Covenant Transportation Group, Inc. Announces Participation in Cowen and Company 9th Annual Global Transportation Conference

And Then There Were Four

Now, it's the big 4 with three of the four based in Europe. It's Daimler, Volvo, VW, and PACCAR. By the time the USA reaches 2027 and the GreenHouse Gas Phase II regulations are fully in force, we will have a global, vertically-integrated truck.

PACCAR needs to find a transmission and axles yet to be able to compete, long-term with the others. Cummins and Eaton are left with challenging prospects for their operations. Both of their shares of the market have declined as the vehicle OEM's have vertically integrated and introduced their own, proprietary parts.

read more

Fleets Online: DIY TMS

Company: Urban Electric Co., North Charleston, SC

Operation: Three Sprinter full-size vans, located in New York City, Los Angeles, and Charleston

Since its founding in 2003, Urban Electric Co. (UEC) has become a leading manufacturer of “customized” lighting fixtures—from simple wall lamps to a variety of intricate chandelier designs. No two lamps are the same, which means UEC relies on a specialized inventory management and tracking system to keep tabs on customer orders.

read more

Landstar Earns Quest for Quality Awards from Logistics Management

Vocational Profile: Heating up

“It takes the pain out of the supply chain,” Don Aiken says. What the senior vice president of intermodal at NFI is referring to is intermodal freight hauling and, in particular, temperature-controlled intermodal services, a market that has been expanding.

read more

Hardware Report: Wheels

With new emissions systems and the addition of components aimed at helping meet fuel economy targets, vehicle weights are on the rise. For fleets, that means continuing to look for weight savings, including new opportunities in wheel choices.

read more

New E-Reefers Smart Move for LA Wholesale Delivery

Two of D&D's trucks outfitted with Volta Air electric reefers. Photo courtesy Second Generation Cooling and Volta Air.

California's continued push toward fewer and fewer emissions has affected all companies that use trucks in the state, and fleets that rely on trucks to deliver products are no exception. D&D Wholesale Distributors in City of Industry, Calif., has been distributing produce, meats, poultry, grocery, non-foods, frozen foods and dairy in the Southern California area since 1979, and it's responding to the demand by moving to all-electric refrigeration units for its delivery trucks.

“Because of the ARB problem in California, we looked really deep into the future and decided we wanted to go battery operated,” explains Frank Ulloa with Second Generation Cooling, also in the LA area, which handles refrigeration needs for D&D's 40 trucks.

They found a Canadian company, Volta Air, that offers all-electric refrigeration units for vans and medium-duty delivery trucks. Last year they installed a unit it a smaller truck, an Isuzu. It worked “wonderful,” according to Ulloa, so this summer they added a larger-size unit incorporating solar panels on a larger Hino box truck.

Not only will the move make the reefer units eco-friendly, they'll also save money — Ulloa says $3,500 a year just in fuel, not counting savings in maintenance costs. And, he says, the up-front cost is actually less than a traditional reefer unit.

Peter Johnston with Volta Air explains that the Vancouver, Canada-based company started out with a no-idle electric auxiliary power unit for long-haul trucking, and has been working with the Canadian government and educational institutions on further developing its electric compressor and control systems. The D&D unit installed this summer is the third one they have running in California but they're ready to do more with the help of Second Generation Cooling.

“If you're stopped, you leave your ...Read the rest of this story