Bulk Freight News & Industry Updates - Stay Ahead in Trucking

By: Doris Cooper, Grand Forks Herald In the trucking business, the scenery often changes for those behind the wheel. At Britton Transport, the corporate staff is enjoying a change of scenery and wide open spaces since moving into new headquarters in April. President Dave Britton said the company’s move caps off a series of exciting corporate changes in recent years. To celebrate, Britton Transport is hosting an open house from 3-7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6, with a ribbon-cutting event at 4 p

Labor Day travel is expected to rise this year as economic worries continue to abate, which means a lot more drivers out there for the holiday. In addition to staying safe, the best way to deal with it might be to conjure up the songs and spirit that kept America moving, and Burt Reynolds a star. I am secure enough to admit it: I like Jerry Reed. If I had a bassett hound, I would consider naming him Fred. Among his hits, “Eastbound and Down” stands as an iconic trucker anthem. Between the sp

By Jasen Lee, Deseret News SALT LAKE CITY — Utah-based trucking firm C.R. England laid off 81 workers on Friday. In a memo issued by company chief executive officer Chad England, the cuts come as the transportation industry struggles to grow this year "due to a stagnant economy, increasing federal regulations and a tightening market for drivers." "Scaling back our cost structure is a responsible business strategy in difficult times," England said. "Unfortunately, we found that the size

By Paul Nussbaum, Inquirer Staff Writer POSTED: August 30, 2013 After its investigation of a South Jersey school bus accident that killed 11-year-old Isabelle Tezsla, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended last month that all new vehicles be equipped with crash-avoidance technology to prevent similar tragedies. On Thursday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it "could be at the verge" of a breakthrough in such technology to allow vehicles to communicate

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — An Army sergeant based at Fort Campbell has pleaded guilty for his part in the theft of fuel from a military base in Afghanistan. The U.S. Justice Department said in a news release that Bilal Abdullah pleaded guilty to bribery on Thursday before U.S. District Judge Thomas B. Russell in the Western District of Kentucky. The statement says Abdullah admitted taking payments from a trucking company representative to facilitate the theft of 25 truckloads of fuel, causing

Early reports indicate pressure on high-service carriers August 2013, TruckingInfo.com - Feature By Oliver Patton Early experience with the hours-of-service changes bear out expectations that 24-7 truckload carriers will come under pressure to add personnel, change service levels or both. The changes in the 34-hour restart appear to be having the impact that both trucking interests and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration expected. The changes in the 34-hour restart appear t

Truck Broker Sentenced for Dumping Thousands of Tons of Asbestos Contaminated Debris in Violation of the Clean Water Act Washington, DC--(ENEWSPF)--August 29, 2013. Jonathan Deck, 59, of Norwood, N.J., was sentenced today in federal court in Utica, N.Y., to 15 months in prison for conspiring to commit wire fraud in connection with the illegal dumping of thousands of tons of asbestos-contaminated construction debris on a 28-acre piece of property on the Mohawk River in upstate New York, the J

By Peter Krouse, The Plain Dealer CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cargill will gradually resume operations at a Lake Erie salt mine that was closed 10 days ago amid worries the roof could collapse. The company has determined that the "area of concern is isolated and that we can take measures to address the situation," spokesman Mark Klein said in an email. Klein said 45 of 100 miners sent home Aug. 19 would return to work today and that the remainder could be back by next week. The roof of th

BY TYREL LINKHORN BLADE BUSINESS WRITER Editor's note: This revised version shows The Douglas Co. being among those local firms that made the list. In less than a half-decade, Gary Whitacre has turned his upstart logistics company with annual revenues of $1 million into a major trucking firm with locations across the Midwest that generated nearly $20 million in revenue last year. That exceptional growth placed Whitacre Logistics LLC at No. 235 on Inc. magazine’s list of the 5,000 fast

http://www.chattanoogan.com/ I think the lowering of the speed limit on Main Street was appropriate. Thanks to the City Council, however, I believe a section of I-24 is more dangerous. I wish the Council would look into lowering the speed limit of tractor trailers coming through Chattanooga on I-24. Now the limit is 55 mph, however, many of these trucks go a little over that speed limit up to around 60 mph. There are many accidents and rollovers involving tractor trailers coming

