Bulk Freight News & Industry Updates - Stay Ahead in Trucking

As autonomous trucking edges closer to market, technology providers and their potential customers are testing competing strategies for how driverless big rigs could help them make money in the real world. Several startups are building out prototype fleets and hauling freight for big shippers that hope autonomous trucks could help cut transportation costs and speed up deliveries. Other companies with self-driving trucking technology are trying to plug into existing operations, striking agreeme

After decades on the road, a truck driver tells FOX 13 News he's never seen anything like the recent string of random shootings on Interstate 4 and Interstate 75 in Florida.

Outbound Tender Volume Index (OTVI) up and to the right sound familiar? OTVI surged to another record high this week and carriers are now rejecting one in four contracted loads across the country. Truckstop.com has the national average RPM at $2.67. Some heavily trafficked lanes such as LA to DAL are fetching $3.02/mile.

Drugmakers have been racing to build supply chains for their coronavirus vaccine candidates, finding manufacturing sites and ordering specialized production equipment. As some drugs advance to final-stage clinical trials, logistics providers are making preparations to deliver them securely.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced food companies, along with trucking and relief groups, to pivot to how they normally respond to natural disasters like Hurricane Laura. Tyson Foods (NYSE:TNS) is providing more than 1 million meals, as well as ice and other supplies, to areas hardest hit by the hurricane.

Hurricane Laura made landfall around 1 a.m. Central time Thursday as a Category 4 storm along the Gulf Coast near the Texas-Louisiana border. As a result, highways and truck stops in the region are closed.

Four major updates to hours-of-service rules for commercial drivers take effect on Sept. 29, changing how long-haul drivers are required to take breaks and extending the distance short-haul drivers can travel in a day.

Interstate Commodities filed for bankruptcy protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Albany Wednesday looking to save a family business that at one time sold more than 30 commodities around the world, operating grain facilities, fertilizer plants and managing 10,000 rail cars and five repair shops.

US scrap consumers and dealers are struggling with rising trucking costs and dropped loads as the country's trucking capacity recovers from Covid-19-related disruptions and overall freight demand bounces back at a faster rate. While contract fleets increased by 4.8pc between July and April, the US driver population, which also dropped sharply in April because of Covid-19, has only recovered by 3.5pc over the same period, according to data from the American Trucking Association (ATA).

ARKANSAS Hurricane Laura is expected to sweep through most of Arkansas by Friday, just as harvest nears for several major crops across the state. In a release from the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Research and Extension, they said the storm will affect some of the efforts of the harvest season.

An explosion occurred at a grain elevator in Royal on Tuesday afternoon. Clay County Sheriff Chris Raveling says the explosion happened around 3:15pm Tuesday at the Ag Partners Elevator. According to Raveling, no one was in the elevator at the time of the explosion, and no injuries were reported. The explosion was said to have rattled residents homes and windows. When deputies arrived on scene the area was evacuated and fire crews began putting water onto the fire once the facility's power an

Pilot Flying J, Loves and TravelCenters of America have all implemented a nationwide face-covering policy at their travel plazas following urgings from NATSO and the CDC.

ETOWAH, N.C. (WGHP) Truck driver Timothy Tucker, of Etowah, says winning Sundays $480,592 Cash 5 jackpot was a shocker, according to an NC Education Lottery news release. Tucker stopped at Mr. Petes Market on Brevard Road in Etowah on Sunday morning. He knew hed be heading to Boston the following morning, and his routine before a long-haul drive is to buy his Quick Pick tickets before he goes. Tucker said he called the next day to see if anybo

For almost 40 years, the crop was brought to Farmers Grain and Stock and later Hansen-Muellers elevator in Menno. Those soybeans will be delivered elsewhere this fall. The elevator closed at the start of 2020 and now sits dormant. Everybody wishes it was open, he said. It puts a bind on us farmers. Ive always taken all my beans to town, right out of the field. Now, theres nowhere to go.

Raymond Wolcott, 34, entered the plea to felony theft and was found guilty earlier this month, the Kearney Hub reported. Prosecutors said Wolcott forged Johnson Trucking checks and deposited more than $6,300 into his personal checking account between May and August 2018.

