CCJ0914 by dwatson

SEPTEMBER 2014

KNOW WHEN TO HOLD 'EM Learn how to manage lifecycle costs page 59

GOING INTERMODAL Technology keeps eye on your containers page 67

SEVERE SERVICE

page 30

Daimler committed to vocational market

FORD'S TRANSIT-ION

page 26

Company goes global with commercial van BUSINESS SOLUTIONS FOR TRUCKING PROFESSIONALS

ENGINE WEAR: YOUR FLEET’S WORST ENEMY.

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SEPTEMBER 2014 | VOL 171 | NO. 9

TRAPPED IN A CSA NIGHTMARE Mark White’s Old Time Express of Hartsville, Tenn., got stuck in what one transportation attorney calls the “safety jail” effect of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Compliance Safety Accountability program. After receiving a Conditional rating, more bad ratings and violations compounded, and business vanished – until White determined how to claw his way out.

Cover design by David Watson

JOURNAL LEADING NEWS, TRUCKING MARKET CONDITIONS AND INDUSTRY ANALYSIS

7 News Anti-coercion rule comments: Carriers want pro-

FEATURES

tection, drivers unhappy

with burden of proof …

Buy, sell or hold?

Remaining lawsuits in Pi-

Pulling the trigger on buying and selling expensive assets such as trucks, tractors and trailers relies on many factors out of a fleet’s control. Fuel prices, the economy, freight demand, driver availability, competition, customer preferences, maintenance costs, downtime, used truck prices and acquisition costs are some of the many factors that come into play when considering vehicle life and liquidation and acquisition procedures.

lot fuel rebate scam sent to mediation … California cleared to require aero devices on trucks, trailers … DPF sales jump 65% in California in response to state’s emissions regs … California Supreme Court rules drivers are employ-

ees, not contractors …

Going intermodal

Hours rule defense, truck-

While intermodal may seem like a golden opportunity, the business is complex with high barriers to entry. Managing containers and trailer chassis and specialized over-the-road trailers can be complex, with multiple parties involved in the custody chain. Satellite tracking and mobile communications systems have been slow to gain traction in intermodal, but that is starting to change.

ing’s safety investment highlight Senate hearing … Judge dismisses ATA’s lawsuit against NY’s use of toll money … Senate bill would allow weight exemption for NG users

Innovators: Roehl Transport

8 InBrief

The Marshfield, Wis.-based fleet develops its Your Choice Pay Plan to drive out waste from its operations and improve driver productivity and customer satisfaction.

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| SEPTEMBER 2014 1

DEPARTMENTS

ccjdigital.com

technology

facebook.com/CCJMagazine @CCJnow linkedin.com/ccjmagazine

Editorial

Those who handle industry’s issues will haul the freight

18 InBrief 20 Navistar eyes used truck mar-

Omnitracs seeks to continue Qualcomm legacy while parting ways

36 InBrief

ket with Diamond Renewed

20 22

New cabover maker Rainier enters market

Design & Production

Art Director: David Watson Graphic Designer: Kenneth Stubbs Quality Assurance: Timothy Smith Advertising Production Manager: Anne Marie Horton

Trucking Media

Vice President of Sales, Trucking Media: Brad Holthaus

sales@truckingmedia.com

J.J. Keller adds ALK mapping to Encompass dashboard

40 InFocus: Onboard scales

Daimler touts vocational leadership, plus news from Kenworth, Navistar, Peterbilt

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

Upfront Trucking‘s future bright next year and beyond

COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL

| SEPTEMBER 2014

Preventable or Not? John Doe was parked and surrounded by traffic cones when his rig was struck by a pickup manned by a distracted driver who tried to argue that Doe had hit her instead. Was this a preventable accident?

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Isuzu unveils new mediumduty diesel model

24 InFocus: Suspensions 26 Test drive: Ford Transit 30 Severe Service:

Editor: Jeff Crissey Executive Editor, Trucking: Jack Roberts Senior Editor: Aaron Huff Managing Editor: Dean Smallwood Trucking News Editor: James Jaillet Contributing Editors: Carolyn Magner Mason

Ad Index

Corporate

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upfront

Trucking’s future bright next year and beyond Economists lay out expectations for 2015 through 2022

ndustry analysts painted a positive outlook for the trucking industry during the 2014 Commercial Vehicle Outlook Conference in Dallas. Attendees heard economic presentations from Donald Broughton, senior analyst for Avondale Partners, and Sandeep Kar, global director of automotive and transportation research for Frost & Sullivan. Broughton forecasts continued growth in the North American truckload market for 2015, while Kar looked out as far as 2022 from both North American and global perspectives, predicting a jump from 2.7 million medium- and heavy-duty trucks sold globally in 2013 to 4.6 million in 2022. “China will remain the biggest market for these trucks, but there will be good growth in North America and other areas of the world as well,” said Kar. Broughton said that closer to home, truck tonnage is growing at a rate of better than 3 percent, while loads are growing about 2 percent. One reason Avondale remains bullish with its outlook for trucking is the spike in demand for loads related to oil and gas fracking operations in the Dakotas, Texas and other areas, adding that the efficiency of those operations has improved to the point that they are yielding five to six times what they were just five years ago. “Oil and gas operations in North Dakota alone will reach a level that is 20 percent of the total production of Saudi Arabia,” said Broughton. “We are going to be an energy-independent country.” A host of external factors such as the widening of the Panama Canal, the shift of manufacturing back to the United States and lower energy costs all are creating a new reality in the North American freight market, which bodes well for fleets, OEMs and industry suppliers. There’s little doubt that the widening of the Panama Canal, when completed, will change freight flow patterns significantly in the United States. “You go from 40 percent of the nation’s population being cheaper to serve through the canal on container ships to 60 percent,” said Broughton. “A canal big enough to allow passage of larger post-Panamax ships eastbound is also big enough to push larger liquefied natural gas tankers westbound, and someone will figure out how to capitalize on that.” Kar said by 2022, fleets operating in North America

commercial carrier journal

| september 2014

BY JEff CrISSEY

should expect an average annual operating cost of $183,000 – or $1.90 per mile – per truck, a 10 percent increase from 2013. Fuel costs will make up 29 percent of that cost in 2022 compared to 33 percent in 2013, while driver wages will increase from 28 percent to 31 percent in that same time. Maintenance costs are forecasted to drop from 11 percent to 9 percent thanks in part to more reliable power equipment. But Broughton said in the near term, truck operating costs are poised to stabilize. “We changed our outlook because the cost inflation has already been absorbed by many,” he said, adding that many fleets with newer equipment and shorter trade cycles are buying $125,000 trucks to replace $120,000 trucks rather than replacing $100,000 trucks. But the flip side of that equation is that fleets with older equipment are trading in 10 used trucks and replacing them with only seven or eight, adding to the industry-wide capacity crunch. On the subject of advanced telematics, which was an overarching theme at this year’s Outlook, Kar said one of the biggest opportunities is in prognostics and remote diagnostics. In 2011, such subscriptions totaled 102,731 in North America but are expected to grow to 1.21 million subscriptions in 2020. “Fleets will pay for any technology that reduces operating costs if they can see the value,” he said. “Telematics is reactive, and the onus is on fleet managers to do something with the data. If you add advanced telematics, the system becomes far more intelligent and more proactive. More decisions that the fleet manager makes today will be done by the vehicle itself to consume the least fuel and generate the fewest emissions.” Kar also said trucks in 2022 will be greener with lower emissions and higher fuel efficiency, safer and connected with vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-intersection capabilities. “When you add those three together, it truly will be a smart truck,” he said. “The question will be: Are we smart enough to embrace the change?” JEFF CRISSEY is Editor of Commercial Carrier Journal. E-mail jcrissey@ccjmagazine.com.

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leading news, trucking market conditions and industry analysis

Anti-coercion rule comments: Carriers want protection, drivers unhappy with burden of proof

ublic comments so far are split various ways on the proposed federal rule that prohibits carriers, shippers, brokers and others from coercing drivers into operating their trucks beyond hours-of-service limits or in a manner that violates other regulations. Two key arguments have emerged: One contending the rule is past due and that the agency should do more to hold shippers and receivers accountable, and the other saying the rule is a good idea but places the burden of proof of coercion on truck operators, thereby undermining its purpose. One commenter, seemingly a carrier or dispatcher, also says the final version of the rule should include protection for employers or dispatchers “from drivers who want to use this rule to cover their own lack of communication or lack of proper calculation.” The burden of proper HOS maintenance is on the driver, says commenter Sharon McDonald: “Most dispatchers are not able to keep up with all the drivers’ HOS and should not be responsible to,” she wrote. “A driver should be responsible for his own HOS calculations and should inform the dispatcher if he is out of hours. If a driver fails to inform a dispatcher they don’t have adequate hours, they can blame the dispatcher for dispatching them on a job when they get caught.” Other commenters have said the rule is a redundancy and unnecessary, as federal rules already protect drivers from coercion to drive when they legally can’t or say they’re unable. Driver commenters, however, mostly seem

Some commenters say FMCSA should do more to hold shippers and receivers accountable.

Remaining lawsuits in Pilot fuel rebate scam sent to mediation

he seven outstanding lawsuits filed against Pilot Flying J over its

fuel rebate withholding scheme were ordered to mediation, where the trucking companies that opted out of an $85 million class-action settlement will seek to reach a separate settlement

supportive of the rule’s intent, though several take issue with the fact that the burden of proof of coercion is with drivers. One public commenter, Brian, says as long as the onus is on drivers to prove they were coerced, the rule won’t have much effect: “If you don’t put the burden of proof on the carrier or dispatcher, then it’s the driver’s word against the company, and the driver still ends up being punished,” he writes, “I have been told multiple times to falsify my logbook (which I won’t do) and have paid the price in lost wages, but it’s just my word, so who is going to do anything about it unless I have written evidence to back up my claim?” Commenter David Brown called the rule “hogwash,” while also pointing to a solution that would address shipper detention: “A much more simpler way would be to have the shipper timestamp the document and have the drivers’ logs show the actual time of arrival,” he wrote. “Charge $100 per hour from the time of appointment or arrival, and this will stop the coercion issues.” He also encouraged the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regarding their resistance to regulate shippers and receivers: “Yes, you can dictate this. Just say it’s a safety issue, and Scan the QR code with your smartphone or visit ccjdigital.com/news/subscribe-to-newsmandate it. Quit trying to letters to sign up for the CCJ Daily Report, a regulate on the sidelines, and daily e-mail newsletter filled with news, analyget in the game.” sis, blogs and market condition articles. – James Jaillet

with the truck stop chain. U.S. District Judge Amul Thapar, who was assigned to the case by a panel on multidistrict litigation in April, filed the one-page order July 30, referring the parties to a magistrate judge in Kentucky, where the cases were transferred by the April ruling. The class-action settlement included 5,500 trucking companies. Pilot agreed to repay all money withheld, along with 6 percent interest. Pilot Flying J entered a $92 million agreement with the U.S. Justice Department to resolve the criminal investigation into the scheme that prevents Pilot from being prosecuted, but it does not prevent individuals involved from being prosecuted. So far, 10 Pilot employees have pleaded guilty to various charges. Pilot Flying J owner Jimmy Haslam has maintained he knew nothing about the scam. – James Jaillet

Seven trucking companies opted out of the $85 million settlement last fall to pursue separate litigation against Pilot Flying J.

