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Dave brings to you 36 years of valuable experience in transportation, management, business and compliance. Dave has driven in every condition across North America and overseas as military, police, company driver to owner operator to now Publisher Editor of Canadian Trucking Magazine. Where were you at and on November 11th at the 11th hour this year! I would hope you took a minute to remember those who have given all, and those still in harms way. When I say those in harms way I am not just talking about our brave peace keepers and soldiers abroad. But right here at home, our Police, Fire and Ambulance that run toward danger as others run away.
I was fortunate enough to be apart of a colour party with 215 Legion and the dedicated members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police from East St. Paul detachment. A service where we honoured those lost but not forgottened and prayed for those out there still serving us. If you see a person in uniform the street in a restaurant, take the time to say thank you for your service. They will appreciate it!
Brings me to an interesting story.
A lot of you know Grumpy aka Bill Anderson, he has been tearing up the black top since I was in diapers. Sorry Bill, maybe not that long. Bill, being ex service and knowing the meaning of sacrifice on November 11 at the 11th hour stopped his truck in route on a busy Stretch of Hwy 1, took off his hat, bowed his head, and gave 2 minutes of silence. Not a vehicle passed, and when he looked up, Bill saw at least 6 other vehicles had stopped behind him and did the same. Thank you Bill. I wish everyone had respect! Our Brother Alex Fraser
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beaten by 3 cowardly punks on Hwy 5 between Blue River and Valemount. They played a break down and when Alex stepped out they beat him.You all must know the story by now and that there is a large reward to the tune of ten thousand dollars. Alex is out of the hospital, but the cowardly punks are still on the loose. I am sure they have said something to a lot of people by now. Please if you know them or know someone that does, let’s clamp the cuffs on them. Call crimestoppers. I drive that route every month delivering CTM to truck stops, let them try something like that with this cowboy!
I really look forward to my trips acrosss Canada delivering my magazine to all the travel stops and other places you find CTM. Please when you use a vendor you saw in CTM, let them know it is because they supported and advertised in your favorite magazine. Some if you mention CTM give special rates or gift packs. I only take advertisers with products or companies I believe in. So when you see it in CTM you know it is a product or company I have checked out.
It is coming to that time of year my friends that we open our hearts to those that have less than we do! The Salvation Army has a proven track record that goes back over 120 years in Canada. This has made it one of the world’s largest providers of social services, and one of the most trusted. If you are going to give, please let it be to the Salvation Army. Also tip heavy this time of year as your servers have families they have to provide for. Besides the tip, show some patience when they are busy and a smile and a thank-you for thier service to you.
Have you been listening to me on the radio? I now give the road hammer report on the Driver Show. You can tune into your favorite station to hear me, or check the internet for one that has the Driver Show playing. If your radio station has not played the driver show yet, ask them why! It is the best 2 hours out there. Coming soon I hope to have our Manitoba Grand Truck Rodeo Champion Howard McAfee doing a segment for the history channel for life on the road as a long haul driver. Right now Howard is out chasing wildlife with his new HERD! I hope to have the December issue out before Christmas, but if I don’t, may the highway be dry, may your wheels stay on the pavement, your family and friends be safe and healthy and above all that God blesses you and yours on this special season and provides you with what you need. From my family to yours! god Bless and Merry Merry Christmas!! Happy Trails,,,,,,,, Dave
Nick picked up some leaveitthere Gold from the coffee crew at Wells Gray Inn @ Clearwater BC
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Sandy Long -Doing Your Homework Many people are looking to trucking in today’s economy to find work. Some are trying to realize a life-long dream of the ‘freedom of the road’; some just have no other options. Before making your final decision to enter the trucking industry, you have to do some serious homework. Starting at the beginning First you have to get beyond the image trucking has; it is not Smoky and the Bandit or Moving On. Learn as much about the industry and lifestyle as you can by reading trade publications, join groups online and talk to other drivers then sift thru the information to see if you will fit into trucking. If you have small children, you have to recognize that for the first year or so, you may not be home often and will miss important things like birthdays and school activities. If you are a single parent, who will take care of the kids while you are gone. If you are married, is your spouse prepared to live a long distance relationship. There are some areas of truck driving that may hire students to keep you local...these are local deliveries,cement/construction etc. Most though will require at least one year of experience.
