User-agent: Mediapartners-Google* Disallow: Trucks World News: December 2015
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Dec 19, 2015

LAWSUIT AGAINST ELD MANDATE * USA: OOIDA's

* Missouri - OOIDA slams U.S. ELD mandate, files lawsuit

 --  Just mere days after the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration unveiled regulations that will take effect in two years requiring most U.S. truckers to use electronic logging devices (ELD) the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has filed a lawsuit to stop the requirement... “This rule has the potential to have the single largest, most negative impact on the industry than anything else done by FMCSA,” said Jim Johnston, OOIDA president and CEO. “We intend to fight it with everything we have available... This regulation is absolutely the most outrageous intrusion into the rights of professional truckers imaginable and will do nothing at all to improve highway safety. In fact, we firmly believe it will do exactly the opposite by placing even more pressure and stress on drivers than they already deal with”... OOIDA claims to represent the interests of more than 150,000 small-business truckers and professional truck drivers... 
(Photo: An independent truck owner USA)  --  Grain Valley, MO, USA – Today's Truking (CAN) - Dec 18, 2015

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TRUCKMAKERS NEWS WORLDWIDE * Volvo's

* Sweden - Volvo November truck deliveries flat on year

 --  Swedish truck maker Volvo AB said Thursday it delivered a total of 18,333 trucks in November, virtually unchanged compared with the same month last year, as increased deliveries in Europe helped offset a large decline in South America... Deliveries in Europe increased by 40% during the month, while deliveries in all of its other regions fell. South American truck deliveries fell 63% while Asia saw a 9% fall and North America a drop of 2%. Truck deliveries in other markets were down 37%... Deliveries of the company's Volvo branded trucks fell by 10%, while deliveries of Mack trucks were down 11% and its UD branded trucks were down 15%. Renault delivered 54% more trucks during the month... 
Stockholm, Sweden - MarketWatch (USA), by Dominic Chopping - Dec 17, 2015

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TRUCKMAKERS NEWS * USA: Navistar's: Posts narrower losses

* Illinois - Navistar offers to settle with SEC


-- Truck maker Navistar International Corp. hopes to pay the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to settle a probe into past disclosures about the departure of a chief executive and an exhaust-treatment technology... The Lisle, Ill., company’s offer wouldn’t require it to admit or deny any wrongdoing, it said in a regulatory filing, and the company has set aside an undisclosed amount to cover a civil penalty... Navistar has endured heavy losses in recent years as it tries to recover from the costly switch in treatment systems and widespread performance problems with Navistar engines built from 2010 to 2012. Navistar’s share of the North America heavy-duty truck market has fallen by about half since 2012. Navistar now uses the same treatment system as rival truck makers. But low resale values for trucks featuring the old system have forced Navistar to buy back thousands of its older trucks to sell new models to trucking companies... Earlier in the quarter, Navistar announced a joint agreement with GM to build medium-duty trucks at the Springfield site. The new trucks are scheduled to go into production in 2018... 
(Photo: Joshua A. BickelL/The WSJournal: Navistar said its latest model trucks are gaining acceptance from customers even as industry-wide demand is weakening) -- Lisle, ILL, USA - The WSJ, by Bob Tita - 17 Dec 2015

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Dec 17, 2015

TRUCKERS´SHORTAGE * USA: Drivers say they're short on pay

* Missouri - Trucking companies are short on drivers
-- Trucking companies say they are critically short of drivers. Truckers say they’re really just short of pay... The American Trucking Associations says the industry is down 48,000 drivers. Noel Perry, trucking expert at FTR Transportation Intelligence says the industry is short by 100,000 drivers, the way he figures it... It’s not just pay increases, and signing bonuses. Trucking companies say they’re working to get drivers home more regularly, and cut aggravation on the job. But, Todd Spencer with the Owner Operators Independent Drivers Association says just look at the turnover rate. It can vary wildly by company, but averages a whopping 100 percent... But many new truck drivers don’t last their first year... For some, the job’s too hard on their families, they make mistakes, or they don’t earn as much as expected... For one thing, most drivers get paid by the mile, not by the hour. That means that delays at loading docks, in traffic, or whatever, cut straight into their earnings... Last year, median annual pay for drivers came in just under $40,000. Costello says that long-haul truckers bring home a median pay of around $50,000. But, they are on the road up to 14 hours a day, up to 80 hours a week, sometimes weeks on end — working, sleeping, eating truck stop food, in a truck... As trucking companies work to rebalance the relationship with their drivers, they face new safety regulations in the next couple of years will likely slow trucks down, and cut the number of hours drivers can work, lowering productivity. Both Costello (ATA) and Perry see much bigger truck driving shortages coming before the end of the decade... 
 Kansas City, MO, USA - KCUR, by FRANK MORRIS - Dec 10, 2015

