Bulk Freight News & Industry Updates - Stay Ahead in Trucking

Years-long efforts see grain silo converted into home near Dugald, Man. CBC News Posted: May 15, 2013 3:59 PM CT Last Updated: May 15, 2013 5:14 PM CT After four years of planning, building and improvising, one Manitoba man has finally seen his dream of converting a grain silo into a livable home become a reality. Suruj Persault moved to Manitoba from Guyana more than 20 years ago, and in 2009 was inspired by his friends to build the unique home. “I thought it would be crazy, but once

By Ricardo Lopez, Los Angeles Times May 15, 2013 Two truck drivers have sued one of Southern California's largest trucking companies, alleging they were denied breaks, lunch hours and overtime because they were treated as independent contractors rather than employees of Harbor Express Inc. The lawsuit filed this week is one of several complaints lodged against trucking companies in recent years and is seeking class-action status. Lawyers for the plaintiffs said it could affect as many as

Posted: May 14, 2013 04:21 PM | Last Updated: May 14, 2013 04:21 PM ARLINGTON, VA — The American Trucking Associations (ATA) “praised” new measures proposed by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to reduce impaired driving. The ATA is also calling for the Department of Transportation (DOT) to allow mandatory hair samples in standard drug tests. Today the NTSB released new recommendations to improve road safety and reduce impaired driving. These recommendations include reducing t

Fleet Owner Transportation forecasting firm FTR Associates has announced that its Shippers Conditions Index (SCI) for March eased from February’s level of a -9.5 reading to a current reading of -7.3. That, said FTR, points to a “slightly improved but still negative environment for shippers. The index is a compilation of factors affecting shippers’ transport environment. Any reading below zero indicates a less-than-ideal environment for shippers. Readings below 10 signal that conditions fo

USDA/ERS | Updated: 05/14/2013 U.S. feed grain production for 2013/14 is projected at 376 million metric tons, up from 286 million in 2012/13 in a scenario similar to the May 2012 forecast when a record crop was predicted based on early planting progress and favorable spring weather. Those projections were dashed by subsequent drought. This season, the corn crop is expected to recover from last season’s drought. Acreage is projected higher for the four feed grains and yields, at 3.74 tons

By CCJ Staff http://www.ccjdigital.com/ Though conditions for shippers improved in March, the overall environment is still negative, says FTR Associates, who produces the monthly Shippers Conditions Index — a compilation of factors that impact shippers transport environment. A reading below zero shows what FTR calls a “less-than-deal” environment for shippers. Readings below 10 show conditions are “approaching critical levels, based on available capacity and expected rates.” Right now,

By Aaron Claverie TEMECULA — The Tennessee man who stole a big rig and then crashed it, causing chain-reaction crashes on Interstate 15 that left numerous people injured, pleaded guilty Monday to charges of assault with a deadly weapon, hit and run causing death or injury, and vehicle theft. The man, Jerimiah Clyde Hartline, told authorities he drove erratically, swerving the rig back and forth, to shake off zombies that he feared were clinging to the side of the strawberry-laden trailer.

By: Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri Updated: May 13, 2013 LEBANON, Mo. - The owners of a Lebanon trucking company are sentenced for defrauding Tracker Marine, a Springfield-based manufacturer of boats and trailers sold throughout North America. James Keith Ivey, 53, and his wife, Melinda Kay Ivey, 43, both of Lebanon, were sentenced Friday. James Ivey was sentenced to five years and 10 months in federal prison without parole. Melinda Ivey was s

The recent oil production surge in West Texas' Permian Basin has increased oil drilling in the region, thus increasing trucking traffic. Sadly, given that many of the Texas roads in this region were not designed to handle such high levels of trucking congestion, trucking accidents almost seem inevitable. May 14, 2013 /24-7PressRelease/ -- In recent years, the oil production surge in West Texas' Permian Basin has increased oil drilling in the state to levels reminiscent of the 1980s. But, even

By Robert Voltmann CEO Transportation Intermediaries Association This Opinion piece appears in the May 13 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today. Carriers that seek the ability to “rebroker” freight without separate broker authority and bond will keep the door open to marketplace fraud and nonpayment. Worse still, the practice will expose carriers to the ever-increasing risk of liability for accidents they did not cause. Calling rebrokering “convenience inte

