Rolf Lockwood Scholarship presented for networking article

Otto to Test Autonomous Rig in Ohio

Otto has tested its self-driving rigs in western states, and this week will begin demonstrations amid midwestern terrain in Ohio. Photo: Otto

Ohio is the next venue for autonomous truck tests by Otto, the Uber-owned development company that made a well-reported driverless beer delivery in Colorado several weeks ago.

An Otto vehicle was supposed to travel a 35-mile stretch of U.S. 33 on Monday in central Ohio, between Dublin and East Liberty, home to the Transportation Research Center, an independent testing facility, according to an Associated Press report.

An appearance by Ohio Gov. John Kasich during the demo was canceled when a brief stabbing rampage on the campus of Ohio State University in Columbus began about 10 a.m., and the governor shifted his attention to that, said ODOT spokesman Matt Bruning. (The incident, first reported as an active-shooter situation, ended quickly when an OSU police officer shot the perpetrator, though local media coverage remains intense.)

The public demonstration with Kasich involved will be rescheduled, perhaps for later in the week, Bruning said. Kasich has pushed for Ohio to be a leader in the fast-advancing testing and research of autonomous vehicles.

State officials say Ohio is well-positioned for such a role for many reasons, including a significant presence from the automotive industry, partnerships with university researchers, and seasonal weather changes that enable testing a variety of driving conditions in one place. Also, extensive logistics operations rely on transportation, so would be affected and perhaps aided by autonomous trucks.

The Otto truck will travel in regular traffic and a driver will be in the cab to intervene should anything go awry, ODOT officials said. That section of Route 33 — built to freeway standards -- will become a corridor where new technologies can be safely tested in real-life traffic. A fiber-optic cable network and sensor systems ...Read the rest of this story

McLeod Software Updates LoadMaster Enterprise and PowerBroker

McLeod Software is releasing version 16.2 of its Loadmaster Enterprise and PowerBroker products, introducing new automation solutions for carriers and brokers.

Version 16.2 introduces a new brokerage Carrier Scorecard module for PowerBroker to provide a comprehensive measurement system for evaluating carrier performance.

The system uses up to 14 key performance indicators to identify, rank, and score each carriers' performance. The KPIs can be set up with both positive and negative point assignments and be used to compare scores against peers over a specific time period.

In addition to scoring and ranking, McLeod has included a 5-star system for identifying the top and bottom scoring carriers. As part of the Carrier Scorecard Module, a broker rating screen allows customers to setup and capture subjective measurements after the carrier has been dispatched.

The ability to capture subjective feedback during dispatch using these definable prompts provides an opportunity to measure how well carriers are actually performing for a broker. Brokers will use these subjective measures along with the captured objective values as part of an overall carrier score.

New scorecard and rating reports are available within the module and provide ways for brokers to view groups of carriers and their performance against each other. The scorecard reports provide detail, summary and grand total options for specific measures and carrier managers. The broker rating report provides several sorting, grouping, and filtering options to allow users to view carrier subjective scores with order detail information.

Accounts Payable Process Automation and Automated Collections

A new McLeod Logix Solutions Automated Collections module helps carriers and brokers reduce days sales outstanding and improve cash flow. Manual collection processes for past-due invoices require lots of non-value added time and labor to follow up with the collections work. The Logix Solutions Automated Collections gives users the automation to get this work done more efficiently and consistently, in ...Read the rest of this story

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Carrier Logistics Offers Weighing and Measuring System

Carrier Logistics has partnered with Rice Lake Weighing Systems, a manufacturer and marketer of commercial weighing and measurement equipment, on a weight and measuring solution to help carriers reduce costs and provide accurate rates.

“Over a billion dollars a year are lost due to inaccurate weights so we have been taking the greatest care in meeting truckers' need for the latest equipment to do this accurately, easily, and conveniently,” said Ken Weinberg, vice president of sales and co-founder of CLI.

The system is currently in use at Custom Companies, a full-service transportation company and long-term Carrier Logistics customer with operations in Chicago and Los Angeles.

“Trucking companies know that for reasons of safety, liability, and revenue, it is critical to invest in modern equipment to electronically capture freight dimensions and weight,” said Glenn Zalusky of Rice Lake.

Carrier Logistics provides transportation software for truckload, LTL, combined LTL, asset light and non-asset, package delivery, and bulk liquid carriers in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom.

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Cass Freight Measures Post First 2016 Gains

Two measures of freight shipping posted their first year-over-year improvements in more than 12 months, indicating there has been more than the usual fall surge in shipment volume.

The newly released Cass Freight Index Report for October shows shipments increased 2.7% from the same time a year ago. That marks the first year-over-year hike in 20 months, with the gauge hitting a level of 1.121. This is also the highest reading since September 2015 and a 0.9% improvement from September.

This is due to a wide range of results in the different modes, from continued volume growth in parcel and airfreight driven by e‐commerce, to a sequential improvement in truck tonnage, to less bad rail and barge volume overall, according to Donald Broughton, author of the report and managing director, chief market strategist and senior transportation analyst at investment firm Avondale Partners

“Although it is far too early to make a change in trend call, data is beginning to suggest that the consumer is finally starting to spend a little and that the industrial economy's rate of deceleration has eased,” he said. “Simply put, the winter of the overall freight recession we have seen for over a year and a half in the U.S. may not be over, but it is showing signs of thawing.”

However, when it comes to the amount of money spent on freight shipments, it is down both overall as well as when it comes to truckload linehaul rates. Meanwhile, intermodal rates posted its first gain in nearly two years.

The Cass Freight Index of expenditures, which measures all freight modes, declined 3.8% in October compared to October 2015 with the gauge registering 2.343. While that's down 2.2% from the September reading, it's higher than where it was during the first five months of this year.

Despite this, Broughton said, the index ...Read the rest of this story