A driver picks up a trailer from a drop yard. Before departing, the driver does a walk-around inspection, kicks the tires, checks the lights and then sticks it into the wind. He or she has no idea how much air pressure is in those tires, except to be fairly sure none of them is flat — visibly flat, that is. Any one or several of those tires could be underinflated, or even technically flat.
What are you doing with the spent oil from your engines? Most fleets are reusing it somehow, perhaps by burning it in special furnaces to heat the shops or selling it to a recycler who'll put it to other uses. Drain oil was once dumped or given away, but since the rise of petroleum prices on world markets, it now brings as much as 95 cents a gallon.
While debates over the productivity and safety of longer and heavier trucks wax and wane on Capitol Hill, some fleets have been quietly, legally and safely running such operations in various states under grandfathering rights granted years ago.
The 6x2 concept isn't new, but it's not popular on our side of the Atlantic Ocean. Meritor aims to change that with its new SmarTandem single-drive-axle tandem configuration. Equipment Editor Jim Park reports on his driving impressions.
In my January editorial, as part of three resolutions I'd like to see this year, I called on Congress to fix highway funding.
Today, borders aren’t so much barriers as they are trade portals. Yes, security concerns and trade issues have thickened our northern and southern borders in recent years, but the volume of NAFTA-region trade increased substantially at the same time.
FMCSA and the U.S. DOT have no influence over what happens in Canada, but Canada has plenty of its own regulatory agencies and ministries whose rules will affect American carriers' privileges and ability to operate there.
There was a time when fleet managers and owner-operators specified many components on their new trucks and tractors, but that's been seriously curtailed by vertical integration — the practice of manufacturers controlling the design and spec'ing process using parts they build themselves or get from a few suppliers.
Each year, HDT honors the industry's most innovative truck fleet leaders with its Truck Fleet Innovator Award. Winners are profiled in the magazine, honored during a special event in conjunction with the Mid-America Trucking Show and become a valued resource for HDT's editors.
Three years ago Kevin Burch, 55 at the time, slipped away from his president's office at Ohio-based Jet Express and went to driving school to get his commercial driver’s license.
“Drivers don't leave companies, they leave people,” says Trent Dye. It's that philosophy, put into action in various ways, that has helped him lead Paramount Freight Systems to be the owner-operator winner two years in a row in the Truckload Carriers Association's “Best Fleet to Drive For” competition. And at press time, he was hoping for a three-peat. It's also helped drive the success of a company that was founded as the nation was going into the Great Recession in 2008.
Prime Inc. is headquartered in Springfield, Mo., the “Show-Me State,” and President Robert E. Low says showing drivers genuine appreciation is the key to the company’s relatively low turnover rate and tremendous growth over the years.
Early on, Joe Cowan had his sights set on football. He had a chance to play for the Baltimore Colts, but could not forget another dream he'd had since he was a boy.
Is it time to replace your old truck or tractor? Is it old enough that its engine has none of the exhaust-emissions equipment that’s been giving people fits in recent years? Have you decided to take the plunge anyway because your vehicle is just plain worn out? Here's what you need to know about emissions equipment when buying a used truck built in the last decade.
Approximately 7.6 billion hours are spent by businesses and individuals each year on tax compliance -- a workload that could keep 3.8 million full-time workers busy by the IRS’ own estimates. Throw your long hours as a trucker into the mix, and the potential to miss the filing deadline is very real. However, you can file an extension and avoid penalties.
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