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TRUCKING INDUSTRY NEWS * USA: Too many trucks, too little parking
* NY - New rules mandate breaks, but few spots are being built; driver deaths cast glare on shortage
New York,NY,USA -THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, by BETSY MORRIS -Jan. 20, 2015: -- The last time Ashley Boeglin talked to her truck-driver husband, Mike, he was heading toward Detroit late one night in June to drop off a load of coils at a ThyssenKrupp steel plant... But the next morning, Mr. Boeglin’s body was found in his silver Freightliner, burned beyond recognition. The truck had been set afire and left less than 150 yards from the factory gate, according to local police, who say they suspect robbery was the motive. They have made no arrests... Mrs. Boeglin says she doesn’t know why her husband didn’t stay at a truck stop, but he probably didn’t want to spend money on fuel to get to one or pay an overnight parking fee. She believes that if he had been invited inside the factory’s fenced-in parking lot, “I wouldn’t be going through this” ... But most shippers don’t allow truck parking, including the ThyssenKrupp plant. “We were deeply saddened by these events,” a spokeswoman said in an email, but the plant “clearly defines” the hours it’s staffed to receive deliveries to ensure safety, and it discourages parking in vacant lots nearby... Mr. Boeglin’s death has cast a harsh glare on the severe shortage of accessible parking for truck drivers. Trucks transported 9.7 billion tons, or 81% of the $682 billion of 2013 freight revenue, according to the American Trucking Associations. Yet there aren’t nearly enough legal, safe and well-lit parking places where truckers need them most. Meanwhile, safety regulators have increased the number of times that drivers must stop, park and rest... There were 2.3 million trucks on U.S.A. roads in 2014. While that number hasn’t increased in recent years, cheaper fuel is likely to change that... An informal Web survey in 2013 drew an outpouring of responses from nearly 4,000 truck drivers. Nearly 40% said it takes them, on average, an hour or more to find parking for the night. About 28% said they regularly or occasionally stay on freeway ramps; 52% said they pull up behind shopping centers, and 45% hunt for places like abandoned gas stations or vacant strip malls...
Labels: trucking industry news USA
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