MARCH 2018
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK How long can the good times last? page 58
SPECIAL REPORT: THE DRIVER DEFICIT
Who's going to move the freight? page 46
E-COMMERCE EDGE
BUSINESS SOLUTIONS FOR TRUCKING PROFESSIONALS
Fleets finding home delivery advantage page 62
PEACE OF MIND Warranties support older, used trucks page 66
© 2018
, Inc. All rights reserved. All marks are trademarks of their respective owners.
* Based on averaging the third party testing results for fuel economy comparing the International LT with A26 engine against the (a) 2018 Freightliner Cascadia CA126SLP with DD13, (b) 2018 Kenworth T680 with Paccar MX-13 and (c) 2018 Volvo VNL670 with Volvo D13. Actual customer results for fuel economy may vary. The “category” tested consisted of Class 8 trucks with North American 12-13L engines.
Independent tests prove International LT SERIES POWERED BY A26 BEATS THE COMPETITION BY OVER 4% ON average* ®
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International Truck commissioned the PIT Group to conduct industry-recognized TMC Type IV fuel economy tests comparing the International LT Series powered by A26 with competitive 12-13L powered tractors of similar specifications. All vehicles were tested on a 300+ mile route with hills and flatlands. In the end, International beat all others in the test, proving that LT Series delivers tangible fuel savings over the competition. VISIT INTERNATIONALTRUCKS.COM TO READ THE COMPLETE REPORT.
IN IT FOR THE LONG HAUL INNOVATING FOR THE FUTURE. For two and a half decades, XTRA Lease has delivered innovation to help you meet the challenges of an ever-changing industry. Since we pioneered the widespread use of trailer tracking 16 years ago, we’ve continued to invest in outstanding technology to help you manage your supplemental fleet profitably. From free trailer tracking to no nuisance rebills to fuel-saving trailers packed with a promise to always do what’s right, you get what you pay for with XTRA Lease. Thank you for the honor of choosing us to be part of your journey. Here’s to you and the next 25. Keep an eye out for new 25th Anniversary edition rental vans hitting the road this Spring.
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MARCH 2018 | VOL 175 | NO. 3
JOURNAL
COVER STORY:
Always a Maverick
Brent Hilton, director of maintenance for Maverick Transportation, has stayed true to his employer, but he’s never stopped looking for ways to help the industry. That’s only one of the reasons Hilton has been selected as the recipient of this year’s Technology & Maintenance Career Leadership Award.
LEADING NEWS, TRUCKING MARKET CONDITIONS AND INDUSTRY ANALYSIS
Cover design by David Watson
FEATURES
46
Special Report: The Driver Deficit
8
Trump’s infrastructure
A shortage of qualified drivers is nothing new. But underlying factors point to a grave situation this time around. When it comes to pay and benefits, will drivers finally be in the driver’s seat?
58
News package relies on tolls, private sector … DOT seeks to ease path for vehicle autonomy …
2018 Economic Outlook: Back in business
FMCSA clarifies how
While a quiet regulatory environment and positive economic conditions give carriers confidence, the driver shortage and productivity losses as a result of the ELD mandate threaten future growth.
to submit crash review
62
program … Cargo
Eager for e-commerce
theft numbers dipped
Whether motor carriers work for Amazon or its competitors, they are feeling the pressure to rethink and retool their offerings to deliver a satisfactory delivery experience. Technology is helping carriers adapt to new challenges and opportunities in the fast-growing business-toconsumer market.
in 2017, CargoNet reports … TCA announces 2018’s “Best Fleets to Drive For” … Atlanta again leads
66
Breakdown backup
Some buyers of used trucks never feel the sense of relief that comes with not having to shoulder all the financial load of a major equipment failure. Fortunately, aftermarket warranties are available for used equipment and for extending coverage beyond a factory warranty’s expiration date.
43
requests for CSA pilot
10 most congested freight bottlenecks … More than 54,000 U.S. bridges rated “structurally deficient” by ARTBA … Fleets running PeopleNet ELDs could see grandfather
Innovators: Central Oregon Truck Co.
The Redmond, Ore.-based flatbed company offers generous pay, incentives and benefits and establishes a personalized work experience for its drivers.
clause extended
10 InBrief commercial carrier journal
| march 2018 3
DEPARTMENTS
ccjdigital.com
technology
20 21 21 22 22
facebook.com/CCJMagazine
All eyes on Amazon as it tackles delivering its own orders
24 25 26 26
linkedin.com/ccjmagazine
Meritor debuts air spring line, expands kingpin kits
Editorial
Editor: Jeff Crissey Senior Editor: Aaron Huff Equipment Editor: Jason Cannon Managing Editor: Dean Smallwood News Editor: James Jaillet Associate Editor: Matt Cole Contributing Editor: Todd Dills
Denso enhancing PowerEdge lineup New Sprinter targets connectivity, e-commerce Ford adding diesel option to Transit Connect
22 InBrief 24
@CCJnow
32 34
Lytx celebrates 20 years, talks future of video data
Design & Production ERoad rolls out Inspect in-cab DVIR
Volvo eyes 2019 for electric truck sales
Corporate
Detroit rolls medium-duty DD8 into truck production
34
Peterbilt introduces UltraLoft integral cab spec for Model 579
34 InBrief
28 Test Drive: Kenworth hydrogen fuel cell T680
36 36
TomTom rebuilds fleet management, in-cab products
3rd Eye, Air-Weigh integrate safety, weight systems TivaCloud adds compliance outsourcing service
38 InFocus:
30 InFocus: Oil filters
Outsourcing compliance
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE
6
Upfront Editor Jeff Crissey’s column.
70 4
Products
Trailer tester, brake tool, seat, more.
commercial carrier journal
| march 2018
Art Director: David Watson Graphic Designer: Kenneth Stubbs Quality Assurance: Timothy Smith Advertising Production Manager: Leah Boyd production@ccjdigital.com
Nikola to build hydrogenelectric trucks in Arizona
Peterbilt GM: Truck market poised for further growth in 2018
editorial@ccjdigital.com
76
Preventable or Not?
75
Ad Index
As John Doe attempted a wide U-turn from the left lane, he struck a car that had pulled up next to him in the right lane. Was this a preventable accident?
Chairman Emeritus: Mike Reilly President/CEO: Brent Reilly Chief Operating Officer: Shane Elmore Chief Financial Officer: Kim Fieldbinder Senior Vice President, Sales: Scott Miller Senior Vice President, Editorial and Research: Linda Longton Senior Vice President, Acquisitions & Business Development: Robert Lake Senior Vice President, Data: Prescott Shibles Vice President, Events: Stacy McCants Vice President, Digital Services: Nick Reid Vice President, Marketing: Julie Arsenault
3200 Rice Mine Road N.E. Tuscaloosa, AL 35406 800-633-5953 randallreilly.com Commercial Carrier Journal (ISSN 1533-7502) is published monthly by Randall-Reilly Publishing Co. LLC, 3200 Rice Mine Road N.E., Tuscaloosa, AL 35406. Single copy price U.S., $6; Canada/ Mexico, $9; Foreign, $12. Subscription rates, payable in U.S. dollars, $48 per year (in Canada $78 U.S. currency). For subscription information/inquiries, please email commercialcarrierjournal@halldata.com. Periodicals Postage-Paid at Tuscaloosa, AL, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTERS: Send all UAA to CFS. (See DMM 507.1.5.2); NON-POSTAL AND MILITARY FACILITIES: send address corrections to Commercial Carrier Journal, PO Box 2186, Skokie, IL 60076-9919. Unsolicited letters, manuscripts, stories, materials or photographs cannot be returned except where the sender provides a postage-paid, addressed, stamped envelope. Address all mail to Commercial Carrier Journal Editorial Dept., P.O. Box 3187, Tuscaloosa, AL 35403. All advertisers for Commercial Carrier Journal are accepted and published by Randall-Reilly Publishing Co. LLC on the representation that the advertiser and/ or advertising agency are authorized to publish the entire contents and subject matter thereof. The advertiser and/or advertising agency will defend, indemnify and hold Randall-Reilly Publishing Co. LLC harmless from and against any loss, expenses or other liability resulting from any claims or suits for libel violations of right of privacy or publicity, plagiarisms, copyright or trademark, infringement and any other claims or suits that may arise out of publication of such advertisement. Copyright Š 2017, Randall-Reilly Publishing Co. LLC All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Commercial Carrier Journal. is a registered trademark of Randall-Reilly Publishing Co. LLC. Randall-Reilly Publishing Co. LLC neither endorses nor makes any representation or guarantee regarding the quality of goods and services advertised herein.
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LEADING NEWS, TRUCKING MARKET CONDITIONS AND INDUSTRY ANALYSIS
Trump's infrastructure package relies on tolls, private sector
P
resident Trump, in his first State of the Union address, asked Congress to pass legislation that would lead to $1.5 trillion for spending on highways, bridges and other infrastructure projects. However, like Trump’s calls for high-price-tag infrastructure packages in the past, he envisions states, localities and the private sector picking up the bulk of that total, not the federal government. The $1.5 trillion total is $500 billion more than Trump’s previous calls for using $200 billion in federal incentives and seed money to drum up funding from states and private investors for infrastructure projects. A six-page bulletin that surfaced in early January called for loosening tolling restrictions to bolster highway funding, and those plans were confirmed Feb. 12 when the administration announced more specifics about its infrastructure package. “As we rebuild our industries, it is also time to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure,” Trump said in the 80-minute address Jan. 30. “America is a nation of builders. President Trump discussed his infrastructure plan I am asking both parties to come during his first State of the Union address on Jan. 30. together to give us safe, fast, reliable and modern infrastructure that our economy needs and our people deserve. Every federal dollar should be leveraged by partnering with state and local governments and, where appropriate, tapping into private sector investment to permanently fix the infrastructure deficit.” Critics of Trump’s plan, including the American Trucking Associations, have said tolls are a dead-end response toward infrastructure funding, and ATA reiterated its stance after Trump’s speech and the administration’s Feb. 12 announcement. “Roads are not a partisan issue – they’re driven on by Republicans and Democrats alike,” said Chris Spear, ATA president and chief executive officer. “As both sides of Capitol Hill know, modernizing our infrastructure will require a substantial investment — actual, real revenue. America cannot be rebuilt with funding gimmicks and finance schemes.” Prior to Trump’s speech, ATA released an outline for its vision for highway funding, calling on raising fuel taxes a nickel a year over four years to revive the Highway Trust Fund, which has been untouched since Scan the QR code with your smartphone or visit ccjdigital.com/news/subscribe-to-news1993 and has fallen behind letters to sign up for the CCJ Daily Report, in its ability to maintain a daily e-mail newsletter filled with news, funding for road projects. analysis, blogs and market condition articles. – James Jaillet 8
commercial carrier journal
| march 2018
DOT seeks to ease path for vehicle autonomy
T
he U.S. Department of Transportation is seeking
public input on policies to hasten the deployment of self-driving trucks, buses and passenger cars, including vehicles that require no human input to operate. DOT aims to produce a Federal Automated Vehicle Policy 3.0. In three notices filed in the Federal Register by various DOT agencies, regulators intend to glean input from developers of automated driving systems, end users and the public. One prong of three notices seeks to identify current regulations that could slow driverless vehicle testing and commercialization. On the second point, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s request for comment will seek input on how manufacturers of automated vehicle technology can certify that their systems meet safety thresholds. The last prong of the requests deals exclusively with the automation of public transportation, such as buses and transit systems. Embark announced last month that its self-driving tractor-trailer became the first autonomous truck to travel across the United States. The 2,400-mile Interstate 10 journey began in Los Angeles and finished five days later in Jacksonville, Fla. A driver sat at the wheel ready to assume control.
– CCJ staff
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JOURNAL NEWS
INBRIEF 3/18 • Uber and Google last month agreed to end their ongoing court standoff that revolved around autonomous truck and car products and alleged theft of trade secrets. Google agreed to accept a fraction of a percent of ownership of Uber — worth $245 million — to end its lawsuit against the ridesharing company. Google's parent company, Alphabet, alleged that Uber stole thousands of documents from Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle development subsidiary, Waymo.
ROTELLA ROUNDUP
The 411on10W-30 By Dan Arcy, Shell Lubricants
Many fleets are switching to 10W-30 engine oils from traditional 15W-40 oils.
• The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General concluded that time spent detained at shipper and receiver facilities cuts truck driver pay by between $1.1 billion and $1.3 billion annually, in addition to crimping industry safety. An extra 15 minutes spent detained beyond the standard two-hour window causes industry crash risk to climb 6.2 percent, DOT OIG estimated. That’s an average of about 6,500 additional crashes annually, the report notes. Drivers see an average annual pay loss of between $1,281 and $1,534 due to detention time, and carrier income is cut by between $250 million and $300 million annually, DOT found.
The reason is fuel economy. Thinner viscosities mean the engine doesn’t have to work as hard and uses less fuel. Think of it like swimming through honey vs. water. Honey is thicker than water, so more energy is used to move through it. The same goes for an engine’s moving parts. A 15W-40 oil requires more energy to move through it whereas 10W-30 oil produces less drag on your engine.
• The Truck Renting and Leasing Association was granted its request for a 90-day waiver from the electronic logging device mandate until April 19. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s extension published in the Federal Register in late January applies to short-term rental trucks, defined as 30 days or less. TRALA also announced it has filed a petition for an exemption from the ELD mandate through the end of 2018 due to compliance complexities for its truck rental company members regarding incompatible ELDs.
