Bulk Freight News & Industry Updates - Stay Ahead in Trucking

This is how you drive 810,000 miles across 45 states and one Canadian province without ever getting in an accident. Read these pro tips from seasoned trucker. Originally published at Road & Track. In eight years as a truck driver, Alan Wrobel has driven 810,000 miles (accident-free) in 45 states and Ontario. He now covers Ohio, Michigan, Ontario, and Wisconsin for a beverage distributor. Here's his advice on how to handle yourself when the snow starts falling: When you face a nasty win

By Kevin Jones http://www.ccjdigital.com/ Does the trucking industry make the business harder, or more dangerous, than it needs to be? That’s the way many seem to like it. I consider the possibility because of a fish tale that has captured the imaginations of landlubbers as it spreads around the Internet. “A Speck in the Sea,” by Paul Tough, ran in The New York Times Sunday Magazine this week. It’s the compelling, amazing-but-true story of John Aldridge, a professional fisherman out o

Continental introduces new tire products Overdrive Staff Continental introduced new tire products in December, including the HTL1 wide single truck tire as a ContiTread retread. In 400 millimeter tread width, the HTL1 can be retreaded for fleets who operate wide single drive or trailer tires in sizes 445/50R22.5 and 455/55R22.5. Wide single truck tires like the Continental HTL1 (Heavy Trailer Long Haul) are often used in liquid and dry bulk hauling applications where weight is a concern

KANSAS CITY — Bitter cold across much of the country east of the Rocky Mountains, along with ice or heavy snow in some areas was severely restricting grain and byproduct logistics and in some cases forced flour mills to temporarily halt operations. While the lowest temperatures were in the Upper Midwest, with most of Minnesota not expecting highs above 10 degrees below zero on Jan. 6, the bitter cold was affecting transportation, livestock operations and grain and oilseed processing plants ac

James Jaillet http://www.overdriveonline.com/ An Auburn, Wash.-based fleet has been ordered by the Labor Department to pay one of its former truck drivers back wages and to stop an attendance policy that the department says retaliates against drivers who refuse to drive due to safety reasons. The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration after an investigation into Oak Harbor Freight Lines ordered the fleet to pay an unnamed driver lost wages after the driver fil

http://www.truckinginfo.com/ Extraordinarily cold weather in parts of the U.S. has resulted in more states issuing emergency declarations, waiving mainly hours of service rules, when it comes to delivering various fuels. In Arkansas, Gov. Mike Bebe has issued an order waiving hours of service rules for propane. It is in effect until Jan. 17 or until emergency conditions no long exist, whichever is sooner. In Maine, Gov. Paul LePage has issued similar orders when it comes to deliveries

by James Jaillet http://www.overdriveonline.com/ As Overdrive reported in December 2012, despite state initiatives in Washington and Colorado to legalize selling, buying, owning and using of marijuana for recreational use, the Department of Transportation still prohibits the use of marijuana by truck drivers. More than 60 percent of Overdrive readers favored some form of marijuana-use legalization or decriminalization, with a majority reflecting three current state ballot initiatives b

By?Jim Moore of the Daily Courier MERLIN -- Litter can be dangerous. Just ask Jim Giguere. Giguere, a truck driver from Wheaton, Calif., pulled his tractor-trailer to the side of Interstate 5 Friday morning to inspect for potential problems after running over some debris on the freeway. He soon found himself watching his rig roll down an embankment and smacking into a power line. At the scene, Giguere said after stopping he had put the truck in neutral and stepped out onto the cab’s st

http://www.truckinginfo.com/ Transport Capital Partners’ fourth-quarter industry survey sees more carriers getting adequate rates of return, but tight credit and static accessorials as continuing issues of concern. With a continued lack of rate increases in the trucking industry, some carriers may have hoped to raise income through renegotiating accessorials. Unfortunately, 42% of carriers surveyed this quarter indicated they do not expect to be able to renegotiate. This is down slightly f

Missouri-based Bunge North America Inc. has sold its stake in a Mississippi ethanol plant. Bunge North America is a division of New York-based food processing corporation Bunge Ltd., Reuters said in a report. St. Louis Business Journal in a separate report said privately-held petroleum refiner Ergon Inc. has purchased Bunge North America's remaining interest in Ergon BioFuels LLC. Ergon BioFuels is said to have began as a joint venture between Ergon and Bunge North America in 2007.

http://www.truckinginfo.com/ The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration ordered Oak Harbor Freight Lines Inc. to compensate a worker who refused to drive in violation of safety regulations. OSHA has also ordered the trucking company, based in Auburn, Wash., to stop retaliating against workers who refuse to drive trucks while too ill or fatigued to safely operate vehicles at its facilities. A commercial truck driver working for the company in Portland was s

"It's hard work, but it's extremely worthwhile." A state prison, a local community corrections association and a large, family-owned metal-hauling business are putting former prisoners on the road to financially rewarding truck-driving careers. Participants in this pilot program begin their training and obtain their commercial driver's licenses while they're still incarcerated at the Richland Correctional Institution in Mansfield, which has two trucks based at the prison. After they're re

Avery Vise | Fleet Owner Saying they represented imminent hazards to public safety, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has ordered two affiliated Waterboro, S.C.-based trucking operations and the owner-driver of one of the companies to stop operating in interstate commerce. The agency served CER Trucking (USDOT No. 196777) a federal shutdown order Dec. 17 and Edward Risher Trucking (USDOT No. 685781) a federal shutdown order Dec. 20. These followed an FMCSA order on Dec. 10

Fleet Owner With the northeast expected to receive up to a foot of snow today and tomorrow, the state of Connecticut has a new law on its books of which truckers must be aware. Connecticut’s law went into effect on Jan. 1, so today’s storm will be the first time police will be allowed to ticket motorists. Like other states, Connecticut is now requiring motorists to clear snow and ice from their vehicles before hitting the roads. The law includes tractor-trailers. The penalty is a $75 fine,

by Jim Park http://www.truckinginfo.com/ Following Editor Deb Lockridge's lead, here's a good trucking story. I have had the privilege of being the emcee at one of the World's Largest Truck Convoy for Special Olympics events for the past nine years. Over that time that one event, among dozens of others held each September, has raised more than half a million dollars for these very special athletes. Photo by Jim Park Photo by Jim Park The Special Olympics Convoy is probably the signature

by Jessica Fairley TIFTON, GA -- Tifton police are investigating after a woman is robbed on New Year’s Eve. Sgt. Dorminey McCrae says around 4:30 Tuesday afternoon a couple approached a woman at a business located at 306 E. 5th Street in Tifton. The guy stated that he was a trucker and the woman with him was pregnant. When the driver made it to the truck stop with the couple, the male suspect grabbed her by the hair and took her money. The couple then took off. Just moments late

BulkLoadsNow.com BulkLoadsNow.com, a load board specifically for the dry and liquid bulk industry, recently released a web-based dispatch program, Load Organizer. Shippers and brokers use Load Organizer to manage freight in one, centralized program and share data with co-workers across all office locations to match and manage truck freight more efficiently. Load Organizer is also integrated directly with BulkLoadsNow.com, allowing shippers to automatically post loads online for carriers to b

Dec 31 (Reuters) - Prices for dried distillers' grains (DDGs), a byproduct of corn-based ethanol that is used as animal feed, fell $30 per ton at U.S. export markets after top buyer China rejected two shipments last week because of the presence of an unapproved strain of genetically modified grain, traders said on Tuesday. Bids for shipments during the first three months of 2014 fell to $190 per ton in the Mississippi River market that flows to export terminals along the U.S. Gulf Coast, trad

http://www.truckinginfo.com/ A frustrating part of being a bulk commodities driver is having a jam occur somewhere in the trailer during offloading, interrupting the material flow and setting him to work trying to break it free. That usually means hammering on a trailer’s side walls, but a Midwestern carrier has found a new product that’s effective, portable, lightweight and easy to use. Vibrator weighs under 10 pounds and is easy to move around. It runs off air from a tractor’s compressor