Shanghai Wild Animal Park agreed Wednesday to take in a 1.63-meter-long crocodile that a local truck driver discovered on the side of the road in Fengxian district the previous night, local media reported. The truck driver, surnamed Hu, came across the reptile near the G20 highway around 10 pm Tuesday, according to a report on the police microblog. He later told police that the crocodile appeared to be "unconscious" when he found it with rubber bands holding its jaws shut, the report said

Empty Cabs: Are driverless vehicles the answer to Michigan’s trucker shortage? By Ted Roelofs/Bridge Magazine contributor See more at: http://bridgemi.com/2013/08/empty-cabs-are-driverless-vehicles-the-answer-michigans-trucker-shortage/#sthash.FDHLDQ21.dpuf With no obvious near-term answer to the shortage of truck drivers, could it be that science fiction delivers the final solution? Caterpillar is already operating driverless trucks in mining operations in remote parts of Australia,

CDC: Older Truckers and Other Workers Suffer More Highway Deaths http://www.truckinginfo.com/ Highway transportation incidents are the leading cause of occupational fatalities in the United States, with the highest fatality rates occurring among workers age 65 or older, according to a new Centers for Disease Control report. After analyzing data from 2003 through 2010 and comparing occupational highway transportation deaths among workers aged 18-54, 55–64 and 65 and older, CDC says it

By Ted Roelofs/Bridge Magazine contributor With a fleet of some 60 trucks, Ottawa County-based Luther Logistics is primed to expand. If only it could find the drivers. “I could put four or five people in a truck today,” said Jordan Luther, the firm’s owner and operations manager. “It used to be that we would get four or five people a week in here looking for jobs. Now we are lucky if we get two a month.” The story is much the same at E.L. Hollingsworth & Co., a freight company bas

Driver taken to hospital after truck tips The driver of a semi-truck hauling dried distillers grain took a curve on 20th Avenue SE too fast Monday morning, causing the load to shift and the truck to tip on its side. View Original Article

By BILL FRERICHS http://www.bnd.com/ We all know what it's like to make a mistake, but it takes courage to admit your fault and try to undo what's been done. I expect Washington to do the same. As a Belleville small-business owner, I am calling on the federal government to take a second look at what I--and many in my industry--believe were some serious mistakes. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration recently introduced new "hours of service" rules for commercial truck drivers

By Susan Weich [email protected] 636-493-9674 LINCOLN COUNTY • Three men are in custody after police say they stole a grain truck and set it on fire. On Wednesday, deputies were dispatched to the 400 block of Stanek Road in Silex, where the homeowner told police his 1975 Ford grain truck and a red and white Honda dirt bike were missing. Apparently, the burglars got the truck out of a garage by driving it through a wall. Deputies viewed surveillance footage from Silex Centra

From ASSOCIATED PRESS LAKE BUTLER, Fla. — Authorities say a longtime employee of a Florida trucking company killed himself after fatally shooting his former boss and a coworker and wounding two others. A news release from the Union County Sheriff's Office says gunman Hubert Allen Jr. drove to several locations Saturday morning and shot the four men. Three of them were Allen's former co-workers at Pritchett Trucking Inc., and the fourth was company owner Marvin Pritchett. The sheriff's o

By P. Sean Garney Manager, Safety Policy American Trucking Associations This Opinion piece appears in the Aug. 26 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration enforcement mechanism dubbed Compliance, Safety, Accountability has been the topic of much discussion and controversy since its launch in 2010. All agree that safety is a paramount concern for the industry, FMCSA and the motoring public. All agree that r