During the recession, sluggish manufacturing production and slow retail spending reduced demand for freight transportation; however, industry conditions will improve as recovering consumer confidence and increased spending will support growth in freight volumes, boosting industry demand. For these reasons, industry research firm IBISWorld has updated a report on the Local Freight Trucking industry in its growing industry report collection. Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) May 07, 2013 Local freight

By GINA DUWE http://gazettextra.com/ EVANSVILLE — What is it? Landmark Services Cooperative is expanding its grain shuttle location at 6524 N. County M on Evansville’s southeast side. The expansion is scheduled for a Sept. 10 completion. Landmark is a member-owned cooperative that provides agronomy, energy, animal nutrition, grain, retail and transportation products and services to more than 15,000 members in southcentral Wisconsin and northern Illinois. What is expanding? The expansion

By JENNIFER TODD Staff Writer jtodd@lnpnews.com Daryl Miller will spend this Mother's Day as he has for the past 20 years. The West Hempfield Township man will climb into his freshly shined tractor-trailer for the Make-A-Wish convoy — a trek that's become near and dear to his heart. It's also the cornerstone of a unique friendship. Alongside Miller in the rig tomorrow will be 23-year-old Travis Patterson. Patterson has cerebral palsy and hydrocephalus and gets around with a wh

By Robert Patrick rpatrick@post-dispatch.com 314-621-5154 ST. LOUIS • George Reaves Jr., a St. Louis County truck driver who rear-ended another trucker on Interstate 70 in Illinois was awarded $1.1 million last week by a federal jury here. “I'm really happy about it because George got his day in court and got to tell his story and basically justice was done,” said Reaves lawyer Brent Sumner Tuesday. The trucks crashed early on the morning of Feb. 26, 2010, in Effingham County, Ill.

WASHINGTON (CBS) – A suburban woman is using her family’s tragedy to lobby Congress for tougher regulation of the trucking industry. WBBM Newsradio’s Regine Schlesinger reports Kate Brown, of Gurnee, said truck safety became her mission after her 35-year-old son Graham was severely injured in 2005, in a crash caused by a drugged trucker who fell asleep at the wheel after partying all night. “My son was just driving down a country road when the truck driver hit him,” Brown said. She sa

23 hours ago • Lincoln Journal Star(0) Comments CHS Inc., the nation's biggest co-op, and the Aurora Cooperative, one of Nebraska's biggest, announced formation of a limited liability company to build and operate a high-speed rail-shuttle grain storage and loading facility near Superior. Superior East LLC expects to begin construction immediately and be completed in about 12 months. The site is less than a mile east of Superior south of Nebraska 8. With a storage capacity of 1,250,000

Charles Abbott Reuters 5:30 p.m. CDT, May 9, 2013 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawmakers are preparing for a second run at writing the new U.S. farm law that ended in a stalemate in 2012, and the biggest obstacle is not likely to be soil conservation or crop subsidies, but the billions spent mostly in cities and towns. Analysts say food stamps for the poor, the biggest Agriculture Department program at an estimated $79 billion this year, is the make-or-break issue. Republicans are demanding

OOIDA's Todd Spencer shares insights from member surveys May 2013, TruckingInfo.com - WebXclusive By Deborah Lockridge Owner-operators are far from dead, but the population is experiencing some changes, according to Todd Spencer, vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, with many of those changes caused by government regulations. In a Stifel Nicolaus conference call Tuesday, Spencer outlined several trends among the nation's population of owner-operators, gle

The Trucker News Services 5/8/2013 The Teamsters, the Truck Safety Coalition, U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-MA, and representatives of several families whose members were truck crash victims, held a news conference marking the re-introduction of legislation that would prevent an increase in size and weight allowances for trucks. "Corporate greed is the only thing driving the trucking industry to push reckless legislation that would put heavier and longer trucks on our highways," said Jim Hof

Anthony Halley | May 9, 2013 Potash producer Mosaic Co. (NYSE:MOS) is soon to become the prime industry target for takeover as shares owned by the founding Cargill family will become unrestricted on May 26th, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. Potential tax consequences associated with the purchase of Mosaic will also expire later this month, opening the door even wider for an outright sale of the company. Mosaic is the second largest Northern American producer of potash, with a current val

BY TYREL LINKHORN BLADE STAFF WRITER The Andersons Inc. reported a record first-quarter profit for the company’s Rail Group, but a delayed planting season and lingering effects from last year’s drought combined to drag down overall earnings. The Maumee agribusiness on Tuesday reported a first-quarter profit of $12.6 million, or 67 cents a share, on revenues of $1.3 billion. Profits fell down almost 32 percent from the $18.4 million, or 98 cents a share, that The Andersons reported in 2012

