Category: Carriers

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Carriers

Aerodynamics: A Trucking Innovation

Transportation and Economy
Transportation and truck driver jobs are the back bone of economy in the United States. Raw materials need to be transferred from market to production facilities. Products need to be transferred to either to further fabrication plants, or consumer markets. Daily fresh food products are moved from their production facilities to super markets around the country. Products from eastern half of the land are moved to western half and vice versa. Movement is a symbol of life and growth.
Trucks in Transportation
Trucking is the most vital part of transportation over land in the United States. Trucking has been serving the nation since the invention of diesel engines. The ease and flexibility of transportation by trucks made them primary mean of goods transportation over land.
Trucking companies have proven to be the most efficient and cost effective way of transportation. It has left train freight carriage far behind in the competition. Major reason for this is the limited range of freight carrier trains. Although trains are much faster and carry more loads than trucking loads, truckers have used the wide spread network of roads and freeways to their advantage.
Apart from the importance of the trucking industry in the country’s economy, in past few years the trucking industry is facing a lot of problems. Market share is shifting to train carriage and uncertain fuel costs are resulting in a higher transportation cost. Authorities are implementing tighter rules to avoid truck accident on freeways. It is tougher than ever for truck transporters to find available loads.
Innovations in Trucks
Recently, however the trucking industry has realized it downward trend and have taken some measures to make a comeback at their position. Truckers now make new innovations to be ahead in the game. Latest technology is implemented in the load carrying vehicles (trucks and semi-trucks). Latest GPS tracking technology offers clients and company officials to locate the truck anywhere in the country. With help of this link new load orders are displayed at the driver’s screen instantly; this optimizes performance of a vehicle in a trip.
Loads carrying jobs are now available online on the truck load boards. This offers customers to choose from a number of transporters and leaves them with more options in cost and time. Transporters also can locate the nearest loads to their position and plan their route to optimize the output.
Trucks are also being overhauled to reduce fuel costs. Turbo charged truck engines have more load carrying capacity and thus they yield more in a trip. Body of a truck can be modified to make it more aerodynamic.
An aerodynamic truck can save up to 23% of the fuel cost as compared to an equivalent truck without aerodynamic design. An aerodynamic truck body moves more swiftly through air. Due to less air resistance in its way there is less energy consumed by the truck to move forward. A truck can be made aerodynamic by adding side skirts to minimize formation of air cortices under the vehicle and avoid “bad” air currents. Back tails design is also very important, as the truck passes through the air rushes in to fill the space this can provide extra push to the truck if tail design is aerodynamic.

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Carriers Trucker News

Tarp Use to Secure Flatbed Freight Loads

Tarpaulin or Tarp as more generally referred to is used to secure the freight and cargo during the journey. With the use of the tarp the cargo is held in place providing the safety for the cargo, the trucker and others on the road. There are many different types of tarps available for different purposes. The fabric with the required traits is weaved to form a tarp of varied qualities. Some of the tarps used to secure trucks by the trucking companies are waterproof tarps, Vinyl tarps and Mesh tarps. Waterproof tarps are a requisite especially for flatbed trucks during rain and snow fall. Mesh Tarp is used at the rear of the truck to secure the perishable goods. The types of trucks that use tarps are Trailers, Pick-up trucks, Camper trucks, Dump trucks and Flatbed trucks.
The uses of tarp are many they will be as effective in heat as they are in the cold. They will prevent the damage of the goods from the debris floating in the air and also prevents the loose and light weighted cargo to fly off. Such flying off goods causes cargo loss as well is unsafe. It is very easy to use the tarp and with wide range of options available it is very economic too. The tarp with grommets of high quality will be very useful in effectively tying the tarp and keeping it in place during the long journey hours. If the grommet selected is rust resistant then it will increase the life of your tarp with one time extra investment. There are specially treated tarps available to increase its toughness and resistivity. The common protection they provide is from water other than this they are very effective in protection from mildew, mold, and rip. They also guard the goods carried against harmful UV rays.
Easy to handle tarps can be effectively put to use and does not cause damage in case if the available loads for hauling are fragile. Traditional rope knotting sometimes caused damage to the goods. However in the case of tarps since they are held in place with the use of hooks and straps, they are a much safer and convenient option. To tie a tarp the cables are used which easily passes through the tarp grommets for support and perfect fit.
Since Flatbed trucks are completely open the flatbed drivers need a very high quality industrial tarp to secure the goods hauled by them. The tarps which are available for commercial purposes have a rubber coating outside which makes it more strong and durable. Make sure you take the correct measurements into account before buying the tarp else the whole purpose of getting the tarp will remain unsolved if it does not cover the goods properly. In case of dump trucks the tarp is attached as a roller near to the back of the cab. The rolled tarp can be unrolled and brought back till the end of the truck body to cover the freight as required.
There are a plenty of online retailers available from where you can get good deal in buying a tarp for your truck. As an owner operator you can make the use of the advertisements placed on several load boards to find one for yourself.

