Bulk Freight News & Industry Updates - Stay Ahead in Trucking

By Dan Cassuto, KATU News ESTACADA, Ore. -- More than a hundred truck drivers created a mile-long procession Saturday morning to honor the inspector killed last week in a cruel murder. Grady Waxenfelter, a weighmaster for Clackamas County, was murdered when he pulled over a truck without license plates. The suspect is still at large. On Saturday, Grady's family and friends gathered for a private memorial service in Estacada. Before the service, more than a hundred men and women dr

By Greg Smith Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Friday announced that he has submitted a modified emergency disaster declaration to allow an increase in vehicle weight limits on the transportation of salt. The provision expands on the official disaster declaration Malloy requested Thursday night to address a potential municipal salt shortage. Malloy's request would permit the state Department of Transportation to authorize a temporary gross vehicle weight increase and, in turn, allow the agency to

Police: Lawrence Muirhead death was homicide By The Associated Press KANSAS CITY — Police say a body discovered in a freezer at a property in Kansas is an Arizona trucker who was reported missing in October. The body of 53-year-old Lawrence Peter Muirhead was found Sunday inside the freezer in a garage behind a home in Kansas City, Kan. City police said Thursday Muirhead’s death is considered a homicide. They have provided no details on how he died. Muirhead’s family reported him mi

Law firm instructs plaintiffs bar on how to use CSA to sue brokers. By Mark B. Solomon http://www.dcvelocity.com/ Shippers and property brokers have grown increasingly concerned that personal injury lawyers would capitalize on the uncertainty surrounding the federal government's truck- grading initiative, known as CSA 2010, to hold them liable for catastrophic accidents involving truckers hauling their loads. The plaintiff's bar, always on the lookout for new and lucrative revenue strea

BY DAN FLYNN A legislative committee on Tuesday sent a bill to the floor of the Idaho Senate for a vote over whether to jail and fine anyone found guilty of a new crime of interference with agricultural production. After some bill shuffling, the Senate Agricultural Affairs Committee sent Senate Bill 1337, just introduced Monday, straight to the floor, but not the nearly identical Senate Bill 1298. SB 1337 excludes farmer’s markets and farm trucking from the protections it provides to other

By Ugochi Iloka, http://www.4029tv.com/news/arkansas/northwest/trucking-companies-take-a-big-hit-this-winter/24384472 View Original Article

WASHINGTON, Feb. 12, 2014 /NEWS.GNOM.ES/ – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) today announced a proposed rule to establish a drug and alcohol clearinghouse for all national commercial driver’s license (CDL) holders. The clearinghouse would help improve roadway safety by making it easier to determine whether a truck or bus driver is prohibited from operating a commercial motor vehicle for failing to comply with federal drug and alcohol reg

A retired truck driver and mechanic has claimed a $1 million Mega Millions prize. Arsenio Hall The West Virginia Lottery says Randy Brown of Man bought a ticket at the C and L Super Serve in Mallory that matched five numbers from the Feb. 7 drawing. Brown claimed his prize Tuesday at the lottery's headquarters in Charleston. The lottery says two other $1 million prizes haven't yet been claimed. A ticket sold in Beckley matched 5 numbers from the Powerball drawing on Feb. 8. Another t

By Jennifer Wheeler Rockford Register Star ROCKTON - The odds of living were against Roger Bates when he fell into a grain bin on Jan. 31. The 78-year-old Rockton resident sank neck-deep into 35,000 bushels of corn while trying to break up spoiled clumps of material that would have clogged the machines. He had carried a chain connected to the bin's structure inside with him, thinking he could pull himself out if he started to sink. But that plan backfired when the corn engulfed him and he

http://www.truckinginfo.com/ The owner of a freight broker bond company was indicted in U.S. District Court, Los Angeles, Calif. late last month in connection with a trust fund scheme. Bonnie Warren, owner of Oasis Capital, of Fullerton, Calif., was indicted following the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration referring allegations to the U.S. Transportation Department’s Inspector General that Oasis was violating FMCSA regulations by accepting money from property brokers for the estab

