User-agent: Mediapartners-Google* Disallow: Trucks World News: July 2014
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Jul 30, 2014

TRUCKING INDUSTRY NEWS * USA

* Texas - Feds propose tracking drug, alcohol offenses among truckers. Current DPS systems only tracks in-state offenses 

(Photo: An Eagle Ford shale oil tanker truck and lease tanks near Pearsall in South Texas)  
San Antonio,TXS,USA -KSAT Anchor/Reporter, Myra Arthur (SEE VIDEO INSIDE) -July 28, 2014: -- The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is currently reviewing public comment on the proposed implementation of a nationwide clearinghouse to track drug and alcohol offenses among commercial driver’s license holders... DPS tracks drug and alcohol offenses among CDL holders, but only those within Texas... That leaves the door open for out-of-state drivers with past offenses to move to Texas looking for work and employers in the Lone Star State potentially never finding out about those offenses... John Esparza, president and CEO of the Texas Trucking Association says, more and more truckers from out of state and out of the country are coming to Texas thanks to the Eagle Ford Shale boom... Companies would be required to run potential employees through the federal clearinghouse and check each hired driver annually... The FMCSA estimates the clearinghouse would help reduce traffic crashes resulting in $187 million in benefits...

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posted by Unknown @ 7:30 PM  0 comments

TRUCKMAKERS NEWS * USA & Canada

* Oregon - Daimler touts vocational market leadership, offers ISX12 G engine for 114SD
(Photo) 
Portland,ORE,USA -CCJ, by Jeff Crissey -July 29, 2014: -- In 2010, Daimler Trucks North America sets is sights on becoming the market leader in the vocational market within five years. Since that time, the company has increased its marketshare to almost 31 percent year-to-date 2014 with a target of 32 percent by year-end 2014... Year-to-date, DTNA says it has sold 21,236 M2 and SD trucks in the U.S. and Canada, outpacing many total Class 6-8 truck sales from other OEMs... 


* Oregon - Paccar’s 2Q profit climbs nearly 9.5%

Bellevue,ORE,USA -The Seattle Times, by Coral Garnick -30 July 2014: -- Bellevue-based truck maker Paccar reported an almost 9.5 percent increase in second-quarter earnings and record quarterly revenue from its Paccar parts division... The truck maker said the results reflect improving truck sales in the U.S. and Canada, and strong aftermarket parts and financial-services worldwide... The company also announced its plan to build a 176,000-square-foot distribution center in Renton to replace its current facility... 


* Wiscosin - Oshkosh shares fall on earnings miss, lowered full-year forecast
Oshkosh,WIS,USA -Reuters, by James B. Kelleher and Paul Simao -Jul 29, 2014: -- Shares of Oshkosh Corp tumbled more than 11 percent on Tuesday after the specialty truckmaker posted an unexpectedly lower quarterly profit and cut its full-year earnings outlook... The Wisconsin-based company posted a fiscal third-quarter profit of $105.1 million, or $1.22 a share, down from $148.4 million, or $1.67 a share, during the comparable quarter last year. Analysts had expected a quarterly profit of $1.37 a share, according to Reuters estimates... Oshkosh also cut its full-year earnings per share target to a range of $3.40 to $3.55, from a range of $3.40 to $3.65... It cited a 46.5 percent drop in sales of tactical and other military vehicles and a 8.3 percent decline in sales of fire trucks, ambulances and other emergency vehicles for the lower quarterly profit and change to its full-year earnings forecast... The company said revenue during the quarter fell 12.3 percent to $1.93 billion...

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posted by Unknown @ 6:48 PM  0 comments

TRUCKMAKERS NEWS * Germany: MAN's -

* Germany - MAN's Q2 Russia truck orders slump over Ukraine crisis

Munich, Germany -Reuters -Jul 30, 2014: -- German truck maker MAN SE said on Wednesday its Russian orders plunged by as much as a quarter between April and June over the Ukraine crisis... Demand from unnerved Russian customers tumbled between 20 percent and 25 percent in the second quarter, Anders Nielsen, head of MAN's truck and bus division told a news conference when outlining the company's quarterly results... Repercussions of sanctions against Russia and the devaluation of the rouble are a smaller concern to MAN, Chief Executive Georg Pachta-Reyhofen said a day after the European Union and the United States announced further measures against Russia... MAN, which is owned by German carmaker Volkswagen and also makes diesel engines and turbines, generates about five percent of its sales in Russia...

