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Trucking company Central Freight Lines Inc. will shut down in the coming weeks after failing to end years of losses despite strong demand in freight markets during the pandemic.

After 96 years in business, Waco, Texas-based less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier Central Freight Lines is closing its doors.

Central Freight announced that it is winding down its operations and as of Dec. 13 has ceased picking up new shipments. The carrier expects to deliver substantially all freight in its system by Dec. 20.

The company owns approximately 1,200 trucks and is a large LTL operator, a slice of the trucking industry in which carriers move shipments of multiple customers on a single trailer. Most operators in this industry have thrived over the past two years thanks to strong demand from retailers and manufacturers and the boom in online shopping spurred by the pandemic.

According to data from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the carrier employs 1,325 drivers and has 1,602 power units.

Despite its efforts, Central Freight was unable to gain commitments to fund ongoing operations, find a buyer of the entire business, or fund a Chapter 11 reorganization.

Central Freight Lines was founded in 1925 when W.W. “Woody” Callan Sr. bought a Model T and drove from Waco to Dallas to pick up some goods for a Waco merchant, thus starting Central Forwarding and Warehouse company.

Delivery transportation continues to be a vital part of the American economy, ensuring businesses and customers have a broader reach to sell and purchase goods and products. A trucking dispatcher have the critical job of helping truck drivers to concentrate on routes and roadways and to safely deliver their cargoes. Without strong dispatchers, projects fall apart.

Dispatchers who are looking to improve their game can sidestep many of the difficulties by following a few key guidelines.

1. Know your market

Local knowledge is one of the biggest assets you can have as a dispatcher. This includes knowing the best routes and shortcuts, as well as having a firm memory of current pricing.

2. Get to Know your Drivers

As a trucking dispatcher, it’s important to make an effort to get to know drivers on a personal level.

Not only will this improve the day-to-day working relationship, but it also shows the driver that you value them as a person instead of just another asset to move cargo.

3. Plan ahead

Planning ahead minimizes last-minute changes and improves general workflow and productivity. A lot of time can be saved by setting up geo zones, adding subcontractors, and creating templates when you receive the job frees up a ton of your time on the day of the project

4. Manage the chaos

Dispatching trucks is hectic work. Your desk is always flooded with paperwork. Job changes will come in at a moment’s notice. And it will be up to you to coordinate between multiple schedules to accommodate a project’s timeline.

5. Be a great communicator

The remote nature of your work makes it especially important to flex your communication skills. Whether you are working from a pickup truck, the dispatch office, or at home – you need to be sure that everyone knows where they are supposed to be and when they need to be there.

Growth + Change = Opportunity!

The private companies that operate port facilities from Washington state to Southern California will begin negotiation on a multiyear agreement with the union representing 22,400 dockworkers to replace the contract that expires in July 2022. The union already rejected an offer by port terminal operators to delay negotiations until 2023.

Major issues during negotiations usually include automation and benefits. In recent years, the terminals gained authority to expand the use of technology, while the union won increases in wages and pension benefits.

The ILWU contract covers about 15,400 full-time and 7,000 part-time dockworkers at ports stretching from Bellingham, Wash., to San Diego. Most workers aren’t directly employed by the terminals. The facilities order unionized workers for shifts each day or night based on needs.

ILWU International President Willie Adams said in a statement that everyone should welcome the prospect of collective bargaining “as fundamental to the wellbeing of our ports rather than prognosticating disaster.”

The average dockworker with more than five years’ full-time experience in 2019 earned almost $190,000. Several supervisors that year earned $500,000 or more. Benefit costs for most full-time dockworkers during the decade through 2019 increased to about $110,000 per worker from $82,500, according to PMA data.

Growth + Change = Opportunity!

Grocery stores in the U.S. may receive limited quantities of products or may lack some flavors or items due to labor, raw material, or transportation issues that food manufacturers are facing. The companies named increased demand, labor shortages, “supply chain restrictions” or “logistical challenges”.

Parts of the US are now battling food shortages as worried Americans have emptied supermarket shelves amid the supply chain crisis threatening the nation’s economy and holiday shopping.

The surge in demand comes as two of America’s major container ports in California face a massive pandemic-related backlog. Retailers say they need to maintain their customer experience as best they can to remain competitive.

Some 58% of consumers said supply-chain disruptions, product shortages and shipping delays have made shopping more stressful, and 41% said product shortages and significant shipping and delivery delays would cause them to abandon a brand, according to results from an October survey by New York-based trade association ICSC, which represents retail businesses.

Grocery stores in the U.S. haven’t escaped product shortages, although larger companies with access to a wide network of suppliers, capital and space have had more success working around supply-chain issues without disrupting the shopper experience.

But smaller grocery retailers with less flexibility have struggled to keep shelves full and to plan for what items may show up on any given day.

Growth + Change = Opportunity!

Postal service and logistics firms express concern that vaccine mandates will cause delays in the supply chain and mail. And more lawsuits are filed against the federal rules. In California, state officials are examining exemptions to vaccinations granted by doctors. Retailers are concerned about implementing the requirements during the busy holiday shopping season

The National Retail Federation, the National Federation of Independent Business and the American Trucking Associations, told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in their lawsuit that businesses would lose employees, incur “unrecoverable compliance costs” and face deteriorating conditions in “already fragile supply chains and labor markets.”

National industry groups representing retail, truckers and independent businesses sued the Biden administration Wednesday over its vaccine and testing requirements for private companies, claiming they would cause “irreparable harm.”

Companies including United Parcel Service Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and others that manage warehouse staffers, truck drivers and other employees across logistics networks in general aren’t requiring employees outside of some office workers to get vaccinated against Covid-19. Many firms say they are encouraging staffers to get vaccinated while mandating protection measures in workplaces.

