monthly supply-demand report, the final crop production figures for 2011, the first estimate of 2012 U.S. winter wheat seedings, and the quarterly grain stocks report as of December 1. The stocks report has become quite

Both students and professionals now have the opportunity to enroll in a new online course in grain basis trading that will be offered in the spring semester of 2012 through the University of Arkansas Global Campus. The course is the result of a longtime collaboration between the university's Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences and White Commercial Corp. of Stuart, Fla., a leading grain advisory company. Advertisement . Basis trading describes the proc

TULSA, Okla. – Horses could soon be butchered in the U.S. for human consumption after Congress quietly lifted a 5-year-old ban on funding horse meat inspections, and activists say slaughterhouses could be up and running in as little as a month. Slaughter opponents pushed a measure cutting off funding for horse meat inspections through Congress in 2006 after other efforts to pass outright bans on horse slaughter failed in previous years. Congress lifted the ban in a spending bill President Bar

Monmouth, Ill. -- MONMOUTH -- It is official. Tuesday Consolidated Grain and Barge, Inc. (CGB) announced the purchase of Twomey Co. by CGB for an undisclosed price. CGB purchased all of the grain and fertilizer assets owned by Twomey which consists of eight locations, including the barge loading terminal near Gladstone. Twomey's total storage capacity is 51 million bushels as well as 18,000 tons of liquid fertilizer capacity. Former Twomey Co. President Craig Twomey said he will

Finally, the suffering Canadians have endured relating to the mind-numbing discussion over the Canadian Wheat Board's future appears close to an end. Much to the consternation of the Selinger government and its socialist friends, a bill to end the board's monopoly on grain farmers in Western Canada sailed through the House of Commons on Monday. All that's standing in the way of ending the CWB's single-desk system now are a few weeks of meaningless debate in the Tory-dominated Senate and the

OMAHA, Neb., Nov 30, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Gavilon, LLC today announced plans to construct an edible oil processing, transloading and storage facility in Stockton, California. The company will partner with Wilmar International Limited, Asia's leading agribusiness company, to import and process palm, coconut and palm kernel oils to serve the California and neighboring West Coast markets. "Our partnership with the leading producer of palm and lauric oils brings unique product and logistic of

A New Hampshire pedestrian is dead after being struck by a state Department of Transportation truck in Keene. The accident occurred on Route 9 north just before noon. Transportation Department spokesman Bill Boynton said the victim is a 52-year-old man. He said the accident occurred at a point where the city of Keene plans to build a pedestrian bridge over the highway to permit safe passage between two segments of a recreation trail. The victim was struck by a 10-wheel-truck hauling

Safety Groups, Victims and Survivors, and Labor Urge Congress Not to Bow to Special Interests on Life and Death Safety Issue WASHINGTON, Nov. 30, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Safety groups, families of truck crash victims, and labor today joined U.S. Representatives Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) and Jackie Speier (D-CA) at a press conference to support revising the truck driver hours of service (HOS) rule to reduce driver fatigue, a major safety issue. A House Oversight and Government Reform S

FARM groups that are enthusiastic supporters of legislation to create an open market for wheat and barley say hundreds of millions of dollars of Canadian Wheat Board assets should be returned to farmers, instead of being spent on CWB windup costs, as the federal government plans. With Ottawa's bill to end the CWB's monopoly closer to royal assent, pent-up demand from farm industry supporters of the bill was palpable at Monday's annual general meeting of the Grain Growers of Canada in Winnipeg

With tears and anger, grieving friends and family of some of the Toronto cyclists who have died in truck accidents are lending their support to a federal private member's bill that would make side guards mandatory on heavy trucks in Canada. "The Canadian government has a responsibility to ensure the safety of its citizens. Side guards are a no-brainer, like seatbelts and airbags," said Karen MacNeil Hartmann, whose husband, cyclist Ulrich Hartmann, was killed by a cement truck on Sept. 11, 20

