Florists, grocers and other businesses that use small refrigerated trucks and delivery vans have a new cooling option from Carrier Transicold: the Neos 100S alternator-driven electric refrigeration unit. Carrier Transicold is a part of UTC Climate, Controls & Security, a unit of United Technologies.
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...Read the rest of this storyDaimler Trucks North America (DTNA) announced that it has been selected to receive a $20 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for the SuperTruck II program. The new award is part of a multimillion dollar, multi-year program to increase the fuel economy of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles while decreasing carbon pollution.
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...Read the rest of this storyThe end of calendar summer is bringing an end to the summer-long decline in diesel prices, with fuel jumping for the second consecutive week.
The average U.S. retail pump price for diesel climbed 3.9 cents in the Aug. 29 report by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), to $2.409 per gallon. That's a fraction of penny higher than the price was June 6 before fuel costs began a nine week decline. Still, diesel's 32 cents a gallon cheaper than this time last year.
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...Read the rest of this storyVancouver-based Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers has acquired online auctioneer IronPlanet of Pleasanton, Calif., for $758.5 million, the company announced.
That acquisition gives on-site auctioneer Ritchie Bros. a developed online auctioneer that operates a range of Web-based platforms, including GovPlanet, TruckPlanet, EquipmentOne, and SalvageSale. The acquisition also includes Cat Auction Services, Kruse Energy & Equipment Auctioneers, and the Mascus sales listing service.
IronPlanet complements Ritchie Bros.' end user customers because the Canadian company already "focuses largely on the needs of corporate accounts, equipment manufacturers, dealers and government entities in equipment disposition solutions," according to the company.
In 2015, the privately held IronPlanet sold $787 million in gross merchandise value and has achieved a 25.2% growth rate from 2013 through 2015. The company increased its gross merchandise value by 41% in the first hald of 2016 compared to the same 2015 period.
As part of the transaction, Ritchie Bros. has reached a long-term alliance with Caterpillar. Ritchie Bros. will become the preferred provider to the heavy equipment manufacturer and participating dealers. Ritchie
Bros. will provide Caterpillar and its dealers with "access to proprietary auction platforms, software and other value‐added services, thereby enhancing the exchange of information and services between customers, dealers and suppliers," according to the company.
The transaction is expected to be accretive to earnings withing the first year, excluding acquistion costs. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2017. Goldman, Sachs is serving as the financial advisor.
Related: IronPlanet Named NJPA Vendor, Adds Self-Listing Marketplace
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Diesel and gasoline prices were up over the past week compared to the week before, according to weekly figures from the Department of Energy, but still lower than they were a year ago.
The national average for a gallon of on-highway diesel was up 3.9 cents to $2.409, which is still 10.5 cents less than a year ago. The highest prices were seen on the West Coast at $2.658 per gallon, the lowest in the Gulf Coast at $2.269 per gallon.
The largest increase in diesel prices was on the West Coast minus California, up 5.7 cents per gallon to $2.555. California itself was only up 1.8 cents per gallon, for an overall West Coast hike of 3.5 cents per gallon.
Regular gasoline prices rose 4.4 cents per gallon to a national average of $2.237, but dropped 2.73 cents per gallon compared to a year ago. The highest gasoline prices were in California at $2.709 per gallon; outside of California, the highest price region was the West Coast region at $2.592. The lowest-priced region for gasoline was the Gulf Coast at $2.009.
The biggest jump in gasoline prices was in the Lower Atlantic region, where they rose 6 cents per gallon, while the smallest increase was on the West Coast, which was up 1.9 cents.
Oil prices fell nearly 2% in futures trading Monday, closing at $46.98 per barrel after two days in a row of rising prices. The fall in prices came after Iraq's oil minister said over the weekend that it would continue ramping up output, and top exporter Saudi Arabia kept its output at around record levels, according to CNBC. Also contributing to the selling pressure was a stronger dollar.
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...Read the rest of this storyTrailers for the first time are included in the fuel economy/GHG regs. Photo: Wabash
">Trailers for the first time are included in the fuel economy/GHG regs. Photo: Wabash
">Final "Phase 2" greenhouse gas/fuel economy rules for medium- and heavy-duty trucks were released earlier this month by the White House, the EPA and the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.
They will cover semi-trucks, large pickups and vans, and all types of buses and work trucks in model years from 2021-2027. When the standards are fully phased in, tractors in a tractor-trailer combination are expected to achieve up to 25% lower carbon dioxide emissions and fuel consumption than an equivalent tractor in 2018.
These rules will dictate what kinds of equipment you can buy and how that equipment will operate in the real world. Early industry reactions tended to be [mostly] upbeat and positive, reflecting a determination to roll up the sleeves and deal with trucking's latest reality.
Here are several reactions compiled by HDT from around the North American trucking industry:
Truck & Engine MakersMartin Daum, President and CEO, Daimler Trucks North America: "The United States is facing significant challenges regarding GHG reduction as well as its continued dependence on foreign oil. DTNA will continue to work closely with the EPA, NHTSA, and our partners to develop new solutions that will have a positive environmental impact and fuel efficiency gains for our customers that are harmonious with the Phase Two standards.
"We will build upon our existing industry leadership and continue to set the global standard in efficiency and environmentally-friendly business solutions. DTNA supports regulations which reduce GHG emissions as well as diesel consumption. As we have stated through the collaborative debate on the Phase Two rule, the final rule needed to provide clear, long-term targets for the entire vehicle, not just the engine. It also needed to provide enough time and flexibility for the OEMs and ...Read the rest of this story
As FTR and Truckstop.com apply "big data" analysis to spot market pricing, Noel Perry, FTR transportation economist, offers some insights into the volatility of spot pricing and how spot prices correlate with contract pricing.
1. Spot prices have been rising more than contract prices.The data being analyzed starts in the first quarter of 2008, just before the big downturn. Since the bottom of that recession, contract prices have averaged a 1% quarter over quarter growth (annualized). Even with the big decline last year, spot prices have averaged 2%. This is consistent with the big move of random freight from the edges of contracts into the spot market, Perry notes. Volume has built, and so have rates.
"I expect this trend to peak in 2019 with the coming crisis in regulatory drag," Perry says. "After that is unclear."
2. Spot prices are way more volatile.This is no surprise, Perry says. The spot market is defined as the home of swings in random demand. The capacity pressure indices calculated by Truckstop.com and DAT both swing widely in almost lockstep. It follows that price changes swing widely.
The standard deviation of spot rate changes since the bottom of the last recession is five times larger than that of contract rates. "In case you have forgotten your college stat definitions, that means spot rate growth varies five times more than contract rate growth," he says.
3. Both spot and contract pricing lag changes in capacity utilization.With spot prices, the lags between market events and price response are short, perhaps up to a quarter, Perry says. The response is not instantaneous because truckers and shippers take time to realize that a change is required. There are also some small delays in the statistics. As big data (and forecasting tools) emerge, this lag should be shortened because market decision makers will ...Read the rest of this story