But can a 10W-30 protect as well as a 15W- 40? You bet. It comes down to quality additives and composition of base oil. In fact, Shell ROTELLA® T5 10W-30 can protect as well or better than industry-standard 15W-40 oils. Give it a shot in your fleet. To learn more go to ROTELLA.com/products
• Raymond P. Martinez, President Trump’s choice to head FMCSA, was confirmed last month by the U.S. Senate as administrator of the federal government’s trucking regulatory body. Trump last September nominated Martinez, who since 2010 has run the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission. • Daimler Trucks North America was granted an exemption that will allow the truck manufacturer to mount a camera equipped with vehicle safety technologies lower on a windshield than currently allowed by federal regulations. The exemption was published Jan. 31 in the Federal Register and is good for five years.
Comments, questions or ideas? Email us at RotellaRoundup@JWT.com
10
commercial carrier journal
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| march 2018 6/15/17 1:49 PM
Regulations require such technologies to be mounted no more than 4 inches below the upper edge of the area swept by windshield wipers. DTNA will be allowed to mount its camera with the bottom about 8.5 inches below the upper edge. • SikhsPAC and a group representing Punjabis, with roots in northern India, in late January petitioned FMCSA for a delay in ELD compliance for small business trucker members and members who haul agricultural products. • Wastequip, a manufacturer of waste equipment with brands that include Wastequip, Toter, Galbreath, Pioneer, Mountain Tarp, Cusco, Go To Parts and Accurate, was acquired by H.I.G. Capital, a global private equity investment firm; terms were not released. Wastequip had been owned by Centerbridge Partners since 2012. • PS Logistics announced that one of its subsidiaries acquired Shelton Trucking Services, a 225-truck flatbed fleet based in Altha, Fla.; terms were not disclosed. The deal includes Shelton’s terminals in Jacksonville, Fla., and Mobile, Ala., and continues PS Logistics’ strategy of buying smaller flatbed fleets. Since 2007, PS Logistics has acquired 11 trucking and brokerage operations. • A bill introduced in late January in the Washington State House would codify a late-model truck engine policy that the Northwest Seaport Alliance – a partnership between the ports of Seattle, Tacoma and Vancouver – has attempted to institute and enforce at alliance-member high-traffic container terminals. The bill, if passed, would require all drayage trucks moving into and out of the Seattle and Tacoma ports to be of 2007 and newer modelyear engines by Jan. 1, 2019. Also under the terms of the bill, “by January 1, 2035, all drayage trucks delivering goods to or receiving goods from a high-volume port must be zero-emissions vehicles.” • Mark Hazelwood, who served as president of Pilot Flying J when the truck stop company’s sales staff allegedly defrauded fleets out of millions of dollars in owed fuel rebate checks, was found guilty of fraud and conspiracy charges related to the scheme. Heather Jones, an assistant of Hazelwood’s, also was found guilty of fraud and conspiracy charges by a jury in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Sentencing for both was set for June 27.
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JOURNAL NEWS
FMCSA clarifies how to submit crash review requests for CSA pilot program
T
he Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration last month issued further guidance to clarify how carriers and owner-operators can dispute certain crashes initially ruled preventable and have them removed from their Compliance Safety Accountability scores. The agency says its Crash Preventability Demonstration Program, a pilot program launched Aug. 1 that allows carriers to send crash review requests through the DataQs system, hasn’t had the smoothest launch. FMCSA, in a Feb. 7 Federal Register notice, says some submitters have entered crashes under the standard review program in DataQs rather than the crash preventability program. For a preventability determination to be reversed, carriers are required to submit “compelling evidence
that the crash was not preventable,” FMCSA says in its Feb. 7 notice. The agency doesn’t require any specific documentation, so it is up to the carrier to decide what evidence is relevant to the crash. If a crash is determined after review to still have been preventable, carriers can choose to reopen the request if they have additional documentation that could prove nonpreventability. When reviewing requests, FMCSA can make three determinations: “Preventable,” “Not preventable” or “Undecided.” In the case of an “Undecided” ruling, the agency says the documentation submitted wouldn’t allow for a conclusive decision. If a preventable crash ruling is overturned to “Not Preventable,” law enforcement will be able to see a car-
FMCSA has issued clarification on how to submit crash preventability review requests and have the crash removed from a CSA score.
rier’s Crash Indicator BASIC percentile both with and without the crash, along with a note indicating FMCSA reviewed the crash and determined it was nonpreventable. Crashes deemed to be nonpreventable still will appear in the CSA Safety Measurement System but won’t count against the carrier. FMCSA says more than 2,500 requests have been submitted since the pilot program opened. – Matt Cole
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commercial carrier journal
| march 2018
JOURNAL NEWS
Cargo theft numbers dipped in 2017, CargoNet reports
While California remains the top state for cargo thefts, it saw a 32 percent decline in thefts in 2017 compared to 2016, according to CargoNet.
C
argo theft recording firm CargoNet reported 2017 was one of the safest years in terms of cargo theft since the firm began recording the incidents. A total of 741 cargo thefts were reported to the firm last year in the United States and Canada with an average value loss of $196,109. The number of cargo thefts in 2017 was 12 percent lower than in 2016. The firm also recorded 1,479 stolen tractors, trailers or intermodal chassis and containers during the year. CargoNet attributed much of the decline to successful law enforcement investigations in 2016. California saw a 32 percent decrease in cargo theft in 2017 compared to 2016. In New Jersey, where the State Police has specialized cargo theft units, incidents were down 13 percent. Food and beverage items were the most commonly stolen in 2017, representing 22 percent of all cargo thefts. Meat products and alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages were the most-stolen items. Fridays were the most common days for thefts to occur, with 19 percent of all thefts during the year. Saturdays had 17 percent, while Sundays had 16 percent. In 37 percent of cargo theft cases, the loads were left unattended for multiple days, making them easier targets. Also, these loads had no electronic tracking, witnesses or surveillance to determine the exact day of the loss. Also, warehouses and fenced yards were the highest-targeted locations. CargoNet said it didn’t believe fenced yards are targeted specifically, but many yards in cargo theft hot spots, such as industrial sections in large metropolitan areas, are fenced. – Matt Cole commercial carrier journal
| march 2018 13
JOURNAL NEWS
TCA announces 2018’s ‘Best Fleets to Drive For’
T
wenty fleets were recognized by the Truckload Carriers Association and CarriersEdge in the 2018 “Best Fleets to Drive For” program. TCA said the fleets were recognized “for providing exemplary work environments for their professional truck drivers and independent contractors.” The carriers in the program must have at least 10 trucks and be nominated by a company driver or owner-operator. Following the nomination process, CarriersEdge interviewed human resources representatives and executives from the companies, then graded the fleets in a variety of categories, including compensation, benefits, professional development opportunities and more. Driver feedback also was incorporated into the final score. Three companies on the list – Bison Transport, Central Oregon Truck Co. and TransPro Freight Systems – have been on the list for five consecutive years. At TCA’s Annual Convention March 25-28 in Kissimmee, Fla., two overall winners will be named “Best Fleets to Drive For,” one each in the small fleet and large fleet categories. Last year, Grand Island Express and Bison Transport won the award in the small fleet and large fleet categories, respectively. This year’s 20 Best Fleets to Drive For: • American Central Transport, Kansas City, Mo. (CCJ Top 250, No. 249)
• Bison Transport (No. 66), Winnipeg, Manitoba • Boyle Transportation, Billerica, Mass. • Central Oregon Truck Co., Redmond, Ore. • Challenger Motor Freight, Cambridge, Ontario (No. 77) • Erb Group, New Hamburg, Ontario • Fremont Contract Carriers, Fremont, Neb. (No. 230) • FTC Transportation, Oklahoma City • Garner Trucking, Findlay, Ohio • Grand Island Express, Grand Island, Neb. • Halvor Lines, Superior, Wis. (No. 225) • Keller Logistics Group, Defiance, Ohio • Maverick Transportation, N. Little Rock, Ark. (No. 74) • Motor Carrier Service, Northwood, Ohio • Nussbaum Transportation, Hudson, Ill. • Prime Inc., Springfield, Mo. (No. 15) • Smokey Point Distributing, Arlington, Wash. • TLD Logistics Services, Knoxville, Tenn. (No. 218) • TransPro Freight Systems, Milton, Ontario • Veriha Trucking, Marinette, Wis. Five fleets also were identified as “Fleets to Watch” with honorable mentions for their innovative driver programs: • Bennett Motor Express, McDonough, Ga. (No. 59) • Hoekstra Transportation, Grand Rapids, Mich. • Larway Transportation, Barrie, Ontario • LoadOne, Taylor, Mich. • Werner Enterprises, Omaha, Neb. (No. 11) – CCJ Staff
Atlanta again leads 10 most congested freight bottlenecks
F
or the third year in a row, Atlanta’s “Spaghetti Junction” intersection of Interstates 285 and 85 North is the nation’s most congested freight bottleneck, according to research from the American Transportation Research Institute. ATRI researchers determined through its data that the average speed at “Spaghetti Junction” is 37 mph, with an average speed during peak traffic times of 24.7 mph. The 2018 Top Truck Bottleneck List was compiled by ATRI using GPS data from more than 800,000 trucks at 300 congested locations across the country. ATRI’s top 10 freight bottlenecks are: 14
commercial carrier journal
| march 2018
• Atlanta: I-285 at I-85 North, with an average peak speed of 24.7 mph • Fort Lee, N.J.: I-95 at State Route 4 (George Washington Bridge), 24.9 mph • Chicago: I-290 at I-90/I-94 (Circle Interchange), 21.2 mph • Atlanta: I-75 at I-285 North, 30.4 mph • Los Angeles: State Route 60 at State Route 57, 34.2 mph • Boston: I-95 at I-90, 33.8 mph • Baltimore: I-695 at I-70, 37.2 mph • Queens, N.Y.: I-495, 17.6 mph • Cincinnati: I-71 at I-75, 39.1 mph • Louisville, Ky.: I-65 at I-64/I-71, 37.4 mph Texas is home to the most freight
bottlenecks on ATRI’s list with 11 congestion points, with seven of those in Houston. Tennessee has the secondmost freight bottlenecks with nine, with five of those in Nashville. – Matt Cole
ATRI determined the top U.S. freight bottleneck remains Atlanta’s “Spaghetti Junction,” the intersection of I-285 and I-85 North.
2018 deficient bridge report
JOURNAL NEWS
More than 54,000 U.S. bridges rated ‘structurally deficient’ by ARTBA
A
report released by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association last month reveals that more than 54,000 bridges on U.S. interstates and highways are rated “structurally deficient.” Of the 612,677 U.S. bridges, 54,259 of them (8.8 percent) are considered structurally deficient, meaning these bridges may not be unsafe at the moment but are in need of attention and repair, ARTBA said. Trucks, cars and buses cross these bridges 174 million times each day, according to the report. In analyzing the U.S. Department of Transportation’s 2017 National Bridge Inventory database, ARTBA found that in the nearly 48,000 miles of the Interstate Highway System, an average of one bridge every 27 miles is considered structurally deficient. According to ARTBA’s analysis, Iowa is home to the most structurally deficient bridges with 5,067, followed by Pennsylvania (4,173), Oklahoma (3,234), Missouri (3,086) and Illinois (2,303). Based on the percentage of bridges in each state, Rhode Island leads with 23 percent of its bridges being considered structurally deficient. Washington, D.C. has the fewest bridges on the list with eight, followed by Nevada with 31, Delaware with 39, Hawaii with 66 and Utah with 87. ARTBA said the pace of improving the nation’s bridges slowed this past year, with the number of bridges on the list being down only two-tenths of a percent from last year’s data.
“If that pace continues, it would take 37 years to make all the repairs,” said Dr. Alison Black, ARTBA economist. – Matt Cole
States on the map in orange have more than 9 percent of their bridges on the list, while states in blue have less than 5 percent of their bridges on the list.
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commercial carrier journal
| march 2018 15
JOURNAL NEWS
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commercial carrier journal
CCJ What Drivers Want Ad Vertical.indd 1
Fleets running PeopleNet ELDs could see grandfather clause extended
T
he Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is considering allowing carriers using Carriers using PeopleNet’s fleet managePeopleNet’s ment system extra time fleet manageto bring newly acquired ment system would be trucks into full compliallowed to run ance with the federal pre-ELD electronic logging device AOBRDs in new trucks mandate. If the waiver is until Dec. 18. granted, carriers using PeopleNet’s fleet management system will be allowed to run pre-ELD automatic onboard recording devices in new trucks until Dec. 18. PeopleNet’s AOBRD software performs most of the functions required by the ELD mandate, save for a few details. The waiver request, filed by Thomasville, N.C.-based Old Dominion Freight Line (CCJ Top 250, No. 10) on behalf of all carriers running PeopleNet systems, stems from technical issues in updates to PeopleNet’s e-logging software. According to ODFL, while PeopleNet’s hardware is compliant with the mandate, its December 2017 software update, intended to bring its AOBRD software up to an ELD-compliant specification, did not integrate with PeopleNet’s fleet management software. ODFL and other carriers using PeopleNet’s system already received a waiver giving them until March 18 to update their AOBRD software. A new waiver request, published in early February in the Federal Register, would give them an extra nine months to install the updates. Per the ELD rule finalized in 2015, carriers and drivers running AOBRDs before the Dec. 18, 2017, deadline for ELD compliance already had a two-year grandfather extension to update their units to ELDs. However, any new trucks acquired within that two-year timeframe are required to use ELDs, not AOBRDs. Trucks replacing existing fleet equipment are covered by the two-year grandfather clause. Nearly all ODFL’s fleet and the fleets of other carriers using PeopleNet’s system are covered by the grandfather clause. The issue at hand is the addition of new trucks, which under the exemption request would run AOBRD software until it can be updated. AOBRDs record hours-of-service compliance and upload that information directly to fleets, mostly conforming with ELD rule requirements. “If the settings were not adjustable, the PeopleNet AOBRD would be similar to, but not identical to, FMCSA’s ELD specifications,” says the exemption request. “Certain AOBRD software changes must be made by PeopleNet, including: Disabling the ‘skip feature,’ limiting the auto-duty status change threshold to 5 miles, and limiting geofencing of yard time to 0.5 miles.” FMCSA has not said when it will decide to grant or deny the request. – James Jaillet
| march 2018 2/15/18 9:41 AM
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PRODUCT REVIEWS, OEM & SUPPLIER NEWS AND EQUIPMENT MANAGEMENT TRENDS
BY JASON CANNON
The big getting bigger? All eyes on Amazon as it tackles delivering its own orders
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ust about anyone who follows the stock market has a favorite company, usually tech-savvy consumer brands such as Apple or Tesla because they make cool stuff we all can use. Mine is Amazon. At about $1,300 per share, I can afford to own exactly 0.0 shares of the company, but for years I have been amazed by its ability to consistently figure out how to make mundane and awful experiences that come with shopping feel less painful. Amazon doesn’t really make anything, but they sell everything, and if you hate shopping as much as I do, they make it far less terrible. In the last two months, I have purchased sparring gear for my youngest daughter’s taekwondo classes and wood pellets for my barbeque grill from the same place: my couch. And I’m not alone in loving the simplicity. Research and advisory firm Forrester forecasts that 17 percent of all U.S. retail sales will be made online by 2022, up about 5 percent from the nearly 13 percent share that e-commerce held of retail last year. With that many transactions daily – some estimates suggest Amazon closes 3 million deals a day – a company that is basically The Mall of PAINLESS EXPERIENCE: Amazon has removed most, if not all, of the angst from shopping.