Written by Agency Reporter CEO Rem-Bam Nigeria Ltd, Mr. Soye Oniagba, spoke with Patricia Adekoya on the many challenges of the haulage sector. Excerpts: How many fleets of trucks do you have in your possession? I can’t sit down here and tell you the number of trucks we have. With the last audit we did, I believe we have more than enough trucks in our possession. Some of them had since been involved in an accident. What are your major challenges in the haulage sector? We have a lot of

Tony Welnicke has never driven a semi truck, but he's helped make a lot of them shine. Say you've just laid out $100,000 for a used Peterbilt 379 with a couple hundred thousand miles on it, a good runner with that classic long hood, and you want to dress it up a bit. You're not going to go wild and spend another $75,000 turning your working machine into a show truck. You just want a few dozen marker lights, maybe amber, maybe red; a pair of 8-inch-wide chrome exhaust stacks; a "Batman" sun

By James Jaillet http://www.ccjdigital.com/ The Association of Independent Property Brokers and Agents appears to be taking a different route in its ongoing battle against the increase in the minimum bond amount freight brokers must carry — It’s filed an application with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration asking it to exempt all brokers from the increase. A notice of an application for exemption was published in the Federal Register Dec. 26, and the agency is accepting public

by Lois Seamon http://www.sunjournal.com/ I have been reading many letters to the editor in response to Rep. Brian Bolduc's email about truckers. I have a comment about some (not all) truckers. My concern is about very large trucks that go through our small towns, making sharp turns that often stop regular traffic. They also pull out in front of cars instead of stopping at stop signs. Who is going to keep the right of way in those circumstances? I am not referring to wood and pulp tru

By MICHELLE KEAHEY, EAST TEXAS BUREAU MARSHALL – A Hopkins County resident has filed a lawsuit claiming a crash with a tractor-trailer wreck caused him to suffer severe and disabling injuries. Jyson Phillips filed suit against International Freight Services Inc., doing business as USA Truck Inc., and Michael Hammond on Dec. 20 in the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division. Technology and Industry According to the lawsuit, on June 28 Phillips was traveling on State Highway 19 when a

GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) — A hired hand from Cut Bank is charged with selling $450,000 worth of grain over the past three years despite not owning any cropland. The Great Falls Tribune reports (http://gftrib.com/1hGMolb ) 41-year-old Mark Benjamin pleaded not guilty to four counts of felony theft of property by embezzlement during a Dec. 16 hearing in District Court in Cut Bank. His bail was set at $250,000. The Glacier County sheriff's office said Benjamin's employer reported that he was m

Associated Press CARTERSVILLE, Ga. — A north Georgia trucking company is giving away more than $360,000 in bonuses to its employees this holiday season. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Bartow County-based Kennesaw Transportation Co. began the program 15 years ago to reward employees who had been at the company five years or longer with a $10,000 bonus every five years. Some recipients say they're banking their third bonus. The 2013 bonus will go to 36 employees, the hi

By Jack Roberts http://www.ccjdigital.com/ For Al Koenig, his first look at a Kenworth truck at the age of 8 was love at first sight. “I can remember the first time I saw Kenworth trucks as they passed my parents’ Minnesota farm,” Koenig said. The stories of Koenig and several other Kenworth truck owners who collect and restore vintage Kenworths have one common theme: a strong fondness for trucks, particularly Kenworths. Their passion for restoring them is sparked by an interest in n

by Alyssa Rosenberg WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) -- While many spent Christmas morning unwrapping gifts from Santa, eating delicious meals, and spending quality time with family, one truck driver spent his Christmas morning travelling 6 hours from Pennsylvania to Southport. And he still has more than 700 miles to go before he can spend Christmas with his family. "I've only been out here three years, so it's kind of hard on the kids because they expect you to be home,” Prime Inc. truck driver C

by Robert Arnason http://www.producer.com/ Elevator bids higher in northern U.S. | Increasing price spread increases viability of sales to U.S. Spring wheat bids at southern Manitoba elevators plummeted to $5 per bushel from $6 per bu. over the last several weeks. As a result, a senior market adviser with Agri-Trend is advising his clients to ship wheat to North Dakota elevators, where spring wheat bids on Dec. 13 were $6.30 US per bu. “We’ve been doing it two ways. We’ve had guys t