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LONGER HEAVY TRUCKS * USA: Not approved by now

* New Jersey - The Record: Super-sized trucks


-- Congress should´t approve the use of longer two-trailer trucks until they have a better understanding of the potential danger in adding these to the roads. The idea that something can be more cost-effective shouldn't supersede the safety concerns... Legislation to increase the federal limit of 28 feet per container in a two-trailer truck by another 5 feet is being considered. These trucks are known in the industry as "twin-33s" ... This issue is especially relevant to New Jersey, as Gail Toth, executive director of the New Jersey Motor Truck Association, which hasn't taken a stance on the proposal... New Jersey is home to many warehouses and the largest container port on the East Coast... When pulled by an average-size tractor, these extended containers would mean trucks approaching 90 feet long would share the road with motorists. Encountering a vehicle that massive on the New Jersey Turnpike or Route 80 sounds scary, especially after a report from the U.S. Department of Transportation in June showed that these trucks have a somewhat longer stopping distance than the existing ones...
North Jersey, NJ, USA - The North Jersey, by Christopher Maag - DECEMBER 11, 2015

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DIESEL TRUCKS BANNED * India: In the city of Delhi

* Delhi - SC to consider ban on diesel trucks in the city, to curb pollution

-- The Supreme Court has agreed to examine a suggestion to ban entry of all diesel-run trucks, except those carrying essential goods, into the national capital and asked the Centre as well as the Delhi government to come up with “common minimum acceptable programmes” on the issue after consulting all stakeholders... “This is a very serious issue and we are earning a bad name in the world for Delhi being the most polluted city,” a bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur and justice R Banumathi said on Thursday... The suggestion has come from senior advocate Harish Salve that diesel-run trucks be banned for six weeks to see as to whether it makes “perceptible” change in the already worsened air quality as an interim measure... 
(Virendra Singh Gosain/ HT Photo - Connaught Place, Delhi’s iconic centre, is covered in smog caused by air pollution) -- New Delhi, India - The Hindustan Times - Dec 11, 2015

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TRUCKING SAFETY * New Zealand: Truck drivers should have to do something in return for getting an easier life

* Trucking changes should come with safety caveat, says AA

-- The government wants to increase the size of trucks on the roads... The proposals include raising the gross weight on eight-axle vehicles from 44 to 45 tonnes, and making it easier for trucks with more axles to carry up to 50 tonnes of weight... Car transporters will be allowed to increase from 36 to 38 tonnes all up. Trucks will also be allowed to be slightly higher and wider... The aim is to boost efficiency in the trucking sector... If truck drivers want to benefit from improved efficiencies they should be forced to improve the safety of their vehicles as a condition, the Automobile Association (AA) says... 
(Photo: Tree trunks on a logging truck on 29 August 2013 in Kaitaia, Northland)  --  Wellington, NZ - Radio New Zealand - 10 December 2015

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TRUCKMAKERS NEWS * USA: Mack's

* Pennsylvania - Mack Trucks to lay off 400 in

 --  The heavy-truck business is cyclical, and right now the industry is headed toward a downturn... Mack Trucks, the Greensboro company that makes the iconic truck brand, announced Tuesday that it will lay off about 20 percent of its workforce at its Pennsylvania plant. The plant, near Allentown, assembles all of the Mack trucks built for the North American market... The layoffs will take effect Jan. 25. About 400 of the plant’s 1,850 employees will lose their jobs... In a related move, Mack’s parent company, Volvo Group, said that it plans to lay off 200 people at its powertrain plant in Hagerstown, Md., during the first quarter of 2016. That plant employs about 1,800 people, who make engines, transmissions and related parts for Mack and Volvo trucks... The reason for the job cuts? After a big 2015 for the heavy-truck industry, demand for new trucks is declining... 
Greensboro, PENN, USA - N&R Greensboro, by John Newsom - December 15, 2015

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Dec 16, 2015

TRUCKMAKERS NEWS * UAE: Volvo's -- ** Mexico: Daimler's

* Qatar/United Arab Emirates - Volvo Trucks posts 100% sales growth
-- Volvo Trucks in Qatar has had a good year so far with their sales growth up by 100% in 2015 as compared to 2014. And to celebrate this, Domasco, the authorised distributors in Qatar for Volvo, hosted a business dinner recently. It was an occasion for the Volvo trucks VIP customers to interact with the manufacturer representatives... “Volvo Trucks has seen exceptional growth in the Qatari market this year. At Domasco, we value the strong relationships we build with our clients above all else and that is why, for us, it is not only about the product but the total solutions that we can offer to them,” Domasco managing director Faisal Sharif said... 
(Photo: The FMX Transit Mixer on display for the customer to get a look and feel of it) -- Qatar, UAE - The Gulf Times, by Joe Koraith - 15 Dec 2015


