Bulk Freight News & Industry Updates - Stay Ahead in Trucking

Mercedes has unveiled its self-driving truck prototype in a maiden journey on a German highway signalling the onset of the autonomous freight transportation revolution. Guided by the company’s intelligent Highway Pilot system, the Mercedes-Benz Future Truck 2025 prototype is intended for commercial launch in 2025. The system, comparable to an airplane autopilot, uses radar to scan the road up to 250 meters ahead and takes advantage of existing autonomous driving features such as networking o

Sharon Dunn [email protected] Working at her husband’s trucking company for years, Dawn Tesch saw firsthand the difficulties he faced keeping his drivers on the road. Not because of work ethic or performance issues. Federal and state regulations for documenting everything drivers do threatened to pull him under. “Watching that struggle and being in trucking, and seeing the frustration of the other owner-operators, I just thought there was a place in this world for me to help

Mark Szakonyi, Senior Editor U.S. surface transportation providers, ranging from railroads to trucking companies, are preparing for the approaching Hurricane Arthur, set to hit the East Coast this holiday weekend, with some carriers warning shippers of potential delays. CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway don’t expect Arthur to have much of an impact on their operations but are preparing all the same. NS is suspending loading operations at Pier 6, part of the Lamberts Point Coa

By WRCB Staff - email MCMINN COUNTY, TN (WRCB) - A man was electrocuted Wednesday morning while unloading grain into a silo. Billy L. Dougherty, 63, of Kingsport was unloading grain into a silo at a farm on McMinn County Road 609 when he was electrocuted, according a news release from McMinn County Sheriff Joe Guy. "Based on the initial investigation, it appears Mr Dougherty was attempting to blow feed grain from his tanker truck into a feed silo when the truck's boom came in contact w

By Mike Hricik Forum News Service Nearly 5,000 rail cars are lagging behind on their North Dakota grain shipments, according to newly released numbers that also show thousands more cars are trailing behind nationwide. Two rail transportation companies have provided their first weekly updates on backlogged grain shipments after they were mandated by the federal government to do so in June. BNSF Railway reported that 4,942 rail cars are running late in North Dakota by an average of 32 da

CRISP CO., GA (WALB) - The new so-called slow poke law goes into effect Tuesday. Officials can now give you a ticket if you are in the left of a divided highway and you don't move to the right to let a faster vehicle go by. Officials also want drivers to remember the move over law that states drivers need to move over for stationary law enforcement or emergency vehicles with flashing lights. "It's something we take very serious. We want to keep the public safe as well as officers out o

By Richard Hermann Canandaigua, N.Y. It’s time for Congress to act responsibly for a change and impose the legal concept of strict liability on companies that ship their goods in interstate commerce by truck. Shippers would be strictly liable for any road accidents involving the trucks that they engage to ship their goods, regardless of culpability. It would compel shippers to make sure that the trucks they use are safe and that their drivers are in shape to transport their goods. It is a

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM Associated Press A California truck driver pulled into the Blue Beacon Truck Wash in central Pennsylvania and spotted an advertisement for low-cost health exams for truckers. Needing one for his commercial driver's license, he called the number on the sign and was picked up by a woman in an old Ford Tempo. She drove him to her town house, where she performed the $65 physical, had him provide a urine sample and faxed the required forms to the California Department of Tr

Jim Mele Michael Perley of the law firm Hurwitz & Fine P.C. is on call around the clock for fleets and trucking clients, according to Buffalo Law Journal blogger Michael Petro. As head of their transportation and trucking negligence practice, Petro is on the other side of the fence from the San Antonio firm that recently ran the “Serial Killer Truck” ad in Maxim, defending truckers involved in accidents instead of suing them. Getting to the scene of the accident quickly to interview the dr

By Dale Hogg Managing Editor [email protected] One of the nation’s largest grain marketing companies is interested in a small sliver of Barton County for its newest facility. Following the approval Monday morning by the Barton County Commission of a rezoning request, that facility is step closer to reality. Kansas City, Mo.-based Bartlett Grain Company LP wants to build a five-silo and office/shop complex between Great Bend and Ellinwood. The location is ideal because of its proximity to b

The police are usually the ones who pull over drivers who are speeding. But this isn’t your usual police encounter. Truck driver Brian Miner was trucking through Illinois when he was passed by a speeding cop. Worse yet, he noticed the officer was on the phone, and the roads were slick from a rain. After honking at the cop, the police officer pulled him over. Brian quickly took out his camera to record the encounter. The rare video has exploded today with over a quarter million hits already!