Wichita Business Journal A fire broke out Monday night at the Cargill meat packing plant just outside Dodge City in southwest Kansas. KAKE News reports the fire at the large complex was still burning after three hours. No one was injured. It's not yet clear how the incident will impact production at the plant, which employs about 2,700 people. View Ori

BY CHRISTINE STEBBINS http://www.reuters.com/ Dec 24 (Reuters) - Rents on prime U.S. crop land are expected to stay high in 2014 despite a sharp drop in grain prices, raising financial pressure on farmers who rent most of their land and risk big losses in the coming year, analysts and bankers say. More than half the 250 million acres (101 million hectares) of corn, soybean and wheat land in the United States, the world's biggest grain exporter, are rented. Negotiations on 2014 farm land l

We wish you and your families a very merry Christmas. We hope you’re able to spend time with loved ones and we look forward to seeing you back here in the BulkLoadsNow.com community after the holiday. From all of us at Bulk Loads Now, blessings and best wishes today and always. Your BulkLoadsNow Team View Original Article

John Elliott, the president and CEO of Load One LLC, a transportation and logistics company in Taylor that has grown to well over 300 trucks and 500-plus staff, has a passion for doing what’s right. Doing what’s right recently took him from Downriver to Washington, D.C., where he participated in the Wreaths Across America program, which lays holiday wreaths on the graves of U.S. veterans across the country. “When you serve this country, you don’t want it to be forgotten and you don’t want

WSB-TV A local trucking company is giving away more than $360,000 in bonuses to employees this holiday season. Kennesaw Transportation Company started the program 15 years ago, rewarding employees who had been at the company 5 years or longer with a $10,000 bonus every five years. Some recipients are banking their third bonus. The owner began the program to make sure he did not lose good drivers. The 2013 bonus will go to 36 employees, the highest number to date. Other employees wer

PEORIA, Ill. — Four-dollar corn has changed some of the conversations that many of the vendors of products and services at farm shows have had and will have with established and prospective customers. For instance, customers at the Greater Peoria Farm Show showed interest in programs such as The Andersons’ Farm to Market Program to potentially improve profitability with lower grain prices. “We’ve definitely had some good conversations about the program. It’s a niche program, so we’re trying

Posted by thebridge A stranger’s help on a lonely highway rescues the victim of a mysterious, late-night accident. by Betsy Frothingham It was almost midnight on August 1, 2012, and I was driving my Toyota Camry on Kansas highway 96 about 12 miles from Hutchinson. The weather was clear and calm, and there was no traffic in either direction. Just about four miles east of Haven, Kansas, a sleepy, little town of 1,200 inhabitants, my car was devastatingly rear-ended, breaking the stillness

By KIM SCHMIDT Hub Staff Writer KEARNEY — A man died following a semi-tractor accident Thursday night on Cottonmill Avenue west of Kearney. Around 5:30 p.m., the man pulled his semitrailer truck off Highway 30 north onto Cottonmill Avenue where he stopped partially on the shoulder of the road. A preliminary investigation by the Buffalo County Sheriff’s Office revealed the man exited the parked semi and was attempting to work on it when the semi rolled backward and injured him. The injured

By Bloomberg News Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. agreed to pay $36.5 million to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve allegations it bribed officials in Ukraine to win tax refunds. ADM paid about $22 million to Ukranian government officials in order to win more than $100 million in tax refunds in violation of U.S. anti-bribery laws, the SEC said today in a complaint filed with the proposed settlement in federal court in Urbana, Illinois. The agreement must be approved by a fed

http://www.truckinginfo.com/ The founder and one-time head of a group that sells insurance to truck drivers has been indicted by a federal grand jury for using numerous foreign trusts and secret Cayman Island bank accounts as part of a scheme to avoid paying more than $7 million in income taxes and for lying to federal authorities. Verna Cheryl Womack has been charged in a 10-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo. Womack owned and operated a number of busine

