Omnitracs launches FleetScience digital hub

Omnitracs announced the launch of its FleetScience digital hub.

“To meet that need, we created this digital hub to provide proven best practices, foster collaboration and promote the development of new ideas about how fleet managers in every size organization can help their companies innovate and succeed.”

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Hitting the highways with Big Red

Ah, Big Red, how we miss thee; let us count the ways …

So I recently got to test drive a Ford Motor Co. full-size Transit van for week – the same model my compatriot Aaron Marsh got to pilot for a stretch not too long ago.

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Riding the roads with Big Red

Fleet Owner recently got a second crack at one of Ford Motor Co.'s full-size Transit vans – affectionately dubbed “Big Red” – for a week-long test drive, putting the vehicle through its paces (loaded and unloaded) over 602.4 miles of highway and ur

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WIT Seeks Influential Woman in Trucking Award Nominations

Last year's winner Kari Rihm of Rihm Kenwortth (center) accepts her award. Photo: Navistar

Women In Trucking Association and Freightliner Trucks are seeking candidates for the 2016 Influential Woman in Trucking award.

Created in 2010, the award honors female leaders in the trucking industry. Past recipients include Marcia Taylor, CEO of Bennett International Group; Rebecca Brewster, President and COO, American Transportation Research Institute; Joyce Brenny, President of Brenny Transportation; Rochelle Bartholomew, CEO of CalArk International; and Kari Rihm, President of Rihm Kenworth.

“WIT celebrates the success of women in the trucking industry,” said Ellen Voie, president and CEO, Women In Trucking. “This award highlights female leaders who have been crusaders and role models to others.”

Now in its sixth year, the award recognizes women who make or influence key decisions in a corporate, manufacturing, supplier, owner-operator, driver, sales or dealership setting. The winner must have a proven record of responsibility and have mentored or served as a role model to other women in the industry.

The winner will be announced at the WIT Accelerate! Conference & Expo held in Dallas, Texas from November 7-9, 2016. Each finalist will be asked to serve as a panelist for the “Influential Women in Trucking” panel discussion.

Mary Aufdemberg, director of product marketing at Freightliner Trucks, will moderate the panel. Those that nominate a candidate need to ask the nominee to save the date for this event in case she is named a finalist.

“Women In Trucking plays a critical role in pushing the envelope to diversify our industry, and Freightliner is proud of our ongoing involvement with this important organization and our sponsorship of this award,” said Aufdemberg.

Nominations will be accepted through Friday, September 9. To access the nomination form, click here.

Related: WIT Honors Rihm 2015 Influential Woman in Trucking

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Test Drive: Is International’s HX620 the Driver’s Vocational Truck?

The HX620 has a setback steer axle and 120-inch BBC, and comes only with a Cummins ISX15. Shorter models use Navistar's own N13 diesel. Note external air cleaners and many other items in chrome or bright metal. Photos: Tom Berg

Navistar has declared that it wants to build trucks that drivers want to drive. That includes the new HX vocational series, unveiled early this year at an extravaganza in Las Vegas.

I've been wanting to drive one since I saw several of the new HXs at that event, which began with a mock televised police chase involving a red dump truck stolen from downtown Vegas. It roared onto a dirt lot near The Strip, followed by the wailing police cruisers. The truck drifted right and left as it entered the lot, then ran around the area several times before black-and-white cruisers surrounded it and cops arrested the suspects.

Drifting in the dirt was not in the script, an insider said later, but you couldn't blame the guy behind the wheel. Like I said, this is meant to be a driver's truck and he drove it.

That red dump truck is the very truck you see here, according to Chad Semler, HX product marketing manager. He was my guide at the Navistar Proving Grounds in northern Indiana, west of South Bend.

You can bet that I didn't do any drifting or anything else overly enthusiastic because we were being observed by the grounds' chief engineer of operations, Brian Jacquay, who shadowed us in a Ford SuperDuty pickup with a Navistar-built V-8 diesel. He clearly was serious about safety. Besides, many years ago I learned respect for equipment and don't like to beat on trucks. I followed Semler's directions as I steered the HX over a gravel trail and pavement with rumble strips and other rough surface ...Read the rest of this story

ATA Announces MC&E Featured Speakers

The show floor of the 2015 MC&E. Photo: Evan Lockridge

American Trucking Associations has announced the lineup of featured speakers for its annual Management Conference & Exhibition being held on Oct. 1-4, 2016 in Las Vegas.

"We know ATA's members are leaders in this industry," said Chris Spear, ATA president and CEO. "MCE is the perfect place, not just to demonstrate that leadership, but to learn from fellow industry leaders about the new and exciting directions trucking and our association are headed."

The featured speakers at this year's event include:

Attendees will also have the opportunity to get a political update from respected pollsters Peter Hart and Neil Newhouse, as well as hear from leaders in the field of automated vehicles including Josh Switkes, president and CEO of Peloton Technologies Inc., Sean Waters, director of compliance and regulatory affairs of Daimler Trucks North America, Michael Roeth, executive director of the North American Council for Freight Efficiency and Jude Hurin, administrator of the management services and programs division at the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles.

"MCE annually features one of the most impressive programs of any major trucking event and this year is no different," said Pat Thomas, ATA chairman, senior vice president of state government affairs for UPS. "I would encourage anyone in our industry - member or not - who is serious about the future of trucking to join us this year in Las Vegas."

The conference features an exhibit hall showcasing the latest products from industry suppliers, policy committee meetings and education sessions on trending transportation topics. There will be several educational sessions and the ...Read the rest of this story

Phase 2 GHG Regs for Trailers Both Simple and Complex

Flatbeds, among the vocational trailers newly regulated for fuel economy and emissions by the federal Phase 2 rules, will need tire pressure management devices and low rolling-resistance tires to comply. Photo: Tom Berg

Last week the feds released their final rules for Phase 2 heavy-duty vehicle fuel-efficiency and greenhouse gas standards, which go into effect in 2018 and run through 2027. There's much to digest from the 1,700-page document, and we're getting help from truck and trailer builders and interested organizations and are publishing stories elsewhere on TruckingInfo.com.

Trailers, the subject of this weekly blog, have long been regulated for safety. But trailers' contributions to fuel economy and reduced emissions are new matters for the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the agencies that jointly researched and wrote the rules. That caught the attention of the International Council on Clean Transportation, a “green” think tank based in San Francisco.

“By far the most significant new addition into the regulation are the trailers hauled by heavy-duty tractor trucks,” wrote Ben Sharpe, a principal researcher at ICCT, in a blog. “Trailers were not included in the [current] Phase 1 rule, and their inclusion in Phase 2 helped to squeeze an extra half a mile per gallon out of tractor-trailers.

“Ok, so what?” he continues. “Well, for the vehicles affected by the regulation, adding an extra 0.5 mpg across the entire tractor-trailer fleet in the U.S. translates to a reduction of about 7 billion gallons of diesel and 100 million metric tons of CO2. That's roughly the same as taking all of the passenger cars and trucks in California off the road for an entire year! So including trailers in Phase 2 is indeed a big deal.”

What trailer types are affected? As suggested in last year's Phase 2 proposals, they're mainly box-type ...Read the rest of this story