Celadon Group Announces Closing of Joint Venture with Element Fleet Management

Southern Refrigerated Transport Names Senior VP of Administration

Billy Cartright Photo via Southern Refrigerated Transport

Billy Cartright has joined the executive team at Southern Refrigerated Transport, filling the role of senior vice president of administration at the company.

Cartright was most recently with USA Truck before coming to SRT. Prior to his time there, Cartright spent over 15 years in various leadership roles at truckload carrier CFI and currently holds a valid commercial driver's license.

Joey Hogan, president of SRT holding company Covenant Transportation Group, said that Cartright “brings successful experience and energy,” as well as a reputation as “a known leader” to his new role.

“We believe his results-focused approach, strategic thought, and leadership principles fit well in CTG,” said Hogan. “We're confident that Billy and his team at SRT will perform very well.”

Southern Refrigerated Transport specializes in solo, refrigerated truckload transportation and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Covenant Transportation Group.

“I'm excited about the culture and the enthusiasm of the people here,” said Cartright. “My goal is to work with them and unleash their potential, and continue making SRT a leader in the refrigerated business.”

For more information about SRT, click here.

Related: Custom App Helps Covenant Meet Ever-Expanding Needs

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HDT’s Most Popular Photo Galleries of 2016

Photo courtesy of Shell Rotella

Heavy Duty Trucking magazine brought its readers colorful photos from around the country in 2016, showing new vehicles, industry events, truck beauty contests, and a particularly important Christmas Tree.

Here are the most popular photo galleries from 2016:

1. 2016 Fleet Technology Expo in Pictures

The 2016 Fleet Technology Expo (FTX) gave fleet managers and stakeholders speakers and a ride and drive. Attendees had the opportunity to network and learn about the latest equipment and technology in the exhibit hall. Among the awards presented was the inaugural Fleet Visionary awards, which were sponsored by Merchants Fleet Management. Photos by Thi Dao, Jim Park, and Roselynne Reyes.

2. Pit Tests Fuel Economy With U.S. Xpress

The Pit Group is working with U.S. Xpress to test and verify emerging powertrain, fuel efficiency, and safety technology, as well as trucking-specific best practices both in the shop and in the cab. Photos: Jack Roberts

3. Photos: CFI Comes Full Circle

After three acquisitions, the Joplin, Mo.-based trucking company founded as Contract Freighters Inc. in 1951 is going back to its roots, resuming use of the CFI name and operating as an independent subsidiary of new owners TransForce.

4. Navistar's SuperTruck

Navistar's SuperTruck is the fourth and final truck to come from round 1 of the Department of Energy's SuperTruck funding initiative. Equipment Editor, Jim Park, caught up with the truck and chief engineer Dean Obermann at the annual conference of the Society of Automotive Engineers, Commercial Vehicles (SAE COMVEC), conference in Rosemont, Ill. in early October and captured these photos.

5. Volvo's New Greensboro Truck Dealership

One of the latest and most modern Volvo Truck Dealerships in the United States recently opened in Greensboro, North Carolina. Our European correspondent Sven-Erik Lindstrand was on hand to tour the crown jewel in ...Read the rest of this story

Is Amazon Planning A Flying Warehouse?

Photo: Amazon

An amazon patent filing surfaced on Dec. 28 describing an airborne fulfillment center for the company's drone delivery system, according to a report by CNBC.

An illustration depicts an airship floating above the city at 45,000 feet from which the drones would fly down to deliver packages. The patent also mentioned possible uses including delivering food and other items to fans at a stadium.

Whether or not the plan is feasible may be up for debate. The logistics of placing a large blimp thousands of feet above a populated area for long periods of time would require regulatory approval, not to mention the fact that Amazon's drone delivery system is still in its infancy.

Other details of the patent filing include rudimentary plans for midair refueling and restocking from aircraft that could dock with the airship.

The patent was actually approved way back in April 2016 but was not publicized by Amazon at the time. An analyst from CB Insights, which covers the venture capital and angel investment world, posted an image from the filing onto her Twitter account on Dec. 28.

I just unearthed the Death Star of #ecommerce via @cbinsights... AMZN patent for airborne warehouses at 45K ft spitting out delivery drones pic.twitter.com/qEz2ilUtJP

The plan itself may never actually come to fruition; many technology companies file for patents as a way of protecting potential ideas. Sometimes the ideas are never followed through on, or they are just a piece of a larger plan that changes over time.

Amazon's drones have already been tested while being launched from a traditional, ground-based delivery truck. In the U.K. earlier this month, Amazon officially delivered its first package by drone and the company said that it expected to expand trials in the ...Read the rest of this story

What’s Driving Canadian Pacific’s Intermodal Growth Now?

Renault Trucks Signs Agreements with Iranian Vehicle Importer

Renault Trucks has signed to agreements with Iranian importer Arya Diesel Motors.

Photo: Renault Trucks

The agreements cover the import of vehicles from the T, C, and K ranges, and the assembly of T range vehicles in Iran, according to Renault.

The first agreement covers the import, distribution, and after-sales service of the T, C, and K range trucks. The agreement furthers the working partnership between Renault Trucks and Arya Diesel Motors that began in 2006, according to Renault.

The second agreement is an industrial cooperation agreement. The manufacturing site of Arya Diesel Motors, which is located 90 km south-west of Teheran, will begin assembling Renault Trucks T, starting in Q3 of 2017. Prior to the 2012 embargo, the Arya assembly plant, which was built in 2009, assembled the Renault Premium and Kerax, according to Renault.

“Iran is an important, historic market for Renault Trucks. We are now returning to the country with strong, reliable vehicles and a high-quality partner, Arya Diesel Motors. Our ambition is to eventually achieve a 15 % market share,” explained Bruno Blin, president of Renault Trucks.

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Chassis Recycling Among Nikola Motor’s Plans

Nikola Motor Co. logo and nameplate. 

Recycling of the chassis and components is among plans for Nikola One and Two fuel cell-electric heavy trucks, declared Trevor Milton, the founder of Nikola Motor Co., during the unveiling and technical briefings early this month at the firm's base near Salt Lake City.

Many details of the development program for the futuristic vehicles were revealed by Milton and his associates on Dec. 1 and 2, some during presentations and others during a question-and-answer session. Enthusiastic but healthily skeptical people in the audience posed the questions, and most of them said they were owner-operators or owners of small fleets.

A question about the trucks' projected “life span” got Milton talking about recycling.

“We will have a cab replacement program so the truck can be reutilized over and over again,” he said. The entire chassis will be reusable because the frame, batteries, electric motors, fuel cell and other parts will be rugged and long-lived. He sees a chassis refitted with a new cab at least twice, at 500,000 and 1 million miles, at which point the truck could be sold into secondary markets.

New cabs could be equipped with the latest in electronics to enhance operations and safety, including security and autonomous driving, he said. That will periodically bring a truck up to date. Nikola Motor could control this recycling process because Milton foresees most units being acquired through full-service, 72-month leases, which means Nikola will retain ownership.

Eventually the chassis will be worn enough for the components to be removed and renewed or scrapped. The high-performance lithium-ion batteries could be sold in 80-kw/hour “slices” for use as energy storage units for homes, he said. These would become part of current solar-panel systems that generate electricity during the day for use during hours of darkness. Ex-Nikola batteries ...Read the rest of this story