By MARILYN TENNISSEN A Texas law firm’s recent ad in a national magazine has the trucking industry in an outrage. serial killer The ad calls truck drivers “serial killers,” and urges individuals that have been involved in wrecks with big rigs to contact Villarreal & Begum Law Firm in San Antonio to file lawsuits against truckers and trucking companies. Running in the men’s magazine Maxim in June, the ad shows a red 18-wheeler with the tagline “Serial Killer” above it and states “3,561 peo

This Editorial appears in the June 30 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today. Marching happily toward the Fourth of July, one can see some of the spirit of Independence Hall 238 steamy summers ago in — of all places — trucking. Billeted in front of a monitor to read public comment on a proposed federal regulation, we saw the opinions of those who would be affected by the plan erupting with force and aimed, in this case, at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Adm

By Patrick Rupinski | Business Editor | The Tuscaloosa News http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20140627/NEWS/140629741/1007/news?Title=S-C-man-pleads-guilty-in-freight-contract-scheme View Original Article

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS TOPEKA, Kansas — Starting Tuesday, Kansas is granting a yearlong exemption to small commercial trucks from most of the safety regulations it imposes upon larger haulers, despite the misgivings of some officials. The Topeka Capital Journal reports (http://bit.ly/1pXrun8 ) that the exemption is the result of a new law approved by the Legislature this year with large, bipartisan majorities at the urging of owners of landscaping, masonry and home-building businesses and tr

ST. LOUIS • A grain elevator manager's scheme to inflate the prices he paid for corn, soybeans and other commodities cost Maryland Heights-based Bunge North America more than $1 million, a federal indictment made public Thursday says. Coleman Carpenter, 36, of Troy, Tenn., managed the elevator in Hickman, Ky., at the time. The indictment says that beginning in 2009, instead of paying farmers, producers and dealers the company-approved and authorized price, Carpenter would sometimes pay inflat

By Greg Carter, Content Manager Charleston, W.Va. – The owner of a trucking company in southern West Virginia pleaded guilty today for failing to collect and pay federal employment taxes announced United States Attorney Booth Goodwin. Richard L. Bailey, Jr., of Fayetteville, West Virginia, pleaded guilty to two federal tax charges. Bailey owned and operated Duster Trucking Company, LLC, a coal hauling business in the Fayetteville area. Bailey was required to deduct income taxes, social sec

The Trucker News Services 6/26/2014 KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Pilot Flying J’s internal auditors correctly calculated the amount the truck stop chain owned trucking companies that were victims of a rebate scandal which company CEO Jimmy Haslam says he was unaware. Ten former Pilot employees have pleaded guilty in the criminal investigation and are cooperating with prosecutors who are conducting an on-going criminal investigation. Based on the settlement of a class action suit filed in federal cou

By Jessica Miller Staff Writer Enid News and Eagle ENID, Okla. — Some area grain elevators took in less than half of the average bushels of wheat this harvest. “The bushels received (were) well below average. In fact, I think I figured 24 percent of our 10-year average is what we got,” Carrier Mill & Elevator Manager Lee Redman said, “which is the lowest total bushels we’ve had since 1955.” Bison Co-op General Manager Tim Milacek reported the co-op received 30 percent of the average ha

By Jill Drury SIDNEY, Ohio (WDTN) – The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio fined the trucking company whose rig leaked ammonia last week. PUCO sent Hausbeck Brothers Incorporated what is called a notice of apparent violation. It comes with a $3,000 fine for releasing hazardous materials. The leak shut down Interstate 75 and Route 47 for several hours last Tuesday. Evacuations were also ordered in the area immediately surrounding the leak site. The truck leaded anhydrous ammonia,

Food transporters urged to use extended comment period for proposed FDA rules Sean Kilcarr Motor carriers are being encouraged to take advantage of a comment period extension covering new regulations promulgated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) back in February as many in the industry are concerned those proposed rules could increase the “risk exposure” of fleets involved in foodstuff transportation. “There’s really not enough attention being paid to this regulatory effort,”

http://www.truckinginfo.com/ Canadian truckers have blasted a U.S. proposal that would greatly hike some fees at the border. The fleet group, the Canadian Trucking Alliance, says it strongly objects to a proposal from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to substantially raise the Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service fees. In filing comments in response to the USDA’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, CTA said it acknowledges “the government of the United States of America has every rig

By JACOB BUNGE and DAVID GEORGE-COSH CONNECT Updated June 23, 2014 6:01 p.m. ET U.S. regulators ordered two railways to detail their plans to speed shipments of grain, amid a monthslong backlog that has frustrated farmers. The Surface Transportation Board ordered BNSF Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. CP.T -1.28% to disclose plans to address the delays, which have forced some farmers in the upper Midwest to heap grain on the ground after running out of storage space following m

WASHINGTON — 2014 will be a “banner year” for truckers and other freight haulers, according to the 25th Annual State of Logistics Report from the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals. “The performance of the economy overall has not been stellar in 2014, but freight continues to gain momentum and accelerate in the second quarter,” said Rosalyn Wilson, author of the report, at a June 17 presentation at the National Press Club in Washington. 2013 was a complicated year for the ec

New grain facilities will soon be popping up around the Nebraska panhandle, as well as in parts of South Dakota. West Plains Grain has plans to build and expand several of it's grain elevators. New facilities will be added to the West Plain's Gering location, and additions will also be made to the Mitchell site. Regional Manager Shain Shimic says the company also has plans to expand in the northern part of the state, as well as into South Dakota. "In the northwest Nebraska area, w

The Tribune-Democrat JOHNSTOWN — Every day, we put our trust in people we don’t know to keep us safe. We rely on airplane pilots, bus drivers, emergency responders and a host of others who we don’t know by name. Add truck drivers to that list – those unidentified, long-haul heroes who we trust to deliver, on time and edible, meat, vegetables and dairy products to our favorite stores and restaurants. But let’s be honest, how many of us have ever wondered how long our steak, chicken tende

