Massachusetts adds XL Hybrids tech to fleet

XL Hybrids' XL3 Hybrid Electric Drive System will be installed in 52 vehicles that serve five Massachusetts state agency fleets.

The hybrid-electric vehicles will be used by the state's Department of Conservation and Recreation, Environmental Police, Department of Correction, Department of Developmental Services, and Department of Youth Services. The XL Hybrids upgrades were made possible by support from the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center.

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FedEx Freight Dominates 2017 TMC SuperTech Competition

ORLANDO -- FedEx Freight technicians racked up 10 separate station victories at the Technology & Maintenance Council's 2017 SuperTech competition this week, as Mark McLean came away with an unprecedented third SuperTech title in five years.

FedEx Freight technician Mark McLean said he hopes to one day move into fleet management and share his knowledge and experience with young, up-and-coming technicians.

The Montgomery, New York-based technician won the Grand Championship title in 2013 and 2014, then took second place last year after sitting out 2015 due to a rule requiring repeat winners to take a break after back-to-back wins.

More than 1,000 TMC members, SuperTech competitors and their spouses were in attendance at a banquet held at the Marriott World Center Resort in Orlando, Florida, as TMC gave out over $100,000 in cash and prizes to technicians competing from all over the United States. As the evening wore on, the SuperTech Award Ceremony was dominated by numerous category victories by both FedEx Freight and Walmart Transport, with respectable showings also posted by Travel Centers of America and BASE Air Management. But McLean's multiple wins eventually put him solidly in first place.

Doug Nickels, also with FedEx Freight, took second place SuperTech honors, with Joseph Calaway with BASE Air Management taking third place overall. Despite its strong showing by individual technicians, Walmart did not have a Top 10 finalist at the end of the evening, while FedEx Freight technicians took 8 of the Top 10 finalist slots in the overall rankings.

McLean, who said he was first attracted to a career as a diesel technician by working on cars as a young boy, said he hoped his SuperTech wins would help him move into a fleet management role in the future in order to fulfill his dream of mentoring and helping young technicians grow ...Read the rest of this story

Commentary: Fast-Tracking Technicians

Denise Rondini

The tremendous need in the market for entry-level technicians is the reason Pro-Mech Learning Systems started the TechSpedite program.

The four-week, hands-on class teaches students how to do basic shop tasks such as performing preventive maintenance inspections and diagnosing and repairing common service problems.

“The course is laser-focused on a very specific set of skills,” explained Mike Compisi, vice president of operations at Pro-Mech, which provides advanced diesel technician training and comprehensive shop support services.

Compisi was quick to point out that Pro-Mech “absolutely believes in vo-tech schools. They do a wonderful job of teaching a comprehensive set of skills.” The TechSpedite program is different, however, in that it gives students a limited but practical set of skills that they can use immediately in a shop.

The inaugural session of the class kicked off in May with limited enrollment “because we wanted to make sure we worked out all the kinks,” Compisi explained. The second class graduated in July. All students from the first class have been placed in shops, and at the time I spoke with Compisi, potential employers had just completed interviewing students from the second class. “I have every reason to believe the guys in the current class will also be hired,” he said.

The course combines classroom instruction and hands-on practice, and class size is limited to 15 to facilitate the hands-on learning. The course first goes over content in an instructional manner; then the students go practice on a piece of equipment. “That way they start to learn muscle memory from doing things in a repetitive manner, so when they get to their places of employment, they will be able to replicate what they learned and continue with best practices and proper safety procedures.”

Students are tested throughout the program in every content area for competency and proficiency. ...Read the rest of this story

How Fleets are Using Solar Power

Canada's Groupe Robert is using six solar panels and four deep-cycle batteries to keep drivers comfortable and batteries charged. Photo: Groupe Robert

Royal Jones is always trying something new to improve fuel economy. The president and CEO of Mesilla Valley Transportation is known as an early adopter of technologies from 6x2 drivetrains to trailer aerodynamics — even going so far as to make his own prototypes. That's what he tried about five years ago with solar power, installing panels on the truck cab to extend the amount of time electric auxiliary power units could operate. The aerodynamic penalty was too great, so he abandoned that particular effort. However, he discovered that the batteries on those trucks were lasting far longer.

Today, newer, thinner, flexible solar panels have solved the aerodynamic problem, so the Texas-based truckload fleet now has several hundred of its Navistar trucks running with eNow's auxiliary solar system. This has resulted in less idling, longer battery and alternator life, and increased driver satisfaction.

And that's not the only way fleets are using the power of the sun to save money on fuel, improve driver comfort, reduce maintenance costs, and improve uptime.

“The big savings for me is getting more hours on your APU,” Jones says, as the solar panels provide four to six more hours of cooling time. “It's hard to figure the ROI, because it's not an exact science. But if you save two jump-starts a year, that's $600. If your driver comfort is better, how do you put a price on that? And we used to replace all eight batteries every year, but the trucks with the solar panels have had them for four years.”

Another proponent of solar panels for trucks is Montreal-based Groupe Robert, one of Canada's largest trucking companies. Solar panels help it keep drivers comfortable without idling, ...Read the rest of this story

Ray of Hope: Trucking’s Beacon of Fuel Efficiency

Richard Branson (center) expounds on how trucking's mpg efforts are a "ray of hope" in the global campaign to save fuel and protect the planet from climate change. Looking on (right) is NACFE's Mike Roeth. Photo: David Cullen

NEW YORK CITY. Speaking here on Sept. 19 at a Run on Less media briefing, billionaire entreprenaur Richard Branson touched on why he is so committed to fighting climate change (and climate change deniers) and why he sees trucking as a leader in the effort to massively reduce carbon output across the globe.

Recounting what he and his staff saw when they emerged briefly from their wine-cellar shelter on his private island in the British Virgin Islands during the eye of Hurricane Irma, Branson said that "outside it looked just like an atomic bomb [had hit]. Everything was just flattened [including] 200-year-old trees; nothing was left standing."

Branson, who co-founded the Carbon War Room global nonprofit in 2009 that's teamed with the North American Council for Fuel Efficiency to put on Run for Less, is calling for a disaster-recovery plan on the scale of the post-WWII Marshall Plan to help restore the various Caribbean islands devastated by Irma.

According to the founder of multinational conglomerate Virgin Group, what the region needs is nothing less than a massive effort that will "aid in recovery, sustainable reconstruction, and long-term revitalization of the local economy."

Having ridden out Irma and witnessed its historic destruction, Branson said he could not have been anywhere else but in New York for this year's Climate Week NYC, a global summit taking place in town from Sept. 18-24 alongside the United Nations General Assembly meeting.

The table-thumper

“Scientists tell us the storms are only going to get stronger and more intense,” said Branson. “That's why I'm here for the climate talks— ...Read the rest of this story

New TMW Data Community Expands Market Intelligence Capabilities

TMW announced a new, industry-wide data warehouse to help carriers, 3PLs and other users do benchmarking and get other data-based insights.

When the TMW Systems Reveal Series data analytics platform was introduced in 2016, it offered business intelligence capabilities for fleets, third-party logistics providers and other transportation enterprises. Today, the new TMW Data Community, representing an expansion of the Reveal Series, is enabling even more advanced analytics solutions.

“Until now, the Reveal Series has focused on applying big data tools to analyze internal operational information,” said Brian Larwig, vice president and general manager, TMW Systems. “The TMW Data Community enables participants to benchmark their performance against similar organizations across a wide range of key performance indicators (KPIs) and utilize this market-wide data to make forward-looking decisions based on industry trends and indices.”

Participation in the TMW Data Community is free for users of the TMW.Suite, TruckMate and Innovative transportation management solutions and/or the company's TMT Fleet Maintenance and TMT Service Center software. Contributed data is anonymized and aggregated to ensure confidentiality. As a central hub of consolidated data, the solution allows users to analyze a variety of metrics.

The TMW Data Community currently allows for analyses of aggregated and consolidated information by several different variables, including operating region, fleet size, year, lane, type of freight, and more.

KPIs that can be analyzed, among others, include rate per mile, fuel costs, revenue per truck, mileage and empty miles, operating ratio, revenue and costs per mile, tractor and trailer maintenance CPM, and seated percentage.

TMW is also exploring data prediction models using deep-learning data science processes to enable increasingly advanced predictive analytics capabilities for participants in the TMW Data Community.

TMW's Reveal Series cloud-based business intelligence and data analytics platform enables users to leverage the power of big data within their businesses through advanced, transportation-specific data models and visualization ...Read the rest of this story

ATA Continues to Beef up Lobbying Team

The American Trucking Associations has added two more hires to its Capitol Hill team, announcing Ed Gilroy as the federation's new senior vice president of legislative affairs and Jay Lim as vice president of legislative affairs.

After more than 15 years as director of workforce policy for the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Gilroy returns to ATA, where he previously served in a number of legislative affairs roles including as vice president.

“My time on the Hill and at ATA has given me a deep appreciation for the work the trucking industry does and the challenges it faces, and I'm happy to be back to help move their agenda forward,” Gilroy said.

Lim comes to ATA after several years working for Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and for the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“In my time in the Senate, I've had the opportunity to work on several trucking-related issues. I'm pleased to be joining the ATA team to continue working on those issues and serving this tremendous industry,” said Lim.

“Over the past year, we have worked to reshape our legislative affairs team while still delivering the advocacy wins our members deserve,” said ATA Executive Vice President of Advocacy Bill Sullivan.

“ATA is recognized in Washington as the most authoritative voice advocating for a pro-safety, pro-efficiency, pro-trucking agenda in Washington,” said ATA President and CEO Chris Spear. “By adding Ed and Jay to our legislative affairs staff, we are putting ATA in an even stronger position to address the changing needs of our association and our industry.”

Related: ATA's Spear Cites Washington Policy Gains

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