DeBruce Grain recently sold its Creston Bean Processing plant to CHS Inc. of Inver Grove Heights, Minn. (CNA photo by KYLE WILSON) DeBruce Grain Inc. of Creston recently sold its bean plant operation to CHS Inc. -- a leading energy, grains and foods company based in Inver Grove Heights, Minn. DeBruce officials said Wednesday "it's been a real easy transition" so far for the 32 employees at the Creston facility, and no jobs will be lost during the process. Officials also said DeBruce wil

Police and Alabama ABC enforcement agents seized approximately 4,360 lbs. of raw substances used in making the synthetic marijuana drug known as "spice" valued at $19.5 million thanks to a tip from a Loxley, AL, trucking company, according to a Baldwin Country Now news report. Included in the seizure were approximately 200 boxes of materials such as packaging, labels and sealer, among others, needed to dispense the drug. The trucking company, which was not identified by authorities, conta

A key component of the air cargo business never even gets off the ground. Following the terrorist attacks in 2001, airlines began reducing aircraft sizes on domestic routes in response to lower passenger demand. This created less belly space for large cargo, which forced shipments onto trucks, creating the rise of ground transportation. Due to the recession, today's shippers continue to opt for these less expensive trucking options. Transportation experts warn, however, that as our the U.S

Despite poor first-quarter results and a volatile business environment, Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) is undervalued enough to justify opening a long position. The manufacturer, processor and transporter of agricultural commodities has built up solid fundamentals (relatively) and is, in my view, unreasonably discounted to the competition. With management committed to returning free cash flow to shareholders and a low beta, ADM is an attractive defensive play. Risk-averse investors should

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has released a final rule that will allow commercial drivers to continue hands-free cell phone use, but will bar operating handheld cell phones while driving. The new rule still will permit truck and bus drivers to use handheld cells after they have moved their vehicles to the side of or off of a highway or have stopped where the vehicle can safely remain stationary. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the Pipeline and Hazardous Ma

If you have ever spent a long hot day on the end of a No. 10 grain scoop, scooping wheat out of or into a truck or barn, this column should trigger a few memories. After the Dust Bowl ended, ample rain fell, leaving few farmers prepared to cope with abundant crops. Most farmers were too poor to purchase new equipment, so harvesting and grain hauling machinery were stretched to their limits. Almost everything that was done required a lot of hand labor. Our first grain truck was a well-used fo

Companies servicing the oil sector in southeast Saskatchewan are feeling the heat resulting from a diesel shortage across the Prairies. Diminished diesel fuel inventories, combined with a seasonally higher demand spike from the agricultural, oil and gas, and northern B.C. forestry sectors, has placed a significant strain on diesel supply in Western Canada. Drivers pulling up at cardlock systems are seeing pumps shutting off at 300 litres, as a daily diesel purchase limit was instituted in

SIKESTON, Mo. -- A group of Sikeston-area truck drivers says helping provide toys to local children has become a tradition for them, and their kindness is beginning to catch on within the community. In its first year nine years ago, Truckers for Kids served 12 children in Southeast Missouri. Last year the family-run not-for-profit organization supplied 128 children from 28 schools with Christmas gifts. Children from several counties including Scott, New Madrid, Mississippi and Stoddard have be

A Crown Point man, likely distracted by commotion on the highway, slams his SUV into the back of a semitrailer more than 13 times heavier than his vehicle. The man dies in the accident, leaving behind a wife and two teenage daughters. A trucker on a nighttime cargo haul nods off at the wheel, and his semitrailer careens off the road. No one is killed or injured --this time. Distracted and fatigued drivers of semis and passenger vehicles are main culprits of accidents involving heavy

If you want to learn about the social responsibilities of business, don't start by looking at Walmart, Apple and GM. Companies with hundreds of thousands of employees and millions of customers make an enormous number of decisions every day. Their impacts are many and varied. Their relationships are complex. They're worth considering, but they are a lousy place to start. Much better to start small, with a more tractable set of problems. We should look, for example, at the world of small, inde

