User-agent: Mediapartners-Google* Disallow: Trucks World News: June 2017
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Jun 29, 2017

TRUCKS ACCIDENTS * France: Stable for 2016

* Paris - Road safety: rising mortality among commercial vehicle users

--- Mortality of truck drivers is stable for 2016. On the other hand, it is rising sharply for the users of commercial vehicles, reveal the figures of the National Interministerial Observatory of road safety... The figures for road accidentality increase for the third consecutive year. The final report 2016 of the National Inter-ministerial Road Safety Observatory (ONISR) reports 3 477 deaths in an accident in metropolitan France. Even though 16 more people lost their lives compared to 2015, the figure remains broadly stable. The number of casualties recorded a slight increase of 2.6%, with 72,645 victims in 57,522 bodily injuries... Among the accident factors, excessive speed is still the leading cause, followed by alcohol, incriminated in 23% of cases in the 35-49 age group. Consumption of narcotic drugs mainly affects the 25-34 age group... 
Paris, France - ACTU Logistique/Transport - 29 June 2017

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TRAMFRET * France: A new freight transport experiment

* Paris - In Saint-Étienne, the goods finally take the tram

--- The project of TramFret will have taken time before to see the day ... announced for 2016 then for April 2017, it is in June of this year that the transport of goods by tram could finally be tested in Saint-Etienne. Back on a first experiment... This first test of the TramFret project finally took place a few days ago with the sign Casino . This delay is due to the fact that the TramFret project is conditioned by the decision to renew rolling stock by the tram operators. In Saint-Étienne, the new equipment was not delivered until the beginning of May, so TramFret could only start in June... Deliveries were made at the usual hours for the sign, at 6:30 am, when the tram line does not yet reach its peak of frequentation on the users side. "We were able to demonstrate that the unloading is done in less than 2 minutes with 10 rolls," welcomes Joël Danard... We must now wait for the renewals of rolling stock, which Joël Danard announces many between 2017 and 2023, especially in Paris ... 
Paris, France - ACTU Transport/Logistique - 29 June 2017

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GOODS TRANSPORT ON CITIES * France - Debate

*Paris - Report: "Logistics remains the poor relation of debates and public policies in metropolises"

... A report which advocates a better take into account the transport of goods in debates on the city... The observation that "Logistics remains the poor relation of debates and public policies in metropolises"... "particularly deregulated forms of work, such as the explosion of couriers self-entrepreneurs working for digital platforms"... Individual small businesses or very small SMEs now transporting "80 % of all shipments delivered to the city for hire or reward" ... In Paris, for example, the average distance between warehouses where deliverers get their supplies and the center has almost tripled since 1970, going from 6 to 16 km, the report says... In order to remedy all these evils, the authors issue 8 proposals for action to be declared at the national level, that is to say, central administrations and / or local and regional authorities... Terra Nova recommends to give a price signal to traffic on urban motorways, via "the implementation of the ecotax for urban motorways especially in Ile-de-France, including the exemption of Euro 6 vehicles and clean vehicles "... 
Paris, France - ACTU Transport-Logistique - 29 June 2017

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CHINA MADE FIRE TRUCKS * Philippine - Defectives

* Manila - 176 China-made fire trucks defective
--- The Department of the Interior and Local Government confirmed Wednesday an audit report that 176 of the 469 China-made fire trucks purchased by the government in 2015 were defective... "Roughly 37 percent ay may mga defect -- from simple defects sa side mirror up to medyo serious na finding like problem sa engine, sudden acceleration," DILG Secretary, Catalino Cuy, said in a radio DZMM interview... The Bureau of Fire Protection, Cuy said, repaired and has been using the trucks with minor defects... Fire trucks with graver defects meanwhile remain unused... Cuy said the supplier should replace the defective vehicles... He said the DILG is studying a recommendation of the Commission on Audit to fine the supplier P16 million... 
(Photo: COA: 176 China-made fire trucks defective)   --  Manila, Philippines - ABS/CBN News - Jun 28 2017