James Jaillet http://www.overdriveonline.com/ Aimed at owner-operators who want to cut their sleeper loose in hopes of saving weight — and fuel — and giving themselves the opportunity at adding a little extra weight to their load is the Daycab Company, which makes specialized kits that enables truck owners to do just that. ?The company, which is showing at the Great American Trucking Show in Dallas, has been around 13 years and looks to remedy the negative impacts of supply and demand on t

Keith Naughton http://www.businessweek.com/ Ford Motor Co. (F:US) overcharged commercial truck dealers for 11 years, a lawyer said in the retrial in a lawsuit that initially resulted in a $2 billion judgment against the company. “This case is about Ford breaking a contract promise it made to treat all of its dealers equally,” Dennis Mulvihill, a lawyer for the dealers, said today in his opening statement in the trial in Cleveland state court. Ford engaged in “a secret pricing scheme” th

Todd Dills http://www.overdriveonline.com/ In a “Smart session” held in conjunction with the Great American Trucking Show in Dallas Aug. 22, Compliance Safety Systems head David Saunders connected the dots between provisions written into the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) highway bill and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s broadening authority to take action to shut down what it deems as high-risk carriers. Today, as outlined in this story, part of o

By John Futty The Columbus Dispatch The driver whose tanker-truck ran off the side of I-71 north of Polaris and killed an Ohio Department of Transportation worker this spring was sentenced today to 60 days in jail. Dwayne Allen Hill Sr., 59, of Ashland, Va., pleaded no contest in June in Delaware County Municipal Court to a misdemeanor charge of vehicular manslaughter in the death of 27-year-old Lee Rizor. Investigators said that Hill fell asleep at the wheel of his truck about 9:20 a

by Tim Linden | August 23, 2013 Over the last several years, California has continually enacted stricter emission standards for trucks in an effort to have cleaner air in the state. The California Air Resource Board first levied fines on truckers who were not in compliance with the emission regulations on their transportation refrigeration units, and since January the regulations also target the provider of the transportation, regardless of whether that provider is located in California. I

By John D. Schulz, Contributing Editor August 21, 2013 The way the trucking industry and several major shipper groups see it, the candidate for the author of the dumbest bill in Congress belongs to Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., a rookie congressman who wants to jack up the minimum injury and property damage insurance level for trucking companies by nearly 500 percent. Rep. Cartwright, a personal injury attorney before winning his congressional seat last year, says the current truck insuran

Legislation that increased the freight broker bond to $75,000 continues to be a hot topic for freight brokers and forwarders everywhere, as well as those contemplating entering the industry for the first time. Although opposition to the new regulations has been widespread, right down to the filing of an injunction to overturn certain provisions in the new law, it would appear that all systems are “go" and brokers and forwarders will need to get this new bond in place by October

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS August 22, 2013 - 9:48 am EDT LAREDO, Texas — A trucker from Missouri has been convicted in a South Texas immigrant smuggling scheme in which six people were found hidden in the cab. A federal jury in Laredo on Wednesday convicted Miguel Granadeno of Carthage, Missouri U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson says Granadeno was convicted of conspiracy to transport and the transportation of undocumented persons. Magidson says evidence showed the six immigrants had entered t

By LYNDON FINNEY The Trucker Staff 8/22/2013 DALLAS — Trucking has not done well in compensating its drivers, American Trucking Associations President and CEO Bill Graves told a room full of fellow industry executives Thursday morning. “This will be one of the key factors we will have to face if we are going to overcome the driver shortage,” Graves said during an address at the Commercial Vehicle Outlook Conference under way here in conjunction with the Great American Trucking Show. “But n

Harvest trucks in Mississippi need to comply with regulations or face fines Hembree Brandon Mississippi farmers who hire out-of-state contract haulers to help move this year’s crops to market should make sure those haulers comply with the state’s licensing and fuel laws. Otherwise, delays could result if they’re stopped for violations by Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) enforcement officers. “We’re going to be paying close attention to these trucks during harvest seaso