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posted by Unknown @ 6:39 PM  0 comments

Jul 29, 2014

TRUCKMAKERS NEWS * Japan: Toyota's

* Japan - How do you sell pickup trucks in Asia? Toyota says 'Insane Dance Video'

 ("Jungle Wakudoki" -Video from YouTube, by Toyota Asia Pacific)
Tokyo,Japan -Jalopnik (USA), by Andrew P Collins -28 July 2014: -- Toyota's just commissioned their own Gangnam Style-style dance number to sell their Hilux pickup and it is batshit insane... Ad agency Dentsu Aegis cooked up this "dance-ver-tisement" (like that? AdWeek went with adver-dance-ment) with the simple tagline: "Strange things happen when nature calls in the jungle" ... Basically a pack of business men are tooling around the woods in office attire doing the Night At The Roxbury head-dance, collectively decide to urinate, and when they apparently cross the streams on a delightfully cheesy fake gorilla's head, group-dance ensues... It's actually pretty funny, and if you've been dying for a replacement to What Does The Fox Say since that burned a hole in your headphones you just might dance into Toyota's marketing trap and find yourself "doing the Wakudoki" ...

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posted by Unknown @ 7:40 AM  0 comments

TRUCKMAKERS NEWS * China / India: BeiBen

China - Truck maker BeiBen eyes Indian market; to introduce it's vast array of vehicles soon

(Photo: A Chinese Bei Ben truck) 
 New Delhi,India -The Economic Times/India Times, by Chanchal Pal Chauhan -29 Jul, 2014: -- BeiBen Trucks Group, one of the largest heavy-duty truck makers from China, is planning to introduce its vast array of vehicles here, hoping that the new government's focus on infrastructure development will revive the domestic market after two straight years of decline... An email sent to the Marion Wu, international business manager at Norinco Group, the holding company of BeiBen Trucks, on the finer details on the India strategy, remained unanswered...

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posted by Unknown @ 7:21 AM  0 comments

TRUCKS MARKET * USA: Uneven recovery

* DC - How truck sales track the economy

(Photo by Nikki Kahn/The Washington PostSunset Ford of Waterloo is shown on Sunday, July 13, 2014) 
Washington,DC,USA -The Washington Post, by Jeff Guo -July 28, 2014: ... Sales of light trucks like pickups or SUVs are a favorite measure because they reflect both business optimism and a particularly potent kind of consumer exuberance... The traditional type of light truck buyer is a company that needs pickups or cargo vans to haul materials or crew... Many buyers are contractors, landscapers, plumbers, electricians, or in some other way linked to the construction industry. For this reason, light truck sales often rise and fall with the number of new homes constructed, and the auto industry watches the housing market closely to predict demand for trucks... The other type of light truck buyer is a suburban warrior making a passion purchase... The uptick in truck sales not only means increased consumer confidence, but also a fat bonus for automakers. Pickup trucks in particular are massively lucrative for Detroit, generating as much as 10 times the profit of a small car...


* Ohio - Ford raises F-150 prices, dealers begin ordering 2015 models
(Photo from REUTERS, by Aaron Josefczyk: The new 2015 Ford F150 truck sits at the Ford Lima Engine Plant during a media event in Lima, Ohio, March 28, 2014)
Lima,Allen County,OH,USA -Reuters -Jul 28, 2014: -- U.S. and Canadian dealers on Monday began ordering 2015 Ford Motor Co F-150 pickup trucks, which are lighter than earlier models, priced higher and include additional standard features, the company said. The launch of the new trucks with aluminum bodies is key for Ford as the F-150 pickups have been the best-selling vehicles in North America for 36 years and are profit centers for the No. 2 U.S. automaker... The base, or non-luxury, models - the XL work truck and the most popular version the XLT - will see prices rise $395 over F-150 pickups currently on sale. The XL base price will be $26,615 including destination charges, and the XLT will begin at $31,890. Together, these two versions will account for up to 70 percent of F-150 sales, said company spokesman Mike Levine. He added, the higher prices were due to additional standard features in all five trim levels of the F-150, and not because of the greater cost of aluminum over steel...