Written by Steve Law http://portlandtribune.com/ Scientists agree that diesel fumes can cause cancer and other respiratory disease, but what can we do with all those old diesel-spewing freight trucks on the highway? “Diesel engines last forever,” says Corky Collier, executive director of the Columbia Corridor Association. Even when a trucking company invests in a new clean-diesel truck, they typically sell the old one, which keeps polluting the air under new ownership. Collier’s group h

By Oliver Patton http://www.truckinginfo.com/ The Federal Highway Administration has chosen the types of vehicles it will compare in its comprehensive study of truck sizes and weights, and is gathering reams of data on how these configurations would affect safety, infrastructure, enforcement and competition among the modes. It is an ambitious effort ordered by Congress in the last highway bill. The aim is to produce an analysis that will help Congress make an informed decision about federa

Trucking Companies to California: Your Puny Laws Don’t Apply to Us By Jon Zerolnick/Capital & Main Several leading port trucking companies have taken a bold new position in the ongoing battle over whether or not they are misclassifying drivers as independent contractors. In recent filings with the U.S. District Court, they have attempted to position themselves as beyond the reach of California’s employee protection laws. In effect, they are saying that whether or not they are misclassifyin

BY SARA BURNETT AND SOPHIA TAREEN The Associated Press CHICAGO — Archer Daniels Midland Company announced Wednesday it is moving its global headquarters to Chicago, but said the agribusiness giant could still set up a new technology center in another state after failing to win millions in tax breaks. The company said in a written statement it would move a small corporate team of about 50-75 employees to Chicago, but won't, at least for now, be bringing 100 more jobs that were to come with

By WKTV News (WKTV) - Many lawmakers are trying to get bills passed before the end of the year, but U.S. Rep. Richard Hanna, R-Barneveld, is trying to delay one. Hanna says a new trucking rule that was imposed over the summer does more harm than good. And he has the backing of 53 other members of Congress to do something about it. The rule limits how many hours drivers can spend on the road. It sounds good on paper, but the safety director of a local trucking company says the new rules caus

BRAD KANE The funding of major and minor Connecticut transportation projects is increasingly relying on diesel fuel users — namely, truckers — who are facing higher taxes, as everyday motorists drive more efficient cars and use less regular gasoline. "The trucking industry is forced to subsidize projects that don't benefit the trucking industry," said Mike Riley, president of the Motor Transport Association of Connecticut. "What's frustrating for our members is the predictable congestion that

BY SALLY P. SCHREIBER, J.D. DECEMBER 6, 2013 Optional standard mileage rates for use of a vehicle will go down by one-half cent per mile for 2014, the IRS announced (Notice 2013-80). Taxpayers can use the optional standard mileage rates to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile. For business use of a car, van, pickup truck, or panel truck, the 2014 rate will be 56 cents per mile. Driving for medical or moving purposes may be deducted at 23.5 cents per mile. Both rates are

By: Dan Anderson, Farm Journal Columnist Which is cheaper: to fix equipment on the farm or transport it to the dealership for repairs? Cell phones and remote diagnostics are changing the equipment maintenance process. When a piece of machinery is in need of repair, is it more economical to haul it to the nearest shop or have a mechanic come to the farm? The answer depends on the machine, the type of repair and several other variables. The biggest and most costly factor is time. "If it’

By Frederic J. Frommer The Associated Press 12/17/2013 WASHINGTON — In the first ruling of its kind, a federal judge declared Monday that the National Security Agency's bulk collection of Americans' telephone records is likely to violate the Constitution's ban on unreasonable search. The program probably isn't effective in fighting terrorism either, the judge said in a lengthy opinion filled with blistering criticism. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon granted a preliminary injunction

The Trucker News Services 12/16/2013 ARLINGTON, Va. – The American Trucking Associations and Minnesota Trucking Association have jointly filed a proposal with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for a pilot project to study the impacts of increased flexibility in the use of sleeper berth breaks by commercial drivers. “The trucking industry has long contended that the changes made to the spilt sleeper berth provisions of the Hours of Service rule were unfounded and would not impr

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, over 3,300 people died in collisions involving commercial trucks during 2011. December 15, 2013 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Showing respect to truckers could save lives As the holiday season approaches, it is likely that motorists in Portland will see an increase of tractor-trailers on the roads as retailers prepare for the shopping rush. However with that increase the likelihood of a truck accident also becomes greater, leaving people at ri