WORST-KEPT SECRET: The online retailer plans to become a logistics and transportation giant. COSTLY SHIPPING: Amazon’s attempts to handle its own deliveries is about self-preservation.
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America, Walmart and Costco all rolled into one is further entrenching itself in the supply chain. Amazon’s goal of becoming a logistics and transportation behemoth may be the worst-kept secret in trucking. The company has purchased thousands of trailers and leases a small fleet of cargo planes in support of its Prime Air service. Late last year, Amazon jumped into the “Uber for Trucking” space with the debut of Relay, an app designed to make it easier to pick up and drop off at its warehouses by allowing drivers to check-in with QR codes at security gates rather than flashing a badge and paperwork. Through services such as Amazon Flex, a pizza-delivery-meets-Uberlike shipping service, Amazon already is tackling home delivery in select markets. Last month, Amazon finally acknowledged long-suspected plans of a company-operated delivery option by making it available in Los Angeles for vendors that sell merchandise online through its website.
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Five years ago, UPS’s Christmas wasn’t merry when its infrastructure imploded under holiday shipping pressures. In turn, Amazon handed out scores of gift cards and refunded shipping costs to affected customers. On the surface, it may seem like Amazon is on a quest for retribution, but at least for the time being, I think the company’s venture into shipping is more about self-preservation. According to online statistics company Statista, Amazon’s shipping revenue in 2016 was $8.98 billion, while its outbound shipping costs were $16.17 billion. In 2015, the online retailer reportedly spent $11.5 billion on shipping expenses, which was more than 45 percent of all the company’s operating expenses that year. Amazon’s shipping costs are expected to climb as more customers turn to the platform for general merchandise such as my martial arts gloves and barbeque pellets. The one-off shipments of Shipping is a logistics play for Amazon, and it’s a step toward making same-day random items are harder for the delivery the norm in certain markets. company to scale, which means higher shipping costs. In 2016, Amazon’s annual fulfillment costs grew 31 percent over the prior year, Statista notes. Successful delivery of Amazon’s goods now is almost wholly at the mercy of third-party providers. Walmart doesn’t operate that way, and neither does your local pizza parlor. Shipping is a logistics play for Amazon, speeding up fulfillment for third-party sellers, and it’s a step toward making same-day delivery the norm in certain markets. In the push for instant gratification, Amazon controlling the final-mile space in its largest markets – such as Los Angeles – makes more sense to me than trying to rival the likes of UPS and FedEx for a share of the highway. JASON CANNON is Equipment Editor of Commercial Carrier Journal. E-mail jcannon@randallreilly.com or call (205) 248-1175.
Meritor debuts air spring line, expands kingpin kits
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eritor launched its air spring lineup. Krishna Natarajan, Meritor’s senior director of steering, suspension and drivetrain, said the air springs are made with corrosion-resisMeritor’s tant components and are spring engineered to accommodate air portfolio higher load-carrying capaci- includes ties, offer more protection to triple- and doublecargo from shock and vibraconvoluted, tion and deliver improved reversible road handling. and cabmount air The company also springs. expanded its kingpin kits in its Meritor Genuine and Mach product lines. Natarajan said the new kits round out the overall portfolio that now covers 95 percent of the market for ream and no-ream applications. – Jason Cannon
Denso enhancing PowerEdge program
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enso announced improvements to its PowerEdge Diesel Aftertreatment Among the changes Program. Joe to Denso’s PowerEdge Mejaly, senior vice Diesel Aftertreatment Program is expanded president of Dencoverage for DPFs and so Products and full DOC coverage. Services Americas Inc., said the moves were made as the company saw rising costs associated with core management and fallout. Denso also is adding a medium-duty diesel particulate filter/diesel oxidation catalyst program with coverage for vehicles in Classes 2-6, including those manufactured by GM, Ford and Chrysler. – Jason Cannon
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INBRIEF • Daimler Trucks North America launched a digital platform for its U.S. contracted freight carriers to match them with its spot loads by using a customized version of an app developed by Loadsmart, a technology company that specializes in full truckload shipping and offers an online digital platform that leverages data and machine learning to help maximize efficiencies for both shippers and carriers. • Navistar selected several Phillips Industries products as standard equipment for its International Class 8 trucks, including the company’s Pogosticks and Tracker Bar Spring Kits for back-of-cab cable support; spiral-wrapped 3-In-1 Electrical and Air Assemblies; Stow-A-Way single- and dual-hose holders; and various nylon air coils, rubber air hoses and gladhands. • BorgWarner announced that its HVH250 electric motor and eGearDrive transmission was selected for the launch of Fuso’s eCanter all-electric light-duty truck. • East Manufacturing announced that Truck-Lite’s 99 Series wiring harness is standard on all of its new BST, BST II, MMX and Narrow Neck flatbed trailers. Truck-Lite’s 99 Series is a closed system that integrates a molded plug with two sealing surfaces to help keep moisture and debris out of the plug and impede corrosion. • Western Star has expanded its 50th anniversary“Wings of Awesomeness”limited-edition graphics package. Originally available in gold and silver, the winged pattern design can be ordered for any Western Star truck model as a premium factory paint option in the customer’s choice of colors. • Wabco debuted its ProVia aftermarket budget spare parts lineup that includes brake pads that come with about 10 different kits and offer replacement alternatives for more than 120 part numbers of various commercial vehicle builders, as well as brake chambers with a universal design. • Haldex now offers a full line of all-makes air disc brake pad repair kits for its North American customers through a joint sales and marketing partnership with Fras-le. Haldex is marketing and distributing the products under its Midland brand, while Fras-le is providing engineering and manufacturing. The program provides application-wide product coverage and a full range of sales and technical essentials.
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New Sprinter targets connectivity, e-commerce
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ercedes-Benz Vans last month introduced the latest version of its flagship Sprinter, the van segment’s global heavyweight. The third-generation Sprinter is slated to be available for order in the United States later this year, and for Mercedes-Benz Vans unveiled the new Sprinter in a global media event held the first time, the van will be offered in a in Duisburg, Germany. gasoline option in addition to its traditional diesel spec. MBV said the new Sprinter has been retooled to meet the demands of key emerging megatrends looming in the transportation industry and the global economy, including urbanization, connectivity and e-commerce. For freight transporters, the Sprinter intends to take on the challenging final-mile segment amid rapid growth in parcel deliveries and e-grocery services. “The new Sprinter gives answers that are relevant to the entire industry,” said Volker Mornhinweg, head of Mercedes-Benz Vans. “The Sprinter continues to embody the traditional attributes that have made it so successful worldwide since its market launch – flexibility, robustness and economy.” The new Sprinter will be available in more than 1,700 configurations, allowing it to be a player in a wide range of applications, Mornhinweg said. For freight applications, the vehicle is available in four body lengths and a variety of cargo space heights and tonnage capabilities. The van also will be factory-equipped with the Mercedes Pro telematics system, which offers real-time routing and fleet management capabilities. – James Jaillet
Ford adding diesel option to Transit Connect
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or the 2019 model year, Ford will add a 1.5-liter EcoBlue diesel engine as an option to its Transit Connect lineup with a targeted U.S Environmental Protection Agency-estimated fuel economy rating of at least 30 mpg highway. The diesel engine features low-pressure exhaust gas recirculation combined with water-air charge cooling for more efficient Ford has added a combustion and reduced emissions, and an integrated intake 1.5-liter EcoBlue manifold for optimized engine breathing. A low-inertia turbo- diesel engine as an option to its Transit charger promotes faster, more controllable response, while a Connect lineup. high-pressure fuel injection system is engineered to be quieter and more responsive and offer more precise fuel delivery. Tim Stoehr, general fleet marketing manager for Ford Commercial Trucks, said the new diesel option will be paired with a new 8-speed automatic transmission. The Transit Connect’s standard engine will be a new 2-liter 4-cylinder gasoline engine with direct injection that will feature Auto Start-Stop as standard equipment; it also comes matched to the 8-speed automatic. An optional 2.5-liter gas engine can be prepped for natural gas. – Jason Cannon
| march 2018
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INBRIEF
Volvo eyes 2019 for electric truck sales
• Cummins Filtration announced FleetguardFit, a real-time filtration monitoring system designed to provide customers full visibility of filter and oil life through the use of sensors, a control module and existing telematics services, allowing them to detect problems proactively. A subscription portal and a mobile app are available for equipment condition data reports. • Fontaine Fifth Wheel announced a mobile app designed to provide customers with the information they need quickly and easily. Customers can access a parts guide, search for parts, track orders, submit photos to Fontaine staff, search for specs and find parts and service locations. • Mitchell 1 enhanced its TruckSeries truck repair software with the addition of a new vehicle selector feature designed to provide precise vehicle descriptions while eliminating the labor involved with manual Vehicle Identification Number entry and verification. The Plate-to-VIN feature allows a technician to enter the license plate number, and TruckSeries automatically converts that to the VIN registered to that plate, providing quick access to the truck’s repair information, including color wiring diagrams, descriptions, specifications, testing steps and labor estimates. • Love’s Travel Stops expanded the tire brand offerings at most of its Speedco locations. In addition to all 52 Speedco stores nationwide offering Bridgestone and Firestone tires, 46 of those locations now also offer Aeolus, Goodyear, Yokohama and Love’s Retread tires. Those tire brands also continue to be available at Love’s Truck Tire Care locations. • Dayton Parts launched a new line of trailer accessories to complement its current offering that includes components for air supply management, antilock braking systems, tire inflation systems, hub caps and brass fittings. The new offerings include air coils, power cables, pogo sticks, gladhands and tire inflation components. • Federal-Mogul Motorparts launched Garage Gurus HD, a training program for technicians who perform medium- and heavy-duty truck repairs and perform diagnostics checks. Now available online, onsite and on-the-go, the program initially will be available across three modules, including nine classes pertaining to foundation brakes, air disc brakes and bearings and seals, with additional classes planned.