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posted by Unknown @ 6:55 AM  0 comments

Jul 28, 2014

TRUCKMAKERS NEWS * Europe: DAF's

* The Netherlands - DAF Engine Plant

Eindhoven, The Netherlands -Video from YouTube, by DAFTrucksNV -10 July 2014: -- The DAF Trucks Engine Factory in Eindhoven, the Netherlands...  The engine plant is the most modern of its kind, with the installation of Six Sigma compliant equipment for both machining and assembly...

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posted by Unknown @ 6:24 AM  0 comments

TRUCKERS´SHORTAGE * USA & Canada: More women in trucking

* New Jersey / USA - Lack of truck drivers jackknifes Swift profits

(Photo: Shutterstock) 
Port Rlizabeth,NJ,USA -The New York Post, by Michael Gray -July 27, 2014: -- Swift Transportation, the largest trucker in North America, saw its shares crater 16 percent on Friday after it said it could not find enough truck drivers and that it would hurt future earnings... The firm, which has a large facility near the Port of Elizabeth in New Jersey, said it was “constrained” by a challenging driver market, which led to higher turnover than was anticipated... “There has been a driver shortage that has been getting incrementally worse as the economy improves and they have to fight for employees with the housing sector,” Lee Klaskow, an analyst, told Bloomberg... The American Trucking Association has issued repeated warnings that the North American trucking market has lost more than 30,000 drivers in the past few years and anticipates that shortfall could skyrocket to 200,000 in the next decade, according to a statement on its web site...


* Nova Scotia / Canada - Female drivers sought by trucking companies 

(Image by Anjuli Patil/CBC: Katrina Mapplebeck and Alison Theriault pose next to their truck) 
Halifax,NS,CAN -CBC News -Jul 25, 2014: -- The Trucking Human Resource Sector Council Atlantic says they're going to need 30,000 more workers over the next six years. The average entry wage for a long-haul driver is $50,000... A new campaign wants to draw more women to a career in trucking. It’s hoping to change current numbers, where 97 per cent of professional truck drivers are men... Kelly Henderson, the executive director of the Trucking Human Resource Sector Council Atlantic, hopes women will step up... The federal government is committing more than $242,000 over three years to get more women in the trucking industry in Atlantic Canada... The council plans to roll out a campaign to attract women drivers this fall...

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posted by Unknown @ 5:46 AM  0 comments

Jul 24, 2014

SAFETY TRUCKERS' * USA: Prime Inc's

* Missouri - Trucking company Prime Inc has training center sleep lab, other safety strategies

Springfield,MO,USA -Sleep Preview Magazine -July 22, 2014: -- In light of a recent news article discussing mandatory sleep apnea tests for transportation operators as a means of reducing accidents, trucking company Prime Inc released a statement noting the company’s efforts to reduce sleep apnea-related accidents... Prime stated it is promoting sleep apnea awareness and testing among its drivers and those enrolled in the company’s student training program. Prime has a sleep lab at its Training Center where drivers and enrollees can undergo testing... In addition to the sleep apnea lab, the company is implementing features like the Meritor OnGuard with Collision Mitigation technology, along with Bendix AutoVue Lane Departure System. The OnGuard system alerts the operator if the following distance is narrowing on the object ahead of the truck, and actively brakes the tractor to increase the distance between the forward object and the tractor. The Lane Departure System alerts the driver of lane drift; this is essential, as most operators will drift over the lanes when they are excessively tired or dosing...

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posted by Unknown @ 6:40 PM  0 comments

TRUCKMAKERS NEWS * Germany: Daimler's

* Germany - Daimler Trucks posts second quarter improvements
(Photo by Evan Lockridge - Daimler Trucks' Future Truck, unveiled earler this month)
Stuttgart,Germany -Truckinginfo (USA) -July 23, 2014: -- German truckmaker Daimler AG reported Wednesday that it’s third quarter underlying profit, along with earnings, both increased in the second quarter of the year... Earnings before interest and taxes rose 12% from the same time a year earlier while revenue grew 6% during the same time. Net profit fell considerably due to a sale of shares it owned in the European company EADS, now known as Airbus Group... Worldwide, 628,900 passenger cars and commercial vehicles were sold from April through June, which is 4% more than in the same period of last year...

