Bulk Freight News & Industry Updates - Stay Ahead in Trucking

MnDOT, in partnership with the Federal Highway Administration, is test-deploying a high-tech system to help combat drowsy driving and keep truck drivers in compliance with federal hours-of-service regulations. Developed by researchers at the University of Minnesota, the prototype system lets drivers know when parking spaces are available at rest stops ahead. It has been deployed at several locations along the heavily traveled I-94 corridor between Minneapolis and St. Cloud. Fro

HALSTEAD, Kansas An accident involving a car and a grain truck leaves a car crushed and sends two to the hospital. The accident happened on Hwy 50, near Halstead on Wednesday afternoon. Kansas Highway Patrol is still investigating the accident, but the driver of the car was airlifted to a hospital in an unknown condition, and a passenger was transported to the hospital in an ambulance. A second passenger of the car was uninjured, and the driver of the grain truck

TRACE The Johnson County Sheriffs Office is currently investigating the theft of a white, 2006 Freightliner tractor with Illinois license plate P825499, VIN 1FUJA6CV06LV83455. The tractor was stolen on Sunday, 08-24-2014. The truck was stolen from the DeLong Grain Terminal near 191st and Homestead Lane, Edgerton, Kansas (Burlington Northe

By: Grace Lyden, Forum News Service FARGO Under a new deal signed Wednesday, North Dakotas agricultural producers will have more options for rail shipping a growing concern in a state where heavy oil traffic on rails has caused delays for other freight shipments. Through the agreement, the Port of Vancouver, which is the third largest port in the state of Washington, will send railcars to North Dakota delivering lumber, paper

FARGO, N.D. The furious pace of energy exploration in North Dakota is creating a crisis for farmers whose grain shipments have been held up by a vast new movement of oil by rail, leading to millions of dollars in agricultural losses and slower production for breakfast cereal giants like General Mills.

Truckers are the unsung heroes of the transportation industry, notes a Progressive Commercial release about the latest installment in its Real Life Trucking Hero contest. They work long hours, are away from their families, and often dont get the credit they deserve for a job well done. To recognize truckers, Progressive brings back its third annual contest. Having launched at the Great American Trucking Show in Dallas, anyone can now nominate a trucke

Valero Renewable Fuels Co. L.L.C. has restarted ethanol production at a plant it recently purchased at the Port of Indiana-Mount Vernon. The plant had been shut down for about two years. Indiana Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann, other state and local officials, and Ports of Indiana executives marked the reopening yesterday. Projected to produce 110 million gallons annually, the Mount Vernon, Ind., facility is the 11th corn ethanol plant in Valero Renewables' system and second in Indiana.

By Alan Bjerga The Missouri River might help alleviate grain backups caused by railroads hauling more crude oil in the northern U.S., though federal spending on infrastructure and changes in water allocations may be needed, said Michael Toohey, head of Waterways Council Inc. A boom in shale oil fueled by the rise of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has pushed domestic production to the highes

Christy Hendricks DEXTER, MO (KFVS) -One lane the southbound lanes of Highway 25 near Dexter was closed for several hours after a grain truck overturned Tuesday afternoon. The truck was exiting eastbound US 60 and turning onto southbound Hwy. 25 when it overturned and spilled its load in the median just south of the US 60 overpass around 3:30 p.m., according to the Dexter Police Department. Police say the truck was overfilled wit

Valero Renewable Fuels Co. L.L.C. has restarted ethanol production at a plant it recently purchased at the Port of Indiana-Mount Vernon. The plant had been shut down for about two years. Indiana Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann, other state and local officials, and Ports of Indiana executives marked the reopening yesterday. Projected to produce 110 million gallons annually, the Mount Vernon, Ind., facility is the 11th corn ethanol plant in Valero Renewables' system and second in Indiana.

ONTARIO, Ore. (AP) - Oregon state troopers say a trucker was seriously injured Monday in Eastern Oregon when he was stabbed. The victim was flown to the hospital. Troopers say they were called at mid-day to the site of the stabbing, along Interstate 84 about 15 miles west of Ontario. They said they arrested a male suspect, who was not identified. Troopers said the man was not traveling with the trucker.

AUBREY, AR - The struggle goes on to sort out the default of an Arkansas grain broker and its impact on southern farmers. As talk continues on regulations and possible help for those farmers, some Arkansas truckers say they've also taken a hit that could put them under as well. http://www.arkansasmatters.com/story/d/story/truckers-put-in-park-by-grain-broker-default/21755/oxwNeqFj_EKVd5j10Zkohw

Monday, August 25, 2014 CHICAGO -- Archer Daniels Midland Company says it new downtown Chicago headquarters is open. The agribusiness company said Monday that opened the new office with about 70 employees. Spokeswoman Jackie Anderson said about 50 of those people moved from the company's former headquarters in Decatur in central Illinois. The rest are new employees. ADM decided in December to set up

(Reuters) - Global commodities trader Cargill Inc [CARG.UL] has sued a former employee, accusing him of stealing trade secrets before he joined rival JBS SA. Privately held Cargill filed the case on Thursday in the U.S. District Court of Colorado, accusi

MARION, N.C. The owner of a North Carolina trucking company has been given a suspended jail sentence and probation after a large rock fell out of one of his trucks and killed a Spartanburg, South Carolina, man driving on U.S. 221 in McDowell County. The McDowell News (http://bit.ly/1mDWEf9 ) reports a judge reduced 44-year-old Patrick Burlesons charge to aiding and abetting reckless driving. He was given a 45-day suspended jail sentence and a year of unsupervised probati

The Trucker Staff 8/20/2014 DALLAS — The driver of the future (2022) will be younger, more educated, have a greater interest in technology and be paid more than truck drivers of today, predicts Sandeep Kar, Frost & Sullivan’s global director of automotive and transportation research. Kar made the predictions Wednesday at the Commercial Vehicle Outlook Conference here prior to the Great American Trucking Show. And perhaps surprisingly — or not — he or she will be driving a diesel-powered ve

Trucking information services provider, DAT Solutions, and the broker group, the Transportation Intermediaries Association, are warning of a scam that is affecting freight brokers and carriers. TIA said it has received identity theft reports from freight broker and carrier companies whose logos, graphics, text and other intellectual property were stolen from their companies’ web sites. The thieves use these elements to pose as brokers or carriers in emails, to recruit the email recipients

DES MOINES — A northeast Iowa man sentenced to nearly four years in federal prison for fabricating grain elevator scale tickets and bankruptcy fraud has lost his sentence appeal. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says 48-year-old Michael Recker was properly sentenced last year to 46 months in prison. Recker, of Arlington, admitted at sentencing that in 2008 and 2009 he bribed an elevator worker to create false grain tickets then lied to Internal Revenue Service investigators about it.

8 Farmers File Fraud Lawsuit Against Turner Grain by Mark Friedman on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2014 12:50 pm Soybean grains loaded on a truck. (Photo by Shutterstock) A group of farmers on Monday sued Turner Grain Merchandising Inc. for fraud, saying they haven’t been paid for grains they sold to the Brinkley company. The eight farmers, who have fields in Monroe, Phillips and Lee counties, said in a lawsuit filed in Lee County Circuit Court that they had commodities contracts to sel

Infrastructure constraints continue to be the biggest obstacle to grains sector efficiency gains, but a collective lack of will to implement change means the issue is still stagnating, according to a logistics specialist, according to The Land. And things need to move on down the east coast and through South Australia away from port zones set essentially on state lines. Speaking at the Australian Grains Industry Conference (AGIC) earlier in the month, Luke Fraser of Jutarna Infrastructure sai

By Zen Yaworsky In the first of a two-part series, supply chain consultant Zen Yaworksy explains why 3PLs shouldn’t expect shippers to give them the oxygen to innovate anytime soon Last week The Loadstar ran a post: “Shippers demand innovation from their favourite 3PLs, but will they pay for it?” Behind the post was a report from SCM World which broadly concluded that “buyers speak out of two sides of their mouth”; that they “want innovative solutions and strategic thinking, but in the en

I’m going to once again lean on FTR for its insight into the freight market and where rates might be headed. Jonathan Starks, director of transportation analysis with FTR, had some good news when commenting on the industry forecaster’s most recent Trucking Conditions Index. He suggested a rate increase is likely as we transition into the fall shipping season. Here’s why: “The headline number of 4% for GDP growth in the second quarter is getting plenty of news but the real number for getting a

by Mark Friedman A North Little Rock company said Monday that it plans to hand over the money it owes Turner Grain Merchandising Inc. of Brinkley to a judge to decide how to divide it among Turner's creditors. "We have a small amount of [Turner's] money because they do deliver to us and sell to us, but we turned that all over to our legal department," David Choate, vice president of grain and barge operation for Bruce Oakley Inc. of North Little Rock, said. "Because we're not in a positio

William B. Cassidy Company by company, truck by truck, motor carrier bankruptcies threaten to sap freight capacity from an already tight truckload shipping market in the U.S. as freight demand rises. As operating costs such as driver pay rise and federal regulations cut into productivity, hundreds of trucking companies are shutting their doors each quarter. Although most of these companies are small, collectively they are as large as a multi-billion-dollar motor carrier. In the first qu

USA Truck Inc. on Thursday reported a net income of $722,000 for its second quarter, giving the company its first quarterly profit in three years. The earnings for the second quarter of 2014 reversed the $1.4 million loss the Van Buren-based company posted for the same period in 2013. "We reached an important milestone this quarter, crossing over to profitability while making good progress in implementing our turnaround plan," John Simone, president and chief executive officer, said Thursd

