May 10, 2011
An aging fleet, the high cost of fuel, sticker shock on new trucks, and a recovering economy are driving interest in leasing, according to Olen Hunter, director of sales at PacLease
Tags: Business
Author: Deborah Lockridge | Posted @ Tuesday, May 10, 2011 12:33 PM | » Comments(0)
May 2, 2011
As the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration goes about rewriting its hours of service rules for truck drivers, it has been careful to make sure those changes are backed up by scientific studies. But it's starting to look like the regulators need to go back to science class
Tags: Government
Author: Deborah Lockridge | Posted @ Monday, May 2, 2011 1:54 PM | » Comments(0)
April 29, 2011
[UPDATED] I woke up this morning to a story on the radio about a man in Tuscaloosa, Ala., finding the body of a neighbor's child under the wreckage of his house
Tags: Safety & Compliance
Author: Deborah Lockridge | Posted @ Friday, April 29, 2011 8:06 AM | » Comments(2)
April 15, 2011
The first truck to go into service for Con-way Central Express, a 1983 Ford CL9000 cabover, has a new home at the Iowa 80 Trucking Museum in Walcott, Iowa
Tags: Equipment
Author: Deborah Lockridge | Posted @ Friday, April 15, 2011 2:18 PM | » Comments(2)
April 8, 2011
How much is a million? A children's book says it would take 23 days to even count to a million and that a goldfish bowl large enough to hold a million goldfish could hold a whale. For truckers, a million miles is about 10 years
Tags: Equipment
Author: Deborah Lockridge | Posted @ Friday, April 8, 2011 10:10 AM | » Comments(0)
March 30, 2011
So what is a demographer, anyway? As Ken Gronbach's daughter put it, it's like an economist, only instead of counting financial indicators, he counts people
Tags: Trends
Author: Deborah Lockridge | Posted @ Wednesday, March 30, 2011 9:21 PM | » Comments(1)
March 29, 2011
Now that every truck maker has its own captive engine, how does an independent engine company like Cummins survive
Tags: Equipment
Author: Deborah Lockridge | Posted @ Tuesday, March 29, 2011 8:59 PM | » Comments(0)
March 23, 2011
Who would have guessed that Apple's iPad would be such a hard worker
Tags: Infotech
Author: Deborah Lockridge | Posted @ Wednesday, March 23, 2011 3:10 PM | » Comments(0)
March 18, 2011
The disaster in northeastern Japan is receiving blanket news coverage, but only in recent days have definitive stories emerged about its effects on commerce. Automobile plants southwest of the quake, tsunami and nuclear-affected region are shut down and supplies of Japanese cars and parts have been interrupted
Tags: In the Media
Author: Deborah Lockridge | Posted @ Friday, March 18, 2011 8:16 PM | » Comments(0)
March 9, 2011
Corrected 3/13/2011. Navistar International is looking at some "exciting technologies" to reduce oxides of nitrogen in the exhaust of its later diesels, but aftertreatment using urea -- at least in liquid form -- will not be one of them
Tags: Equipment
Author: Deborah Lockridge | Posted @ Wednesday, March 9, 2011 6:51 PM | » Comments(1)
February 28, 2011
I can't remember when there was more anticipation about a new truck model coming out. Cat's new on-highway vocational truck, the CT660, will be officially unveiled later this month at ConExpo show in Las Vegas. HDT Senior Editor Tom Berg will be there
Tags: Equipment
Author: Deborah Lockridge | Posted @ Monday, February 28, 2011 2:14 PM | » Comments(1)
February 24, 2011
In the last few weeks, well-known truckload leaders have announced they are stepping back from the front lines at the companies they founded or have led for decades
Tags: Fleet Focus
Author: Deborah Lockridge | Posted @ Thursday, February 24, 2011 12:19 PM | » Comments(0)
February 18, 2011
"Until there is a consequence to the shippers, and those who are receiving the freight, they're going to keep abusing the truck drivers.
