Category: Trucker News

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Trucker News

Truck posts smaller 1Q net loss

USA Truck on Thursday, April 21, announced base revenue of $99.7 million for the first quarter ended March 31, an increase of 11.7 percent from $89.2 million for the same quarter of 2010. The company incurred a net loss of $2.7 million compared to a net loss of $3.0 million.

“While we made substantial strategic progress during the quarter, our advances were almost entirely offset by exogenous factors,” said Cliff Beckham, president and chief executive officer of Van Buren, Ark.-based USA Truck. “We posted healthy revenue growth, particularly in our SCS and Intermodal service offerings, and we improved our earnings per share through continued execution of our VEVA (Vision for Economic Value Added) strategic plan. However, rising fuel prices, unusually harsh winter weather, increased government regulation and a tightening market for drivers combined to significantly and adversely impact our results.”

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Trucker News

NYC bridge lanes to be closed

Three of four eastbound upper-level approach lanes to the George Washington Bridge will be closed during weekend overnight hours through August. The upper-level approach lanes will be closed weekly from 10 p.m. Fridays to 10 a.m. Saturdays, and from 10 p.m. Saturdays to 10 a.m. Sundays.

In addition, two lower-level westbound lanes of the Trans-Manhattan Expressway will be closed from 10 p.m. Fridays through 10 a.m. Saturdays, and from 10 p.m. Saturdays to 10 a.m. Sundays, through July. The work each weekend will be canceled in the event of rain.The rehabilitation projects are part of the New York-New Jersey Port Authority’s capital investment in the bridge. Customers can use the Lincoln and Holland tunnels as alternates to cross the Hudson River.

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Trucker News

Forecast: Good times won’t last long

Trucking companies should take advantage of today’s economic recovery because it will be relatively brief by historical standards, and then the economy will fall back into recession, an FTR Associates economist forecast said April 19 in a CCJ online seminar.

“You better make hay now because after two or three years we’ll be right back in recession,” said Noel Perry, FTR managing director and senior consultant. “You only have a few years to put aside savings you’ll need for the next downturn.”

One reason he’s pessimistic is the weak housing industry outlook. Housing ownership is down and housing starts will remain low for many years to come. Construction and housing, which accounts for 14 percent of trucking freight, represented 37 percent of trucking’s decline since 2006.

Another problem that will make for a volatile market is the high level of federal debt and its impact on long-term interest rates. “Sometime in this decade, probably after the next election, we’re going to have to confront this problem,” Perry said.

Until that happens, trucking stands to prosper in the next few years. Manufacturing growth is outpacing nonmanufacturing and contributing to freight increases for trucking and other transportation sectors, Perry said.

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Lifestyle Trucker News

Driving at 18?

This article is intended to raise the concern about teen driving fatalities and what can be done to drastically reduce this alarming statistic. While this article may be sensitive to some readers in certain industries, we would like to raise the question as to what can be done to make our teens better drivers and how to alert others on the road that a new driver is behind the wheel.

Human life is precious and we must do everything reasonable to prevent deaths. Raising the driving age will cut the number of accidents on the roads. Teenage drivers are much more likely to have accidents than older drivers.

Young drivers do have more accidents, but that is because they are not very experienced, not simply because they are under 18. If we raise the driving age, it will be 18-19 year old new drivers having more accidents instead of 16-17 year old. After all, men are 77% more likely than women to kill someone while at the wheel, so if we went just by statistics we would ban all male drivers.

The age at which you can legally drive varies from country to country, but in many places it is lower than 18. In some American states it is 15 or younger. Usually you are allowed to take a driving test a year or more before you can vote or drink alcohol. As young drivers are the ones most likely to have accidents, from time to time there are calls to raise the driving age. So what do you think? Should minimum driving age be raised to 18?

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Trucker News

FTR shipping index tightens

FTR Associates announced its Shippers Condition Index continues to decline, reflecting tightening capacity in the trucking sector.The short-term forecast for the SCI calls for continued deterioration from the current reading of -7.7 as the outlook for capacity shortages worsens. The SCI sums up all market influences that affect shippers; a reading above zero suggests a favorable shipping environment, while a reading below zero is unfavorable.“The SCI Index is moving into territory that we have not seen since 2004,” says Larry Gross, FTR senior consultant. “Now that we are emerging from the slow winter season, the dimensions of the effects of tightening capacity are beginning to come into focus.”

