Bulk Freight News & Industry Updates - Stay Ahead in Trucking

Insurers are teaming up with truckers to persuade state lawmakers to pass laws that they hope will cut down on fraud by tow truck operators. The Coalition Against Insurance Fraud announced Monday that it has formed a partnership with the American Trucking Association and the American Property Casualty Insurance Association to focus policymakers attention on the problems.

Former Nikola Corp. (NASDAQ: NKLA) Executive Chairman and founder Trevor Milton pocketed about $49 million from selling 3.5 million shares in the startup electric truck company last week. Milton is the subject of federal investigations over fraud claims alleged by a short seller that drove the companys stock price to crater last fall. It is trading in the teens from a high of more than $90 a share following its public debut in June 2020.

Soybean farmers are cautiously optimistic about this years crop, thanks to steadily increasing prices and a worldwide increase in demand that is triggering more activity at export facilities.

I know what its like to get a big piece of machinery unstuck: We have had to use a track hoe to pull a combine from a muddy field, and Ive seen up close how a minor catastrophe like this can stop the entire process for farmers who want to harvest their crops.

April 1 (Reuters) - Archer Daniels Midland said on Thursday it would restart ethanol production at two of its U.S. corn dry mills this year, as the grains trader expects demand for the biofuel to rebound from a pandemic-led slump.

The Haulers of Agriculture and Livestock Safety (HAULS) Act would help accommodate the seasonal spikes in transportation of food, fiber and other agricultural supplies by modernizing the agricultural exemption to the hours-of-service rules.

Hoegermeyer and his family were the recipients of the Farm Family of the Year Award. Hansen-Mueller Co. won Ag Business of the Year, while Knee Deep LLC won Ag Innovator of the Year.

North Dakota and Montana Republican Senators John Hoeven and Steve Daines are among senators supporting bipartisan legislation that seeks to delay enforcement of Electronic Logging Device regulations, along with reform of ELD and hours of service regulations at the U.S. Department of Transportation. The bill, introduced by Hoeven and Senator Michael Bennet, D.-Colo.

Category 1: Trucks that currently travel at the 80,000-pound limit at some point along nearly 100 percent of their routes. This represents a small percentage of the industry (about 2 percent). This segment consists of bulk carriers. Category 2: Trucks that are loaded to the maximum weight (gross out) on a minority, perhaps 10 percent, of their trips. This represents about 10 percent of the trucks on the road, mostly refrigerator units but also some dry van routes.

General Mills expects its margins in the current quarter to end up below 2019 levels, despite "phenomenal volume leverage" and "the best pricing in years," a Goldman Sachs analyst pointed out on the call. "I am trying to wrap my head around it," the analyst said, asking what the offsets were. Third-party logistics was the first item to which Bruce pointed.

KANSAS CITY Moving freight by truck and by rail was generally smooth last week, grain market participants said. While finding available trucks and willing drivers remain a challenge long term, the situation had improved from previous weeks, traders said. Grain movement by rail was expedient for loaded cars, but two Class 1 railroads remained two to three weeks behind schedule in placing empty cars at origins.

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Dave Werdan has been driving big rigs since 2004. At first, he was hired to do power-only moves as a company driver, but he would soon have enough income to start his own venture. As an owner-operator, Werdan invested in his first 18-wheeler, an Intrepid Eagle truck, along with various trailer types, including flatbeds and tankers.

INTERNATIONAL freight markets are proving difficult to navigate for many in the grain trade. With the Suez Canal blocked at the start of the week and COVID continuing to disrupt shipping routes and access, international freight markets have rallied and are hard to pin down.

The worlds biggest agricultural commodities traders are gearing up to profit from a boom in the American renewable diesel industry.

History is rich with companies that worked tirelessly to save their sinking ship rather than change when the need became inevitable. Business models within trucking aren't immune to these shifting sands.

On Monday, a U.S. Representative and former truck driver reintroduced legislation to address a lack of safe parking areas for truckers. On March 26, U.S. Reps. Mike Bost and Angie Craig introduced H.R.2187, known as the the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act.

