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Q&A: How Driver Relationships Drive Safety at Southern Freight Services

Kelsey Wolfe Photo: Jim Park

Kelsey Wolfe's career took a 90-degree turn when her father started a trucking company and asked her to help out in the office. Her take-charge attitude has helped the fleet maintain an exemplary safety record and enviable culture of safety and driver engagement.

Wolfe, Southern Freight Services' director of safety, human resources and recruiting, is Heavy Duty Trucking's pick for its 2016 Safety & Compliance Award. Her father, a veteran of the trucking industry, started the Morristown, Tenn.-based SFS in 2012. Wolfe was ready to return to school to finish her nursing degree at the time, but she soon took command of some of the 48-truck fleet's most important back-office aspects, managing safety programs and driver recruiting and retention.

She implemented drug testing programs, inspection protocols and electronic logs, and last year saw the fleet's crash frequency drop from 1.61 to 0.89. But while her dedication to her craft is evident in the fleet's performance, she believes it is driver relationships that are key to the company's success.

HDT: First off, congratulations on the HDT Safety & Compliance Award. How important is this sort of recognition?

Wolfe: Honestly, I really didn't expect that call to begin with, but I definitely didn't expect that to happen. I think the fleet, from the feedback, they're proud.

I know all of the drivers and I've got their phone numbers memorized and I've hired all of them [except] three I didn't hire, they were here before I got here. Two were at my high school graduation. So they're very excited because I'm the one with the least experience in the building.

I was going to return to school to finish nursing, and Dad said, “Well you've got a month until school, so just come here and you can help answer phones and whatnot.” And other ...Read the rest of this story

What’s Available in Hybrid and Electric Drive Systems

Many of Odyne's hybrid systems go into utility service trucks, where they work cleanly and  silently on job sites. Public utilities, municipalities and other high-profile fleets are still interested in cutting emissions and fuel use, the manufacturer says. Photo: Odyne Systems

Diesel and gasoline still dominate the commercial powertrain world, but hybrid and electric mechanisms, pushed by government regulations and support, might be headed for big growth. Announcements by Tesla and a new company, Nicola, that they're working on creating Class 8 electric trucks, is driving public interest in the concept, and California is pushing for zero-emission-vehicles for commercial use.

In recent years, low and somewhat stable conventional fuel prices have undercut the return on investment required to make a business case for hybrids and electrics, which have added 40 to 100% or more to prices for conventional trucks.

To some extent, user interest has swung from hybrid propulsion, which was the emphasis in the early 2000s, to electrification of work trucks as a way to reduce engine idling. Electrics have great maintenance advantages, but their high upfront costs put them largely out of reach without government grants and voucher programs.

Although Eaton left the North American market several years ago, numerous hybrid propulsion products remain available. For medium- and heavy-duty work trucks, the sole supplier now is Odyne.

“Many fleets are still interested in improved fuel economy and reduction of exhaust emissions,” says Chief Engineer John Peters. They're usually public utilities, municipalities and other operations with high profiles and progressive management. Odyne's plug-in systems are used in various truck chassis fitted with utility bodies. On the road they're parallel hybrids, meaning engine power or electricity or both move the trucks, and braking produces electricity that's sent to batteries and is used for launch assist.

On job sites the trucks operate almost entirely on electricity. Electric power ...Read the rest of this story

Land Line Now online: Anger over speed limiters nears boiling point

Speed Limiters: OOIDA to Senate Approps: Don’t force final rule on speed limiters

SMC³ adds carrier-direct APIs

SMC³ recently unveiled a new series of web-based APIs (short for “application programming interface”) for its technology platform or “hub” for third party logistics (3PL) providers, shippers and LTL carriers.

Those applications specifically include “execution” and “visibility” web-service solutions to provide event-based visibility to help streamline workflows by sending alerts when shipments require action or attention, SMC³ said.

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