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posted by Unknown @ 6:28 PM  0 comments

LAWSUIT AGAINST TRUCKMAKER * USA: Navistar's

* Illinois - Trucking companies sue over alleged engine defects

Springfield,ILL,USA -The National Law Journal, by Laura Castro -July 23, 2014: -- Three trucking companies have filed a putative class action against Navistar International Corp. in an Illinois federal court, accusing the manufacturer of knowingly equipping its 2008-2013 model trucks with diesel engines containing defective emission systems that can lead to sudden breakdowns or poisonous exhaust fumes in the passenger compartment... Plaintiffs Denis Gray Trucking, Carmichael Leasing Co. Inc., and GTL Enterprises Inc. sued the trucking company on July 9 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois for unfair, unlawful, and fraudulent business practices, breach of express and implied warranties, and related claims... The suit was filed on behalf of plaintiffs and all current and former purchasers and lessees nationwide of 2008-2013 model year Navistar vehicles equipped with "Maxxforce Advanced EGR diesel Engines" ...  Navistar uses Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) technology in its vehicles to reduce emissions by subjecting exhaust flowing out of the engine to a second burn in the cylinders...

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posted by Unknown @ 6:18 PM  0 comments

OFFICIAL WHISTLEBLOWERS ? * USA

* Kansas - OOIDA praising truckers’ lawsuit over driver safety records 

Grain Valley,KS,USA -Truckinginfo -July 23, 2014: -- Six members of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association filed a class-action suit against the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration last week under the Federal Privacy Act charging that the agency is unlawfully disseminating reports of driver safety records to potential employers... According to the complaint filed in federal court in Boston, Mass., FMCSA is only allowed to report “serious driver-related violations” under its Pre-Employment Screening Program... However, the suit claims the agency is releasing reports that go far beyond its statutory authority... A PSP record includes a commercial vehicle driver’s five-year crash and three-year inspection history with FMCSA’s Management Information System... The lawsuit claims that the reports sent out by FMCSA harm the plaintiffs’ earning potential and the ability to the get hired in truck driving jobs...

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posted by Unknown @ 5:51 PM  0 comments

TRUCKS SALES * USA

* Texas - Heavy truck sales increase of 74% leads to record Rush profit


New Braunfels,TXS,USA -Truckinginfo -July 23, 2014: -- Rush Enterprises, which operates the largest network of commercial vehicle dealerships in North America, recorded a record profit in the second quarter of the year...  Net income hit $19.8 million, or 49 cents per diluted share, compared to $5.6 million, or 14 cents per diluted share from the same time a year ago. Revenue during the most recent quarter was $1.18 billion compared to $790 million a year earlier, a 49% increase... In the second quarter Rush's Class 8 retail sales, which accounted for 6.5% of the U.S. market, increased by 74% over the same time period in 2013. Rush's Class 4-7 medium-duty sales, which accounted for 5.7% of the total U.S. market, increased 49% over the second quarter of 2013...


* Illinois - 14% of trucks sold by 2035 will run on alternative fuel 

(Photo: A trucks of the future: MAN)
Chicago,ILL,USA -Today's Trucking (CAN) -Jul 22, 2014: -- The number of trucks in use around the world will double between 2014 and 2035, according to Navigant Research, a provider of global clean technology analysis... Not only will there be more trucks on the road, but the worldwide sales of alternative fuel vehicles will climb to 14 percent of trucks by 2035, Navigant predicted in its newest report... Medium and heavy-duty vehicles currently represent less than five percent of the total vehicle market, but that's changing as less expensive alternatives to petroleum-based fuels, such as natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas and electricity make inroads in the market... “Natural gas has a significant advantage over most alternative fuels,” Scott Shepard, Navigant research analyst, said... Still, diesel will remain the primary fuel choice for trucks, the report claims, but the percentage of trucks powered by diesel is expected to fall from more than 79 percent in 2014 to 76 percent in 2035...

