Tag: carriers

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Carriers

Is Hybrid Truck an Answer to Trucking Industry Challenges

There is a continuous hike in the oil prices and the hybrid trucks are looked as a new alternative by the trucking companies. There are many companies which have launched their hybrid trucks in the market and they are very fuel efficient as compared to the normal trucks. The trucking companies are facing the challenges on the fuel front and they are forced to cut the costs by reducing the number of truck driver jobs. Hybrid trucks are becoming more and more popular these days as it is very environmental friendly and the amount of pollutants emitted is also very less.

The basic reason behind the launch of the hybrid trucks is to reduce the cost. There is still a doubt in the minds of the truckers about how these hybrid trucks are operated. The trucking companies are also looking forward to train the drivers about the operation of the hybrid trucks. Most of these trucks run on two kinds of fuels: electric motor and gasoline motor. There are only one or two companies which have come up with the idea of the hybrid trucks and have launched selected models in the market.

The government is putting strict laws regarding the pollutants emission by the trucks and hybrid trucks can be considered to be a big step to solve this serious problem. There is much less noise produced by the engine of these trucks and are very silent in its functioning. Mostly the hybrid vehicles run on the gasoline motors but when extra power is needed, the electric motor is also started. The trucking companies can also look for the truck drivers’ employment that is well trained in driving the hybrid trucks. It is very economical for the trucking industry which was coping hard to survive the hard market conditions especially the overhead costs due to the fuel hikes.

The gasoline motor is installed in the hybrid trucks to save the energy. It will stop the engine automatically as soon as the truck will come to a halt and will result in preserving the energy. The researches show that the fuel consumed by the hybrid trucks is almost half in cost to that of any normal truck. Most of the hybrid trucks available in the market today have the limited capacity of loading the materials as there are batteries and electric motor also employed in it. The load boards have a huge supply of materials and they look for the vehicles which have a huge capacity of loading. They do not want the loads available to be kept like that and this is a huge disadvantage for the hybrid trucks. The motor companies are planning to launch heavy hybrid trucks in the market but it may take some time.

The costs of the hybrid trucks are also more as compared to the normal trucks. The trucking companies may be reluctant to go for the hybrid trucks looking at the initial costs but they should not overlook the advantages of the hybrid trucks.

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Carriers

Zurich Reported Truck Crashes can be reduced by Telematics

The cost involved in the crashes can be reduced considerably with use of the technological advancements, said the Zurich Financial Services Group. This will be very advantageous to the trucking companies.

Telematics and Fleet Risk Management Zurich has evaluated the use of this strong technology. This along with the driver development programs can ensure high level of safety to the owner operator jobs and other risky jobs like flatbed drivers, reefer drivers and straight truck drivers

Telematics will also help reduce the operational cost of the fleet and help save the environment too.

How does Telematics Work:

The telematics devices are installed in the trucks. The data is regularly captured by the device and is transmitted to the centrally located server. The fleet managers, owners and dispatchers can derive the data captured over the internet.
It includes the vital driving information of the truck driver activities like the speed of the vehicle, location of the vehicle and other diagnostic statistics. There are sensors on the vehicle which detects and reports the wide range of trucking activities. There is a secure link linked with this to the data center therefore, the fleet manager can view and manage real time reports.

This ensures the trucking companies and shippers that the available loads are on their correct route and safe to be delivered on time.

Telematics are mostly seen in connection with other vehicle systems. This is nothing but the GPS sensors are connected with the wireless communication servers and are utilized with computer resources. With the critical data supplied to the fleet managers, it can help reduce the collision risk associated with the driving jobs. It guarantees regulation compliance and enhance fleet performance. The application of telematics will offer 10% reduction in operation cost and 11% reduction in fuel cost.
Check our load board blog page for more articles on driver safety.
There are a range of products available which depends on the fleet size and the characteristic of the carrier type and loads hauled by it.

The fleet managers usually start with the basic fleet safety solution offered by telematics. Then getting the required solution and gaining experience, they move upward to more comprehensive and competent management capability mobile resourcing.

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Business

Truck Driving: A Career as Good for Women

With the changing trends and patterns of life, there have been major changes in the job profile as well. The demarcation line of the jobs has been blurred and trucking industry is no exception to it. The truck driving jobs are no more limited to men and women are also launching themselves with confidence in the business.

The truck driving business was pre dominantly confined to males and it was hard for a female to think of entering into the business. But in the past few decades, the phenomena have changed considerably and the concept of women truckers is not new to ears. The trucking companies are also witnessing a huge crisis and there has been a huge gap between the demand and the supply.