commercial carrier journal

| september 2014 7

JOURNAL NEWS

INBRIEF 9/14 • The Senate on July 31 followed the House and passed a 10-month funding bill that prevented the Highway Trust Fund from going broke until the end of May 2015. Without the added cash, the U.S. Department of Transportation had said reimbursements to states would have been restricted, putting road and bridge projects and hundreds of thousands of jobs in jeopardy because the HTF was projected to run dry in August. • The American Transportation Research Institute released a Compliance Safety Accountability study evaluating how differences in enforcement across states “dramatically undermine the uniformity of CSA – a supposedly standardized safety assessment program.” Analyzing carrier Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Category (BASIC) scores in light of different states’ violation rates, study authors attempted to

illustrate the variance in scores that would result if a carrier had a different regional operating pattern or if scores were normalized relative to states’ violation rates. • A federal rule to rescind the requirement that drivers submit vehicle inspection reports when no defects are found has made its way to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget and is expected to be published as a final rule by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in November. The agency issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in August 2013 and held a 60-day public comment period ending in October 2013. FMCSA then produced a final rule, which was sent July 31 to OMB for approval. • FMCSA and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration agreed to begin sharing information with one another when truck drivers claim their employers violate labor

laws. The Memorandum of Understanding between the two agencies follows the direction of an April report from DOT to ensure drivers’ protections under federal anti-retaliation laws. • FreightWatch International warned the use of GPS jamming devices in two recent theft attempts “may indicate the beginning of a trend.” A tractor and trailer stolen July 22 from a truck stop in Georgia and later recovered was equipped with a GPS tracking device concealed in the cargo, and evidence pointed to the hijackers using jamming devices to try to interrupt communication by the device. In another heist in June in Brevard County, Fla., the suspects were apprehended and were in possession of jamming equipment. • FMCSA suspended the operating authority of Espinal Trucking, based in Michigan City, Ind., and headed by Francisco Espinal Quiroz. The agency invoked its authority

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| SEPTEMBER 2014

TRUCK DATA

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journal news under the MAP-21 funding law after the carrier did not cooperate with an investigation into its compliance history. One of espinal’s tractor-trailers collided into a line of passenger vehicles in a construction zone on Interstate 55 in will County, Ill. • F MCSA warned carriers about fraudulent letters appearing to be from “equifax Credit Information services – Government division.” The letters were dated July 11, 2014, were signed by “Thad Brown” and sought to obtain banking information for the companies targeted. Contact FMCsA’s investigative support unit at tom.frazier@ dot.gov or bob.thomasson@dot.gov. • T he South Coast Air Quality Management District selected siemens to install its eHighway system in Carson, Calif., as part of a yearlong demonstration project set to begin in July 2015 that will use overhead cables to power electric trucks. siemens is developing the vehicles with Volvo Group, Mack and various truck integrators. The two-mile test infrastructure will be installed on Alameda street where it intersects with sepulveda Boulevard.

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• O f the 72,415 drivers inspected in this year’s Roadcheck event, 4.8 percent were placed out of service, up slightly from last year’s 4.3 percent. The rate of vehicle OOs orders, however, fell to 18.7 percent from 2013’s 20.6 percent. The 72-hour inspection blitz by the Commercial Vehicle safety Alliance and FMCsA was held June 3-5. About 10,000 inspectors worked at 2,500 locations, and the majority of inspections were Level I. • A TRI is asking carriers to rank their top issues of concern, along with strategies for addressing them. This is the 10th year of the Top Industry Issues survey by the American Trucking Associations. To take the survey, go to www.atri-online.org; the results will be unveiled at ATA’s annual Management Conference and exhibition in October in san Diego. commercial carrier journal

| september 2014 9

journal news

California cleared to require aero devices on trucks, trailers

puts carriers that did invest in what they thought were he California Air Resources Board last month was mandatory expenses at a competitive disadvantage. granted permission by the federal government to “The fact there has been no enforcement to date has enforce its requirement that trucks and trailers in the likely disadvantaged companies that made timely investstate be equipped with SmartWay-verified tires and other ments (due to higher initial technology costs) as well as equipment, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency those companies that have observed little to no fuel effiannounced. ciency benefit from the mandated equipment,” ATA wrote CARB asked EPA in June 2013 for a waiver of preempin its formal comment. tion to the agency’s Clean Air Act, which EPA granted, The Owner-Operator effectively allowing CARB to enforce its rule – more than Independent Drivers Association, four years after the effective date however, said CARB’s green– requiring the use of certain house gas rule places “unfair and tires and other devices that help unconstitutional burdens” on small fleets and one-truck owners improve truck and trailer aerodywho aren’t based in California. namics and reduce fuel consumption. “… The regulation imposes arbitrary, expensive and inequitable CARB’s Heavy-Duty Tractorburdens on OOIDA members residTrailer Greenhouse Gas ing outside of California,” the group Regulations went into effect CARB asked EPA in June 2013 for a waiver of preemption wrote in its formal comments. Jan. 1, 2010, and have a bevy of to the agency’s Clean Air Act, which EPA granted. OOIDA estimates that carriers equipment requirements, but the will have to spend between $7,520 and $9,325 (in 2008 preemption waiver granted by EPA was specifically for dollars) per tractor-trailer to comply with the regulation. 2011-13 trucks and trailers running in the state. CARB, however, says it estimates the cost to be about Several trucking groups filed formal comments during $1,250 per tractor-trailer. It also says the fuel savings EPA’s public comment period on CARB’s request for the achieved by the devices will offer an 18-month payback. waiver, with nearly all stating opposition. Both the California Construction and Truck Association and The American Trucking Associations, however, said it the California Trucking Association submitted comments askwouldn’t take a position on the waiver itself, but it did ing EPA to deny CARB’s request to enforce the rule. note that the four-year period between implementation of – James Jaillet the rule and the actual enforcement go-ahead from EPA

DPF sales jump 65% in California in response to state’s emissions regs

alifornia’s stringent emissions regulations seem to have been a boon for diesel particulate filter sales in the state, especially in the 12-month period of June 2013-June 2014, presumably as truck owners there began retrofitting their rigs for emissions compliance. Figures from the Manufacturers of Emission Controls Association show that DPF sales jumped 65 percent yearover-year in California in the six-month period between Jan. 1 and June 30 of this year, with 5,780 filters reported being sold by MECA members. In the same period in 2013, 3,508 filters were sold by MECA members, the group says. 10

commercial carrier journal

| september 2014

The last six months of 2013, however, were on par with the first six months of 2014, as MECA members sold 5,457 DPF units, the group says. In all of 2012, MECA members sold 6,261 filters for trucks and buses. The increased activity of late likely is in response to the California Air Resources Board’s requirement that all trucks in the state be outfitted with a DPF. The deadline for installation was Jan. 1, 2014, but the state had some alternative compliance options and dates in place for some truck owners who could have delayed compliance to June 30. CARB expects another 36,000 trucks still need to become compliant with its emissions restrictions, though MECA did not say how many trucks it or CARB expect to take such action. – James Jaillet

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journal news

California Supreme Court rules drivers are employees, not contractors

rivers signed on as independent contractors for Pac Anchor Transportation were misclassified as contractors instead of employees for the Long Beach, Calif.-based carrier, the California Supreme Court ruled unanimously last month. Because of the

misclassification, the drivers were denied certain benefits they were entitled to as employees, the court ruled. This is the third ruling in two months in California that fell on the side of drivers or regulators claiming contractors were misclassified so that

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carriers would not have to comply with certain labor laws or pay certain taxes or insurance. The California Construction Truck Association called the ruling “another setback,” referring specifically to a July ruling that said contract drivers for Penske Logistics were entitled to California’s required meal and rest breaks for employees, with the court ruling the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 did not preempt California’s rest break law. Carriers should “reexamine their employment/leasing practices,” CCTA said. “The proper use of owner-operators can still be a preferable business model if done fairly and correctly.” The Pac Anchor legal action was brought by the state itself, which claimed the carrier was violating the state’s unfair competition law. Like the Penske case, the legal question at hand was whether FAAAA preempted California’s unfair competition law. Judges again ruled it did not. Alfredo Barajas, owner and manager of Pac Anchor, also was named as a defendant in the case. He owns about 75 trucks and signs drivers into lease agreements, according to court documents. Lower courts had ruled in favor of the carrier, citing prior rulings about FAAAA exemptions and state law preemption. However, California’s high court disagreed, siding with state regulators that the drivers at Pac Anchor were misclassified and therefore FAAAA did not preempt California’s law. A U.S. Court of Appeals in July ruled another California carrier, Affinity Logistics, also had misclassified employees as contractors by making them sign lease agreements; the drivers didn’t own the trucks and paid $300 a week to lease them. They also had to wear uniforms, were paid a flat rate per stop and had to clear time weeks in advance. – James Jaillet

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| september 2014

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journal news

Hours rule defense, trucking’s safety investment highlight Senate hearing

t a Senate hearing on truck safety last month, regulators and trucking trade groups offered testimony to lawmakers before the Senate’s Commerce Committee about what has been and could be done to improve truck safety. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration: In what was her last appearance before Congress prior to leaving her post as FMCSA administrator, Anne Ferro spoke on a bevy of topics, including the 2013 hours-of-service rule, the agency’s Compliance Safety Accountability program, electronic logging devices, sleep apnea, driver training requirements and more. Ferro defended the agency’s 2013-implemented hours rule, again reiterating that it was the result of “extensive research and data.” She reiterated that the agency, per its analysis, sees the 34-hour restart provisions affecting only 15 percent of drivers who must keep records of duty status. She also touted the benefits of nighttime sleep vs. daytime sleep, saying the rule’s requirement that a weekly restart include two 1-5 a.m. periods pushes drivers to nighttime rest. Likewise, the agency’s CSA program and its Safety Measurement System carrier ranking system improve carrier and driver safety, Ferro said. The agency’s use of the SMS as an intervention prioritization tool “will lead to improved safety and fewer crashes,” she said. American Trucking Associations: ATA’s Dave Osiecki, speak-

FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro defended the agency’s hours rule, saying it was the result of “extensive research and data.”

ing on what the industry does for safety, says trucking invests $7.5 billion each year into crash prevention, including investments in safety training, safety-related bonuses, incentives for drivers and safety technology such as collision mitigation, active braking, video monitoring and ELDs. Osiecki, ATA executive vice president, said priorities for trucking regulators should include rules that reduce truck speed, encourage stability control systems and require electronic logs. He also said aggressive on-road enforcement of driver behavior – passenger cars included – would help reduce crashes. Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association: OOIDA’s Todd Spencer told lawmakers that FMCSA’s priorities have been misaligned relative to highway safety measures. FMCSA’s “focus should instead be on causes of crashes rather than micromanaging policies that have a negative impact on safety,” he said. Spencer, OOIDA executive vice president, also said the agency should make driver training a priority. – James Jaillet

Judge dismisses ATA’s lawsuit against NY’s use of toll money

he American Trucking Associations’ class-action Rich Pianka, ATA chief legal counsel, said the association suit against the New York Thruway Authority and is considering its next steps regarding its claims against its practice of shifting Thruway toll revenue to upkeep NYTA. “This is a narrow procedural decision that did not the state’s canal system has been address the merits of our claim that thrown out, as a federal judge in the Thruway tolling practice viothe state’s Southern District ruled lates the Commerce Clause [of the Aug. 6 to dismiss the case on proceU.S. Constitution],” Pianka said. dural grounds. ATA brought the suit in Judge Colleen McMahon said November 2013, claiming that in in her ruling that the state of New the last two decades, NYTA has York is an indispensable party to used more than $1 billion in toll the suit and must be part of the revenue to fund the canal system. case, but that the 11th Amendment ATA argued that the toll rates paid New York’s constitution requires upkeep of the state’s of the Constitution prevents parties canal system, and the state delegated those require- by truckers are “excessive in relafrom suing states in federal court. ments to the New York Thruway Authority in 1992. tion to the benefits” they receive. New York’s constitution also The association was seeking resrequires upkeep of the canal system, McMahon said in titution for four trucking companies in the state, affected her ruling, and the state delegated those requirements to ATA members and others similarly situated. NYTA in 1992. – James Jaillet

commercial carrier journal

| september 2014

journal news

Senate bill would allow weight exemption for NG users

he Senate last month introduced its version of a bill to mitigate the weight of natural gas truck tanks and to prevent natural gas adopters from being at a competitive disadvantage. The bill (S.2721), introduced by Sens. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), was referred to the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee and is the chamber’s companion bill to the House’s H.R. 3940 introduced in January. Dubbed the Natural Gas Long Haul Truck Competitiveness Act, the Senate bill, like the House’s version, would allow trucks running natural gas to exceed weight limits by the difference of “the weight of the vehicle attributable to the natural gas tank and fueling system” and “the weight of a comparable diesel tank and fueling system.” Unlike the House’s version, however, this bill comes to the Senate by itself, whereas the House’s weight exemption bill was part of a trio of natural gas bills aimed at promoting use in trucking through public policy. The House’s other two bills would establish a task force to identify barriers to natural gas adoption in trucking and direct the U.S. Department of Transportation to designate or prioritize certain cross-country “natural gas corridors.” “Natural gas is a clean and affordable domestic energy resource that has the potential to drive American energy independence to reality,” Inhofe said. “The

additional weight of natural gas fueling systems eats into the total the trucks are allowed to weigh under current federal regulation, leaving it at a disadvantage to its diesel counterpart. This legislation brings the federal regulation for

long-haul trucks into the 21st century by giving natural gas-powered trucks the ability to compete on the same playing field in the amount of freight it can transport.” – James Jaillet

The Senate bill would give natural gaspowered trucks an exemption to federal truck weight standards. Text INFO to 205-289-3554 or visit www.ccjdigital.com/info commercial carrier journal

| september 2014 15

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Who will win the future? Those who handle industry’s issues will haul the freight

OPTIMISTIC FORECAST: No matter what happens to trucking, the freight will be there. NO CAKEWALK: The industry will have to handle many issues over the coming decade.

