Economic Watch: Housing, Consumer Confidence Down as Industrial Production Stalls

Newly issued economic reports show housing starts in the U.S. declined for the third straight month in May, while consumer confidence slipped and industrial production was unchanged due to a drop in manufacturing.

Led by a drop multifamily production, nationwide housing starts fell 5.5% in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.09 million units, according to figures released Friday by the Commerce Department.

Multifamily starts fell 9.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 289,000 units, while single-family production edged down 3.9% to 794,000.

“After a strong start for single-family building this year, recent months have recorded softer readings,” said NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz. “However, on a year-to-date basis, single-family starts are up 7.2% as builders add inventory to the market.”

Overall permit issuance in May was down 4.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.17 million units. Single-family permits inched down 1.9% to 779,000 units, while multifamily permits fell 10.4% to 389,000.

This came as a separate and preliminary report showed consumer confidence fell in June and is up only marginally compared to the same time a year ago, according to the University of Michigan Survey of Consumers.

The modest early June drop of 2.6 points in the Sentiment Index to 97.1 masks a much larger decline since June 8. Prior to then it averaged 97.7, but since June 8, the index fell to 86.7, a decline of 11 points.

While this date corresponds with former FBI Director James Comey's testimony over his firing, only a few consumers spontaneously referred to him or his testimony when asked to explain their views, according to Surveys of Consumers chief economist, Richard Curtin.

“Importantly, the decline was observed across all political parties, but the loss in confidence among self-identified Republicans since June 8 was larger than among Democrats, with Independents showing the greatest falloff,” ...Read the rest of this story

Report: 2016 a Mediocre Year for U.S. 3PL Activity

Photo: Ryder

Third-party logistics in the U.S. experienced “a mediocre year” in 2016, according to a new report prepared by market-research and consultancy firm Armstrong & Associates Inc.

For the year, 3PL net revenues grew 2.1% over 2015 to $73.5 billion. Overall gross revenues increased 3.5%, expanding the total U.S. 3PL market to $166.8 billion.

A&A pointed out that major merger and acquisition activity “changed third-party logistics from mid-2014 through 2015” and then the pace slackened markedly last year. The firm noted that the biggest M&A deal was FedEx's acquisition of TNT Express in the second quarter.

Also in 2016, A& A found that the domestic transportation management segment of the 3PL market increased 5.3% in gross revenue and 7% in net revenue as 3PLs in this arena “tightened up operations in an effort to compensate for ample truck capacity.”

Meanwhile, the international transportation management sector, which experienced strong growth 10 years ago, last year grew 2.6% in gross revenue-- but its net revenue fell 1.9%. Like the DTM segment, ITM was “negatively impacted by too much air and ocean capacity in the market.

The dedicated contract carriage field grew by 3.5% in 2016 with segment leader Ryder up 14%. The value-added warehousing and distribution segment increased 1.9% in the face of tight capacity and warehouse utilization.

A&A also stated that global 3PL revenues reached $802 billion in 2016 and sad they are “on track to exceed $962 billion in 2020.” That estimate is based on activity in seven major regions comprising 190 countries.

Information on the cost of the report and how to order it may be accessed here.

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TechSpedite Offers Expedited New-Technician Training

New technicians progress based on what they've learned. Photo: Pro-Mech Learning Systems.

One company has developed a program aimed at tackling the technician shortage, with an expedited training program promising to create work-ready technicians.

Pro-Mech Learning Systems, which offers commercial vehicle repair training online and in the classroom, has launched TechSpedite; an accelerated four-week intensive training program designed to educate and place capable technicians faster and less expensively than traditional schools.

The course is taught in a real working shop over the course of a full working day to mirror their future environment, according to the company. Hands-on training is conducted daily on live equipment, and success is measured in terms of what the students actually learn rather than the amount of time they spend. Students progress by demonstrating the competency, knowledge, and skills required to complete each task.