By Lee Habeeb and Mike Leven It happens sometimes. You write something about public policy that hits home. That’s what happened when Betsy Morris of the Wall Street Journal told the story of Manuel Hernandez, a 50-year-old long-haul trucker whose living and way of life are under assault by bureaucrats working at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, an agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation. The FMCSA had made changes in the rules for how long drivers can go without re

The Trucker News Services 12/13/2013 AUGUSTA, Maine — A Democratic Maine lawmaker is drawing criticism for an e-mail he wrote slamming truck drivers in which he in essence called them stupid. In a November e-mail to city officials released by the Maine Republican Party this week, Rep. Brian Bolduc of Auburn complained about noisy truck brakes that cause floors in his neighborhood's homes to rumble and scare pets and children. "You would think the drivers would have enough common courtesy n

By: Forum News Service EMERY, S.D. -- Cargill will begin construction of a 5.2 million-bushel grain elevator and storage facility this month south of Emery in southeast South Dakota. The project is expected to be completed by the 2014 harvest, the company said in a news release. The $18.6 million facility will serve as an independent unloading location for farmer customers that will be separate from the main elevator in Emery. Among other features, the new operation will include a new g

The Associated Press 12/12/2013 KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A federal grand jury has indicted the former CEO of the National Association of Independent Truckers in an alleged scheme to hide millions of dollars from the federal government. The Kansas City Star reports the (http://bit.ly/1cDXWnP ) grand jury indicted businesswoman V. Cheryl Womack Thursday for allegedly trying to interfere with the administration of federal tax laws and lying to federal investigators. The 62-year-old Womack, of Missi

By Jay Meyer Anyone who's ever driven behind a truck hauling chickens knows to expect a powerful odor and even a few feathers in its wake. But poultry carriers also apparently trail an airborne plume of potentially harmful bacteria, according to a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers. The results suggest that motorists and those who live along roads traveled by chicken trucks may be exposed to antibiotic-resistant bacteria, the researchers say. They urged further study and possibly chang

by Sanford Nowlin Reporter- San Antonio Business Journal Trucking heavyweight Schneider National Inc. has pulled out San Antonio, dropping its business of hauling sand for Eagle Ford Shale oilfield service companies. Green Bay, Wis.-based Schneider has closed its San Antonio yard at Interstate Highway 37 and Loop 1604 and notified the Texas Workforce Commission it cut 76 positions here, mostly drivers. “Like all companies, Schneider National’s business is heavily influenced by demand in t

David City, NE – Timpte, the industry leader in manufacturing bulk commodity trailers, is pleased to announce the opening of its newest service branch in Bloomington, Illinois on Monday, December 9, 2013. The 11,000 square-foot is located at 2312 West Market Street, Bloomington, IL. The new location features a 6 bay shop, over-the-counter parts, and a large area for new and used grain trailers. The new location sets a quarter mile west of I-55/74 on Highway 9 and has easy access and ample amo

The future of freight brokering in Canada: Part 1 of 3 http://www.trucknews.com/ Part one of this three-part series looks at the outlook for Canadian freight brokers and building and maintaining relationships By: James Menzies MISSISSAUGA, Ont. -- After selling MSM Transportation to Wheels Group last year, Mike McCarron joined Wheels to oversee mergers and acquisitions in a bid to consolidate the Canadian 3PL space. To gain a greater understanding of where the freight brokering segm

By CCJ Staff http://www.ccjdigital.com/ More than 70 percent of both the value and the weight of the freight moved in the 2012 calendar year trekked via truck, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, who released its annual Commodity Flow Survey results this week. Of the $13.6 trillion worth of goods moved last year, trucks carried $10 trillion of it (73.7 percent), according to the CFS. Tonnage wise, 11.7 billion tons of goods were shipped in 2012,

James Jaillet http://www.overdriveonline.com/ The number of freight brokers disappearing from the federal rolls has been increasing by the hundreds every day since Dec. 1, following the new requirement to carry a $75,000 bond, boosted from $10,000 by the MAP-21 highway funding act passed last year. Today, 35 percent of brokers in business at the beginning of the month no longer have active authority, says James Lamb, president of the Association of Independent Property Brokers & Agents.