WINNIPEG - Aug. 18, 2014 When customers speak, Cargill listens.Cargills AgHorizons farm customers now have the ability to sign a grain delivery contract on-line- something that no other line grain company in Canada is currently offering. Cargills unique positioning with our farm customers has allowed us the opportunity to better understand their needs, and what were hearing right now is that they want simplified solutions when it comes to signing grain contracts, said Fran Burr, assistant vic

by Arkansas Business Staff Sources in the commodities industry told Arkansas Business late last week that Turner Grain Merchandising Inc. of Brinkley is on the verge of filing for bankruptcy protection. Two sources said the company's losses could be in the millions. Meanwhile, Arkansas House Speaker Davy Carter, R-Cabot, on Friday sent a letter to state Rep. Matthew Shepherd, R-El Dorado, who is chairman of the House Agriculture, Forestry & Economic Development Committee, seeking help fo

http://www.trucknews.com/ I’ve spent a lot of time dealing with freight brokers, and in fact have been in the middle myself. I figured I knew the business. But as I prepared to moderate two industry events, I realized that this old dog has a lot to learn. The first event took place last fall in our boardroom. I invited six industry leaders to sit down for a state of the union. These are all “first generation” brokers—baby-boomer entrepreneurs who have been breaking trails for an industry t

Here's something the executives of every company that supplies products to truckers should do: Spend some time with a trucker in the cab to experience life in the real world. That's just what Marne Keller-Krikava, who took over as president and CEO of J.J. Keller at the beginning of this year, did earlier this month. It wasn’t exactly business as usual on August 6 and 7 when Keller-Krikava left her office for the open road. In order to understand the unique challenges women in the indu

Man separates blazing tractor from highly flammable trailer A quick-thinking truck driver has been credited with averting a potential disaster in Cumberland County. The RCMP and the Oxford Fire Department were called to a tractor-trailer fire on the eastbound lanes of Highway 104 at the Thomson Station turnoff near Oxford, at about 8 a.m. Thursday. “As we were getting ready to leave, the Mountie dispatch told us that it was hauling a trailer of oxygen, and we thought, ‘Oh boy,’ ” said Dea

At Mylet Farms in Carroll County, Ind., you can pull your truck up to the grain bin and use your smartphone or tablet to activate the loading process. You can even watch a live video feed of it all on your screen. The technology to do so was conceptualized by a Mylet family member about 150 years after his ancestors planted the first seed. Neil Mylet is applying Silicon Valley concepts to rural Indiana, a location that serves as the inspiration for many of his ideas that he says are in tur

Bill Introduced to Congress Which Establishes National Hiring Standards for Motor Carriers By Christopher Raleigh The recent introduction of H.R. 4727 in the House of Representatives marks the first step toward insulating freight brokers and third-party logistics providers (3PLs) from claims by plaintiffs who seek an alternate source for recovery when a motor truck carrier’s insurance is insufficient to cover the damages that are alleged. Since the ruling in Schramm v. Foster, 341 F. S

By Eric Lyttle The Columbus Dispatch Seven people were injured in an explosion yesterday afternoon that caused substantial damage to Coshocton Grain Co., an owner said. Five employees and two state grain graders were at the Coshocton business at the time. One person was flown to Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center, and six others were taken to Coshocton County Memorial Hospital in the city, although none of the injuries was life-threatening, said Larry Endsley, a co-owner of t

By Michael Harthorne FIFE, Wash. -- Don't let the names fool you, love was definitely not in the air when a man named Truelove reportedly first propositioned then threatened to kill a trucker at Love's Truck Stop Sunday in Fife. According to the charges filed Monday in Pierce County Superior Court, Fife Police Department officers were called to the truck stop in the 1500 block of 33rd Avenue East for reports of a man throwing things around and bothering truck drivers. The victim, a truc

A proposal has been introduced in the U.S. Senate to give a weight exemption to trucks powered by natural-gas engines, which have heavier fuel tanks than those that run on diesel. The Natural Gas Long Haul Truck Competitiveness Act of 2014 was introduced in late July by Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.). Under a 1991 federal law, truck weight on interstates was limited to 80,000 pounds, although some states such as Nevada, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming that already had

By Steven Johnson | ECT Staff Writer Electric cooperatives say federal regulators must take steps to prevent railroads from turning fuel surcharges they impose on their customers into profit centers. BNSF and other freight railroads are racking up excess profits from fuel surcharges, shippers told the Surface Transportation Board. (Photo By: iStockphoto) BNSF and other freight railroads are racking up excess profits from fuel surcharges, shippers told the Surface Transportation Board. (Ph

The Herald-Dispatch / 2014 HUNTINGTON — The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Huntington Police Department are conducting a joint investigation into a local trucking business, which was shut down Monday night. Cisco Trucking, located in the 1200 block of 7th Avenue, was closed by the HPD for failure to pay its business license, Police Chief Jim Johnson said. Johnson said five tractor-trailers were then seized in a joint operation with the DEA. Johnson wouldn’t say what was in

Despite a variety of ongoing challenges facing the trucking industry, especially the driver shortage, one particular bright spot is the slow yet steady decline of diesel fuel prices in the U.S. According to data tracked by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), national average retail pump prices dropped again this week though only slightly, falling a penny to $3.843 per gallon. That’s also 5.3 cents per gallon cheaper compared to the same week last year, the agency noted. Diesel now