Posted by Tom D'Amore If you’ve been the victim of a trucking accident, you might not only be facing serious injuries but also questions about what caused the accident and who is responsible. Understanding some of the common causes of trucking accidents can help you determine whether you might have a valid injury claim. Driver error Drivers of large trucks are 10 times more likely to cause an accident than other factors such as bad weather, adverse road conditions, and poor vehicle perf

Investments By Railroads And Trucking Constraints Drive Railroad Intermodal Volumes Intermodal is a lucrative business for the U.S. railroads given its strong growth and opportunity. It helps generate a significant portion of revenues for railroads. In 2013, CSX (NYSE:CSX), Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) and Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP) generated 14%, 21% and 19% respectively of their overall revenues from their intermodal business. From 2009 to 2013, the intermodal carload traffic has increased

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS At the same time that Congress is considering whether to relax work rules for freight haulers, a truck driver's lack of sleep is being blamed for the highway crash that injured comedian Tracy Morgan and killed Connecticut resident James "Jimmy Mack" McNair. Walmart trucker Kevin Roper apparently failed to slow for traffic ahead on the New Jersey Turnpike and then swerved to avoid a crash. Instead, his rig smashed into the back of Morgan's chauffeured limo bus, kill

If bold enough, incoming fuel-efficiency and greenhouse gas standards for heavy-duty trucks being devised by the EPA and the NHTSA could reduce the cost of moving freight by 7 percent and owners of tractor-trailer units could save $0.21 per mile, according to a report from Environmental Defense Fund and Ceres. The EPA and NHTSA adopted the first-ever standards for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles and engines built for model years 2014 to 2018 — the so-called phase 1 standards — in 2011. Presid

A Florida man driving a truck for an Indiana company didn't give in to a scam try Monday night in Upper Macungie Township, police report. Norman Gingras, 59, of Safety Harbor, Florida, parked a truck owned by Barr-Nunn Transportation, of Granger, Indiana, about 10 o'clock in the lot of the Wawa at 7572 Schantz Road, township police said. When he tried to pull out, he realized the brakes were locked and he could hear an air leak, police said. A man in a white U-Haul van, which was parked ne

Niagara Gazette Niagara Gazette — Because a Hollywood star was critically injured in an accident caused by a tractor trailer, the public conversation has turned to road safety and how big trucks fit into that equation. Never mind that beyond Tracy Morgan’s high-profile crash there are 500,000 accidents with tractor trailers every year in which an average of 11 people die each day. Although those are incredibly high numbers, they don’t tell the whole story. A majority of the accidents are

The 27-year-old man killed in a grain bin accident yesterday afternoon is identified... And the rural community around Wilton is stunned following the farm-related tragedy. The McLean County Sheriff's Department says 27-year-old Corneilius Johannes Du Plessis from South Africa was working at the Doepke Farm at 1412 Highway 83 South West 5 miles south of Washburn, when he was killed in a grain bin accident. The Sheriff's Department says multiple emergency response teams came out to help

http://www.overdriveonline.com/ In a brief to media and members, the board of the Alliance for Safe, Efficient and Competitive Truck Transportation reported that the suit it brought against the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in 2012 had been decided in favor of FMCSA. The suit alleged FMCSA had overstepped its bounds with publication of the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program’s Safety Measurement System, which ranks carriers on a numerical curve in five public BASIC cat

The Trucker News Services 6/17/2014 AUSTIN, Texas — Corporate executives, small business owners and state officials Tuesday joined the Texas Department of Transportation at Circuit of The Americas raceway to consider solutions for reducing driver distractions that caused more than 95,000 traffic crashes last year in Texas. "With distracted driving responsible for one in every five crashes in Texas, we want to help business leaders understand what they can do to protect their employees, them

http://www.foxnews.com/ Residents of the northeast Nebraska town of Pilger were set to begin a massive cleanup operation Tuesday after a deadly tornado swept through the area, killing a 5-year-old and a motorist and injuring 19 others, while demolishing more than half the town's structures. The National Weather Service said two twisters touched down within roughly a mile of each other. Emergency crews and residents spent the evening sorting through demolished homes and businesses in the to

By Scott Daugherty The Virginian-Pilot © June 17, 2014 VIRGINIA BEACH A 46-year-old truck driver from Georgia died Saturday after a police chase from Suffolk to Virginia Beach. Monday, he was identified as Alex Eugene Senegal of McDonough, Ga., according to a news release. Multiple people called 911 about 11:16 p.m. to report that a tractor-trailer was driving recklessly on U.S. 58 and Pitchkettle Road, the release said. Suffolk police located the truck, which struck a guardrail a

By Joseph Gallick Vice President, Dedicated Services NationaLease Recent articles have stated that truck capacity is running close to 100%. Industry experts have been saying the increased freight volume that comes with sustained economic growth, plus other factors such as a long bout of poor weather, could create a truly critical situation. The Commerce Department’s May 29 revised report that first-quarter GDP contracted at a 1% annual pace, the first contraction since 2011, may be t

