Driving trucks while under fire

There are obviously similar yet very different circumstances when operating heavy-duty vehicles for the U.S. military compared to the civilian truck driving world; the biggest one being operating such equipment while being shot at. Thus to ensure its motor transport personnel can deal effectively with such situations, the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) uses motorized fire and movement exercises (MFMEs) to keep the combat skills of its truckers sharp. (All photos by Sgt. Kassie McDole/USMC)

CarriersEdge defensive driving training module available in Spanish

CarriersEdge announced that one of its online training courses for keeping truck drivers safe is now available in Spanish.

The Defensive Driving training suite includes one full two-hour course covering the traffic, road and weather challenges that truck drivers face every day, as well as seven refresher modules on specific topics.

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Kenworth introduces cargo van lease program

Kenworth and PACCAR Financial have partnered to introduce a cargo van lease program in the United States. The new program is for fleets and truck operators that purchase Kenworth T270 Class 6 conventional models in a cargo van specification equipped with a 26-foot Morgan van body and a liftgate.

The Kenworth program offers a 60-month term on a fair market value (FMV) lease with monthly payments of $885.

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Drivewyze expands weigh station service in Ohio

Drivewyze announced it is continuing to expand its weigh station bypass service in existing states with Ohio activating Drivewyze PreClear at six additional weigh stations recently. Drivewyze now offers bypasses at 10 active locations in the Buckeye state.

The Ohio expansion comes a week after Drivewyze announced it would be expanding service in North Carolina in August to a total of 16 active sites.

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Carrier Transicold Offers Greener Refrigerant Option

Photo: Carrier Transicold

Carrier Transicold has announced that it will be offering the more environmentally friendly refrigerant R-452A as an alternative for use in its truck and trailer refrigeration systems later this year.

The Environmental Protection Agency recently approved the refrigerant for transport refrigeration applications. Developed to reduce environmental impact, R-452A reduces emissions compared to R-404A, the hydrofluorocarbon refrigerant used in most land-based transport refrigeration applications.

“As a near drop-in substitute, R-452A offers similar levels of refrigeration performance, fuel efficiency, reliability, and refrigerant charge in new equipment as R 404A, and we are pleased to be able to make it available to refrigerated transport operators seeking a lower global warming potential option to advance environmental sustainability,” said David Brondum, director, product management and sustainability, North America truck, trailer, rail, Carrier Transicold.

EPA has not banned R-404A for transport refrigeration applications, enabling refrigerated haulers to choose the option best suited for their operations. This allows for considerations of price and availability, fleet size and maintenance budgets, according to Brondum.

“Going forward, fleets may want to consult with their Carrier Transicold dealers to determine which refrigerant solution is appropriate,” said Brondum.

While Carrier Transicold will continue to offer R-404A, it will also provide R-452A as an option for new model Vector and X4 Series trailer refrigeration units, Supra truck units and direct-drive truck units that currently use R 404A. The refrigerant can also be used as a drop-in replacement for Carrier Transicold units already in service, although certain older models may require component retrofits or software updates, which can be accommodated through Carrier Transicold's network of authorized dealers, the company says.

“Carrier Transicold's larger goal of reducing the GWP of its transport refrigeration equipment goes well beyond the benefits of R-452A,” said Brondum. “We are committed to pursuing the commercialization of HFC-free refrigerants in road transportation refrigeration by ...Read the rest of this story

Earnings Watch: Covenant Reports Steep Year-over-Year Earnings Drop

Covenant Transportation Group, Inc. (NASDAQ/GS: CVTI) reported on July 25 second quarter earnings of $0.08 per share, marking. That's down 60% year over year, but according to analysis by Stifel, that result is “right in line with the Street consensus of $0.06.”

A Stifel post-earnings report on Covenant observed that while the company “saw some headwinds related to their dedicated operations, demand and revenue have been sequentially stronger each month, and we expect the company to have a larger boost from e-commerce in the 4Q this year than last year.”

“Freight demand built throughout the quarter and continues to be favorable in July on a seasonally adjusted basis,” Covenant Chairman and Chief Executive Officer David Parker said in a statement.

Parker noted that the company “assisted customers in our dedicated service offering to re-engineer improved efficiency of their freight network,” which cut the number of dedicated trucks they required. “The loss of volume led to a 2.8% year-over-year reduction in average miles per tractor for the month. Freight demand improved gradually in May as we replaced the lost freight with new high-quality freight. In June, capacity tightened resulting in a 0.5% year-over-year increase in average miles per tractor despite our Star subsidiary experiencing a 6% reduction due to automotive plant shutdowns in its network as automotive manufacturers managed new vehicle inventories. Consistent with the monthly improvement in utilization, we experienced sequential monthly growth in our average rate per total mile as we replaced the freight demand we had lost during April.”

Parker added that Covenant is now looking forward to “a more favorable supply-demand relationship in the second half of 2017 and beyond. From a cost perspective, our margins were pressured across nearly all fronts other than net fuel expense, as we continued to invest in our people, equipment, and technologies."

Covenant said highlights ...Read the rest of this story

All Arrows Point to Trucking

Truck platoons may well be the way average Americans first see autonomous vehicle technology in the real world. Photo: Peloton

Last week, Amazon's Jeff Bezos surpassed Bill Gates and (briefly) became the richest man in the world. And today comes the news that Mr. Gates has decided to invest in Convoy, a two-year old Seattle startup looking to crack the code on the same sort of real-time freight brokerage service as legally battered Uber Freight has been trying to do this year.

Gates has been sort of lurking in the background in automotive and trucking technology up to this point. It's worth wondering if the $62 million investment in Convoy that he's part of signals a bigger move into the world we all play in. I'm not a mind-reader, but my gut tells me, "Yes."

Trucking today is worth an estimated $800 billion a year in North America. That's excellent news for fleets, but hardly the motivating factor for guys like Bezos and Gates. They're innovators and visionaries. They see the world in a completely different way than you and I do. A century from now, we'll talk about them – and other tech leaders like Elon Musk and the late Steve Jobs the way we talk about Thomas Edison, the Wright Brothers, Henry Ford and Nikolai Tesla today.

This is a unique moment in time – one that doesn't come around very often – and we should all be glad that we're alive to see it: When new technologies and brilliant thinkers synch at exactly the same time to break new ground and move our society forward in dramatic fashion.

And, increasingly, it looks like trucking is going to be one of the industries that will bear the brunt of whatever is coming our way on the technology and innovation front.

In fact, I've argued ...Read the rest of this story