Mahle Offers Replacement Cylinder Head Gasket for Ford PowerStroke

Mahle Aftermarket is offering the Mahle Original cylinder head gasket set for the Ford 6.0L PowerStroke engine, engineered to match the original equipment parts.

The head gasket set come with 193 pieces which, designed to fit the original parts for form, fit and function. Compared to the original dealer set, the Mahle Original set has 91 more pieces, including parts such as the lower valve cover and intake/exhaust manifold gaskets, O-rings, high pressure oil pump and valve stem seals.

To follow OE form, fit and function, the seals in the Mahle Original set are color coded to match the OE marts to identify their proper replacement location. The Mahle Original head set for the 6.0L PowerStroke is available in both 18mm and 20mm.

Mahle Original gaskets are application engineered; the exhaust manifold and EGR cooler gaskets for this application are multi-layered/embossed stainless steel to hold up against the extreme temperatures of a medium-duty diesel engine.

“The Mahle Original head gasket set for this extremely popular engine includes all the gaskets and seals a technician would need to do the job right,” said Jon Douglas, general manager of Mahle Aftermarket North America. “Surprisingly, some sets from other manufacturers don't even include the head gaskets in their head gasket set. Plus, Mahle Original gaskets are made to the same exacting standards as the OE gaskets that came in the engine when new.”

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ISE Fleet Services to offer trends in telematics webinar

With the compliance date quickly approaching on the FMCSA mandate for Electronic Logging Devices, ISE Fleet Services in combination with Innovative Software Engineering are offering a live webinar titled: Fewer Devices, More Capability: Integrating Best-Of-Breed Telematics Solutions to Increase Efficiency, Safety, and Profits. The webinar will take place from 12-1 p.m. Central, on July 19, and registration is free.

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Anderson Trucking Service Begins Corporate Office Expansion

Rendering of the expanded ATS corporate headquarters. Image via ATS

Anderson Trucking Service is expanding its corporate office in St. Cloud, Minn., adding 20,000 square feet to accommodate current and future anticipated growth.

Planning for the new addition to accommodate the growing corporate support team began last fall. After looking at lease options in community, the company decided to go forward with an expansion to keep its corporate team together. The expansion is expected to be completed next spring.

"Being a part of a cohesive team to support our larger mission is an important part of our culture here,” said Scott Follett, director of facilities. “The Anderson family recognized that this aspect would be missing if we were to utilize a leased space and made a solid decision to keep everyone under one roof."

The expansion is adding 10,000 square feet of space per floor, giving ATS's corporate offices the capacity for an additional 200 seats. The expansion will also allow for six more conference rooms.

ATS is a Minn.-based carrier with flatbed, specialized, alternative energy, van and international transportation and logistics offerings.

Related: Anderson Trucking Service Adds Dual Lane Trailer

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Changing Perceptions, One Mind at a Time

When it comes to changing perceptions about trucking, nothing beats a hands-on show-and-tell experience.

The Women in Trucking Association is well aware of this and has made a mission of arranging ride-alongs with its truck driver members for elected officials, regulatory agents, even anti-truck safety advocates.

The senator experiences a pre-trip inspection. Photo courtesy Women in Trucking.

In the most recent such ride-along, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson experienced a glimpse of life on the road from the perspective of a female driver. WIT's Image Team Member Julie Matulle gave the Wisconsin senator a short ride, where attendees at an event sponsored by the Wisconsin Motor Carriers Association welcomed them upon arrival.

Matulle, a professional driver for H.O. Wolding, Amherst, Wis., had the opportunity to share her thoughts and concerns with the legislator during the ride from Menasha to DePere, Wis.. Johnson observed a pre-trip inspection and learned the proper way to enter and exit a tractor-trailer.

Matulle has been a professional driver for almost four years, working for H.O. Wolding since she entered the industry. In 2014, she was honored as the Mike O'Connell Memorial Trucking's Top Rookie award. She drives more than 2,600 miles each week hauling paper products between Wisconsin and southern states.

In Johnson's case, he already had an appreciation for trucking in general.

“We need to drive economic growth to create good Wisconsin jobs, and to do that we need to make sure we're doing all we can to fuel our trucking industry,” Johnson said. “As an Oshkosh manufacturer, I know how much of an impact trucking has on Wisconsin. 90% of manufactured goods and 70% of all goods and services in Wisconsin are moved by truck. Together, we can ensure that Wisconsin trucking continues to have a positive impact on the state.”

A tougher case was tackled by the organization last fall. Eleven years after Ron Wood lost five family members in a fiery crash, the advocate for CRASH, often seen as an anti-truck safety advocacy group, took a ride in a tractor-trailer.