The shortage of drivers has forced the trucking companies to look at the alternative of women truckers and many women have tasted success in the trucking business. Driving a flatbed is a difficult job and there are a number of flatbed driver jobs available in the trucking industry. Driving a truck has been a challenging job for women and they generally don’t consider it as dream career choices. But the profitable returns received have left few women to regret of entering the business. The statistics reveal that the number of women truckers is increasing day by day. The trucking company is also heaving a sigh of relief as they also have a alternative present before them.

As compared to the other business in which gender bias has been seen, trucking industry seems to be an exception. The drivers are paid according to the number of kilometers that they have undertaken and so there is no question of any discrimination being made. Women truckers also go to cross country delivering the loads and are catching up with the deadline. The trucking companies have also brought up the new idea of trucking couples in which both the partners drive together. This is certainly a very good choice especially for the wives whose husbands often go for long distance journey. The women drivers have also formed teams in which more two women drive together. This makes the long journey less tiresome as both the truck drivers drive equally and they can also go for a 24/7 job.

There have been many associations and organizations for men which work on ensuring the safety of the women truckers. There have been a number of load boards which have a large amount of loads available on them. The deficit of the truck drivers has opened a lot of opportunities for the women who are planning to enter the business. With the technological advances, the power steering of the trucks requires less manual strength.

By large women have entered the trucking business and they are ready to face the challenges planning to take trucking as a long term career option.

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Owner Operators

Semi Truck Leasing: An Alternative to Owner Operator Jobs

There are bundle of truck drivers jobs available and the trucking companies are trying hard to lure the drivers to get into the trucking business. Looking at the profits in the business, many individuals seems to be dissuaded from the driver jobs and are looking at the option of owner operator jobs. The owner operator job will allow them to own their vehicles and work on the term and conditions they wish to. But the owner operated jobs have their own limitations. Owning a truck requires many formalities like the credit, balances and down payments may not be possible for the drivers who are new in the industry.

With the present perspective, the trucking companies have put forth the alternative of leasing trucks to the drivers who have a dream of owning the trucks. There are many feasible options available for the drivers like easy installments, low down payments and many other facilities pertaining to finances. From the point of view of carriers, it is good for the drivers who are challenged with the start up costs or stuck in some credit situation.

There are a number of truck driver jobs which have been switched on with the leasing of the carriers by the drivers. They can always make use of the trucking load boards to keep their truck moving. It is a short cut to the otherwise seeming difficult path of owning the carrier. Different trucking companies have their own terms and conditions but it is surely a benefit for the drivers. Even they help the driver to get the loads available to be hauled.

There is a lack of financial risks in the leasing operating jobs as compared to the owner operator jobs. The trucking companies don’t give fragile freights to the new drivers. If you have leased the carrier, there is an added advantage of carrying the materials you want to. But there are some questions raised on the leasing process by the trucking companies and many drivers have been cheated. The driver advocacy groups have been formulated to fight for the rights of the drivers who have been victimized in the name of leasing opportunities. Owner operated independent drivers association (OOIDA) has stood for the rights of many such drivers and law petitions have been filed in the court.

The issues which have been in the limelight and filed in the lawsuits are like violating the government rules in leasing papers, inability to return the amount kept as a security while leasing and in some serious cases fraud have also been seen. For most of the drivers, the leasing of trucks has much been like a nightmare and they have lost more rather then earning. The lease contracts are often prepared in such a complex manner that they are meant to benefit the carriers rather than the drivers.

But every coin has two facets and the decision cannot be taken only looking at one perspective. There are some drivers who are doing really well while taking up the leasing of the vehicles. There is no database or statistics available which can show the list of successful or unsuccessful drivers. It is totally the discretion of the drivers the way they want to choose.

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Business

Time to Review the Challenges Faced by the Country’s Transportation

We have included this crucial article on our load board blog page as the nation’s transport system is the lifeline for the complete trucking industry, thousands of trucking companies and millions of owner operators and truck drivers who earn their bread through driving big rigs, using the transportation system every day of their lives.
The much heated debate revolving around the Transportation bill has raised many campaigns nation wide. They want the all the facts that the transportation industry and the road networks of the US are facing to be reported to the leaders. The infrastructure and road networks of the 20th century are a much cause of concern for the economic growth leading to the 21st century. Below are listed the facts and figure of the US transportation that is hampering overall economic growth of the country and off-course the individual as well.

