Trucking Companies Increase ‘Dedicated’ Fleets for Use by Clients

U.S. Cross-Border Freight Value Inches Higher, Trucking’s Share Falls

U.S.-NAFTA freight value percent change from previous year over the last 24 months. Graphic: U.S. DOT

The value of freight moved between the U.S. and its border neighbors increased in December for the third time in five months following a string of declines, according to new figures released Thursday by the Transportation Department.

U.S.-North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) freight totaled $87.1 billion as three out of five major transportation modes carried more freight by value with partners Canada and Mexico in December 2016 compared to a year earlier.

The 0.4% rise followed a 3.3% November jump while trucking's share of the overall cross-border freight picture fell in December.

For all of 2016 the value of NAFTA freight flows fell 3.4% from 2015, down substantially from the 7.2% decline in 2015 from 2014.

The value of commodities moving by pipeline in December compared to a year earlier increased 30.9%, vessel by 2%, and rail by 0.9%. Air decreased by 1.4%, and truck by 2%. The large percentage increase in the value of goods moving by pipeline was mainly due to a 40% jump in the year-over-year price of crude oil.

Trucks carried 61.9% of U.S.-NAFTA freight and continued to be the most heavily utilized mode for moving goods to and from both U.S.-NAFTA partners. Trucks accounted for $27.4 billion of the $46.8 billion of imports, or 58.6%, and $26.4 billion of the $40.3 billion of exports, or 65.6%.

Rail remained the second largest mode by value, moving 15.2% of all U.S.-NAFTA freight.

The value of U.S.-Canada freight flows in December decreased from a year ago by 1.2% to $44.5 billion as the value of freight on three modes fell. The value of freight carried on truck declined by 2.1%, rail by 5.4%, and vessel by 20.8%. The value of commodities moved by pipeline increased ...Read the rest of this story

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SambaSafety Acquires Vigillo

Steve Bryan, Vigillo CEO Photo: Evan Lockridge

SambaSafety has acquired Vigillo, enhancing the company's driver risk management platform for U.S. Department of Transportation regulated fleets.

SambaSafety's driver risk management solution will be combined with Vigillo's CSA Daylight Suite to offer customers both driver MVR and CSA violation and crash monitoring. This will help users manage and track the performance of drivers in all 50 states and identify and mitigate high-risk driver behavior.

“Our regulated customers will benefit by utilizing a single risk identification and mitigation dashboard combining both MVR data and CSA data,” said Richard Crawford, CEO of SambaSafety. “Vigillo is the industry leader in CSA monitoring and this addition greatly fortifies our vision of better drivers, lower risk and safer communities.”

Data and software from both companies will be combined to provide a complete picture of drivers' performance both on and off the clock. For DOT-regulated fleets, pre-hire, and post-hire driver records can be synchronized into driver qualification files to help ensure that safe, policy-compliant drivers are on the road.

Vigillo CEO Steve Bryan will remain in charge of Vigillo and the company will retain its name.

“I founded Vigillo 10 years ago with the vision to bring world-class data analytics to bear on the complex safety data that surrounds the trucking industry. Our mission and vision was, and remains, to push the boundaries of data analytics to give safety professionals in this vital industry the tools they need to save lives,” Bryan said. “This combination with SambaSafety will only serve to accelerate that mission.”

Related: Vigillo and J.J. Keller Reveal Data-Driven Driver Training Solution

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There's been an awful lot of talk regarding the ongoing “digitization” of the trucking industry, in no small part because, well, almost everyone working in this most critical of industries (me included!) has a smart phone on their belt, in their hip pocket or purse.

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