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posted by Unknown @ 5:36 PM  0 comments

FUTURE OF TRUCKING * USA

* California - Big Rigs become robot convoys

 (Video by: Sadie Bass, Justin Beach - Source: Bloomberg) 
Menlo Park,CAL,USA –Manta.com/Bloomberg -July 23, 2014: -- Peloton Technology has developed a vehicle-to-vehicle communication system that has the potential to transform the trucking industry. In this installment of Bloomberg's "Wiring the World" series, the Silicon Valley startup says they can improve safety while cutting costs for thousands of trucks on the road...

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posted by Unknown @ 4:51 PM  0 comments

TRUCKERS' STRIKE * Canada: Port Metro Vancouver

* British Columbia - Drayage sector warns of strike at Port Metro Vancouver


(Photo by Herb Ramos/CTV: Hundreds of truckers gather for a strike at pullout near Highway 91 in Delta to protest what they say are long wait times at Port Metro Vancouver. On Feb 2014) 
Vancouver,BC,Canada -JOC.com, by Bill Mongelluzzo -Jul 22, 2014: -- The union representing about 400 harbor truck drivers at Port Metro Vancouver has given Canadian officials until July 30 to enforce government-mandated pay rates for drivers, or face another possible trucker strike at Canada’s largest port... McGarrigle met Monday to discuss what he termed trucking companies’ widespread violation of the new trucking rates announced in March by federal mediator Vince Ready. Representatives of the more than 1,000 non-unionized drivers in Vancouver were also at the meeting... The rates negotiated by Ready increased driver wages by 12 percent and doubled the fuel surcharge, which trucking companies must pass along to the drivers. It was negotiation of those rate increases that convinced both unionized and non-unionized drivers to call off a month-long strike that had crippled the Pacific Coast port... However, more than three months later, many harbor trucking companies are still not adhering to the rate increases, McGarrigle said...

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posted by Unknown @ 4:37 PM  0 comments

Jul 23, 2014

TRUCKMAKERS NEWS * USA: Ford's - Navistar's

* Michigan - Ford reveals details about engines in aluminum-body F-150s
(Photo by Clarence Tabb Jr / The Detroit News: Doug Scott, marketing manager of Ford trucks, shows off the weight difference between the 2014 F-150 on the left and the 2015 F-150 on Tuesday)
Dearborn,MICH,USA -The Detroit News, by Michael Martinez -22 July 2014: -- Ford Motor Co. on Tuesday revealed details about the engines that will power the aluminum-body 2015 F-150, and showed the pickup is lighter than originally estimated... The new truck will be offered with a base 3.5-liter Ti-VCT V-6 engine, or a 2.7-liter EcoBoost V-6. And in a direct comparison with a steel-body 2014 F-150, Ford showed a 732-pound weight difference — more than the 700-pound estimate given when the 2015 pickup was revealed at the 2014 North American International Auto Show... Pricing for truck with the base 3.5-liter V-6 and optional engines was not released...


* Michigan -  Eaton to supply Navistar’s heavy-duty remanufactured transmissions

Galesburg,MICH,USA -Today's Trucking -Jul 22, 2014: -- Truck maker Navistar has chosen Eaton as their new supplier of heavy-duty remanufactured transmissions... Deliveries to Navistar’s roughly 350 North American dealers started July 1 and are mostly of Eaton Flex Reman transmissions... The Flex Reman transmissions ticketed for Navistar will include a customized design with shift bars in a forward configuration on the housings. Ten part numbers will be available with the design...

