Trucks World News: August 2009

TRUCKS PURCHASE PROSPECTS * USA - Maryland secures $5.9M for hybrid trucks

Maryland,USA -The Washington Business Journal, by Vandana Sinha -August 27, 2009: -- The Maryland Energy Administration will receive $5.9 million in federal stimulus funds to help major employers switch out parts of their long-distance fleets for up to 150 new hybrid trucks to move goods... Selected as part of $300 million in stimulus funds and 25 projects nationwide tailored toward the Clean Cities programs, Maryland won the amount for an initiative that the Department of Energy said would be the largest hybrid truck replacement project in the country...

Labels: trucks purchase prospects

TRUCKMAKERS' NEWS * WORLDWIDE

* USA - Oshkosh wins $280.9 million Army truck contract

New York,NY,USA -MarketWatch. by Christopher Hinton -27 Aug 2009: -- Shares of Oshkosh Corp. soared 24% Thursday after its defense arm scored a $280.9 million contract with the U.S. Army to supply 2,568 medium-tactical vehicles and trailers, plus support and services... The contract muscled out rival BAE Systems, whose current vehicle contract with the Army runs through 2010. It also builds upon a July order from the U.S. Department of Defense for 2,244 bomb-resistant vehicles, valued at $1.05 billion... Initial test vehicle deliveries are planned for mid-2010, followed by production vehicle deliveries later in the year...

* Sweden - Volvo truck deliveries halved in July

Stockholm,Sweden -Monsters & Critics -Aug 27, 2009: -- Swedish heavy vehicle maker Volvo on Thursday reported a 54 per cent drop in year-on-year truck deliveries for July... In all, the group delivered 8,899 vehicles... The decline impacted all markets. Eastern Europe was the region where deliveries dropped the most, falling 88 per cent compared to July 2008, the group said... The Volvo group's truck operations include Volvo Trucks, Mack, Renault Trucks, Nissan Diesel and Eicher...

Labels: truckmakers' news worldwide

Safety Record * USA - Lawyers association rakes truck one

Des Moines,IOW,USA -The Des Moines Register, by WILLIAM PETROSKI -August 27, 2009: -- A lawyers group criticized Iowa trucking firms Wednesday for having a history of safety violations, but trucking officials responded that their industry is operating more safely than ever... More than 950 Iowa trucking firms operating 6,800 trucks have been cited for violating federal safety regulations since 1980, reported the American Association for Justice, formerly known as the Association of Trial Lawyers of America... The violations include defective brakes, bald tires, loads that dangerously exceed weight limits, and drivers with little or no training or drug and alcohol dependencies, the study said... The American Trucking Associations, an industry group in Arlington, Va., disputed the findings, noting the fatality rate for crashes involving large trucks is the lowest it's been since federal officials began keeping statistics in 1975... (Photo from sciencedaily.com)

* Labor Day Holiday Travel Alert: More than 19% of WI Truck Companies Have Safety Regulation Violations

Madison,WIS,USA -Racine News -27 Aug 2009: -- Over 8000 Trucks Lack Minimum Safety Standards, Including Adequate Insurance, Qualified Drivers and Functioning Brakes... As nearly 30 million Americans travel U.S. roads during the Labor Day holiday, a new analysis of government data reveals that over 1000 Wisconsin motor carrier companies have violated federal safety regulations, operating over a thousand unsafe trucks on our state roadways... In an original analysis of data not previously seen by the public, the American Association for Justice (AAJ) found Wisconsin drivers are sharing roads with trucks that have incurred thousands of safety violations – such as defective brakes, bald tires, loads that dangerously exceed weight limits and drivers with little or no training or drug and alcohol dependencies... AAJ and the Wisconsin Association for Justice (WAJ) obtained data on the safety performance of U.S. trucking companies through the Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS), which is maintained by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)...

