Trump signs executive order to speed infrastructure permitting process

President Trump signed an executive order on Aug. 15 aimed at speeding the federal permitting process for transportation and other infrastructure projects.

Speaking at the Trump Tower in New York alongside Transportation secretary Elaine Chao, he said builders have to navigate up to 16 approvals, 9 agencies and 29 statutes. That can result in delays of years or even decades, costing millions of dollars, he said.

The result is a “self-inflicted wound on our country,” Trump said.

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Drivewyze Bypass Service Debuts in North Dakota

Photo: Drivewyze

The Drivewyze weigh station bypass service is now being offered in North Dakota at 21 permanent and mobile sites, the company announced.

The Drivewyze PreClear program, which allows participants to bypass weigh stations and inspections sites using a smartphone or other mobile device, is compatible with 13 different approaches to seven fixed weigh stations, as well as eight mobile sites. The program is being run in collaboration with the North Dakota Department of Transportation and Highway Patrol. Truck fleets and drivers who operate safely and within legal weight limits and meet the state's criteria can obtain bypasses through Drivewyze.

The addition of North Dakota closes a nearly 400-mile gap in Drivewyze bypass service between Moorehead, Minnesota, and Wibaux, Montana, according to the company.

The Drivewyze PreClear weigh station bypass application comes pre-loaded on in-cab telematics and ELD devices like Omnitracs, PeopleNet, Rand McNally, and Zonar. The application is also available for Android and iOS-based tablets or smartphones.

Related: Weigh Station Bypass Saves Time for Car Hauler

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Trucking Industry Revenue Hit $676.2 Billion Last Year

American Trucking Associations' American Trucking Trends 2017 annual compendium of data on the trucking industry reveals that the trucking industry generated $676.2 billion in revenue last year, making up nearly 80% of the nation's freight bill. Trucks moved 70.6% of all domestic freight tonnage for a total of 10.42 billion tons of freight.

“The information in Trends highlights exactly what I tell elected officials, regulators and key decision-makers every day: Trucking is literally the driving force behind our great economy,” said Chris Spear, ATA president and CEO. “Safe, reliable and efficient motor carriers enable businesses throughout the supply chain to maintain lean inventories, thereby saving the economy billions of dollars each year.”

Trucking isn't cheap either, with the ATA finding that the nation's commercial trucks paid $41.3 billion in state and federal highway user fees and taxes, with the average five-axle tractor trailer paying more than $5,600 in taxes annually.

There were 33.8 million trucks registered for business purposes, of which 3.68 million were Class 8 vehicles. Those trucks burned 38.8 billion gallons of diesel fuel and 15.5 billion gallons of gasoline and traveled 450.4 billion miles.

Somebody has to drive all of those vehicles, of course, and the trucking industry employed 7.4 million Americans last year, nearly half of which were drivers. Of those drivers, 6% are women and 38.7% are minorities.

As a whole, the trucking industry is primarily made up of small businesses; 91% percent of motor carriers operate six or fewer trucks and 97% operate fewer than 20.

More data is available and complied in the American Trucking Trends 2017 compendium, available for purchase here.

Related: ATA to California: Don't Mess With Trucking

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TMW Updates Billing, Planning, Business Tools

TMW Systems announced several updated fleet software tools for managing billing, maintenance, and business at the in.sight. User Conference + Expo hosted by PeopleNet and TMW in Nashville, Tennessee.

TMW.Suite Fuel Dispatch is now available with three additional features designed to help users improve planning and dispatch operations and make informed decisions about existing and new market opportunities.

The TMW.Suite Fuel Dispatch module now features a time-saving capability to simultaneously perform multiple commodity product code changes. Users can now select one or more sites and update the corresponding codes. This feature also automatically updates existing orders for each of the sites. Mass updates of commodities are particularly useful in regions where fuel formulations change by season, according to TMW. Commodity changes can be scheduled for future dates, as well.

Also new to Fuel Dispatch is an interactive re-forecasting feature that allows dispatchers to assess the overall effect on projected deliveries if a current available order changed. Dispatchers can use this feature to adjust for special market conditions or situations that require a change to one or more loads. Current-state and re-forecasted orders are displayed on a new order grid within the Dispatch Dashboard and Call On Demand Order Entry screen.

The company also expanded its Reveal Series business intelligence and data analytics tools for oilfield service and fuel delivery carriers. Reveal Series analytics can now be used to build solutions that isolate abnormal rack and delivery point dwell times; analyze driver and asset performance; develop time-based metrics to reduce delivery delays during peak traffic or busy seasons; and establish trip standards by time of day, week, month, or season. TMW's Reveal Series data warehouse aggregates all orders, stops, commodities, quantities, stop date times, freight volumes and other information for fuel delivery and oilfield gathering operations.