PREPARED WINNERS: Somebody is going to be making money in 2025 – will it be you?

impossible a few years ago. With these tools in hand, there is no way that our government isn’t going to use them to “make trucking safer,” more “environmentally friendly” or whatever. Successful fleets will recognize increased regulation as a new business baseline and respond accordingly. • Increased operating costs. Fuel prices, driver pay, regulations, insurance, vehicle costs and repair costs – all are on the rise, which means fleets are becoming more expensive to operate. Good businesses will develop strategies to offset those costs and remain profitable. Possibilities include passing costs to customers, charging a premium for safety records and modern equipment, emphasizing efficient maintenance and vehicle operations and making technology work on your behalf. That’s a lot to digest, but if ATA’s predictions are correct, somebody will be moving a lot of freight in 2025 and making a lot of money. The question: Will you be doing it?

he American Trucking Associations last month released an optimistic report on trucking’s outlook over the next 10 years or so, predicting general industry growth of about 23 percent by 2025 and an increase in freight revenues by an astounding 72 percent. The takeaway here is obvious: Whatever happens in the industry over the next decade, the freight and the money will be there – and lots of it, it seems. That said, the next few years aren’t going to be a cakewalk. Here’s a quick recap of a few issues that trucking is facing: • The driver shortage. Unless a dramatic breakthrough occurs, this is a problem that only is going to get worse. • The technician shortage. If you think finding drivers is going to be tough, finding people to work on trucks as their sophistication and technology grows in exponential leaps and bounds is going to be a nightmare. • Infrastructure. It’s a mess. We’ve not only got to get our current infrastructure back to acceptable levels for today, we’ve also got to plan and develop an infrastructure that will support the new vehicles and technologies that will make trucking work in the coming decades. That’s going to take foresight, leadership and revenue. • Fuel prices. With Iraq going to hell in a hand basket amid other global troubles, I keep waiting for sudden spikes in fuel prices to hammer us all. That hadn’t happened at press time, but rest assured, the long-term trends for petroleum fuel prices are not in your favor. Having a fuel strategy today is vital for survival in the future, whether that means surcharges, alternative fuels or aggressive MPG-focused vehicle specs. • Increased regulation. John Q. Public is scared of trucks, and politicians know it. Now, technology is making it possible to enhance vehi- JACK ROBERTS is Executive Editor of Commercial Carrier Journal. cle safety parameters and track driver performance in ways that were E-mail jroberts@ccjmagazine.com or call (205) 248-1358. COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL

SEPTEMBER 2014

INBrIeF •

•

Volvo is recalling 2011-15 VNL and 2014-15 VNM trucks built between Nov. 17, 2010, and Feb. 5, 2014, that are equipped with enhanced cruise control but no side fairings. Volvo says the active braking component that is part of the enhanced cruise control system can become disabled and that the brakes may not engage automatically when cruise control is activated. Volvo will notify owners, and dealers will update the system for free. Freightliner is recalling 2015 Cascadia, 122SD and Business Class M2 models built between March 20, 2014, and April 10, 2014, because of a potential manufacturing error that could cause weak spots in axle assembly beams, causing the beams to bend or wheels to separate. Daimler Trucks North America will notify owners, and dealers will replace the axle beams for free.

to provide fleet managers with access to real-time fault codes, truck and dealer locations, vehicle health reports and fault code action plans. •

Kenworth Truck Co. added Dana’s Spicer AdvanTek 40 tandem axle for new Class 8 pickup-and-delivery, regional haul and linehaul trucks equipped with the truck maker’s AG380 or AG400L suspensions.

•

The SmarTire Tire Pressure Monitoring System by Bendix CVS now is available as a factory-installed option on Kenworth’s T680 and T880 tractors.

•

Mack Trucks announced that Valley Truck Centers of Cotulla, Texas, joined the truck maker’s dealership family.

•

Kenworth of South Louisiana opened a parts and service location with two service bays near U.S. Highway 90 in Lake Charles, La.

•

Navistar completed an OnCommand Connection mobile app for truck owners as a way to maximize uptime provided by the diagnostics platform. OnCommand Connection is designed

commercial carrier journal

| september 2014

Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations unveiled its rebranded GCR Tires & Service division to provide standardized service at all locations by offering the same hours of operation, Tire Industry Association-trained

technicians and a nationally connected sales force. Services include tire maintenance and repairs, onsite service, 24-hour emergency response and Bandag retreading. •

Idle Free, a Madison, Wis.-based APU manufacturer, was acquired by Phillips & Tempro Industries, an Eden Prairie, Minn.-based investor in companies that provide cooling products serving the heavy-duty truck industry, among others. Terms were not announced.

•

Cummins’ Jamestown Engine Plant in Jamestown, N.Y., celebrated its 40th anniversary last month. The facility currently produces more than 400 on-highway engines a day – including both the ISX15 and ISX12 – and produced its 1.5 millionth engine last year.

Want more equipment neWs? Scan the barcode to sign up for the CCJ Equipment Weekly e-mail newsletter or go to www.goo.gl/Ph9JK.

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Navistar eyes used truck market with Diamond Renewed

Navistar formed a dealer advisory group to assist in creating the Diamond Renewed program’s framework.

avistar introduced Diamond Renewed, a comprehensive inspection and mechanical reconditioning process for International used trucks taken in via trade that it said will improve the value and marketability of the trucks when returned to the wholesale, retail and dealer marketplaces. David Gerrard, Navistar’s senior vice president of distribution, said the Diamond Renewed program is anchored by three core principles: an exhaustive inspection process, a two-year/200,000mile warranty and Navistar’s new OnCommand Connection uptime monitoring program, standard on all reconditioned vehicles. “Our comprehensive reconditioning process includes more than 180 vehicle and engine inspection points to drive consistency across the International brand,” Gerrard said during a press event at the company’s headquarters in Lisle, Ill. The Diamond Renewed process was developed at the company’s Used Equipment Reconditioning Center in Indianapolis, where technicians conduct mechanical and aesthetic reconditioning. Work includes cleaning or replacing diesel particulate filters and diesel oxidation catalysts, exhaust gas recirculation calibration

software updates, checking and repairing brake systems, conducting major body repair, painting the frame rail and more. To date, UERC has reconditioned more than 1,200 units. “While the UERC supports the company’s 15 used truck centers, we also have engaged the dealer channel in this program,” said Gerrard. “Any vehicle that is badged with Diamond Renewed, whether it has been to the UERC or to the dealer, will have undergone our standardized reconditioning process.” The program covers model-year 2010 or newer International ProStar, TranStar and LoneStar models powered by MaxxForce EGR engines with less than 400,000 miles and up to 450 horsepower. – Lucas Deal

New cabover maker Rainier enters market

ew components, parts and pieces enter the market practically every week, but it’s not often a new OEM jumps into the fray. Enter Gary Jones and his startup, Rainier Truck & Chassis. Jones, the company’s president and a 30-plus-year veteran of truck and chassis design and engineering, has spent much of this year assembling a dealership network for his Yakima, Wash.-built Rainier cabover truck. “We’ve gotten a lot of interest from former GM truck dealers and UD dealers,” he said of two dealership groups whose products have left the market. Jones said dealers are intrigued by the truck’s common platform, making it simple to service. “Our game plan is to build a bulletproof reliable truck – a ‘keep it simple, stupid’ work truck,” he said. “Serviceability is everything. It’s not a very complicated truck. It’s old school.” A standard Cummins 6.7 turbocharged diesel engine comes with onboard diagnostics, a high-pressure common-rail fuel injection system, a VGT turbocharger and a diesel particulate filter. For 2015, the ISB 6.7L’s onboard diagnostics system includes OBD-2 with more memory capacity. All Rainier engine offerings are mated to an Allison six-speed automatic transmission, and Jones said the Cummins-Allison powertrain has struck a chord with prospective dealers. “Most of them already have the technicians to service Cummins and Allison,” he said. 20

commercial carrier journal

| september 2014

Jones said the key to growing Rainier’s market share successfully will be dictated by the consistency in which the company can build quality trucks. “We say our niche is custom-built COE trucks, and we mean that,” Jones said. “If we only do 1,000 trucks a year, then so be it. I think we will attain that in the next 24 months after we ramp (production) up.” The company started sales June 16 with initial dealership orders. Each dealer in the initial wave of 20 ordered three trucks per their licensing agreement, and Jones said many of those units already have been sold. “There’s been a lot of interest in Classes 4-6,” he said. Rainier also plans to offer PSI gasoline engines for all of its trucks. Class 6 and 7 models can come with the 8.8-liter version with 322hp or 475-hp ratings with 600 lb.-ft. of torque. Class 4 and 5 models can come with the 6-liter version with a 345-hp rating and 373 lb.-ft. of torque. – Jason Cannon Rainier is on schedule to begin production of its cabover truck in October and says that more than 20 dealers across 18 states have been signed.

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*A Fuel Economy evaluation was conducted using two 2012 Freightliner Cascadia trucks in an urban driving environment. Testing was conducted on track at the Pecos Research & Testing Center, an independent 3rd Party test facility. Mobil Delvac 1™ LE 5W-30 was used in the engine and Mobil Delvac™ Synthetic Gear Oil 75W-90 was used in the rear axle. These were compared to a mineral 15W-40 in the engine and a mineral 85W-140 in the rear axle. Savings estimates are based on a fuel economy improvement potential of 1.5%, an average cost of $3.99 per gallon of diesel, with a baseline fuel economy of 5.9 mpg and 125,000 annual miles driven. Actual savings and potential fuel economy improvements are dependent on miles driven, diesel costs, baseline fuel economy, vehicle/equipment type, outside temperature, driving conditions and your current fluid viscosities.

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Copyright © 2014 Exxon Mobil Corporation. All rights reserved. All trademarks used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Exxon Mobil Corporation or one of its subsidiaries unless otherwise noted.

The lifeblood of your fleet

Isuzu unveils new medium-duty diesel model

suzu Commercial Truck of America introduced the NPR-XD, the latest addition to its N-Series diesel lineup. With a gross vehicle weight rating of 16,000 pounds, the NPR-XD is designed to bridge the

gap between the NPR-HD with its 14,500-pound GVWR and the NQR with its 17,950-pound GVWR. The new model was announced as part of the continuing celebration of the 30th anniversary of Isuzu trucks in

the U.S. market. “This new diesel model meets a number of vocational applications and requirements that previously might have required moving from an NPR-HD up to the NQR,” said Shaun Skinner, executive vice president and general manager of Isuzu Commercial Truck of America. “Now, the NPR-XD offers more payload capacity at an even more competitive price.” The NPR-XD will be offered in the same cab configurations and wheelbases as the NPR-HD: • The NPR-XD standard cab will be available in wheelbases of 109, 132.5, 150 and 176 inches and provide a body/payload allowance ranging from 9,281 to 9,490 pounds; and • The NPR-XD crew cab will be available in 150- and 176-inch wheelbases and provide a body/payload allowance ranging from 8,711 to 8,779 pounds. All NPR-XDs will offer 19.5inch wheels, 225/70R-19.5F 12-ply low-rolling-resistance tires, a front gross axle weight rating of 6,630 pounds and a rear GAWR of 11,020 pounds. The NPR-XD is powered by the 215-hp Isuzu 4HK1-TC 5.2-liter engine that delivers 452 lb.-ft. of torque at 1,850 rpm. – Jack Roberts

Isuzu’s new NPR-XD will be offered in the same cab configurations and wheelbases as the NPR-HD. Text INFO to 205-289-3554 or visit www.ccjdigital.com/info

22 Untitled-8 1

commercial carrier journal

| september 2014 8/11/14 9:54 AM

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in focus: SuSpenSionS Meritor Wabco’s SmartTrac lift-axle control system assists in increasing vehicle efficiency and reducing driver errors associated with manual lift-axle systems.

