Patriot Transportation Holding, Inc. Announces Departure of Chairman and CEO

Peterbilt highlights Model 567 at ConExpo

At the big ConExpo/Agg show in Las Vegas last week, Peterbilt Motors Co. highlighted to attributes of its Model 567 Set Forward Front Axle (SFFA) vocational truck; a configuration aimed at concrete mixer and construction applications designed to maximize customer payloads while meeting bridge laws, according to Robert Woodall, the OEM's assistant general manager of sales and marketing.

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Electric Trucks Start Arriving at Southern California Freight, Rail Yards

A BYD all-electric yard truck. The typical yard truck burns 2 to 4 gallons of diesel fuel per hour. Photo: CARB

The State of California, San Bernardino Council of Governments, and partners at Daylight Transport and BYD Motors have announced the arrival of the first of 27 zero-emission electric yard and service trucks in three disadvantaged communities in Southern California.

BYD is providing the 27 vehicles, of which 23 will be battery-electric Class 8 yard trucks and four will be Class 5 service trucks. Three yard trucks and a service truck will be operated by Daylight while the other 23 trucks will operate at two BNSF Railway rail yards in San Bernardino and Los Angeles. BNSF will receive its trucks in the summer.

Funded by the state's cap-and-trade program and other programs, the demonstration truck project is part of California Climate Investments, a statewide program that invests in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy and improving public health and the environment.

“It's exciting to see the first of these ultra-clean trucks roll off the manufacturing line in Lancaster and get to work moving cargo in Fontana,” said Mary D. Nichols, California Air Resources Board chair. “Electric trucks mean cleaner air for all Californians, especially those who live in neighborhoods close to freight transfer facilities and rail yards.”

The two types of trucks funded by the grant are the most common vehicles at major freight locations in the U.S. and are aimed at providing a model for truck electrification that could be scaled to any facility.

CalStart, a Pasadena, Calif.-based clean transportation not-for-profit, will be evaluating the future potential for commercialization and job creation.

“Daylight Transport is excited to participate in the rollout of zero-emission yard trucks. We are committed to clean energy and sustainability,” said Greg Steele, Daylight Transport executive vice president. “The collaboration with CARB, SBCOG ...Read the rest of this story

The Dark Side of Autonomous Tech Nobody Wants to Talk About

Autonomous trucks have helped spur an emerging conversation on just how far robots can go in taking human jobs and the consequences those lost jobs means for society as a whole. Photo credit: Otto

A couple of hundred years ago, things moved a lot slower, but society was actually undergoing a radical and sweeping transformation. The steam engine had kick-started the Industrial Revolution. Factories were springing up. New-fangled ideas such as wage-laborers and a 12-hour working day were starting to take shape. At the same time, great thinkers like Adam Smith and Karl Marx were hammering out the basic concepts of the modern economic systems that shape our world today: Capitalism on one end of the spectrum, Communism on the other.

I was reminded of this today by news that Microsoft founder Bill Gates is under fire for suggesting that companies that displace human workers with robots should pay special taxes for doing so.

Gates' comments were not well received by a number of business and government leaders. But he's one of the leading thinkers of our time, so when he speaks on a topic, I'm inclined to hear what he has to say. While his may not be a popular view, given all the talk about autonomous trucks at the moment – and the corresponding angst that talk has created – I do think it's worth thinking about.

Back to some history for a moment: Once the ideas of Capitalism, industrialism and labor had all joined forces, factory and business owners started looking for ways to cut or control costs. After all, the whole point of Capitalism is to make money. And, so the theory goes, you have to have help from other people if you want to make a huge pile of money. And you have to make doing ...Read the rest of this story

5 Myths About ELDs

Photo courtesy J.J. Keller

Many fleets, especially smaller ones, have resisted implementing electronic logs to monitor driver hours of service. Some appear to plan to wait until the last possible moment before this year's Dec. 17 federal deadline for the mandated industry conversion to electronic logging devices.

While researching the March cover story on what fleets need to know before that ELD deadline, I asked Tom Bray, who works for safety supplier and advisor J.J. Keller & Associates, what common myths and misconceptions fleets have about ELDs and electronic logs in general.

Granted, J.J. Keller does happen to offer an ELD for sale, so you might make the argument that Bray is biased. But Tom's no sales guy. He's a senior editor who's been with the company since 2005. A sought-after speaker, with an extensive background that includes years of experience in DOT compliance, driver training, CDL testing and more, Bray is a source I've found over the years to be quite knowledgeable about the real-world workings of fleet safety and compliance. So I thought I'd share his top ELD "myths":

1. "ELDs cost thousands and thousands of dollars, require hours upon hours to install, and require extensive computer skills."

In fact, there are systems available now that are reasonably priced and straightforward to install and use.

2. "Switching to an electronic log will ruin my company."

The only way this is true is if you are currently over-dispatching your drivers and you are relying on the additional income to remain viable, Bray says. Yes, ELDs will require companies to make some changes in scheduling, work more closely with customers on scheduling, shuttling drivers that have hours available to finish trips for drivers that don't have hours, relaying loads that have a tight timeline, reworking schedules, etc. – to operate compliantly.

3. "I'll lose all my drivers."

If the ...Read the rest of this story

Caterpillar Offers TrucBrush to Clear Snow from Trucks

Photo: TrucBrush

Caterpillar dealers are offering the TrucBrush attachment, designed to clear accumulated snow from truck, trailer, and bus rooftops.

The polypropylene-bristled attachment is designed for optimal clearing and quickly connects to and is powered by a front-end loader. The mobile method allows snow service vendors and fleet maintenance personnel to clear snow off multi-heighted vehicles prior to transit.

TrucBrush originated as a response to a request by the manager of a large Boston-based airfreight company to find a way to manage the largest snow-related problem in the transportation industry.

“He was seeking a solution that was safer than the manual method and did not require significant infrastructure and year-round dedicated facility space to effectively remove snow from the tops of the company's trucks and trailers,” said Jim Burns, TrucBrush inventor and president of TrucBrush Corp.

“We are proud to offer TrucBrush through Caterpillar Inc.'s distribution channel, as they are global leaders in providing solutions to the transportation and snow management industries,” said Debora Babin Katz, TrucBrush Corp. vice president.

Related: More States Want Snow/Ice Off Trucks

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House Committee to Eye State/Local Rollout of FAST Act

For its first hearing of the 115th Congress, the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit will delve into how the most recent highway bill-- the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act— is being implemented on the state and local level.

The committee said that during the hearing, to be held March 15 at 10 am EST, it intends to examine “the perspectives of the states and local entities that have been integral to the legislation's success, and who must put into practice the various policies set forth in the law.” The committee is chaired by chaired by Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO).

Slated to present testimony at the hearing will be representatives of the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), and the National League of Cities (NLC).

Those witnesses will be:

“The FAST Act is an example of how Congress can work together to develop multi-year legislation to build a 21st century infrastructure,” the committee said in a statement. “Input from stakeholders will be critical to monitor the implementation of the FAST Act and help inform the development of future infrastructure bills."

The FAST Act, signe dinto law by Presdient Obama in Dec. 2015, is a fully funded $305-billion, five-year reauthorization of federal highway and transit programs. The landm,ark legislation remains the first highway-funding bill to run longer than two years to become law since 2005.

The hearing, entitled: “FAST Act Implementation: State and Local Perspectives,” is scheduled to begin at 10:00 am EST ...Read the rest of this story