Tag: trailer

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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.
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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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Manufactures

Sales Trend of Medium Truck Types

With the improvement in the global economy the sales of medium-duty truck is showing an upward trend. According to the medium truck, Navistar this is the time for rising sale competition. The company intends to grab at least 50 percent sales of medium duty truck. The introduction of 2010 spec diesels has got momentum due to this market revival. Navistar’s vision to get half of the class 6 and class 7 vehicles in his account has left all dealers across the globe to make huge sales. However, in August, International trucks have crossed the sales target of Navistar therefore leaving no option for Navistar but to focus on the sales of heavy trucks.
To make Navistar’s dream come true the company has launched new incentive programs which includes big advertisements of the products and sales incentives. One International Dura Star sale is complimented with an incentive of $3000. The product training was laid emphasis on during “Boot Camps” run by the company. Hebe the company president said, they aim for this target sale against a tough competition which includes Cummins Inc. and other builders of medium duty trucks. Since there products and service excel in the market therefore they look at achieving this target.
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Scope for competition: The medium duty trucking companies has lured the builders recently. General Motors and Isuzu were assembling truck of class4 to class7 at its plant in Flinch MI. With the GM’s closure of the plant in 2008, Isuzu business was highly affected and it almost lost the market position in pre 2010 diesels.
If we see the sales number of class 6 trucks it is lesser than class7 trucks. However, the percentage growth of class 6 is much higher than class 7. This figure indicated the increasing trend of the class 6 truck. This growth can be much accounted for the fact that CDL compliance of class 6 drivers and owner operator job is mush less.
The slow sales market of 2009 and emission regulations implied, the introduction of 2011 models in delayed. This is primarily because the builder has enough stock left to last 2010 sales. The truck builder started adding the EPA-spec diesels in their 2010 models and stated them as their 2011 models. The new models which have started now will start as the come 2012 models leaving a very little scope for true 2011 models.
The increase in class 6 models is also because the class 6 drivers can take the available loads as per there wish without any CDL liabilities. 2010 spec diesel freightliners is now available with different exhaust systems to haul different truck bodies. There is a provision of programmable chasis controls.

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Trucker News

Vehicle Maintenance – A Necessity for Truck Drivers

As per the new safety program introduced under CSA 2010 by FMCSA, the vehicle maintenance is a must and the most important risk factor associated with the fleets. In this line Rair, a carrier risk safety management company has issued a report to compare the safety measures introduced by CSA and the older SafeStat reports. As per the information released by CSA the larger fleets that are under the maintenance violation risk are 10-15%. The smaller fleet sizes are comparatively very high in ratio for the violation of maintenance regulations. Now with the open CSA reports, the fleet owners can simply see the scores to find out where they are lacking. Despite of all the sources and information available there is BASIC’s violation.

What steps should be taken to get the bare minimum maintenance level for the fleets:
Driver Vehicle Inspection Report (DVIR): According to the Rair president, DVIR should performed everyday and recorded on the form by the truck drivers, may it be a hotshot, reefer or flatbed drivers. To carry out the task effectively and to tackle the issue in case any problem is identified the driver should be trained to do so. In present day scenario DVIR reporting is thought of as another paper work on which the driver and trucking company manages simply put their signature. In such cases, when the vehicle is inspected on the road many maintenance problems come into picture which then become the maintenance violation and are penalized .
The maintenance does not only mean the repair of any non-performing part but it should be done before and after every shipment is done by the fleet. The details of the regulations are specified in CFR title no 49 under the parts 393 and 396. The DWS Fleet Services president Darry Stuart lays emphasis on the importance of CSA 2010 maintenance BASIC.
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Before the driver starts for the shipment of loads available the driver vehicle inspection report (DVIR) and the vehicle condition report (VCR) should be carefully made. The report should cover the crucial aspects of the fleet maintenance such as the checking of steering, parking brake, lights and reflectors, service brakes, trailer brakes, horn, mirrors, windshield wipers, tires, rims, wheels and emergency tool kit.
If the truck driver job regarding the correct reporting of DVIR is performed well then their CSA rating will improve and the regular maintenance will not pose them any big maintenance issue. However if they do not follow the regulations then their business is likely to get affected both due to the bad rating as well as the delay in delivery as the under maintained truck will be first sent back to cover up all the maintenance required. The best solution to this situation is to perform a detailed post trip evaluation and make the truck ready for next dispatch then to do a pre-trip evaluation and postpone the dispatch in case of any fault.