For several months, FBI agents in Southern California watched as large duffel bags and boxes changed hands in parking lots, homes and at a busy truck stop - part of an investigation into the lucrative trafficking of cocaine from Mexico to Canada. The details are contained in a just-released FBI affidavit. Cocaine is the most common illicit good intercepted in commercial trucks entering Canada, according to an RC-MP intelligence report. The 2010 report, obtained by Vancouver freelance

Bob Sherman is 1,700 miles from his Michigan home, eating Thanksgiving dinner at a Salt Lake City truck stop while talking to a complete stranger in the next booth, Jim Arnold, who is 1,100 miles from his home in Missouri. "We're both truck drivers, so we talk," Sherman says, flashing a toothy grin shining through a long beard. "I drive a refer [refrigerated truck], so I haul food -- beef, cheese, berries. So a lot of what people are eating for Thanksgiving, maybe I hauled it for them."

PRESTON - Choptank Transport recently was named the 2011 Best Broker of the Year by the National Association of Small Trucking Companies (NASTC) at its annual conference in Nashville, Tenn. "Receiving this prestigious award from NASTC is an honor and is a direct reflection of our talented staff working diligently with our excellent carriers to satisfy the needs of our customers," said Geoff Turner, president and CEO of the Preston-based full-service logistics provider. NASTC represents mor

After driving hundreds of miles, the last thing Roy Williams, a truck driver from Denton, Texas, wanted to do was exercise. After a day trapped in the cab, stopping only to gorge on greasy fare at truck stops, who could think of working out? But once he ballooned to 405 pounds, he knew he had to make a change. So last year, Williams, 58, did something all too rare for someone in his profession: He embarked on a diet and exercise program. The six-pack of Coca-Cola he drank each day? Gon

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- Officially, the national weight limit for freight trucks on interstate highways is 40 tons. In reality, trucks are getting heavier in more states -- legally -- and advocates for highway safety and the trucking industry are sharply at odds about it. Trucks heavier than 80,000 pounds are allowed to operate on federal highways in at least 20 states. Congress added Maine and Vermont to the list last week, granting exceptions to allow trucks up to 100,000 pounds on intersta

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Public Citizen and the Sierra Club filed suit Wednesday to block Mexican trucks from operating in the United States. Late last month, the first Mexican trucks began entering the United States under a long-delayed pilot program. The issue has been a major point of contention between U.S. labor unions and the Mexican government. "Opening the border to these dangerous, dirty trucks is an attack on highway safety, an attack on American truckers and

Nov. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Near-record prices for Thanksgiving turkeys may do little to boost profit for some U.S. producers after a surge in spending on feed grain. The average cost of corn, the primary feed ingredient, jumped 58 percent this year from 2010 and is headed for an all- time high, erasing the benefit of retail turkeys that the government says averaged $1.59 a pound this year, up 6.4 percent from last year. About 70 percent of the cost of raising each bird is feed, farmers say.

http://www.ehow.com/video_2370706_plan-thanksgiving-transportation.html Next step in surviving a big family Thanksgiving, don't avoid it, is dealing with transportation logistics. How are people going to get there? There are tons of tips and strategies on how to travel at the holiday. I'm not going to go into all that, but what I am going to say is be aware of how people are getting to your Thanksgiving table, or beware of how you're going to get there if you're the one who's traveling. If th

Load board scams have run rampant in the transportation industry for a few years now. Carriers and brokers who are tired of losing money to scammers have implemented the only tactic available to them: a non-paid freight fee. However, this fee has not deterred scammers from proliferating and has only increased costs to all parties involved in transporting a load. Unfortunately, the current lethargic economic conditions have also contributed to an upsurge in scams as the unemployed have looked