Costs and losses incurred due to incompetent Transportation system:
If the transportation system is not perfect then both the individual as well as the economy gets a setback. The loss is in terms of time consumed, accidents and fuel wasted. The improper transportation costs $78 billion to the nation’s expenses annually. $230 billion are lost over annual crashes owing to poor road networks. The loads available as freight tonnage are always increasing with the multifaceted growth; therefore it is a high time to increase the transport capacity too. The congestion on the roads is already costing $200 billion annually and it would cost 14% of the annual GDP by 2050.

The Gap in Transportation Used and Investment made over it:
As per the Transportation Research Board, there is $50 billion gap in the maintenance, capital and operations funds that require for the US highway maintenance. For the improvisation of the existing system the gap is even more around $100 billion. According to the Road Information Program one third of the US roads need immediate to light maintenance. American Society of Civil Engineers has rated the U.S. transit system D+ rating. The funds for transit system are declining as people seeking public transport facilities has increased to a great level. The federal and GDP share that the government was spending earlier has shown decrease from 11.2 percent in 1960 to just 3.5 % currently.

Benefits form the Transport Infrastructure Developments:
For every dollar invested in the Highway maintenance and infrastructure generates large number of employment opportunities, the main one being the truck driver’s employment. The increased GDP percentage is generated with each dollar invested on federal highways in a very short time.
Other than growth and benefits the improved highways are very essential to decrease the number of crashes that are taking place. The loss of life each year is around 42,000, out of which 15,000 lives are lost due to bad road conditions and other road related safety hazards.
Thus, we see there are alarming facts related to the current transportation system which would pose threat to the country’s growth both in short and long term. Already there are many campaigns running to ring the bell so that some effective measures are taken well in time.

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Carriers

How Can a CDL Driver Clear the Negative Charges off the DAC report?

As we have seen in the earlier blog posted on our load board, a DAC report is the one which contains all the driving history of a driver. It includes drug/alcohol tests, criminal reports, MVR records, accidents and other incidents related to the driving with the earlier carrier companies the driver has worked for. The DAC report has gained its importance as major percentage of the carrier companies ask for this report before hiring any commercial driver.
If the report has inaccurate or false information that goes negative on your driving part then it should be rectified immediately as the negative charges might affect your driving career for years to come. The serious criminal convictions should be expunged from the court records, only then the convictions will be erased from the DAC report.

You can seek legal service in this regard. One such company is DACOff.com. They give affordable and reliable service with a high success rate

Check out the steps below if you are seeking a legal advice:
Take the copy of the original conviction judgment, analyze and figure out the situation in when you were convicted and that is there any scope of that the case can be expunged. You do a thorough research by referring to the FindLaw websites to learn about the statutes and procedures of expunging any specific case.

After you find out that you qualify for the conviction to be expunged, the next step is to get an attorney or prepare the documents required for the petition yourself.

Now you need to file a petition with the court where your conviction has been recorded. The next step will be simple if your state does automatic expunging in case you qualify the statutes. In other states where this facility is not working. You will be called for a hearing in front of the judge after you have filed a petition. Its then solely on the judge’s discretion to grant you the petition and give you a clean chit or deny it.

After the legal procedure is over, you need to get you DAC report to ensure that the charge has been removed from the DAC report as well. HireRight is the company where you can get your free annual DAC report.

The information about your truck driving job is placed on the DAC report by the carrier companies you have previously worked with or by the companies whose orientation programs you have attended in the past. Thus, if you watch out for some key areas you will not get strangled in the negative conviction at the first place.

1. Whenever you are planning to leave a carrier company, give at least two weeks resignation notice. In such cases the company cannot charge you negatively against available loads abundance or quit under dispatch cases. These negative points prove very harmful when you seek new truck driver employment.

2. Attend the orientation program and give the pre-employment drug screening test only to the employer you are certain you will work with. If you unnecessarily attend an orientation program of a carrier company and leave the orientation program in between, the company can report this to DAC. Thus you can easily avoid such conditions and keep your DAC report clean by selective approach.
3. For small incidents and accidents try not to report them and pay off the damage yourself. This will help keep your DAC and insurance report clean.

4. Never say no to random drug test. Give the test and make sure to take the document which shows you have undergone the test. Add the paper to your trucking records.

I hope this article will be helpful to you to know how to expunge your DAC report and to avoid the negative convictions beforehand.

Categories
Carriers

What is the Importance of a DAC Report to Truck Drivers in the Industry?