Every pound counts New specs, lift-axle systems save fuel, boost payload By Jack RoBeRts

eavy-duty truck suspensions have a thankless task. If they work correctly, they largely are forgotten in day-to-day fleet operations. It’s not until a suspension fails, or a driver starts complaining about his back, that many fleets pause to consider their suspension specifications. But there are many good reasons for fleets to review their suspension specs and consider changes to better meet their application requirements as new designs are developed to complement today’s equipment trends. Today’s automatic lift-axle and tag-axle control systems can provide savings on tire life, fuel efficiency and vehicle downtime. “Fleets should take the time to review the spec to be aware of any new efficient products that might not have been around when they first spec’d the suspension,” says Mike Lambie, marketing department manager for Meritor Wabco. Lambie suggests fleets should examine their operations to see if conditions have changed in any meaningful way. “Maybe you’re now doing more dropload operations,” he says. “From there, it’s very simple to determine if there are new suspension technologies available that would make this operation more efficient.” In both on-highway and vocational applications, weight savings are critical for 24

commercial carrier journal

both improved fuel economy and greater payloads. “The correct suspensions can save hundreds of pounds on a vehicle,” says Ashley Dudding, director of engineering for Hendrickson. With emissions and brake regulation changes, many tractor configurations have been forced to go to higher axle capacities such as 13,200 or 13,300 pounds, which frequently drives the cost up, Dudding says. Spec’ing weight savings in the steer position can keep the front-axle spec at a lighter 12,000- to 12,500-pound rating, and for vocational trucks, rubber suspensions can offer weight savings over conventional steel spring suspensions, “with obvious benefits to the fleet’s bottom line,” she says. The increased popularity of 6-by-2 axle configurations in on-highway applications has led some fleets to consider changing axle specs, Dudding says. “It is well accepted that 6-by-2 configurations save weight and provide a fuel economy benefit,” she says. “However, application

Fleets should take the time to review the spec. – Mike Lambie, marketing department manager, Meritor Wabco

| september 2014

Hendrickson’s Optimaax liftable-forward tandem axle is designed to allow the forward axle in the tandem to be lifted automatically when loads are light.

of this concept is limited by traction concerns, particularly when bobtailing or partially loaded.” To work around this limitation, Hendrickson engineers have developed what Dudding calls a “liftable-forward” tandem axle – an Optimaax axle designed to allow the forward axle in the tandem to be lifted automatically when loads are light. “Picking this unsprung weight up greatly enhances traction and is an enabler for 6-by-2 applications,” she says. When empty – such as on a return trip on a bulk haul – or lightly loaded, the tractor can operate as a 4-by-2, which eliminates the rolling resistance of the second axle as well as thrust and tandem scrub. Likewise, Lambie says a new automatic lift-axle control system offered by Meritor Wabco assists in increasing vehicle efficiency in a similar fashion. “Automatic lift axles reduce the probability of driver error that is typically associated with manual lift-axle systems that can overload an axle or not take advantage of fuel efficiency opportunities when they present themselves,” Lambie says.

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The Ford Transit offers While Kenworth’s K370 more still cargo space theexterior E-Series, shares someover strong and the uptick in horsepower cosmetic features with DAF means more – namely itsjuice Euroto6help cab move – it’s more freight in truck. fewer trips. a NAFTA-capable

ccj test drive: Ford transit

Ford making TransiT-ion Company nails attempt at global commercial van By Jason Cannon

ater this year, Ford’s new Transit will hit dealership lots and usher in a new era for the company’s commercial vans. Ford plans to replace its E-Series, the most popular commercial van in the United States for more than 30 years, with the Transit, the most popular commercial van in Europe for nearly 50 years. I recently had the chance to put several new Transit 350 vans on the roads of Kansas City, Mo., in the shadows of the Ford Assembly Plant where they are made. The van is available in three roof heights: low (83.6-inch vehicle height, 56.9-inch interior cargo height), medium (100.8-inch vehicle height, 72-inch interior cargo height) and high (110.1-inch vehicle height, 81.5-inch interior cargo height). It features three engine options

(3.7-liter V6, 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 and 3.2-liter inline-five PowerStroke diesel) and two wheelbases (148 inches and 148 inches extended). Each engine is matched with a six-speed SelectShift automatic transmission. Engine configurations The standard 3.7-liter V6 gets 19 percent better EPA-estimated highway fuel economy than E-Series’ standard gas engine. Each test unit was loaded with a little more than a ton of rubber mats strapped to the cargo floor, but all pushed the load around the city with ease. When equipped with the 310-horsepower EcoBoost engine, Transit low- and medium-roof regular wheelbase wagons get a 14 mpg city/19 mpg highway EPA-estimated rating. That reflects an

The high-roof Transit is the tallest Ford makes, and there’s headroom to spare. 26

commercial carrier journal | september 2014

improvement of as much as 46 percent compared with the 10 mpg city/13 mpg highway EPA-estimated rating for the Ford E-Series 6.8-liter V10 gas engine. The twin-turbo EcoBoost provided ample power in my drive around Kansas City, darting in and out of traffic under normal highway and merging conditions. It will be a formidable replacement for the V10 with even Ford’s most devout E-Series customers. The PowerStroke effortlessly pushed the 148-inch wheelbase high-roof van through both highway and city traffic. The PowerStroke puts out about 185 horsepower in this van, which is more than enough considering the van’s load capacity of 4,650 pounds and a tow capacity of 7,500 pounds. The PowerStroke provides 90 percent of its peak torque from 1,500 to 2,750 rpm. Quick-start glow plugs offer fast startups at temperatures as low as minus10 degrees Fahrenheit, and a variable geometry turbocharger helps deliver quick power. It may seem to some that the PowerStroke and EcoBoost engines are overpowered somewhat in these vans, but I think that’s a good problem to have. The vans offer a lot more cargo space over the E-Series, and the uptick in horsepower means you’ve got more juice to help move more freight in fewer trips. Cargo space The high-roof Transit is the tallest Ford makes, and there’s headroom to spare. You can be 6-foot-4 and still stand up while loading and unloading cargo. At 5-foot-9, I could stand comfortably in the medium-roof configuration. The high-roof van’s height almost is imposing to onlookers. It’s tall, but the frame’s unibody construction removes a lot – if not all – of its “top-heavy” feel. I pushed the van pretty hard through the slalom course to see if it would get a little sloppy, but it never did. I gave a lot of credit for that to the dual rear wheel

design, but the single-axle model had just as much control when pushed just as hard. With its tight turning radius, the Transit 350 handled more like an SUV than a cargo van. The gear shift has been moved from the floorboard to the dash, and the “doghouse” has been eliminated, leaving plenty of storage space between the seats. In the rear, there are ample pats in the bay for strapping down cargo, and in the high-roof configuration, stacking crates and boxes is a snap. The long wheelbase model – featuring 75 percent more cargo room than the largest E-Series configuration – leaves plenty of room for a few pallets and a little more room for extras. Rear doors are available to open at 180 or 270 degrees, making loading and unloading even easier.

Ford Transit is a definite upgrade over the E-Series, and once you climb behind the wheel of one, that will be plainly obvious. In the rear, there are ample pats in the bay for strapping down cargo, and in the HowesCCJW14_HalfPageIsland.pdf high-roof configuration, stacking crates and boxes is a snap.

Upfitting, comfort and management If you’re not a cargo hauler, Ford didn’t overlook you. The company built up to 10 mounting points into the van roof, which means upfitters don’t have to drill their own holes. A 10-way adjustable seat provides comfort at the tip of your fingers for drivers who spend a lot of time behind the wheel. A 12-volt charger and USB port built into the console means there’s more than enough space to charge phones, run GPS or whatever else. Visibility is exceptional, and interior comfort is top-notch. If you’re the guy who’s cutting the check but not necessarily driving the van, Ford’s Crew Chief telematics platform will be your best friend. Powered by Telogis, the system tracks the performance of your best and worst drivers and records just about anything you’d want – from hard acceleration and breaking to speeding.

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commercial carrier journal | september 2014

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27 8/11/14 4:04 PM

Competitive financing available through Daimler Truck Financial. For the Freightliner Trucks dealer nearest you, call 1-800-FTL-HELP. FTL /MC-A-1368. Specifications are subject to change without notice. Copyright ÂŠ 2014 Daimler Trucks North America LLC. All rights reserved. Freightliner Trucks is a division of Daimler Trucks North America LLC, a Daimler company.

HELPING TEX-MIX KEEP THEIR PAYLOAD MOVING WHILE LOWERING THEIR REAL COST OF OWNERSHIP. Tex-Mix is only as profitable as their trucks are reliable. That’s why they choose Freightliner. We design trucks for easy upfit, productivity and low maintenance. Backed by a support team that’s there when you need us. And because Tex-Mix trucks are equipped with the powerful Detroit DD13 ® engine and Detroit Virtual Technician onboard diagnostic system, it’s not only a tough truck, but also a smart one. Built to increase profitability and lower their Real Cost of Ownership. We’re proud to say that’s why Freightliner has become the industry leader in work trucks. TM

To learn more about how Freightliner Trucks are working hard for Tex-Mix, visit FreightlinerTrucks.com/Tex-Mix.

Daimler touts vocational leadership

Truck maker offers ISX12 G engine for 114SD BY JEFF CRISSEY

In 2010, Daimler Trucks North America set its sights on becoming the vocational market leader within five years. Since that time, the company has increased its market share to nearly 31 percent year-to-date in 2014 with a target of 32 percent by yearend. David Hames, DTNA general manager of marketing and strategy, said the truck maker has increased market share by 20 percent in the Class 6 and 7 vocational segment since 2009. Year-to-date, DTNA said it has sold 21,236 M2 and SD trucks in the United States and Canada. “We can’t look at medium-duty and vocational markets as a secondary business,” said Hames, addressing industry press at a vocational truck event in Yountville, Calif. “It’s now core.” Richard Howard, DTNA’s new senior vice president of sales and marketing, said total cost of ownership remains the core of the truck maker’s value proposition and that the challenge will be how to further develop TCO across its on-highway and vocational markets. “We have to be number one in terms of customer satisfaction for our customers,” said Howard. “That means a more intense focus and improvement in customer service.” To achieve those goals, DTNA said it will work more closely with its dealer network to improve service to maximize uptime, with a goal of quicker diagnosis using Virtual Technician and a three-day maximum limit of downtime for the most serious and labor-intensive repairs. “We have redesigned the way we handle customers through our Express Assessment support to provide a two-hour diagnosis turnaround and give customers the service they deserve,” said Howard. DTNA’s recently announced Uptime Pro program 30

COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2014

Daimler said it now leads all OEMs in Class 6-8 specialized hauling, utility, food and beverage, government, construction and refuse businesses.

automatically tracks and communicates progress for a service event, allowing customers to receive added transparency. Uptime Pro currently is being piloted at select service centers within the company’s 441-location dealer network. 12-liter NG engine coming for 114SD Also at the press event, DTNA announced the availability of the Cummins Westport ISX12 G natural gas engine as a factory-installed option for the Freightliner 114SD severe-duty truck beginning in 2015. Until now, the truck has been available only with the Cummins Westport ISL G 9-liter natural gas engine. “We are committed to make sure we continue to embed natural gas vehicles into the vocational product lineup, and it makes sense to do that,” said Richard Saward, Freightliner’s general manager of vocational sales. DTNA also announced other new options across its medium-duty and severe-duty truck models, including: • Hood-mounted bell-shaped mirrors, heated and nonheated, with a tripod-style mirror base on the 108SD and 114SD; • A rock guard for the 108SD and 114SD to protect the exposed region of the radiator between the grille and bumper in harsh operating environments; • Remote start/stop for the M2 106, M2 112, 108SD and 114SD with manual transmissions to benefit fuel economy and performance; • Watson & Chalin lift axle suspensions for all Freightliner SD truck models to facilitate quicker ride height changes and improve maneuverability and durability; and • A Hendrickson AeroClad 12-inch logger-style bumper for the 122SD, with cutouts for a center tow, driving lights and fog lights. Freightliner, FreightlinerTrucks.com

Reliable, durable, long-lasting, and now, self-diagnosing. Meet the Detroit™ DD13® with Virtual Technician™ onboard diagnostic system. In the event of a fault code alert, the engine notifies you and our Customer Support Center within seconds. We can’t fix a problem before it happens, but with Virtual Technician and hundreds of authorized service locations we’re almost there. Demand uptime. DEMANDDETROIT.com DDC-EMC-OTH-0129-0814. Specifications are subject to change without notice. Detroit Diesel Corporation is registered to ISO 9001:2008. Copyright © 2014 Detroit Diesel Corporation. All rights reserved. Detroit™ is a brand of Detroit Diesel Corporation, a subsidiary of Daimler Trucks North America LLC, a Daimler company.

EQUIPMENT Gorham, Maine-based Shaw Brothers Construction continues to grow, and that’s going to help keep its new 400-ton-per-hour Astec asphalt plant, and 200 employees, busy. Shaw Brothers is operating 12 new Kenworth T880 dump trucks and tractors, which have been in service since April.

T880 rides vocational demand boost

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Navistar renews vocational commitment Navistar continues to invest in its severe service and medium-duty product lines by expanding vehicle enhancements and powertrain choices on International vocational truck models, the company said. The company also is beginning to add selective The International TerraStar 4x4 catalytic reduction emissions technology to medium-duty truck now is available with added enhancements such as its high-horsepower midrange engines. the Allison Optimized 1000 Series The company’s medium-duty SCR transifully automatic transmission with an tion began in September 2013 with the optional 6th speed, as well as a newly International DuraStar and the Cummins ISB refined front suspension with a rede6.7-liter engine. MaxxForce 9 and MaxxForce 10 signed front spring and bumper. engines with SCR will be available exclusively on the International DuraStar and WorkStar trucks, which the company began delivering to customers in July. Navistar, Navistar.com

Model 220 cabover rolls Peterbilt’s medium-duty cabover Model 220 saw its first production unit roll off the assembly line at the company’s COE manufacturing facility in Mexicali, Mexico. The Class 6 and 7 truck is equipped with the Paccar PX-7 engine with up to 260 horsepower and 520 lb.-ft. of torque. The standard automatic Allison transmission has a push-button shifter. Peterbilt, Peterbilt.com

COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2014

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Kenworth reported year-over-year sales increases for its vocational trucks, reflecting growing construction activity, increased oil and gas production and encouraging new housing starts figures, said Kurt Swihart, Kenworth marketing director. Demand for Kenworth trucks also is being driven by construction companies, contractors, concrete producers and building suppliers operating old 2004- and 2007-emissions-spec engines that need to be replaced with new trucks. “As a result, we’ve seen strong interest in our new Kenworth T880 vocational flagship truck,” Swihart said. “The T880 is expected to soon represent about 50 percent of Kenworth’s vocational truck production.” The T880 now offers increased driver comfort-enhancing features and is available with integrated powertrain packages.

7/8/14 4:13 PM

7/11/14 1:57 PM

Peterbilt’s Model 220 cabover is suited for urban pickup and delivery, refuse, landscaping and street sweeping and striping.

SOMEONE’S BEEN GETTING IN TOUCH WITH THEIR EFFICIENT SIDE. When you buy a Western Star® truck, you always get a durable, proven performer. Spec it with a Detroit™ engine, and you have a truck that’s as efficient as it is tough. The best just keeps getting better. FIND OUT MORE AT WESTERNSTAR.COM Detroit Virtual Technician™ onboard diagnostic system now comes standard on all Detroit-powered Western Star trucks*. See your dealer for details. Only standard on model year 2015 or newer model year trucks.

WS/MC-A-497. Specifications are subject to change without notice. Western Star Truck Sales, Inc. is registered to ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004. Copyright © 2014 Daimler Trucks North America LLC. All rights reserved. Western Star Truck Sales, Inc. is a subsidiary of Daimler Trucks North America LLC, a Daimler company.

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technology

technology Making the latest technology developMents work for your fleet by AAron Huff

Charting a new course

Omnitracs seeks to continue Qualcomm legacy while parting ways

n July 29, John Graham, David Post and other Omnitracs executives met to prioritize investment strategies and create a budget for 2015. None of the decisions made that day or from now on will require Qualcomm’s approval. Graham, chief executive officer, and Post, president and chief operating officer, no longer answer to Qualcomm – nor do any employees at the new Omnitracs. In 1988, Qualcomm launched its first product, Omnitracs, which helped the company forge its legacy as the pioneer of long-distance mobile communications in the trucking industry. In early 2013, Omnitracs became the new name of Qualcomm’s mobile fleet software business subsidiary, formerly Qualcomm Enterprise Services. Qualcomm changed the name after it decided to sell the property and focus on its high-growth microchip business. In November 2013, Vista Equity Partners A New dAy: under new ownership, bought Omnitracs for omnitracs says it is “here to play to $800 million. Vista, a win and grow in the market.” private equity firm, MANAgeMeNt exodus: “new has a reputation for blood often does good things,” says continuing to invest John elliott, load one president. in companies after PAckiNg bAgs: another big buying them. change for omnitracs will be moving The next month, its headquarters to dallas. Vista acquired Roadnet Technologies to expand the Omnitracs portfolio. Roadnet develops route planning software for private and dedicated fleets. “That was a great signal to employees that it is a new day for Omnitracs,” said Graham. “We are here to play to win and grow in the market.” New leadership, new headquarters After the Vista acquisition, Omnitracs leased the same San Diego office from Qualcomm while it moved its data centers to Las Vegas. Meanwhile, the former management team began an exodus, including Norm Ellis from sales and marketing, Vikas Jain from product management and Andy Deninger from engineering. “People need to make life decisions,” Graham said. “In any acquisition, there is going to be some amount of change.”

In addition to in-cab platforms, Omnitracs offers a trailer tracking and management system.

Load One, a Taylor, Mich.-based expedited, truckload and specialized hauler, uses Omnitracs’ in-cab hardware and mobile computing applications. From a customer’s perspective, the Omnitracs management exodus might look bad, said John Elliot, Load One president. “But then again, new blood often does good things,” said Elliott, adding that Load One has yet to see a direct impact from Omnitracs’ new ownership or management team. One early positive from the change has been the opportunity to promote employees to new positions within the company, Graham said. Omnitracs also has hired 100 new people since last December. “We kept a lot of the legacy talent with deep transportation knowledge and experience, and added diversity of thought along with other types of talents and different perspectives,” he said. Besides staffing changes, the biggest change so far for Omnitracs will be moving its headquarters to Dallas early next year, a move that makes sense for logistical reasons, Graham said. First, employees will be closer to customers. Second, all of Omnitracs’ user conferences are being combined into a single Dallas-based event to be held Feb. 8-11, 2015. Omnitracs’ business groups now include Sylectus, FleetRisk Advisors and Roadnet. While Omnitracs will continue to focus on developing software to meet fleet safety, compliance, productivity and driver retention needs, the company also increasingly will focus on business intelligence and data analytics while integrating its products with those from its fellow business groups. “We are very excited about the opportunity,” Graham said. aaron huff is senior editor of Commercial Carrier Journal. e-mail ahuff@ccjmagazine.com or call 385-225-9472. commercial carrier journal | september 2014

technology

INBrief •

partnership that provides PrePass weigh station bypass and truck safety screening services, announced that participation in the program surpassed 475,000 trucks in May.

action is expected to close in December.

FleetCor Technologies, a provider of fuel cards and workforce payment products, agreed to acquire Comdata from Ceridian for $3.45 billion. Comdata is a provider of fleet, virtual card and gift card payment systems with about 1,300 employees and enables more than $54 billion in payments annually. The trans-

•

Drivewyze and ALK Technologies are integrating key functions of their Drivewyze and CoPilot apps for both the iOS and Android platforms. ALK is pairing its GPS navigation functionality with Drivewyze’s PreClear mobile-based weigh station bypass service.

•

BestPass, providers of bulk purchasing and streamlined toll management services for commercial fleets, announced that it has more than 250,000 pieces of equipment and more than 125,000 transponders in service and is processing more than $22 million in tolls monthly.

•

Paragon Software Systems, a provider of vehicle routing and scheduling optimization software, announced its Integrated Fleets system that targets the specific needs of the animal feed industry. The company also announced that Agropur, a Canadian provider of dairy products, selected its Multi Depot planning software to optimize its fixed route operation.

•

I.D. Systems, a provider of wireless M2M asset management systems, announced that Knight Transportation is expanding its deployment of VeriWise trailer management products. Phoenix-based Knight will add more than 400 tracking systems to its trailer fleet, including VeriWise Reefer Control systems for refrigerated trailers and VeriWise Dry Van systems with cargo sensing for dry van trailers.

•

Orbcomm, a provider of machine-to-machine systems, announced that Fort Dodge, Iowa-based Decker Truck Line selected its RT6000+ two-way cold-chain telematics device to provide tracking and monitoring of temperature, fuel management, maintenance and logistics for its fleet of 800 refrigerated trailers.

•

Rand McNally announced the successful implementation of its TND 760 in-cab devices by Ready Trucking, a 100-truck company based in Ellenwood, Ga.

•

Cadec Global announced that Willow Run Foods added Cadec’s PowerVue software to its compressed natural gas fleet in addition to its existing diesel fleet. Willow Run specializes in food distribution for fast-food chains throughout the Northeast.

Help Inc., the nonprofit public-private

Interested In truckIng technology? Scan the barcode or go to www.goo.gl/Ph9JK to subscribe to the CCJ Technology Weekly e-mail newsletter. 36 Untitled-10 1

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commercial carrier journal | september 2014

7/9/14 1:34 PM

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technology

J.J. Keller adds ALK mapping to Encompass dashboard

LK Technologies, a provider of geologistics systems and navigation software, announced that ALK Maps and PC Miler Web Services now are available as part of J.J. Keller’s Encompass with E-Logs Premium Edition online tool designed for fleet operators to manage compliance and

J.J. Keller’s Encompass Premium Edition is an online dashboard that enables fleet operators to manage compliance and performance.

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commercial carrier journal | september 2014

performance. ALK’s PC Miler Web Services and ALK Maps are designed to offer a customizable cloud-based interactive mapping platform with visualization of routing and mapping with precise geocoding. The Encompass Premium Edition is designed to collect data from the J.J. Keller Electronic Logging Device and Keller Mobile app – which operates on a range of mobile devices such as iPads, Android devices or Keller’s Compliance tablet – to provide fleet managers with compliance and operational intelligence, including e-logs and tracking fuel use, speed, braking and GPS location. The mapping feature powered by ALK Maps is intended to provide an instant fleet overview to improve routes, manage fuel and track units. Fleet managers can pull up a map and see the location of all fleet vehicles in real time. The vehicles are identified with truck icons on the map with hover-over and pop-up boxes to facilitate easy access to detailed information about the vehicle, including unit number, driver name, speed, address location and date/time last update received. Clicking on a specific unit also provides an option to view the breadcrumb trail of the driver’s route, and the map component auto-refreshes to show the last reported location of all vehicles at any instant. PC Miler Web Services is integrated to automatically generate trip reports showing the miles the vehicle has driven in a particular state, which assists in generating fuel tax reports. “When we switched from another known provider for our mapping platform, ALK ensured a smooth and seamless transition,” said Tom Ditzler, senior product line manager of technology services for transport at J.J. Keller. “We are committed to a long-term relationship with ALK and have plans to leverage additional products and modules, providing enhanced functionality to add more value for our mutual customers.” – Aaron Huff

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technology

in focus: OnbOard scales

TruckWeight’s onboard scales have standard RS232 and Bluetooth connections that can be used for integrating weight and sensor data into fleets’ existing telematics platforms. The company also offers a cellular option called FleetLink.