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posted by Unknown @ 6:44 AM  0 comments

TRUCKS RECALLS * USA: Chrysler's

* DC - Chrysler recalls 800,000 SUVs for ignition problems


(DaimlerChrysler / by Wieck - 2006 Jeep Commander) 
Washington,DC,USA -The Detroit News, by David Shepardson -22 July 2014: -- Chrysler Group LLC is recalling nearly 800,000 older Jeep SUVs for ignition switch problems, and is urging owners to only use the ignition key as the automaker works to find a fix... The company said the recall covers some 2006-07 Jeep Commander and 2005-07 Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs, and said its engineers are seeking a remedy... Chrysler advised owners to make sure there is enough clearance between their knees and the keys so that the key doesn’t get bumped and accidentally turn off the engine... As a further precaution, owners are advised to remove all items from their key rings, leaving only the ignition key...
* DC - Feds want faster pace for auto recalls 

Washington,DC,USA -The Detroit News, by David Shepardson -21 July 2014: -- The Obama administration and some members of Congress want to give the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration sweeping new authority to get unsafe cars off the road quickly. And they want higher fines to deter automakers from delaying recalls... Some in Congress want to go further: They have promised big hikes in NHTSA’s budget and to add dozens of investigators. A separate measure would subject auto executives to up to five years in prison for failing to disclose dangerous safety defects within 24 hours... The nation’s auto safety agency has taken a much more aggressive role in recent years. It began after criticism in 2010 that NHTSA didn’t do more to prod Toyota Motor Corp. to address sudden acceleration complaints before a fatal crash near San Diego. It stepped up its role even more this year as a result of delayed General Motors Co. recalls for defective ignition switches linked to at least 13 deaths...

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posted by Unknown @ 6:34 AM  0 comments

Jul 22, 2014

TRUCKMAKERS NEWS * India: FUSO's

* India - Fuso begins production of left hand drive trucks for Africa


(Photo: MFTBC) 
Oragadam,Chennai,India -Automotive Fleet (USA) -July 11, 2014: -- Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (MFTBC), together with Daimler India Commercial Vehicles Pvt. Ltd. (DICV), its Indian counterpart under the new Asia Business Model, has announced the start of production of its first left-hand drive FUSO trucks specifically developed for the growth markets in Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America... Built at DICV’s state-of-the-art Oragadam plant in Chennai, India, the FUSO FJ medium-heavy-duty truck will first be launched in markets like, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Egypt, and in the mid-term, in further markets in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East...


* India - Tata Motors appoints distributor for Russian Federation
(Photo: Bloomberg: Headquartered in Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan, TML Truck Rus will import and distribute Tata Motors’ commercial vehicles and original spare parts) 
 Mumbai,India -Livemint, by Shally Seth Mohile -21 July 2014: -- Tata Motors Ltd, India’s largest commercial vehicle maker, has appointed LLC TML Truck Rus (Russia) as its commercial vehicles distributor in the Russian Federation, the company said in a statement on Monday. As an official distributor, TML Truck Rus will establish mono-brand outlets in Moscow and St. Petersburg, a warehouse for spare parts and 60 touch points in key regions, over a period of five years. Tata Motors will launch its range of light, medium and heavy commercial vehicles into the Russian market thorough the distributor, headquartered in Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan...

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posted by Unknown @ 1:37 PM  0 comments

TRUCKING INDUSTRY NEWS * USA: Rebates

* Arkansas - To give clean fuel rebates to fleets

(Photo: A Waste Pro USA’s first-ever compressed natural gas -CNG- solid waste collection truck) 
  Little Rock,ARK,USA -Automotive Fleet -July 21, 2014: -- The Arkansas Energy Office will hand out $150,000 in state rebates to fleet operators who convert vehicles to run on compressed natural gas, according to an announcement... Fleet operators who convert to CNG or progane autogas or purchase a CNG or propane autogas vehicle are eligible for the Clean Fuel Vehicle Rebate Program, which is part of the Gaseous Fuels Rebate Program... The rebate amount is dependent on the cost of the conversion or incremental cost of a clean fuel vehicle and allows for a rebate equivalent to the lesser of 50 percent of the conversion or incremental cost or $4,500 per vehicle... Vehicles must be from the 2012 model year or later, and purchases made prior to Aug. 15, 2013 are not eligible...