Labels: road safety debate

TRUCKING INDUSTRY NEWS * USA - YRC hires turnaround consultant

Overland Park,Kan,USA -The St. Louis Business Journal -August 27, 2009: -- YRC Worldwide Inc. has named a turnaround consultant to guide the trucking company’s bid to survive the recession... The board of Overland Park, Kan.-based YRC named Richard Williamson, managing director of corporate turnaround firm Alvarez & Marsal, as chief strategy officer... Williamson will coordinate and manage YRC’s work to maintain liquidity and fix its capital structure, YRC said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission... YRC, which has 560 employees in St. Louis, reported a $309 million loss in the second quarter, following a $257.4 million loss in the first quarter... (Photo from yrc.com: offroad kids large truck)

Labels: trucking industry news USA

Regulators * USA - Consider new trucker entrant exam

Washington,DC,USA -Today's Trucking (CAN) -27 Aug 2009: -- The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has released an advance notice of proposed rulemaking, requesting comments from the industry on whether the agency should require new carrier applicants to pass a safety examination as part of its revised New Entrant Safety Assurance Process... The move comes on the heels of the agency's new rule passed in December, which raised the compliance standards for passing new entrant safety audits... Under that rule, a newly registered trucking or bus company will automatically fail its safety audit if it violates any one of 16 essential federal regulations during the 18-month safety monitoring period... This is part of FMCSA's ongoing effort to ensure that new entrants into the business are prepared to meet their safety responsibilities. A final rule probably is several years away...

Labels: rules and regulations

TRUCKERS' NEWS * Australia - Women wanted for big rigs

Sydney,Australia -ABC Rural -27 Aug 2009: -- More women are being encouraged to take on road train driving as a career, to fill the shortage of truck drivers in outback Australia... An Alice Springs transport company says husband and wife teams are in particular demand to work in shifts, for express, long haul deliveries... Owner John Bilato says new technology now means there is very little heavy lifting required... "A lot of the line haul tasks and even the girl we had driving for us, she was doing side tipper work and they're not unhooking the trailers to tip," he says... (Picture from abc.net.au)

Labels: womens in trucking

DANGEROUS DRIVER * USA - GPS gets trucker stuck under tunnel

18-wheeler stopped in tracks by tunnel

Mobile,AL,US -WWLP/TV, by Derica Williams -26 Aug 2009: -- The driver of an 18-wheeler was heading from Arkansas to Florida when his trip came to a sudden halt. That's because he tried to fit his tractor trailer through the Bankhead Tunnel... The 18-wheeler was folded like an accordion after authorities said the driver tried to go through... The cab may have made it though, but the 13 1/2 foot high trailer had no chance of passing through the 12-foot high tunnel... Transportation authorities have sensors placed well before the tunnel that notify the driver their vehicle is over the height limit. When that alarm trips, lights start flashing red. A sign, officials said, the driver ignored... (Photo by Marcus Powe)

Labels: dangerous truckers

COPS' BRIBERY * WORLDWIDE

* India - Cops turn robbers on Indian's roads

Highway check-point Policemen looting bribes from truckers worth US$4.5 billion annually

Mumbai,India -The Asia Times, by Raja Murthy -Aug 27, 2009: -- India's planned US$70 billion road infrastructure investment over the next three years, and the country's growing heavyweight global status, are being undermined from within - by highway check-point policemen looting bribes from truckers worth a remarkable US$4.5 billion annually... None of the world's other trillion-dollar economies (the United States, Britain, China, Japan, Germany, Russia, Brazil, France, Italy, Spain and Canada) faces this magnitude of police corruption... Police corruption benefits from the scale of India's road transport, which hauls three-quarters of national freight... Multiply the estimated four million trucks operating in India's highways by the estimated $10 per truck daily bribe, and we get the astounding $40 million daily bribe figure. The Berlin-based Transparency International mildly terms the corruption in India's road transport system as "highly institutionalized"... So annually, the Kolkata traffic police, road transport officials and everyone upwards, including presumably politicians in this pyramid of corruption, illegally earns a conservative $30 million annually - and this is just one metropolis... Take into account other major Indian cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad, as well as about 5,500 smaller cities and towns, and the Transparency International annual figure of $4.5 billion that India's cops loot from truckers appears considerably understated... According to Transparency India, truckers pay bribes at every phase of their business, starting from getting their vehicles registered with the Road Transport Office and obtaining road-worthiness certificates and paperwork to obtain and renew interstate and national permits... Other ready-made excuses for harassment include paying tolls, taxes for bringing goods into an area and sales tax... How quickly and effectively Manmohan's government can stop policemen from robbing the nation's road users depends on how much of this multi-billion dollar loot reaches politicians high up in national and state governments...- SEE VIDEO: Human Rights Watch says India's policing system facilitates and even encourages abuses - (Photo from indianexpress: Police bribery)

