HeavyDuty Trucking – Issue

Past Issues

February 2013

Cover Story

Bridging The Funding Gap
By Oliver Patton

The highway law that took so much effort over the past five years is just six months old, but now it's time to start again. As the U.S. Department of Transportation still unpacks the two-year, $105 billion measure passed last summer, Congress and transportation interests are gathering to return, once more, unto the breach.

Features

HDT's '13 Top 20

By HDT Staff

Which are the best of the best new products and equipment from last year's introductions? We've gone through an extensive process to determine HDT's 2013 Top 20 Products.

Tires for multiple applications

By Evan Lockridge

The economic recession had profound effects on trucking, but one of the most surprising is a greater need for tires on trucks that need to be used in more than one application. That's the opposite of another trend, which is more single-application-specific tires.

Electrifying the Windy City Crane Carrier Corp.'s COE-2 chassis, supplied as rolling glider kits, will be the basis for the Chicago trucks. They'll use Motiv Power electric drive systems and Loadmaster compacting bodies.

Crane Carrier Corp.'s COE-2 chassis, supplied as rolling glider kits, will be the basis for the Chicago trucks. They'll use Motiv Power electric drive systems and Loadmaster compacting bodies.

By Tom Berg

Chicago has ordered 20 heavy-duty, electric-powered trash trucks that will be the first of their kind in the nation. The electric trucks will run almost silently, produce practically no emissions and, with no traditional pow-ertrains to fuel and maintain, will cut operating costs by at least 50%, says Jim Castelaz, chief executive officer of Motiv Power Systems.

Fleet acquisitions trending upward

By Kate Harlow

The industry has seen a growing number of fleet acquisitions and mergers in the past few months, and many believe this is part of a growing trend. The trend of fleet acquisitions is cyclical, according to Lana Batts, managing partner with Transport Capital Partners, which helps fleets negotiate such deals. “I believe we are just at the beginning of the cycle,” Batts said.

The Art & Science of Routing The ability to get a truck (or load) from here to there along the safest, shortest and quickest route is probably the most fundamental problem a fleet manager faces.

The ability to get a truck (or load) from here to there along the safest, shortest and quickest route is probably the most fundamental problem a fleet manager faces.

By Jim Beach

Whether truckload, LTL, local delivery or any other type of operation, all fleets want the same thing: to get their work done as quickly and as safely possible while burning as little fuel as possible.

7 Trends in axles and suspensions

By Deborah Lockridge

When it come to trends in axles and suspensions, it's all about efficiency. Fleets are constantly looking for ways to become more operationally efficient, whether it's fuel economy, increased payload, lower maintenance costs, longer equipment life, or driver productivity.

The Roadside Dietitian: Love Your Heart Pam Whitfield, a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator with a Master's in Nutrition & Dietetics, and Don Jacobson, a writer and noted outdoor cook, are the authors of“Road-cookin’: A long haul driver's guide to healthy hating.”

Pam Whitfield, a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator with a Master's in Nutrition &amp; Dietetics, and Don Jacobson, a writer and noted outdoor cook, are the authors of&ldquo;Road-cookin&rsquo;: A long haul driver's guide to healthy hating.&rdquo;

By Contributed by Pam Whitfield & Don Jacobson

February is American Heart Month for one really good reason. Heart disease is the number one killer in this country, accounting for about a quarter of all deaths every year. That means the odds are nearly six to one that you will die of a heart problem rather than in an accident.

Con-way Communicates Safety Con-way Freight works to stress safety to its employees in a variety of ways.

By Kate Harlow

With the advent of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s flagship Compliance, Safety, Accountability program, a new premium was put on safety. This required a number of fleets to focus on the issue like never before.

Test Drives

Test Drive: Cat CT-660 at Work The CT-660 comes with a setback steer axle. A CT-680 with a set-forward axle is due out later this year.

By Tom Berg

When reviewing a product like the Caterpillar CT-660, there is no replacement for getting the opinion of the people who have been using it day in and day out. “The drivers love it,” said John “Dick” Jones, president of Jones Fuel Co. in Columbus, Ohio, talking about the fleet’s first in-service dump truck.