Bulk Freight News & Industry Updates - Stay Ahead in Trucking

View Original Post 12/21/2011 What's a Good Driver? On the Road blog by Jim Park, Equipment Editor Everybody wants good truck drivers these days. Funny thing though, the recruiting ads are usually desperately short on specifics. So what is a good driver? Let's ask a few of the many masters that drivers serve in the course of their duties. A dispatcher might say that a good d

Pile on those truckin' pounds, say Kraft and peers, as opponents cite safety fears US food giant Kraft says it hopes that more states are allowed to follow the lead of Maine and Vermont and allow heavier 97,000-pound trucks on interstate roads, although opponents fear safety issues. http://www.dairyreporter.com/Regulation-Safety/Pile-on-those-truckin-pounds-say-Kraft-and-peers-as-opponents-cite-safety-fears

View Original Post For those on their own during the holidays and those who cannot afford to buy or don't have the time to cook the stereotypical feast, Christmas can be a little plain. For those folks -- and even those who just want to share the holiday with others -- the ninth annual Community Christmas Day Dinner on Sunday at Aunt Chilada's on Hilton Head Island is an option. Starte

View Original Post A Wisconsin factory worker worried about layoffs became a dairy farmer. An employee at a Minnesota nonprofit found an escape from her cubicle by buying a vegetable farm. A nuclear engineer tired of office bureaucracy decided to get into cattle ranching in Texas. While fresh demographic information on U.S. farmers won't be available until after the next agric

View Original Post OMAHA, Neb., Dec. 19, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Green Plains Renewable Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq:GPRE) announced today its wholly-owned subsidiary, Green Plains Grain Company, has executed an agreement to acquire the grain elevator assets of KW Carter Company d/b/a JW Grain located in St. Edward, Nebraska. JW Grain holds 1.9 million bushels of state-licensed grain storage and is located approxi

View Original Post As Asia's appetite for grain keeps growing, agribusinesses are scrambling to acquire hard assets such as grain elevators and shipping facilities that they'll need to meet the demand. Grain giant Archer Daniels Midland won the latest round Monday, announcing it will become a partner in a new shuttle-loading facility being built in McLeod County. That site is being built by United Farmers Coo

View Original Post A NEW record was set for deliveries into Viterra's South Australian grain network last week. A grain grower in the Frances district in the state's southeast delivered 29 loads of grain in a day using a number of trucks. A Coonalpyn farmer delivered 15 loads in a single day using the same truck. Harvesting in the southeast region was now 90 per cent complet

View Original Post Crude oil prices edge up from six-week lows on equity market gains Diesel prices across the United States plummeted 6.6 cents in the week ending Dec. 19, falling at the sharpest pace since May 2010 as crude oil prices inched up. The average diesel price moved to 3.828 a gallon, up 58 cents from a year ago but down 29.6 cent

View Original Post So you've lost your TV remote control. Again. Not to worry, says a tiny Israeli start-up company called XTR3D - soon you'll be able to flick through channels and adjust the volume using only... your hand. You'll just have to turn your palm towards the screen, and zap away without ever getting off the couch. And no need for under-the-skin electronics or fancy microchips. Instead, the TV

View Original Post A visit to the grocery this time of year is a feast for the eyes. There are all kinds of fruits and vegetables for the holiday season, along with flowers, cheeses, meats and fish. My last trip was just before Thanksgiving and the store was busy with shoppers who had long lists in hand. I noted the tu

View Original Post Obstructive sleep apnea, the disorder characterized by having pauses in breathing or shallow breathing while sleeping to create disrupted sleep, should be screened among obese commercial truck drivers with a body mass index of 35 or higher, concluded two government advisory panels recently. For reference, Truckers News reported that a 6-foot-tall driv

View Original Post Pat Dawson can't help but notice. Dawson works at the postal-processing center in Billings, where every day he encounters truck drivers speaking in foreign tongues. Then there were the two drivers he met at an eatery in Red Lodge. They asked him questions about the menu in halting English, and told of their

View Original Post 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 of storage capacity in 2009 and added 100,000 this year to avoid wasting precious harvest time in line at g

View Original Post Don Meseck, the regional labor economist in Ellensburg for the state Department of Employment Security, said figures and trends indicate that most jobs related to Kittitas County's trucking industry provide family-wage jobs. "They appear to be up there and healthy. There's not a lot of difference between the average annual

View Original Post While other parts of the U.S. economy stagger along the road to recovery, the trucking industry is cruising along, performing better than the economy at large. Sales at privately owned general freight and specialized freight trucking companies are up more than 14 percent over the last 12 months, according to a financial statement analysis of privately held com

View Original Post With a survey showing 88 percent or more of Minnesota cattle producers using distillers grain, the University of Minnesota beef research team has been continuing work on the effects on cattle and if the grain increases E. coli shedding. University of Minnesota Extension beef feedlot educator Grant Crawford had mostly favorable reports on the use

View Original Post WOODSTOCK -- A few kilometres before the Ministry of Transportation's Milton truck inspection station, Jerzy Garnecki pulled his rig onto the shoulder of Highway 401. The lights were on at the station, signalling trucks to enter, and the former truck driver hoped to wait it out until the station was full in order to avoid an inspection. It was a cold January day, and Ga

View Original Post Industry groups to take opposition to trucker hours rule to Congress A dozen shipper and trucking organizations are planning a one-day blitz on Capitol Hill Feb. 1 to voice opposition to regulations they say will burden the trucking industry and raise shipping costs as much as 10 percent. The "Stand Up for Trucking" event organized by NASSTR

NIAGARA FALLS -- Jonathan Price, owner of Price Trucking on Beacon Street in Buffalo, pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree possession of a forged instrument in Niagara and Erie counties Tuesday. According to Assistant Niagara County District Attorney Brian Seaman, Price, 38, forged state Department of Transportation permits which allowed his fleet of trucks to be designated overweight, allowing them to transport more than a normal load of hazardous waste materials. "He was bringin

One of the world's biggest grain sellers warned over prices, saying that lower-grade wheat values faced "intense pressure" thanks to rain damage to Australia's harvest, and of ominous signs for the corn market too. The Canadian Wheat Board said that the impact of a record world wheat harvest in 2011-12, leaving stocks set to end the season at a comfortable 30.6% of use, would be felt especially on prices of mid and lower-grade grain, thanks to the compromised quality of the Australian harves

"The appointment of a Chief Operating Officer helps ensure our organizational structure is strategically aligned to support our company's substantial growth and achieve our future objectives of enhancing our service to customers, strengthening our position in our markets and increasing the value of our shareholders' investment," says CEO Mike Anderson. "This addition enhances and solidifies our business operating focus as we grow in size and complexity." Reed, who has been with The Andersons

Written by Stacey Barchenger Statesman Journal View Original Post and Photo A freight train crashed into a commercial truck, splitting the trailer in half, on Thursday in Woodburn. Woodburn Police Sgt. Andy Shadrin said the incident occurred about 10:15 a.m. at N Front Street and Hardcastle Avenue and blocked traffic in the area for a

Couple who rode freight trains found dead in coal By TAMARA LUSH, Associated Press LAKELAND, Fla. (AP) -- A couple who romanticized trains and lived a modern-day adventure by riding railroad cars across the U.S. were killed when a train dumped its load of coal at a Florida power plant. Ever since Christopher Artes was a teenager in suburban Maryland, he had an illegal and dangerous kind of wanderlust -- hitching rides on trains. Over the summer, he fell in love with Medeana Hendershot,

A man accused of scamming country grain elevators and cooperatives in Minnesota and four other states has settled fraud charges with U.S. commodities regulators. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced Wednesday that it had obtained a consent order and permanent injunction against Mark Vanderploeg, formerly of Glendale, Ariz., and three of his companies, including DVC Farms of Minneapolis. The consent order concerned illegal and false reporting by Vanderploeg and

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