Labels: cops' bribery

NEW LAWS * Australia - Banning Mobiles for L and P1 Drivers

Victoria,New South Wales,Australia -Wheel News Blog, THANKS to Wayne Checker -24 Aug 2009: -- The State Government is moving to ban all Learner and P1 platers in South Australia from using any type of mobile phone function, including hands-free or bluetooth units, while they’re driving... Road Safety Minister, Michael O’Brien, said the mobile phone ban, effective from August 31 this year, was part of State Government’s measures to further strengthen the Graduated Licensing Scheme (GLS) for young drivers in South Australia... The ban includes using mobile phones:

• In a hands-free mode (including Bluetooth technology)
• With a loudspeaker operating
• To send text messages.

Mr O’Brien said similar bans on young drivers’ use of mobile phones and related technology had been enacted in Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales... (Picture from iStockPhoto, by EricHo: Talking CellPhone)

Labels: dangerous drivers

Analysis * Russia - Parliament Feeding Foreign Hauliers

The international cargo trucking market in Russia has virtually been taken over by foreign companies for quite some time

Moscow,Russia -Rus Business News -26 Aug 2009: ... The RusBusinessNews observer has found out why a quarter of these companies work in the country illegally, why the conflict with the Lithuanian hauliers arose, and how to get rid of the Western European middlemen when transporting cargo... In the middle of August 2009 there was a traffic jam on the Russia-Latvia border consisting of more than a thousand Lithuanian trucks transiting into Russia. The officially declared reason was the decision of the Federal Customs Service of the RF on intensifying the monitoring of Lithuanian truckers due to ever more frequent cases of missed deliveries of goods and transporting vehicles to destination customs warehouses.

The situation had lightened up only after the Lithuanian Customs Department had promised to withdraw international haulage permits from companies which have violated customs laws of the RF... Aleksandr Trakhtenberg, the Deputy Director General on the Strategic Development of OJSC Lorry (one of the largest trucking companies in Russia), reckons the source of the conflict lies much deeper. In his opinion the need is ripe for redistribution, for the benefit of domestic business, of the international cargo trucking market where companies from neighbouring countries reign currently... (Picture from roadtransport/big-lorry-blog/UK: Heavy transport in Russia)

Labels: trucking markets worldwide

STUDY * Australia - Depressed drivers more likely to crash

Research: Many truck drivers suffer from depression and they are up to six times more likely to have an accident if they are depressed

Brisbane,Queensland,Australia -abc.net.au, by Dina Rosendorff -August 25, 2009: ... The work is exhausting, lonely and stressful so it is little wonder that a recent report into the mental health of truck drivers found that the transport industry takes a heavy toll on its employees... An author of the study into truck drivers' mental health, Professor Harvey Whiteford from the University of Queensland, says deadlines are one of the driving forces behind on the job stress... Mark Colvin of The Australian Trucking Association, wants drivers screened for depression when they undergo drivers' licence medical tests... It's written to the National Transport Commission which is reviewing medical guidelines for drivers and rail workers... But the submission has angered the Transport Workers Union and the Mental Health Council of Australia... They say the move would provoke discrimination and wouldn't do anything to help improve the stressful conditions which drivers face... The National Transport Commission expects to introduce its revised medical guidelines next year... (Picture from thefuntimesguide: Oversized loads truck driver)

Labels: Truckers' Health

CLEAN TRUCKS * USA - Supply Chain Groups Implore L.A. Port To Change Course

Los Angeles,CAL,USA -The Cunningham Report -25 Aug 2009: -- Twenty-five trade associations representing importers, exporters, logistics industries and service providers have written a strong letter to Port of Los Angeles Executive Director, Geraldine Knatz, urging the port to stop lobbying for federal legislation "designed to force out of business hard working harbor truckers while simultaneously increasing costs to the Port's customers"... The letter stresses that the groups all favor the goals of the Clean Truck Plan to reduce diesel emissions, but strongly oppose efforts by the port to change the "Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (F4A) to include a provision within the Clean Truck Plan that has nothing to do with reducing truck emissions"... The port is under increasing fire for its decision to hire the Gephardt Group to lobby with the Teamsters and environmental organizations to amend F4A so ports could have more control over trucking. At stake is the port's attempt to include a mandate that all truckers servicing the port be trucking company employees, not owner-operators... That change would open the port drayage business to efforts by the Teamsters to organize the drayage business. Since most port truckers now own and operate their own rigs and are legally independent business people, it is almost impossible to unionize them... (Photo from keetsa: Port of Los Angeles)

