Month: December 2017

The same might soon happen for the trucking space, thanks to the electronic logging device mandate. And a lot of backlash, including an opposition rally held by truckers earlier this month, the mandate finally went into effect this week, allowing compliance deadline, inspectors and roadside enforcement personnel to start documenting ELD violations. Starting in April, things will heat up even more, as inspectors will start placing drivers out of service if their vehicle is not equipped with an ELD.

A survey conducted earlier this month found that nearly half of owner-operators said they hadn’t even select an ELD yet, and only a third had installed one. While the trucking companies themselves may be dragging their feet, perhaps hoping that the mandate will still be struck down, startups and venture capitalists already see the ELD mandate as an opportunity for the industry. That includes Peloton Technology, a connected and automated vehicle technology company, which is in favor of the mandate and has already installed ELDs in its vehicles. “We operate a small fleet of test vehicles and we have implemented ELD’s internally across our fleet in compliance with the regulations.

Our driver-assistive truck platooning system does take hours of service into account when determining platooning eligibility so we are supportive of the ELD mandate,” Rod McLane, VP of Marketing at Peloton, told me. For FourKites, a real-time tracking and orchestration company in the trucking space, the big opportunity that comes from the ELD mandate is the data that will allow trucks to operate faster and more cost-effectively. “The ELD mandate will create a massive influx of real-time data about shipments on the road across the United States. ELDs are a good idea in general “For the simple but powerful reason that they put every truck online,” he said. “With an ELD in the truck, that truck is now streaming its location and the available hours that driver has in real time on the internet.

This will increase efficiency, improve utilization and increase earning potential for drivers, reduce congestion and pollution and bring transparency and efficiency to the market that today is hindered by lack of visibility to this information.” Ultimately, Kropp believes that ELDs will force the trucking industry to adopt cloud technology, which will finally help bring the industry into this century technology-wise.

I see it as a real game-changer for the the trucking tech sector.” While he believes that ELD’s are important from a safety perspective, and will make it easier to enforce Hours of Service rules that mandate that drivers can’t go more than 10 to 12 hours, he also acknowledges that it may create scenarios where drivers might be incentivized to drive faster than is safe so they don’t run out of hours. Dan Lewis, Co-founder and CEO of on-demand trucking app Convoy comes down more squarely on the side of the mandate being good for drivers.

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The Tesla Semi offers something to the trucking industry that could drastically alter the entire freight moving sector. The trucking industry has seen major changes since it began roughly a century ago and has, despite the assumptions of many outsiders looking in, been one of the more technologically-advanced industries in our nation. Trucks themselves have seen huge changes in the past few decades while the freight industry as a whole has been reinvented and revamped multiple times over in that same time period. Nasdaq.com contributor Martin Tillier mentions the impacts that the Tesla Semi and others with similar game-changing technologies will have on the trucking industry long-term.

“The technological change that benefits trucking and delivery businesses have been widely reported, but in my experience, most people that I ask about it focus on the potential negatives rather than looking for opportunities,” writes Tillier. They ignore the biggest beneficiary of all: trucking companies. According to the American Trucking Associations, over 70 percent of the freight moved in the United States is moved by truck. In trucking, the highest cost to the trucking company is the driver behind the wheel, with wages and benefits-not to mention legalities and downtime-having the highest impact on the bottom line. Self-driving trucks would also solve a problem that’s long plagued the trucking industry: driver shortages. Replacements for those skilled drivers are new drivers who’ve completed perhaps three weeks of trucking school and a month of over-the-road training with a slightly more skilled driver as a mentor. This doesn’t make trucking an easy job, but it does mean that those with the most skills are the least likely to lose their jobs when automation becomes the norm. The trucking industry is going through another sea change. The trucking industry knows that electrification and automation are coming. How Tesla’s Semi will dramatically alter the trucking industry.

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The Tennessee Highway Patrol arrested the 20 employees who are from Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala respectfully.As a result of those investigations, those 20 illegal aliens, defendants, are alleged to have presented fraudulent documents between November 2016 and November 2017 to certify their identity and eligibility to work here in this country, said U.S. A Memphis employment agency, Provide Staffing, assigned multiple employees to Expeditors International, a freight forwarder based in Memphis.

The Immigration and Reform Act of 1986, amended, and the Immigration and Nationality Act together require employers to verify the identity and employment eligibility of their employees using a prescribed form, Form I-9 and require that employees present documents to verify their identity and eligibility to work in the United States. Each defendant is charged with knowingly using a false identification document as evidence of his or her employment eligibility, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1546 (a) or Section 1546(b) (2).