This article will be really helpful to truck drivers who are looking for a job change. Whenever you would move to a new trucking company for work, the company will ask you for your DAC report. Let us see what is this so called DAC report is?
The DAC report is a record and summary of the truckers past work related activities pertaining to the trucking industry. The report is shared among the trucking companies so that they all get benefited in due course of time. Usually a DAC employment report contains accident history, any traffic violations and types of violations, why the truck driver wants to change the job or in case if he is fired, what is the reason? It also reports the type of driving done, the types of trailers hauled, is he a reefer driver, flatbed driver or dry van driver? It throws a light on the types loads available dispatched by the drivers. Therefore, the potential employer can come to know the drivers work habits, the companies worked for, training and orientation programs attended.
The DAC report can also be used to verify driving license number, criminal reports, social security number and work pay. All these reports play an important role for the trucking companies in pre hiring process to decide whether the trucker is qualified for the job or not.
To maintain the clarity in reports the reports are regulated by Fair Credit Reporting Act. According to this act each driver is eligible to acquire a free copy of this report each year. This will help them know the information that has been collected against their driving.
Earlier the report was distributed by USIS, but this procedure is now handled by a company called HireRight. A consumer report request from can be filled and send to the company in order to get your free report copy or the request can be sent online on the HireRight website. The request for the report can be submitted online but the report is not delivered in the digital form. It takes 15 days for the hard copy of the report to be delivered to you through US mail delivery system. If in case you find the there are incorrect charges on the report you can file a dispute with the dispute section of the website.
With the growing popularity of the DAC reports, nearly 90% of the commercial long hauls trucking companies are utilizing these reports to play safe while hiring new driver onboard. Since, the DAC report is a very crucial document for your truck driving career, you should read carefully the report and make sure to file any dispute for the wrong charges. The HireRight will look into the matter and make sure that inappropriate charges are removed from your report.
Keep checking our load board blog page for more trucking article. We will see in the next article, how to avoid negative DAC reports and what you should do in the case if the report stands negative for you.

Categories
Lifestyle

Truck Driver Jobs: Safety on Roads

Driving the big rig on national highways has never been an easy task. The truck driver job responsibility is conglomerated with many risks such as long driving hours, incomplete sleep, fatigue, home-sickness, lack of concentration, improper road networks or sudden malfunctioning of any part of the vehicle. Keeping these factors in mind, the driver safety on the road is a crucial factor and need to be studied and researched in detail to devise new mechanism and ways which will ensure your increase the safety of the drivers on the road.
There are many innovations taking up in this field and they work in two ways: Firstly, they considerably reduce the chances of accidents and secondly, in case the accident occur the vehicle body is designed in such a way to lessen the impact of the accident as much as possible. One such mechanism is Collision Mitigation Control System.
Many carrier companies these days are installing collision mitigation system on to their fleet to ensure driver safety and avoid the loss of lives as well as goods. This ensures more reliable dispatch service of the loads available. The front end collision can be avoided with the help of such control units. The use of radars and laser sensors helps to detect the possibility of crash by analyzing the relative distance the speed of vehicles. These system after detecting the danger releases warnings to the driver and in turn automates the safety processes like seat inflation, changing passenger and driver seat inclination to the safer one, pre-charging the brakes, application of brakes to full or partial thus decreasing the accident impact.
The radar that is used in the mitigation control system is installed on the front bumper of the fleet. It uses radio waves of high frequency to receive and transfer the signals and activate the control system to make the truck ready to avoid or reduce the collision intensity. The mitigation system in turn makes an interface with the cruise control thereby reducing the speed of the vehicle. It also sends the driver audio and visual warning signals when any mishap is foreseen so that the driver can manually slow down the speed of the vehicle and avoid the collision.
Along with the installation of such safety systems by the owner operators and trucking companies on their truck, the drivers need to be more careful and attentive while driving to avoid major accidents. Simple changes in the behavior pattern of the drivers will go a long way to make the US roads a safer place to drive. Check our laodboard blogs to find more articles on truck driver jobs, their importance and various other factors that rule the trucking industry.

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Carriers

Trucking Industry – Going Green!!