Labels: Clean Trucks Program

REGULATIONS * USA - CARB changing California’s trucking landscape

Sacramento,CAL,USA -Fleet Owner -Aug 25, 2009: -- The recent spate of emission-control regulations issued by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is going to pose bigger compliance headaches for smaller fleets compared to their larger brethren, according to a recent analysis by GE Capital Fleet Services... The problem is that the bevy of CARB’s California-only rules for commercial trucks – including the 2010 Diesel Exhaust Emission Program, Heavy Duty Vehicle Idling Emission Reduction Program, Heavy Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Reduction measure, and Truck and Bus Regulation Reducing Emissions from Existing Diesel Vehicles measure – make it impractical if not impossible for fleets to keep older trucks compliant. And that, said Ken Gillies, truck engineering manager at GE Capital Fleet Services, turns the operating model for many small fleets on its head... The net effect is that CARB's rules make it harder to retrofit older trucks in a cost effective manner... (Picture from roadtransport)

* The Coalition for Responsible Transportation Announces National Green Port Trucks Partnership with U.S. EPA SmartWay

Sacramento,CAL,USA -BUSINESS WIRE -August 25, 2009: -- The Coalition for Responsible Transportation announced today that it has formed a partnership with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) SmartWay Transport Program to help develop a national SmartWay certification program and rating system for green port drayage trucks... CRT also announced today that it has been officially certified by the U.S. EPA as a SmartWay Transport Partnership Affiliate member... Through its partnership with SmartWay, CRT has convened a working group consisting of major national shippers, ocean carriers, and port drayage providers to provide recommendations to the SmartWay program as to the development of a certification and rating system for green port drayage trucks that will build upon the immensely successful SmartWay Transport model that the U.S. EPA has created for over-the-road freight transportation...

Labels: rules and regulations

SCR vs. EGR * Canada - Navistar OK with SCR engines ... in S. America

Warrenville,ILL,,USA -Today's Trucking (CAN) -25 Aug 2009: -- It may not believe in SCR technology as an emissions solution for North America, but Navistar is apparently going with the aftertreatment strategy on its engines in Brazil... Navistar International, of course, is the only major truck OEM to decline SCR in Canada and the U.S., continuing instead with "advanced" EGR. Though, according to the products page on its website, Navistar's MWM International Motores subsidiary is employing SCR in its NGD 9.3E medium-duty engine for the South American market... Spokesman Roy Wiley confirmed to todaystrucking.com that MWM would build SCR engines in Brazil. He said the engines are at the request of Volkswagen Truck and Bus, Navistar's largest South American customer, in meeting the Euro IV emissions standards Brazil has adopted... (Photo from ifsworld: International engines tcm)

Labels: EGR vs SCR

MINI-CASINOS * USA - Illinois Truck Stops transform into

Have an urge to blow a few dollars? Feel like taking a chance?

Illinois,USA -Examiner, by Jarid Brown -August 25, 2009: -- There may no longer be a need to travel to Alton, Chicago, Peoria, Joliet or Metropolis if you want to gamble in Illinois. Just head on down to the local truck stop... As first reported by the Pantagraph, a provision of Illinois' gaming laws aimed at funding the capital projects bill will likely lead the creation of mini-casinos within Illinois truck stops... The law that would allow an expansion of video gaming within Illinois bars and veteran's halls would also allow Illinois trucking facilities, occupying 3 acres with a separate fueling island for semis, the ability to install the gambling machines. Although there is some ambiguity over whether the legislation only applies to facilities licensed to sell alcohol, that ambiguity is a technical non-issue considering that nearly every trucking facility has such a license... (Photo from knkfueltaxservices: A truck stop)

Labels: truck stops

TRUCKMAKERS' NEWS * USA - Truck Prices, Boost in

Arlington,VA,USA -Transport Topics, by Jonathan S. Reiskin -25 Aug 2009: -- ... Daimler Trucks and Navistar Inc. recently joined Volvo Group in specifying price increases for 2010 diesel engines with new federally mandated pollution controls. Price increases range from $8,000 to $9,600 per new tractor, with Paccar Inc. still to be heard from, but low freight volumes are dominating carrier planning... (Photo from workingshowtrucksusa)