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olvo Trucks said it expects to begin selling electric trucks in Europe in 2019, with the first units put into operation with select customers later this year. Göran Nyberg, president of Volvo Trucks North America, said electric trucks drastically reduce noise and exhaust emissions and create new opportunities to manage logistics. More freight can be moved at night, resulting in fewer trucks competing for road space during peak traffic times. “By using electrically powered and quieter trucks for goods transport in urban areas, we meet several challenges simultaneously,” Nyberg said. “Without disturbing noise and exhaust gases, it will be possible to operate in more sensitive city centers.” Nyberg said urban distribution and other pickup-and-delivery applications are a starting point for battery-powered electric trucks, but he envisions broader deployment of electric trucks for freight movement in North America as technologies and the market mature. “Volvo’s technology and deep understanding of electromobility are based on proven commercial solutions already used in Volvo’s electric buses and solutions introduced in Volvo’s hybrid trucks as far back as 2010,” said Keith Brandis, VTNA’s vice president for product planning. “Electric vehicles will be part of our future, but the vehicles themselves are only one part of what is needed for large-scale electrification to succeed.” Brandis said enabling long-term sustainable transport is a complex issue that requires a holistic and wide range of measures. “We are working closely with customers, cities, suppliers of batteries and charging infrastructure and other key stakeholders to create the necessary framework for battery-powered electric trucks,” he said. – Jason Cannon
Nikola to build hydrogen-electric trucks in Arizona
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ikola Motor Co. in late January announced that Buckeye, Ariz., will The Nikola One hydrogen-electric semiserve as the production headquarters for truck was unveiled in December 2016. its hydrogen-electric semi-truck. Selected following a yearlong process that spanned nine states and 30 site locations, the 500-acre site on the west side of Phoenix will be home to a 1-million-square-foot facility. Trevor Milton, Nikola chief executive officer, said his truck manufacturing company already has more than 8,000 of its tractors on pre-order and that he plans to begin transferring the company’s research and development division and headquarters from Utah to Arizona immediately, hoping to have the transition complete by October. “We have already begun planning the construction for our new zero-emissions manufacturing facility in Buckeye, which we expect to have underway by the end of 2019,” Milton said. The site will be located at Sun Valley Parkway and the future Wintersburg Parkway, where a new planned community also is being developed. – Jason Cannon
| march 2018
Detroit rolls medium-duty DD8 into truck production
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ess than a year after the Detroit DD8 engine’s introduction, production of DD8-powered vehicles began last month at Daimler Truck North America’s Freightliner plant in Mount Holly, N.C. Vocational and medium-duty truck customers now can spec the DD8 on Freightliner M2 106, 108SD and 114SD truck models. With engine ratings from 260 to 375 hp and a 660 to 1,050 lb.-ft. torque range in either single- or dual-stage configurations, the 7.7-liter DD8 falls in the gap between the DD5 (210-230 hp, 575-660 lb.-ft. torque) and the DD13 (350-505 hp, 1,250-1,850 lb.-ft. torque) in Detroit’s engine portfolio. The new engine will serve as an alternative to the Cummins B6.7 (200-325 hp, 520750 lb.-ft. torque) and L9 (260-350 hp, 720-1,150 lb.-ft. torque) engines, which Freightliner will continue to offer in its vocational product range. “Our customers and dealers have been asking for a medium-duty engine product from us for years,” said Kelly Gedert, director of product marketing for Freightliner Trucks and Detroit Components. “We always have had a third-party solution, but we want to provide our customers with choice.” Detroit did not announce sales projections for the medium-duty DD8, but Gedert said the customer take rate on its DD5 sibling in its first year was roughly 33 percent when there was technical coverage for their application. She said Detroit will supply a DD5 with a power-takeoff option later this year. DD8 engine production began last fall and is manufactured alongside other engines and powertrain components at Detroit’s engine plant in Redford, Mich. The new engine is Daimler’s first 6-cylinder engine product for the NAFTA region since the Mercedes-Benz 926 was phased out in 2010. DTNA invested $375 million over four years to tailor the DD8 to the North American vocational and medium-duty markets. “The DD8 is built for performance with features that meet the needs of those specialized segments,” said Brian Daniels, manager for Detroit Powertrain and Component Product Marketing. Daniels said the Detroit Connect Virtual Technician remote diagnostics system is included for three years/250,000 miles on both the DD8 and DD5. The DD8 offers variable exhaust cam phasing, an alternative for manual regeneration that captures increased exhaust temperatures at low engine speeds and pushes the heat downstream to the aftertreatment system. “The hottest moment in the engine is the point of combustion at the top of the cylinder,” said Steve Collins, technical sales representative. “[Variable cam phasing] opens the
Detroit’s DD8 medium-duty engine now is available for Freightliner M2 106, 108SD and 114SD truck models.
exhaust valve sooner, while the piston is going down, to take advantage of peak high temperatures.” The DD8 has three aftertreatment system packages available depending on engine rating, truck model and upfit configuration. An The 7.7-liter DD8 has engine ratings understep ATS system from 260 to 375 hp and a 660 to 1,050 lb.-ft. torque range in either with horizontal and single- or dual-stage configurations. vertical outlets is available for the M2 106, 108SD and 114DS, while a horizontal in-line ATS system is exclusive to the M2 106 with either the single-stage or dual-stage DD8. A raised understep ATS configuration with a vertical outlet also is available on 108SD and 114SD models equipped with a dual-stage DD8. Oil drain interval recommendations include 18 months/55,000 miles for short-haul applications, 12 months/60,000 miles for long-haul applications and 12 months/45,000 miles for severe-service applications. The DD8 has a base three-year/250,000-mile engine and ATS warranty and three extended warranty options ranging from 48 to 84 months and 150,000 to 300,000 miles. – Jeff Crissey commercial carrier journal
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The roomy interior in Peterbilt’s new Model 579 UltraLoft spec features 70 cubic feet of storage, ample headroom in both the top and bottom bunks and new driver comfort features.
Peterbilt introduces UltraLoft integral cab spec for Model 579
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eterbilt Motors Co. introduced the UltraLoft, a new 80-inch sleeper configuration for its Model 579 tractor that brings an integral cab design to the product range to enhance ergonomics and driver comfort. After achieving a company-record 15.3 percent share of the Class 8 market in the United States and Canada in 2017, Peterbilt expects the UltraLoft to help continue that growth as high driver turnover rates and a driver shortage create a growing need for team driving applications as fleets train more inexperienced drivers and use in-cab comfort amenities as a recruiting advantage, said Robert Woodall, Peterbilt’s assistant general manager of sales and marketing. “Discreet sleepers have served us extremely well, and we’ll continue to offer those for our customers, but the fully integral cab closes a gap that we had in our product line and will provide access to new customers that demand the extra space of a loft product,” said Woodall. “Even drivers running in single applications want more space and amenities, and that was the motivation behind our 26
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response with the UltraLoft product. This makes it an ideal truck for team drivers, training scenarios and customers who want to maximize aerodynamic performance and driver comfort.” Peterbilt solicited input from hundreds of drivers during the UltraLoft’s design phase, including visits to truck stops to
watch how drivers interacted with its current product and input from customer council groups and Women in Trucking. “In this industry, our customers and drivers are the lifeblood of our business,” said Kyle Quinn, Peterbilt general manager and Paccar senior vice president. “We have to build and sell the products
The UltraLoft is available with or without Peterbilt’s Epiq aerodynamic package and offers a 2 percent aerodynamic efficiency improvement and a 1 percent gain in fuel efficiency over a similarly spec’d discreet cab configuration.
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they want and need. We spent significant time and resources to gather information on what they need to make their lives easier, more comfortable and more efficient on the road.” The UltraLoft is available with or without Peterbilt’s Epiq aerodynamic package and offers a 2 percent aerodynamic efficiency improvement and a 1 percent gain in fuel efficiency over a similarly spec’d discreet cab configuration. Available in single- and dual-bunk configurations, the UltraLoft comes standard with 70 cubic feet of storage space, with an additional 14 cubic feet of shelving available. Peterbilt also added lockable storage bins above the driver and passenger doors that have enough space to accommodate two CPAP machines. The wardrobe closet comes standard with a 42-inch hanging height, and Peterbilt plans to add a shelving option for team applications and drivers who prefer to fold clothes. A 1.1-cubic-foot microwave option also is available, as well as room for a 32-inch flatscreen TV on the lower bunk’s foot wall. The UltraLoft’s lower bunk mattress measures 85 by 42 inches, and the upper bunk’s mattress – capable of supporting 400 pounds – is slightly smaller at 82 by 36 inches. Both bunks feature ample headroom, with 48 inches for the lower bunk and 39 inches for the top. “Throughout the design process, we asked ourselves, ‘What is best for the drivers to be the most comfortable and productive?’ ” said Scott Newhouse, Peterbilt’s chief engineer. “So we added headroom and storage and improved the overall space to maximize the driver’s experience. The expansive loft-style space, the increase in efficiency and the reduction in overall tractor weight are a testament to the team’s focus on maximizing the driver experience.” The UltraLoft spec now is available for order, with production expected to begin in July. – Jeff Crissey
Peterbilt GM: Booming truck market poised for further growth in 2018
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he Class 8 truck market in the United States and Canada in 2018 is setting up to be one of the strongest sales years on record, said Kyle Quinn, general manager of Peterbilt Motors Co. and Paccar senior vice president. Citing an improving manufacturing sector, increased capital spending, strong motor vehicle sales and low unemployment, Quinn said Class 8 retail sales in 2018 could be the third-strongest on record. “Freight tonnage is at record levels, driven by many industries as well as e-commerce,” said Quinn. “Tax law changes for businesses will create new opportunities for our customers and for us. All in all, we are in a very healthy environment.” Quinn forecasts total Class 8 U.S. and Canadian retail truck sales to fall between 235,000 and 265,000 units in 2018 but said the driver shortage is a major headwind keeping fleets from rapid expansion. He forecasted the medium-duty market will remain steady with sales of 85,000 units in 2018. Peterbilt is off to a strong start in 2018 after achieving record market share in 2017 in which the Denton, Texas-based company sold 43,000 trucks to capture 15.3 percent of Class 8 truck sales in the United States and Canada. Quinn said the Model 567 vocational and Model 579 on-highway truck models represented roughly 70 percent of the company’s production last year. Peterbilt added another 25 locations to its dealer network in 2017 – its fourth straight year of adding at least that many locations – expanding its footKyle Quinn, Peterbilt general manager and Paccar senior vice president, said 2018 could be one print to 372 locations in North of the best years for Class 8 truck sales on record. America. “Our dealer network is the strongest it has ever been, and it will continue to grow,” said Quinn. 2018 will be the first full year for Peterbilt to offer a proprietary powertrain solution that includes the Paccar MX-13 engine, 12-speed automated transmission and 40K axle. “We saw steady growth in [Paccar powertrain] adoption through 2017 and expect that momentum to continue this year,” said Quinn. Peterbilt also recently completed a $100 million expansion at the Denton plant that included a 100,000-square-foot test facility in the vehicle delivery prep area, 17 new dock doors to improve material flow and the addition of an automated storage and retrieval system for painted parts. Quinn said Paccar’s new Innovation Center campus in Silicon Valley, Calif., will be instrumental in the development of the company’s advanced driver assistance systems and artificial intelligence, vehicle connectivity and augmented reality initiatives. As part of its clean energy initiative, Peterbilt also is building 16 electric test trucks, including an all-electric Model 520 refuse truck for use in California with an 80-mile range, a 400-hp motor and a six-hour recharge time. – Jeff Crissey commercial carrier journal
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TEST DRIVE: KENWORTH HYDROGEN FUEL CELL T680
A clean, quiet haul Kenworth’s zero-emissions ZECT T680 ready for prime time BY JASON CANNON
C
alifornia Gov. Jerry Brown wants 5 million zero-emissions vehicles on state roads by 2030, and by spring, one of those will be shuffling around the ports of SoCal. Kenworth’s hydrogen fuel cell Zero Emissions Cargo Transit (ZECT) T680 tractor is the fruit of a $7 million project between the Renton, Wash.-based truck maker, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and Southern California’s South Coast Air Quality Management District. The truck has been undergoing testing in the Seattle area since December and is set to head off later this month to Total Transportation Services and the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Last month, I was able to participate in the testing of the no-NOx daycab around Mt. Vernon, Wash., and the Paccar Technical Center. With a range of 150 miles – upwards of 30 miles in all-electric mode – and a top speed of 65 mph, the tractor uses lithium-ion batteries to power a dual-rotor electric motor that drives the rear tandem axle through a four-speed automated transmission. Loaded to just south of 79,000 pounds, the truck builds speed quickly and silently with the equivalent of about 565 hp and just more than 1,850 lb.-ft. of torque. Brian Lindgren, Kenworth’s manager of research and development, says that while the motors are rated at 420 kW at a constant rate, they will 28
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Kenworth’s hydrogen fuel cell ZECT T680 uses lithium-ion batteries to power a dual-rotor electric motor that drives the rear tandem axle through an automated transmission.
peak higher. However, the company has limited the truck’s output to about 300 kW until all its systems can be validated. The torque at launch is noteworthy, but as the truck builds speed, it begins to feel more “normal” – but it certainly doesn’t sound normal. Other than the faint whine of the cooling fans, the truck doesn’t make much sound. With enough road noise, you’ll forget you’re driving a hydrogen-powered truck. Six onboard tanks – 5 kg each and pressurized to 5,000 psi – hold the equivalent of about 30 gallons of diesel and can be filled in less than 15 minutes. DOE estimates list 39 hydrogen retail stations nationwide with the highest concentration in California, but there are none in the 2,500 miles between California and South Carolina. The Ballard Power HC85 fuel cell – mounted where you would expect to find a Paccar MX engine – produces
| march 2018
an electrical current of about 400 volts DC, which is converted to 650 volts DC and stored in a bank of batteries mounted under the cab. With an expected battery life of six to 10 years, the zero-emissions T680 is equipped with battery heaters and chillers to limit the effects of weather on their range. The shift to electric mobility generally places an electric motor on each wheel, but the T680 maintains a traditional standard driveline, with the dual-rotor AC motor in the frame sending power via the shaft to a standard rear end. Moving motors to the wheels normally changes the axle’s unsprung dynamic characteristics, and by not changing how the wheel ends sit on the truck, Kenworth designers were able to spend more time developing the powertrain system. The T680 daycab’s fuel cell combines compressed hydrogen gas and air to produce electricity with only
shown the hydrogen truck “performs equally as well as, if not better than, current diesel trucks on the market.” From my brief time behind the wheel, I would agree. Beyond the fuel cell itself, much of the T680’s equipment is stock – including the suspension and Spicer
D40-170P (5.38) rear end – and the truck performed like you would expect a T680 to perform. The ZECT is expected to log only about 50 miles per day, but the SoCal ports and Kenworth’s ZECT will play an important role in validating hydrogen’s role in trucking.