FTR

Gross says shippers are being hit in two ways, as both base rates are moving higher for all major modes, and fuel surcharges are surging, the latter reflecting oil price hikes stemming from the worrying Mideast unrest and its potential effect on supply. “While there might be some relief later in the year on fuel surcharges, we expect base rates to continue to increase,” he says.

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Trucker News

Canad vs. Electric Cars

The Canadian province of Quebec has announced plans to offer government rebates of up to $8000 (Canadian) on high-capacity electric vehicles in a bid to place 300,000 plug-in electric vehicles on Quebec’s roads by 2020. With up to $50 million in funding already set aside for the program, the province hopes that – by doing so – they’ll be able to cut overall carbon emissions to the tune of 900,000 tons annually.

Currently, Quebec’s petroleum use breakdown looks like this …

Electric

… and, since more than 90% of Quebec’s electricity comes from hydro power, this isn’t a case of simply diverting fossil fuel use from gasoline being burned in cars to Albertan tar sand oil being burned at the power station, either. As such, a large-scale switch to EVs and plug-in vehicles would (arguably) have a bigger positive impact in Quebec than it would in areas that rely on coal.

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Trucker News

Driver hiring, turnover increase

Trucking industry hiring and driver turnover surged in the fourth quarter of 2010. According to American Trucking Associations’ quarterly trucking activity report, large truckload fleet turnover rose to 69 percent in the fourth quarter, its highest level since the second quarter of 2008. Trucking industry hiring and driver turnover surged in the fourth quarter of 2010.According to American Trucking Associations’ quarterly trucking activity report, large truckload fleet turnover rose to 69 percent in the fourth quarter, its highest level since the second quarter of 2008.

DRIVER

Turnover at small truckload fleets increased to 49 percent in the fourth quarter from 44 percent in the third quarter, and LTL turnover remained low at 6 percent. Also, truckload and less-than-truckload carriers increased payrolls in the fourth quarter. Small truckload companies increased employment by 0.8 percent, while large truckload companies boosted total employment by 0.3 percent.Less-than-truckload employment rose 0.4 percent, according to the survey.ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said the increased hiring, coupled with rising turnover, indicated fleets are responding to a growing economic recovery.

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Freight Factors Trucker News

FMCSA opens utter period on EOBR

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on April 12 requested additional public comment on its Feb. 1 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding mandatory electronic onboard recorders for commercial motor vehicle operators who must keep records of duty status.In its latest EOBR proposal and in a previous EOBR rulemaking published on April 5, 2010, FMCSA advised it is required by law to ensure that electronic devices are not used to harass CMV drivers resulting from invasion of their privacy, although they can be used by motor carriers to monitor productivity.

EOBR

FMCSA said in light of recent litigation brought by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association challenging the agency’s treatment of driver harassment in the first EOBR rulemaking, it wants to ensure that interested parties can comment on the issue in the current EOBR rulemaking.
The first EOBR rule is a final FMCSA action and remains under review by the Seventh Circuit, but FMCSA argued the rule properly protects drivers from harassment. The agency also will continue to accept and consider comments on all other issues within the scope of the proposed rule.

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Trucker News

Diesel soars

The national average retail price of diesel surged past $4 a gallon, increasing 10.2 cents to $4.078 a gallon during the week ended April 11, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration.
All regions reported prices above $4. California climbed 7.4 cents to $4.323, the nation’s highest. The West Coast, excluding California, gained 9.9 cents to $4.308. The Midwest increased 10.8 cents to $4.04, while the East Coast rose 10 cents to $4.082. The biggest increase was 11.2 cents to $4.204 in the Central Atlantic region.

Beautiful Sunset

The national average price is at its highest level since Sept. 1, 2008, when it was $4.121 and more than $1 a gallon higher than the same week last year.

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Lifestyle Trucker News

Drugs and Driving

Drug abuse remains a scourge. It affects every level of our society and no one is immune from the threat of being killed or injured in a crash involving a drug-impaired driver. When drugs are taken and a person drives the likelihood of becoming a road toll statistic increases dramatically If you think drug-taking has little, or even a positive, impact on your driving you could be tragically mistaken. It’s important to bear in mind that it can be hard to determine exactly how a drug will affect your driving ability – impairment caused by drugs can vary according to the individual, drug type, dosage, the length of time the drugs stays in your body, or if the drug has been taken with other drugs or alcohol.

Among certain related drugs (narcotics), tolerance built up to the effects of one drug will carry over to another drug.This is the result of discontinuing the intake of a drug after developing physical dependence. With alcohol this may cause such reactions as mild disorientation, hallucinations, shaking, and convulsions.