Labels: truckmakers' news USA

TRUCKING INDUSTRY * USA - Boost in Truck Prices Will Not Change Purchasing Plans

Arlington,VA,USA -Transport Topics, by Jonathan S. Reiskin -25 Aug 2009: -- Truckload fleet executives said not even the certainty of truck prices rising up to 10% next year will cause them to alter their current purchasing plans... Daimler Trucks and Navistar Inc. recently joined Volvo Group in specifying price increases for 2010 diesel engines with new federally mandated pollution controls. Price increases range from $8,000 to $9,600 per new tractor, with Paccar Inc. still to be heard from, but low freight volumes are dominating carrier planning... The recession, the poor freight environment accompanying it and the deterioration in credit and lending apparently have eliminated a once-anticipated 2009-10 pre-buy, though... Robert Ragan, chief financial officer of Tulsa, Okla., flatbed carrier Melton Truck Lines., who also is chairman of the National Accounting & Finance Council of American Trucking Associations, said tractor purchases were rarely discussed by trucking CFOs at NAFC’s June meeting in Nevada... (Photo from workingshowtrucksusa)

* Truck Tonnage Decline Slows in July

Washington,DC,USA -Transport Topics -26 Aug 2009: -- U.S. truck tonnage fell 10.4% in July from the same month last year, the best year-to-year showing since February, American Trucking Associations said Wednesday... ATA’s seasonally adjusted for-hire truck tonnage index improved 2.1% in July from June, while June’s 13.6% year-over-year drop had been the largest year-over-year decrease of the current cycle... Tonnage will continue to be choppy in the months ahead, but that is not necessarily a bad thing, said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello...

Labels: trucking industry news USA

* Japan - Dekotora Japanese trucks

Flashy Dekotara Truck 07: Sayaka Isoyama and Yoko Kumada in Sabra photo shoot

Tokyo,Japan -Japan Sugoi -24 Aug 2009: -- At night flashy Japanese Dekotora trucks look more like pachinko machines on wheels...

Dekotara which is a short for Decoration Trucks (Deko-tora) are flamboyant designed trucks are called with excessive glowing lights and designs designed to attract attention...

Dekotora trucks usually show the personality of the Dekotara owner and are sometimes also referred to as Art Trucks...

There are three styles for Dekotora trucks, Kanto, Kansai and Retro. Since the late 1990s, Dekotora have been heavily influenced by the art of Gundam...

In addition to the Gundam-influenced designs, it is common to see decorations that are more akin to modern art, or even retro designs that closely resemble those found in the movie Trucker...

One Dekotora truck painter it's Sekiguchi Kougei...

Labels: rare trucks shots

TRUCKING INDUSTRY STORIES * USA

* Logistics firm reveals what fuels its growth as its competitors run off the road

Vineland,NJ,USA -NJ Bizz, by Shankar P. -24 Aug 2009: ... The 77-year-old NFI operates nearly 10,000 vehicles and 15 million square feet of warehouse space at 50 locations nationwide, including nine in New Jersey... By all indications, NFI has dodged the recession. The company’s eight divisions are on pace to increase its 2008 revenue, which was nearly $750 million, by 5 percent to 10 percent, said Sidney Brown, its chief executive... Brown represents the third generation of the family-owned business, which was founded by his grandfather. Brown runs the company with brothers Ike and Jeffrey, who are vice chairmen; his father, Bernard, is the group chairman... Sidney Brown broadly attributed NFI’s growth in the current recession to an aggressive business approach and an emphasis on customer service, but pointed specifically to two major drivers: it has picked up new customers deserted by smaller trucking and logistics firms that folded in the recession, and its strategy of maintaining a younger fleet that’s fuel efficient and less prone to breakdowns appeals to its clients. Vehicles in NFI’s fleet are equipped with advanced satellite tracking and communication devices to enable round-the-clock cargo monitoring; many of its rivals don’t offer this, Sidney Brown said... (Photo by Christina Mazza - Sidney Brown, chief executive of NFI, stands by a truck at the company’s Cherry Hill location. He says the company has grown in the recession by increasing customer service and strengthening its current fleet)

* HELL ON WHEELS - Sherry Martinez and crew exorcised the demons of a troublesome truck, known as “666,” with some devilish customizations

Mira Loma,CAL,USA -Customs Rigs, by Ashley Vice -Aug 2009: -- Sherry Martinez’s 1990 Peterbilt 379, affectionately known around Southern California as either The Mean Bitch or 666, is visually hell on wheels born from personal trials and tribulations...