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Business Carriers

Challenges Faced by the Trucking Industry Today

The trucking industry (also sometimes referred to as the logistics industry) is the name of a vital part of America’s economic activities. Trucking Companies provide Commercial Vehicles and drivers to carry goods from one part of the country to another. Transportation by Trucking is major way of transporting goods in the USA.
Trucks are used mainly for transporting materials and commercial products over land. Other incentives for the purpose are transportation by carriage trains and air carriage. Air and train cargo services have certain drawbacks however; the most obvious on is that both of these cannot go everywhere in the country but trucks can. This is due to the presence of vast and complex network of highways and trucking stations across the country.
Challenges to the Industry:
Unfortunately the trucking sector is facing a lot of problems these days. Many small Trucking Companies are closed or are under heavy debt and fighting for survival. Trucking sector provides many Owner Operator Jobs which are also adversely affected when the sector downsizes
Major causes of the down trend are discussed in this article.
The recent economic crunch is on a global scale. USA is certainly affected by the phenomenon. As the production and consumption of commercial goods is decreased the trucking industry has less and less loads availableto carry. This is one of the major causes of the down trend in trucking sector.
Other major problem for the trucking industry is fuel cost. Commercial heavy load carrying vehicles are diesel fueled. Diesel, along with other petroleum products, is continuously rising in price in past few years. As the fuel cost increase, trucking companies are left with no option than to increase their charges or cutting short on their man power etc.
Congestion on the freeways is yet another significant problem for the truckers. Roads are ever increasing in truck traffic and truck stations are crammed with Vehicles most of the time. Tough to meet security and safety regulation by federal and state authorities imposed on trucking companies worsen the situation.
With less freight to carry around the country truckers are struggling hard to get contracts. There are now internet based load boards. They offer loads which need to be moved by the truckers.
Authorities require truck drivers to be specially educated for the job. The ever hardening regulations and rules require more and more educated drivers. But properly educated truckers are not easily available everywhere. Shortage of drivers is also a major problem for the industry.
More and more states in the US are introducing environmental laws regarding emissions of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide gases by petroleum based vehicles. These laws require trucks to use advanced emission reduction equipment; which add to the cost considerably.
Another major problem, which limits the truckers from working at their desire time of the day to get the most out of their trips around the country, is the Hours of Service regulations by National authorities.
These problems are deteriorating the trucking industry of the US. Small trucking companies are being kicked out of the game and big giants are expanding their reach.

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Carriers Newbies

An Insight to Truck Driving Jobs!

Freight and logistics related jobs from the trucking industry are the most sought-after jobs in the United States. The reason for such jobs being in demand is the trucking industry in the United States today is expanding enormously. The job does not involve just the delivery of goods and materials, but the drivers have to be really skillful to perform the truck driving job. As there is a high requirement for skilled workers in this field the jobs in this sector are high-salaried jobs. With the new inventions and innovations taking place each day around us, the traditional truck also changing for the betterment.

There is a complete tie up between the owner operator and the driver. The owner operators are always in need of the skilled driver because they need to handle this very responsible work of handling heavy trucks and delivering the goods to their clients on time. For this they need to reply only on the experts. They are willing to pay good salary for getting an expert in the field. In turn truck drivers will work hard to deliver their best results so that they can provide highest delivery solutions for present consignment and make the relations between the parties good for future business too. The truck drivers also work for handling the truckloads to get an extra income. Both have to work hand in hand for complete collaboration and the benefits of each other.

Some other perks enjoyed by the truck driver to make their occupation a little more lucrative is that the trucking companies sometimes allow the family of the truck driver to visit them at the place of their work.  The industry will provide the driver with some allowances like medical benefits, insurance and safety. Modern trucking system will include all the equipment and tools needed to complete the journey for the delivery of goods, especially in the case of liquids or hazardous chemicals. These days’ truck drivers are provided with GPS tracking device which will help you to find your location and provide road guides to reach to your destination. As long as the driver is serving the purpose of the company the company will take care of his needs. He can work with his own flexibility as long as the goods are delivered on time.

A skilled owner operator driver is needed by the trucking company to take over the freight services and shipment of goods. A good truck driver must have certain qualifications that are set by the company such as knowledge in terms of maps, routes, traffic rules, and navigation. Good manners and a high sense of responsibility is needed by the company. The driver must be disciplined and give priority to safety. He should avoid mistakes that can cause death, injury and loss of any sort.

Since to search such skilled drivers is becoming tough day by day, there are many load boards today that provides all freight and trucking industry solutions in a fast and reliable way. The trucking business now can avail such facility and can get there requirements like drivers and others met by them.