I don’t know what Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association leadership was smoking when it called for the dismissal of FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro, but I hope they were in the states of Washington or Colorado. In my more than 40 years of trucking industry work in Washington, I have dealt with every Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration/Bureau of Motor Carrier Safety administrator since “Bow Tie” Bob Kaye and none has been more open or accessible than Anne Ferro. Of course, I

Grant Rodgers, [email protected] A lawsuit brought by eight Muscatine residents against a controversial corn processing company will go back to a district court, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled today. The residents all live within 1.5 miles of a corn wet-milling plant operated by Grain Processing Corporation, or GPC. The residents filed the nuisance, trespass and negligence lawsuit, arguing that the company's outdated equipment and procedures leave particulate matter in the air and on the gr

Grant Rodgers, [email protected] A lawsuit brought by eight Muscatine residents against a controversial corn processing company will go back to a district court, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled today. The residents all live within 1.5 miles of a corn wet-milling plant operated by Grain Processing Corporation, or GPC. The residents filed the nuisance, trespass and negligence lawsuit, arguing that the company's outdated equipment and procedures leave particulate matter in the air and on the gr

GRAIN VALLEY, Mo., June 13, 2014 /NEWS.GNOM.ES/ — The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has been pushing federal agencies for years to implement minimum, behind-the-wheel training standards for new truck drivers, yet no such regulations exist today. “Instead of relying on technology and making misguided, hours-of-service regulations changes, the focus should instead be on training standards for entry-level drivers,” said OOIDA Executive Vice President Todd Spencer. “Despite or

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) -- A grain truck crashed and spilled corn along a road in Dunn County Thursday. The Wisconsin State Patrol says it happened around 8 a.m. on Highway 170 and County Road S, just east of Wheeler. Dunn County Sheriff, Dennis Smith, says the driver of the truck somehow lost control and went off the road. Part of Highway 170 was closed for about two hours, but it took almost 5 hours to clean up the spill. The driver was not hurt. No other vehicles were involved.

Avery Vise | Fleet Owner A group of shippers, carriers and brokers formed to highlight the Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program’s effect on capacity, competition and liability has voiced support for proposed legislation (H.R. 4727) that would shield shippers, brokers and others from liability if they take steps to confirm that the carrier has Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) operating authority and insurance and does not have an unsatisfactory safety rating. The

SUMMIT, SD - Early Wednesday morning a South Dakota Highway Patrol Trooper responded to a semi-truck crash on Interstate 29 north of Summit. The driver of a northbound semi-truck fell asleep behind the wheel causing the vehicle to travel off the roadway. The driver woke up and over-corrected causing the semi to enter the median and roll onto its side. The crash sent beer cans and bottles spilling onto the median. The driver was wearing his seatbelt and received serious non-life threaten

UPDATE: New Century Transportation Inc., Mount Holly, N.J., filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation yesterday in federal bankruptcy court for New Jersey with its affiliates Northwind Logistics LLC and Western Freightways LLC. Case is U.S. Bankruptcy N.J. 14-22093-MBK, lawyer is Lowenstein Sandler in Roseland NJ. Court-appointed trustee is Catherine E. Youngman, Esq, Forman, Holt, Eliades & Youngman LLC, Paramus NJ. The companies employed "over 1,500" at sites around the U.S., and controlle

Confusion over the height of a truck load contributed to the collapse of an Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River last year in Washington state, according to a preliminary report from federal transportation officials. The oversize truck load hit one of the bridge's overhead tresses May 23, 2013, near Mount Vernon, Wash., and a portion of the bridge and two passenger vehicles plummeted into the water below. Three people were injured; there were no fatalities. According to the preliminar

By Lynn Doan http://www.businessweek.com/ Green Plains Inc. (GPRE:US), which just became the first major ethanol producer to buy its own cattle-feed yard, has plans to milk it for more -- by buying the cattle too. The fourth-largest ethanol maker in the U.S. bought the assets of Supreme Cattle Feeders from Agri Beef Co., including a feed yard and a grain storage facility near Kismet, Kansas, for $15 million. The move marks a shift for the Omaha, Nebraska-based company from selling distille

Andy Nelson HUDSONVILLE, Mich. — Fuel prices and truck availability continue to give Michigan grower-shippers headaches. Input costs increase every year, but truck availability may be more of an issue than costs in 2014, said Todd DeWaard, sales manager for Superior Sales. “You can pick it and pack it, but you have to find a ride,” DeWaard said. “It’s been a struggle as time has progressed. Transportation and labor are the top two battles we face.” The proximity to markets often gives Michig

Staff Kansas City Business Journal Drought, late freezes and hot temperatures have trampled estimates for the Kansas wheat harvest this year, and the ramifications will be felt throughout the economy, the Wichita Business Journal reports. The state’s wheat harvest will yield 260 million bushels this season, down from 319 million bushels last year, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates. Wheat prices have increased, but that’s little solace for farmers who are seeing their wor