By Claire Cardona [email protected] A man suffered burns on Monday after he fell into a grain truck at the Miller Brewing Co. in Fort Worth. MedStar got a call around 8:28 p.m. that the man in his mid-40?s had fallen into a grain truck. CareFlite transported the man to Parkland Memorial Hospital where he is being treated for burns. Brett Lyle, MedStar’s business development manager, said knowing the condition of the roads after the ice storm, transporting the man by air was the b

By Oliver Patton http://www.truckinginfo.com/ In last year’s highway bill, Congress said it wants the Department of Transportation to set a place for freight at the transportation policy table. “It is the policy of the United States to improve the condition and performance of the national freight network to ensure that the national freight network provides the foundation for the United States to compete in the global economy,” the law says. This first-ever recognition of freight’s cent

Trucking companies can be ordered off of the road until they address safety issues spotted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. December 07, 2013 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Recently, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) conducted its annual inspection check of commercial vehicles traveling on roadways throughout the United States. Several vehicles were ordered off of the road while they received the necessary repairs. The FMCSA conducts safety operations year-r

Intrusive new regulations might actually make our highways more dangerous. By Lee Habeeb and Mike Leven Manuel Hernandez is not a complainer. But lately, he’s got a lot to complain about. Excessive government regulations are making it harder and harder for him to earn a living. And he’s not sure what he can do about it. Hernandez is not an energy executive being hassled by the EPA, a banker trying to cope with Dodd-Frank, or a doctor getting nickel-and-dimed by HHS and Obamacare; he’s

Less cheering: New GDP rise is pinned to swollen inventories Dec. 6, 2013David Cullen | Fleet Owner Of the 203,000 jobs added to the economy last month, as reported today by the Dept. of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), some 8,400 were for positions in for-hire trucking— notching the best employment month for the segment since April. What’s more, per the BLS Current Employment Statistics Highlights report, in November the unemployment rate fell from 7.3% to 7.0%. BLS said employm

Mark B. Solomon Nearly 2,000 property brokers have lost their operating authority this week after failing to comply with a new Congressionally mandated increase in surety bonds used to pay claims by truckers for late payment or nonpayment for their services, according to a carrier marketing website. The license revocation process began Dec. 2 after the expiration of a 60-day grace period established by The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) for brokers to comply with the

by KING 5 News Staff NWCN.com ROY, Wash. -- Crews have found the man killed in a grain silo Wednesday night. Reaching the remains of Steve Green, 44-year-old man, in the grain silo collapse took longer than expected, but crews worked non-stop till they found him. Green leaves behind a wife, three daughters and a son. Nearly two full days after a corn silo collapsed at the Wilcox Family Farm feed mill, vacuum trucks have removed nearly 500 tons of spilled corn. Photos of grain silo colla

Dec 3 (Reuters) - Ethanol producer Lincolnway Energy said it has struck a deal to sell the distiller's grains produced at its ethanol plant in Nevada, Iowa, to Gavilon Ingredients LLC. Distiller's grains, a byproduct of converting corn into ethanol fuel, are used to make animal feed. Lincolnway, in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, said that under the Dec. 2 agreement, which takes effect Jan. 1, Gavilon is required to purchase all of the distiller's grains produced

http://www.truckinginfo.com/ A woman has pleaded guilty to charges in U.S. District Court in Macon, Ga., for her involvement in a double-brokering freight scam. On Nov. 20, Pauline Robinson-Kirkland, of Donalsonville, Ga., admitted to mail fraud. She was indicted in July 2012. The investigation revealed that Robinson-Kirkland used the Internet to access websites where senders advertised loads of commercial freight available for transport, according to the Office of the U.S. DOT Inspecto