** Mexico - Daimler, fleet executives outline challenges and opportunities of Mexican trucking

-- If you think business conditions in the U.S. are challenging, consider the trucking industry south of the border. Daimler Commercial Vehicles Mexico hosted North American media and fleet customers to discuss the unique market conditions facing Mexican fleet operations... Stefan Kürschner, president and CEO Daimler Commercial Vehicles Mexico, says the emerging economy should be experiencing GDP growth of 4 percent or more... Daimler reports a strong increase in marketshare year-to-date through November. Daimler’s marketshare in the Class 6-8 market has increased 7 percent to 30.6 percent, while its Class 8 marketshare has improved 7.2 percent to 28.4 percent... The Mexican trucking industry doesn’t face the level of regulation seen by fleets in the rest of North America, resulting in some opportunities for greater productivity. For example, vehicle weight per axle is 10 percent greater than in the United States, and companies are allowed to operate at 166,000 pounds pulling double trailers in certain lanes and certain times of the day... On average, driver pay is five times less in Mexico compared to the United States, but the fleet executives agreed that it isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison compared to the U.S. labor market...
 (Photo: A Daimler's mexican refrigerated truck)  --  Mexico City, DF, MEX - CCJ - 10 Dec 2015

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TRUCKING INDUSTRY NEWS * USA: JB Hunt's - ** NH's -

* Arkansas - JB Hunt trucking to add jobs, expand headquarters in


-- J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. has announced plans to add employees and expand its corporate headquarters in Lowell... The company plans a new 133,000-square-foot central office building that is scheduled to open in spring 2017 and the company said it expects to hire more than 1,000 additional employees in Arkansas during the next six years... The company was incorporated in Arkansas in August 1961 and now has about 20,000 employees in 400 facilities nationwide... 
(Photo)   --  Lowell, ARK, USA - AP/ABC 7 TV - Dec 9, 2015

* New Hampshire - Trucking is essential to NH’s economy

-- We see them every day on New Hampshire roads. We ride alongside them on the interstate. As the nation gears up for the busy holiday season, many may be surprised to learn that the professional trucking industry is a critical part of making the holidays happen for America’s families... The fact is that 92 percent of New Hampshire’s communities depend exclusively on trucks to move their goods. Fewer trucks on the road would result in more expensive products and slower delivery times. Remove trucking altogether and essential cargo would not arrive to our doorsteps at all... Trucking is not only connecting the country and delivering goods that keep us healthy and comfortable; it’s also an economic engine that powers New Hampshire... 
(Photo: "Flying Yankee Railcar" being moved from Claremont, NH to its new home in Lincoln, NH) -- NH, USA - NHBR, by KEVIN BURCH - December 11, 2015

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TECHNO-TRUCKS DESIGN * USA - Turning Ideas into impact:

* DC - The Energy Department’s Office of Technology Transitions
-- Amazing things happen when scientists connect with innovators who connect with entrepreneurs. Ideas are sparked, solutions are found, new products are created and the entire economy is strengthened... That’s why the Department of Energy recently created the Office of Technology Transitions (OTT). Our goal is to turn ideas into impact. And we do so by connecting scientists and engineers at the Department’s 17 National Laboratories with investors and entrepreneurs all across the country... When the entrepreneurs and engineers at Smart Truck Systems, a company in Greenville, South Carolina, were looking to improve the aerodynamics and fuel efficiency of long-haul trailers, they looked to the supercomputers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Sophisticated simulations of airflow around the trailers led to the design of unique aerodynamic add-on components called the UnderTray system. The simulations reduced the time from concept to manufacture-ready from three years to 18 months. The system can increase highway fuel efficiency by up to 12 percent, saving thousands in annual fuel cost per truck and leading to potentially dramatic reductions in carbon dioxide emissions...
(Image by Oak Ridge National Laboratory - The National Labs’ supercomputing power to model aerodynamics of long-haul trucks to improve efficiency) -- Washington, DC, USA - Energy Gov, by Jetta Wong - December 8, 2015

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ELECTRONIC LOGGING DEVICES * USA: Truckers get two-year deadline for -- ** Drivers responsible for passenger safety belt use

* New York - Federal rule sets in motion a requirement that has divided the trucking industry
-- Truck drivers will have to switch from paper records to tracking their driving electronically within two years under a new federal rule aimed at making roads safer by enforcing limits on the time drivers spend behind the wheel... The requirement has divided segments of the trucking industry and added to debates in trucking over work rules and driver pay. Federal regulators say the electronic logging devices will help them police rules limiting how long drivers can remain on the road, restrictions aimed at preventing fatigue and accidents, and will provide tougher enforcement of rules aimed at highway safety... Independent drivers argue that the electronic tracking opens them up to undue coercion and even harassment over their working hours. But many companies have already started using the digital logs—some for several years—and say they help better manage a far-flung and fast-moving workforce under highly complicated work rules... The American Trucking Associations industry group, which represents trucking carriers, praised the rule saying it “will change the trucking industry—for the better—forever” ... Meanwhile, analysts predict the requirement will reduce the nation’s freight capacity, because many fleets that have fudged their paper logs in the past will see an immediate reduction in miles they can drive within federal time limits. It also will make retention more difficult, driving costs up for companies to recruit and expand, particularly for the smaller trucking companies that make up the vast majority of the nation’s carriers... 
(Photo: AP - Independent drivers say the strict readings from “e-logs” don’t account well for time when they are on the job but when trucks aren’t moving)   --   NY, USA - The WSJ, by LORETTA CHAO - Dec. 10, 2015



* Missouri - OOIDA petitions to block ELD mandate

--The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Assn. (OOIDA), which successfully challenged the previous attempt to mandate electronic logs, has now filed a lawsuit over the new ELD regulation published last week by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)... “This rule has the potential to have the single largest, most negative impact on the industry than anything else done by FMCSA,” said Jim Johnston, OOIDA President and CEO. “We intend to fight it with everything we have available”... 
 (Photo: FMCSA unveils final ELD rule) -- Grain Valley, MO, USA - Fleet Owner - Dec 15, 2015


** DC - FMCSA proposed rule would hold trucking companies. Wants passengers to buckle up, too
-- Passengers in trucks would have to buckle up — and the truck driver and trucking company will be held responsible for them doing so — according to a new proposed rule the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced Wednesday... FMCSA announced it is seeking public comment on a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking requiring passengers riding in property-carrying commercial motor vehicles to use safety belts... Federal rules have long required all commercial drivers to use safety belts. This proposed rule would hold both trucking companies and commercial truck drivers responsible for ensuring that any passenger riding in the truck cab also are buckled up... Approximately 275 occupants of large trucks killed in crashes in 2013 were not wearing their safety belts, according to the most recently available data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration... 
(Photo from FMCSA's Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Belt Facts brochure - Showing a commercial truck driver buckling up) -- Washington, DC, USA - Fleet Owner - Dec 9, 2015

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Dec 15, 2015

ELECTRIC TRUCK * Sweden: Scania to begin trial in March

* Sweden - Overhead lines will power hybrid trucks along a Swedish highway next year

-- Swedish truck maker Scania planning to trial electric trucks on electrified roads in February next year, hoping to realise fossil fuel savings of up to 90 per cent... Part of Sweden’s Gävle Electric Road project, a co-financed initiative from the Swedish government and the business community, the trial will take place on a two-kilometre test route from the Port of Gävle to Storvik... The modified highway has been equipped with overhead powerlines which will power the test vehicles through conductive technology... The vehicles feature a Siemens-developed pantograph power collector mounted behind the cab to harness the electrical current supplied from above and a Scania-developed electric hybrid drivetrain... 
(Photo: Scania truck fitted with a pantograph developed by Siemens)   --  Södertälje, Sweden - Fully Loaded (Australia) - 15 Dec 2015

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NEW TRUCKING REGULATIONS * USA: In and Out in the new U.S. Highway Funding Law

* DC - 7 Key trucking items In

 -- There are several items of importance to Canadian fleets and drivers who haul in United States in highway legislation passed by Congress and signed into law Friday by President Obama... Know as the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act), it authorizes spending US$305 billion on highways and transit. But in trucking it's likely better known for the special provisions that made into the new law – and those that didn’t... 

 What’s In: 
 * CSA -- It requires FMCSA to fix the program before to making the scores public again. The agency has 18 months to come up with the changes. 
 * Illegal drug testing -- This new law has a provision that would allow for human hair testing in employment screening as an alternative to urine tests. 
 * Insurance -- FMCSA must revisit the issue of minimum liability requirements for carriers before making regulations to increase them as previously planned. 
 * Detention Time – The FMCSA is directed by law to study how much time truckers spend waiting at shippers and receivers, including how it affects their pay, schedules and U.S. freight movements. 
 * Alternative fuels -- The new law requires the U.S. Transportation Department to identify and set up travel corridors along major national highways for electric, natural gas and propane vehicles and set goals for developing alternative-fueling stations. 
 * Changes in rulemakings -- The FMCSA has been ordered to conduct a “regulatory impact analysis” on any new rules it proposes. 

 What’s Out: 

  * An increase in the number of slots for states to participate in a pilot program allowing tolls to be placed along sections of existing interstates without tolls. 
 * Allowing truckers as young as 18 to drive interstate, down from the current requirement of being 21 years of age or older. 
 * Increasing maximum truck weights along federal routes or allowing tandem trailers up to 33 feet, up from the current maximum of 28 feet.

 Overall, the reaction from the various trucking groups, ranging from those representing fleets to drivers, has generally been positive. While many did not get everything they wanted in the new law, it marks the first time a federal highway funding bill longer than two years has been passed since 2005... 
Washington, DC, USA – Today's Trucking (Canada) - Dec 8, 2015

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CARGO THEFTS * Canada - Program to reduce they

* Alberta - Insurance, trucking industries expand anti-cargo theft program to Western Canada

-- The insurance and trucking industries are expanding a program to Western Canada in the hope of putting the brakes on truck cargo theft... The Insurance Bureau of Canada estimates the theft of transport trucks and merchandise is costing the Canadian economy about $5 billion each year... Thieves, sometimes linked to organized crime groups, steal entire shipments of goods, such as consumer electronics or beer, and then quickly sell the items on the black market – sometimes before the theft is even reported... To reduce such thefts, the insurance bureau has a cargo theft program that allows people to anonymously report crimes using a phone tipline and the Internet... 
Edmonton, ALB, Canada -- THE CANADIAN PRESS, by JOHN COTTER - DECEMBER 7, 2015

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AUTONOMOUS TRUCKS * Australia

* ACT - NTC to join driverless vehicle debate in 2016

-- The National Transport Commission (NTC) has announced it will embark on three new projects to address Australia’s current and emerging strategic transport challenges after business cases were approved by Australia’s transport ministers... CEO Paul Retter said Australia needed a productive transport network for a growing economy and these projects would help deliver the most efficient transport options our country needed... A key focus will be on identifying any legislative obstacles that might limit the uptake of automated vehicles in the future... In mid-2016, the NTC will start a ‘national surface transport productivity framework project’ to identify what industry and governments can do to improve transport productivity, and ‘who moves what where’ project that is meant to fill the information gaps that currently exist in our understanding of the market structure of Australia’s transport operators... 
 (Photo: 2015 Daimler Freightliner Inspiration Autonomous Truck) -- Canberra, Australia Capitol Territory - Prime Mover - 8th, December 2015

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TRUCKING INDUSTRY * Australia: Record of container traffic moved by truck through Melbourne's port

* Victoria - Trucks trump tracks in Melbourne port traffic

--The Port of Melbourne's overwhelming dependence on trucks to move goods around the state has grown as new figures reveal the proportion of freight transported by rail has fallen to less than 10 per cent in 2014-15... A record almost 2.58 billion tonnes of container traffic moved through Melbourne's port in 2014-15, mostly on city roads as rail's share of container traffic fell from 12.7 per cent to 9.4 per cent... The government has been warned in a confidential report obtained by The Age that the worsening truck traffic could reach a point where it erodes the port's "social licence to operate"... A spokeswoman for Mr Donnellan said it was not the government, but port users that decided whether to move freight by road or rail... 
(Photo: Craig Abraham - The Port of Melbourne relies on trucks to transport goods)  --  Melbourne, VIC, Australia - The Age, by Adam Carey - December 7, 2015

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TRUCKERS STRIKE: a REVOLUTION DELAYED * Russia: Trucks revolt, postponed again.

* Moscow - Activist Leonid Volkov: “In fact, right now, as we speak, the long-haul truck drivers are blocking the beltway” around

  (Video by euronews - Dec 3, 2015: Russian truck drivers are continuing to protest over a government plan to "introduce new road tolls" that they say will put them out of business)

