Category: Business

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics has released its annual State Transportation Statistics 2011, a Web-only reference guide to transportation data for the 50 states and the District of Columbia, and Government Transportation Financial Statistics, which consists of 43 tables showing federal, state and local transportation expenditures and revenue in current and inflation-adjusted dollars from 1995 through 2009.

STS 2011 includes a wide range of state-by-state information, such as the calculations showing which states had the highest and lowest number of highway traffic fatalities per 100,000 population in 2010. The ninth annual STS consists of 115 tables of state data on infrastructure, safety, freight transportation, passenger travel, registered vehicles and vehicle-miles traveled, economy and finance, and energy and environment, plus a U.S. Fast Facts page.

According to the GTFS, federal and state government expenditures on transportation were almost $243 billion in 2009; $200 billion of the expenditures were by state governments, with $43 billion from the federal government. More than 50 percent of the funds were used for highways, with 22 percent for transit and 20 percent for aviation. Total revenue allocated for transportation in 2009 was almost $245 billion.

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The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has ordered the Tennessee-based truck company Terri’s Farm to immediately cease all interstate transportation services based on evidence that it was a chameleon operation for an unsafe truck company previously shut down by the agency.

Following a thorough review of the company’s operations, FMCSA shut down Terri’s Farm after finding that it was operating the same vehicles, and maintaining the same operational and safety management structure as former horse transporter Three Angels Farms.

On June 29, FMCSA ordered Three Angels Farms, its officers and vehicles out of service after safety investigators found multiple safety infractions that substantially increased the likelihood of serious injury to the traveling public.

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Trucking has recovered from the recession much better than the economy at large, but the rebound slowed in recent months, economist Jim Meil said. Various domestic and global trends cast doubt on what’s next.Meil, vice president and chief economist for Eaton Corp., addressed the Commercial Vehicle Outlook Conference in Dallas today.A former professor, Meil rated the state of trucking a B+. That’s largely due to a rebound in U.S. manufacturing (B) and non-defense capital spending (A-). He said other recovering domestic sectors are mining and residential and commercial construction.

Truck freight should grow 3 percent this year and in 2013, though the gross domestic product will see only 2 percent growth in those years. “That’s the fourth year of lackluster growth after the worst post-war recession,” Meil said.During the recession, there was an estimated surplus of 175,000 Class 8 trucks, Meil said. Now there is a slight shortage. That’s good for carriers in terms of keeping their utilization rates and pricing high. Trucking has lost some business to rail intermodal due to the capacity crunch.

Class 8 orders were strong in the first quarter, “then the bottom dropped out,” he said. “Now we’re in the fourth month of a slowdown in orders.”The cause isn’t obvious, but might be related to high levels of uncertainty among buyers. They are likely concerned about the economic impact of the election and how the fiscal cliff crisis – mandated spending cuts for January 2013 – is handled.

“Nobody really believes all these tax increases or spend cuts will take place,” Meil said. But even if only some do, it will present a “pretty significant fiscal challenge for the economy to overcome.”Other uncertainty involves problems with the global economy, he said. Europe “is definitely in a recession,” and China, India and Brazil are not living up to expectations of being dominant economic powers.CVOC was sponsored by Bridgestone, Castrol Heavy Duty lubricants, Chevron, Espar Heater Systems, Freightliner Trucks, Kenworth, Paccar Engine, Peterbilt, TRP and Valvoline.

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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on Friday revealed the latest modifications to its Compliance, Safety, Accountability program, including previously announced changes regarding the scoring of cargo securement violations and the creation of a hazardous materials BASIC. Other changes include renaming the Fatigued Driving BASIC and removing points for speeding violations of 5 mph or less. The agency will also create an advisory panel of industry representatives to address CSA issues.
The changes are the latest round of improvements to the CSA program following public input, FMCSA said.
Specifically, as described by the agency, the SMS improvements include:

Strengthening the Vehicle Maintenance BASIC by incorporating cargo/load securement violations from today’s Cargo-Related BASIC Moving cargo/load securement violations into the Vehicle Maintenance BASIC. Including the load securement violations in the new Vehicle Maintenance BASIC will remove the bias in the current Cargo-Related BASIC that has resulted in identifying a disproportionately large number of carriers that haul open trailers (e.g., flatbeds) for interventions.

Changing the Cargo-Related BASIC to the HM Compliance BASIC to better identify HM-related safety and compliance problems. The HM Compliance BASIC will be available only to logged-in motor carriers and enforcement personnel beginning in December. Further examination of this BASIC will take place over the next year before it becomes available to the public.Better aligning the SMS with Intermodal Equipment Provider (IEP) regulations.

SMS will be updated to include violations that should be found and addressed during drivers’ pre-trip inspection on intermodal equipment.

Aligning violations that are included in the SMS with Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance inspection levels by eliminating vehicle violations derived from driver-only inspections and driver violations from vehicle-only inspections. All violations from roadside inspections will continue to be on a carrier’s inspection report; however, only violations that fall within the scope of the specific inspections performed will be used in the SMS.

The American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index was unchanged in July after increasing 1.1% in June.

June’s gain was slightly smaller than the preliminary estimate of 1.2% increase ATA reported on July 25. In July, the SA index stayed at 118.8 (2000=100).

Compared with July 2011, the SA index was 4.1% higher, the largest year-over-year gain since February 2012. Year-to-date, compared with the same period last year, tonnage was up 3.7%.

The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 119.4 in July, which was 2.8% below the previous month.

“July’s reading reflects an economy that has lost some steam, but hasn’t stalled,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said. “Certainly there has been some better economic news recently, but I continue to believe we will see some deceleration in tonnage during the second half of the year, if for nothing else but very tough comparisons on a robust August through December period in 2011.”

Costello said he believes the slowdown in new factory orders will constrain manufacturing output, which will impact truck freight volumes. He’s also concerned about the recent jump in the total business (manufacturing, wholesale, and retail) inventory-to-sales ratio.

“Unintended gains in inventories will hit trucking negatively as the supply chain works off stocks,” he says.

Costello kept his tonnage outlook for 2012 to the 3% to 3.5% range as reported last month.

ATA calculates the tonnage index based on surveys from its membership and has been doing so since the 1970s. This is a preliminary figure and subject to change in the final report issued around the 10th day of the month.

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Revolution Oil is offering qualified trucking companies in Canada the opportunity to test its HI-TEK25 product for free. In addition, the Mooresville, N.C.-based firm is offering qualified Canadian companies an ongoing Pay for Performance option that would include providing oil free of charge. The corresponding savings on fuel costs are then shared, and under the program, companies will not have to pay for oil, the company says.

“Revolution Oil believes it can successfully access the trucking fleets
throughout Canada and help reduce the rising fuel prices that have been known to cripple trucking companies finances,” officials said in a release.

Caledonia, Ont.-based TransRep has been helping Revolution Oil in the promotion and sales in Canada.

“This business model is certainly unique. Revolution Oil has warranty letters from all the major engine players to back this product,” said Kim Richardson, president of TransRep. “For any trucking company, oil is a major expense to the bottom line.”

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Two people were injured and about 100 were evacuated from their homes after an explosion Saturday at an Elk City, OK, trucking company.
The blast occurred at Hodges Trucking, according to a report in the Oklahoman.

Firefighters spent several hours fighting a massive blaze at the company, an affiliate of Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy that provides trucking services to the oil field industry.

Elk City Emergency Management Capt. Roger Poole said two men were either loading or off-loading fluid onto a truck when the fluid ignited, but investigators did not know what caused the ignition.

Witnesses reported feeling the explosion up to three miles away.

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