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Dozens of companies, from truckmakers like Daimler and Navistar to startups like Change and Embark-plus Uber’s Otto and Waymo, the erstwhile Google self-driving project-are pursuing what they believe is the next generation of trucking. Its business opportunity-and trucking is the physical embodiment of a thriving economy. Trucks moved more than 70% of all U.S. freight and generated $676 billion in revenue in 2016, according to the American Trucking Associations.

Some 33.8 million trucks were registered for business purposes in 2016. Almost 4 million of them were categorized Class 8, denoting the largest freight trucks. Without the trucking industry, the economy would screech to a standstill. The newest trucks on the road, such as those made by Volvo and Freightliner, employ driver assistance technologies similar to the adaptive cruise control and lane-keeping features found in modern passenger cars. The technologies make driving a truck less stressful, safer, and more fuel efficient.

Starsky Robotics CEO and co-founder Stefan Seltz-Axmacher believe trucking is on the verge of a radical change that hasn’t been seen since the industry was deregulated in 1980. “Autonomous trucks are going to be an even bigger change than that.” Seltz-Axmacher’s company, which is based in San Francisco, uses software, radar, and computer vision cameras to enable long-haul trucks to drive by themselves on the highway, then cede control to a remote operator to travel from exit to final destination.

In September, a Starsky Robotics truck drove 68 miles on a Florida highway with zero intervention by a human. Meanwhile, Nikola Motor is designing and building its own driverless, hydrogen fuel cell-powered Class 8 truck-“The iPhone of trucking,” says CEO Trevor Milton. So where does that leave a company like Daimler, whose first truck arrived at the market in 1896? In the embrace of the long view.

Daimler, which sells more than 400,000 trucks globally each year, is treading carefully as it brings technology to its commercial vehicles. Its $180,000 Semi promises up to 500 miles on single charge-four time the range of an electric truck that Daimler is developing.

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Some were skeptical of Tesla’s ability to break into the trucking industry. Sysco hopes the trucks will help the company save on fuel and maintenance costs and reduce its environmental footprint. While some had doubts about Tesla’s ability to break into the trucking industry before it introduced the Semi, early orders indicate Tesla may beat expectations.

DHL: The transportation and logistics company has reserved 10 Semis to add to its fleet. Ryder: The transportation company reserved an unspecified number of Semis in November. Hunt: The trucking company is set to purchase “Multiple” Semis, but hasn’t revealed the exact number. Flexport: Ryan Peterson, the freight company’s CEO, announced the company has ordered one Semi. JK Moving: The independent moving company has reserved four Semis. Loblaw: After ordering 25 Semis, the Canadian supermarket chain announced plans to make its trucking fleet 100% electric by 2030.

Fercam: Based in Italy, the trucking company has reserved a single Semi. Girteka Logistics: Not to be outdone by Fercam, the European transportation company also announced its plans to invest in one of Tesla’s electric trucks. Fortigo Freight Services: The Canadian logistics company reserved one Semi. Best Transportation: The shipping company also ordered one Semi. Mecca & Son Trucking: According to Jalopnik, this trucking company has reserved one Semi.

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HOLLYWOOD, Ala. – Trucking company owners and drivers got together in Jackson County Monday morning to protest congressionally mandated Electronic Logging Devices, set to go into effect in a few days. Darrell and Audrey Wright own a trucking company based out of Hollywood in Jackson County. “It’s really small, it’s only three trucks,” Audrey Wright said. Like many other companies and drivers across the nation, they’re directly impacted by a government-imposed mandate that says Electronic Logging Devices, or ELDs, need to be used by commercial drivers who are required to prepare hours-of-service records of duty status. Along with several others, they staged an event Monday morning to protest the mandate. It’s part of a nation-wide effort to raise awareness for the mandate and their concerns. The devices sync with a vehicle engine to automatically record data like driving time, location information, and miles. Information from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration says the devices are meant to help create a safer work environment for drivers and make it easier and faster to accurately track, manage, and share records of duty status data.

The Wrights and other drivers say they have many concerns about the devices. Drivers can only work a certain number of hours a day, and the Wrights say the previous method of logging data was flexible with the inevitable traffic delays. They say the new device is not because of its continued monitoring. “It causes drivers to be more dangerous because they’re losing their driving time on these ELDs, and it’s causing them to cut other drivers off, speed through school zones.” “On paper logs, it costs eight dollars per truck per month to operate a truck on logs right now. It’s going to cost us an estimated 30 to 50 dollars extra per month per truck to operate on these things.” The drivers at the protest Monday say they feel the ELDs are hindering their day-to-day jobs. “Ask us our opinion. These people who are sitting in the office mandating this, they’re not in the trucks,” Audrey Wright said. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration says motor carriers and drivers subject to the ELD rule must start using ELDs by December 18 unless they are using a grandfathered Automatic Onboard Recording Device. The ELD mandate was phased in over the last two years.