BY JOHN W. SCHOEN The New Jersey Turnpike crash involving an allegedly sleep-deprived Wal-Mart truck driver, in which comedian Tracy Morgan was injured and his friend killed, comes just days after the trucking industry won Senate support to roll back new rules designed to make sure truck drivers get enough rest. Kevin Roper, 35, was expected to appear in a New Jersey court on Monday on charges of vehicular homicide, assault and reckless driving in connection with the crash that killed one

By Julie Wernau, Tribune reporter NORTH UTICA, Ill. — — The Flynns are weary of bright lights that flood their bedroom each night from a sand mine next door. A second neighboring mine is in the works, and yet another nearby field has just been sold for mining as well. "I always thought when I died I'd want to be cremated and just thrown around the farm," Cathy Flynn said. "But if everything around me is going to be sand mines anyway, forget it." This is the other side of the fracking bo

By David D'Orazio, Posted: Jun 9, 2014 09:40 AM | Last Updated: Jun 9, 2014 09:40 AM ROCKY VIEW, AB — Each year in September, truckers gather to make the World’s Largest Truck Convoy a great one. And this year, the man who raised The Great One himself, Walter Gretzky, will be there. Big trucks, big convoys, a big anniversary and a big cause make the 2014 World’s Largest Truck Convoy For Special Olympics an event you don’t want to miss. The truck convoy, celebrating its 10th anniversary in

LUDLOW, S.D. – As a trucker who identified himself only as “Buck” sees it, the traffic and turmoil generated by the Bakken oil field in North Dakota keeps growing “like a fungus” along U.S. Highway 85, a once quiet two-lane road that now teems with speeding trucks. The highway that connects Interstate 90 in South Dakota with the oil patch near Williston, N.D., used to be a tranquil country road through the remote ranches and prairies of northwestern South Dakota. But lately, that typically

By Andrew G. Simpson Truckers would be required to buy higher insurance limits under a government proposal, although how much higher is not yet known. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) concluded in a report to Congress that current minimum financial responsibility limits for the commercial motor vehicle industry — including the $750,000 limit for general freight carriers— are inadequate to meet the costs of some crashes, mainly because of rising medical costs. A wo

By Corinne Iozzio SMITHSONIAN.COM Driving past a fleet of trucks on the highway is something that can make many motorists go a little white-knuckled, perhaps with good reason: There are about half a million trucking accidents each year. But what if the trucks could react to—or even avoid—road hazards on their own? Peloton Technology, a Silicon Valley startup, could make the roads safer for passenger vehicles and tractor-trailers alike by doing just that, with a new system that makes t

Jeannine Otto, Field Editor Thursday, June 05, 2014 1:00 PM ELWOOD, Ill. — A decision by the village of Elwood to restrict truck traffic is causing headaches for truckers hauling products, including grain, in to and out of rail and agribusiness facilities near the village. “This is the responsible and right thing to do,” said Village President William Offerman in a May 28 news release that announced the restrictions. The village board voted May 21 to restrict truck traffic on Walter Str

By Justin Bachman The people who drive large commercial trucks, fly cargo planes, and ferry millions of airline passengers are all subject to federal rules governing how much they rest. The U.S. government insists all such rules are guided by the science of sleep. Yet when Uncle Sam moves to enhance transport safety, it becomes clear that the rest rules are very much influenced by whichever industry or worker group is most pinched by government requirements. Cargo pilots at FedEx (FDX) a

http://www.ketv.com/ FREMONT, Neb. —A Fremont man was arrested on several charges after he embezzled millions of dollars from his employer. Dennis D. Hesman, 66, was booked Wednesday on 10 counts of theft by deception and one count of criminal conspiracy. Officials from Hesman’s former employer, Gavilon Grain, informed Fremont police of an embezzlement scheme they discovered after Hesman retired from the company. The investigation revealed that Hesman had falsified documents while

By TIM UNRUH Salina Journal Appearances are telling to farmer Billy Gans, and his wheat this year is far from easy on the eyes. "It looks pretty sickly, maybe knee-high and headed out uneven," Gans said, referring to his fields southeast of Bennington. He is among many who aren't holding much hope for this crop. Prospects have dimmed from north Texas to the Dakotas, primarily because rains didn't come in time, or at all. But the wheat price, down 11 cents to $7.03 a bushel Tuesday

By Jeff Plungis The 82-hour cap on a U.S. trucker’s work week has a chance of being eased by Congress, undoing the result of a 15-year effort to reduce highway fatalities caused by drowsy long-haul drivers. The main federal regulation that requires truckers to take an extended break at least twice a week would be suspended under an amendment set for a vote in the Senate Appropriations Committee tomorrow. The rule took effect in July 2013 and immediately drew criticism from the trucking in

By LYNDON FINNEY The Trucker Staff 6/3/2014 WASHINGTON — Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, appears to be set to introduce an amendment to suspend the controversial restart provision of the Hours of Service rule that became effective last July. The Capitol Hill office of the American Trucking Associations late Tuesday e-mailed ATA members asking them to support the amendment. “Be advised, Sen. Susan Collins intends to offer a proposal before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday, June

Truck drivers claim the state is losing important forms they need to keep their jobs. Trucking companies are telling News10NBC they have run into problems with the state over medical certification forms. Those forms prove a driver is medically fit to drive and they’re required for people with commercial driver’s licenses. Many truckers say they've turned in the forms, but the state is notifying them they have no record of them. This is all part of new federal regulations that went into effect t

By Kevin Jones http://www.ccjdigital.com/ What makes a good customer? Carriers know, but too commonly they’re either not sharing their needs with shippers – or, more troublesome for the trucking industry, they’re too willing to compromise on terms and conditions that are against their business interests. “Truckload carriers as a group – and I hate to be critical – have done a really poor job of presenting their case to shippers. They rarely go in with facts,” Ben Cubitt, senior vice presid

The third largest flour milling company in America will be headquartered in Chattanooga with a new corporate name following the merger Monday of Cereal Food Processors into Milner Milling Inc. The new corporate name, Grain Craft, brings together three milling companies combined over the past 11 years. Milner Milling Inc., which bought half of Pendleton Flour Mills LLC in 2003, said Monday it completed its previously announced purchase of Cereal Food Processors. The company will be heade

The Associated Press 6/2/2014 KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri transportation officials have shelved a project using "sound cannons" to warn distracted motorists to slow down in work zones, but remain interested in how that technology could protect highway workers. Researchers tested the long-range acoustic devices — or LRADs — in November on Missouri Department of Transportation vehicles on Interstate 435 in northern Kansas City and on Interstate 70 near Columbia. They mounted the device on th

A state appeals court has upheld more than $300,000 in damages for a Hayward truck driver who was fired after complaining about having to lift a heavy tractor-trailer gate that had caused back injuries to him and other truckers. Howard Sanders worked for Central Freight Lines for seven years until April 2008, when he was assigned to a loaded rig with a lift gate weighing between 150 and 200 pounds. Sanders had strained his back trying to lift the same type of gate in the past, and he asked hi

Last year, new regulations on the trucking industry came into effect that limit the time drivers can spend on the road. Among the key changes are a 12-hour reduction in drivers’ maximum workload per week, a mandatory 30-minute break during the first eight hours on shift, and more stringent guidelines placed on the time needed to lapse between work weeks. Policymakers cited driver safety as the impetus for implementing the new rules, but benefits remain to be seen. As a result, insurance com

By Oliver Patton http://www.truckinginfo.com/ Several House Republicans are proposing a national standard to protect buyers of trucking services from claims that they were negligent when selecting the carrier. The bill by Rep. John Duncan, R-Tenn., says that shippers and brokers would not be liable for negligence claims at the state level if they made sure that the carrier is registered at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, has the required insurance and does not have an unsati

By Kevin Jones http://www.ccjdigital.com/ The Compliance, Safety, Accountability program – and the confusion surrounding it – once again is getting some attention from Congress. A bill, introduced last week, seeks to protect shippers and brokers from negligent liability claims as long as the carriers they hire are duly authorized, insured and not rated “unsatisfactory” by FMCSA. Wow, wouldn’t that be simple? Reminds me of the old days – back before December 2010. The bill, H.R.4727, “To

Last year TruckersReport covered a New York Times article called “Daddy, What Was A Truck Driver?” in which multiple individuals, including leadership at the ATA, predicted that autonomous self-driving commercial trucks were “close to inevitable.” Whether or not flesh and blood truck drivers will go the way of the dodo remains to be seen, but a recent announcement from Google puts non-commercial drivers on notice. According to Google, they hope to be putting 100 self-driving cars on the road by

A Centre County man is being charged with felony theft and forgery in connection with his trucking business. Ray Walker Jr., 58, of Pleasant Gap, continued his preliminary hearing Wednesday until July 16. Charges are being brought by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigations Environmental Crimes Section. Walker and his company, Ray A. Walker Trucking, are accused of illegally dumping Centre County waste material in a Clinton County landfill that charges less

By Will Knight on May 28, 2014 A pair of trucks convoying 10 meters apart on Interstate 80 just outside Reno, Nevada, might seem like an unusual sight—not to mention unsafe. But the two trucks doing this a couple of weeks ago were actually demonstrating a system that could make trucking safer and much more efficient. While the driver in front drove his truck normally, the truck behind him was partly operated by a computer—and it stuck to its leader like glue. When instructed to do so, the

WKYC Staff, WKYC A New York man has been sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay back more than $1.5 million for his part in a plan that skimmed money from trucking companies. Dilshod Sidkov, aka "Dema", 26, of Brooklyn, New York, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. According to federal prosecutors, Sidkov and others traveled to truck stops in Ohio and elsewhere. They then posed as truck drivers and used stolen account numbers

SACRAMENTO, CALIF. — In a joint letter from the California Alliance for Jobs and Transportation California, construction and labor leaders called on the Governor and the Legislature to spend existing truck weight fees on transportation projects. Weight fees paid by commercial vehicles to mitigate additional roadway damage caused by heavy trucks have been directed to the State’s General Fund since 2011. The diversion of these fees, which raise nearly a billion dollars a year, was part of a deal a

By Karen Blackledge The Daily Item BUCKHORN – State police at Bloomsburg are investigating what they are calling an attempted criminal homicide. Police said a Hemlock Township police officer conducted a traffic stop of a tractor trailer for equipment violations at 9:09 p.m. Monday at the Interstate 80 ramp to Route 42 at Buckhorn in Hemlock Township. The operator was found to have been in violation of several equipment violations which necessitated the vehicle being placed out of servi

Todd Dills http://www.overdriveonline.com/ Congressman John Duncan (R-Tenn.) along with Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.) and Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) introduced H.R. 4727 Thursday, May 22, to create a “national hiring standard” for motor carriers, according to the Transportation Intermediaries Association. The bill would require that before contracting the services of carrier a shipper, broker, freight-forwarder or receiver ensure that the carrier is: **Registered with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety A

When Alex Debogorski laughs, your first instinct is to seek cover. It’s the laugh of a tickled giant, a giddy Zeus. Thunderbolts, you’re sure, have dislodged boulders on a mountaintop somewhere and they are about to fall on you right now. Seek cover. That laugh is one of the many Debogorski characteristics that make him exactly that: a character, one that makes him a fine fit for reality television. A regular on History Channel’s reality show Ice Road Truckers, he’s managed to return for seve

By Mark B. Solomon http://www.dcvelocity.com/ The American Trucking Associations (ATA) measures the health of motor freight industry using its monthly for-hire truck tonnage index. Based on that benchmark, things are generally going well. The index in 2013 increased 6.2 percent over 2012 results, making 2013 the best year since 1998. But John G. Larkin, lead transport analyst at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., uses a different method to take the trucking industry's temperature, and that method pr

Matthew Rink CantonRep.com staff writer CANTON It’s a trip he never thought he would make, with a passenger he never met and never will. Orrville truck driver Todd Fisher will drive to Indiana on Monday to pick up a fellow truck driver. They will make a stop in Chicago before making their trek back to Canton the next day. It’s no ordinary journey. Fisher’s passenger, Dale Christopher Johnstone, died in a tragic trucking accident May 16. “It started out as just wanting to help,” said Fi

The Chicago area is often referred to as the “freight crossroads of America” with five interstates and six class I railroads serving our region. Personally, I have love-hate relationship with semi trucks. I appreciate having numerous stores stocked with a wide range of goods minutes from my house. Since I haven’t heard reports of drones flying around Naperville yet, all of my many purchases are likely to continue to be delivered by trucks for some time to come. However, driving by or near

Schneider Logistics has agreed to a settlement of $21 million to bring an end to a lawsuit filed by six employees who claimed that they were being underpaid, forced to work in dangerous conditions, and threatened with termination when they complained. And no, they aren’t drivers. They’re lumpers. David Acosta and five other workers employed by Schneider filed the lawsuit in 2011 because of the horrible working conditions at the Walmart warehouse where they were unloading freight. They claimed

By Mark B. Solomon http://www.dcvelocity.com/ Jett McCandless and Tommy Skinner believe they have gone where no transportation folk have gone before. McCandless is founder and president of a Chicago-based consultancy called CarrierDirect. Skinner is vice president of Shift Freight, based in Santa Fe Springs, Calif. CarrierDirect is the primary sales channel for Shift, which operates a range of less-than-truckload (LTL) services from the West Coast into the Midwest and the Northeast through an

Max Heine http://www.overdriveonline.com/ There are countless fleets, big and small, that can trace their roots to an owner-operator who saved his money, gulped hard, and bought a second truck. It’s the American dream: The sky’s the limit for someone with smarts and a strong work ethic. That scenario lives on in trucking, though it might not be as alive and well as it used to be. Overdrive’s annual population studies of for-hire owner-operator businesses where the owner still drives sho

I never understood, nor would have believed, just how dangerous trucks are until I started driving one for a living BY CHARLES ABRAMOVICI, SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE MONTREAL — Dear pedestrians, cyclists and motorists: We need to talk. During my 10-year career as a long-haul trucker, and now as a city driver who navigates a 53-foot tractor-trailer in and around Montreal, on a daily basis I witness people who unwittingly endanger their lives around big trucks. I never understood, nor

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — A southeast Idaho man has been sentenced to 30 days in jail and two years of probation for embezzling $112,000. The Post Register reports that 48-year-old Lynn "Todd" Woods of Pingree received the sentence Monday in 7th District Court. Woods avoided a 5-year prison sentence in a plea deal with the state by paying back the money before his sentencing date. He pleaded guilty to grand theft, and a charge of computer fraud was dismissed. Woo

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Shippers in the US are continuing to deal with extremely tight capacity, according to the latest FTR Shippers Conditions Index. The March reading was unchanged from February, at about -8.7, indicating “extremely tight capacity available to haul goods,” FTR reported. The freight forecaster said it expects capacity to moderate slightly in the coming months, unless freight demand increases. Any additional improvements in freight tonnage could create a “critical stage,” for

KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) - The rules enacted last year are aimed at ensuring truckers are more rested and refreshed, but they are also hurting productivityand delivery times. According to the USA Today, the rules reduced drivers' maximum work week to 70 hours from 82 hours and mandated a 30-minute break in the first eight hours of a shift. The changes also toughened a required 34-hour break between work weeks, stating that the hiatus must include two consecutive 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. periods. Th