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water vapor/steam emitted from a snorkel that exhausts near the roof. The electricity can power the dual-rotor electric motor to move the truck or recharge the lithium-ion batteries. If you end the day with less than a full battery charge, a 13-kW onboard charger provides a plug-in option to charge the truck overnight. The hybrid drive system manages the power from the fuel cell to and from the batteries, as well as the traction motors and other components such as the electrified power steering and the brake’s air compressor. The truck will make about 3,800 lb.ft. of torque but is limited to save wear and tear on a rear end that is designed to handle roughly half that amount. Shifting is handled through an Eaton Fuller 18-speed gearbox that’s been heavily customized to feature four speeds. It uses the same range and splitter, which provides a low-end ratio of about 4:38 and a direct top end. The lower ratio gives the truck excellent startability and enough torque to start up a 20 percent grade, while the top end gives the truck enough power to maintain 30 mph up a 6 percent grade and well above the average drayage speed of about 20 mph. Stephan Olsen, Kenworth’s director of product planning, says the batteries themselves are about 2,000 pounds. The battery management platform, high-voltage cable, coolant lines, enclosure and mounting add about another 1,500 pounds. All that adds up to the ZECT tipping the scales at about 22,000 pounds, about 3 tons more than a similarly-equipped diesel-powered T680. “A lot of that comes from the batteries, some of that comes from the cooling system, and some of that comes from the hydrogen tanks,” Lindgren says. Olsen says Kenworth testing has
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commercial carrier journal CO4596 CCJ_RoadLog_MakeSureYoutHaveTheRightELD_HalfIsl_2-18_v1.1.indd 1 Untitled-34 1
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in focus: OIL FILTERS
Media keeps engine fluids flowing, cleaner BY JASON CANNON
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good oil sampling program can do a lot to extend a truck engine’s life. A vital link in that chain of longevity is a device that’s about the size of a large Yeti cup and screwed to the engine oil’s circulatory system. Oil filters catch contaminants that can damage the engine’s internal components. To capture these particulates, filter manufacturers have developed high-performance filtration media to achieve higher levels of cleanliness, said Zafar Hussain, Luber-finer’s senior product engineer. “Media has changed a great deal through the years, from the original ‘sock filters’ to cellulose paper-based media, to micro-glass media and now to the fully synthetic polymeric micro-fiber media,” said Jonathan Sheumaker, Cummins Filtration’s technical adviser for liquid filtration research and technology. “Each of these media technologies has brought a decrease in fuel-economy-robbing restriction and an increase in engine-wear-reducing particle efficiency.” Feeling the heat But while most oil filters feature a similar design, fleet equipment operates under anything but universal conditions. Newer engines run at higher temperatures, and some fleets push oil drain intervals beyond standard OEM recommendations. Aaron Aylworth, director of Speedco Operations, said he doesn’t believe higher engine temperatures are significant enough to affect oil filters. “If anything, the intervals are getting longer and not shorter, so there is no reason to believe the temperature has had any negative effect on the filter.” For fleets with extended drain intervals, cellulose media and lower-quality seals should be avoided, Sheumaker said. “Fleet owners who encounter harsh conditions, a severe-duty cycle in certain applications and increased stress on oil due to strict emissions standards should consider using filters designed for extended life or extended change intervals,” Hussain said. “By using oil analysis data, they can intelligently pick a filter from conventional, extended life or extended life with integrated additives.” If analysis data show oil degradation or oil additive depletion, the fleet should consider using extended-life filters integrated with additives. “These filters can extend the oil’s useful life by continuously replenishing oil additives or reconditioning the oil by linearly adding depleted additives over the life of the filter,” Hussain said. “In certain situations, it is useless to use extended-life 30
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Oil filters catch contaminants that can damage the engine’s internal components. For fleets with extended drain intervals, cellulose media and lower-quality seals should be avoided.
filters without reconditioning the oil. At the same time, it is useless to use extended-life oil without extended-life filters.” Adding up additives A variety of aftermarket additives are available, which Aylworth said cause “little or no change to the performance of an oil filter” as long as the additive is fully soluble and compatible with industry-standard oil brands. “If an additive is not soluble in the oil, it may stick to the filter media surface,” Hussain said. “This causes higher flow restriction, which may starve the engine from lubrication and may also reduce the filter’s life. There should be no concerns for fleet owners provided they understand the solubility of the additive and its compatibility with the specific oil brand they are using.” Sheumaker said a fleet may need to use a filter with upgraded seals and more robust media to deal with the extended time in hot engine oil if the OE filter is not equipped with those features and the fleet’s drain interval is longer than recommended. “Pick the correct filter for the application, and make sure to include mid-trip services that include filter changes on extended intervals, and you’ll be OK,” Aylworth said.
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5 ways to save time and money on toll
A strategic approach to toll management can increase operational efficiencies while improving the bottom line
M
ost experts in commercial transportation and tolling agree that toll is not going anywhere, and with funding needed for infrastructure projects across North America, the miles of tolled roads and bridges will only increase. For a fleet of any size, toll is an expense that is time consuming to manage and can add a great deal of expense quickly. Ready to save money on toll? Bestpass, the commercial toll management experts, has created a list of the top-five things to consider when determining your approach to toll management.
1
Don’t pay cash. Many tolling authorities will offer a discount for vehicles using a transponder, since cash transactions take more time and require significant overhead for the tolling authority. If you travel frequently on any given toll road, it makes sense to explore transponder options and associated discounts. It also allows vehicles to pass more quickly through toll facilities while tracking all fleet toll transactions much more efficiently than using cash.
2
Take advantage of volume discounts. Beyond the transponder discount, many tolling authorities will also offer commercial fleets volume discounts based on frequency of travel or volume of toll. For example, Bestpass gives small and mid-size fleets access to the highest possible volume discounts, which they would likely not qualify for on their own, with discounts of up to 20 percent available in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Colorado, among others.
3
Be wary of peak hours. Many tolling authorities charge higher rates during peak hours, primarily to reduce traffic congestion during weekday commutes and other busy times. Whenever possible, it makes good business sense for drivers to use toll roads during non-peak hours, which will allow them to move more quickly along the toll roads and through the tolling facilities while also costing less.
4
Watch out for violations. Approximately three percent of all electronic toll results in a misread, and not disputing these misreads can lead to a bill that is up to 60 percent costlier than it should be. Tracking violations and disputing them is a daunting task, especially when reviewing multiple statements and notices from a variety of tolling authorities. However, by paying attention to possible violations,
you can keep costs down and pay only for the tolls that were actually incurred.
5
Minimize back-office inefficiencies. When you have accounts with multiple tolling authorities, you can spend hours or even days every month shuffling invoices and submitting payments through multiple interfaces. Wherever possible, consolidate your toll management. By aggregating multiple tolling accounts, you will save time in the back office while also giving you a more meaningful picture of toll usage across your entire fleet.
ABOUT BESTPASS
Bestpass is in the business of saving commercial fleets and drivers time and money. Founded in 2001 by the Trucking Association of New York, Bestpass provides nationwide streamlined toll management services, including consolidated billing, volume discounts, violation processing and a single service compatible with more than 40 tolling groups and all transponder-based weigh station bypass networks. With more than 400,000 deployed transponders and more than 200,000 toll transactions every day, Bestpass is a trusted partner both on the road and in the back office. Visit our website, Bestpass.com
INNOVATORS
Central Oregon Truck Co.’s pay, benefits remove uncertainty, help retention BY AARON HUFF
I
n 1992, Rick Williams shifted gears in his transportation career from being a truck driver to an owner of Central Oregon Truck Co., which he launched with a few business partners. Before purchasing fleet assets, COTC started out brokering local and regional freight in the Pacific Northwest. Today, the Redmond, Ore.-based flatbed carrier operates more than 300 trucks. Williams says his experience as a truck driver formed his understanding of the value that high-quality drivers add to a trucking company. He wants COTC to be a place where top-level professional drivers choose to spend an entire career. “There are multiple things we do that are high priorities on a driver’s list,” says Williams, the company’s chief executive officer. “We try to make sure that when we get a high-quality driver that this has become their new home.” COTC has been recognized as a Best Fleet to Drive For by the Truckload Carriers Association for five consecutive years. Each year, program finalists are chosen by CarriersEdge – an online training provider that administers the program for TCA – via interviews with management and driver feedback. Among the attributes that distinguish COTC’s workplace for drivers are generous pay, incentives and benefit programs. The company also has created unique systems to eliminate week-to-week pay variability and establish a personalized work experience. Stabilizing pay To smooth pay variability from one week to the next, COTC pays drivers on all actual and approved dispatch miles, including empty miles. Its payroll is not tied inflexibly to cutoff dates for delivery status and paperwork on loads. “We figured out how to handle that differently,” Williams says. “Our driving team
CENTRAL OREGON TRUCK CO. Redmond, Ore. members’ pay is very consistent.” COTC also has a minimum pay guarantee program. To qualify, drivers must meet the fleet’s safety requirements and be willing and available to work 25 days out of the month. The company’s minimum pay program makes up the difference between a driver’s gross monthly pay and a guaranteed monthly amount of $4,250, although drivers generally earn more than that. COTC’s pay program can be viewed as a “salary plus” program, Williams says. The salary is based on the minimum guaranteed pay of $51,000 annualized, with performance pay that adds to it. The performance pay gives drivers of all experience levels an equal opportunity to increase their earnings. The program rewards up to an additional 12 cents per mile each month. If a driver runs 12,500 miles in a month and qualifies for the full 12-cent performance pay, the driver would receive an additional $1,500. The percentage of drivers earning at least some of the performance pay is 98 percent, Williams says. The program has measurements in four categories: performance, safety, fuel and “focused pay.” The data for each of these measurements come from systems that include telematics and video event recorders with inward- and outwardfacing cameras. The “focused pay” category is
The flatbed carrier offers generous pay, incentives and benefits and establishes a personalized work experience for its drivers. commercial carrier journal | march 2018
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selected monthly based on COTC’s goals. The options are safety, productivity or a “new category,” Williams says. In February, the chosen category for focused pay was safety. Last year, the company’s average annual wage was $57,000 before the paid benefits. Adding in this benefit, its average driver pay was $63,500. So far in 2018, the average driver pay is trending at $62,150, and with the performance incentives, some drivers will crest $80,000. COTC also developed a mobile app for drivers to track their performance in each category to predict their monthly payout. A vacation pay program also begins on day one with an accrual rate of between 1 to 3 cents per mile depending on experience, and drivers can use the pay accruals for more than taking days off. The company also offers paid sick days. “We know things happen in life and that a lot of Americans live paycheck to paycheck,” Williams says. “The account becomes a slush fund that drivers can withdraw monies from, just like a savings account.” Expanding benefits Driver benefit programs are paid 100 percent by COTC for life, health, vision, dental and short-term disability insurance. Beyond the insurance benefits, the company also has a tax-savings program built into the pay package. The tax program consists of a safe harbor 401(k) plan with matching contributions and no vesting period, flexible healthcare spending accounts and perdiem pay that disperses weekly. The safe harbor 401(k) and health insurance are among benefits that COTC shares with other flatbed carriers in the Daseke family of companies. COTC was acquired by Addison, Texas-based Daseke (CCJ Top 250, No. 37) in 2013. “If drivers use all the benefits, the tax plan is very good,” Williams says. “Those kinds of things help drivers increase their net income with pretax dollars.” 44
Rick Williams, COTC’s CEO, says his experience as a truck driver formed his understanding of the value that high-quality drivers add to a trucking company.
COTC’s per-diem pay will remain in place after recent changes in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed into law last year by President Trump. Companies that have a per-diem pay plan such as COTC’s can deduct between $17,000 and $20,000 of income annually for every driver. At COTC, this payroll deduction can save drivers between $3,000 and $4,000 in taxes annually. Finding the right fit While high pay and benefits certainly grab drivers’ attention, COTC’s core strategy for recruiting is to screen drivers to ensure the company is a good fit for the individual, Williams says. COTC does not use “recruiter” in any job title. The company employs “hiring coordinators” who ensure that job applicants meet its qualifications and standards to ensure a fit. The fit also is based on the driver’s willingness to work and share core values and beliefs in safety. “We don’t talk to (drivers) about pay before we discuss fit,” he says. “We are a process-driven company. We look at every one of our trucks as an individual franchise. We know how they make money, and if drivers follow the direction of the franchise, they will be successful.” Individual attention As the company has grown, Williams has placed an emphasis on developing technology to keep a personal touch with drivers. Despite operating more than 300 trucks, “we know all our drivers’ names,” he says. The name recognition is nurtured by a
commercial carrier journal | march 2018
policy that office and shop employees follow for using the driver’s name whenever they communicate information. When sending an email to the shop, an office employee would not write “Truck 863 is here for service,” but rather “Bill in truck 863 is here for service.” To help create a personalized experience for drivers, COTC has radio frequency identification tags on all its trucks. As drivers enter the fleet’s yard, an RFID reader triggers the information that appears on a large screen. The driver is greeted by name and given relevant information about past loads and safety and recognized for recent accomplishments. Similarly, screens pop up on office monitors to let staff know which drivers are entering the facility to “make sure we put a name with a face,” Williams says. Each department sees different information to facilitate work for the driver – such as vehicle maintenance or training meetings – while he and his equipment are at the yard. All these efforts contribute to COTC’s driver satisfaction and retention. The company’s annualized driver turnover rate is 85 percent, but that includes drivers who do not pass orientation or drug tests, as well as those who retire or leave the industry, Williams says. Once drivers understand COTC’s benefits and culture, turnover drops significantly, he says. Turnover for drivers with the company from one to three years is 70 percent; three to five years, 31 percent; and five or more years, 18 percent. Excluding terminations and retirees from the three-to-five-year and fiveyear-plus groups, the turnover rate is 22 percent and 8 percent, respectively. Compared to industry trends, “that is pretty low for a true long-haul irregularroute company,” Williams says. CCJ INNOVATORS profiles carriers and fleets that have found innovative ways to overcome trucking’s challenges. If you know a carrier that has displayed innovation, contact Jeff Crissey at jcrissey@ccjmagazine.com or 800-633-5953.
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Commercial Carrier Journal honors
Brent Hilton
Director of Maintenance, Maverick Transportation
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Visit CCJCLA.com to see what makes Brent a winner.
Brent Hilton has stayed true to his employer, but he’s never stopped looking for ways to help the industry BY JASON CANNON
T
he story of almost every rural Southern boy travels through three major destinations: the ballpark, the river and the woods. A few years back, on any given weekend or after school in Gurdon, Ark., if you were looking for Brent Hilton – the son of the local postman and the secretary at the hometown bank – you’d surely find him one of those places. commercial carrier journal
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COVER STORY | CAREER LEADERSHIP AWARD
As a child growing up in Gurdon, Ark., Brent Hilton may have displayed a budding mechanical aptitude at a rather early age.
