November 21, 2011
Operations people at Nussbaum Transport had a couple of one-way hauls involving the same customer, and wanted to turn them into a more efficient and profitable headhaul and backhaul on the same semitrailer.
Tags: Dry Vans
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Monday, November 21, 2011 5:58 PM | » Comments(0)
November 14, 2011
A recent visit to northeast Ohio put me face to face with people involved in the production of shale gas that I've been hearing and reading about in the news
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Monday, November 14, 2011 6:34 PM | » Comments(1)
October 30, 2011
"Monocoque" is a French word that usually describes the construction of an airliner's fuselage (also a French word), whose outer skin adds strength to the inner frame. Remove some of the aluminum panels and the fuselage loses both aerodynamics and strength, and would probably collapse if stressed
Tags: Flat Beds
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Sunday, October 30, 2011 9:12 PM | » Comments(2)
October 19, 2011
Tires are expensive and prices keep rising, so they're worth protecting by keeping them properly inflated. That's not easy with a large fleet's trailers, which can be scattered around the country and don't often pass through its inspection and maintenance stations
Tags: Maintenance
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Wednesday, October 19, 2011 6:10 PM | » Comments(1)
October 5, 2011
First, a confession: Before I was a truck nut I was a train buff
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Wednesday, October 5, 2011 3:28 PM | » Comments(0)
September 26, 2011
Federal and state inspectors are not finding a lot of "roadability" problems with container chassis, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's chief safety officer, Jack Van Steenburg.
Tags: Maintenance
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Monday, September 26, 2011 12:23 AM | » Comments(0)
September 19, 2011
That commercial vehicles have been getting old has become an adage in the last few years, and here are more numbers to support it
Tags: Trends
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Monday, September 19, 2011 7:26 PM | » Comments(0)
September 6, 2011
Hmm. Just a couple of boxes for this stop. Don't need to use the liftgate. I'll just hop up there...." Delivery drivers do this every day, but how easy or difficult is it for them to climb up and over the liftgate and into the truck to fetch those boxes
Tags: Specialty
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Tuesday, September 6, 2011 12:10 PM | » Comments(0)
August 25, 2011
Ever back a trailer into a dark alley or loading dock? Talk about a black hole!
Tags: Safety
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Thursday, August 25, 2011 1:33 PM | » Comments(0)
August 8, 2011
If something on a reefer unit is going to fail, it's likely to happen when components are working hard to overcome summer heat
Tags: Maintenance
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Monday, August 8, 2011 8:16 AM | » Comments(0)
July 29, 2011
Everyone who sells a product talks up its advantages over the competition. Jim Reiman's claims about his Aerofficient side skirts include some that I've not heard before: 1 million-mile life, and ability to close the gap ahead of the trailer's wheels
Tags: fuel economy
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Friday, July 29, 2011 5:25 AM | » Comments(1)
July 11, 2011
Polar Tank has built an aerodynamically smoother trailer at the request of a hauler of bulk products in South Dakota. In regular service, the trailer is saving a third of a mile per gallon compared to older tankers
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Monday, July 11, 2011 8:29 AM | » Comments(0)
June 30, 2011
In three weeks' time, new, shorter federal stopping distance limits go into effect for three-axle tractors, most of them over-the-road power units that pull semitrailers
Tags: Regulations
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Thursday, June 30, 2011 7:18 PM | » Comments(0)
June 30, 2011
Ryder System says it's expanding its full-service lease contract with a major logistics firm by ordering 1,044 van trailers from Utility Trailer Manufacturing. The order for the 4000D-X Composite dry vans is the largest single order it's ever received, Utility says
Tags: Dry Vans
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Thursday, June 30, 2011 7:17 PM | » Comments(0)
June 12, 2011
Many fleets operating in California have until July 1 to tell the state's Air Resources Board how they will equip their box-type trailers with fuel-saving devices
Tags: Regulations
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Sunday, June 12, 2011 5:22 PM | » Comments(0)
June 3, 2011
Tornados that ravaged parts of Oklahoma on May 24 included one that hit a tractor-trailer right where it was on a highway
Tags: Safety
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Friday, June 3, 2011 11:43 AM | » Comments(0)
May 31, 2011
Storage is an effective second use for van trailers, which act as long sheds on wheels that can be taken wherever they're needed. One place is Joplin, where a huge tornado recently devastated a large part of the city in southwestern Missouri
Tags: Dry Vans
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Tuesday, May 31, 2011 10:14 AM | » Comments(0)
May 17, 2011
Some truckers are so proud of the equipment they operate that they want scale models to display in their homes or offices. One man who makes that happen is master modeler Kuenn (pronounced Quinn) McClinton
Tags: Specialty
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Tuesday, May 17, 2011 7:41 AM | » Comments(0)
May 10, 2011
Jack Latimer sells Airtabs, the wishbone-shaped aero enhancers that many truckers apply to the trailing edges of tractors and trailers. He keeps tabs (so to speak) on studies of truck aerodynamics and recently sent us this information
Tags: fuel economy
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Tuesday, May 10, 2011 7:13 AM | » Comments(0)
May 1, 2011
Many truckers seek lightweight equipment so they can carry more payload, and manufacturers strive to cut poundage from their vehicles. But in the real world, how much cargo goes aboard often depends on the guy doing the loading
Tags: Trends
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Sunday, May 1, 2011 6:43 PM | » Comments(2)
April 22, 2011
There are almost as many stories at the Mid-America Trucking Show as the tens of thousands of people who attend the huge confab in Louisville, Ky., every March. One story is Jimmy Wink, a fleet operator and now trailer make
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Friday, April 22, 2011 2:04 PM | » Comments(1)
April 11, 2011
Since the advent of fuel-saving hybrid-drive cars and trucks, the "h" word has taken on enough shine that it's now sometimes employed in place of older terms. I notice things like this because I'm a word merchant, see
Tags: Trends
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Monday, April 11, 2011 3:06 PM | » Comments(0)
March 24, 2011
It was cool but bright the day before ConExpo opened in Las Vegas, and there, gleaming in the sun like a big piece of pewter, was a side-dump trailer whose steel underframe was completely galvanized
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Thursday, March 24, 2011 7:32 PM | » Comments(0)
March 16, 2011
Most truckers are good guys and good citizens who appreciate law and order.
Their tractor-trailers make good road blocks, and drivers have been known to deploy them to help police officers capture criminals on the run
Tags: Safety
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Wednesday, March 16, 2011 10:30 PM | » Comments(0)
February 25, 2011
Most trailers used for product promotion are vans whose broad sides become rolling billboards for truck components of some kind or other. But here we have an end-dump trailer whose message is aimed at construction guys
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Friday, February 25, 2011 11:26 AM | » Comments(0)