Light trucks, vans wielding influence on future mobility

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Is the Right Oil Getting Into Your Engines?

When you switch to new oils and don't drain enough out of your bulk tank first, you may lose benefits such as longer oil drains. Photo: Shell

Choosing the best oil for your operation is only part of the equation when it comes to making sure you've got the right oil in your trucks. There are a lot of things that can happen between the order and the fill, including the distributor delivering the wrong oil or oil that's accidentally mixed with other oil; having a bulk oil tank with a mishmash of oils that keeps you from getting the performance you need and expect; and contaminants getting into the oil before or during the fill.

First of all, when you're choosing an oil and an oil supplier, the American Petroleum Institute (API) always cautions that “meets” is not the same as “licensed.”

“An oil marketer could say it ‘meets the standard,' but the only way to verify it's licensed is to check with API or look at our online directory to make sure it's really licensed,” says Kevin Ferrick, who manages the API's licensing program. “If it's licensed, the maker is warrantying it meets the API standard. If it's not, it doesn't have that added assurance. So there's a difference.”

Even if you choose the right licensed oil, that's no guarantee that it's the oil actually going into your truck engines.

Bruce Stockton, who's now a fleet consultant under the company name Stockton Solutions, has worked for some of the country's largest fleets. When he arrived to head up the maintenance department at one major carrier, he discovered that the brand of oil being spec'ed was not what was actually in the fleet facility's bulk tanks.

“When we tested the bulk oil, which some people don't think about testing — they assume if that's what ...Read the rest of this story

Survey: Fleets Investing in Technology to Cut Costs

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In a recent survey of the transportation industry by Teletrac Navman, 39% of fleets named reducing costs as a top business goal in 2017.

The survey, which examined best practices, trends, and current issues influencing transportation operations in the U.S., found that reducing costs, increasing fleet size, incorporating telematics solutions, and hiring and retraining new drivers were the top business priorities across the industry.

With margins thin across the industry, more organizations are looking to technology and outsourcing drivers and equipment to improve productivity, streamline operations and reduce waste, according to Teletrac Navman.

"Facing fluctuating fuel costs, a driver shortage and new regulatory challenges, it's not surprising that executives in transportation are doing everything they can to control costs and boost revenue," said Sid Nair, senior director of transport and compliance, Teletrac Navman. "Companies are investing in technologies from telematics to data management tools to help streamline their workflow and connect drivers to the back office. This is only the beginning of a paradigm shift centered around technology adoption and use."

More than three-quarters of the surveyed companies were confident in their ability to be ready for the electronic logging device mandate that takes effect on Dec. 18, with large fleets of 100 or more vehicles reporting the highest confidence. While ELDs are still a major concern for fleets, 28% of the companies reported taking no steps to address the concerns.

Fleets are also looking to modernize to reduce maintenance costs over time. Also, 61% are planning to increase the size of their fleets. Thirty percent of fleets reported outsourcing drivers and trucks in order to meet increasing freight demand.

With the ongoing driver shortage in trucking, 58% of the surveyed fleets reported rewarding drivers for good performance as a tool for retention, and 20% said they would hire more drivers in the next ...Read the rest of this story

Earnings Watch: Werner, Covenant See Double-Digit Gains; Marten Nearly Unchanged

Three trucking fleets issued their third quarter earnings reports on Thursday, with two showing profits increasing significantly from the same time a year earlier, while the third was healthy but nearly the same as it was a year earlier.

Werner Enterprises Inc. reported net income surged 19% in the third quarter, totaling $22.5 million, while earnings per share improved to 31 cents from 26 cents a year earlier.

The earnings include a gain on the sale of real estate of $6.5 million, or 6 cents per share, plus $3.4 million of losses on equipment sales, or 3 cents per share.

Revenue edged higher by 4%, totaling $528.6 million.

Third quarter 2017 freight demand in the Nebraska-based company's truckload fleet improved throughout the quarter, according to the company.

“In July and August 2017, freight trended better than normal, and meaningfully better than the challenging freight market of third quarter 2016,” the company said in a statement. “As we moved into September, the freight market strengthened further due in part to the significant disruption caused by two major hurricanes in south Texas and Florida.”