In the late 1970s, Hilton was an allaround athlete looking for a path out of town, and the calls of tennis, baseball, football and golf were difficult to ignore.
If Hilton wasn’t to be found with a ball, fishing pole or rifle in-hand, there was one other place you might look: the garage. “When we had problems with vehicles back then, we fixed them,” he says. “We didn’t have the money to have them fixed. We didn’t tow it to the shop. We towed it home.” While a young Hilton displayed a budding mechanical aptitude and a strong work ethic, the calls of tennis, baseball, football and golf were difficult to ignore. In the late ’70s, if you were an allaround athlete looking for a path out 54
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of a town with a population of about 2,000 people, college was a popular way to find it. Hilton enrolled at Henderson State University “for a couple of years,” he says. Having taken all his basic courses, Hilton still hadn’t found his calling, so he decided to leave the classroom in search for it. “I got tired of going to school,” he says. “I couldn’t make up my mind what I wanted to do in life.” Hilton worked at a handle mill from 1982 to ’83, making garden tools. He was the supervisor for the second shift before moving to a sawmill from 1984 to ’85. It was at the sawmill that Hilton’s raising – and that “tow it home and fix it” mentality – stood out. “If you’ve ever worked at a sawmill, when things break, you fix them,” he says. CALLING BECOMES CLEAR At the sawmill, Hilton ran a stack track machine that consisted of a Briggs & Stratton motor with hydraulics that ran up and down a track system to pick up and stack crossties. “It would develop leaks occasionally, and we’d have to tear the engine down and take it out, and the hydraulic pump, and replace all the Orings in that system,” Hilton says. “I watched an ol’ boy do that one time, and I was thinking, ‘I can do that.’ ” Hilton says following one breakdown in particular, the mechanic came by to make the usual repair but left before completing the job. “He took off,” he recalls. “He left all his tools laying there. I kept waiting and kept waiting, and finally, I said ‘To heck with it,’ and I jumped over there and started fixing it myself. I’d seen him do it before. I fixed it and got it going, and that’s when I first thought being a technician might be my calling.”
From 1985 to ’86, Hilton went to work for Fafnir’s bearing plant, heattreating bearings and learning the basics of metallurgy, and spent much of his downtime working on his car. “During that time, I had an old ’65 Volkswagen,” he says. “Of course, I jacked it up like a dune buggy, and the thing would constantly burn out clutches. I got pretty good at replacing them.” In 1986, Hilton’s career in trucking got underway when he joined Gurdon-based Rickett’s Trucking. After a crash course in changing oil and tires, Hilton’s work quickly became much more complex. “We would rebuild those old 6V and 4V Detroits,” he says. “We built bolt trailers. We would fabricate those from scratch. We worked on anything from engines to bushings on trailers. I learned a lot at that location. I really got my feet wet.” MAKE-OR-BREAK OPPORTUNITY About two years later, a friend told Hilton that his company – a small Little Rock-based fleet named Maverick Transportation that had about 15 trucks and 75 trailers – was hiring. After surviving a two-week “prove yourself” period, Hilton hasn’t worked anywhere else in the last 30 years. “I interviewed with Mike Jeffress,” Hilton recalls. “Mike hired me, and I’ve worked for him ever since.” “Brent was the first tech I ever hired,” recalls Jeffress, Maverick’s vice president of maintenance. At the time, Maverick only had one shop in Little Rock, which meant Hilton’s job change came with a change of address — a move about 90 miles north of Gurdon. Hilton’s career with Maverick started on the ground floor — as a Clevel tech, changing tires and oil and doing brake and grease jobs.
COVER STORY | CAREER LEADERSHIP AWARD “At that point [30 years ago], I didn’t know that we had A-level, B-level, C-level technicians,” Hilton recalls. “You just did what you needed to do. I remember one day when it got slow, Mike asked me to wash down the wash bay walls. I learned real quick we do whatever it takes to keep all the plates spinning.” Jeffress says Hilton initially joined a group that consisted of two other technicians with more experience, but Hilton rose to leadership within that group because his peers recognized that he had a knack for figuring things out. With his professional life on the upswing, Hilton’s personal life also was in store for an upgrade — again, thanks to a friend. Hilton’s roommate had a friend named Ann, who invited Brent to a party thrown in her honor. A year later, Brent and Ann were married. “When I saw him, it was like this rush came over me,” says Hilton’s wife of 26 years. Through marriage, Brent also became a father to Ann’s two children, Jennifer and Jeremiah. “He didn’t come off as strict,” Ann recalls. “He wouldn’t yell at them. He’d talk to them. He’d ask them why they did what they did and show them where they went wrong, and there was always a big hug at the end. He treated the kids like he was raised. He took what his dad instilled in him and instilled that in Jenny and Jeremy. And what we see now is Jenny and Jeremy instilling that in their kids.” After two years of spinning plates at work, and now with a family at home, Brent moved on to more complicated work, transitioning from oil changes to day-shift supervisor in the days of pre-telematics. “About the only thing we never did was rebuild transmissions and rear-ends,” he says. “Freight drives
what you do day in and day out. We centered all of our work on the loads and based on the driver’s needs, where they’re at and when the load had to be there.” Hilton says before real-time tracking was possible, prioritizing and scheduling the work was a daily challenge. “It was all up to the driver, where today the telematics and hours of service can tell us exactly what time that truck needs to leave by in order to make his or her delivery,” he says. “Techs communicated with the driver and talked to them about when they needed to be out [of the truck].” Brent wasn’t the only Hilton enjoying a successful career at Maverick. Ann soon was hired to recruit company drivers, a position she held for 20 years. “We decided we weren’t taking work home with us, and sometimes that was hard,” Ann says. “We went to lunch together a lot, but it was because we wanted to. It was because we wanted to spend time together, not because we wanted to talk about work.” From 1995 to ’97, Brent served as Maverick’s service manager and oversaw the growing operation. “We added a shop at that time [Gary, Ind.], and I was over that location,” he recalls. “We had an acquisition during that time, buying out Kissick Trucking in Kansas City, Missouri.” He also oversaw the company’s Road Assist program and all outside and in-house work, two responsibilities he still holds. From 1998 to 2004, Hilton served as service director, with oversight of outside maintenance and warranty, but a reorganization in 2004 saw Hilton named director of maintenance, the position he currently holds. Currently, he oversees all seven of Maverick’s shop locations and
After graduation, Hilton enrolled at college for a couple of years, but decided to leave the classroom in search of his calling.
Through marriage with Ann, Hilton’s wife of 26 years, he also became a father to Ann’s two children, Jennifer and Jeremiah.
95 technicians, 15 shift supervisors, seven service managers, three regional service managers and three district service managers. The day Hilton first walked on to the Maverick lot 30 years ago this year, the trucking company had about 15 trucks. Today, that number has swelled to more than 1,600. “One of Steve Williams’ sayings is ‘If you’re not growing, you’re dying,’ ” Hilton recalls hearing from Maverick’s chairman and chief executive officer. “And I believe that, too. As an indicommercial carrier journal
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COVER STORY | CAREER LEADERSHIP AWARD
After surviving a two-week “prove yourself” period at Maverick Transportation, Hilton hasn’t worked anywhere else in the last 30 years.
Hilton joined the Technology & Maintenance Council in 1994. His many roles with the organization include serving as general chairman and treasurer in 2008.
vidual, too, I try to learn a little every day. If you’re not growing and learning new things every day, then you’re dying. I’ve always took that to heart. Mike [Jeffress] has been my teacher, mentor and friend through the years, and he has taught me so much. And he still teaches me every day. You think you learn everything in this industry, and you better think again.” WANTING TO GIVE BACK Hilton has tried to pass some of what he has learned back into trucking through his involvement with several industry groups. 56
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He officially joined the Technology & Maintenance Council in 1994, having first becoming involved in TMC by volunteering to help develop flatbed securement standards. “I learned real quick that to really learn and be supportive of the organization, you had to get involved,” he says. Hilton served as chairman of S.7 (Trailers, Bodies and Material Handling Study Group) from 2002 to ’06 and helped develop several recommended practices, including RP 738, “Spec’ing Guidelines for Cargo Securement Systems Used on Flatbed Vehicles,” and RP 739, “Maintenance, Inspection and Operating Guidelines for Cargo Securement Systems Used on Flatbed Vehicles.” He earned the Silver Spark Plug in 2006. In 2007, Hilton served a year as vice-chair. He became general chairman and treasurer in 2008 and served as Future Truck chairman from 2011 to 2014 and served two terms on the board of directors. He was the Peggy Fisher Study Group Leadership Award recipient in 2014. Considering the many accolades that have followed Hilton in his career, it’s the work he put in to developing the S.16 Service Provider Study Group that makes him the most proud. “I felt really strong about getting them into TMC, about them having their own group,” Hilton says of service providers. “It’s great to have those people at the meetings and develop relationships with them.” Service provider involvement, Hilton says, initially was met with some pushback. “What do you mean ‘We don’t need them in here?’ ” he says of the naysayers. “We use these guys every day. Let’s make them part of the team so we can communicate with them.”
Having service providers involved with TMC, Hilton says, was about much more than simply networking and communicating. “They are developing RPs that have to do with the provider side of things, like prioritizing shop work load,” Hilton says. “That’s always been a big issue, getting in a shop. It’s nice having a voice there.” Their involvement, Hilton says, also gives fleets a voice in helping the service provider learn the expectations of their customers. “The value [service providers] bring is getting to know them, building the relationship with them and being able to have a say in their study group that [fleets] may feel they’re weak on,” he says. “Helping them focus on their weak areas enables us to give them direction on problems we’re having that they may not even be aware of. Twenty-four hours [downtime] is good, but that should not be our goal.” It’s also helped grow TMC. Currently, there are more than 150 service provider members. “When I first started it, there were like 26,” Hilton says. In 2009, Hilton served as secretary of the Arkansas Trucking Association Maintenance and Technology Council, and as vice-chair in 2010. In 2011, he served as the association’s chairman and also chaired the state technician competition. GROWING THE INDUSTRY Trucking is a career that has a history of benefiting the people who put forth the effort, and that’s something Hilton says he hopes to make clear to the generation entering the workforce. “Give it a try,” he says. “Look into the industry. Get involved in this industry, and learn what it’s about. I don’t think a lot of people know
COVER STORY | CAREER LEADERSHIP AWARD
If you’re looking for Hilton today and can’t find him at Maverick, you’d be well-served to try finding him fishing on the river, in the woods hunting for deer or at the golf course.
what a technician does or means to a company anymore. Moms and dads think technicians are grease monkeys and that it’s a nasty job, and that’s not the case. “There’s a huge future in transportation, and there’s a huge need for technicians,” he adds. “Mike [Jeffress] told me a long time ago that one day that techs will be making as much money as doctors make, and I believe that.” Hilton has focused much of his efforts with the Arkansas Trucking Association on educating the families of local school-aged children about the potential for technicians entering the market and helping the local trade schools build programs that can support the trucking industry. “They go out and visit the schools and evaluate their programs,” he says of the state association. “They’re providing feedback to these technical schools that we feel the techs need to be trained on. We see a huge need to have the schools update their equipment.” GOLFING WITH ‘PA-PAW’ It’s funny how life comes full circle. If you’re looking for Hilton today and can’t find him at Maverick, you’d be well-served to look in just a handful of places: the Ouachita River, the woods hunting for deer, or the golf course with any of his 11 grandchildren whacking the ball
around with their “Pa-Paw.” But if you can’t find him with a wrench, rod and reel, rifle or putter in-hand, try checking the garden. Hilton may come home with greasy hands from time to time, but he’s got a green thumb. He even bred his own species of rose by intertwining the roots of a pink and peach rose. “It’s kind of like technicians and people,” Hilton says of his love for gardening. “I like watching things grow and mature. I think that’s something that inspires me. I fertilize those things, I weed them, and I feed them. I’ve always gotten a lot out of seeing positive results.” Much of the professional success Jeffress sees Hilton enjoying stems
from Hilton’s own delight in developing people. “He accomplished all that because he never forgot where he came from,” Jeffress says. “He was a tech once before, and he needed that leadership, and he received it. And now he’s providing it.” “I’m really proud of … where he’s come from and what he’s done,” adds Ann Hilton. “He’s worked his butt off. He’s gone the extra mile.” There’s been no shortcuts through all those extra miles, and with the benefit of hindsight, Brent Hilton says that’s just fine with him. “I wouldn’t do anything different,” he says of his 36-year career. “I haven’t got anything to complain about. I wouldn’t change anything.”
ABOUT THE CAREER LEADERSHIP AWARD Commercial Carrier Journal and Brent Hilton thank ExxonMobil, Minimizer and TA Truck Service for their support of the Technology & Maintenance Career Leadership Award program. Hilton is the 42nd person to receive CCJ’s top honor for lifetime achievement in fleet maintenance. Safeway Stores’ E. Clair Hill was the first to be so honored in 1977. CCJ’s Technology and Maintenance Career Leadership Award honors a career of dedication to professionalism and excellence in fleet maintenance. Industry involvement, recognitions and awards and reputation among peers figure into the selection. Individuals who made significant contributions to the industry while directly engaged in truck fleet management are eligible even if they no longer work for a fleet operation. CCJ welcomes nominations for the 2019 Career Leadership Award. Contact Jeff Crissey at jcrissey@ccjmagazine.com.