Look at yourself objectively and honestly. Realize that if you have a bad driving record, you most likely will not be able to be hired until it clears up. If you have criminal conviction issues, especially recent ones, finding a company to take a chance on you will be harder, if possible at all. If you do any sort of controlled medication, you may not qualify to be a trucker. If you do any sort of illegal drugs, you will not be able to be hired or will be found out rather quickly. Do you like to travel and can you deal with heavy traffic and/or bad road conditions? Can you stand long periods away from family and friends? Can you deal with stress? Can you handle being told when to be somewhere and how to get there? Can you read a map and follow directions? Do you work well with various types of people? Can you handle responsibility? Are you detail orientated? If the answer to any of the above questions is no, then you may not be able to handle being a trucker. Second step... Check your finances. You will have to decide if you want to pay your own tuition, which is what I advise, or have a company pay your tuition. Community college programs in your state of residency are some times cheaper than any other way to go. You will also need food money for the length of the school and money to carry you and your family, if you have one,
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through the first 4 to 6 months until you start drawing a regular driver's wage and learn the ropes. Check training companies. Find companies that hire students that have terminals closest to where you live. Finding a company that is near your home makes getting home easier. Call them up and talk to them yourself. Find out what their training program consists of...starting pay while training and after. If you have tickets on your record or any convictions talk to them about them to make sure that it is not an issue. Ask them from what schools they hire. Many sites have a list of questions to ask prospective companies. Finding your school... If the training company you have chosen has a list of schools they recommend or hire from, call them and talk to them. Again, if you find one closer to your home, it will make it easier both for you to get there and home again if it doesn’t work out or after the course is done. Find the school with the longest training period you can...usually the longer the course, the more behind the wheel learning time you will get. If you are paying for it yourself, the school should be able to guide you to funding sources if you need it. Do not forget to check with your state agencies if you are unemployed, that there may be retraining funds available. In addition, if you are a mil-
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itary veteran, there may be money available for your training. If someone tells you that a company has pre-hired you, call that company and verify it before you get started at the school. Read carefully anything that you sign, even to the point of having a lawyer go over it if there is something you do not understand...a contract is a contract. Trucking is not for everyone and it is much better to realize that before you jump into it than after. Learning about what the job really entails takes a little time, but like marriage if you do it in haste you will repent in leisure. Take the time to do your homework and make an educated decision if trucking is right for you. Ya’ll be safe! Sandy Long is a long time truck driver who is also very active within the trucking industry. She was a long time writer for layover.com, is a life member of OOIDA, member of the WIT and owner of two websites: Trailer Truckin’ Tech, a yahoo group dedicated to the education of new and prospective truck drivers and www.satinandsteelsisterhood.com for women truck drivers. Sandy’s first book Street Smarts: A Guide for a Truck Driver’s Personal Safety is available at https://www.createspace.com/3449566
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Dawn Truell Cross Border Services By: Dawn Truell, President, Cross Border Services I cannot stress how important Load Security is. Here are your basic guidelines for Load Security as stipulated by Canada Border Services Agency, Partners In Protection, CSA, U.S. Customs & Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security and C-TPAT: For all trailers in the highway carrier’s custody, trailer integrity must be maintained at all times , to protect against the introduction of unauthorized material and/or persons. It is recognized that even though a carrier may not exercise control over the loading of trailers and the contents of the cargo, highway carriers must be vigilant to help ensure that the merchandise is legitimate and that there is no loading of contraband at the loading dock/manufacturing facility. Carrier must ensure that while in transit to the border, no loading of contraband has occurred, even in regards to unforeseen vehicle stops. Trailers