-- On Friday afternoon, I was speaking with the anti-Putin organizer and anti-corruption activist Leonid Volkov. He was predicting the regime’s impending collapse when he glanced at his iPhone and said, “In fact, right now, as we speak, the long-haul truck drivers are blocking the beltway” around Moscow. The protest had been awaited for weeks, and it was expected to be big, possibly historic... Russian long-haul truck drivers had been staging smaller protests since at least the middle of last month, demanding the repeal of a new road tax that went into effect Nov. 15. The tax, ostensibly designed to compensate the state for the damage heavy vehicles cause to roads, amounts to 1.53 rubles (less than 3 cents) per kilometer until March 1, and 3.06 rubles (almost 5 cents) thereafter. At current exchange rates, come March, a Moscow-Novosibirsk run would cost about $150 in taxes, or roughly as much as a driver would be paid for the same distance... To add insult to financial injury, truck owners are required to install a tracking payment-processing system called Platon (an acronym for “payment for tonnage” that sounds just like the way Russians pronounce the name of the Greek philosopher), made by a company that belongs to Igor Rotenberg, the son of one of President Vladimir Putin’s lifelong friends and closest associates... The new tax is widely perceived as nothing more than a conduit for corruption. In this country of long distances and import-dependent economy, there are nearly two million long-haul trucks. Their drivers and operators have the power and the equipment to make the Russian economy slow down and its road traffic come to a standstill... With the beltway closed to them, the drivers could still blockade Moscow by clogging the dozen or so highways that lead to it. They have the numbers to do this. But they may lack the level of organization and trust necessary to carry off such a complicated protest. Even if they overcome those obstacles, state-controlled media will likely continue to ignore them, allowing Mr. Putin to continue ignoring them as well. And if it’s not televised, the protest will not be a revolution... 
Moscow, Russia - The New York Times, by Masha Gessen - Dec. 7, 2015

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Dec 12, 2015

INFRASTRUCTURES * Australia: Reliability of the Bruce Highway

* Queensland - Yeppen Floodplain project boosts the Bruce
-- The federal government says productivity on the Bruce Highway has been assured with the commissioning of the $170 million Yeppen Floodplain project... The Yeppen South project will keep the highway open during major floods in Rockhampton's southern outskirts, federal infrastructure minister Warren Truss says, and involves 2.1km of new bridges, and a number major intersection upgrades... Completed in two years, the Yeppen South project was jointly funded by the federal and Queensland governments, contributing $136 million and $34 million respectively...
(Photo: The floodplain project) -- Fairy Bower, QLD, Australia - ATN - 11 Dec 2015

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TRUCKMAKERS NEWS * Australia: Iveco's

* Victoria - IVECO delivers ninth Acco to Ross Books
-- Queensland subcontractor Ross Books now has nine Iveco Accos in his fleet after the truck maker delivered a new 8x4 agitator to cover a contract with Boral... Books’ new Acco features an SCR engine with 254kW (340hp) of power and 1,500Nm of torque, controlled by an Allison 6-speed automatic transmission... Hendrickson airbag suspension operates on both the front and rear axles, aiding the twin-steer front axle to cover 11 tonnes of the distributed 7.6 cm³ Cesco bowl weight... The new range of 8x4 agitators also ship with locally-developed electronic stability control (ESC), a must for Books’ contract with Boral... 
(Photo: An Iveco Acco 8x4 agitator ready for Boral work) -- Dandenong South, VIC, Australia - ATN - 8 Dec 2015


* Victoria - Cummins South Pacific reaches 5000th engine milestone

-- Cummins has delivered its 5000th Cummins ISXe5 engine sold in the South Pacific region... According to Cummins South Pacific, the 5000th engine was part of an order of seven T409 Kenworth prime movers recently delivered to Rocky’s Own...  A subsidiary of US-based company, Cummins Inc. and headquartered in Victoria, Cummins South Pacific covers Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands... 
(Photo: A T409 Kenworth prime movers) --  VIC, Australia - Prime Mover - 14th, December 2015

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TRUCKMAKERS NEWS * USA: DMAX to invest $82M and 150 new jobs

* Ohio - GM: Market hungry for big trucks needs more engines
-- The DMAX truck engine plant will see its first capacity increase since the mid-2000s after an $82 million investment that will lead to the hiring of 150 new workers, General Motors and Isuzu said Thursday... Officials wouldn’t say how many more diesel engines the Moraine plant will produce annually, but a market hungry for big trucks — from half-ton to full-ton size — demands the increased production, said Scott Whybrew, General Motors North America manufacturing manager...
(Photo: DMAX workers react to the announcement made inside the plant) -- Moraine, OH, USA — Dayton Daily News, by Thomas Gnau - Dec. 10, 2015

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Dec 11, 2015

TRAILER MAKERS NEWS * USA

* Indiana - Trailer orders solid for the season, despite October and y/y declines

