Ancra Offers Security Divider and Deck Board for Cargo

Ancra International is offering a Security Divider and Deck Board, designed to keep freight separated and secure while in transit.

The Security Divider and Deck Board offer the ability to configure lightweight panels for use as a deck board or secure bulkhead. It's manufactured using high-density polyethylene panels, which are lighter than plywood sheets and won't splinter.

The Security Divider and Deck Board can be used with lockable E-Beams to provide a secure load divider for different load combinations. The panels have hand slots to improve the ergonomics of handling and are flexible enough to configure into a deck board or bulkhead application.

Designed to both secure cargo and keep items safe, the dual use of the Security Divider and Deck Board offers versatility in cargo carrying capacity, supporting double-decked loads when needed.

The Security Divider and Deck Board has a three-year warranty and may be purchased as a kit including two lockable E-Beams and two panels. The kits come with either standard beams or heavy duty beams, or the panels can be purchased separately. Each panel includes complete setup and removal instructions for easy application.

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Economic Watch: Overall Growth Revised Upward

The U.S. economy grew faster in the first quarter of the year than earlier estimates indicated, according to a Commerce Department report released Thursday, but there's little optimism there the second quarter will show a big surge.

The gross domestic product (GDP) expanded at an annual rate of 1.4%, better than a consensus estimate from analysts. It's also twice the 0.7% pace that was initially reported at the end of April and slightly better than the 1.2% rate reported a month ago.

The increase was due to more complete data showing consumer spending increased nearly twice as much as an earlier estimate, but was still the lowest since the second quarter of 2013. Also, exports increased while the rest of the picture was essentially unchanged.

Despite the upward revision, it was still the slowest quarter of growth since the second quarter of 2016.

The Trump administration's stated target of swiftly boosting U.S. growth to 3% remains a challenge, according to Reuters. A sustained average of 3% growth has not been seen since the 1990s. Since 2000, the U.S. economy has grown at an average 2% rate. The rate last year was 1.6%, the lowest in five years.

Hopes that the economy would step on the gas in the current second quarter have been dampened by recent disappointing numbers for retail sales, manufacturing and even housing.

“The first quarter turned out satisfactory enough and will take some of the heat off of the second quarter, where a big rebound was the initial expectation which, given continued weakness in consumer spending, has since eased back a bit,” said analysis from Econoday.

While this upward revision of the GDP is a welcome improvement, it does little to adjust the underlying storyline of the U.S. economy at the start of the year, according to Chief Economist Lindsey Piegza at Stifel Fixed ...Read the rest of this story

Consultant: Walmart Doesn’t Want Its Carriers Hauling for Amazon

Walmart is telling trucking companies that they may have to choose between its business and Amazon's, according to widely reported comments from a transportation and logistics consultant.

Speaking at the SMC3 annual summer conference in Palm Beach, Florida, Satish Jindel said Walmart is telling for-hire motor carriers that if they also haul goods for Amazon, they will have to stop doing so in return for keeping Walmart business, reports DC Velocity.

The publication said Jindel became aware of the situation through some of his sources. Walmart, which uses for-hire carriers and dedicated contract relationships along with its own private fleet, would not disclose the extent of the company's outside carrier relationships to DC Velocity, it reported.

“Walmart would prefer to do business with carriers that are not doing business with Amazon” and are not “conflicted,” because it's concerned about their ability to handle high volumes of deliveries during peak times, Jindel said, according to a report in the New York Post.

However, a Walmart spokesman told The New York Post that it has not had discussions with trucking companies about high-peak delivery times or about Amazon, adding that “it would be illegal for us to tell them who they can do business with.”

The news followed on the heels of recent reports that Walmart had told some technology companies that if they want its business, they can't run applications for the retailer on Amazon's cloud-computing service, and instead must use Microsoft's cloud service, known as Azure.

Deutsche Bank analyst Amit Mehrotra wrote that “these developments, if true, are likely to have significant implications for U.S. transportation companies as Amazon and Walmart remain two of the largest users of truckload capacity,” he wrote, noting that Walmart represents about 14% of Swift's operating revenues and about 4% for Werner.

Amazon also has been spotted at ...Read the rest of this story

CX North America welcomes Kreidler as business development director

CX North America Information Services announced that David Kreidler has assumed the role of director of business development. Kreidler, who will be working out of Chicago, brings to the position a well-developed understanding of issues surrounding freight transportation and logistics management developed by serving on the industry's front lines for 20 years.

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Iron Apple, UFSTP to partner on FSMA compliance training for carriers, brokers

TransComply, manager of the Uniform Food Safety Transportation Protocol (UFSTP) program, and Iron Apple, a supplier of food safety compliance solutions for food transport, will provide compliance training and solutions to help motor carriers and brokers comply with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Sanitary Transportation of Human and Animal Food (STF) rule and promote that compliance to the shipping community.

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K-Limited Carrier adopts SmartDrive safety program

SmartDrive Systems announced that K-Limited Carrier, a liquid bulk transport company in the U.S., has adopted the SmartDrive video-based safety program following a pilot program.

Within the first few months of rolling out the SmartDrive program across its entire fleet, K-Limited noted it experienced a dramatic improvement in its CSA Unsafe Driving BASIC score, dropping from approximately 32% prior to adoption to 18% a few months after adoption.

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Spot rates, demand for trucks stay high

The number of posted loads gained 2.5% while truck posts dipped 1.2% on the spot truckload market during the week ending June 24, said DAT Solutions, which operates the DAT network of load boards.

Severe weather disrupted freight movement in the South but load-to-truck ratios were solid as shippers prepared for both the end of a quarter and the last full week before the July 4 holiday:

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