State lawmakers Thursday unanimously advanced a bill (LB507) from Sen. Bruce Bostelman prohibiting the use of treated seed to make ethanol if the byproducts were deemed unsafe to feed to livestock or apply to the land. Both criteria included in the Brainard senators legislation would apply in AltEns case, where the wet distillers grains byproduct normally fed to cattle, as well as the wastewater stored in lagoons on site, were discovered to be heavily contaminated with pe

Across the Midwest, prices to buy and rent farmland are climbing as demand is driven by rallying grain markets, historic government payments and low interest rates, according to economists, agricultural lenders and land managers.

Barchart, the leader in commodity data, today announces that its flagship commodity trading platform cmdtyView, has been named the Best Buy-Side Commodities Trading Platform by WatersTechnology. The Buy-Side Technology Awards recognize market-leading platforms and technologies that help buy-side firms manage their workflows more efficiently and effectively.

In his 34 years as a professional driver for Werner, Parker has driven more than four million miles without an accident. Parker is one of only six drivers in Werners history to hit the four million safe miles mark.

The US average diesel fuel price in the week ended March 15, was $3.19 per gallon, up 4.8 from the previous week and 45.8 above the same week last year, the Energy Information Administration said. The highest diesel fuel cost by region was $3.468 per gallon on the West Coast, up 4.6 from a week earlier and up 48.9 from a year earlier. The least expensive region was the Gulf Coast, where diesel was $2.623 per gallon, up 1.8 from the previous week and up 76.3

This year should be smooth sailing for Mike Card, president of Combined Transport. The trucking company his dad started in 1980 is busier than ever trying to meet the nations ravenous demand for delivered goods amid a pandemic. But with some 500 trucks on the road across the nation, Card is constantly thinking about highway safety because just one bad crash could put his company on the brink of bankruptcy.

Over Valentines Day dinner last year, Randy Clifton and his wife, Karyn, decided the fate of the trucking company that had been Randys pride and joy for a decade. The odds were stacked against the third-generation trucker. That same month, the bank froze his credit line and his insurance costs doubled, the result of a multimillion-dollar jury verdict for a 2015 accident involving a truck and driver for a motor carrier that Cliftons company, RCX Solutions Inc., had brokere

When American Bulk Commodities acquired DSI Bulk Transport earlier this year, it was a deal that ABC President Mark Carrocce said fits right into his companys business model and also follows its philosophy on pursuing acquisitions. Theyre in one of our segments, Carrocce said March 22. One of the lines of business that we currently operate in is the plastic resins. That was the majority of their business model. So it allowed for growth in an area of our busi

TuSimple, a leader in autonomous truck technology, filed for an initial public stock offering Tuesday, skipping the SPAC route that's been popular lately with automotive tech startups. Why it matters: Driverless semi-trucks could make highways safer while reducing the cost and environmental impact associated with increased demand for freight delivery.

HUNTINGTON COUNTY, Ind. (WANE) Farmers in Huntington and Wells Counties lost millions of dollars due to the failure of local grain mills in 2020. Now those farmers are speaking out, warning another grain failure is on the horizon if things dont change. Its like, who do you trust? Farmer Deb Ruble said. You have a bank out there, you have the Grain Buyers and Licensing Agency down in Indianapolis where you think no errors would be made. I know we are

Grain truck driver Paul Connor, 71, of Middlebury, told police he was headed down the hill on 2A toward Interstate 89 when he lost his brakes. In order to avoid traffic stopped at the light ahead, he tried to turn right onto the southbound Exit 12 on-ramp. The truck rolled over on its side, spilling some of the grain.

Intent on exposing the biggest crop insurance fraud in U.S. history and hoping to flip a grower to states evidence, investigator Don Doles walked across a farm yard toward a Ford pickup parked beside an old shed. At the site of Doles approach, the farmer broke from the shed and threw open the trucks driver-side door, lurched across the seatone leg in the cab, one leg outand began frantically searching inside the console. Doles had two choices: sprint for cov

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. agreed to buy Kansas City Southern for $25 billion, seeking to create a 20,000-mile rail network linking the U.S., Mexico and Canada in the first year of those nations new trade alliance.

And Georgia drivers rate congestion a bigger problem than drivers nationally, says Rebecca Brewster, the Atlanta-based president and chief operating officer of the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), who is the keynote speaker at the Georgia Logistics Summit on March 23.

RoadSync, an innovative digital financial platform, today announces BigRig411.com, its proprietary merchant directory for repair and tow services. BigRig411 helps truck drivers, owner-operators and commercial trucking fleets locate expert vendors that provide truck repair, mobile truck repair, towing service, tires, truck washes, and truck and trailer parts nationwide.

Firefighters were dispatched to the Bunge Milling grain elevator in Danville, IL Monday night after a fire started in an air handler, several local news organizations reported.

The plan, currently under review by the Federal Railroad Administration, lists several reasons why public and private stakeholders should consider building out Nevadas freight rail infrastructure. Nearshoring or reshoring provides potential support to Nevadas manufacturing and mining activities as companies seek to source more materials and parts within North America, while transferring more freight from truck to rail could reduce statewide emissions.

WATSON, Mo. Trey Garst hops into his black Chevy pick-up truck at 8 a.m. on a Thursday morning. Heavy metal blares from his speakers as he sips water out of his large silver thermos.

Heavy-duty trucks are an outsized polluter, considered one of transportations hardest-to-decarbonize aspects. But new research showing dramatic improvements in battery cost and technology mean zero-emission freight trucks are primed for electrification. This could bring a major clean energy success in the coming decade.

ROCKWELL CITY Its not uncommon for people to tell Dwight Dial, Hey, I saw you up on Highway 20 today, even when the Lake City-area farmer wasnt anywhere near U.S. Highway 20. It catches me off guard at first, but then they tell me they saw me on the billboard on a truck, said Dial, who raises corn, soybeans, hogs and sheep and is a long-time conservation advocate.

Concerns about commodity inflation have been a frequent topic of discussion among food company leaders as they issue financial outlooks for the coming year. Prices for food ingredients as well as transportation expenses have risen sharply and prompted companies to accelerate cost savings programs, raise prices and reduce trade spending. Adding to the mounting pressure will be an unpredictable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now that the stimulus bill is passed, the focus in Washington turns to infrastructure and that legislation could be a big deal for rural America. Crumbling bridges, roads, and buildings are in need of repair. For many, internet access is slow or non-existent. A group of ag stakeholders is urging the Biden administration to remember rural America when designing their infrastructure plan.

House Bill 19 by Plano Republican Jeff Leach and related bills on file in the House and Senate have the support of the Keep Texas Trucking Coalition, which includes the Texas Trucking Association, Texans for Lawsuit Reform, and others.

Port backups, rising commodity prices, more government stimulus in the U.S., and new truck backlogs are combining to create a positive rate environment for truckers.

Given the amount of time trucks spend on the road, a breakdown of some sort is inevitable. Popping a tyre, losing hydraulics, simply failing to start or any one of a hundred things will eventually sideline even the best-kept truck. Asking the question popularised in a movie, who ya gunna call?

The company plans to acquire most business operations of chickpea sourcing, cleaning, and packing firm Hinrichs Trading Company.

This week, the House Committee on Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence heard House Bill 19, which is related to trucking wreck lawsuits. The low bill number indicates support from House leadership. HB19 would in part limit the ability to sue trucking corporations by redirecting liability solely on the commercial drivers themselves, which some believe is unfair when it comes to seeking remedy for loved ones.

A group of bipartisan legislators reintroduced the DRIVE-Safe Act to address the growing shortage of professional truck drivers in the U.S. by allowing certified commercial truck drivers who are under 21 to cross state lines after completing safety training and apprenticeship opportunities.

David Partain was in the parking lot of the Eagle Travel Center in Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, when he scratched off the lottery ticket on the hood of his long-haul truck. A few moments later, he became a multimillionaire. The ticket he scratched was the third ticket in a string of wins for Partain playing Mega Millionaire Jumbo Bucks, a game with overall odds of 1:2.91

Some folks in Bakersfield likely had to do a double-take after spotting a man on the back of a semi-truck driving on the 5 Freeway.

An executive order issued by President Joe Biden has the potential to become one of the most important government documents in years directed at carriers and their customers working within the countrys transportation sector.

A proposed bill in Texas could soon protect trucking companies from the liability of traffic accidents, leaving the trucker solely responsible.

Could deadly crashes involving semitrucks be prevented? A group of families whove lost loved ones hope a simple guard on the side of trucks could help lower the number of deaths in collisions between cars and tractor trailers.

While the trucking industry continues to enhance efforts to recruit and retain quality drivers, AI and machine learning are offering a more unconventional approach to driver learning and training.

Trucking trade groups and a group of fleets and drivers are urging the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to allow truck stops and travel plazas to offer vaccinations to drivers passing through.

Truckers have seen it all, but you never know what you might find next while OTR, and this drivers clip is no exception.

An Australian truck driver recently took to Reddit to share a clip of an impressively long semi truck and his equally long attempt at passing it.

A system that combines active inflation with intelligent analytics can correct issues before theyre road hazards

Heavy trucking repair search engine TruckingSE.com has launched, and the company says the new site reimagines how truckers find reliable repair services.

A massive freight train plowed into a large semi truck that was stuck on the tracks, splitting the vehicle into two pieces.

The six-month grain rally continues to be well intact. Current ending stocks for corn, soybeans and wheat are all historically snug, with the likelihood of getting smaller in the months to come.

Authorities have advised drivers in southwest Missouri to use caution while driving on the interstates after multiple vehicles have been hit with frozen water bottles this week.

A seasoned trucker and Navy veteran has gained quite a following on Tik Tok by sharing his past and current experiences from the road.

Canadian trucking associations have stood up against potentially mandatory COVID testing for truck drivers at the Canadian-US border due to concerns over shipping delays and access to the required technology.

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, US As thermometers began to elevate late last week across the US Upper Midwest, northern and southern Plains and most of the Central states, the grain transportation logistics picture improved.

Authorities in Texas are evacuating homes and businesses after a train and a semi truck collided on Tuesday morning, triggering a major explosion.

OKLAHOMA CITY When massive demonstrations against racial injustice erupted across the nation last summer, protesters used an increasingly common tactic to draw attention to their cause: swarming out onto major roads to temporarily paralyze traffic.

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - The backups stretched for miles, as drivers were stranded for hour

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has asked an appeals court to suspend a lawsuit in what could be the first step toward a wholesale review by the agency of its own hours-of-service rules. In a filing Thursday with the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, attorneys for FMCSA and the Department of Transportation (DOT) pointed out that with the Biden administration taking over, there is now new leadership at FMCSA.

At a time when rates would typically drop off, this years weather event, combined with the ongoing pandemic, is putting more upward pressure on freight rates.

Kansas-based agriculture company Skyland Grain and the Texas-based cooperative Ag Producers Co-op announced Feb. 4, 2021 that they have signed an agreement between the two companies for a joint venture effective on April 1.

Grain loading is at a standstill in western areas of hard red winter wheat production areas, a trader said Feb. 16. Overnight temperatures were in the teens in Oklahoma and eastern Colorado, and in the single digits in western Kansas, according to Weather Underground.

An Indiana House bill on the move would accommodate more overweight trucks for travel around the state. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association continues to oppose the legislation. OOIDA Executive Vice President Lewie Pugh says that truck size and weight exemptions are nothing new. At the behest of economic interests that want to ship cheap freight, there is no shortage of state lawmakers willing to pick winners and losers, Pugh said.

Truckers stranded by icy weather along Interstate 20 this week got a hot meal thanks to one Mississippi woman. Evelyn Fletcher, a retired U.S. Army veteran, heard about the stranded truckers and organized a plan to feed them. She cooked 65 meals at her home Monday to feed them and families in nearby Clinton hotels.

Truck driver recruiting and retention practices are really an exercise in adjusting company culture, Retention Coach Ray Haight said during a Truckload Carriers Association webinar where he shared top tips for creating and maintaining a driver-centric culture within a company.

Affected states and jurisdictions included in the waiver are: Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming and Washington, D.C.

Truck drivers have garnered a lot of attention over the years, however not always for good reason. There is currently a massive driver shortage within the United States. In 2019, there would need to be 1.1 million new drivers added over the next 10 years in order to keep up with demand. The e-commerce boom, competition from traditionally more attractive careers and an aging driver population all contribute to the shortage.

If anyone has a 360-degree view of being an owner-operator or a company driver its Scott Miller. In just the past few years, hes not only held both roles, hes also now a fleet owner who employs drivers as well as continues to haul loads himself. Millers company, SM Miller Enterprises based in Dallas provides contracted linehaul freight transfer services to FedEx Ground by covering unassigned routes all over the U.S.