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posted by Unknown @ 1:17 PM  0 comments

HAZMAT REGULATIONS * USA

* New York - Open road for hazmat trucking in 
(Photo: CHUCK HAUPT/Press and Sun-Bulletin - Members of the Broome County Hazardous Materials Response Team wearing self contain breathing apparatus suits check for the leaks of chemicals inside the truck this afternoon. Containers have been placed to catch the chemical leaking out of the truck in Vestal as private environmental clean-up teams been called in or the cleanup) 
NY,USA -Star Gazzette, by Steve Reilly -July 18, 2014: -- For the first time in 14 years, federal officials have updated the nation's list of roadways where states restrict the transport of hazardous materials... The New York City Fire Department is designated in the new 71-page Hazardous Materials Route Registry as the the only agency with authority to decide where hazmat can be shipped in New York State... The U.S. Department of Transportation's newly-revised registry, released on Monday and like the previous version, includes no listings in New York's 57 counties outside of New York City — giving haulers free rein to carry hazmat through neighborhoods, around lakes and across rivers and streams. A hazmat trucker can choose to drive on any road in the state that's open to truckers outside of New York City... New York is the only state in the nation where a local agency has been named as the state's hazmat routing agency...

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posted by Unknown @ 1:06 PM  0 comments

Jul 21, 2014

TRUCKMAKERS NEWS * USA: Daimler TNA's / Paccar's

* North Caroline - Daimler Trucks North America cranks up new HQ in Portland, Ore.

(Photo: Daimler Trucks has 5,200 employees in the Charlotte region) 
Charlotte,NC,USA -The Charlotte Business Journal, by Ken Elkins -21 July 2014: -- Daimler Trucks North America last week began construction of its new $150 million headquarters in Portland, Ore., according to the Portland Business Journal... Daimler Trucks is the largest manufacturer in the Charlotte region, with 5,200 employees in the metro area. The company operates Freightliner plants in Mount Holly, Gastonia and the Rowan County town of Cleveland. It also has an administrative office in Fort Mill... 


* Washington - Truck maker poised to outperform regardless of takeover rumor

Seattle,WASH,USA -Seeking Alpha -Jul. 20, 2014: -- Recent takeover rumors created buzz around PACCAR... Accounting for the majority of PACCAR’s revenue, the North American heavy-duty truck market is forecasted to grow substantially, providing a solid backdrop for the shares to outperform the broader market... PACCAR Inc. is a manufacturer of the Peterbilt, Kenworth, and DAF branded trucks established in Seattle, Washington in 1905. On July 3rd, the stock gapped 5% upward after rumor of a takeover bid from Volkswagen surfaced... The rumor was speculated by competitor Daimler Trucks' chief executive Wolfgang Bernhard, who mentioned to analysts that "serious, multiple sources" suggest to him that Volkswagen was interested in purchasing PACCAR next year. Volkswagen has since denied the rumor. However, considering Bernhard's status in the industry and the fact that he served on Volkswagen's management board from 2005 to 2007...

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posted by Unknown @ 6:30 AM  0 comments

Jul 19, 2014

TRUCKMAKERS NEWS * Sweden - Volvo

* Sweden - Sluggish Europe, Chinese construction woes dent Volvo profits

(Photo REUTERS, by CARLO ALLEGRI: A Volvo logo is pictured at the Jacob Javits Convention Center during the New York International Auto Show in New York April 16, 2014) 
Stockholm,Sweden -Reuters, by NIKLAS POLLARD/JOHANNES HELLSTROM -Jul 18, 2014: -- Truck maker AB Volvo posted core earnings well below expectations on Friday as it struggled with slow demand for European trucks at the start of the second quarter and a weakening market for construction equipment in China... The profit miss raises pressure on Sweden's biggest company by sales - and the country's top private sector employer - to show that a sweeping three-year plan to boost profitability is starting to boost its bottom line significantly... Shares in Volvo, which makes trucks, construction gear, buses and engines, slid 5.0 percent to their lowest level in more than five months, underperforming the European autos index .SXAP which eased 1.6 percent by 1219 GMT...