-- Trailer net orders in October — while exceeding 33,000 units — were down 7 percent from September and 30 percent on a year over year basis. Nevertheless, according to the most recent State of the Industry: U.S. Trailers published by ACT Research Co. (ACT), the solid order season continues for this segment of the commercial vehicle industry... “The solid order season continued for U.S. trailers in October, although month over month and year over year comparisons were both in the red,” said Frank Maly, director of commercial vehicle transportation analysis and research at ACT... 
(Photo: Schmitz Cargobull factory. Fullfiling strong demand for box body and reefer trailers) -- Columbus, IND, USA - Trucking News - 25 Nov 2015

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TRUCKMAKERS NEWS * USA: Fiat- Chrysler's new CNG truck fleet

* Michigan - Fiat Chrysler converts private truck fleet to CNG

  (FCA Transport Converts to CNG - From Fiat Chrysler Automobiles on Dec 4, 2015 - Marty DiFiore, Head of FCA Transport and Auto Transport Services and Leonard Tanner Jr., FCA Automotive Driver, talk about updates to the FCA Transport facility and the new use of compressed natural gas)

-- FCA US, the North American automaking unit of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V., will invest $40 million to convert 179 trucks in its private fleet to run on compressed natural gas and build in Detroit the largest private CNG fueling station in North America. The move also will create the largest private fleet of CNG-powered, heavy-duty vehicles in Michigan, company officials said Dec... FCA Transport (formerly Chrysler Group Transport) ranks No. 6 on Transport Topics’ list of the largest private carriers in the manufacturing sector with 331 tractors, 13 straight trucks and 1,294 trailers... The company add it has spent $1.8 million to modify a maintenance facility to handle the new fleet and an additional $5 million for a new fueling station built by TruStar Energy... 
 Auburn Hills, MICH, USA - Transport Topics - 4 Dec 2015

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TRUCKER STORY * USA: Driving with Multiple Sclerosis, it's possible

* Kansas - Multiple Sclerosis doesn't slow down truck driver

-- When Bill Neuville applied for a job driving a semi for Great Plains Trucking, he already had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in January 2007. The trucking company, a division of Great Plains Manufacturing, decided to hire him anyway, despite an uncertain prognosis... That was in January 2008. Nearly eight years later, Neuville is still driving a commercial truck, hauling loads of farm planting, tilling, seeding and spraying equipment to customers throughout the U.S.A. ...  Neuville often is on the road for as many as two weeks at a time, driving an average of 10 to 11 hours a day. This, despite some numbness on three fingers on his right hand and a heaviness in his left leg that causes him to walk with a pronounced limp... Neuville tells people that as long as he takes of himself and maintains a positive attitude, there is little he cannot do... “If I stop, the MS wins. And I’m not going to let it” ... 
(Photo: Bill Neuville a Great Plains Trucking's truck driver, he had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis) -- Salina, KAN, USA - Salina Journal, by GARY DEMUTH - Dec 8, 2015

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TRUCKING NEWS * India - New trucking platform

* Andhra Pradesh - Cargo Exchange raising $2m from group of investors

-- Cargo Exchange India Pvt Ltd, a Hyderabad-based logistics services provider, is in final talks to raise $2 million from a group of investors... Founded in January 2015, Cargo Exchange acts as a bridge between truck owners, cargo-owners and intermediaries to exchange information, make deals... The company helps the cargo-owners and agents to provide trucks as per their requirements... The company claims to be the only platform to help trucks with a reverse booking system. It has around 8,000 trucks on its board currently and is increasing the fleet size to 15,000 and corporate customers from present 28 to 190... The company already has a tie up with Future Group at Hyderabad and is in talks to start operations in Chennai and Bangalore. The company is in an advanced stage of discussion with ARC (Associated Road Carriers), ETO (Economic Transport Organization), RCI, Agility, Peninsula Logistics Company, BVC Logistics for supply requirements. It has also approached transport association across Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamilnadu for empanelment of trucks in South India... Cargo Exchange aims to become the Uber in India for taxi and to be termed as Ola of Indian logistics industry... The Indian road network is second largest in the world after USA with 4.86 million kms and contributes a share of 4.8 percent in India’s GDP, according to a report by McKinsey & Company. Indian freight transport market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.35 percent by 2020 driven by the growth in the manufacturing, retail, FMCG and e-commerce sectors, as per an another report... 
Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India  --  Dealstreet Asia, by Bhawna Gupta - December 4, 2015

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TRUCKING INDUSTRY NEWS * USA: The Amazon Prime logo trailers