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Carriers

How to Get the Best of your Reefer Truck

Driving a refrigerated truck is a work of its own kind. This work, though seeming similar, has a lot of technical differentiation from other work.  It takes a very experienced trucker to drive a reefer truck. This fact makes this work very unique. In this article I will discuss about the ways to get the best from your reefer truck. Driving reefer truck is the most hectic among truck driving jobs. Reefer drivers have to go through a lot of tough conditions then a normal truck driver.

The loads available of different kind must be transported in the containers of different size. For the fruits and vegetables any size is good to go but if you want to opt for some other stuff to transport like some scientific and research material then the reefer driver must understand the responsibilities related to this and the proper procedure must be opted.

Reefer trucking

For reefer drivers, it is very important to stabilize the temperature during the trucking. A swing more than 5 or 10 degree can waste the purpose of the transportation.  One have to cope with all the facts including the insulation cost and the maintaining the swing value very low. Ambient value with proper aging and condition is very important in the transportation. If you fail to manipulate all the factors involved the operation will not be economical and you will not earn enough money as desired.

Maintaining all the mentioned factor during a constant and continuous run is also an important factor. There are several other issues too which must be properly addressed in a reefer trucking job too. These factors include the temperature and the capacity of the shipment.  The capacity varies with the initial investment made. An optimum relation must be maintained between the initial investment and the capacity so that the maximum possible profit is obtained during the operation without financial load on the driver.

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The driver must consider every factor related to the particular run. The client might ask different type of service in different projects. The reefer driver must ask the question from himself that what is the possible benefit of this operation are and whether he will be able to successfully handle the job or not. In this scenario another factor of the trailer size also comes into the play. The type of job is highly dependent over the trailer size.

Here I am discussing few bullet points to suggest the optimum use of reefer truck for any trucking company:

1.       Perform all the operation in the proper way to save yourself from the wastage of time and make the maximum use of your resources

2.       You must not run the units if the doors are open because it is simply the waste of power and the effort.

3.       Use the max value of possible insulation to reduce losses because it may make the initial cost high but later it will be very useful for saving the cost of maintaining temperature.

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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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Newbies

Different Truck Types for Different Purposes

All over the world Trucking Industry provides fast and reliable solutions for carrying freight loads and delivering logistics services. To fulfill different task as per the requirement many new innovations and technologies have been introduced in this sector. The Trucks used for varied purposes are designed intricately so that they can perform the jobs efficiently without the loss of the time, material and lives.
There are many different types of trucks meant for different purposes:
Flatbed Truck: As the name suggests the flatbed truck has a complete flat cargo body. There are no sides and roof attached to it. With this truck easy loading and unloading of heavy loads is possible. Construction equipments and a heavy load which have irregular shapes are best to be carried on the flatbed truck. The truck comes in both types rigid and articulated.
Straight Truck or Box Truck: This is the most commonly used type of truck which can perform the transport of usual goods. This truck is known by many different names: Box truck, Bob truck, Cube truck and Cube van. The cargo space of the truck is an enclosed area of cuboid shape. The Straight truck comes in small and big sizes ranging from 4 to 7 m in length. Box Truck Freight is mostly used to haul goods that should be protected from wear and tear through the journey such as furniture and electronic appliances. Panel truck is also a kind of straight truck that does not have any windows on the cargo box. It is used to carry consumer goods like diapers, laundry, tinned food packages etc.
Semi Trailer Truck: The truck is known differently at different places of the world. Semi Tractor truck Prime Mover, Transfer truck and Big-rig are the common names given to the Semi Trailer Truck. The truck is an articulated vehicle which has a towing engine and a semi trailer. There can be possibly more than one trailer attached to one engine. The main feature which makes the trailer truck different from an ordinary truck is that the trailer is not completely attached to the engine but is fixed at one point on the rare axle of the towing engine. It works in such a way that all the weight of the trailer is not put on the towing unit but a part of it is taken up by the connecting axle.
18 Wheeler Truck: This is again a semi trailer truck which has 18 wheels to carry heavy freight
Dump Truck: A dump truck as the name suggests is used to carry the loose materials like gravel and sand. These goods can be easily dumped with the use of Dump truck at the site of their usage such as construction sites. The back of the truck is hinged with an open box bed which runs with hydraulic operation. The bed can be lifted easily to dump the goods on the ground.
Tanker Truck: The truck is widely used to carry liquid freights or bulk cargo. They come in wide ranges as per the need.