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posted by Unknown @ 12:47 PM  0 comments

TRUCKMAKERS NEWS * USA: Navistar's

* Illinois - Navistar first Vocational Trucks ship with 9.0L, 10.L SCR engines
(Photo from Navistar: 2014 International WorkStar with dump body) 
Warrensville,ILL,USA -Work Truck Magazine -July 15, 2014: -- Navistar Inc., started customer shipments of its first International DuraStar and International WorkStar vehicles with the company’s 9.0L and 10.0L engines with selective catalytic reduction (SCR) emissions technology. The company’s internal testing shows these products are delivering up to 8 percent in fuel-economy improvement over the previous generation... Built on Navistar’s proven I-6 platform, the company’s 9.0L and 10.0L engines bring 9.3-liter displacement and 860-1,150 lb.-ft. torque in a weight-saving medium-duty package. The company conducted field tests in extreme environments such as Alaska, Colorado, and Arizona. These tests included a variety of vocational duty cycles from garbage packing and utility trucks to dump trucks and sewer pumpers...

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posted by Unknown @ 12:28 PM  0 comments

TRUCKS´RECALL * USA: Ford's

* DC - Work truck upfitters issue recalls for fire risk 

(Photo Courtesy Ford Motor Co.)
Washington,DC,USA -Automotive Fleet -July 14, 2014: -- The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced four separate safety recalls to address potential fire risk arising from oil leaks in modified Ford F-Series Super Duty work trucks equipped with Muncie Power Products PTO (power take-off) assemblies... In these modified work trucks, oil might leak from the PTO pressure switch onto a thermal blanket covering the exhaust... This condition poses a fire risk, NHTSA said... The truck upfitters will install new PTO pressure switches, free of charge, to resolve the problem... Oklahoma City-based Tactical Vehicle Outfitters is recalling 19 2010-2014 model-year Ford F-350 and F-550 trucks...

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posted by Unknown @ 12:16 PM  0 comments

TRUCKERS´FATIGUE * USA: Studies and Opinion

* New Jersey - Serious issue: Fatigued truck drivers, focus on economics, not electronics

Princeton,NJ,USA -Los Angeles Times/Opinion, by Karen Levy -17 July 2014: ... Truckers don't work without sleep for dangerously long stretches because it's fun. Let's hope the discussion doesn't stop there. The nation's trucking system needs to be reformed, and the changes must address root economic causes underlying a range of unsafe practices... Truckers don't work without sleep for dangerously long stretches because they have to earn a living. The market demands a pace of work that many drivers say is impossible to meet if they're "driving legal" ... In the face of rising consumer demand for overnight shipments and for fresh produce trucked from the opposite coast, shippers have upped the pressure both to move goods quickly and to keep costs low. Since many truckers are paid by the mile, they're incentivized to stay on the road as much as possible. (As truckers are fond of saying, "If the wheel ain't turnin', you ain't earnin'!") ... One thing that makes this possible is that truck drivers are explicitly exempted from the Fair Labor Standards Act, so they aren't legally entitled to overtime pay or other protections designed to prevent their labor from being exploited... Economist Michael Belzer has compared trucks to 'sweatshops on wheels' because of the low rates of pay, long working hours and unsafe conditions... In an attempt to increase truckers' compliance with the hours-of-service rules, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration — the federal agency in charge of regulating the trucking industry — is very likely to soon mandate that all truckers install electronic logging devices... These electronic systems will help guard against some unsafe practices, but they won't address many of the biggest sources of trucker fatigue. Truckers will tell you that long stretches of "detention time" — the (typically unpaid) hours that a trucker must wait at a shipper's terminal to be loaded or unloaded — are what really exhaust them, and force them to be on duty for far more hours than are legally permitted... Most truckers are also unpaid for the many hours they spend completing mandatory inspections, dealing with repairs, filling out required paperwork, checking the security of their loads and many other important tasks that make up their long workdays. None of these activities will be addressed by electronic logs, and drivers will most likely continue to squeeze them into their required "rest" periods, as they have been doing for decades... The road is an unpredictable workplace. As anyone who has driven on the highway knows, road travel is fraught with contingencies, from weather to congestion to accidents, all of which can make a trip take longer than anticipated. Add to that the other pressures to keep driving — economic incentive, employer pressure, the dearth of safe places to park and rest, and the desire to get home after days or weeks away — and you begin to get a sense for why truckers drive for as long as they do... But electronic monitoring is an incomplete solution to a serious public safety problem. If we want safer highways and fewer accidents, we must also attend to the economic realities that drive truckers to push their limits...

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