Werner said the hurricanes resulted in short-term costs in September due to out-of-route miles, higher fuel costs, equipment issues and driver domicile issues, and the multiple days of school closings at its Florida-based driving schools negatively impacted driver hiring.

“At the same time, these events improved spot market pricing and further widened the positive gap between demand and capacity, which better positions the freight and contractual rate markets going forward,” the company said. “Freight volumes thus far in October 2017 have been seasonally better than normal."

Werner ended the third quarter 2017 with 7,375 trucks in its truckload segment, a year-over-year increase of 200 trucks and an increase of 60 trucks from the second quarter. Its dedicated unit ended the quarter with ...Read the rest of this story

Why Insurance Costs are Sky-High

Adopting more technological advances is the most likely route to cut back insurance costs, including leveraging solutions to curb distracted driving and other unsafe behaviors. Photos: iStockPhoto 

With all the standard and optional safety technology that trucks and their drivers fairly bristle with these days, no one could fault a fleet manager for thinking their commercial insurance costs should be going only one way… down. But instead, they're going up and up.

The problem is affecting everyone from owner-operators to the biggest players in the business. Even a powerhouse like regional/interregional LTL and 3PL provider Saia is feeling the pinch.

Discussing key cost trends in the firm's 2016 earnings release, Saia President and CEO Rick O'Dell said one significant expense item was its claims and insurance line, which increased by more than $4 million in the fourth quarter versus the prior year. “The increase was not the result of one or two major accidents; rather it reflects the general inflationary trends in the costs of settlement and litigation in the trucking industry.”

Last year, more than $700 million in claims were recorded against trucks and other commercial vehicles, according to a recent Marketplace report by American Public Media, which points out the obvious: “Those losses are translating to higher premiums for businesses.”

San Diego-based Storrs Insurance Group, which does business as The Insurance Store, walks through why insurance costs are spiking in a detailed post on its blog. It reports seeing in the last few years “nothing but rate increases from most of our [insurance] carriers, both in small business auto insurance and commercial truck insurance.”

The increases have hit truck fleets of all types, from local to long-haul, from general freight to reefer goods, to dirt sand and gravel haulers — even operators of small service trucks. “Some have experienced even more rapid rate increases ...Read the rest of this story

Foton and Cummins Cooperating on China Super Truck Program.

Photo: Foton Motor

China's Foton Motor and Cummins have signed a memorandum of cooperation around the launch of the second stage of the China Super Truck program.

Foton said the goal of the effort is “to use new energy-saving technologies to complete the optimization of the powertrain system and vehicle integration, reducing fuel consumption and enhancing transport efficiency, creating globally-leading green smart trucks to comply with the trend of green environmental protection and practice the requirements of U.S.-China clean energy cooperation.”

Since 2008, when Foton Motor and Cummins established a joint venture, engines produced by Foton Cummins that fit light-duty and heavy-duty applications have met the strictest global emission-related laws and regulations, said the Chinese company.

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QuikQ Launches Fuel Card Platform at Major Truckstops

QuikQ has secured merchant agreements for its Fuel Card platform with Love's Travel Stops, TravelCenters of America, and Pilot Flying J. The merchant agreements combined with independent truckstop agreements give QuikQ a nationwide footprint for the fuel card platform.

The platform includes the SmartQ payment fuel card, a radio frequency identification-based, a card-free system called Start, a card-free payment solution that processes transactions initiated with unique identifier codes, and a mobile app. QuikQ also offers Q-Checks, cash advances, payroll cards and other options.

“QuikQ products fundamentally improve fuel transaction processing through innovative technology that increases transparency and reduces cost,” said Dean Troester, QuikQ CEO. “We now have a portfolio of solutions that we believe is a more affordable and convenient approach to payment transactions than is available today, so much so that we expect to be the low-cost provider to merchants and fleets.”

QuikQ has supported Love's private label payment platform– Love's Express – for more than five years. Love's Express will provide a foundation for QuikQ to build its momentum in the trucking industry with a streamlined approach to reducing fees and creating a more direct, transparent relationship between merchants, carriers, and payment solutions providers, according to the company.

For more information, click here.

Related: Saving Fuel by the Dollar and by the Minute

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