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Jun 28, 2017

WABCO & Daimler Trucks * Europe: Agreement for AMT control technology

* Belgium - WABCO / Daimler Trucks signs global long-term supply agreement 

--- WABCO Holdings Inc., a leading global supplier of technologies and services that improve the safety, efficiency and connectivity of commercial vehicles, today announced that Daimler Trucks has extended its long-term supply agreement with WABCO for new heavy-duty automated manual transmission (AMT) control technology to support its series production mainly in Europe, North America, Japan, and South America... 
(Image: Modular transmission automation system)   --   Brussels, Belgium - GlobeNewswire - June 26, 2017

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The new DAF truck * Australia - Versatile and powered

* Victoria - DAF CF85 truck review  

(Video by trucktvaustralia. Published on Jun 15, 2017 - Check out this teaser for the DAF CF85 video)
--- It won’t be easy in such a fiercely fought market, but DAF’s desire for a greater slice of the heavy-duty class will be certainly empowered by the introduction of Paccar’s 510hp MX-13 engine under the classy DAF CF85 cab... The versatile DAFCF85 with the top 510hp version of Paccar’s MX-13 engine... DAF now has a spearhead model with the attributes to kick-start a new era for a brand that has struggled for consideration as a contender, let alone a serious competitor... The key for DAF now, as general manager Rob Griffin consistently states, is to get backsides into the driver’s seat of the 510hp CF85 to not only demonstrate the new model’s merits but, perhaps more importantly, to add muscle to the message that the DAF of yesterday is long gone...
Bayswater, VIC 3153, Australia - Owner Driver, by: Steve Brooks - 27 June 2017

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Jun 26, 2017

TAKATA´s BANKRUPCTCY * Japan - $10 billions in liabilities by recalled air bags

* Tokyo - Troubled air-bag maker Takata files for bankruptcy in Japan and the U.S.

--- Takata Corp. filed for bankruptcy protection in the biggest postwar Japanese corporate failure in the manufacturing industry, as the 84-year-old company buckled under liabilities from millions of recalled air bags that have been linked to more than a dozen deaths... The Tokyo-based company and its units filed for creditor protection in the U.S. and Japan. The Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware listed more than $10 billion in liabilities, including claims from automakers including Honda Motor Co. -- the biggest user of the air bags -- and Toyota Motor Corp. as well as individuals who have brought class-action lawsuits... The filing is the culmination of a saga that began with a recall more than eight years ago but has spiraled as the company’s malfunctioning airbag inflators -- which sent shards of metal at drivers and passengers -- have been blamed for at least 17 deaths worldwide. It also removes the final hurdle for the supplier to be acquired by Key Safety Systems Inc., a unit of China’s Ningbo Joyson Electronic Corp., for 175 billion yen ($1.6 billion)... 
 (Photo Recall monitor air bag)   --  Tokyo, Japan - Bloomberg, by Jie Ma/Emi Nobuhiro/Dawn McCarty and Tiffany Kary - 26 June 2017

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DB Schenker & MAN * Europe: Testing traffic "platoon" trucks

* Essen - DB Schenker and Man Truck & Bus to test convoy traffic

--- DB Schenker and Man Truck & Bus will test the technology of "platooning" or traffic in convoy. A technique that relies on the suction effect and saves up to 10 % fuel. Both companies expect to start testing in the spring of 2018... Each convoy will consist of two trucks that will run empty at first, connected to each other through electronic "drawbars". At this stage, driving conditions and training of drivers in the operation of vehicles and their specific driving techniques will be scrutinized... From weekly to daily trials, the tests will be transformed into trips under actual transport conditions with convoys running between the logistics centers of Munich and Nuremberg up to 3 times a day... They will determine the data to be transmitted to the manufacturer and logisticians in order to obtain optimum monitoring of the convoy. But also the information to the leading driver, for example the updated alerts in order to disconnect the vehicles forming the convoy at the right time... 
(Photo - Convoy: Db Schenker & Man, trucks convoy "platooning") -- Essen, Germany - ActuTransport-Logistique.fr, by DIANE-ISABELLE LAUTRÉDOU - 20 June 2017

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UBER TROUBLES * Australia - The "facilitator” may be considered an employer

