Month: June 2011

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Carriers Lifestyle

Used truck sales, trailer orders drop

Used truck sales in all sales channels dropped about 15 percent in May from April, due to a lack of available inventory, according to ACT Research Co.

ACT also reported U.S. trailer net orders fell 9 percent in May from April, the second consecutive monthly decline for the industry. Despite that decline, commercial trailer backlogs grew 1 percent from April to 102,500 units.

New truck sales should help ease used truck supplies and pricing, said Steve Tam, ACT vice president-commercial vehicle. “Due to new truck buyers holding on to their equipment longer, used truck mileage continues to trend upward. Vehicle age and mileage are expected to increase throughout 2011,” Tam said.

ACT noted trailer build was up 87 percent from May 2010, while industry backlog was 122 percent higher for the same time period.

“The decline in net orders was actually in line with what would be expected from normal industry patterns,” said Frank Maly, director of CV Transportation Analysis and Research. “The order board continues to appear solid, as supported by extremely low order cancellations.”

Categories
Lifestyle Newbies Trucker News

Is Truck Driving suited for You?

Truck driving is not for the faint of heart. You must be able to manage your stress, time, and energy well to succeed. I have seen many, many times the simple mistakes that can be made when a driver gets cocky or is stressed or distracted. Accidents happen, people get hurt, and drivers lose their jobs. Depending on the severity of the accident, some even lose their license. It’s not something to take lightly. The following advice will help to keep you on the road and on track.

Stress management is very crucial. Whether it’s something as simple as changing the radio station or pulling off the road for 30 minutes, you must remember to take time for yourself, no matter how hot the load is. Many companies will tell you safety comes first, but then once you sit down in the driver’s seat, they tell you otherwise. “The load has to be there. Why are you not moving?” Don’t be afraid to tell them you’re tired. Talk to your dispatcher.

If something is going on at home that you need to address, tell them. Most will work with you or refer you to someone you can talk to about what is bothering you. The main thing is to get it off your chest. Take a moment to breathe. Take a nap if you need to. Take a walk around the rest area or go inside the truckstop for a cup of coffee. It’s amazing what a little fresh air can do for your stress levels.

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Lifestyle Trucker News

$5 million in DOT funds for North Dakota

The U.S. Department of Transportation on June 27 announced $5 million in emergency funds available to the North Dakota Department of Transportation to begin restoring federal-aid highways damaged by flooding.

Minot damage was just the latest in relentless flood events throughout the state caused by snow melt and heavy spring rains of unprecedented magnitude affecting at least 43 of the 53 counties throughout the state. In Minot, at least 10,000 people were evacuated as water began spilling over the town’s emergency levees.

The Souris River, which flows from Canada through north central North Dakota back into Canada, reached uncharted levels and inundated thousands of homes and businesses. Crews continue to work to protect homes and critical infrastructure.

Categories
Trucker News

Congress eyes broker bill

For the second year running, Congress is considering a bill trucking and broker organizations say will mitigate unscrupulous broker practices.

On June 24, U.S. Rep. Frank Guinta (R-N.H.) introduced the “Fighting Fraud in Transportation Act,” after working on it with the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, American Trucking Associations and Transportation Intermediaries Association.

Todd Spencer, OOIDA executive vice president, said current law provides too much opportunity for fraud. “Too often, we’ve seen deceitful brokers get away with collecting payments from shippers, but cheating truckers out of what is rightfully theirs,” he said.

TIA, the third-party logistics association, said the federal broker bond requirement has been $10,000 since the mid-1980s. In recent years, some transportation associations pushed for requiring escrow accounts and upping bond to $500,000, while there was a Congressional move to demand brokers disclose profit margin on invoices.

The trucking and brokers industries compromised with a $100,000 bond requirement and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Administrator would have the option of reconsidering that amount every five years.

The bill would demand the U.S. Department of Transportation establish an annual screening of registered motor carriers, brokers and freight forwarders and list only those with current operating authority.

Categories
Lifestyle Newbies Trucker News

FMCSA plans driver onboard monitoring study

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration plans to assess commercial motor vehicle drivers’ responses about onboard monitoring systems via a questionnaire as part of a field test study.

FMCSA plans for 500 CMV drivers to participate in a questionnaire.

The goal of the questionnaire and study is to determine whether onboard monitoring and feedback will reduce at-risk behavior among CMV drivers and improve driver safety performance. The purpose of the questionnaire portion is to assess CMV drivers’ acceptance of onboard monitoring systems being evaluated in the study.

A series of four questionnaires will be conducted in the baseline (no feedback), intervention (receiving feedback) and withdrawal (no feedback) periods. These questionnaires will address the CMV drivers’ expectations, experiences and attitudes toward onboard monitoring systems and assess changes in their perception over the 18-month study period.

All study questionnaires will be available in both paper and electronic form. The results will be summarized and integrated into the rest of the larger study report that evaluates the effectiveness of onboard monitoring systems in improving safety and driver performance.

Categories
Trucker News

FMCSA inspector charged with bribery

Bribery involves offering or accepting something of value in a situation where the person who accepts the bribe is expected to perform a service which goes beyond his or her normal job description. For example, a motorist being ticketed for parking in the wrong place might offer a bribe to the police officer to ask him or her to tear up the ticket.

A federal court has indicted a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration border inspector for allegedly taking a bribe in exchange for providing a Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance decal for a truck without inspection.