Growth + Change = Opportunity!

While a global supply-chain crisis is crimping sales for companies from Apple Inc. to Caterpillar Inc., transportation firms are riding an unprecedented profit boom. 

Trucking companies, in particular, have seen freight volume and prices jump as imported goods flood into the U.S., easily making up for higher wages to recruit drivers. The spike in fuel is passed along to their customers through automatic surcharges. 

The average spot-market price to hire a big-rig reached $2.86, including fuel surcharges, during October, 19% above the same level last year

The profit surge isn’t limited to truckers. Railroads, freight brokers and maritime shipping companies are all feasting on the more than 20% surge of imported goods and growing desperation of shippers to get their items on time.

U.S. transport companies are logging record profits in a tight domestic transportation market while ocean shipping lines are reaping similar gains on soaring rates to move containers from Asia to the U.S. and Europe.

Customers of the transport operators are feeling the pinch in freight markets, as rising transportation costs and other supply-chain woes weigh on earnings for businesses from online retail to food companies and auto parts distributors.

C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc., the largest freight broker in North America, said its third-quarter net income rose 81% from a year ago, to $247 million, boosted in part by strong gains in its international freight-forwarding business.

Growth + Change = Opportunity!

Oilfield workers are a tough breed. Some may be a little bit rough around the edges. Some may have little formal education. Some may have advanced degrees. Some do very hard physical labor. Some have it easier. It really depends on what role you play and what profession you are in. The oil and gas industry is enormous, and you wouldn’t believe the number of jobs available in this industry.

The job of an oil truck driver is exactly what it sounds like-driving oil trucks. However, their job is not as easy as it may seem. Just like other types of truck drivers, an oil truck driver endures grueling hours on the road to ensure that their load is delivered to the destination safely and on time.

Aside from driving, an oil truck driver is also responsible for additional tasks like fueling the truck at designated stops, maintaining paperwork, and performing basic maintenance on the rig. Some oil truck drivers also operate oil tankers and forklift trucks, which require separate licensing.

To become a crude oil driver, you typically need prior experience as a commercial truck driver as well as industry certifications and licenses. Having a high school diploma is helpful, but usually not necessary. Employers require a commercial driver’s license (CDL) and a clean driving record. In addition to a CDL, you may need special certifications with your license, such as hazmat and tanker transportation worker identification credentials, which permit you to operate trucks transporting crude oil. Important skills include excellent organization, driving ability, and attention to detail.

Growth + Change = Opportunity!

Amazon plans to add 150,000 temporary workers in the United States for the holiday shopping rush, a 50% increase from the company’s holiday hiring push a year ago.

Amazon, like many retailers and logistics companies, is facing challenges hiring workers and is raising pay, dangling bonuses, and expanding benefits in response to the pressures.

The jobs have a starting pay of $18 an hour plus sign-on bonuses up to $3,000 in a bid to compete in a tight labor market, the company said in a news release. Workers can earn an additional $3 an hour per shift depending on location.

Amazon’s temporary positions for the holidays include picking, scanning and packing items at warehouses and loading boxes onto trucks.

Other chains are adding temporary and permanent workers at stores and warehouses to meet demand from holiday shoppers.

Walmart plans to hire around 150,000 employees, most of them in permanent, full-time positions, while Target  is aiming to bring on 100,000 seasonal workers and 30,000 permanent supply chain employees.

UPS , Kohl’s , Nordstrom , Macy’s  and others are also adding workers for the holidays. Some are offering sign-on bonuses this year for new hires and other incentives.

Growth + Change = Opportunity! 

Hundreds of thousands of containers are stuck at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, West Coast gateways that move more than a quarter of all US imports. Dozens of ships are anchored ashore, with waiting times of up to three weeks.

US president Joe Biden has hailed a new 24-hour working system, which he says will help to shift bottlenecks in US supply chains bringing products to market for Christmas.

According to the White House, expanded operations at the Port of Los Angeles will nearly double the hours of cargo moving. It said the additional shifts have been agreed to by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents dock workers.

Some terminal operators say there is no point in extending hours when many of their regular pickup slots are not used by truck drivers.

Truckers say they are troubled by the lack of equipment needed to transport containers and warehouses that are packed or open during limited hours.

The Port of Long Beach struggled to increase cargo flow after increasing its opening hours, with truck drivers complaining that the restrictions on them for lifting and dropping containers were too tough. The shortage of truck drivers and warehouse workers has also created problems in supply chains. It is unclear how many terminals in Los Angeles will operate 24/7 and when those operations will begin.

Growth + Change = Opportunity!

Demand for distribution workers has been soaring as more consumers are shopping online. Picking, packing, and shipping e-commerce orders is more labor-intensive than traditional warehouse operations that distribute wholesale goods or replenish inventory.

More people are leaving the workforce because of concerns about getting sick or to care for family members. This has caused an intense hiring push among retailers.

Logistics providers are boosting pay, adding flexibility to shifts, blanketing social media with recruitment ads and even shipping in more robots to help workers field surging e-commerce volumes.

The push for workers is also driving sharp increases in pay. Wages for e-commerce workers have jumped from between $13 and $15 per hour to as much as $19 in some markets led by the sector’s largest operators, according to logistics executives.

Companies are increasingly utilizing robotics to navigate the holiday season. For example, DHL Supply Chain is adding hundreds more collaborative robots that navigate warehouse aisles to help workers pick orders.

Additionally, GXO Logistics Inc. added 40% more robotics and automation systems in North America in 2021 and plans to open nine new automated U.S. sites to support e-commerce this year. Among grocers at the forefront of using robotics is Hy-Vee.

Growth + Change = Opportunity!