FTR Conference 2016: Day 2

FTR's annual transportation conference covered a lot of ground on day number two, with a deep analysis of U.S. economic trends and their import for all the freight modes, especially trucking. Day two sessions included a motor carrier regulatory outlook, projections for Class 8 tractor and trailer orders, plus panel discussions with executives from trucking companies, OEMs, suppliers, and truck dealers to get their take on the major issues facing the industry now and in the future. (All photos by Sean Kilcarr/Fleet Owner)

ReStore Kit Contains Chemicals for Restoring Equipment Surfaces

Madison Chemical's ReStore Kit is a combination of several cleaning and surface preparation products suited for fleet cleaning and maintenance, surface preparation and passivation applications.

The multi-product kit contains a gallon of AquaBlue general purpose multi-metal surface cleaner, one gallon of TreadBrite Foam acidic cleaner for multi-metals including stainless steel, one gallon of CR-120N Nitric Acid cleaner for passivation of stainless steel, a two-pound container of Jel Terge powdered viscosity enhancer / gel builder, and detailed instructions.

The kit allows users to clean, etch, remove surface oxides, and prepare a wide variety of metal surfaces. When used with the Compound CR-120N this can help to start to passivate some 300 series stainless steels where desired.

Ideal applications include cleaning and restoring of tanker trucks, dump trucks and trailer bodies, and other tractors and trailers. It is also made for field repair work, especially during or after equipment installation and commissioning, and is an add-on kit for OEM equipment because it can speed “sign off” on installs, according to Madison.

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Haldex Appoints new SVP of North American Sales

Walter Frankiewicz Photo courtesy of Haldex

Air brake system manufacturer Haldex has appointed 30-year commercial vehicle industry veteran Walter Frankiewicz the senior vice president of North American Sales.

In his new role, Frankiewicz will lead the effort to take Haldex into the next generation of brake technology and has extensive international leadership experience and sales expertise in the automotive and commercial vehicle industries.

Before joining Haldex, Frankiewicz served as president at Bendix Spicer Foundation Brake. In the past, he has also served as vice president and general manager of strategy and business planning and Global Chassis Systems for Meritor, and president and general manager at ArvinMeritor.

“He fully understands the challenges our customers are facing, and has the right combination of international leadership expertise and hands-on commercial experience within our industry,” said Bo Annvik, president and CEO of Haldex.

He holds a BS degree in electrical engineering from Ohio State University and will be based in the Haldex North American headquarters, located in Kansas City, Mo.

Related: Haldex Donates Training Equipment to Diesel Technology Program

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Survey: Small Carriers More Wary of ELD Mandate

A survey conducted by transportation management and logistics provider Transplace has revealed that 38% of small carriers had no immediate plans to implement electronic logging devices ahead of the mandated deadline.

The survey included more than 400 carriers of various profiles. It found that responses to the ELD mandate and its expected impact on capacity and utilization varied heavily by fleet size.

“While created to improve safety within the transportation industry, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's ELD mandate has left shippers and carriers with a lot of questions: How will this impact driver productivity; will drivers leave the industry as a result; will smaller carriers close up and leave the industry,” said Frank McGuigan, president and chief operating officer, Transplace.

In the survey, 81% of large fleets with more than 250 trucks reported that they had already achieved full ELD implementation. The remaining 19% of large fleets were working towards implementation. This contrasts with small carriers, showing that only 33% had fully integrated ELDs into their fleets.

While all large fleets had at least begun the process of implementation, more than a third of small fleets had no immediate plans to implement ELDs.

“One carrier responded to the survey by saying, ‘I will sell out first.'”

“Implementation of ELDs has been significantly slower for carriers with smaller fleets. While some carriers are still researching the technology, others indicated that they are holding out in the hope that the mandate will be overturned in court,” said Ben Cubitt, senior vice president, consulting and engineering, Transplace. “One carrier responded to the survey by saying, ‘I will sell out first.'”

Smaller fleets were also shown to be more wary of the negative effects ELDs could have on capacity and utilization. While 56% of large fleets expected decreased utilization from ELDs, 64% of small fleets expected ...Read the rest of this story

FTR Conference: Expect a Freight Recovery, Just Not a Big One

Daniel Meckstroth, chief economist with the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation, expects a fourth-quarter spike in production. Photo: Evan Lockridge

While a recovery for freight and the overall U.S. economy is in the cards for the fourth quarter of the year, those attending the first sessions of the FTR Transportation Conference in Indianapolis on Wednesday were also told by experts they should not expect a huge boom.

Daniel Meckstroth, chief economist with the industry group the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation (MAPI), said that after a long while July shows “the first indication that the manufacturing inventory-to-sales ratios are falling” after higher levels hurt freight shipments earlier in the year. The July level is also the lowest in about two years.

“In the future, we are going to get a spike in production, I think is going to occur in the fourth quarter … not only in the manufacturing sector but [also] in the U.S. economy,” he said.

The reason, Meckstroth said, is that inventory cycles, such as the high one manufacturing has experienced lately, are usually short. When they are over, you typically see a spike in production.

High inventories have been a drag on economic activity as well as freight movements, but now they are coming into closer balance. This results not only in better sales of manufactured goods but others as well, resulting in an improvement in the general economy.

Helping this along is the ever-resilient U.S. consumer, who accounts for about 70% of all U.S. economic activity. Meckstroth said “consumers are keeping us out of a recession.” How are they doing it? Because, as he put it, “we are in a jobs boom, with the percentage of new jobs being adding being much faster than overall economic expansion.”

“It's new jobs creating new income…that's what's propelling ...Read the rest of this story

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