Like a lot of Texans, sometimes when hes out and about Jorge Chavez is just looking for a little Chick-fil-A. Finding it when youre behind the wheel of a big rig is harder than one might think.

In addition to providing the largest bulk truck freight marketplace to procure carriers, our BulkTMS platform (bulktms.com) provides traders and merchandisers a simple way to manage everything to do with the movement of their commodities, said Jared Flinn, operating partner at bulkloads.com

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) will be seeking public comment on proposed plans to increase transparency in freight broker transactions. In a document to be published in the Federal Register on August 19, the FMCSA is asking for comments on two petitions for rulemaking regarding freight broker transactions.

If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything, it is not to rely too heavily on the patterns and connections that helped us understand the world around us prior to the outbreak. While some connections remain intact like tighter capacity leads to higher rates there are many whose relationships have become disconnected. Key ones include between some of the macroeconomic measures and the trucking industry. The big question moving forward for surface transportation is wil

A trucking company has filed a complaint after they were allegedly charged more than $18,000 for a tow in Chicago, Illinois. The complaint was filed by Ontario trucking company RoadStar Carrier Inc. on August 14 in the Cook County Circuit Court. The complaint names Lynnwood, Illinois-based VIP Towing & Roadside Assistance LLC.

98-pound mother unable to lift a 100-pound milk can onto a railroad station platform inspired the birth of one of Canadas largest trucking companies. Jack McCaigs mother was late hauling their milk to Moose Jaw and none off the neighbours who usually helped her were still there. Unable to lift the can and unable to get any help from the railroad workers, she poured the milk out.

Dee King has a fleet of 165 tractors and 275 trailers. Its customers include the massive JBS Beef meatpacking plant north of Amarillo in the Texas Panhandle and Tyson Foods in Amarillo. It hauled 36,000 loads of cattle and hogs in 2019. King Country, a Barrett Trailers dealer which also sells Vanguard dry and refrigerated trailers, sold about 100 new and used cattle trailers among 700 trailer sales in 2019, according to Aaron King, a vice president of both King Country and Dee King.

Brad Dircks, and his wife Lisa, knew the storm Monday was going to be bad. The weatherman came on and said, Boy, this storm sure looks like a derecho thunderstorm. It reminds me a lot of 1998. I thought, Boy, that doesnt sound good.

Indiana-based agricultural cooperatives Co-Alliance, LLP and Harvest Land Cooperative announced an agreement to pursue a merger.

A bill in the Ohio Senate would address a proclaimed driver shortage in the trucking industry. The Senate Ways and Means Committee recently held the first hearing on a bill to aid motor carriers wanting to bring more drivers into the industry. Specifically, HB222 would provide a tax credit to motor carriers for eligible training expenses for prospective drivers. The bill would cap the tax credit at $3 million annually with the amount allotted to a single employer set at $25,000.

Based on August 1 conditions, North Dakotas 2020 spring wheat crop is forecast at 281 million bushels, down 4% from last year, according to the USDAs National Agricultural Statistics Service. Harvested acreage is estimated at 5.85 million acres, down 2% from a year ago. Corn production is forecast at 341 million bushels, down 17% from 2019. Acreages to be harvested for grain is estimated at 2.20 million acres, down 30% from last year

Owners of most heavy highway vehicles of their responsibility have until August 31, 2020, to file Form 2290, Heavy Highway Vehicle Use Tax Return, for vehicles used on the road during July. The highway use tax applies to highway motor vehicles with a taxable gross weight of 55,000 pounds or more. This generally includes large trucks, truck tractors and buses. The tax is based on the weight of the vehicle. A variety of special rules apply. These special rules are explained in the instructions

This is the third part in a multi-part series exploring the costs and viability of fuel cell technology as an alternative to diesel-powered Class 8 trucks. See the rest of series at this link. Hydrogen is an invisible, odorless gas that ranks as the lightest and most prolific element in the universe. Its also highly flammable. But then again so are other transportation fuels with the exception of diesel, which has the lowest flashpoint among conventional fuels. Proponents of using hydr

Barchart, a leading provider of market data and technology services to the financial, media and commodity industries, has announced a new exclusive partnership with BulkLoads.com, the largest online bulk freight-matching marketplace. Through this partnership, the two firms will collaborate on product development initiatives, including the integration of BulkLoad.coms transportation management system (TMS) into Barcharts commodity trading platform, cmdtyView Pro, allowing shipper

The storms forecast to reach Chicago and southeastern Wisconsin by the afternoon had already pummeled parts of Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois with 100 mph winds, weather officials said. Over 400,000 homes lost power in Nebraska and Iowa, The Weather Channel reported.