Rice Lake’s TradeRoute precision onboard scale is designed for drivers to bypass local truck scales. The scale’s load cells support the vehicle’s load only during the weigh cycle.

Weight a second

Onboard scales deliver instant feedback by aaron huff

leets today are having to find new ways to move freight with fewer trucks due to a driver shortage, rising equipment and fuel prices, government regulations and other capacity constraints. While maximizing payload is a longstanding strategy, fleet managers often lack insight into whether or not their trucks are fully loaded before leaving quarries, oilfields, warehouse docks and other pickup locations. In addition to leaving money on the table, underloaded trucks could be a safety hazard. Gemini Motor Transport, a national petroleum hauler that transports fuel to Love’s Travel Stops locations, now is installing Air-Weigh’s onboard scales to acquire detailed payload information. The 220-truck fleet plans to use the technology to increase productivity by ensuring trailers are loaded to the maximum legal amount. Safety is 40

also a concern: Full loads have fewer fumes and aren’t as flammable as partial loads. Gemini plans to integrate the AirWeigh LoadMaxx system with its telematics platform from Cadec, providing fleet managers with an alert the instant an underloaded or overloaded event is occurring, giving them the opportunity to contact drivers to make corrections and identify best practices. Onboard load scales are common

Many larger fleets have more need to monitor loading or unloading activities from the office and make real-time decisions.

commercial carrier journal | september 2014

among fleets that haul bulk or refrigerated commodities. For these types of operations, drivers and fleets are partially responsible for ensuring loads are legal and optimized before leaving pickup locations. Independent contractors and small fleets may require only a simple electronic or mechanical load scale, but many larger fleets have more need to monitor loading and unloading activities from the office and make real-time decisions. Knowing a truck is underloaded could create an opportunity to add another lighter load from a separate customer, thereby increasing profit and customer satisfaction. Instant information Onboard scales are mounted on the different axle groups of a combination vehicle to monitor air pressure and temperature of the air suspension system. The sensors are accurate to within 300 pounds of the actual onground weight, and while they aren’t accurate enough to bill customers by the pound, they can make carriers more efficient. When drivers pick up a live or staged load, they know immediately if they are overloaded or underloaded. They also can monitor the total weight and the weight of each axle group as loading takes place. Drivers do not have to Continued on page 43

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technology Continued from page 40 waste time and fuel to travel to precise in-ground scales just to get a weight check, and they also eliminate the risk of weight violations. Several electronic scales also can interface with telematics systems to help fleets make real-time decisions. Air-Weigh’s LoadMaxx onboard electronic scale displays the tractor, trailer and gross vehicle weight on a

Right Weigh offers an electronic gauge that displays weights for all axle groups.

dash-mounted gauge. The system’s communications panel can transmit weight information to the vehicle’s J1939 databus to be picked up by onboard computers and sent to the office. Through this integration, management can be alerted to weight exceptions and keep a historical log of weights alongside vehicle odometer, time and position data. TruckWeight offers its own cellular FleetLink telemetry option for its onboard scale. Carriers typically sign up for a data plan starting at $2.50 per truck per month, but most do not use FleetLink to monitor weights during loading activities, says Peter Panagapko, company president. While FleetLink can capture and transmit weights along with time and location readings, TruckWeight customers are more interested in using the product to quickly diagnose and troubleshoot any problems with the

LoadMan’s onboard scale has RS232 and optional Bluetooth and cellular communications available for transmitting weight information to the office.

vehicle’s suspension system or onboard scale, such as bad sensors or calibration issues, Panagapko says. TruckWeight’s onboard scales have standard RS232 and Bluetooth connections that can be used for integrating weights, individual sensor readings, tractor and trailer numbers and calibration data into fleets’ existing telematics platforms. Load weight technology may not be useful for all fleets, but for those looking to increase loading productivity, safety and efficiency, it could be a wise investment.

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commercial carrier journal | september 2014

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Ready. Set. Learn. CCJ and its CCJ Innovators partners are proud to highlight the achievements of the industry’s most innovative fleets. The CCJ Innovators program profiles fleets that have shown initiative in addressing critical areas in their businesses: • • • • • •

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For Part 1 of a two-part extended video interview series with Mark White of Old Time Express about the carrier’s efforts to get out from under a Conditional rating handed down in 2012, scan the QR or search “Old Time Express” on OverdriveOnline.com.

Trapped in a CSA nightmare How one small fleet operator got stuck in ‘safety jail’ as bad ratings and violations compounded and business vanished – and how he clawed his way out. BY TODD DILLS

mall fleet operator Mark White of Hartsville, Tenn., has been involved in the family business, Old Time Express, since his father founded it in the mid-1990s. Bo White “almost went broke the first month,” Mark White says of his father. Today, however, the company uses about 25 company-driven and owner-operator trucks. “It’s been the sheer grace of God that we got this far.” That growth came slowly, in keeping with Bo White’s philosophy of doing business in a time-honored way. TraditionCOMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL

| SEPTEMBER 2014 49

C ov e r s t o ry: t r a p p e d i n a C s a n i g h t m a r e al approaches to trucking have been changing, though, since the advent of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Compliance Safety Accountability program in 2010. One crumbling notion is that minimizing contact with law enforcement authorities is always best, particularly when it comes to the compliance review or, in CSA parlance, the federal safety “intervention.” This is at the root of the prolonged problem that Old Time Express experienced. FMCSA is transitioning out of the old safety-rating model. However, it remains the only system in which a safety evaluation of a carrier can take place, officially. Ratings of Satisfactory, Conditional or Unsatisfactory are possible. Only an onsite comprehensive compliance review or intervention can result in a rating for a previously unrated carrier. Given the limitations in the number of carriers the system can reach, being unrated in the SafeStat model hasn’t posed a problem for carriers before or since CSA began. The Conditional rating is another story. It used to be that a Conditional rating was unlikely to put a carrier out of business because FMCSA made it a priority to follow up on Conditional ratings to assess changes the carrier had made in cooperation with the agency. Now the agency essentially has abandoned old policies that prioritized follow-up Conditional carrier reviews. One senior official, speaking on background, explained that even before CSA, a transition was under way. Today’s emphasis is on more of a “performance-based program whereby we recognized that it is more appropriate to intervene first on known current performance problems rather than follow up on old Conditional ratings.” A carrier rated Satisfactory under CSA, the source went on, may need more enforcement attention than a carrier with an “ancient” SafeStat 50

commercial carrier journal

Conditional. That’s because, in FMCSA’s view, the performance data delivered by the CSA Safety Measurement System are better markers of carrier safety than the snapshot-rating approach of the old model. Even though FMCSA is placing less importance on Conditional ratings, some in the private sector see the Conditional rating of the old model as gaining even greater import for small carriers’ business prospects. Combined with CSA’s seven Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories that measure carrier compliance, the Conditional rating has assumed greater importance in broker and shipper carrier-selection processes. That linkage largely is ignored by FMCSA’s new approach to Conditional ratings. Meanwhile, the replacement for the old rating model remains years off. The agency plans to tie a new “Safety Fitness Determination” rating to performancebased data garnered from roadside inspections and crashes. Conditional carriers before and after CSA “There are carriers out there who have been Conditional for 10 to 15 years,” says longtime regulatory consultant Richard Wilson, based in Delaware. If they don’t have high CSA scores, they have no reason to request a review to upgrade to Satisfactory, which 385.17 of the Code of Federal Regulations allows at any time. That “why bother” approach “is the old philosophy,” says Wilson.

Some say a Conditional safety rating is the new Unsatisfactory. — Transportation attorney Henry Seaton

| september 2014

Scan the code for an extended video interview with consultant and former owner-operator Richard Wilson about current industry practices relative to the Conditional safety rating.

Here’s Big Brother the insurance company: … ‘The carrier you’re dealing with has a Conditional rating … We don’t think you ought to be dealing with these people.’ — Richard Wilson, TCRG Consulting He tells of Conditional-rated carriers he’s worked with that have gotten their compliance operation in shape after the rating was handed down. Six months to a year after beginning such work, Wilson typically would advise the carrier to request a voluntary compliance review to upgrade to Satisfactory, inviting FMCSA to come take a look. By then, Wilson’s done what amounts to “a complete compliance review myself,” he says. In the past, following such reviews, “70 percent of the feedback I’d get is that, ‘It hasn’t bothered us, it hasn’t cost us business. As long as we keep ourselves under the radar, we don’t have to worry about dealing with FMCSA.’ ” The new world, however, is proving otherwise. Old Time Express’ most recent audit was its fifth since 1999, according to the CSA SMS. It was prompted after the fleet “popped a triangle,” or exceeded the interven-

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C ov e r s t o ry: t r a p p e d i n a C s a n i g h t m a r e

fewer ratings, less business

Since the advent of the Compliance Safety Accountability program, having a safety rating has had much more impact on a carrier’s ability to win or keep shippers. Yet over CSA’s four-year history, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has become much less likely to issue a rating. Of reviews of U.S. carriers in the 2013 fiscal year, about 76 percent of reviews that could have resulted in a safety rating actually did so. Compare that to the final pre-CSA year of 2010, when the percentage of ratable reviews was 87 percent. Furthermore, the number of general 20,000

SAFETY RATINGS ISSUED Satisfactory ––––––––– Conditional ––––––––– Unsatisfactory ––––––––– TOTAL –––––––––

15,000

10,000

5,000

2010

2011

a log-auditing service and repeatedly stressed the importance of log book currency and accuracy and operating within legal constraints. However, two to three months following the Conditional rating, the plan was rejected by the Tennessee FMCSA division as inadequate, White says. The agency declined to conduct a follow-up review. Old Time Express was experiencing what transportation attorney Henry Seaton calls the “safety jail” effect. It happens — Mark White, Old Time Express when the Conditional rat-

it’s their game, and you’ve got two choices – play it by their rules, or go and find yourself another game. 52

commercial carrier journal

reviews – the kind that result in safety ratings – in 2010 was twice as high as the number conducted in 2013. That’s because the agency has shifted away from the general compliance review to greater reliance on more focused reviews. Transportation attorney Henry Seaton contends that by doing so, FMCSA has shifted accountability for determining carrier safety “from itself onto the shippers and brokers.” The economic pressures those parties exert are the results of FMCSA’s attempt to “strong-arm the public” into doing the agency’s job.

| september 2014

2012

2013

SOURCE: FMCSA; data comprises carrier reviews of U.S.-based entities, including passenger carriers, that resulted in a safety rating or had the potential to.

tion threshold, in the Hours-of-Service Compliance BASIC, Mark White says. On March 15, 2012, an inspector came out for the audit. “He’d been the one doing the previous two or three audits, a nice guy and a former driver,” White says. He uncovered a pattern of hours violations by requesting timestamped fuel receipts, something he’d not done previously. The audit is listed on Old Time Express’ carrier profile in the CSA SMS as a traditional compliance review, but White’s telling of it sounds like it began as a focused HOS intervention. It resulted in a Conditional safety rating in addition to the high HOS BASIC score. Larger brokers said, “ ‘Look, we’re not going to load you.’ Over time, more and more started to drop off,” White says. “There were some who would say that as long as you can show us that in good faith you’re making an attempt” to improve things, “we’ll keep using you.” In the aftermath: “Roadside inspections spiked,” White says. This likely had less to do with the company’s Conditional rating and more to do with its “alert” status in the HOS BASIC. The BASIC is the only one of the seven where a single alert status flags carriers for roadside inspections. Before it could get better, Old Time Express started to look worse. Its HOS BASIC score went up, and with all the added inspections, maintenance violations eventually pushed its Vehicle Maintenance BASIC score close to the intervention threshold. Meanwhile, trying to deal with the Conditional rating, the carrier initiated

GettinG out of ‘safety jail’ In Old Time Express’ case, these steps turned the lock open: • Stress rigid hours compliance. • Take a high-touch approach with FMCSA. • Use a well-connected consultant to streamline effective measures. • Implement electronic logs. • Beef up back-office load operations and coordination to make e-logs feasible, taking pressure off drivers. • Follow through continuously.

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Carrier reviews by fleet size 2010

2011

2012

2013

Very small: 1-6

8,361 (43%)

7,654 (43%)

8,800 (45%)

8,012 (45%)

Small: 7-20

5,601 (29%)

5,322 (30%)

5,577 (28%)

5,131 (29%)

Medium: 21-100

3,946 (21%)

3,501 (20%)

3,815 (21%)

3,473 (20%)

Larger: > 100

1,337 (7%)

1,232 (7%)

1,255 (6%)

1,132 (6%)

total reviews

19,245

17,709

19,447

17,748

FMCSA has been consistent in its reviews of carriers when considered according to the size of the fleet. Percentages represent that category’s share of all reviews that year. Totals include general and focused reviews. SOURCE: FMCSA. Data comprises carrier reviews of U.S.-based entities, including passenger carriers. Data excludes a small number of reviews of carriers whose size is marked “unknown” in federal data.

ing is combined with a golden triangle or two in the CSA SMS, said Seaton, speaking last fall at the National Association of Small Trucking Companies’ annual meeting in Nashville, Tenn.: “Some say a Conditional safety rating is the new Unsatisfactory. Conditional now is much more difficult to get upgraded.” The longer the agency waits to come back out to re-evaluate a carrier, he added, “it basically starves [a carrier] out of business.” Wilson concurs. From the shipper’s point of view, value of service, time to deliver and cost were the primary elements of “the old formula,” as he calls it. Now an insurer, taking note of a carrier’s Conditional rating and SMS ratings, tells the shipper, “We don’t think you ought to be dealing with these people,” he says. ‘Play the game’ to get out of the lockup With no due process on follow-up reviews of Conditional carriers in the statute, says Seaton, such carriers “get left in purgatory.” Seaton’s colleagues deal with state administrators processing petitions for review who often take the “I’ll get around to it when I get around to it” approach to such requests, he says. Others say they’ll wait for CSA scores to improve before reviewing a petition. Mark White saw it firsthand. “Even 54

commercial carrier journal

a convicted felon at some point serves his sentence and gets out,” he says. With further attempts at garnering a followup review going nowhere, about a year into the Conditional rating “we started fielding calls from direct customers,” he adds, that went something like this: “ ‘My safety department is really looking at this – and I can only go to bat for you for so long.’ And then you start getting rejected bidding on new business, and it starts to really irritate you.” At wits’ end, in spring 2013, the Whites said to themselves, “What if we just go e-logs?” About the same time, Brands Truck Insurance, the company’s agent, offered to send a consultant it uses for just this kind of situation, White says. Even the consultant was surprised

shifting reasons Shifting reasons for for reviews reviews In 2013, compliance reviews, often prompted by CSA BASIC scores, were the most common reasons why reviews were initiated. Having a Conditional rating accounted for no reviews in 2013 or 2012. Focused compliance review: 7,741 reviews General compliance review: 4,221 reviews CSA SMS results: 3,444 reviews Complaint: 563 reviews In 2010, the picture was much different. FMCSA and state partners, to some degree, still had a goal of reaching a certain number of Conditional carriers yearly for follow-up. 7,070 reviews Federal/state priority list: 2,755 reviews CSA SMS results: 1,492 reviews Complaint: 1,272 reviews Conditional carrier:

| september 2014

SOURCE FOR DATA: FMCSA

power units

at Old Time Express’ decision, in May 2013, to begin trying out an Omnitracs e-logs system. The carrier invested $20,000 in the system and ongoing $40-per-unit subscription fees. It was a huge expense for a company of its size. The consultant, Jeff Davis of Fleet Safety Services, eventually felt the move was a savvy one when it came to pleasing FMCSA’s Tennessee division, White says. With continuing federal moves toward an electroniclog mandate, “he thought we were really setting ourselves up to be the poster child for what they wanted to happen.” Still, Old Time Express’ circumstances didn’t change until it was called into FMCSA’s Tennessee division at the Nashville headquarters in March of this year, after two years under the Conditional status. Officials reviewed compliance evidence prepared by Davis and recommended a reinstatement of Old Time Express’ prior Satisfactory rating to the regional Atlanta office. It was approved days later. White and others suggest that reinstatements like that which Old Time Express received – with just a visit to the FMCSA division office – are rare, given a carrier rated Conditional after being unrated would require another

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C OV E R S T O RY: T R A P P E D I N A C S A N I G H T M A R E

OLD TIME EXPRESS’ TWO-YEAR ODYSSEY IN THE REGULATORY LABYRINTH MARCH 2012

Fleet exceeds intervention threshold in Hours of Service Compliance BASIC. An inspector does onsite audit and issues Conditional safety rating.

SHORTLY THEREAFTER …

Larger brokers begin to break ties. “Alert” status in the HOS BASIC causes spike in roadside inspections, leading to maintenance violations, which push Vehicle Maintenance score up.

PUBLIC SCRUTINY OF SAFETY RATINGS IN CSA SMS REMAINS UNCERTAIN Today, while a carrier’s Compliance Safety Accountability Safety Measurement System profile front page shows its investigation history, it does not list any safety rating information from the SafeStat system. Following recommendations from industry stakeholders in 2013, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration introduced a proposed revamp of the online display that, front and center of a carrier’s front page, includes that carrier’s current safety rating. During the February 2013 meeting of FMCSA’s Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee, Associate Administrator for Enforce-

ment Bill Quade said changes he described as “tweaks” could be implemented as early as May. As of press time, however, those changes had not been made. Among those no doubt to be unhappy with the display changes is Rick Gobbell, formerly of FMCSA’s Tennessee division and currently a regulatory consultant to industry operating near Nashville, Tenn. In his prior role as the National Association of Small Trucking Companies’ vice president of safety and compliance, Gobbell submitted comments to the federal docket on the display changes that excoriated

the agency over its public display of CSA scoring metrics. Gobbell argued the bell-curve nature of the SMS BASIC scores “demonizes … 35 percent of carriers all the time,” thus providing convenient statistical justification for FMCSA budget requests. “It challenges our faith in our federal government,” he wrote, “when one of our agencies, without going through a Rulemaking proceeding, decides that it is acceptable to damage good people in order to get to the 5-8 percent of our industry that are truly ‘bad actors.’ … This type of mindset creates collateral damage to someone incidental of the intended target. This happens every day with CSA/SMS displays.”

TWO TO THREE MONTHS AFTER CONDITIONAL RATING

The carrier initiates log-auditing service, more emphasis on logbook compliance. FMCSA rejects corrective action plan and declines follow-up review.

JUNE 2012-APRIL 2013

With Conditional rating combined with a BASIC alert and rising scores in other categories, Old Time Express sees more brokered business dry up and is forced to address more direct customers’ concerns.

MAY 2013

OId Time Express invests in electronic logs and beefs up back-office operation to take pressure off drivers.

MARCH 2014

FMCSA reinstates Old Time Express’ prior Satisfactory rating.

COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL

onsite audit. It helps when you have a consultant who knows how to work the system on your side, to “jump through the hoops,” White says today. Adopting e-logs certainly didn’t hurt the company’s chances. Without all of it “and a great insurance provider who made that happen,” he adds, “we might not be where we are today.” It took only two months for reinstatement of Old Time Express’ Satisfactory rating to take “some of the

| SEPTEMBER 2014

heat off of us” from increasingly concerned shippers, White says. “One very large shipper that had approached us” when Old Time Express was Conditional and then backed off has now “finished the new-carrier setup process,” White says. As for the brokers whose knee-jerk reaction was to pull away from the company, Old Time Express has taken note: “We won’t be doing business with them again.”

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by Jack RobeRts

The economic downturn forced many fleets to extend asset life out to unprecedented levels. Now that times are good, should those trade cycles change?

he alchemy of equipment life and trade cycles has driven more than one fleet manager to despair over the past century of trucking. In the good old days, a bottle of whiskey tucked down in a desk drawer might have helped determine when the timing was right to buy or sell trucks and trailers. In today’s professional industry, that cavalier approach obviously is a no-go. But the angst of “getting it right” when it comes to establishing a viable equipment lifecycle policy remains. Pulling the trigger on buying and selling expensive assets

such as trucks, tractors and trailers relies on many factors out of a fleet’s control. Fuel prices, the economy, freight demand, driver availability, competition, customer preferences, maintenance costs, downtime, used truck prices and acquisition costs are just some of the many factors that come into play when considering vehicle life and liquidation and acquisition procedures. That’s why for many fleet managers, the move to act may feel like a gut decision – even after weighing all the pertinent factors that are supposed to show the right way to go. Smart fleet managers know that trade and lifecycle plans are not carved in stone. They are living, breathing things that need to be adaptable and ready to respond easily to unforeseen market forces. For many fleets, the massive economic collapse in 2007 and 2008 was a controlled-panic situation, with upper management directing maintenance operations to batten down the hatches and ride out the downturn by pushing asset life out as far as possible. New truck purchases were scaled back dramatically or put on hold indefinitely. commercial carrier journal

| september 2014 59

EquipmEnt: lifecycle costs Now that fleets have learned how As a result, the American to squeeze every possible mile Trucking Associations reports from a new vehicle, is this the new that the average age of a truck reality in our industry? in a U.S. fleet today is an unwith that,” he says. “The precedented seven years old. learning curve was harsh and A lot of credit has to be given expensive and took its toll on to the industry’s maintenance customer service.” professionals for keeping The result, Stuart says, was those aging trucks on the a nightmare that still haunts road. Under the gun, they refleets today. “All of a sudden, sponded admirably by finding there was a drive to outsource new ways to keep older trucks maintenance because the profitable and productive in fleets weren’t up to speed with an extremely trying economic staff and the new technoldownturn. ogy and had their hands full The news is getting much just trying to keep trucks better nowadays. Trucking is operating,” he says. “The deala leading economic indicaers were supposed to be the tor, and in 2007, it was one of experts, but even they couldn’t the first major industries to handle the sudden workload. predict the coming downturn – Darry Stuart, president, DWS Fleet Management Services Then the technician shortage that hit the economy at large everyone was pondering about the following year. In 2014, became a massive problem.” with reports last month that new Class 8 truck sales increased Stuart says the industry ended up with a “perfect storm” a dramatic 71 percent over the same period last year, it appears where fleets were “being held hostage” by dealers because the industry is – at long last – previewing a strong economic of outsourced maintenance, U.S. Environmental Protection recovery. Agency emissions requirements and other new technologies. But now that things seem to be getting better, what does “I firmly believe now that the rough seas are calmer, fleets have that mean for the life and trade cycles fleets adopted during got to take more control of their destinies and return to doing the hard times? Does the model of super-extended vehicle life more of their own maintenance in-house and manage asset still hold? Now that fleets have learned how to squeeze every uptime,” he says. possible mile from a new vehicle, is this the new reality in Stuart also believes that while the success story is that fleets our industry? Or do good times mean new factors are in play learned to operate equipment for significantly longer lifethat change the equation yet again, leading to more frequent cycles, the reality is that many fleets went broke trying to keep equipment turnover? troublesome aging equipment on the road. “At the end of the day – no matter what’s going on with Perfect storm Consultant Darry Stuart, president of DWS Fleet Management the economy, technology or anything else – equipment life and trade cycles boil down to acquisition costs along with Services, never was in favor of extending vehicle lifecycles trade and sale dollars,” he says. “If that book-value formula beyond economic value – although he recognizes that many fleets felt they had no other good options a few years back. Since the turn of “Extending asset life was due to the cost of the vehicle esthe century, fleets sentially doubling since 2001,” Stuart says. Fleets had to deal have extended vehicle life due with rising upfront costs, low Consultant to rising upfront residual values and the overall Darry Stuart, costs, low residual state of the economy – on top president of values and the DWS Fleet overall state of of the push to meet emissions Management the economy – on regulations. “For maintenance Services, says top of the push to operations, it was horrible, fleets need to do more of their meet emissions and massive costs came along own maintenance in-house. regulations.