PAGE, N.D. – Some bar banter ended in a night of felony-level property destruction when a suggestion by one man to another to “go jump off the elevator” here allegedly led to the trashing of the grain elevator’s office and pickup truck instead, resulting in thousands of dollars’ worth of damage. By: Emily Welker, INFORUM PAGE, N.D. – Some bar banter ended in a night of felony-level property destruction when a suggestion by one man to another to “go jump off the elevator” here allegedly led

By Chris Liedle http://www.kval.com/ EUGENE, Ore. - The majority of the stuff you buy gets to the store by truck, but truck drivers can barely keep up. Turnover is high. Time on the road away from family is long. But the trucking industry is important enough to warrant study. According to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics released in 2009, over 70 percent of the commodities moving in the United States went by truck - nearly $8.3 trillion dollars worth. In recent years,

By Oliver Patton http://www.truckinginfo.com/ A bipartisan group of Representatives asked the Department of Transportation to consider the impact of heavier trucks on local roads and bridges as it studies national size and weight limits. “We are concerned that heavier or longer trucks could divert significant amounts of freight to highways, resulting in an increase in heavy truck traffic and increased costs to states and localities,” said the 45 Representatives in an August 7 letter to DOT

The Trucker Staff 8/20/2013 Oral arguments in a lawsuit brought by an alliance of trucking and transportation stakeholders alleging the federal government’s CSA Safety Measurement System is “back-door legislative rulemaking” will be heard Sept. 10, according to published news reports. The Alliance for Safe and Efficient Truck Transportation (ASECTT) filed the suit last year in federal district court against the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration maintaining that the agency has enco

By McClatchy Newspapers WASHINGTON — For commercial truck drivers such as Charles Ryser, when the wheels aren't turning, you aren't earning. Until July, Ryser and his father — who drive in a team from a base in Forsyth, Ga. — worked on their own terms. Charles took the day shift, while his father, David Ryser, got behind the wheel at dusk. But because of a Department of Transportation attempt to cut down on fatigued drivers, Ryser has to comply with rules that lead to more downtime and for

Liam Migdail-Smith Reading Eagle PennDOT plans new weight restrictions to 28 bridges in Berks County, and the new limits would bar heavy trucks from critical travel routes such as the Penn Street Bridge and the northern stretch of Route 222. The move could disrupt trucking routes across the county and force big rigs onto back roads that aren't designed to handle them. "We're now going to reroute (truck) traffic through areas where it really shouldn't be," said Audrey Era, operations m

By Matthew Artz and Rick Hurd Bay Area News Group OAKLAND -- Truckers shut down a major terminal at the Port of Oakland and blocked access to several more Monday to protest repeated logjams that have left them trapped in their big rigs for up to six hours while waiting to pick up their next load. "We are not allowed even to go to the bathroom," said Cesar Parra, one of more than 100 truckers who began blocking gates at 5 a.m. The truckers shut down five berths, which suffered some of th

http://fleetowner.com/ by Sean Kilcarr An uneven flow of freight volume combined with the still-uncertain impact of changes to hours of service (HOS) regulations that went into effect July 1 are retarding the ability of carriers to win significant rate increases, at least for the moment. “We believe truckload industry dynamics remain on the precipice of greater things to come,” noted John Larkin, CFA, managing director and head of transportation capital markets research for Wall Street fi

http://www.ttnews.com/ By David Beaudry Director of Logistics Engineering and Consulting AmeriQuest Transportation Services This Opinion piece appears in the Aug. 19 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today. Two sets of changes in the way freight is moved in the United States will require fleet operators to take a fresh look at transportation strategy and fleet utilization. The first changes — those introduced by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administ

http://www.todaystrucking.com/ WASHINGTON, D.C — If you get a fax or email from a U.S. Department of Transport (DOT) senior procurement officer named Julie Weynel, please call the cops. Because Julie Weynel is not a senior procurement officer and neither does she work for the DOT. In fact she probably doesn’t even exist. This week, the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued a warning to carriers that some fraudsters are seeking financial information from trucker

