Will Trump Effect Unseat Key House Transpo Leaders?

Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA) Photo: Evan Lockridge

Just three weeks from now, Election Day will at last mercifully reveal whether Donald Trump's upstart and populist or Hillary Clinton's plodding and cautious campaign has won the White House.

But the more the polls in these final days point to Secretary Clinton prevailing, the more they indicate that the reelections of some GOP stalwarts on Capitol Hill are threatened.

Of greatest interest to the trucking industry is the impact Trump's recent free fall in the polls may have on the reelection of key members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

The committee “faces a shakeup after Nov. 8, with several high-profile members-- all the way up to the chairman--- far from guaranteed to keep their seats,” argues an Oct. 18 post by Politico's Morning Transportation reporters.

The daily online political tipsheet points out that Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA), the committee's chairman, is “embroiled in a race many didn't expect to be so tight.” Tea Party-backed challenger Art Halvorson narrowly lost the GOP primary to Shuster and then won the Democratic nod as a write-in candidate As a result, the state's Democratic Party has thrown its support to another write-in, Adam Sedlock, whom Halvorson bested by just 41 votes in the primary.

Even with all that, the smart money has been on Shuster keeping his seat, despite him facing ethical questions over his reported dating of an airlines lobbyist while he was legislating an overhaul of the nation's air traffic control system.

For example, back in August, Politico reporter Heather Cagyle contended that Halvorson faced “an uphill battle” as both establishment Republicans and Democrats will be working to undermine his candidacy.”

Then Trump happened and now all bets are off in the Keystone State and other presidential battleground states as well as in specific Congressional districts.

Morning Transportation also doesn't ...Read the rest of this story

Industry Headwinds To Blame For JB Hunt’s Q3 Miss

Truckload Linehaul, Intermodal Rates Drops Forecast to Continue

Truckload linehaul and intermodal rates are continuing their declines despite some slight improvements, according to two new reports.

The Cass Truckload Linehaul Index decreased 3.5% year-over-year in September. While this marks the seventh straight year-over-year drop, the latest reading of 123 is the highest since April, due in part to a month-over-month improvement of 1.3% following a drop of 0.9% in August and a hike of 1.1% in July.

Analysts at Avondale Partners predict that rates will remain about the same through mid-2017, thanks to softening demand and increasing capacity, ranging from 3% lower to 1% higher.

The investment bank also cited other factors putting pressure on pricing, including carrier bankruptcies at historic lows, truck counts up by single digits, and the relaxation of the 34-hour restart rule for drivers.

The index is an indicator of market fluctuations in per-mile truckload pricing, isolating the linehaul component of full truckload costs from other components, such as fuel and accessorials, providing a reflection of trends in baseline truckload prices.

Meantime, a gauge of intermodal rates fell only 0.7% in September compared to a year earlier, its smallest year-over-year drop since January 2015.

The Cass Intermodal Index moved 1.1% lower in September from August, to a reading of 124.2, following monthly gains of 1.6% in August and 2% in July, with average monthly decreases of 2.4% over the previous 20 months.

Despite this reprieve, Avondale Partners expects intermodal rates to continue their decline through the remainder of 2016 as lower oil prices negatively impact U.S. domestic demand.

"We have historically observed a high degree of correlation between truckload and intermodal pricing, and know that should truckload rates accelerate in the coming months, intermodal rates would normally follow," Avondale said. "That said, contract rates for trucking have been losing strength, even going negative in many lanes, which would imply even more ...Read the rest of this story

Digging into the new diesel engine oils: Part two

Dan Arcy, the global OEM technical manager for the Americas for Shell Lubricants, that out of the three “phases” within the Proposed Category 11 or “PC-11” five-year development process that will result in the new CK-4 and FA-4 diesel engine motor oils on Dec. 1, the second phase proved to be the hardest and longest.

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ATA: Truck tonnage dipped in September

The American Trucking Associations (ATA) for-hire truck tonnage index contracted 5.8% in September, following a revised 5% rise during August.

Compared with September of last year, the trade group's tonnage index is down 0.7%, the first year-over-year decline since October 2015. Year-to-date, however, compared to the same stretch in 2015 ATA noted that tonnage is up 3%.

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U.S. funding driver training for vets

US truck tonnage drops in September