must be stored in a secure area to prevent unauthorized access and/or manipulation. Procedures must be in place for reporting and neutralizing unauthorized entry into trailers, tractors or storage areas. Carrier must notify Canada Border Services and U.S. Customs & Border Protection of any structural changes, such as a hidden compartment discovered in trailers & tractors that cross all border points. Notifications can be telephonically made to CBP’s Anti-Terrorism Contraband Enforcement Team (A-TCET) at the port, or by calling your company’s dispatch team and have them notify CBSA. Using a 17 point checklist, drivers should be trained to inspect their conveyances for natural or hidden compartments, visually inspect all empty trailers, to include the interior of
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the trailer. Training in conveyance searches should be adopted as part of the company’s on-the-job training program. Conveyance inspections must be systematic and should be completed upon entering and departing from the truck yard and at the last point of loading prior to reaching the border. Inspections must include: Tractors: Bumper/tires/rims, Doors/tool compartments, Battery box, Air breather, Fuel tanks, Interior cab, compartments/sleeper, Faring/roof. Trailers: Fifth wheel area - check natural compartment/skid plate, Exterior front/sides, Rear - bumper/doors, Front wall, Left side, Right side, Floor, Ceiling/Roof, Inside/outside doors, Outside/Undercarriage. A high security seal must be affixed to all loaded trailers bound for the U.S. and Canada. High security barrier bolt seal may be applied to the door handle and/or a cable seal must be applied to the two vertical bars on the trailer doors. All seals must meet or exceed the current PAS ISO 17712 standards for high security seals. Written procedures on the usage of seals are a must and full training to all drivers must be given. Verify that the seal number and location of the seal is the same as stated by the shipper on the shipping documents. If the seal is removed in-transit to the border, even by government officials, a second seal must be placed on the trailer, and the seal change must be documented. The driver must immediately notify the dispatcher that the seal was broken, by whom; and the number of the second seal that is placed on the trailer. The carrier must make immediate notification to the shipper, the customs broker and/or the importer of the placement of the second seal. LTL carriers must use a high security padlock or similarly appropriate locking device when
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picking up local freight in Canada and the U.S. LTL carriers must ensure strict controls to limit the access to keys or combinations that can open these padlocks. Tracking and monitoring activity log must be kept. Predetermined routes should be identified, and procedures should consist of random route checks along with documenting and verifying the length of time between the loading point/trailer pickup and delivery destinations. Drivers should notify the dispatcher of any route delays due to weather, traffic and/or rerouting. Personnel should be trained to review manifests and other documents in order to identify and refuse any suspicious cargo shipments that would originate from or are destined to unusual locations, paid by cash or a certified cheque, have unusual routing methods, exhibit unusual shipping/receiving practices, provide vague, generalized or poor information. All instances of a suspicious cargo shipment should be reported immediately to the Police, RCMP, CBSA or CBP. Information on any cross border issues contact crossborderservices@cogeco.net 905-973-9136. Dawn Truell, President, Cross Border Services
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Ten Ways to Cut Fuel C tle attention was paid to managing fuel. But in the past year the price of oil has doubled cutting deeper than ever into profits causing owners and managers to adopt a new fuel consciousness. Fuel Management is a necessity. You can’t control the price of fuel, but you can control your fuel consumption. The anRemember the good swer is Fuel Management. old days‌about a year and a half ago? Prices at the Any company can improve pumps were hovering below their fuel efficiencies. It one dollar per litre and they takes work and commitstayed the same for weeks. ment from the head office Well the good old days are to your people on the road gone forever and today we live and at the job sites. More in a world where fuel prices and more companies are seem to go up by the hour. making changes in their operNow pundits speculate on liv- ating practices to cut costs ing with oil prices running up to now and to be prepared for even higher costs in the fu$200 US per barrel. ture. As consumers many of us have adjusted our lifestyles. To help you adjust, here are We try to drive less. Some Ten Ways to Cut Fuel Costs: have chosen to car pool, while Train and educate others get rid of their gas-guz- 1. your drivers: It starts with the zlers and opt for more fuel-efficient vehicles including people who have their foot on the gas pedal. Your drivers hybrids. can control fuel consumption For companies, the good old each time they fire up their days meant fuel up and go. Lit- engines, and proper training