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Fleets retooling technology to meet expectations BY AARON HUFF
T
ransportation companies of all types are impacted by e-commerce, whether or not their operations directly intersect the hot business-to-consumer market. Research firm Forrester projects that 17 percent of all U.S. retail sales will move online by 2022 — a significant jump from the roughly 12.7 percent of retail sales that flowed through e-commerce channels in 2017. One area where those impacts are being felt the strongest is the expectations that customers have for the delivery experience. The “Amazon effect” on motor carriers is the mounting pressure to meet the delivery expectations of customers. These expectations are set by Amazon, which is not only the largest e-retailer but also continues to evolve as a full-blown logistics company with its own fleet of planes, trailers and delivery vehicles. More than 64 percent of U.S. households now are Amazon Prime
members who are accustomed to free shipping on their orders with delivery of two days – and in some locations within two hours – after online checkout. Whether motor carriers work for Amazon or its competitors, they face pressure to rethink and retool their offerings to deliver a satisfactory delivery experience. Technology is helping carriers adapt to new challenges and opportunities in this fast-growing market.
Nebraska Furniture Mart uses the Appian Direct Route software from TMW Systems to optimize its daily delivery routes.
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Shifting modes Relay operations have become more common for truckload and lessthan-truckload carriers because of the growth in e-commerce and the enforcement of the electronic logging device rule, says Jerry Robertson, chief technology officer of Bolt System, an Internet-based fleet management and dispatch software provider. Robertson has seen carriers that are Bolt customers increase their use of semi-trucks pulling double trailers. Carriers with ties to e-commerce use this strategy in some Western states that allow combinations of two 48-foot trailers, Robertson says. A driver is dispatched with double trailers to a drop yard near a city where domiciled drivers make final-mile deliveries. The driver who came inbound with the double trailers will return with two empty trailers to a distribution center. Some truckload carriers also are adding new cross-docking functionality
TECHNOLOGY: E-COMMERCE to expand into the domain of LTL carriers by offering local pickup-and-delivery services through their terminal network, says Robert Brothers, manager of product development for McLeod Software. In response to this trend, McLeod added a Final Mile module to its LoadMaster dispatch and fleet management system. The module handles additional order requirements for LTL movements and cross-docking, and business processes flow through the same LoadMaster system, Brothers says.
The B2C formula LTL carriers have seen the most impact from e-commerce and are using new technologies to improve their route planning and execution for B2C deliveries in residential areas. The cloud-based Facts freight management system from Carrier Logistics Inc. was developed for LTL clients and has expanded to meet the requirements of last-mile logistics, says Ben Wiesen, CLI’s vice president of products and services. Carriers that make B2C deliveries have to follow a standard formula to meet customer expectations, Wiesen says. First, they must offer delivery scheduling options and provide accurate real-time visibility for an estimated time of arrival. The Facts system has a route planning and optimization component that fleets use to calculate ETAs and schedule deliveries. The system calculates the driving time to the route’s first stop and between all subsequent stops. The time calculation uses standards for each type of delivery — business, residential, inside deliveries, curbside and more. Wiesen says more fleets could share real-time ETA information with their end customers, but most do not because it “tends to lead to disappointment” since routes never progress exactly as planned. Instead, fleets typically will pad the ETA time window by an hour or so, he says. Another factor of successful B2C deliveries is being able to reroute and redirect
shipments on short notice. A business may ship the wrong product or place the wrong shipment label on the order. Rerouting shipments is “not easy without technology,” Weisen says. Fleets that use Facts can use a scanning application that alerts dock workers to “take care of those things,” he says. Final-mile deliveries also require drivers to capture information outside the cab, such as exceptions and electronic signatures. Mobile data-capture systems are needed to create a more efficient and “clean” invoicing process, says James Stevenson, vice president of sales for TMW Systems. Pictures of deliveries have become critical to help prevent cargo claims and speed deliveries when exceptions do happen, Robertson says. “You are trying to take the driver out of the process of negotiating a settlement onsite,” he says. TMW, Bolt and CLI all have developed mobile apps and have partnered with third-party developers to integrate mobile technologies into their dispatch and routing systems for final-mile logistics.
Schedule flexibility When ordering products online, consumers expect to know a delivery date and time so they can plan accordingly. Whereas most home deliveries can be dropped off at the doorstep at any time of the day, business-to-business carriers are expected to provide accurate shipment locations and ETAs. To meet this demand, B2C and B2B shippers and third-party logistics providers need real-time visibility technologies, says Bart De Muynck, research director of transportation technology and supply chains for Gartner. Companies that provide shipment visibility systems include Project 44, Trucker Tools, FourKites, 10-4 Systems and MacroPoint. These companies have technologies for tracking shipments hauled by any carrier by using the GPS from drivers’ phones,
Whereas most home deliveries can be dropped off at the doorstep at any time of the day, B2B carriers are expected to provide accurate shipment locations and ETAs.
fleet telematics systems and ELDs. Some of these companies are starting to use predictive analytics to deliver accurate ETAs of shipments based on drivers’ remaining hours of service and traffic and weather data. With real-time information on ETAs, shippers and carriers also are starting to use transportation management and routing systems that dynamically reroute B2C and B2B shipments to anticipate their customers’ expectations and meet them, De Muynck says. Shipment visibility technologies now can be connected with cloud-based routing systems that use artificial intelligence and machine-learning technologies to make smarter and more responsive decisions as the workday progresses, he says. Grocery retailer Hy-Vee, based in Des Moines, Iowa, operates 245 stores in Midwestern states. Three years ago, Hy-Vee did not have an e-commerce offering, but “we saw the writing on the wall,” says Kurt Hasson, the company’s vice president of IT. The grocer responded by building its own platforms for e-commerce and order management. “There is a lot of pressure to move quickly and maintain our market share,” Hasson says. Last year, Hy-Vee created a dedicated fulfillment center in Des Moines to route orders for its 20 stores that offer e-commerce delivery services. The goal from the beginning has been to automate
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TECHNOLOGY: E-COMMERCE
Hy-Vee’s order management system can communicate the Des Moines, Iowa-based grocer’s customer order details automatically to Telogis’ RouteCloud optimization software.
routing and allow customers to choose a delivery time that works best for them. Hy-Vee uses an application program interface from Telogis. The grocer’s order management system can communicate order details automatically to Telogis’ RouteCloud optimization software, which instantly computes routes and sends the plan back to Hy-Vee’s computer systems. During the checkout process, Hy-Vee customers soon will be able to reserve a time slot for delivery. Customers will see which times are available and can earn discounts for choosing slots that result in lower delivery costs based on how the routes are shaping up. “This will add more value on the customer side by picking a time slot,” Hasson says. “Ultimately, it will give the routing engine a better problem to solve. Customers will feel good about getting a cheaper price.” Hy-Vee also is using an API from Telogis called LiveETA. When a driver starts a delivery route, customers on the route will receive an ETA. As things change, customers will receive updates. “This will evolve to be an Uber-like experience where you can track the driver right up to your house,” Hasson says. Routing software systems have to use certain assumptions to plan the sequence of stops, but nothing ever follows the plan. Traffic delays and other unpredictable circumstances cause delivery 64
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times to change, making it necessary to recalculate real-time adjustments to meet customer expectations. Foxtrot Systems’ cloud-based route execution application dynamically resequences and reoptimizes the stops on a route as conditions change. Foxtrot creates a profile of each customer stop on a route, over time, to predict the best day of the week and time of day to schedule a delivery. The software also can create accurate and dynamic ETAs by continuously predicting how long it takes to service each customer on a route and making changes to the sequence of deliveries as the route progresses, says Luke Wachtel, president.
Autonomous deliveries Now that routes can be optimized on the fly, the next step in the progress of e-commerce is using driverless trucks to make deliveries. As little as five years from now, autonomous trucks might be delivering mail and packages to residences. A September 2016 research piece published by consulting firm McKinsey & Company predicted that within the next decade, 80 percent of parcel deliveries will be made by autonomous vehicles. “We want to be ready now,” says Dan Laury, chief executive of udelv. The Burlingame, Calif.-based company recently completed a public road test delivery using its specially designed electric vehicle. The autonomous truck was dispatched on a 2.5-mile loop complete with traffic lights, lane changes and left turns. The truck made two delivery stops from Draeger’s Market in San Mateo. In compliance with California regulations, udelv’s vehicle remained in test mode and was supervised by a safety driver. The truck is built with individual compartments, each designed to secure a customer’s order. Each compartment opens when the udelv truck reaches a delivery location and communicates with a mobile app on the customer’s phone. The company plans to offer this
| march 2018
solution to merchants and fleets through a subscription model that will include a nominal delivery fee. The prices will have to be at a lower level than what people currently pay for e-commerce deliveries, or “autonomous trucks will remain a science project,” Laury says. Large retailers and shipping companies will be able to use their own branded udelv trucks for dedicated routes. Small stores likely will share a vehicle to make the subscription cost more effective for all parties involved, Laury says. To complement udelv’s autonomous driving technology and ensure reliability of the service, the company also created an ultra-low-latency teleoperations system to monitor and control its vehicles remotely and allow for overrides and human-assisted guidance in unique situations. The company is taking pre-orders on its website. “The technology will be ready pretty soon, within the next 12 months in some places,” Laury says. The timetable of legislation to allow autonomous trucks on the roads is a different story. “We have no control on that, but it looks like there is a willingness in the United States to allow it at many different levels,” he says. As the Amazon effect continues to loom larger in both the public and private sectors, technology is helping delivery companies adapt to new challenges and opportunities in the fast-growing e-commerce market.
Udelv’s electric autonomous delivery truck is built with individual compartments, each designed to secure a customer’s order.
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Failure along the powertrain can mean expensive parts, labor and downtime.
Aftermarket warranties protect owners of older, used trucks BY JASON CANNON
F
or those averse to risk, there’s no more uncomfortable moment than the day after a truck warranty expires. Some buyers of used trucks never feel the sense of relief that comes with not having to shoulder all the financial load of a major equipment failure. Fortunately, aftermarket warranties are available for used equipment and for extending coverage beyond a factory warranty’s expiration date. However, levels of coverage differ from standard factory warranties. While a manufacturer’s warranty may cover everything from the
powertrain to the radio, aftermarket warranties generally offer coverage for only critical parts. “OEMs typically cover many more items, many of which don’t ever fail or that are not expensive to replace,” says Lynn Murphy, president and chief executive officer of Premium 2000. “As much as I dislike this description, an OEM has ‘bumper-to-bumper’ responsibility for a prescribed term length. Aftermarket warranties typically cover expensive game-changing repairs — ones that can bankrupt a commercial truck owner.” Aftermarket warranties focus primar-
ily on the engine, aftertreatment system, transmission and rear axles since a powertrain failure can mean expensive parts, labor and downtime. “Most second-life buyers are undercapitalized,” says Ted Fick, executive chairman of National Truck Protection. “They only have enough down-payment for a used truck, and the last thing they can afford is to pay for a $20,000 engine repair. For a few-hundred-dollar deductible, you can prevent yourself from being thrown into bankruptcy.” In most cases, any truck that passes an underwriter’s certification inspection is
EDITOR’S NOTE: THE FOLLOWING STORY IS PART 3 OF A THREE-PART SERIES ON “OUT-OF-WARRANTY TRUCKS.” JANUARY’S INSTALLMENT FOCUSED ON OIL DRAIN INTERVALS. FEBRUARY’S STORY ADDRESSED DIAGNOSTICS. 66
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EQUIPMENT: AFTERMARKET WARRANTIES eligible for warranty coverage. Fick says trucks older than 10 model years with more than 1 million miles would require a more thorough evaluation, which could include a dynamometer test. Underwriters also require an electronic control module download to check for any known faults. However, even if a truck doesn’t pass inspection, there is still a path to obtaining a warranty. “Our inspection is very similar to what the OEM dealer is doing anyway,” Fick says. “If there are issues, we ask that those be remedied before we put the warranty on that vehicle.” Maintenance matters Getting coverage is one thing, but keeping it is another. Once the truck has passed inspection, ongoing maintenance is part of the policy. Policyholders are required to document each time the truck stops for service so that those records can be used to support a warranty claim’s validity. “Our warranty has specific maintenance requirements for the class of vehicle,” says Lindsey Stroschein, executive director of customer and retailer services for TruNorth Warranty Plans of North America. “Regular preventive maintenance at a licensed certified facility is required to keep the warranty in place.” Under an aftermarket warranty’s terms, fleets are required to keep track of their PM receipts, making sure to include the VIN of the vehicle being serviced, date of service and mileage at time of service. “We don’t monitor the PM process on an ongoing basis,” Murphy says. “We ask for records at time of claim. If the owner cannot produce the record that matches the PM mandates, the claim will be denied.” The truck’s coverage also could be voided, he says. “If we pull the plug on the [oil] pan and it looks like jelly coming out of it because you haven’t been changing the oil, then we’re going to require oil change maintenance records,” says Chad Lucky, regional service director for National
Truck Protection. “If you haven’t been maintaining the truck properly, it will void your warranty.” Stroschein says customers are required to submit their PMs to the claims department for review as part of the claim itself. However, TruNorth makes exceptions for approved customers with five trucks or more. “This is considered a fleet,” she says. “Only in a fleet situation approved by TruNorth is the customer allowed to do their own maintenance.” Truck Master also allows policyholders to perform their own maintenance, says Jeff Dobish, the company’s president. “In the rare event that we ask for maintenance records, we will even accept invoices for purchasing the materials needed if the customer performs their own maintenance,” Dobish says. For fleets with their own repair facility, internal records are accepted. “There are very few claims that require us to ask for maintenance records,” he says. Who does the work? When repairs are needed, the only requirement of the policyholder is to use a licensed ASE-certified mechanic who is available to the general public. “There are no in-network restrictions,” Dobish says. “We want our customers to use shops they trust and are comfortable with if possible.”