* Illinois - Amazon has a new fleet of branded trucks

-- Amazon.com unveiled a new fleet of branded truck trailers that will haul packages from the company’s massive fulfillment centers... The e-commerce giant said Friday it purchased “thousands” of the trailers that feature the Amazon Prime logo. Amazon is rolling out the trailers to increase its capacity for package deliveries from fulfillment centers to sort centers, where Amazon separates orders by zip code and sends them off to post offices... Amazon will continue to use a third-party firm that operates the tractor-trailers... Amazon made the announcement at an event in Chicago as employees prepared 2,000 care packages postmarked for soldiers overseas. The packages, which include Fire tablets, were loaded onto one of Amazon’s new trailers... The Seattle-based company has focused much of its attention recently on the way packages are delivered to customers... 
 (Photo from Amazon - Amazon trailer and logo) -- Chicago, ILL, USA - FOXBusiness, by Matthew Rocco - December 04, 2015

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TRUCKING RULES * USA: ATA pleased for the new Bill

* Virginia - Trucking industry lauds Senate, House accord on Highway Funding Bill

-- Top executives of the American Trucking Associations (ATA) are praising the House and Senate for coming together on a long-term highway funding bill that they claim will advance the cause of trucking safety and efficiency... Notably, ATA is pleased that the bill takes steps to reform the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) CSA safety monitoring system, opens the door for the use of hair testing for federally mandated drug tests, makes it easier for veterans returning from service to enter the trucking industry and sets aside dedicated funds for important highway freight projects... Other pieces of the bill ATA is happy to see enacted include a full study of the impacts of raising minimum insurance limits and a clamping down of a program to allow conversion of untolled Interstate highways to toll roads. However, ATA leaders said they believe the final bill misses opportunities to further improve safety and efficiency in trucking — particularly in the case of allowing younger drivers to operate in Interstate commerce... ATA is also disappointed the final bill does not address the potential patchwork of state rules unleashed by allowing California and other states to impose their own work and rest rules... 
Arlington, VA, USA - Trucking News - December 3, 2015

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TRUCKERS BLOCKADE * Russia: Against government new tolls and taxes

* Moscow - Russian truckers, irate over new tolls, block roads 

(Video: "Truckers on the approaches to Moscow", by Radio Liberty, streamed live on Dec 4, 2015 - Live from Khimki, which brought together participants of the protest action against the system of toll payments "Plato")

-- Hundreds of long-distance truckers blocked a lengthy section of the ring road circling the capital on Friday to protest a new national toll. The direct object of their ire was Igor Rotenberg, the scion of a billionaire oligarch clan close to Mr. Putin, who owns half of a new, GPS-based system that, when fully operational, will charge truckers fees on all federal highways. The truckers are widely dispersed and hence difficult to control, and their sentiments reflect those of the entire middle class... Under the new system, drivers must buy a tracking device and pay according to their mileage. An 800-mile round trip between Moscow and St. Petersburg costs an extra $33 at current exchange rates and will rise to $66 next March. Truckers said that the new toll amounted to about 10 percent of their revenue for each trip, and that it came on top of other hefty transportation taxes, sharply reducing their monthly wages of around $500 to $600. Truckers mocked the idea that the toll money would end up being invested in Russia’s notoriously poor roads... The new toll system is operational only in the Moscow region for now, but since that is such a national hub it has already elicited protests across the country, including in the Dagestan republic, in the cities of Vologda, Nizhny Novgorod, Bryansk, in Smolensk in eastern Russia, in Yekaterinburg in the central Urals, and in St. Petersburg... The Putin administration itself repeatedly offered dialogue and compromise in the form of graduated tariffs, but the truckers are demanding the tolls be scrapped entirely. Mr. Putin himself has not commented publicly on the protests... All across Moscow, the movement of the trucks circling the city was being monitored on various social media, inspiring a lively stream of criticism and support... 
 Moscow, Russia - The NYT (USA), by NEIL MacFARQUHARDEC. 4, 2015


* Moscow - In move to placate truckers, Russian parliament proposes lower fine for violating trucking law


-- In a hurried attempt to placate protesting truck drivers, the Russian parliament on Friday eased fines under a new road bill and indicated that it was ready to make further concessions... The truckers' action, the most visible social protest in years, has shaken Russia's dormant political landscape and cast a challenge to the Kremlin... The State Duma voted overwhelmingly on Friday to lower the fines for failure to pay a new road toll from 450,000 rubles ($6,670) to 5,000-10,000 rubles ($75- $150)... The bill still has to go to the upper house of parliament and get President Vladimir Putin's signature, steps that are seen as pure formalities... Lawmakers at a meeting with truck drivers earlier on Friday indicated they would be ready to make further concessions...
(Photo: Trucks waiting, the drivers say they intend to drive on Moscow to press their opposition)  --  Moscow, Russia - AP/NewSer - Dec 4, 2015

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