ATA Honors SmartWay and TAEC Award Winners at MC&E

ATA members are honored for excellence in the EPA's Smartway program. Photo: Evan Lockridge

American Trucking Associations recognized award recipients at the ATA Management Conference & Exhibition, honoring winners of the EPA SmartWay Excellence Award and the President's Trucking Association Executives Council Leadership Award.

ATA congratulated the 43 winners of the EPA SmartWay Excellence Awards – particularly the 15 members of ATA who were honored at the event. With the award, the EPA recognizes its top carrier partners for their commitment to an efficient and environmentally responsible freight transportation supply chain.

"EPA's SmartWay Transport Partnership is a model of industry and government cooperation," said Chris Spear, ATA president and CEO. "We hope that SmartWay will continue to be a tremendous example of how business and government can work together and how our industry can reduce fuel use and greenhouse emissions. I congratulate the industry leaders who EPA is honoring here today and especially those leaders who are part of our association."

Among this year's winners of the SmartWay Excellence Award are:

Challenger Motor Freight Inc., Heritage Transport LLC, Old Dominion Freight Line Inc., Pitt Ohio, CRST Expedited Inc., Roehl Transport Inc., Doug Andrus Distributing LLC, UPS Small Package, Swift Transportation Co., U.S. Xpress Enterprises Inc., Bison Transport Inc., Cargo Transporters, Dedicated Transport LLC, Mesilla Valley Transportation and OutWest Express LLC.

"We all depend on the freight sector, and these award-winning SmartWay carriers have demonstrated that it is possible to compete in this space while placing an emphasis on environmental integrity, allowing for reduced fuel costs which increase revenue while also lowering greenhouse gas emissions,” said Christopher Grundler, director of EPA's Office of Transportation & Air Quality.

ATA also named Brenda Neville, president of the Iowa Motor Truck Association at the 15th recipient of the President's Trucking Association Executives Council Leadership Award. The award was created by ATA ...Read the rest of this story

Kenworth Offers 52-Inch Mid-Roof Sleeper on T680 Advantage

Kenworth now offers the Kenworth T680 Advantage Package with 52-inch mid-roof sleeper for regional haul and less-than truckload operations. Photo: Kenworth

Kenworth has ntroduced the fuel-efficient T680 Advantage Package with 52-inch mid-roof sleeper for regional haul and less-than-truckload operations.

The new T680 Advantage configuration features an optimized powertrain with the 2016 Paccar MX-13 engine or Paccar MX-11 engine and Eaton Fuller Advantage series 10-speed automated transmission. This powertrain is combined with more fuel-efficient Meritor MT40-14X drive axles, rated at 40,000 pounds.

The 52-inch sleeper features aerodynamic elements to help redirect airflow around the chassis and sleeper to improve fuel economy. They include a front air dam to redirect around versus under the tractor, mini-kickout fairings to force air around the trailer and drive tires, and lower fairing extenders.

Other fuel-efficient features include Kenworth's Predictive Cruise Control, Neutral Coast, Driver Performance Assistant and FlowBelow wheel covers.

“Our expanded Kenworth T680 Advantage lineup now provides three excellent Advantage choices – day cab, 52-inch mid-roof sleeper and 76-inch sleeper – to those regional haul, LTL fleets and truck operators in constant pursuit of achieving greater fuel economy and lower operating costs,” said Jason Skoog, Kenworth assistant general manager for sales and marketing.

The 52-inch mid-roof sleeper is especially suited to regional hauling applications – including tank, bulk, flatbed, heavy haul and lowboy – where drivers may spend just two or three nights on the road during a typical week. The sleeper features a liftable lower bunk and upper storage units on the back wall with enough space for drivers to hang their clothes and jackets, plus an optional upper bunk for driving teams.

The optional passenger swivel seat expands the living space into the cab to provide more comfort for the drivers when parked. The design also provides sufficient head room for a driver or passenger up to 6-foot-4 ...Read the rest of this story

Knight Transportation, Inc. Announces Upcoming Release of Third Quarter Earnings and Related Conference Call

FMCSA Website Previews Proposed CSA Changes

Screenshot of FMCSA's preview site for proposed SMS changes.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has announced a set of proposed changes to its Compliance, Safety, Accountability program and is seeking comment on the proposals via a special website it's set up to show motor carriers how the changes would affect their safety ratings.

The notice, published in the Federal Register for Oct. 5, lays out the enhancements the agency want to make to information on its public Safety Measurement System (SMS) website. It also responds to comments FMCSA has received in response to its earlier notice (published on June 29, 2015) on proposed future SMS enhancements.

While the Federal Register announcement responds to comments received following the June 29, 2015, notice, no changes will be implemented in the public SMS website display until after completion of the National Academies of Sciences Correlation Study, as required by the FAST Act highway bill.

The two newly proposed changes call for increasing the minimum number of crashes needed for determining whether a carrier receives a score in the Crash Indicator BASIC from two to three and assigning BASIC percentile ratings only to carriers that have had an inspection with a violation in the past year vs. within the current 24-month period.

The proposed enhancements are now available for previewing on the special website. FMCSA is seeking public comment on the changes based on viewing the preview site. Comments must be received by December 3, 2016.

FMCSA also said it will be holding public sessions at which industry stakeholders will be able to ask questions about the proposed SMS enhancements and the preview site.

To support the Q&A sessions, FMCSA has developed a video presentation that outlines the proposed changes and how to use the preview website. Before joining an online Q&A session, participants ...Read the rest of this story

TMW Systems Creates ConnectedDock App for TruckMate TMS

ConnectedDock is a new Android App from TMW Systems for TruckMate TMS users designed to help fleets streamline dock operations, minimize shipping errors and reduce lost revenue from incorrect weights, dimensions and OS&D.

The app was introduced at the PeopleNet and TMW in.sight User Conference and Expo in Nashville, Tenn.

The app is designed for use with commercial-grade, Android-based handheld scanners and can streamline key processes like unloading, data collection, loading through trips/ partial unloads, freight receiving and OS&D documentation. ConnectedDock features advanced logic and a user-friendly interface designed to be used in a dock environment.

By accelerating and automating data collection, ConnectedDock enables users to more frequently re-weigh and re-dimension shipments and prompt billing adjustments in the back office. Carriers can establish rules to require or skip re-weighs/re-dimensions on specific customers' shipments, by type of freight and/or other criteria. The app also reduces the time needed to document overs, shorts and damaged shipments, and includes an integrated camera to associate images and related data with the appropriate freight bill.

ConnectedDock can help minimize cases of misdirected freight by issuing an error message when the user tries to load the wrong trailer. A timesaving “predictive cross-docking” capability automatically directs the worker to the appropriate destination dock when he or she unloads each shipment.

The app also offers a “Quick Unload” feature that allows the user to scan, unload and hold freight at the dock to quickly free up a door for an incoming load. The held freight can then be validated and moved to the appropriate locations when time permits.

Fleet managers also can use the new app to aggregate and analyze performance data and identify opportunities to further improve efficiency and reduce costs.

Related: TMW Systems, PeopleNet Hold First Joint User Conference

Follow @HDTrucking on Twitter

Echo Global Logistics Third Quarter 2016 Earnings Release and Conference Call Scheduled for Wednesday, October 26, 2016

SmartDrive taps ‘multitude’ of data sources to hone in on fleet performance info

read more