By Land Line staff http://www.landlinemag.com/ Starting Dec. 1 enforcement has begun on a new regulation mandating all brokers and freight forwarders have a $75,000 bond. The new regulation, which upped the broker bond from $10,000 to $75,000, was enacted as part of the highway funding law, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21 Century Act, or MAP-21, which was signed in July 2012. All brokers and freight forwarders who engage in interstate brokerage or freight forwarding operations mu

http://www.ttnews.com/ E-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. is developing aerial drones that it said could deliver products directly to consumers’ homes within the next five years. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos revealed the unmanned aircraft project Dec. 1 on CBS program “60 Minutes.” The vehicles could deliver up to five pounds in a 10-mile radius of Amazon’s 96 warehouses within 30 minutes, Bezos said. “It will work, and it will happen, and it’s gonna be a lot of fun,” he said, according to Bloom

http://www.todaystrucking.com/ MONTREAL, QC— You can name your own price on more than 2,900 equipment items and trucks at the Ritchie Bros. unreserved public auction, which will take place in Montreal on December 5 and 6. "We are selling a huge selection of equipment in this auction—more than 400 pieces—from lifting and material handling equipment to light and heavy construction equipment, along with attachments and more," said André Véronneau, president and CEO of Simplex Equipment Rental

Article by: MIKE FERNANDEZ A recent commentary deeply misunderstood Cargill’s mission. Bonnie Blodgett’s commentary “Agriculture’s deal with the dark side” (Nov. 24) stokes unwarranted fear of “industrial agriculture” and mischaracterizes Cargill’s role in agriculture worldwide. For one thing, 96 percent of crop-producing farms in the United States are family-owned, and they represent 87 percent of all agricultural value. For another, Cargill (where I work) is committed, like most of thes

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - A Wisconsin truck driver who joined a cyberattack on Wichita-based Koch Industries will learn his fate for the onslaught that briefly took the company's website offline. Eric Rosol, of Black Creek, Wis., faced sentencing Monday in U.S. District Court in Wichita on one misdemeanor count of accessing a protected computer. Prosecutors agreed in Rosol's plea deal to recommend a sentence at the low end of federal guidelines. Koch's website was offline for about 15 minute

By Marc Levy The Associated Press 11/29/2013 HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania's new transportation law will raise fuel taxes Jan. 1 and the companies that supply gas and diesel in Pennsylvania say razor-thin profit margins leave them little choice but to pass the entire cost increase to the pump. John Reilly, president of Reilly & Sons in the Philadelphia suburb of Exton, says fuel distributors like his can't just absorb the cost of doing business. Gov. Tom Corbett and lawmakers who support

By Jim McBride [email protected] Subfreezing wind chills and biting cold temperatures recently brought Lee Anderson’s trip to Jasper, N.Y., to a grinding halt at Amarillo’s Flying J Travel Plaza. Anderson, 60, a veteran Alabama owner-operator who has been a trucker for about four decades, said he stops here about once a month to take on fuel, grab something to eat and, on this day, have his truck repaired. “My brakes froze up and one of my brake chains came apart, so we had to f

http://www.todaystrucking.com/ TORONTO— The Canadian Trucking Alliance is asking the federal government to invalidate contract clauses compensating shippers from liability in case of incidents involving dangerous goods such as crude oil. CTA’s president and CEO, David Bradley, commented: “We strongly believe the most effective thing governments can do is to take the recommended actions to reduce the risk of highway accidents and to make sure that the parties whose negligence causes an acci

Special to the Daily News The California Air Resources Board recently announced that it will provide relief to truckers working to meet state deadlines for upgrades to their aging diesel fleets. The change comes following letters from the Tehama County Air Pollution Control District and other rural air districts seeking various changes in the mandate, said district controller Alan Abbs. The relief is detailed in a regulatory advisory which recognizes good faith efforts of fleets to me

Trucker to enter Stanislaus County Ag Hall of Fame BY JOHN HOLLAND [email protected] STANISLAUS COUNTY — Ed Rocha has a photo of himself at about 5 years old, standing on the bumper of a milk truck owned by his father, John Rocha. The kid looked mighty proud in this snapshot from the late 1930s, taken at the family home at 14th and D streets in Modesto. Ed Rocha’s lifelong devotion to trucking has earned him and his company, now known as Rocha’s Valley Enterprises, a place in the