As the nightly winter weather forecasts begin to drift into problems related to snow storms, roads closed to trucks and jack-knifed semis, others are looking at severe weather as a golden, if chilly, opportunity. Perhaps topping the list is the idea floated forth in a New York Times piece from Michael Ravnitzky, chief counsel to the chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission. In it, he suggested that the U.S. Postal Service's fleet of vehicles could be used as a massive data collection

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Livestock farmers are demanding a change in the nation's ethanol policy, claiming current rules could lead to spikes in meat prices and even shortages at supermarkets if corn growers have a bad year. The amount of corn consumed by the ethanol industry combined with continued demand from overseas has cattle and hog farmers worried that if corn production drops due to drought or another natural disaster, the cost of feed could skyrocket, leaving them little choice but to

Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) is a large agricultural commodity company comprising agricultural origination, processing and distribution activities. The company generates corn, soybeans, wheat, and cocoa through farmers. Refineries are then in charge of processing them, thus creating value along the chain. Furthermore, the company has in-depth knowledge about changes in the global market prices. It is a stock that has all of the things Warren Buffett would want as an investment for Berkshire Hath

After driving hundreds of miles, the last thing Roy Williams, a truck driver from Denton, Tex., wanted to do was exercise. After a day trapped in the cab, stopping only to gorge on greasy fare at truck stops, who could think of working out? Truck driver Oran Clay tried jump roping during driver appreciation day at Texas Star Express, a company he works for, in Rockwall, Texas, in October. But once he ballooned to 405 pounds, he knew he had to make a change. So last year, Mr. Wil

POWERFUL companies have been accused of sending truck drivers to their deaths by imposing deadlines forcing them to speed and to drive while fatigued. The Transport Workers Union yesterday released a new survey which showed 40 per cent of drivers felt pressured into driving longer than legally allowed while almost a third sped to meet their deadlines. TWU national secretary Tony Sheldon said the results confirmed a growing crisis within the industry, with 256 people killed in heavy truck cr

A truck pulls up, pauses on a scale and then rumbles into the grain elevator to dump its load. It's a scene playing out countless times this fall as nearly 30 million bushels of Rock County corn and soybeans are delivered to the rest of world. "We are more or less the connection between the farm and the end user," said Tim Buchheit, operations manager at Farm City Elevator in Orfordville. Farm City and other elevators have been busy places in recent weeks as Rock County farmers harvest

GIBSON CITY – The ethanol industry has changed dramatically since the One Earth Energy plant near Gibson City began manufacturing ethanol just a few years ago. Young professionals within the grain industry in Illinois toured the plant Friday as a part of a development and leadership day coordinated by the Grain and Feed Association of Illinois. The group learned about the process of making ethanol in a dry grind plant, where the feedstock is corn, and on any given day corn is ground into

Tyson Foods (TSN: 19.45, +0.11, +0.57%) suffered a steeper-than-expected 54% slump in fiscal fourth-quarter profits as the largest U.S. meat processor continues to grapple with higher prices. Springdale, Ariz.-based Tyson said it earned $97 million, or 26 cents a share, last quarter, compared with a profit of $213 million, or 57 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts had expected stronger EPS of 32 cents. On the other hand, revenue climbed 13% to $8.4 billion, exceeding the $8.2 billion

Intransit Container Trucking transports freight to and from the Port of Worcester and other intermodal rail and shipping facilities throughout New England. About half of its trucking routes could be impacted by a federal rule change coming down the road, said Steve Jones, Intransit's vice president. The U.S. Department of Transportation is weighing a change to the so-called "hours of service" rules that regulate how often and how long commercial drivers can be behind the wheel. The propo

Shut-down by regulators doesn't help accident victim November 19, 2011|By Peter Hermann and Candus Thomson, The Baltimore Sun Sitting in a wheelchair at a nursing home, Brian Buber can't recall the instant 17 years ago when tons of screaming metal came rocketing toward him on the Capital Beltway, scattering fellow construction workers and crushing their paving equipment. In 1997, a civil jury found Hanover-based Gunther's Leasing Transport Inc. negligent in the accident, which kill