On June 8, a U.S. District Court grand jury indicted Eric Hernandez, an FMCSA safety specialist. The Laredo, Texas, court charged he sold a driver a Level I CVSA sticker knowing the vehicle lacked the corresponding inspection. The state public safety department heard of the alleged incident, then obtained video footage of it before arresting Hernandez. The FMCSA subsequently placed him on administrative leave. State and federal inspectors issue the CVSA decal to trucks passing roadside or periodic inspection.
An indictment is a grand jury’s formal charge that it found sufficient evidence the defendant committed the crime to justify a trial. The investigation is ongoing.

There exists, however, a fourth position, the social-personalist one. It holds bribery to be a moral issue, that is, it affects both the good of society and the good of persons—the good of society by its impact on the ideals of the society, the good of persons by involving them in acts unworthy of their nature

Categories
Lifestyle Newbies Trucker News

Trucking Routing Software

Truck routing software enables trucking companies to run operations that make the best use of equipment, personnel and resources. The result is a saving of time, reduction of the cost of fuel and better customer servicing.
With routing software, employee time is utilized effectively, from regulation considerations to routing administration. In addition, the environment is helped through reduced emissions due to routes that are efficient. Local road condition information can be current and observance of routing regulations in multiple areas preempts fines.

Factors
Routing for trucks involves more than just finding the best roads. It also means making sure that the truck will fit on the road. It also includes knowledge of regulations of such things as permits and taxes. The efficient use of the truck includes limiting the number of trips with no loads to carry. Routing can be regional, national or international.

Benefits
Customers are better served due to an enhanced ability to accommodate and coordinate customers’ wishes. Greater delivery-time efficiency and accuracy is possible. Input allows for increased quality of company decisions.

Considerations
The software company provides installation, training and maintenance. An inventory of the trucking company resources is made. These include the trucks and personnel. The internet can be used for current planning. The software program should adapt to the the company’s way of operating, not vice versa.

Prevention/Solution
Use of GPS as an integrated part of the routing software provides real time tracking. If the directions turn out to be wrong, then correcting the information and providing new information can be quick and efficient.

Categories
Lifestyle Trucker News

Nevada bans all cell phone use while driving

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval signed a new law June 17 that prohibits talking or texting on a cell phone while driving.

The law makes Nevada the 34th state to prohibit texting behind the wheel and the ninth to prohibit all handheld cell phone use while driving.

The new Nevada law makes it illegal to text or talk on a handheld cell phone while driving. Under the new law, violators face a fine of up to $100 for the first offense, up to $200 for the second offense and up to $250 for the third offense. In addition, third-time offenders also can have their driver licenses suspended. The law is due to become effective on Jan. 1, 2012; law enforcement officers will begin issuing warnings on Oct. 1.

With the addition of Nevada, 34 states, the District of Columbia and Guam have banned text messaging by all drivers. Nine states, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands have prohibited all handheld cell phone use while driving.

States that haven’t yet banned texting while driving are Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and West Virginia. Some localities in those states have passed their own distracted driving bans, but Florida, Mississippi, Nevada and Oklahoma prohibit localities from enacting such laws.

Categories
Lifestyle Trucker News

EPA seeks SCR alert system

The Environmental Protection Agency has updated its guidance for certification of truck engines using selective catalytic reduction to reduce emissions, calling on SCR engine makers to develop warning systems that alert drivers when the truck’s diesel exhaust fluid tank is nearly empty or filled with a liquid other than DEF.

The new guidance, mostly in response to claims made by Navistar Inc. that SCR technology can be circumvented, also urged OEMs using SCR to research methods that would inhibit tampering with SCR system operation and incorporate further inducements for drivers to comply.

Concerns about SCR’s environmental compliance were brought to EPA’s attention by Navistar, which uses a competitive technology, exhaust gas recirculation, to meet EPA 2010 regulations. Navistar had sued both EPA and the California Air Resources Board over their acceptance of SCR technology without stronger measures to prevent engine operation without DEF or an operational SCR system. The truckmaker last year settled both lawsuits by garnering a commitment for further review.

Navistar representatives contended that independent test findings showed new commercial vehicles that must contain liquid urea to meet federal NOx emissions standards continued to operate effectively when urea was not present. At such times, Navistar said, the vehicles threw off levels of NOx as much as 10 times higher than when urea was present.

Categories
Trucker News

Trucking reps hit hours plan

The title, “Do Not Enter: How Proposed Hours of Service Trucking Rules are a Dead End for Small Businesses,” summarized the June 14 U.S. House subcommittee hearing.

The Small Business Committee Subcommittee on Investigations, Oversight and Regulations heard testimony from trucking company leaders against the HOS Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.

Subcommittee Chairman Mike Coffman, (R-Colo.) convened the hearing to explore the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s proposal. It would reduce the daily driving limit, decrease the maximum on-duty time limit, require mandatory breaks and change the current 34-hour restart provision.

Truck-related crashes have dropped more than 40 percent since the current HOS rules were implemented in 2003. But the FMCSA created the “complicated and cumbersome” NPRM, based on outdated truck-related crash figures, Coffman said.

“Even more disturbing is that it is estimated that there will be a cost of $2.5 billion annually on the industry if the proposed hours of service regulations are finalized,” he said.

James Burg, president of James Burg Trucking Co. and an American Trucking Associations board member, said the proposal would restrict productivity and increase congestion and emissions. It would force Burg to add drivers and trucks, making it necessary for his 75-truck Michigan-based company to try and increase retained earnings by between 20 and 25 percent.