The Associated Press 2/10/2014 LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska lawmakers have passed a bill that would increase fines for truckers who spill livestock manure in Omaha. The bill that cleared a final vote Friday would set a minimum fine of $250 for violations. Sen. Heath Mello of Omaha introduced the bill last year to increase the fine from its current $100. Mello says the current fine was so low that it encouraged some bad actors to dump the contents of their trucks instead of washing them. Omaha

By Chamblee, Ryan, Kershaw & Anderson, P.C. HENRIETTA, Texas, Feb. 10, 2014 -- /PRNewswire/ -- A Texas district court jury has awarded a take-nothing verdict in favor of Dallas-based trucking company FFE Transportation Services Inc. after rejecting a $3.5 million lawsuit filed by the City of Saint Jo following an automobile accident that took place nearly four years ago. Jurors found that FFE Transportation was not at fault for a May 4, 2010, accident between a company rig and a police car

SILVER SPRING, MD — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed a rule requiring certain shippers, receivers and carriers who transport food by motor or rail vehicles to take steps to prevent the contamination of human and animal food during transportation. The rule would apply to: • International shippers who transport food for U.S. consumption or distribution in an international freight container by air or ocean and arrange for the transfer of the intact container onto a motor vehicle

http://www.truckinginfo.com/ A break the IRS gave to trucking over the filing of the heavy vehicle use tax more than two years ago is coming back to haunt some people, according to the American Trucking Association’s State Laws Newsletter. In the fall of 2011, the filing season for the federal heavy vehicle use tax was extended several months, from the ordinary due date of the tax, August 31, until the end of November. That’s because Congress was late that year in extending the tax itself. M

By Denise Hollinshed [email protected] 314-340-8319 UPDATED with more information and details that the man later died. ST. LOUIS • St. Louis police today are investigating the fatal beating of a man by employees of a trucking company who believed he had been breaking into trailers. Homicide detectives were called at 7:35 a.m. Sunday to Central Transport International in the 500 block of Gimblin Road. The company, off Hall Street in north St. Louis, hauls freight across the

by KMOV.com Staff (KMOV.com) – St. Louis police said homicide detectives are investigating after a suspect accused of breaking into a local trucking company's lot died following an altercation with employees. Authorities said the suspect broke into a trailer on the lot owned by Central Transport in the 500 block of Gimblin around 7:55 a.m. Sunday. According to police, the suspect was still in the lot when they were approached by several employees and a fight broke out. The suspect was take

By Caroline Winter http://www.businessweek.com/ now and sleet continue to fall across huge swathes of the U.S., and the national supply of road salt is running low. New York has declared a state of emergency, while Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and other states have also disclosed their difficulties in covering streets and sidewalks amid a long-running cold snap. What exactly is road salt and where does it come from? The U.S. first began using salt on roads in 1938, and now

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NASHVILLE, Tennessee — The U.S. Department of Transportation has declared a Tennessee trucker and his trucking company to be "imminent hazards" to the public and has ordered both out of service. On Friday, federal transportation authorities announced that Ricky L. Hatfield and his Tazewell, Tennessee-based company, Hatfield Trucking, have been ordered to immediately cease operation. The order comes after Hatfield was accused of being drunk while driving a tractor-t

By Aidan Gardiner QUEENS — A trucker was arrested Thursday after stealing a trailer worth $25,000 from a lot at JFK airport belonging to his former employer, DHL — and investigators are trying to determine if he is linked the thefts of several others, the Port Authority said. Jaidatt Mangar, who also goes by the name Steve, stole the trailer from the lot outside the airport's secured area on Jan. 30 and parked it, along with the truck he used to pull it, at Linden Boulevard and Emerald Str

BY TINA SFONDELES Staff Reporter The families of a teenager and a man killed in a grain bin accident in northwest Illinois were awarded $8 million each Thursday. A Carroll County jury deliberated for eight hours before granting the verdict to the families of Wyatt Whitebread, 14, and Alejandro Pacas, 19, both of Mount Carroll, according to the Clifford Law Offices, whose lawyers represented the families. They were killed in July 2010 while working at Haasbach LLC in a Consolidated Gr

By Mike Morris The Atlanta Journal-Constitution GAINESVILLE, Ga. — We’ve all seen the wooden crosses and other roadside memorials to loved ones killed in automobile accidents. Three years ago, the Georgia Department of Transportation, deeming the makeshift memorials a distraction to drivers and a safety hazard, began offering to place state-approved memorials at the sites of fatal wrecks. For a $100 fee, GDOT places a white sign with the name of the deceased under the words, “Drive Safely, In

Staff report It’s been a long winter — longer than what many communities’ road salt supplies were cut out for. Austintown Township, for example, ordered 3,600 tons of salt for the winter and has used 2,900. “The first time we were out was the day after Veteran’s Day,” said Michael Dockry, road superintendent and township administrator. Mahoning Valley townships, municipalities and counties get their salt supplies from Morton Salt, which provides it through a state contract. But ma

http://www.truckinginfo.com/ UPDATED -- A longtime executive with Missouri-based fleet Prime died on Tuesday, according to the website of the Springfield News-Leader. John Hancock was reportedly found dead at an undisclosed location from a self-inflicted gun-shot wound. There is no indication if the would was accidental or not. Hancock was director of driver training and recruiting at Prime, making him responsible for all aspects of the Missouri-based fleet’s driver recruiting efforts.

By Karl Plum Feb 5 (Reuters) - A winter storm that brought heavy snow and ice to much of the U.S. Midwest farm belt on Wednesday slowed grain and livestock shipments to a near standstill, reduced pork production and halted wheat milling at the country's second-largest flour mill. "The path of the greatest snow occurred from the central Plains, Kansas and Oklahoma, east and northeast into Ohio and parts of Michigan," said Drew Lerner, meteorologist with World Weather Inc. "That's prime crop

By Sindhu Sundar Law360, New York (February 04, 2014, 5:45 PM ET) -- A California judge on Monday vacated a $178 million award for plaintiffs in a wrongful death suit against a trucking company over a crash that killed a couple and their child, finding the verdict excessive and ordering a new trial. Judge Marc Marmaro granted the bid by the defendants — including truck driver Rudolph Ortiz and Bhandal Bros. Trucking Inc. — for a new trial on fault and damages. Judge Marmaro found the jur

The company plans to consolidate its local warehouses at the Bertelsen Road site in west Eugene By Sherri Buri McDonald The Register-Guard Grain Millers, which operates a prominent mill near downtown Eugene, has bought the former Lumber Products Co. facility in west Eugene and plans to consolidate its Eugene warehouses there by the summer, a company executive said. The manufacturer of whole grain ingredients used in cereal, bread, bars and other products, also might eventually do some

KARE 11 Staff, KAR Clarkfield , Minn. - A western Minnesota man is dead after apparently becoming buried in a grain bin Monday afternoon. Yellow Medicine County Sheriff's Deputies were dispatched to a rural property at 3169 480th Street around 4:40 p.m. on reports of a missing man. When they arrived deputies were told that the man, 77-year-old Richard Rosetter, had been in and out of the grain bin while a crew was working to empty it. Workers said that Rosetter was last seen around 2 p.

Todd Dills http://www.overdriveonline.com/ The latest vid from the Truckers Against Trafficking organization re-ups the outreach to the industry via an empathetic portrait of the victims of human trafficking, the young women and girls forced into the prostitution that remains the cash cow of human traffickers the nation over. Owner-operator Matt Hopkins is taking a few weeks off from his regular cattle runs to climb Mount Aconcagua in Argentina, partly a benefit effort for TAT. The vid

Traffic safety agency preparing regs on vehicle-to-vehicle communications. by Sean Gallagher The US Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has announced that it’s finally ready to consider regulations that might require “light vehicles” to communicate with each other about their speed, direction of travel, and location in order to prevent collisions. The technology, called vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) could by some government estimates reduce traffi

Cargill recently announced plans to stop soybean processing activities at its facility in Raleigh later this spring. The company said it will continue to operate the Raleigh elevator as a viable market for soybeans, purchasing soybeans from area producers and elevator customers. “This is a difficult decision because we have an excellent team of employees in Raleigh, where we have been in business since 1985,” said Don Camden, a regional manager for Cargill’s soybean processing business. Ca

BY EDITORIAL STAFF SOURCE: TRANSPLACE Dallas, Texas—Feb. 4, 2014—Transplace, a provider of transportation management services and logistics technology, announced the results of its annual benchmarking study conducted to gain insight into the changes and trends in transportation accessorial charges. The study, which included data from more than 150 shippers and more than $12 billion in annual freight spend, identified the customary types of charges and rates implemented by shippers beyond t

Staff reports Enid News and Eagle ENID, OK — The oldest and largest privately owned grain company in the state, W.B. Johnston Grain, is going to be sold to a Louisiana company. W.B. Johnston Grain entered into a letter of intent to sell its grain company and related business to CGB Enterprises Inc., a grain and transport business based in Covington, La. The transactions is expected to close within 35 to 40 days, according to a press release from the companies. Terms of the transaction

By Generational Capital Markets, Inc. Published: Monday, Feb. 3, 2014 - 9:28 am NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Feb. 3, 2014 -- NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Feb. 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Bruce Oakley, Inc. announced today it has signed a definitive agreement to purchase Johnston's Port 33, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of W.B. Johnston Grain Company of Enid, OK. The companies expect to close the sale on or about 8 February 2014. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Johnston's Port 33, Inc.

Large South American soybean crops are having an impact on the U-S soybean processing sector. Cargill is idling it’s soybean processing plant in Raleigh, North Carolina. The company says demand for U-S soybean processing has become more variable and seasonally-driven in recent years. Cargill spokesman Mark Stonacek says a downturn in demand for U-S produced soybean meal can be blamed on large bean crops in South America. He says that situation, combined with strong global demand for

By Aprille Hanson The Trucker Staff 1/31/2014 FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro threw down the gauntlet when it comes to Hours of Service during the Q & A portion of her keynote speech at the Mid-West Truck & Trailer Show in Peoria, Ill., Friday. “We are not changing the rule,” Ferro said firmly, as The Trucker listened in to the speech. “This is the first time in a decade that we’ve got a rule that passed legal challenge. There are today no changes afoot.” However, Ferro quickly followed th

By PETER SALTER / Lincoln Journal Star Watch the construction of the elevator near Fairmont Fairmont elevator collapse: A crack, a rumble and 140,000 bushels spilled A corner of the new grain elevator in Fairmont collapsed Tuesday afternoon, sending a wall of concrete and an avalanche of grain to the ground. Read more Fairmont grain elevator embraces future from ground up The new, 2-million bushel capacity elevator comes at a time when storage space is at a premium but new elevato

by Chuck Goudie January 30, 2014 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- In the aftermath of two deadly truck accidents, the ABC7 I-Team exposes dangerous highway conditions all of us face and may not realize. Safety experts are now warning that increased speed on local highways will lead to even more risk. Related Content STORY: Is slower really safer? MORE: Safety Pass Pro manufacturer statement Thousands of people every year are killed in crashes nationwide involving large trucks. The deadly domino-effe

By Mitch Smith, Kim Geiger, Clifford Ward and Angie Leventis Lourgos, Chicago Tribune A trucker accused of plowing into emergency vehicles, killing an Illinois Tollway worker and critically injuring a state trooper this week, had been near the end of a marathon shift of more than 36 hours, prosecutors alleged Wednesday. That's a shift that far exceeds federal limits on the time a driver can spend behind the wheel, but prosecutors allege the driver fudged paper logbooks and skirted safety r