“Each of these new capabilities extends the breadth and value ...Read the rest of this story

TMW Introduces TMT Predictive Maintenance Software

TMW Systems introduced a predictive maintenance application, TMT Predict.Fault Code, that helps fleets anticipate and address potential vehicle breakdowns and other unscheduled service needs before they occur. The new application is the first tool to be offered under the company's new TMT Predict Series of maintenance analytics solutions.

The TMT Predict.Fault Code application works in conjunction with the PeopleNet Mobile Gateway and Vusion data science to capture and analyze vehicle fault codes and more than 80 leading vehicle performance variables. When fault codes and other vehicle data indicate an increased probability of failure, a dashboard alert appears within the user's TMT Fleet Maintenance software. The alert identifies the fleet's assigned equipment number, vehicle identification number, probability of failure, diagnostic trouble code and description, the performance variables triggering the probability, and other key information.

This new predictive maintenance capability is available for vehicles equipped with PMG via factory or aftermarket installation. The feature is currently offered for a number of leading commercial vehicle nameplates.

“Preventing just 35% of unplanned repairs can save fleets thousands of dollars in hard costs alone,” said Renaldo Adler, principal, asset maintenance and fleet and service centers for TMW. “Many serious faults also can have a cascading effect on other vehicle systems if they aren't caught in time. Our new predictive maintenance capabilities can help the fleet manager pull the vehicle out of operation before a problem becomes extremely expensive.”

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TruETA Tool Aimed at Helping Fleets Plan Better

Thom Albrecht discusses the disruption of ecommerce on the trucking industry during the in.sight User Conference + Expo. Photo: Jim Beach

TMW Systems introduced TruETA at the TMW Systems and PeopleNet in.site User Conference + Expo in Nashville, Tennessee. The trip planning and execution tool calculates estimated time of arrival for each stop along a commercial truck's route.

Available to users of TMW's Innovative IES, TMW.Suite, TMWSuite, and TruckMate transportation management solutions, TruETA is a cloud-based solution that automates the calculation of estimated time of arrival based on current vehicle position, PeopleNet driver hours of service, and real-time and predictive traffic patterns. The solution also generates red-yellow-green alerts indicating the likelihood of each vehicle to meet its customers' scheduled delivery times, reducing the need for dispatcher-driver phone calls and mobile communications messages.

Commercial and private fleets can use TruETA to help reduce operating costs while improving on-time delivery performance, according to company officials. The tool replaces the “local knowledge” and manual data entry with automated, fact-based calculations derived from current vehicle location, updated hours of service information, and the PC*Miler industry-standard commercial truck routing engine from ALK Technologies, which includes real-time and predictive traffic speeds along each assigned route. In addition, TruETA uses the ALK Maps commercial mapping platform to visualize live traffic flows, as well as weather overlays of current conditions including radar, cloud cover, alerts and road surface conditions, to quickly identify potential scheduling issues.

TruETA also accounts for required driver rest breaks and calculates remaining hours of service at each destination with PC*Miler's hours of service planning engine to support accurate, advanced plans.

“Hitting the customer's delivery window is no longer an aspirational goal for carriers – it is imperative from a customer service score and financial standpoint,” said Ray West, senior vice president and general manager, TMS solutions for TMW. “TruETA ...Read the rest of this story

TMW Introduces Portfolio of Transportation-Focused Apps

TMW Systems has introduced a portfolio of 11 mobile apps for professionals at every level of a transportation business – from operations to drivers and vehicle maintenance personnel – to complete a wide range of business-critical activities from their Android- or iOS-based devices.

The company's extensive new set of mobility tools supports users of the TMW.Suite, TruckMate and Innovative IES transportation management solutions, as well as TMT Fleet Maintenance software. Each app is available via the Apple App Store and Google Play marketplace.

“The transportation and logistics industry is undergoing a digital transformation that is being driven by mobile technology,” said Ray West, senior vice president and general manager, TMS solutions, TMW. “Each of our new mobile apps is designed to enhance business efficiency and competitiveness by providing the information and functionality users need to make the right decisions at the right time.”

Among the new tools are the following mobile apps for operations personnel, freight brokers, logistics managers and other professionals who want to access core TMS application data and complete a wide range of activities:

TMW also offers these new mobile apps providing drivers with access to key information and related capabilities: