Life on the Road - Trucking News Blog

Found this at Dan Goodwill’s blog. Dan has the best technical analysis of trucking on the net. Quoting a truck industry stock analyst, “The freight recession is over.” According to tonnage indices and demand trends, the freight economy is on an upswing.

Don’t start throwing parties yet. Dan goes on -

This view is supported by a number of trucking companies and shippers with whom I have spoken in the past six weeks. Several interesting events have been taking place. They include:

• Carriers are deciding to no longer serve certain accounts (e.g. “firing customers”) and are allocating capacity to better paying accounts.
• Carriers are no longer providing capacity to certain freight management companies either on specific lanes or no longer doing business with these companies altogether
• Carriers are submitting freight bids on specific blocks of traffic and then pulling their bids
• Carriers are submitting rates on designated lanes of traffic and then not showing up to meet with the shipper
• Shippers are finding a tightening of capacity and are experiencing more difficulty covering some of their loads

The upshot of all this activity is that there is a “buzz” in the industry that has not been there for the past year or two. There is an optimism that this incredibly difficult freight drought is coming to an end.

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Popularity: 21% [?]

It amazes and disgusts me at the same time to see how disconnected and stupid the government really is.

Trucking in general is in tough times, everyone agrees on that. Companies and owners are going under on a daily basis. The drivers that were employed by those companies and small fleets are now unemployed and are looking to drive for someone else.
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Popularity: 25% [?]

Everyone has GOT to sign this. It only takes a second. This is the only real solution for the trucking industry. Strikes and anything else are either worthless or only short term. They’re looking for 3 million signatures. My previous post about this. Go to American Solutions.com - Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less.

We currently have 393,582 signatures.

Popularity: 37% [?]

Wonder who was behind this “temporary” legislation? It’s in the Senate, so it’s not law yet.

Senate bill proposes temporary weight increase
A bill in the U.S. Senate would temporarily increase weight limits on federal highways from 80,000 pounds to 100,000 pounds for a trial period of two years when diesel prices are above $3.50 per gallon.

The Commercial Truck Fuel Savings Demonstration Act of 2008, S. 3059, was introduced May 28 by Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Olympia Snowe. R-Maine. The bill, which has been referred to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, also would require the Government Accountability Office to complete a report about safety and other concerns at the completion of the pilot program.

In the rest of the article, they use Maine as an example of how trucks weighing more than 80,000 lbs must exit the turnpike and travel smaller roads. Which doesn’t make sense, but both Senators that introduced this bill are from Maine, maybe they should fix Maine. I’m sure they’re only using that as an example, but the people that don’t know any better are going to assume the rest of the country is like that and think this is a good idea.

And notice how they name it the “Fuel Savings” Act? The only fuel it’s going to save is for the shippers. Think you’re going to get a better rate hauling 100,000 lbs of beer out of Colorado? Or a 100,000 lbs of produce out of California? I may be wrong and I hope I am, but I really don’t think the rate is going to be much better to cover the trucks lower mpg. That’s what doesn’t make sense!

Popularity: 38% [?]

Trucking has been a big topic in the news lately, and it hasn’t all been positive. So International Truck  has decided to do something about it. Last year they started interviewing truckers on video at Walcott, truck shows and truck stops about why they drive. Now they’re making a documentary (premiering late summer/early fall) to tell the real story of owner-operators.

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Popularity: 39% [?]

I’m not big into petitions and all of that, but a lot of our discussions and comments lately have centered around oil and the fact that we need to drill in our own backyard. Newt Gingrich has started a website, a petition and a drive to get our own oil on our own land, before someone else does…

China and India are building oil drilling platforms 50 miles off the coast of Florida. These platforms are Slant Drilling platforms. They will be able to reach the oil that is under Cuba and the oil that is in our territory as well. I believe US oil companies would take better care of the environment and can be held responsible for any spills or accidents better than some foreign country that is thousands of miles away from their own homeland or maybe it’s just me. What if a China or an India platform has an accident? Who is going to clean up a spill 50 miles from Florida?  China and India? Guess again.

On a side note, the same Slant Drilling technology was going to be used in ANWR so they could reach more than just the footprint of the platform. They would have access to the oil under the entire ANWR without disturbing any more envirnonent then they had to. The small area where the oil companies in ANWR is a postage stamp compared to the rest of just the ANWR reserve. That same area is 700 miles from a tree. It’s barren artic landscape. Not the plush Alaskan forest the environmentalists lead everyone to believe.

Go to American Solutions.com - Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less.

Popularity: 36% [?]

Dan Goodwill has a great article (again) -

Coming Soon – A Truck Capacity Shortage and Higher Freight Rates

Those carriers that are still in business are trimming their truck fleets. Truckload carriers are cutting capacity at the highest rate in a decade to create a better balance between supply and demand. Bob Costello, chief economist of the American Trucking Association has supplied data that showed a 3.6% drop in capacity in January and February, “the largest since we began collecting the data”.

It’s what we’ve been talking about for months, except Dan has all the numbers. Manufacturers are also cutting back on production and even the used truck market is going to be tight because of all the foreign truck buyers.

The good news -

As demand increases, there will be a lot less truck supply than at the start of this freight recession. While some parked trucks will be put back into service, it will take time to ramp up truck production, hire and train drivers and replace the trucking companies that have gone to “trucking company heaven”.

Personally, I think the rise in rates will be more than 10% as the rest of the article states. This last month I’ve actually worked more than usual. I’ve even heard the cries of a shipper being desperate. Reality was they weren’t that desperate, but it’s a start.

It’s a good article and the point is that we may be at the bottom or at least close to the bottom of the slowdown and it may be picking up soon and the trucks / owners that have survived will be able to call the shots. I don’t think it will get much better till after the election. Shippers and manufactures are unclear about what the next President is going to do. Even though they’re all the same and have the same plan to destroy the economy, but that’s a different post.

Popularity: 29% [?]

Not really, but they’ve figured out that by connecting all of their to do list to the Green movement, they think they can convince people they want to save the environment.

Slower Trucks Could Save 31.5M Tons Of CO2 Emissions
The American Trucking Associations has launched the first-ever industry-wide environmental sustainability program under the banner Trucks Deliver a Cleaner Tomorrow.

ATA has produced a report (exec summary) and is making six recommendations to reduce fuel consumption.

The plan calls for governors on new trucks to limit speeds to no more than 68 mph, a call to reduce the national speed limit to 65 mph for all vehicles, and industry participation in the U.S. EPA SmartWay Transport Partnership Program. Also on the list is reducing engine idling, improving highways, using more productive truck combinations, and setting fuel economy standards for trucks.

I’ll have to admit, I didn’t read the executive summary, I tried but couldn’t get past the first page. There’s only so much BS I can handle. But I did sit through the video on the same Trucks Deliver A Cleaner Tomorrow website. Cleaner and Greener the latest buzzword catch phrase. The part about how they want to be proactive and not wait for directives? What? The ATA are the ones that want these directives, not the government or anyone else.

They’ve even given their long time request of longer and heavier trucks a Green argument saying it will not only be more efficient, but more fuel efficient, will relieve congestion and reduce emissions.

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Popularity: 31% [?]

From the desk of Captain Obvious:

 

 Gas Theft: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (309)

I have my locking fuel caps, they were about $80 each. I took them off during the winter because they would freeze up and even in the summer I have to keep shooting WD-40 in the lock to keep it working. When I was at the Louisville truck show I saw a great idea for locking fuel caps for trucks with a built in cover that looked like a great idea, but I now I can’t find my flyer I had from them.

Locking fuel caps are expensive and tough to keep dirt out of and to keep working in the winter, but right now, worth every penny.

No comments about the trucker the reporter found to comment, we’ve been through all that before.

Source: Fox Chicago

Popularity: 30% [?]

As promised I’ve actually read the bill. Todd Spencer (Exec VP OOIDA) was good enough to send me a copy after we talked on the phone. Something about that last post he wanted to talk about.

It probably sounded like I was against it, but I said that unless there’s complete visibility it’s not going to work. Guess what’s in this bill? After this bill everything is supposed to be right there in the open.

Here’s the intro to the bill s.2910 IS (pdf) -

To require brokers to disclose and pay independent truckers for any fuel surcharges received from shippers that relate to fuel costs paid for by the truckers.

I would change “independent truckers” to say all carriers, but later on it does broaden the scope -

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Popularity: 37% [?]