ADM reserves $25M to resolve violating foreign bribery laws By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) told investors that it has reserved $25 million to deal with a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigation tied to its grain and feed exports. ADM is a U.S.-based agribusiness conglomerate, which is the largest corn processor in the world, confirmed that they’ve been in discussions with the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ove

By David Chang and Dan Stamm | Wednesday, May 8, 2013 | Updated 11:03 AM EDT Amazingly no one was hurt in a wreck that left a tractor-trailer split in half along the Schuylkill Expressway (I-76 West) late last night. The crash caused lane closures for nearly 12 hours. Officials say a tractor trailer crashed into a concrete barrier around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, causing the vehicle to split in half. The crash also caused a piece of the concrete barrier to fall off the highway, landing on the

The Trucker News Services 5/7/2013 WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., Tuesday re-introduced legislation designed to keep bigger, heavier trucks off the road. The bill would apply existing federal truck size and weight limits to the entire National Highway System (NHS). Currently these restrictions apply only to interstate highways. Applying the size and weight limits more broadly would improve safety and prevent excessive strain on the nation’s roads, tunnels and bridge

Article by: STEVE ALEXANDER , Star Tribune Updated: May 7, 2013 - 9:22 PM The shipping firm says it is focused on taking trucking market share. C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc., a third-party logistics firm that matches shippers with available transportation, told analysts Tuesday that it doesn’t know when the trucking business will improve. Citing a continuing trend of slower growth and smaller margins in its shipping business, the Eden Prairie firm missed Wall Street expectations in its

By Michael Brown, Posted: May 8, 2013 09:08 AM | Last Updated: May 8, 2013 09:08 AM Summer. It’s the time when you want to be outdoors, but sometimes if you just don’t set aside the time the season passes you by. Here are some events to give you the best possible summer, wherever you are in North America. VEGAS, BABY: Get your summer started with a visit to Sin City for the Great West Truck Show. With over 300,000 square feet of trucks, trailers and more, plus the Pride & Polish truck beau

RICHARD GILBERT staff writer Richardson International Limited has started construction on an expansion project at its port terminal facility in North Vancouver, but the new concrete grain storage annex could have a serious impact on nearby residents. “We are very pleased to move forward with this project as we see it as key to meeting growing demand from global markets,” said Darwin Sobkow, executive vice-president of agribusiness operations. “This expansion will allow us to serve both our f

Intermediaries have muscled in on the LTL market. Can they continue to wield influence in a world of rationalized capacity? By Mark B. Solomon, DC Velocity Transportation intermediaries have gained more clout in the less-than-truckload (LTL) industry than ever before, a movement that is changing the landscape for all concerned. Freight brokers and third-party logistics service providers (3PLs) that also offer brokerage services have long been involved in the LTL segment. However, their

American Trucking Associations said Monday it has launched a program for young trucking executives to prepare them for future leadership. The LEAD ATA program, sponsored by PeopleNet Communications Corp., will provide educational opportunities to highlight how the regulatory and legislative process affects the trucking industry, according to ATA. “In the 80 years since ATA was founded, we have always relied on industry leaders to be our spokesmen and our examples of what trucking means to

By Joe Richardson joe.richardson@amarillo.com Manuel Quintana was pulling his tractor-trailer in for a pit stop Friday afternoon when something bizarre happened. Quintana, 49, of Arizona said he was pulling into the TA TravelCenter of America at 7000 E. Interstate 40 at about 6:30 p.m. Friday and his trailer full of charcoal collapsed. Quintana, who said he drives for TWG Transportation, said he wasn’t hurt and the trailer was the only thing damaged. He said he was driving from Spri

A homegrown business that’s been hauling goods to from the Port of Charleston for more than 30 years now is part of a Wisconsin company that’s listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Roadrunner Transportation Systems Inc. announced that it has expanded into the region by purchasing all of the stock and property of Mount Pleasant-based Wando Trucking Inc. in a deal valued at $9 million. Formed in 1982 by Citadel graduate Ray Segars, Wando Trucking primarily moves imported and exported good