By KELLY QUIMBY [email protected] The Maury County Board of Zoning Appeals moved to file an injunction against a man they accuse of operating a trucking business without the necessary approval. Vadim Kozhokaru, 4505 U.S. Highway 431, Columbia, has been instructed to appear before the Maury County Administration Committee Sept. 5 to answer the BZA’s charge that he does not have the proper zoning or variance to run the business from his home. The BZA voted Wednesday to file a temporary inju

by Don Seabrook Mike Bromiley keeps an eye on the outside row of standing wheat as he slowly drives his huge combine up and down hills, around rock formations, and through the wispy stands of golden-colored grain. He keeps track of the angle and height of the cutter, oil and hydraulic pressures, and the hopper that continually is being filled with grains of wheat. After cutting half the circumference of the 160-acre field, he slows to empty the hopper into a grain truck. A large tubul

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/ What’s worse for driver safety: skipping your lunch break, or being drunk behind the wheel? It seems like a no-brainer, but according to the CSA, you’re more of a menace to society if you didn’t take a break than if you’re so drunk you can’t see straight. A change was made to the CSA scoring system recently when a new violation was added to CSA profiles this past week. A carrier will now receive seven points on their BASIC score if drivers fail to take the

http://www.ttnews.com/ The average age of all light-duty trucks on the road has reached a record high, according to automotive research firm Polk. Based on a review of over 247 million U.S. car and light truck registrations, Polk has determined that the average age of a light-duty truck on the road today has reached 11.3 years. It’s a trend that Polk expects to continue, and which the firm believes could benefit repair shops. “These are interesting times for the automotive aftermarket,

Trucks a part of Beattie life Semis to face off at Milo Fest show By Joann Shum Published: Wednesday, August 14, 2013 5:01 PM CDT Beattie has been trucking strong since the 1940s. “If you were from Beattie, you either trucked or farmed,” said Ben Byers, a Beattie trucker and organizer of the Beattie Milo Festival Truck Show. “That’s all I know is trucking. I grew up in Beattie and I grew up with trucks.” More than 55 semi trucks now regularly take their orders from dispatchers bas

By HOLBROOK MOHR and JEFF AMY The Associated Press 8/15/2013 JACKSON, Miss. — A woman has pleaded guilty as part of the fraud investigation of a shipping company in south Mississippi. Jennifer Griswold waived indictment and pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of withholding information on a crime, says her lawyer, Peter Barrett. Griswold had been charged with conspiracy, but agreed to plead guilty to the other charge. Dustin Lee Griswold and Jennifer Griswold were indicted May 14 on ch

By ReduceYourWorkersComp In the first decades of the 20th Century, work comp was the only game in town for disabled workers. This was the time before unemployment benefits, Social Security disability, FLMA, ADA, etc. As the new laws appeared, the employer saw no advantages – they thought – and, instead, were burdened with an avalanche of compliance paperwork. Few bothered to read the full text of the new laws, and the volumes of regulations that accompanied them. (Nearly all are federal

http://www.wzzm13.com/news/article/264534/2/Grain-truck-rollover-crash-slows-highway-traffic View Original Article

The Trucker Staff 8/13/2013 WASHINGTON — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has added two violations to the Safety Measurement System (SMS), which are included in the SMS snapshot update now posted. Carriers can check their safety assessment at http://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/sms. One of the violations is based on the new Hours of Service regulations and the other is based on a more detailed description of existing controlled substances and alcohol regulations. Both were implemented

Don't let Google hype confuse you: The future of automated vehicles is all about moving cargo, not people. IDG News Service — Thanks to the blogosphere hype machine, most people associate automated, driverless vehicles with the cute, self-driving Google car. Google's technology is charming, and suggests an idyllic morning commute in which we're all chauffeured to work by robots. But the future of driverless vehicles is much more mundane. [ 20 Cars That Drive Themselves ] [ 12 Cool Future Tr