* NSW - Apps may be link in chain of responsibility

--- Chain of Responsibility Laws could also extend as far as ride share giant Uber, which last month launched its flagship logistics app, Uber Freight, in North America... Aussie-owned Channel 40 reported more than 2000 registered and active truck users... However the problem of ambiguous definitions in a digital world that faced the taxi industry could also face heavy vehicle enforcement agencies when it comes to legislating the role these apps play in the Chain of Responsibility... Depending upon the employment relationship, the "facilitator” may be considered an employer, which may prove to be an interesting legal debate to be had in the near future... 
Sydney, NSW, Australia - Big Rigs - 21st Jun 2017

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TRUCKERS' MISTREATMENT * USA: On California's Ports

* California - Investigation uncovers enterprise corruption and mistreatment of hundreds of truckers

(Video from USA TODAY NETWORK, by Scott Hall - An investigation found a predatory scheme that ensnared thousands of immigrant truck drivers at the port)

--- On two major California ports, the network-wide investigation, details the mistreatment of poor, immigrant truckers on the West Coast. Murphy’s work uncovers how hundreds of workers based out of two key ports in California, ports that serve as the entry point for more than half of America’s imports, are indebted to their employers and work up to 20 hours a day for pay that can drop to pennies per hour... And big box retailers such as Amazon, Wal Mart, and Best Buy heavily depend on the performance of these truckers. Retail giants often hired trucking companies that had been accused of labor violations and spent millions to fight lawmakers that tried to pass worker protections... The problem arose a decade ago when a state environmental law designed to clean up dirty ports backfired and trucking companies passed on the cost of new, cleaner rigs to independent truckers themselves... Drivers, many of them immigrants, are now forced into lease-to-own schemes, an arrangement that experts called a modern form of the outdated sharecropping system... While both state and federal officials are fully aware of the situation, they are often either unable to stop it or simply do not bother to try... 
 Los Angeles & Long Beach, California, USA - USA TODAY - 19 June 2017


* California - Port truckers don’t want clean air rules to eat up their paycheck

... The ports were often the last stop for road-wearier vehicles, helmed by penny-pinching owner-operators who needed to cut expenses and squeeze extra years out of their gear to make a living... Sure, short-haul trucks were often older and dirtier, but they got the job done, he recalled... The new, high-tech, cleaner-burning trucks can top a half-million each — not a figure that most freelance drivers keep in the glove box... Unions and trucking companies have grappled for decades, amid bitterness and strikes and lawsuits, over the employment status of today’s trucker. That’s not going to get easier as the skies get clearer... Drivers say some transit companies, which force them to buy or lease their own equipment and pay their own expenses, are robbing them by categorizing them as independent contractors. They say they’re getting boondoggled out of overtime and medical benefits... But company officials say contractors are not employees meriting such benefits because they set their own schedules and choose their own gear — and that many appreciate the freedom this affords them... Truckers say they want clean air — but not at their expense... 
(Photo - Port truck drivers in the Port of Long Beach)  --  Long Beach, CAL, USA - Long Beach Press Telegram, by Rachel Uranga - 17 June 2017

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Jun 19, 2017

AUTONOMOUS TRUCKS * Sweden - From Volvo

* Stockholm - Autonomous trucks now - The future of automation is happening!

  (VolvoGroupVideos - May 8, 2016: For the first time ever we will demonstrate our self-driving truck for a broader audience. A solution that we believe will ultimately revolutionize the mining industry)

-- We can keep our heads in the sand and tell ourselves they are decades away, but there are some real-world examples of the latest technology making this possible in quite a short time... These examples are from Volvo, but you can be sure every major truck maker is pouring plenty of dollars into autonomous programs all over the world. In fact, the basic technology should be available to all of them, as the gizmos which make it possible – like the light-based radar – are being made by a wide spread of component suppliers... So, these trucks are going to be a reality. The first areas to use them will be in confined areas like mine sites and industrial plants, but we can be sure the pace of technology development will not slow and enable the new trucks to interact with humans more and more over a short period of time... Autonomous trucks delivering goods in the centre of Melbourne, no, or running a B-triple down the Bruce Highway, no. However, moving containers around the port and to nearby depots, quite possibly...
Stockhom, Sweden -  Diesel News, by Tim Giles - 19 June 2017

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ELECTRIC POWER TRAIN BY CUMMINS * USA

* Indiana - Cummins: Not so fast Tesla!


--- Tesla says it will unveil an electric truck in September. But Cummins isn't about to let Elon Musk simply walk away with the market. The truck engine maker announced last night that it plans to produce electric power trains for transit buses starting in 2019... How far along is Cummins in developing an electric power train?... It's a big question for investors, given that electric car maker Tesla wants to sell trucks too, and Elon Musk recently teased that it plans to unveil an electric semi truck in September. Should Tesla manage to "pull that off"," then the electric car make would have the electric vehicle market all to themselves... But late Wednesday, executives at Cummins, which makes diesel and natural gas truck engines, announced on a conference call that the company plans to start production of electric power trains for transit buses in cities around the world in 2019, and expand into other industrial and commercial uses down the road as the battery range for electric vehicles increases... 
 (Image from Cummins: TM4 INC. and CUMMINS INC. announce a joint effort to develop the TM4's LSG130 electric generator)   --   Columbus, IN, USA - Barrons, by Johanna Bennett - June 15, 2017

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TRUCKS & CYCLIST FATALITIES * UK

The Streets of London

--- On the streets of London, the CLOCS (Construction Logistics and Community Safety) ticking for truck owners in the UK capital. There’s been a growing debate in the UK on how to avoid collisions between commercial vehicles and cyclists. Truck makers are showcasing the designs they have come up with to avoid cyclist fatalities... In 2011, an analysis of nine cycling fatalities involving trucks in London discovered that seven of them involved construction vehicles, triggering concerns that while the construction industry accounted for only a small-proportion of freight traffic running in and out of the nation’s capital, their trucks were ‘over represented’ in cyclist fatalities... At a CLOCS showcase, building and industrial materials supplier SIG unveiled its first ‘enhanced urban safety’ curtain-sider, based on a 6×2 Econic. The 26-tonne GVW rear-steer rigid has the 300hp-rated OM 936LA and six-speed Allison ...
London, EN, UK - Diesel News.com.au, by Brian Weatherley - 16 June 2017

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TRUCK & POWER GENERATOR * India: Presenting “Multix” first personal utility vehicle

* Haryana - Multix car truck Family - The result? Versatility. Utility. Electricity!

 (Video from Multix Official - Jul 18, 2016: Power With its X-PortTM feature, Multix can generate up to 3 kilowatts of power--enough to light up homes and power music systems, agricultural machinery and other essential equipment) 

--- Multix is purpose-built for the independent businessman. Son, brother, father, shopkeeper, dreamer, doer, gambler, winner, hero—he plays many roles. His road to success is lined with twists and turns, a series of ever-evolving challenges that he adapts to and overcomes without fail... With its X-PortTM feature, Multix can generate electricity, introducing unprecedented flexibility and utility to the businessman’s life. It’s the first of its kind. It’s a game changer. It’s the new 3-in-1... Multix seats a family of 5 with ease. It takes on the roughest terrain comfortably and is built to protect against impact, keeping your loved ones safe... Multix makes ample room for the tools of your trade. Fold the seats back and in a record 3 minutes, you have space large enough to carry whatever you want. Multix is purpose-built to get the job done... Power with its X-PortTM feature, Multix can generate up to 3 kilowatts of power enough to light up homes and power music systems, agricultural machinery and other essential equipment...
Gurgaon, Haryana, India - Multix.com.in - 17 June 2017

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Jun 14, 2017

TOYOTA PICKUPS RECALL * USA

* Texas - Toyota recalls 36,000 Tacoma pickups for stalling risk

--- Toyota is recalling 36,000 Tacoma pickups in North and South America because they can stall without warning... The recall involves Tacomas with V-6 engines from the 2016 and 2017 model years. Most of the trucks — 32,000 — are in the U.S. The rest are in Canada, Mexico, Bolivia and Costa Rica... The company says an engine crankshaft timing rotor may have been produced with excessive anti-corrosion coating, which could cause the crank position sensor to malfunction... If the sensor malfunctions, the vehicle may run roughly, misfire or stall... Toyota Motor Corp. won't say if there have been any reports of injuries or accidents related to the defect... Vehicle owners will be notified of the recall starting next month. Toyota dealers will replace the crank position sensors for free...
(Photo from Toyota - Tacoma recall)   --  Plano, TXS, USA - Associated Press/Fox News Auto - June 02, 2017

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DAIMLER VANS RECALL * USA

* South Carolina - Daimler recalls 1,257 Sprinter vehicles over tire pressure mislabeling issue
--- Daimler Vans USA is recalling nearly 1,260 2016 Mercedes-Benz and Freightliner Sprinter 2500 and 3500 vehicles equipped with reinforced front axles that are labeled with a tire pressure that is too low, the company announced Tuesday... Daimler said that operating the affected vehicles, with low front tire pressure may result in tire damage, increasing the risk of a crash. The label with the incorrect tire pressure is located on the B-pillar... The company has not yet announced the date when it plans to notify affected customers... If necessary, Freightliner Sprinter and Mercedes-Benz dealers will check and replace the tire label at no cost to the customer...
(Photo: Ryan ZumMallen/Trucks.com - Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans) -- Charleston, SC, USA - Trucks.com, by CLARISSA HAWES - JUNE 13, 2017

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NEW HDT * South Africa - From UD TRUCKS

* Pretoria - UD Trucks launches new heavy-duty truck range in SA

--- UD Trucks Southern Africa (UDTSA) has launched its new Croner heavy commercial vehicle (HCV) range. Featuring 13 variants, the new product range offers up to 21 configurations... The range will be assembled from semi-knockdown kits (SKD), at the company’s plant in Rosslyn, Pretoria, and will be introduced to other markets in the region during the next year... The SKD kits for assembly will be imported from Thailand, similar to the Quester extra-heavy truck range... South Africa remains the Japanese truck maker’s biggest market outside Japan. The company is active in more than 60 countries... UD Trucks became a part of the Volvo Group in 2007... 
Rosslyn, Pretoria, SA - Engineering News (South Africa), by IRMA VENTER - 9 June 2017

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TRUCKERS' COMFORT * USA - New cab desing from VOLVO

* North Carolina - Comfort guided Volvo VNR interior designers

--- Drivers are proud of their trucks, so many were happy to invite Volvo designers into their cabs. The company met with about 2,000 drivers and fleets while developing the truck, which was unveiled in April... Helping drivers stay comfortable behind the wheel is also vital, especially considering the breadth of new recruits entering the industry. They include women, said product marketing manager Allison Athey, she pointed specifically to the truck’s adjustable seat belt and three-way adjustable steering wheel as features that help drivers of varying sizes find the right fit... The wheel itself features 19 buttons that control such functions as Bluetooth connectivity, integrated engine braking and cruise control, gauge cluster backlight and audio volume and buttons that permit drivers to flash their headlights or taillights at other drivers... If sensors in the base determine a crash is imminent, the seat will drop and slide back. The seat also features a side-mounted air bag, which is in addition to the standard driver-side steering wheel-mounted air bag... 
 Winston-Salem, NC, USA - Transport Topics, by Joe Howard - 5 May 2017

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NEW DAIMLER's FACTORY * Germany / Thailand -

* Germany: Daimler plan new assembly facility in Thailand
--- Daimler is planning a new assembly facility in Thailand as it looks to rebuild its presence in south east Asia's largest heavy truck market... Through its newly established local subsidiary, Daimler Commercial Vehicles (Thailand), the truck maker expects to have a new assembly plant in place in Laem Chabang - a port city just east of Bangkok - by the end of the year... The factory will have an initial annual capacity of 3,000 units and will focus on producing Fuso brand trucks for the local market... The unit is also busy with production and exports in India. Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) has been supplying Fuso truck CKD kits to Kenya for local assembly since March 2016, and to Daimler Truck's production plant in East London/South Africa, where local assembly began last month...
(Photo: Ending an Actross truck in Daimler's factory)  --  Stuttgart, Germany - just-auto (UK), by Graeme Roberts - 12 June 2017

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MERCEDES & KAMAR * Russia: Truckmakers partners

* Moscow - Russian truck maker becomes partner of Mercedes-Benz in plant building

--- KAMAZ, a Russian truck manufacturer, has become a partner of Mercedes-Benz in construction of a plant under the German brand in the Moscow region, Russia... Mercedes-Benz and KAMAZ are already operating a joint enterprise in the Russian city of Naberezhnye Chelny, in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, within the framework of a multi-lateral partner agreement on the production assembly concluded by AvtoVAZ, Nissan, and Renault... The plant construction is estimated at 300 million euro. The facility will be located in the Solnechnogorsk district of the Moscow region... 
(Photo: Construction.RU) -- Moscow, Russia - Construction.ru, by Tatiana Kanunnikova - 31 May 2017

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MILITARY TRUCKS PURCHASES * USA: Navistar's

* Illinois - U.S. Army awards Navistar Defense $18.8 Million contract to build 115 Medium Tactical Vehicles

--- The U.S. Army tapped Navistar Defense LLC – the military vehicle division of the truck manufacturer – to build 115 International 7000-MV Medium Tactical Vehicles, or MTVs, headed to Iraq, worth an estimated $18.8 million... The MTVs are based on the International WorkStar severe-duty platform designed for off- and on-road operation. The vehicles are the “backbone for the company’s MaxxPro Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle,” Navistar said Tuesday... “Since 2004, Navistar Defense has delivered nearly 7,000 trucks and buses to Iraq through foreign military sales contracts,” said Kevin Thomas, the company’s president... The vehicles will be built primarily at Navistar’s assembly plant in West Point, Miss., and will be delivered in January 2018...
 (Photo Navistar MaxPro Dash utility vehicle) -- Warrensville, ILL, USA - Trucks.com, by CLARISSA HAWES - JUNE 13, 2017


* Virginia - Army launches competition for new heavy dump truck
--- The U.S Army is inviting industry to compete for chance to build the service’s new, armored dump trucks... The Army intends to award a Single-Source Award, Firm-Fixed Price, Seven-year Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity commercial contract for the M917A3 Heavy Dump Truck, according to the May 26 solicitation... The service plans to buy about 683 M917A3 armored dump trucks... The last time the Army purchased new dump trucks was in September 2000 when it awarded a $400 million contract to Freightliner LLC to build almost 3,400 M917A2s, as well as M915A3 line haul tractors and M916A3 light equipment transporters... 
(Photo: U.S. Navy - The U.S. Army has launched a competition that will result in the purchase of more than 600 new, armored dump trucks) -- Arlington County, VIR, USA - DoD Buzz, by MATTHEW COX - JUNE 2, 2017

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NOW, TRUCKING VTOL * USA: Workhorse's vertical-takeoff-and-landing one

* Ohio - Truckmaker sees simple, practical route to electric VTOL

--- Workhorse Group is bringing its hybrid-electric truck experience to the piloted, two-seat SureFly. The company sees agriculture and logistics as initial markets, and air taxi in the longer term... For the first time, an automotive manufacturer is entering the fledgling electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) market. Workhorse Group is bringing its hybrid-electric truck experience to the piloted, two-seat SureFly. The company sees agriculture and logistics as initial markets, and air taxi in the longer term. Workhorse may not be a household name, but the delivery step vans it makes for FedEx and UPS are everyday sights... 
(Photo:)  --  Loveland, OH, USA - - Aviation Week & Space Technology, by Graham Warwick- 8 June 2017

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ELECTRONIC LOGGING DEVICES * USA: Trucks mandatory from Dec. 18

* DC - Supreme Court rejects trucker Bid to review ELD mandate

--- The Supreme Court rejected a last-ditch bid by a major truck driver association to overturn a federal mandate on electronic logging devices that track how many hours truckers drive... The nation's highest court said Monday it would not consider a petition by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association to hear the trucker trade group’s argument against the Department of Transportation and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration requirement to install the devices, or ELDs, in heavy-duty trucks. The federal mandate is set to go into effect on Dec. 18... Equipping roughly 500,000 U.S. trucking firms with ELD looks to be about a $1–billion business, according to FMCSA estimates... The issue has divided the trucking industry... 
(Photo: Wikipedia)  --  Washington, DC, USA - Trucks.com, by CLARISSA HAWES - JUNE 12, 2017

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TRUCKS ONLY LANES * USA: Proposed by state of Georgia

* Georgia - Seeks to remove motorists with designated truck-only lanes

--- At a time when Australian authorities bar truckies from using lanes on a number of major highways, this U.S state has a different approach... Instead of pushing heavy vehicles from the express lane, the State of Georgia instead seeks to remove motorists from the equation, with designated truck-only lanes... The proposed project will see the construction of two lanes restricted to trucks (similar to Australia's bus only lanes), on a popular freight route the Interstate 75 with an estimated to cost over $2 Billion... The proposal comes in the lead up to the expansion of the port of Savannah, which will add to the demand on the State's trucking industry who already hauls 75 percent of the total freight tonnage in Georgia... The truck-only lane project is the first of its kind to go ahead in the U.S...  Similar projects have been mentioned in a number of proposals in Australia, including a 2012 report into a number of private financing options for Sydney motorways... 
(Photo: Truck bypass lanes for I-15 and I-405 interchange)  --  Savannah, GA, USA - Big Rigs (Australia) - 14th Jun 2017

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HIGH CLAIMS * USA: Truck insurance ratings

* New York - Commercial vehicle insurer profits hurt

--- More accidents and higher than anticipated payouts for claims hurt U.S. insurers’ profits from commercial auto policies in 2016, and explain why trucking companies are seeing higher premiums... The financial results for U.S. insurers’ commercial auto insurance policies were the worst they’ve been in 15 years, hitting an underwriting combined ratio of 110.4 percent, according to a report released from Fitch Ratings, the New York credit rating agency... Translated, that means for every $100 in commercial auto insurance policy premiums collected, U.S. insurers paid out $110.40, the sixth year in a row underwriting losses outpaced profits, according to the report... Commercial auto insurance includes both liability and physical damage policies. By law, trucking companies as well as individual owner/operators are required to carry both... Higher rates for commercial auto insurance premiums are likely to continue rising, as several companies have stopped writing policies, and “a sharp turnaround in results is not anticipated,” according to the report... 
 (Photo: South Florida truck accident overturned)   --   NY, USA - Trucks.com, by MICHELLE RAFTER - June 2, 2017


* California - New independent truckers: How hard it would be to get insurance

... Getting into the trucking business as an independent owner/operator is more complicated than filling out an application to drive for Uber or Lyft...Insurance policies with annual premiums that cost $6,500 or $7,000 four or five years ago now run anywhere from $12,000 to $14,000, “and a lot of brokers are throwing around $20,000,” said Joe Rajkovacz, director of governmental affairs and communications for the Western States Trucking Association, which helps members find insurance... For CDL truck drivers to operate under their own authority as a licensed, regulated carrier, they must apply to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, or FMCSA, for a U.S. Department of Transportation number, which allows them to run a heavy-duty truck across state lines. They also must meet other state and federal requirements... And they need insurance. Like any other trucking company, FMCSA requires individual owner/operators to carry a minimum of $750,000 to $5 million in liability coverage, depending on the type of cargo they transport. Coverage minimums haven’t changed since 1985. The FMCSA has looked at raising the requirements but dropped plans for a change earlier this month, saying it did not have sufficient information to make a decision... In addition, owner/operators who work as for-hire interstate haulers also need cargo insurance, typically $100,000 in physical damage coverage. Brokers and shippers may require other coverages types... The biggest cause of higher premiums, however, is U.S. insurers’ reaction to higher-than-expected accident rates and claims involving commercial vehicles, a one-two punch that depleted cash reserves the companies set aside to cover claims, which has hurt profits... 
(Photo:)   --  Upland, CAL, USA - Trucks.com, by MICHELLE RAFTER - JUNE 6, 2017

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