In all fields of business and life, everybody these days is concerned about the environment and saving our planet by adopting greener ways of doing things. Going green is a tough job in almost all spheres and it is even tougher in the case of trucking industry. This is because diesel fueling is the lifeline of the trucking industry and every truck runs on the road delivering goods world over with the billions of gallons of diesel consumption. However, many carrier and trucking companies have come up with greener solutions to manage the increasing carbon emissions causing environmental hazards.
The heavy duty 18 wheeler truck manufactured are highly competent these days. Their efficiency has improved manifolds, thus attaining more loads available being delivered with lesser fuel being consumed. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is setting up standards to make this move more successful and to ensure that there is a governing body to keep a check on the trucking activities that are harmful for the environment. Trucking industry is the backbone of US economy therefore more planned and smaller operational changes would be largely beneficial.
Some of the ways that will help control the carbon emissions are:
Slow Down: Speed Reduction is the most simple and effective way. If the speed limit is set to 65 mph, then the fuel mileage can be improved as well as fuel can be saved. This move can save up to 27 percent of fuel as against with the speed limit of 75 mph and the carbon emission around 31.5 million tons could be reduced.
Engine Maintenance: The long hail drivers who use their trucks to sleep through the nights and resting hours can make use of the Truck auxiliary units or truck stop electrification systems to heat or cool their trucks. This way they will save the diesel consumption which they otherwise used while idling the truck.
Driving Behavior: A little change in the driving habits of a driver can save up to 5-10% of the fuel consumed. Soft and timely shifting of gears, avoiding sudden break and sharp starts proves helpful in this regard. These steps make truck driver jobs more responsible towards nature.
Accessories and Equipments: Low viscosity lubricants can be used to reduce friction and thus use lesser fuel energy. Monitoring tire pressure regularly is yet another efficient step towards fuel-economy. Many companies who can afford a little expenditure have installed aerodynamic panels on their trailers and have replaced the old polluting engines with new more environment friendly engines.
Read more articles on Trucking on our loadboard blog page.
Many trucking companies have joined the move already and others plan to do so very soon. EPA’s SmartWay Transport Partnership is also becoming hugely popular among the transportation industry. This is a joint initiative by EPA and Freight Industry experts to combat the environmental risks associated with trucking jobs. SmartWay assists companies in measuring the carbon emission by their fleets and to track the steps to achieve long term results.

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Trucker News

Department of Transportation Works to Re-establish Bonds between Mexican and U.S. Trucking Industry

There has been a conflict for quite some time between the two countries regarding the transportation issue. Since there has been a release of new proposal under the current administration which has lead to the new start and a series of negotiations involving the use of U.S. roads by Mexican trucking companies.
The US Department of Transportation has laid down the guidelines for Mexican long-haul carriers and truck drivers to abide by the US transportation rules and regulations. These include vehicle emissions standards, drivers portfolio and safety compliance. These checks will be conducted and the carriers will be permitted only after the complete satisfaction of the authorities.
There will be a selective quota and time for the number of trucks that will be permitted to drive on the U.S. roads from Mexico. The work on calculating and negotiating on these terms will start soon. Earlier the Mexican truck driver were opposed by the US truck drivers on the ground that the Mexican carrier companies and truck driver don’t have set standards of safety and fleet operations as they have, they follow the US truck drivers regulations. These way Mexican truck drivers enjoy flexible rules and make more profit.
This proposal is also taken negatively by some trucking associations. They are saying when the unemployment within the country is already so high then Why DOT is making this proposal to endanger the existing trucking jobs in the country. This way the good truck driving jobs will become harder to find. Also taking into account the cross border violence this proposal seems simply out of question.
Check our loadboard blog page for more interesting trucker news and topics.
On the other hand Mexico is protesting to get free access in the U.S, as per the North American Free Trade Agreement signed between the two countries in 1994. In 2009, when the program to allow limited number of Mexican carrier companies to indulge in transportation beyond the U.S. commercial zone failed, Mexico increased the tariff charges on the U.S. products. This move adversely affected people connected with the produce of fresh fruits and vegetables.
This way the pressure mounted on the administrative authorities to implement new methods and release new proposals so that Mexico changes the barriers it has imposed on the U.S. agricultural products. Therefore this truck industry proposal got an overwhelming response from various other U.S. industries whose business largely depended on the exports made to Mexico.
U.S. truck drivers feel that this proposal will be an unfair deal for them as with the drug violence running in Mexico they will not be allowed to cross the Southern border. Thus Mexican driver will have the access in the U.S. but not vice versa. The president of Owner-Operator Independent Truck Drivers Association expressed his worries that the Mexican truck driver will have the economic benefit as they will not have to follow the stringent rules to run their trucks for loads available on the US lanes as their U.S. counterpart will have to.