LB931, sponsored by Sen. Steve Halloran, will allow farmers to transport grain while exceeding previous weight limits by 15% and length limits by 10% to transport grain outside of harvest season. It gives them a 15% overload cushion if you will, just like they would have during harvest, Halloran said. According to the legislative bill, seasonally harvested commodities can now be transported while being 15% heavier from the field to market, stockpile and storage or from stockpile

Indiana-based agricultural cooperatives Co-Alliance, LLP and Harvest Land Cooperative announced on Thursday an agreement to pursue a merger. This merger will offer exceptional opportunities to our famer-owners in Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois. The expanded resources, more robust product line and extension of quality service will extend beyond what the two co-ops could offer individually. Together, we anticipate great success in cultivating opportunities for our members through t

Shippers are struggling with a volatile freight market for the second time in three short years as carriers are rejecting load tenders at rates not seen since the middle of 2018, the mythical anomaly of a year. One of the side effects has been that carrier wait times have fallen in a near-perfect inverse proportion to national tender rejections. The question remains: How much of this relationship is a direct result of a shift in leverage to carriers?

Life on the road has become a lot tougher since the 1980s, when Schumpeter spent a year driving a battered old lorry with several tonnes of four-hooved cargo around the western United States. The cab was too cramped to sleep in. The radio only played am. And sweat would drench his shirt as he swerved down roads like the Grapevine, north of Los Angeles, with the smell of burning brake pads in his nose. Yet it was as close to the idyllic, free-wheelin life as a young Brit c

OOIDA Executive Vice President Lewie Pugh began his career in trucking in 1994. Most of the industrys major problems and concerns during that time still exist today. All of these issues have gotten worse since then, Pugh said. Ive seen it. I lived it.

Put him in a room with a white board and accompanying problem, and watch as the scribbles explodethe issues are defined, previous business protocols are challenged, and big ideas are bulleted

Trucking industry lobbyists are pushing legislators to temporarily halt the federal excise tax on new truck purchases and the annual Heavy Vehicle Use Tax levied against most Class 8 vehicles in the U.S. They say a suspension would help boost the economy.

Barglof, who farms near Burt, Iowa, balances time between farming and his job at Raven Industries, a precision ag company based out of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. When he wanted to build a new grain system last year, he needed to make sure the process was efficient.

Marubeni reported weaker financial results from its agricultural business during the first quarter of its fiscal year because of weaker profits from subsidiary Gavilon. Total revenue generated by the Japan-headquartered conglomerates agricultural business - the biggest segment by revenue size - totalled JPY794 billion ($7.07 billion) for the three months to the end of June, down more than 7% on the same quarter of 2019, according to Marubenis financial report published Tuesday.<

Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) officials are urging Congress to suspend the Heavy Vehicle Use Tax (HVUT) for one year as a means of providing economic relief to small-business truckers. Truckers are still on the front lines, filling store shelves and supplying hospitals, Todd Spencer, president of OOIDA, said. Suspending the HVUT is a way that Congress could easily offer fast, direct relief to all motor carriers. And believe me, they need it, much

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) - North Dakota has a truck-driver shortage. According to state lawmakers, the answer isn't the size of the workforce; it's the size of the trucks. Which is why they're working on a resolution to let the state exceed length and weight limits. The American Trucking Association reports that the nation is short more than 60,000 drivers. And that number could go up 160,000 drivers by 2028.

The company reported net income of $3 billion in its fiscal year through May, up 17% from the previous year and its fourth-highest ever, according to audited accounts reviewed by Bloomberg News. Cargill, the worlds largest agricultural commodity trader, broke with a two-decade tradition earlier this year and stopped releasing its results publicly. Still, the company shares financial results with its bankers and others.