Tags: Government
Author: Deborah Lockridge | Posted @ Friday, February 18, 2011 12:55 PM | » Comments(1)
February 18, 2011
For years, opponents of opening the U.S.-Mexico border to Mexican long-distance trucking have cited shoddy, unsafe equipment as one of their concerns. Now Mexican trucking interests are saying they're tired of the U.S. sending its "shoddy used trucks" south of the border
Tags: In the Media
Author: Deborah Lockridge | Posted @ Friday, February 18, 2011 11:01 AM | » Comments(0)
February 8, 2011
When you get hundreds of fleet maintenance managers together on one location, you can bet they're going to start swapping stories about various equipment and maintenance issues they're having
Tags: In The Shop
Author: Deborah Lockridge | Posted @ Tuesday, February 8, 2011 8:46 PM | » Comments(2)
February 6, 2011
Clean diesel featured during the Superbowl? Great, right? Not so great when it's BMW touting its clean diesel solution and implying that every other diesel vehicle on the road, including trucks, is belching thick black smoke
Tags: In the Media
Author: Deborah Lockridge | Posted @ Sunday, February 6, 2011 5:11 PM | » Comments(0)
February 1, 2011
The New Jersey Motor Truck Association reports it has been fielding one horror story after another of the lengths to which some in law enforcement are enforcing the state's new snow and ice law, and is asking for further documentation to present to government officials
Tags: Safety & Compliance
Author: Deborah Lockridge | Posted @ Tuesday, February 1, 2011 1:56 PM | » Comments(0)
January 27, 2011
I've heard a lot of talk about the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's new hours of service proposal. It's too complicated, it would harm productivity, it wouldn't improve safety, and so on. But have you told all that to the agency yet
Tags: Government
Author: Deborah Lockridge | Posted @ Thursday, January 27, 2011 2:19 PM | » Comments(0)
January 12, 2011
Last month, the next stage of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's new CSA 2010 enforcement program went live, making carrier safety information available to the public
Tags: Safety & Compliance
Author: Deborah Lockridge | Posted @ Wednesday, January 12, 2011 8:20 AM | » Comments(0)
January 10, 2011
I spent all of yesterday in an uncomfortable chair in a hotel meeting room listening to 35 guys say pretty much the same thing in 35 different ways
Tags: Heroes & Villains
Author: Deborah Lockridge | Posted @ Monday, January 10, 2011 4:43 PM | » Comments(0)
January 5, 2011
Driver distraction seems to have been a fairly hot issue driving announcements at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. I wasn't there, but I've seen several news releases on the wires
Tags: Safety & Compliance
Author: Deborah Lockridge | Posted @ Wednesday, January 5, 2011 2:55 PM | » Comments(0)
January 5, 2011
As we look to a 2011 where it seems less and less likely we'll see a true rethinking on Capitol Hill of how our country pays for infrastructure, a new report by USA Today uncovers how botched and orphan "earmarks" -- aka pork -- is actually costing states highway money
Tags: In the Media
Author: Deborah Lockridge | Posted @ Wednesday, January 5, 2011 8:33 AM | » Comments(0)
January 3, 2011
It's not often you see articles about the health of the trucking industry in your local paper, but I suppose with big industry names like U.S. Xpress and Covenant Transport, Chattanooga might be expected to be an exception
Tags: In the Media
Author: Deborah Lockridge | Posted @ Monday, January 3, 2011 2:50 PM | » Comments(0)
December 21, 2010
Truck drivers may not wear funny red suits and sport bushy white beards (well, I have seen a few with the latter), but they nevertheless bear a strong resemblance to ol' St. Nick
Tags: Drivers
Author: Deborah Lockridge | Posted @ Tuesday, December 21, 2010 9:37 AM | » Comments(0)
December 19, 2010
It was a happy holiday for trucking image advocates Saturday as the Udrove Humanitarian Bowl highlighted the trucking industry in a positive way
Tags: In the Media
Author: Deborah Lockridge | Posted @ Sunday, December 19, 2010 7:56 PM | » Comments(1)