Fick says requiring ASE certification provides a measure of professionalism that ensures quality repair work, but it also unlocks dealerships and aftermarket service providers nationwide by not requiring policyholders to use specific repair locations. “This prevents inconvenience to the trucker suffering a breakdown,” Murphy says. “An OEM or network provider may be 50 to 100 miles or more away from the breakdown, but a qualified shop may be five miles away.” Fisk says all OEM dealerships have ASE-certified technicians. “There are any number of independent repair shops that are largely ASE-certified,” he says. “That’s kind of the standard.” Stroschein says the warranty does not dictate what type of part to use or brand preference. The underwriter simply wants the shop to choose the part that fixes the problem the best for the long term. “We are open to the repair facility using OE parts or reman, refurbished or used parts,” she says. “We just need to be aware of the quality of parts going into the truck during the repair.” Dobish says the part’s availability often dictates whether it needs to be an OEM or aftermarket option. “We prefer to use OEM parts whenever possible to take advantage of the nationwide OEM warranty for the parts,” he says. “Considering that the customer’s
Aftermarket warranty policyholders are required to document each time their trucks stop for service.
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EQUIPMENT: AFTERMARKET WARRANTIES uptime is the most important factor when processing claims, we will do what is best for the customer, and they are involved in the entire process so they know what we are doing at all times.” Handling the paperwork During the repair process, the protocol for
using an aftermarket warranty is nearly the same as filing a claim with the OEM. A repair facility or a customer contacts the underwriter on the phone or files a claim through an online system. Claims adjustors review all the information submitted – including the estimate – and diagnostics information. Some policies
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require a photograph of the failed part. “[Adjustors] will be looking to make sure that the right parts are being used and that the repairs are being completed properly,” Dobish says. “We always want to make sure the repair facility has not overlooked any progressive damage caused by the failure.” Once the underwriter confirms the failure and that the repairs are being handled properly, they issue a written approval to the repair facility. “As soon as the repairs are completed and the customer is happy with the work performed, we will pay [the shop] for the repairs with a credit card, ACH payment or a wire transfer immediately,” Dobish says. “In rare occasions, a customer will pay for a repair that is warrantable and submit the invoice and diagnostics data, if applicable, and we will reimburse them directly for the repair.” Unlike a manufacturer’s warranty, which must be purchased at the time the truck is bought, an aftermarket warranty can be added at any point during the truck’s lifecycle. “You get one chance to buy an extended [OEM] warranty,” Fick says. “You can add an aftermarket warranty at any time.” Aftermarket policies also can be purchased for trucks nearing the end of their OEM warranty. If purchased before the OEM warranty lapses, the inspection process for the truck includes the warranty’s service history. “Having an OEM warranty still on your truck helps you,” Lucky says. “If you let it run out, then it hurts you. You’re going to have a little bit more tedious inspection process.” The policy can be set up to offer immediate coverage as soon as the OEM warranty expires. “If the OEM warranty expires at the end of April, the aftermarket warranty would go into effect May 1 and pick up right where the OEM left off,” Fick says. “There would be no gap in warranty coverage.”
Advanced trailer tester
IPA’s next-generation Alpha Mutt Trailer Tester system is designed to provide automatic and guided trailer inspections with detailed reports, allowing technicians at any skill level to get more inspections done in less time while removing the burdens of paperwork and data entry. The portable system is built on a rugged large platform that features a variety of expandable capabilities, including antilock braking system testing, air pressure sensors, cloud uploading and more. The unit’s turnkey design includes the option to instantly link all trailer inspections fleetwide for inspection-failure-cause analytics. IPA Tools, www.ipatools.com, 888-786-7899
Shock absorbers
Tenneco’s all-black gas-charged Monroe Magnum shock absorbers are engineered for added durability, improved vehicle control and increased driver comfort and satisfaction. The shock absorbers have a large-diameter nitrocarburized rod that helps provide improved compression control and side-load strength; a PTFE-coated rod guide bearing that helps increase durability by minimizing friction
Suspension seat
Sears Seating’s Atlas II ActiveVRS Suspension Seat uses the company’s Magneto-Rheological fluid technology to help provide an advanced magnetic ride and greater stability and rigidity. A position sensor is designed to read the suspension’s travel 750 times per second and, depending on damping needs, instantaneously increase or decrease the strength of the magnetic field to stiffen the damper and absorb shock, which lowers the driver’s exposure to body vibration, reduces fatigue and promotes health. Sears Manufacturing, www.searsseating.com, 800-553-3013
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Brake wear indicator tool
Hendrickson’s Air Disc Brake Wear Indicator Tool is designed to allow maintenance personnel to check brake pad and rotor thickness more conveniently without removing the wheel or the brake pads from the caliper. Hendrickson Trailer Commercial Vehicle Systems, www.maxx22t.com, 866-743-3247
between the rod and rod guide; a hydraulic lock-out design that helps prevent suspension overextension; a larger-diameter piston to help provide greater tuning precision; an advanced shouldered bushing design that helps prevent bushing extrusion; and an increased pressure tube thickness that helps prevent shock damage in extreme load and road conditions. Tenneco, www.monroeheavyduty.com, 734-384-7812
Load securement straps
Kinedyne’s K-Force and Rhino Max ultra-heavy-duty load securement straps employ more polyester material and are engineered to manage heavier loads. The winch straps for both lines have a working load limit of 6,670 pounds, 23 percent greater than the current industry standard of 5,400 pounds. The ratchet straps for both lines have a working load limit of 4,000 pounds, 20 percent greater than the current industry standard of 3,335 pounds. The Rhino Max straps also are coated with an abrasion-resistant chemical coating designed to withstand severe-duty environments. Kinedyne, www.kinedyne.com, 800-848-6057
PRODUCTS
Brake pads
Bendix’s BX276 air disc brake pad is engineered in conjunction with the ADB22X-LT trailer-specific air disc brake and can be used as replacement friction for ADB22X and ADB22X-LT air disc brake systems on both tractors and trailers. Engineers added 2 millimeters of thickness and reformulated the friction to achieve an improved wear rate. The company’s BX283 ADB pad, designed to extend service life in severe-duty applications, has a flexible but strong friction material designed to be less prone to cracking and shedding chunks. Bendix Spicer Foundation Brake, www.foundationbrakes.com, 800-247-2725
Heavy-duty batteries
Champion’s heavy-duty commercial vehicle batteries are powered by the company’s proprietary positive grid technology and are engineered to optimize electrical flow, minimize corrosion and deliver consistent performance. The battery range includes 180 products across many applications.
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Ancra’s Poly Deckboards are designed to be a durable, lightweight replacement for standard plywood deckboards. Made for the company’s Lift-A-Deck II Systems or Standard E Beams and to be used on 16or 24-inch beam centers, the high-density polyethylene deckboards can be moved from the nesting design for stackable storage to create a second deck. They are made with hand slots to facilitate improved load optimization and ergonomics. Tested to demonstrate toughness under load and vibration, the deckboards also are engineered to be splinter-proof to withstand forklift abuse and for low-temperature performance down to -40 degrees Fahrenheit. Ancra International, www.ancracargo.com, 800-233-5138
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Tough cleaning lineup Penray’s Tough Max multipurpose cleaning products are formulated to remove grease, oil and grime from tools and parts, as well as for cleaning dirty hands, all while leaving a fresh citrus scent. The noncorrosive Purple variation is suitable for commercial use without fear of pitting
or discoloration on nearly any nonporous or semi-porous surface. The products work without water and are solvent-free, will not scratch or harm surfaces, require no rinsing and leave no residue. They are phosphate-free and nonflammable and can be diluted with as much as 95 percent water. The liquid concentrate is available in 32-ounce trigger spray bottles, 5- and 10-gallon pails and a 55-gallon drum. Penray, www.penray.com, 800-323-6329
Tracker bar extension Phillips’ X-Tend tracker bar extension is designed to prevent scuffs and marring on the back of the cab from swinging cables. The device extends the tracker spring kit and cables out an additional 8 inches from the tracker bar, for a total of 12 inches away from the back of the cab. The nylon support bracket is engineered to rest against the back of the cab, eliminating the need for installation hardware, and a soft cushion of foam gasket padding on the back of the bracket helps prevent damage to the cab’s surface. Both the mounting and support brackets are made of noncorrosive materials, and the metal tubing and eye hook are constructed of stainless steel for added durability and corrosion resistance. Phillips Industries, www.phillipsind.com, 800-423-4512
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PRODUCTS
LED fog, driving light kits
Truck-Lite has added LED fog light kits and an LED auxiliary driving/high beam light kit to its Truck-Lite by Rigid lineup. The 3-by-3-inch fog lights are used on Rigid’s D-Series and are designed as plug-and-play replacements for International ProStar model years 2008-17, Volvo VN model years 2008-17, Kenworth T680 model years 2013-18 and Freightliner Cascadia model years 2007-16. Each kit has a durable die-cast housing and polycarbonate lens to help combat shock and vibration and includes mounting brackets, hardware and a waterproof H11 Deutsch adapter, which is a direct fit for factory harnesses. Also available are universal-mount D-series and universal 6-inch SR-Series fog kits, both featuring an extra-long blunt-cut harness. The 6-inch auxiliary driving/high beam kit, based on Rigid’s E-Series light bar, includes mounting brackets and hardware and an extra-long blunt-cut harness. Truck-Lite Co., www.truck-lite.com, 800-562-5012
LED headlamps
Optronics’ 5-by-7-inch combination high- and low-beam Opti-Brite LED Headlamps come in a variety of formats and are engineered with a retroflective LED light beam technology that enable them to project an optimized beam pattern from the bumper to 25 feet out. The lights are engineered to accommodate 9- to 33-volt electrical systems and have an expected service life of 30,000 hours. They have powdercoated die-cast aluminum housings and polycarbonate lenses that help protect them against the elements and cracking, fading and yellowing from UV radiation exposure. A solid-state surface-mount design helps combat moisture, shock and vibration. Optronics International, www.optronicsinc.com, 800-364-5483
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8/31/2016 10:33:10 AM 3/20/17 9:52 AM
MARCH 2018
AD INDEX BestPass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . getbestpass .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18-19 BestPass Partner Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . bestpass .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40-41 CCJ Innovators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-633-5953 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 CVG National Seating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . nationalseating .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 CVG Refuse Seat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . nationalseating .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Direct Equipment Supply Co . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-992-1478 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Drivers Legal Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . driverslegalplan .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Eaton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . eaton .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Eberspacher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . eberspaecher-na .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Etcom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . etcominc .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 EZ Oil Drain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ezoildrain .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Fitzgerald USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . fitzgeraldusa .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Fleet Pride . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . fleetpride .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Fleetworthy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . fleetworthy .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 GoNMF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 844-763-7250 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Great Dane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . greatdane .com/advantedge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Help Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . prepass .com/tollsavings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Howes Lubricator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . howeslube .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Imperial Supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . imperialsupplies .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Instructional Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . instructiontech .net . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . internationaltrucks .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IFC-1 J .J . Keller - ELD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . jjkeller .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 J .J . Keller - DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . jjkeller .com/123911 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Kiene Diesel Accessories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . kienediesel .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Mack Trucks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . macktrucks .com/letshaullease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Minimizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . minimizer .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Napa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . napatruckservice .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .IBC No-Spill Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . nospillsystems .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 O’Reilly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . firstcallonline .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Peterbilt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-473-8372 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BC ProMiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-324-8588 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Shell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . rotella .com/t6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10, 11 TA Petro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ta-petro .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 TMC Career Leadership Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ccjcla .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Total Specialties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . totalspecialties .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 VDO RoadLog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . shopvdo .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 VeeBoards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . veeboards .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 “What Drivers Want” Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . randallreilly .com/wdw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16, 51 Xtra Lease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xtralease .com/25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 commercial carrier journal | march 2018
75
PREVENTABLE or NOT? Doe’s U-turn turns out all wrong
B
urping from a free yogurt smoothie awarded by Bubba’s Truck Stop for buying 150 gallons of fuel, tractor-trailer driver John Doe was eastbound on a four-lane turnpike near Greensboro, N.C. It was 10 p.m., the sky was heavily overcast, and the turnpike was as dark as the inside of his diesel’s crankcase. In preparation for making a U-turn at the intersection with Grits Road, which was dead ahead, Doe moved into the left lane, actuated his left-side flashers and started to brake. By the time Doe had stopped at the intersection, the traffic signal in his lane was red. That gave Doe time to extract a celery stalk from his survival rations, adjust the bass on his satellite radio and glance at the adjacent lane via his right-side As John Doe attempted West Coast and convex mirrors, which at that a wide U-turn from the left lane, he struck time revealed nothing. a car that had pulled Seconds later, while the traffic light still up next to him in the was red, Tommy “The Duke” Gripley became right lane. Was this a weary of staring at the rear of Doe’s trailer preventable accident? and began maneuvering his dark blue 1957 “Heavy Chevy” – 327 with multiple Holley carbs, column-mounted Sun tach and four-on-the-floor Hurst – into the right lane, next to Doe’s saddle tank. When the light turned green, Doe quickly started to turn, his rig extending into the right lane to complete the maneuver when … Sproing! Oh no! His trailer’s ICC bar had encountered the Chevy’s left front fender! Because Doe contested the preventable-accident warning letter from his safety director, the accident was turned over to the National Safety Council’s Accident Review Committee. NSC upheld the preventable ruling, concluding that – despite Doe’s claim that the Heavy Chevy had materialized from thin air – Doe had not checked his mirrors adequately. Also, attempting a wide U-turn at a dark intersection on a high-speed road wasn’t exactly a safetyaward-winning idea, either. 76
commercial carrier journal | march 2018
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