Martinez says her Pete, the first of three tricked-out trucks in the Mira Loma, Calif., based Jessica Martinez Trucking fleet, was designed to match the tough times that came with going independent...

Transforming her truck into a showstopper was a family affair, says Martinez, who took a hands-on approach to customizing her rig. The 425hop Cat engine and the running gear are stock, but that can’t be said for the exterior...

Martinez, Paul, and Ernie and Jermaine Rubio painted the truck candy cobalt blue in the open shop behind their house while SoCal pin-striping legend Wild Bill airbrushed ghost flame and skull graphics... (Photos by Bruce W. Smith)

Labels: trucking industry stories

New Energy * USA - Device for Generating Electricity from Motion of Heavy Vehicles

Burtonsville,MD,USA -BUSINESS WIRE -August 24, 2009: -- New Energy Technologies, Inc., a next-generation alternative and renewable energy developer, today announced successful completion of its first-ever MotionPowerTM prototype energy harvester for heavy trucks and vehicles for installation at such locations as truck stops, weigh scales, commercial ports of entry, and shipping sites. This newly developed technology complements the Company’s previously prototyped MotionPower™ system for cars and light trucks... MotionPower™ technology is a roadway-based system that is designed to be installed in locations where vehicles decelerate or stop, thus ensuring that vehicles are not ‘robbed’ of energy they would otherwise use to accelerate. Instead, MotionPower™ devices assist vehicles in slowing down, and in the process of doing so, capture the vehicles’ motion energy before it is lost as brake heat, and creatively convert that energy into clean, ‘green’ electricity... (Photo from farm4.static.flickr)

Labels: energy boost

TRUCKMAKERS' NEWS * USA - International offers “black box” for fire trucks

Melrose Park,Ill,USA -Fleet Owner -Aug 24, 2009: -- “Black box” technology is now available as a factory-installed option on all Navistar International DuraStar and WorkState emergency vehicles... The data recorder information is compliant with National Fire Protection Association Standards, the company said. Among the information recorded by the data recorder/seat display option is lateral accelerations, anti-lock braking system events, safety belt positioning and vehicle speeds... The vehicles also include an optional accommodation package that includes all required sensors, wiring harnesses and in-dash connection to allow for the installation of alternative data... (Photo from monroefire: Tanker header)

Labels: truckmakers' news USA

TI's OPINIONS * USA - Smaller carriers need good sales pitch

Smaller carriers might be how they sell themselves to their customer base

Lancaster,PA,USA -Fleet Owner, by Sean Kilcarr -Aug 21, 2009: -- In some ways, the biggest challenge facing smaller motor carriers may not be depressed freight rates, the specter of higher diesel prices, or even rising equipment costs due to emission reduction mandates. In the view of Richard Clepper, founder and president of Clepper Consulting Group LLC, the Achilles heel of smaller carriers might be how they sell themselves to their customer base... Clepper – a 35-year veteran of the motor carrier industry who retired from Yellow Transportation in 1996 – believes small carriers especially must stop viewing sales as a “dirty word” and more actively court both current customers and prospects in order to differentiate themselves from the competition... Getting in front on the customer on a regular basis, said Clepper, helps smaller carriers find out how they are performing and – more importantly – if there are other areas of the customer’s business they can serve...

* Analysis: Trucking failures drop in 2nd quarter

New York,NY,USA -etrucker/Gerson Lehrman Group's Intelligent Conectly, by: Jay Thompson -August 24, 2009: ... A dramatic reduction in trucking business failures in the 2nd quarter ’09 as compared to previous and year-over-year quarters. Also noted was the principal reason carriers are remaining in business - creditors are allowing otherwise insolvent companies to stay in business so that they don't have to take back used equipment. We agree that problems have slowed, but differ on some other points... There is no question that 2008 went down as a record year of trucking business bankruptcies, failures and closures... It was quoted that the average size of failed companies was 18 trucks for the quarter, as compared to those almost double that size last year and closures are now at their lowest level since the first quarter of 2007. We see the same, but our fleet data show it’s been more a function of lower fuel costs than anything else...(Photo from workingshowtrucksusa)

Labels: trucking industry opinions

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Aug 28, 2009