Costs- Ask The Fuel Expert By: Jack Lee can improve fuel efficiency, economy and emissions. Hard acceleration, speeding and idling are the biggest causes of fuel waste. Initiate a training course for drivers and reward participation. 2. Decrease Idling: Be aware of the time engines idle. No longer can we leave machinery and equipment running all day long. Stop your engines! Excessive idling adds to your fuel costs by as much as 50% and can shorten the life of engine oil by 75%, adding more costs. Initiate a campaign to reduce idling time and reward participants. Allowing an engine to idle more than 3 minutes causes expensive damage which harms efficiency, shortens engine life and increases maintenance costs. It all adds up. 3. Start off slower: This is another lesson your drivers must be taught. Jackrabbit starts waste fuel and save less than 3 minutes per hour driving, but can result in using 40% more fuel and increase toxic emissions by 400%! What’s the rush? Ease up on the gas pedal and your efficiencies will
improve. 4. Slow down: Speeding is dangerous, it wastes fuel and creates higher levels of toxic emissions. Speeds over 100 km/hour drastically impact fuel efficiencies – cars travelling at 120 km/hour use 20% more fuel. Trucks travelling at 120 km/hour use 50% more fuel and they also emit 100% more carbon monoxide, 50% more hydrocarbons and 31% more nitrogen oxides. 5. Lose Weight: Excess weight places unnecessary strain on your vehicle’s engine and greatly affects its fuel efficiency. By removing as little as 100 pounds you can significantly improve your gas mileage. Check each vehicle and pitch out that unnecessary weight!
6. Use a Fuel Management System: This is the most powerful way to lower fuel costs and increase productivity. Available systems range from basic onsite refuelling (which saves up to 20 minutes in wasted time and fuel each day, per vehicle) to automated fuel tracking (which details every litre pumped into every vehicle by date, time, quantity and fuel type) to telematics (which measures overall fuel efficiency, vehicle performance, tracks fuel waste due to idling, speeding, etc. and identifies critical areas to improve efficiency and reduce fuel costs and emissions.) The technology exists so you can become a Fuel Manager and stay on top of your fuel consumption, one vehicle at a time. It can work for you. 7. Upgrade your Fleet: Whenever possible, invest in modern, fuel-efficient vehicles. Modern diesel engines are far more fuel-efficient and perform better with modern diesel fuels such as ultra low sulphur diesel and biodiesel. Though it may seem expensive, new diesel vehicles can save thousands of dollars in maintenance, fuel
and productivity per vehicle. Measure each piece of equipment for fuel efficiency and get rid of the bad ones! Replace and upgrade your equipment regularly. It may hurt now but it will pay you back. 8. Tune-up vehicles regularly: Do you have a stringent, well-managed maintenance policy? Many companies “fix it when it breaks.� This attitude costs too much in wasted fuel. A well maintained vehicle performs better, improves fuel efficiency, reduces toxic emissions and, in the long run, will cost less to maintain. 9. Pump it up: Proper tire inflation improves gas mileage. At 4Refuel our statistics show improperly inflated tires can cost up to 2 weeks worth of fuel per year! How big is your fleet? Two weeks per year per vehicle adds up to thousands of dollars in lost profits! In addition proper inflation results in improved vehicle and braking performance, and increases tire life.
10. Implement Advanced Mobile Asset Management Technology: Wow, that’s a mouth full! You can measure and manage your fleet better when you have the right information. Tracking miles traveled, average speed and engine efficiency is critical to cutting fuel costs. This information will help your drivers and managers optimize routes with better planning. Mapping software and GPS will eliminate thousands of unnecessary miles per week. Less time on the road means less fuel consumed, less wear on vehicles, decreased expenditures and overall increased productivity, plus lower toxic emissions! Once you have made a total commitment to managing your fuel better and changing some of your bad fuel habits, results will follow. Stick with it. Fuel prices are only going up.
Jack Lee is the President and CEO of 4Refuel Canada Inc, The Leader in Fuel Management. If you have any questions or comments about this article Jack can be reached at (604) 5130386 or on line: askthefuelexpert@4refuel.com
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