Momentum has seemingly continued for the freight recovery that began in late May, in some ways bucking seasonal trends as spot market freight and rates havent seen the usual June-to-July drop off. Thats despite a resurgence in coronavirus cases since mid-June and major holes in the economy remaining, such as sluggish manufacturing output, a halted entertainment and events sector and record-high unemployment.

Officials from Archer Daniels Midland Co. confirmed on July 30 that two of the companys dry mill ethanol plants remain idle. The company is taking a data-driven approach to determining a restart date for those plants, and indicated the strategic review of ADMs ethanol business in ongoing.

If truck driver Lynn Jackson passes you on the road, we promise youll take notice. Thats because hell be the guy in the acid green and velvet purple Peterbilt dubbed The Joker in honor of the iconic Batman villain.

July 29 (Reuters) - U.S. grains merchant Archer Daniels Midland Co on Wednesday posted a second-quarter profit that doubled from a year earlier, boosted by growth in its nutrition and agricultural services businesses. Net profit attributable to the company rose to $469 million, or 84 cents per share, in the second quarter ended June 30 from $235 million, or 42 cents per share, a year earlier. (Reporting by Arundhati Sarkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)

Several flatbed carriers and two of the nation's top freight brokerages are among the major unsecured creditors owed thousands after the lumber supplier filed bankruptcy on July 27.

AUSTIN Governor Greg Abbott has waived certain regulations related to commercial trucking in the state of Texas. These suspensions will allow commercial drivers to more quickly deliver supplies, specifically electric power poles, to communities in the Rio Grande Valley and the Coastal Bend that were directly impacted by Hurricane Hanna.

PT Corporation would like to announce the internal promotion for two of its own. As of Monday, July 20, 2020 Matt Kositzky and John Powell will assume their new roles as Director of Operations and Director of Business Development, respectively.

Its been the scourge of trucking for decades, chipping away at carrier revenues. Yet, many fleets dont have reliable data on how bad the problem of empty miles is. Nor do many of them have a clear understanding on how to tackle it. Until recently, empty mileage estimates ranged from 14% to 20% for all types of trucks, including light- and medium-duty vehicles. All that changed in August when the trucking startup Convoy shocked the industry by saying the real number is 33%, and f

The Three Gorges Dam, which is nearly 1.5 miles long and taller than the Washington Monument, was strategically placed on the Yangtze River in Chinas Hubei province to control flooding and generate electricity to power the countrys rapid industrialization. Due to the record deluge of rainfall, the worlds largest hydroelectric dam, which has a volume of 39.3 billion cubic meters, is at risk of breaking, which would kill or displace millions, flood Chinas cradle of m

The advisory – a copy of which has been circulated among various media – follows best-practices advice from private industry warning on the potential security vulnerability of ELDs and other technology that has the potential to cause severe financial damage to companies within the trucking sector, including carriers and brokers. An FBI spokesperson told FreightWaves that the agency does not comment on notices provided to its private industry partners, or on whether the FBI has detected recent ac

Elon Musk has confirmed Teslas plan to build its electric semi truck, the Tesla Semi, at its upcoming new factory in Austin. At the unveiling of the Tesla Semi in 2017, the automaker said that the electric truck would be coming in 2019, but the vehicle has since been pushed to low-volume production in late 2020.

After a years-long court battle that went all the way to the Supreme Court, a Missouri-based trucking giant is settling two class-action suits with its truck drivers, said a court filing from Monday. Up to 26,000 current and former drivers are eligible for a $28 million payout from New Prime Inc., known as Prime, the filing said. Both of the class-action suits Oliveira v. New Prime and Haw

SACRAMENTO Over the last few months, commercial drivers have made it possible for essential businesses to receive the supplies they need. Thanks to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, those commercial drivers in California can continue delivering essential products and supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic without worrying about an expiring license or medical certificate. In accordance with updated guidance from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the DMV is issu