“Enemy” was how Wood viewed tractor-trailers after his mother, sister and three nephews were killed near Sherman, Texas in 2004. The accident was caused by a fatigued truck driver who crossed the median and struck his family's SUV head on, killing all five of his loved ones.

Ron became active in the Truck Safety Coalition and C.R.A.S.H. Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways, a safety advocacy group formed in 1990 and led by Joan Claybrook, a former administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Coalition. “To this day, when I see a semi-trailer truck, I am instantly reminded of the deaths and devastation they have caused (both to my family and to so many others) and of which they are constantly capable.” Wood stated in a Facebook post.

He served on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's entry level driver training advisory committee, where he met Ellen Voie, president and CEO of WIT.

“Ellen suggested that it might be therapeutic for me to take a ride in an actual eighteen-wheeler.” Wood said. “I thought about it. My first internal reaction was, 'No way. Trucks [are] bad.' But, then after I thought more…well, I figured it might be a helpful part of my healing process."

Carol Nixon, a 25-year professional driver for Walmart's Private Fleet and a member of the WIT Image Team, was the driver. Wood's two-hour journey started and ended at the Walmart store in Woodbridge, Virginia.

He called the ride-along "highly informative, and "an unexpected, important step in my healing process. The safety features, practices and professionalism in the Walmart trucking fleet are amazing, and way beyond what I expected," said Ron. “I only wish these safety measures were standard across all the trucking companies in the U.S."

Rides like these are a part of the answer to the question of "What can I do?" to make a difference in how the public perceives the industry.

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Where transportation fits in with city priorities

It's interesting that of all the issues stacked on the plates of U.S. city mayors these days – including rising crimes rates and the recent spate of cop killings, which will no doubt further inflame racial tensions – economics wins out.

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Earnings Watch: J.B. Hunt Improves Second Quarter Profit by 2%

Trucking and intermodal giant J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) reported on Monday its second quarter profit increased just slightly, falling short of Wall Street expectations.

Net earnings totaled $105 million compared to $103 million a year earlier. Earnings per share were 92 cents versus 88 cents, 5 cents less than a consensus estimate in a poll of analysts from Zacks Investment Research.

Total operating revenue for the most recent quarter was $1.62 billion, up 5% from the second quarter 2015, as total operating revenue excluding fuel surcharges increased 9%.

The company attributed the increase in revenue to load growth of 9% in its intermodal business and a 62% jump in its third-party logistics operation, Integrated Capacity Solutions. It also saw a 5% increase in revenue-producing trucks for its dedicated operations and an 11% increase in the average fleet count for its trucking business segment.

Despite the increases, the Arkansas-based operation revised downward its outlook for all of 2016, predicting revenue rising 7% over the previous year, down from its earlier expectation of a 9% to 12% increase. It expects operating income to increase 5%, down from an earlier projection of an 8% to 11% rise.

J.B. Hunt's biggest operation, intermodal, saw second quarter revenue increase 3% to $933 million as operating income fell 11% to $105.6 million. It was affected by a 5% decrease in revenue per load despite the gain in volume growth. The quarter ended with 81,243 units of trailing capacity and 5,244 power units assigned to the dray fleet.

The company's dedicated segment saw a 4% increase in revenue, totaling $383 million, as operating income jumped 24% to $50.5 million.

The dedicated segment reported it had 132 more revenue-producing trucks compared to the first quarter, and 350 more compared to last year's second quarter. Approximately 87% of these additions represent private fleet conversions versus traditional dedicated capacity fleets, according to the company. Customer retention rates remain above 98%.

The company's Integrated Capacity Solutions segment saw a 17% increase in revenue, hitting $204 million, as operating income leapt 122% to $10.9 million.

ICS revenue was up 17% compared to the second quarter 2015. Volumes increased 62% while revenue per load decreased 28%, primarily due to freight mix changes driven by customer demand and lower fuel prices compared to second quarter 2015.

Lastly, J.B. Hunt's truck operations had a 1% increase in revenue, totaling $98 million as operating income fell 9% to $8.9 million.

Revenue excluding fuel surcharges increased 6% for the truck division, primarily from an 11% increase in average fleet count. Rate per loaded mile excluding fuel surcharges was down approximately 5%, primarily from customer-driven freight mix changes, including a 5.8% increase in length of haul. Core customer rate increases were up 0.9% compared to the same period in 2015. At the end of the period, the trucking segment operated 2,186 tractors compared to 2,073 a year ago.

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Speed vs. Quality

These days, it seems like there is a lot of focus on getting trucks in-and-out of the service bays as quickly as possible. That certainly is an admirable goal because we all know the name of the game in trucking is uptime. It's maddening to have trucks sitting in the yard or on a service provider's lot waiting for bay space availability or parts.

Those are the areas where speed should matter. Better service scheduling can help eliminate some of that pointless waiting time.

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