TechSpedite's objective is to produce entry-level technicians that can immediately contribute by performing preventive maintenance inspections, diagnose and repair the most common service issues, and possess the basic soft skills required to be a productive tech. Each graduate is drug tested. The employer receives a detailed analysis of the tech's performance in the class, with a report from Pro-Mech outlining the strengths and weaknesses of each graduate and suggestions for on-boarding the tech into their workforce.

“We are finding a desire from students who want to minimize the cost and time commitment required with a traditional vocational college; and from employers eager to hire technicians with the basic skills to fill their demands,” said Chuck Barresi, CEO of Pro-Mech Learning Systems.

The TechSpedite four-week intensive training program teaches students with very limited skills or brand new entrants into the heavy-duty maintenance field the core skills they need to contribute to maintenance operations on the first day of their employment. Key areas of focus center around shop safety, ...Read the rest of this story

Tennessee International Dealer Turns Heads With Fuel Efficiency Demo Truck

Cumberland's C10 LT Series Tractor was developed in close cooperation with International and a host of aftermarket suppliers.

Photo: Cumberland International 

In the 1960s, when performance was king, it wasn't unusual for dealerships to take stock muscle cars and customize them to create highly desirable street machines that are avidly sought after by collectors today.

Today, a Cumberland, Tennessee, International dealership is using the same concept to provide high-performance trucks to its customers. But the emphasis today isn't on horsepower: It's on fuel economy.

We first featured Cumberland International's C10 project in a June 2016 cover story on breaking the 10-mph barrier. That truck was based on an International ProStar.

The second phase of Cumberland International's C10 truck project is a specially tweaked International LT tractor optimized to consistently deliver fleets 10 mpg in real-world trucking operations. The truck is the brainchild of Matt Smart, fleet sales director, and sales representative Patrick Mendenhall, who wanted to “think outside the box” to show customers that International was “making a great product again” while also demonstrating that a 10-plus-mpg truck is achievable to operate in day-to-day fleet operations.

Instead of waiting for a truck manufacturer's “Super Truck” or “Truck of the Future” to roll around, Mendenhall explained, the folks at Cumberland took the project into their own hands and spent most of 2013 building what the dealership calls the RX-C10, with a downsped Cummins X-15 powertrain, advanced safety systems and aerodynamics.

Mendenhall said he and Smart were designated Cumberland's “Fleet Team” by Cumberland dealer principle Terry Minor and began gathering information from resources and vendors to conceptualize the most aerodynamic truck possible.

“With ever-changing technology, this was no easy task," Mendenhall said. “Thankfully, many vendors were excited to help in any way possible to get this project started.” That said, he declines to specify exactly what improvements the ...Read the rest of this story

Trucking: A ‘poster child’ or ‘problem child’ for automation?

MONTREAL, QUE. Is the heavy trucking industry the poster child for automation or the problem child? It's a question that moderator Peter Sweatman, a co-founding principal at CAVita, posed to a panel of transportation experts discussing platooning and autonomous trucking here at Michelin's Movin'On Conference on sustainable mobility.

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Highlights from Movin’On by Michelin 2017

This week Michelin hosted its 2017 Movin'On Conference on sustainable mobility in Montreal, Que. The conference grounds hosted thousands of attendees and various seminars, workshops and brainstorming sessions that tackled upcoming regulations, sustainable transportation and community efforts, and new visionary tire concepts. Michelin also announced it will return to Montreal in 2018 for another conference.

Here are some of the highlights from this year's event. (Photos: Cristina Commendatore/Fleet Owner)

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Benefits of remote diagnostics being felt industrywide

I think that technology is amazing, and here at Penske Truck Leasing we're using it to make our customer's lives easier if a truck breakdown occurs. In the most recent past (and in some cases still in the present) the mere appearance of a CEL [check engine light] or MIL [malfunction indicator light] indicator on the dashboard would create an emotional response from the driver.

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