FMCSAs final rule on hours of service offers four revisions to the existing HOS rules, which are as follows: Flexibility has been added for the 30-minute break rule by requiring a break after 8 hours of consecutive driving and allowing the break to be satisfied by a driver using on-duty, not driving status, rather than off-duty status. The sleeper-berth exception has been modified to allow drivers to split their required 10 hours off duty into two periods: an 8/2 split, or a 7/3 split&

FarmInsect co-founder Wolfgang Westemeier doesnt want to sell farmers insect meal. He wants to see farmers around the world do what they do best, and start raising insects of their own. The 2-year-old German startup is the latest in a series of companies to raise a significant round of funding on the promise of making insect meal a mainstream animal feed ingredient. But while most of their competitors plan to raise the insects themselves, selling the finished insect meal, FarmInsect is

Burdensome regulations under the guise of safety plague the trucking industry, causing some of the safest drivers to leave. If safety advocates really want safety, keeping experienced drivers in the seat is key. How do we do that? Smarter regulations and better pay. This idea discussed during a Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee meeting on July 14 after Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association President Todd Spencer suggested an end to pay-by-mile as one of a series of solutions to

John McGee of Simsboro, Louisiana, began driving truck in 1985, buying his first one and going into business for himself six years later. He got his start hauling for a brother-in-laws logging business in the North-Central part of the state, where hes lived his entire life. Then oil field work in his area started picking up around 2004 and he leased to an oil-services hauler. The company sold out in 2010. When he did that, I acquired some of his customer base the new comp

Professional drivers considering whether to become owner-operators need to collect savvy information for the basis of their decision. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association wants to help. That is the focus of OOIDAs Truck to Success course. This year it will be available online. Truck to Success is scheduled for Oct. 26-28. OOIDA debuted its Truck to Success course in March 2019 as an in-person course. The coronavirus crisis has forced the format to change. Even so, the 202

Impacts on farm supply and marketing cooperatives from the past three years of agricultural trade upheaval, industry consolidation and four months of a global virus pandemic are as varied as Americas 1,700 or so such co-ops enterprises themselves.

A change to the HOS laws, which affect how truck drivers use their ELDs, will save serious dough for taxpayers, says the Trump administration. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP

Hyundai has begun shipping fuel-cell based heavy duty trucks to face off against battery-electric trucks in the commercial hauling market. Battery electric vehicles, more commonly known as electric cars, have finally begun to take on the world in real numbers. However, theyre not the only game in town when it comes to green transportation. Fuel cells that use tanks of hydrogen to generate electricity with H2O as the main byproduct have long promised to take the pollution out of getting

WHAT is a farmer? Those of us with any remote connection to agriculture know the urbanised stereotype of flannelette shirt, overalls, gumboots, battered Akubra and maybe even a token pitchfork, is a long way off the mark. These and other stereotypes that we allow to be created could be limiting outsiders perceptions of agriculture and restricting our capacity to attract the best and brightest into our industry.

OMAHA, Neb., July 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Green Plains Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE) today announced its subsidiary, Green Plains Wood River LLC has installed a separate 25 million gallon facility engineered and constructed by ICM, Inc. to produce FCC Grade alcohol for domestic and export markets and expects to upgrade the production process to produce USP Grade alcohol over the next four to six months. Leveraging our operational expertise from our decades of experience at Green Plains York,

One of the biggest action movie stars of all time crafted a new video to recognize American truckers for answering their countrys call and keeping the nation supplied during the Coronavirus crisis. Illinois-based carrier GP Transco teamed up with box office bada$$ Chuck Norris to show American truckers how much their hard work in keeping the country fed and supplied during the pandemic is appreciated. Norris has been a familiar figure in trucking after he played trucker J.D.&rdq

Green Plains filed the proposed class action with the U.S. District Court of Nebraska, where it also claimed that senior ADM officials knew of the alleged manipulation. ADM did not respond to a request for comment.

BORING IS THE new sexy in Silicon Valley. As the coronavirus crisis has turned America upside down, it has become in vogue to just do the basic things right. Quantum computing may come eventually, and everyone still wants a moonshot. But for now, people are just asking for their video conferences to work and their doctors to have face masks. And that explains partly why Microsoft is courting a new class of customers: Americas cows.