By David Tanner, Land Line associate editor It would be rare to hear the words “shipper,” “receiver” and “broker” in the same sentence as “accountability” when it comes to trucking safety, and that’s mainly because the enforcement actions related to crashes and violations remain with motor carriers and vehicle operators and hardly ever cross over. There’s a possible game-changer on the horizon, one that would broaden the scope of trucking compliance and the safety regulations to include the

By Sue Retka Schill | May 15, 2014 Chuck Johnson at Brady Trucking Inc. focuses on the company culture in his quest to find drivers and manage a successful company, which he describes as a company built by truckers, for truckers. “Larry Brady, the founder and principal owner of the company, is a trucker. He started his career as a single truck owner and operator,” Johnson explains. “That permeates throughout the organization. I’m vice president and chief operating officer and I started as a t

FORT WAYNE (AP) — A Wisconsin trucker who caused a crash that killed two people would live under house arrest and be barred from driving if an Indiana judge accepts a plea agreement. Truck driver Scott A. Saunders pleaded guilty Wednesday in Allen County Court to reckless homicide and criminal recklessness. The Journal Gazette reports that 51-year-old Saunders of Kenosha, Wisconsin, caused a six-vehicle crash near New Haven in January 2013 when he failed to slow down at an intersection and re

A 45-year-old trucker was crushed to death beneath his big-rig Wednesday night at a loading dock outside a grocery store in west Houston. The incident occurred about 7 p.m. at 1801 South Voss near Middlewood, according to the Houston Police Department. Police said the man, whose name has not been released, had parked his truck at the loading dock. While he was outside the tractor-trailer and behind it, the truck rolled backwards, crushing him. He died at the scene. Police did not relea

Avery Vise | Fleet Owner A U.S. senator who chairs a key subcommittee on transportation infrastructure and who is a member of the committee overseeing taxes on May 13 voiced support for a phased increase in the federal gas tax in order to restore the buying power of the current tax. Speaking at a forum in Washington, D.C., on multimodal infrastructure needs hosted jointly by the American Trucking Assns. and the Assn. of American Railroads, Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE) noted that the federal g

GRAIN VALLEY, Mo. - Have you noticed some advertisements looking for truck drivers? It's not due to a shortage, but instead to the extremely high rate of turnover. According to Norita Taylor, with Owner-Operator Independent Driver's Association (OOIDA) Spokesperson, some estimates put that number at more than 100%. So why so high? Taylor says truck driving is hard. "You're away from home for periods of time," said Taylor. "You're sleeping in the cab of a truck." The food is often bad an

BY ELIZABETH DILTS http://www.reuters.com/ (Reuters) - As a polar vortex snarled North America's railroads and upended freight flows this winter, everyone from agricultural giant Cargill to Dow Chemical rushed to secure the next-best form of hauling goods: trucks. In what trucking executives described as an unprecedented bidding frenzy, spot market rates surged by as much as 20 percent to record highs in the first three months of 2014 as shippers sought to minimize sometimes weeks-long del

By James Jaillet http://www.ccjdigital.com/ A coalition of trucking and enforcement groups says the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration didn’t make its proposed drug and alcohol clearinghouse rule as comprehensive as it should have, and the groups want the agency to issue an amendment to the rule adding a requirement that carriers report observation of “misuse” to the clearinghouse. Related Drug and alcohol driver database comment period extended after OOIDA request The public

By Steve Lyttle [email protected] A portion of U.S. 74 in eastern Anson County was closed for more than four hours overnight Monday after a tractor-trailer carrying grain overturned. No serious injuries were reported in the single-vehicle wreck, which took place about 1:30 a.m. Monday on eastbound U.S. 74 near Camden Road. That is in Lilesville, east of Wadesboro. The N.C. Highway Patrol said the driver of the truck reported he swerved to avoid hitting a deer. The truck lan

By Steve Lyttle [email protected] A portion of U.S. 74 in eastern Anson County was closed for more than four hours overnight Monday after a tractor-trailer carrying grain overturned. No serious injuries were reported in the single-vehicle wreck, which took place about 1:30 a.m. Monday on eastbound U.S. 74 near Camden Road. That is in Lilesville, east of Wadesboro. The N.C. Highway Patrol said the driver of the truck reported he swerved to avoid hitting a deer. The truck lan

by Mary (Galer) Herschelman | After spending 40 years as an over-the-road trucker, the last place you would expect to find Hillsboro's John "Bud" Street is in a big rig truck. But, with the help of some friends, a custom-built mini big rig truck is a dream come true. On June 14, 1972, Street got his first trucking job from Don Roberson Trucking. Over the years, he drove for M.C. Slater, Inc., Artim Transportation, Yellow Freight, Buske, Jack Cooper Transportation and others. His biggest acc

By: April Baumgarten, INFORUM DICKINSON, N.D. – North Dakota’s lone U.S. representative has released a BNSF Railway report that says rail cars carrying grain from North Dakota are almost a month behind schedule. The report, dated May 2, indicates 15,846 cars were running on average 26.6 days late. The numbers exceeded the goal of past-due cars, set at 11,797 cars, by more than 34 percent, according to the report. BNSF also set a goal to be 21 days behind, but that goal was not met. “The