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GERING – Nebraska Transport Company, founded in Gering in 1973, recently underwent a major change, but most people will see no differences. NTC owner Brent Holliday, the second generation of the family to operate the business, has sold the LTL small package delivery division to Cross Country Freight Solutions, a family-owned company out of Bismarck, North Dakota. Holliday and his son, Phillip, will retain ownership of the truckload portion of the business, which will operate under the name Twin City Cartage.

A new building is currently going up just west of the current NTC headquarters to serve as a terminal. Another part of the business they’ll keep is NTC Logistics, which Phillip is heading up. “In the old days, it was called a broker,” Holliday said. “If we can’t handle a specific load for a customer ourselves, we’ll take responsibility for the shipment and find an outside trucking firm that can make the delivery for us. It’s really freight management.” NTC’s service area includes eastern Colorado, all of Nebraska, eastern Wyoming, the northeastern corner of Kansas, western Missouri and parts of Iowa.

The purchase by Cross Country Freight Solutions doubles the company’s direct shipment coverage. Holliday said he wasn’t really thinking of selling any part of the business his father had started, but the call from Cross Country came “Out of the blue.” “I wasn’t that interested, but they asked to visit us and talk about it,” he said. “This company has been my identity for a lot of years so I wanted to be sure this was God’s will for my life and for the company.” He added that any possible sale had to be right for his family, as his wife, two children and their spouses, and a nephew all work for the company. “I wanted to know the new company would treat my employees well,” he said. “I have people who have worked here for 30 years.

Any business has to make money, but when we draw our last breath, it’s not about money but how we’ve treated our fellow human beings.” As a vice president, Holliday will continue working part-time for NTC, calling on major clients as needed and representing the company at industry meetings and shows. Cross Country Freight Solutions will keep the Nebraska Transport name and its familiar black and yellow color scheme. They also plan to keep all the current terminals open and keep most of the employees, including those in Gering. “This community was good to my dad as a one-man operation trying to make a living,” Holliday said.

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HARRISONBURG, VIRGINIA – A Mount Crawford based trucking company that formerly hauled United States mail and it holding company, as well as four of its most senior officers, the President, Vice-President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer, were all sentenced this week in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Harrisonburg for conspiring to commit federal crimes, United States Attorney Rick A. Mountcastle announced.They were also sentenced to pay approximately $1,000,000 in restitution to drivers who were defrauded of their pay.

Beam Holding previously pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in that the company knowingly and willfully defrauded its driver employees of almost $1,000,000 dollars of their pay. In specific, Beam Holding caused their driver-employees to falsify their time sheets so that they would report fewer hours worked than they actually worked in direct violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act. Beam Trucking previously pled guilty to conspiracy to falsify safety records and pay records in that the company falsely reported the hours their truck driver employees worked and were on duty with intent to obstruct the government’s investigation.

In specific, Beam Trucking conspired to falsify drivers’ records of duty status and their time sheets. Beam Trucking and Beam Holding President, Gerald Wayne Beam and Vice President, Garland Crawford Beam were each sentenced to serve six months of home confinement followed by three years of supervised release. Beam Trucking Chief Operations Officer, Shaun Crawford Beam and Chief Financial Officer, Nickolas Gene Kozel were each sentenced to serve three months of home confinement followed by three years of supervised release. The FMCSA highway safety regulations are designed to protect the driving public and truck drivers from injury or death caused by truck crashes resulting from driver fatigue.

According to evidence presented during the sentencing hearings by Assistant United States Attorneys Stephen J. Pfleger and Christopher Kavanaugh, between 1999 and 2017 the leaders of the conspiracy, Gerald Wayne Beam, Garland Crawford Beam and Shaun Crawford Beam created routes and then instructed Beam Trucking drivers to drive routes that were grossly illegal. Beam Trucking drivers were instructed to drive routes that were so long that they barely got any sleep between trips for weeks at a time over a course of years. Drivers became so fatigued that they could hardly stay awake. Drivers were so fatigued that they barely avoided crashes when they momentarily fell asleep while driving trucks on public highways. One driver was so fatigued that he took drugs every few hours to stay awake. After three months of taking drugs, the driver found during one of his trips that he could no longer physically drive a truck and had to call for a medical rescue.

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