BY NEWS DESK | MAY 6, 2013 With wet distillers grain becoming ever more available as a feed source due to the government subsidized ethanol industry, it’s not good news that they might be increasing levels of dangerous E. coli O157:H7 in cattle hides and manure. A primary co-product of the ethanol production process, distillers grains are the product remaining after the ethanol is removed from the fermented corn mash. But studies by USDA’s Agricultural Research Service in Clay Center, NE a

By Mike Lee & Mark Drajem - May 3, 2013 11:01 PM CT Intruders repeatedly broke into the West, Texas, fertilizer plant that exploded last month, revealing what critics called a pattern of inadequate security. Many thieves in the past decade were believed to target containers of anhydrous ammonia, which can be used to make the drug methamphetamine, said Matt Cawthon, chief deputy for the McLennan County Sheriff’s Office. A plant manager in 2002 said ammonia tanks were tapped for as much as fiv

By Hillary Gavan hgavan@beloitdailynews.com | 0 comments CLINTON — The DeLong Company completed the addition of its food-grade soybeans facility in September and plans to add its permanent office, container load-out area and grain cleaning facilities to its newest site in 2014 or 2015, according to grain superintendent Scott Butram. On Tuesday Butram and grain merchandiser Doug Kloepping gave an update on the progress at the new DeLong site, 59.5 acres of land in the Village of Clinton Indust

US FOOD and grain corporation Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) may have sweetened the deal to buy GrainCorp but Nationals leader Warren Truss says it doesn't make the sale a sweet deal for Australian agriculture. "Indeed, the higher the price Archer Daniels Midland pays for GrainCorp, the higher future grain handling charges will be for eastern States graingrowers," he said. Mr Truss tipped ADM would seek to recover its purchase price and make profits on its investment from Australian grain prod

By Tim Rohwer trohwer@nonpareilonline.com | 0 comments Removal of those vacant Bunge grain elevators along West Broadway could be coming closer to reality. The Council Bluffs City Council on Monday evening will be asked to approve a bid by the Joplin, Mo., firm of Gator Industrial, L.L.C. for the demolition work. In 2012, the city acquired title to the former Bunge elevators and hired the services of FEH Associates, Inc. of Des Moines to prepare plans and specifications for the demolition

By The Associated Press WICHITA — Federal prosecutors have charged three people with a brazen freight trucking scheme that spanned the country. An indictment unsealed Wednesday in federal court in Wichita alleges the three men tried in 2011 to steal a trailer load of packaged beef worth $82,700 from the Tyson plant at Holcomb. Prosecutors say they posed as a freight hauler and dropped off a refrigerated trailer so it could be loaded. Oganes Nagapetian, Tigran Nagapetian and Larisa Nagap

By Jay Michaels Story Created: May 1, 2013 at 5:25 PM MDT Story Updated: May 1, 2013 at 11:35 PM MDT Twin Falls, Idaho ( KMVT-TV / KTWT-TV ) A local accountant indicates the trucking industry is the backbone of our economy. All it needs to get into trucking is a truck and a trailer. But this accountant points out that it takes more than that to stay in the trucking industry. CPA Clint Adams with Cooper Norman says, "There are a lot of regulations. You're dealing with multiple government

Submitted by The City Wire Staff on Tue, 04/30/2013 - 10:23pm Easter timing and cold spring weather have tempered retail trends, according to a recent report by Baird Equity Research. Baird said industrial trends have moderated creating a softer-than-expected start to the second quarter in freight demand. Some carriers remain optimistic that delayed retail demand will support volumes in May and June. Spot freight demand trends were soft through April but carriers have noted that the sup

May 01, 2013 By Tom Berg Revised hours-of-service rules being contested by trucking and outside parties will probably be adopted as presented by federal authorities, the National Private Trucking Council’s staff lawyer, Rick Schweitzer, told attendees at the group’s annual meeting this week in Cincinnati. Court of Appeals judges did not seem inclined to change anything during a March 15 hearing considering the American Trucking Associations’ suit against a 30-minute break provision in the

The Connecticut Law Tribune Family members of two people who died in a massive tractor-trailer crash on Interstate-95, as well as three people who were injured in the accident, were awarded a total of $15.7 million by a Hartford jury late last week. On Nov. 2, 2007, a tanker truck owned by Northeast Carriers of Danielson, Conn., a subsidiary of Saveway Petroleum, was carrying 7,000 gallons of diesel fuel when it crossed from the northbound lanes of Interstate 95 in East Lyme, over the med