Increasing the size and weight limits of trucks on the nations highways would divert a potentially huge amount of goods from rail to roads, further damaging the nations infrastructure, causing greater environmental harm and undermining highway safety, a new report has found. The report, by economist Mark Burton of the Appalachian Transportation Institute Marshall University, found that relaxing weight and size limits would also lead to increased crash-related casualties,

While much of the trucking industry is in turmoil, a family-run North Dakota-based trucking company is reporting remarkable success and stability in spite of challenging times. Mapleton, North Dakota-based trucking company Great Plains Transport is getting attention for what theyre not doing theyre not laying off workers, even though many other trucking companies have been forced to cut jobs. Theyre not shutting down, even though the trucking industry is facing ne

A new report commissioned by the Coalition Against Bigger Trucks (CABT) highlights how legislation allowing bigger and heavier trucks on the nation's highways would result in a "major diversion" of freight from rail to roads.

It's not enough to know just the cost of a truck or rail rates or barge freight when moving corn or soybeans to market. Transportation costs include the base cost of transporting these products, as well as costs associated with delay. Delay consists of wait times and congestion. The study done by TTI encompassed the base transportation cost, additional transportation costs due to traffic congestion and costs with scheduling and loading delays each step of the process. And it can determine a f

Temperatures reached the mid 90s outside, but Thorbahn stayed cool in his cab as he methodically went back and forth across the field, leaving small mounds of wheat straw in his wake as the combine's hopper filled up with grain.

The well-known adverse driving conditions exception to the hours of service regulations allows for two additional drive hours (in conditions defined in 49 CFR 395.2) to complete the run or to reach a place offering safety for the occupants of the commercial motor vehicle and security for the commercial motor vehicle and its cargo.

More than 3,200 companies in the two main government classifications that comprise long-distance trucking received Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans in excess of $150,000, according to data released this morning by the Small Business Administration. The two categories that make up long-distance trucking companies under the North American Industry Classification (NAICS) are 48412, General Freight Trucking Long Distance, Long Distance, Truckload and 484121, General Freight Trucking, Long

Canadas livestock and livestock transportation industries continue to look for ways to ensure the comfort, health and welfare of farm animals during transportation. Last year, the Canadian Animal Health Coalition (CAHC) teamed up with Transport Genie Ltd., a technology company based in Guelph, Ont., to launch a two-year research project that uses remote wireless sensors to monitor environmental conditions inside livestock trailers. The project comes as the countrys livestock and

Want to increase your income and become a more successful freight broker? SPI Logistics, one of the most successful operators out there, has a few tried-and-true trade secrets that can help.

MERRILL, Iowa Farming and trucking are two professions that often run in families. TJ Kounkels family has a tradition of both. In addition to farming 2,000 acres of corn and soybeans in northwest Iowa, his family operates a livestock-hauling business. Driving farm equipment and even trucks on the farm were just part of growing up for Kounkel. I started driving at 18, driving intrastate. I know every road in Iowa, he told The Trucker, adding that talking about hims

The coronavirus pandemic and an ongoing trade war with the United States have accelerated the threat China faces of businesses moving manufacturing operations elsewhere, but the effects those potential shifts have on U.S. trucking operations depends largely on where, ultimately, companies choose to move. Gartner in survey results released in June found that 33% of global supply chain leaders had either moved sourcing and manufacturing activities out of China or planned to do so in the next tw

In a press release last week, GROWMARK FS in Hartley and STAR Energy FS in Manson revealed they are merging into one. The new company will be named GROWMARK FS, and will offer its farmer customers with a full line of agronomy, energy, and grain marketing needs. The new company will be headquartered in Manson with STAR Energy FS General Manager Jeff Manthei serving as the GM. Current GROWMARK FS General Manager Tim Berkland will continue as the agronomy department manager of the new organizati

D&D Ingredient Distributors of Delphos is an independent business that specializes in manufacturing and distributing for the animal and pet feed industry. Their donation to the West Ohio Food Bank totaled nearly $14,000 and will help around 73,000 food-insecure families and individuals in need in the surrounding 11 counties. This donation was a portion of the proceeds from their involvement in the Food for Hope program, with several other agricultural businesses. Altogether