Equipment life and trade cycles boil down to acquisition costs along with trade and sale dollars.

commercial carrier journal

| september 2014

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EquipmEnt: lifecycle costs doesn’t work, all the maintenance in the world isn’t going to change that equation. And if you’re locked into a cycle with aged equipment, you’ve got to dive down deep into the books and really analyze your costs to come up with an escape plan. You may have to finance your way out.”

Lessons learned In many ways, the experiences of Steve Hampton – operational manager for San Marco, Texas-based Redbird Trucking – reflect the industry at large. When the economy tanked, Hampton says Redbird did what seemed to be the only logical thing at the time. “We stopped buying new equipment,” he says. “Previously, we’d been on a three- to three-and-a-half-year trade cycle. Suddenly we made the decision to go out to close to five years before trading. We were putting almost 200,000 more miles on these vehicles than we used to.” As with other fleets, Redbird’s maintenance department responded accordingly. “It was a huge learning curve for us, but we worked through it,” Hampton says. “But what eventually happened was we realized we’d managed the assets out so far that they were costing us more money to operate than was practical.” Compliance Safety Accountability was what drove that realization home for Redbird. “We’d gotten to the point where the maintenance and upkeep on the vehicles was costing us

A lot of credit has to be given to the industry’s maintenance professionals for keeping aging trucks on the road.

commercial carrier journal

more money out of pocket to keep them on the road,” Hampton says. “That was without adding the overtime our technicians were putting in just to keep them rolling.” Armed with this knowledge, Hampton began upgrading Redbird’s equipment before the economic upswing was well-defined. “We’ve traded out most of our older equipment,” he says. “The oldest truck in the fleet today is a 2010 model, and we’re looking to cycle them out before too much longer.” Today, Redbird largely has migrated back to an asset life and trade cycle that mirrors its pre-downturn policy. “The used truck market is really strong right now, and new equipment reliability has improved dramatically,” Hampton says. “On the other hand, the price of the new equipment goes up every year, so it’s still a huge balancing act for us to get right. Figuring out where that break-even point is – that’s still the hardest part for us.” Still, Hampton says the life and trade cycle Redbird adopted during the downturn has been helpful. “It helped us get through some very tough times,” he says. “Also, we now know how to handle things if another major downturn hits. We’ll know the right things to do to keep the equipment rolling. “The other thing it taught is that before we were trading in our equipment too early,” he says. “We still had life left in those assets before it was time to trade them out. So we actually have a better life and trade cycle model today than we did before the downturn.”

The American Trucking Associations reports that the average age of a truck in a U.S. fleet today is an unprecedented seven years old.

| september 2014

Apples and oranges Supporting a more aggressive equipment and trade cycle is Jim Coffren, vice president of fleet management and maintenance for East Dubuque, Ill.-based Hirschbach Motor Lines (CCJ Top 250, No. 161). Coffren argues that the differences in reliability and efficiency between vehicles produced before 2010 and those produced afterward are so pronounced that they are like comparing apples and oranges. “As an industry, we got our butts handed to us on fuel economy as the EPA emissions regulations came into play,” Coffren says. “By 2007, the emissions benchmarks were out

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EquipmEnt: lifecycle costs there, and fleets had to make choices about selling older and outdated equipment, pre-buying new equipment or simply holding on to what they had.” Those who pre-bought in 2004 generally won and were on the right side of the equation technology-wise, Coffren says. “The 2007 pre-buy was a wash, and the fleets that prebought before 2010 lost big time because that’s when things turned around,” he says. “We finally saw great strides forward in terms of actual vehicle and engine performance.” A critical factor in 2010, Coffren says, was a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that gave the U.S. Departments of Energy and Transportation the right to focus on definitive, permanent fuel economy standards. “That’s huge for this industry, because it forces OEMs to change their focus away from emissions,” he says. “They now have to chase fuel economy standards, and it forced them to take a systemic approach to overall vehicle design.” As a result, today’s new commercial vehicles are improved vastly over pre-2010 models to the point where they easily can pay some – or even all – of their capital expenditures through fuel savings and reduced maintenance and cost per mile, Coffren says. “Just look at the differences between a Freightliner Columbia and a modern-day Cascadia,” he says. “The Columbia was a great truck 10 years ago, but the Cascadia is an exponential leap forward in terms of technology and capability.” Coffren sees the same dynamic with Navistar’s redesigned International ProStar. “Fleets are routinely getting 7.5 or even 8 miles to the gallon with modern trucks like that – and 10 miles to the gallon is now clearly within reach with just a little bit of work,” he says. Hirschbach’s newest Cascadias are logging an additional 5 percent fuel economy gain over its 2012 models on aerodynamic enhancements alone, Coffren says. “Numbers like that change the entire equation when it comes to equipment life San Marcos, Texas-based Redbird Trucking says it largely has migrated back to an asset life and trade cycle that mirrors its pre-downturn policy.

commercial carrier journal

| september 2014

Jim Coffren, vice president of fleet management and maintenance for East Dubuque, Ill.-based Hirschbach Motor Lines, says today’s new commercial vehicles easily can pay some – or even all – of their capital expenditures through fuel savings and reduced maintenance and cost per mile.

and trade cycles.” This point was driven home for Coffren in 2010 when Hirschbach undertook a complete rewrite of all of its fleet operations, including vehicle specifications, maintenance operations, vendor relations and driver relations. “Everything went under the microscope,” he says. “We made the decision to start replacing our existing 2007 through 2009 models with new trucks.” Hirschbach then replaced 40 percent of its fleet. “The striking thing was that those new trucks were able to pay for their entire capital cost in fuel savings alone,” Coffren says. “The competitive advantage was huge. We’d never seen anything like that before, and that doesn’t factor in details like increased uptime and decreased maintenance costs.” Coffren also points to other factors such as driver retention and downtime as mitigating factors in terms of vehicle replacement. “We believe the cost of having a truck down today is somewhere north of $400 an hour by the time all factors are considered,” he says, citing work he’s done with ATA’s Technology and Maintenance Council. “You have to run the math for every mile you’re not hauling, and the numbers get really bad really fast.” Then consider the competitive disadvantage from running older equipment, Coffren says. “If you’re paying $6,500 a month for fuel, and the other guy is running a new truck and only paying $4,500 a month, then that $2,000 savings is covering his truck payment for him,” he says. “Plus, he’s got a newer, more comfortable truck that drivers want to be in.” Coffren understands concerns about vehicle prices. “We are north of $140,000 on tractors, and I don’t like paying any more for trucks than I have to, either,” he says. “But if you look at the return on investment that new technologies are delivering today, the numbers work.” With Hirschbach’s new-technology fleet, the company today is trading in trucks at about the three- to three-and-ahalf-year mark. “It’s an interesting concept – take what you learned during the downturn, and stretch out new equipment purchases the same way,” Coffren says. “But I don’t think it works given the strong residual values at the moment, the fact that vehicle efficiency is increasing every year and the need to keep maintenance costs in check.”

Text INFO to 205-289-3554 or visit www.ccjdigital.com/info

J.B. Hunt boasts the largest fleet of 53-foot containers in North America and one of the largest private drayage fleets across a nationwide network of rail partners.

going inTermodal Technology helps wiTh riding The rail

.B. Hunt (CCJ Top 250, No. 6) struck gold in the early 1990s as one of the first motor carriers with an intermodal rail service network. The Lowell, Ark.-based company now boasts the largest fleet of 53-foot containers in North America and one of the largest private drayage fleets across a nationwide network of rail partners. CCJ has recognized a number of fleets for expanding the possibilities of rail. Some recent innovations involve the use of stackable intermodal containers to transport refrigerated, flatbed, liquid bulk chemicals and other specialized loads. Fleets that are not engaged actively with shippers to convert loads of 700 or more miles to intermodal are losing business. Meanwhile, others are gaining ground by using intermodal to add capacity for customers while reducing their costs and

emissions. The American Trucking Associations predicts rail intermodal tonnage will grow by 5.5 percent annually through 2019 and 5.1 percent through 2025. While this may seem like a golden opportunity, the business is complex with high barriers to entry. Technology can help to level the playing field. Tracking evoluTion Managing containers, trailer chassis and specialized over-theroad trailers can be complex, with multiple parties involved in the custody chain. Satellite tracking and mobile communications systems are used widely by fleets to manage over-the-road assets, but the technology has been slower to gain traction in

By aaron huff

intermodal. That is starting to change. NFI (CCJ Top 250, No. 37) â&#x20AC;&#x201C; one of the largest privately held third-party logistics providers in North America â&#x20AC;&#x201C; rents the trailer chassis and containers it uses for its dry containers that account for about half of its total shipments. None of its

Third-party logistics provider NFI has 170 stackable refrigerated containers that it monitors constantly using Thermo Kingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Web-based TracKing telematics system. commercial carrier journal

september 2014

technology: Intermodal technology

Asset Intelligence, a subsidiary of I.D. Systems, has expanded its line of VeriWise tracking products across the intermodal container and chassis market.

rented equipment have tracking systems installed, says Adam Kurtz, director of intermodal operations for the Cherry Hill, N.J.-based company. Temperature-controlled containers represent the other half of NFI’s fleet – and its fastest-growing segment. The company has 170 stackable refrigerated containers that it monitors constantly using Thermo King’s Web-based TracKing telematics system. TracKing is one of several telematics systems designed to provide remote control of reefer units. These systems, adapted for intermodal, give NFI and other fleets the ability to change temperature settings and other controls for individual load requirements. Telematics systems also are being used for dry containers and chassis. Compared to the systems used for tracking trailers, intermodal offerings are designed with smaller, more compact hardware with customized power management capabilities to extend battery life. Most of these devices will turn off communications automatically to conserve power when the container crosses the

perimeter of a rail yard and will remain off while the container is in the custody of railroad companies that provide location status. Asset Intelligence, a subsidiary of I.D. Systems, started in the trailer tracking business and designed its VeriWise asset tracking system for intermodal operations. Fleets that install the system on their own containers and chassis are looking to increase the number of shipments they can transport in their drayage operations, says Todd Felker, executive vice president of marketing and product development. Besides tracking the time and location of assets, fleets can use optional cargo, door and light sensors for more detailed load status information. Sensors also can be added to the chassis to detect container mount and dismount status to improve planning and customer billing processes, Felker says. As the volume of intermodal shipments continues to increase, transportation companies are working to provide shippers the same service levels and information as their trucking offerings, says

Henry Popplewell, senior vice president and general manager of SkyBitz, a provider of tracking systems for both trailers and intermodal equipment. Transportation companies that use telematics systems for their intermodal operations are following the same model used by Southwest Airlines to increase airline capacity, says Craig Montgomery, senior vice president of marketing and product management for Orbcomm. Southwest creates more airline capacity by quickly turning its planes around at the gates, and Montgomery says the same strategy applies by using telematics to add intermodal capacity by improving operational efficiency to quickly identify the status of a container and chassis, such as location, loaded/unloaded and door open/closed. The Hub Group (CCJ Top 250, No. 42), one of the largest intermodal third-party logistics providers, is deploying Orbcomm’s GT 2300 container tracking and monitoring platform to manage the information flow across drayage and other touch points to provide its customers with greater visibility. The Hub Group will use Orbcomm’s cargo and door sensor. Renting equipment With the exception of a few industry giants, few fleets own intermodal containers and chassis; the majority rent the equipment for a daily rate. Tracking systems can help automate intermodal rental transactions and create additional capacity. COFC Logistics is an independent supplier of intermodal equipment and services for small-to-midsize fleets, interAsset Intelligence offers an interior flush-mounted cargo and light sensor for intermodal containers, as well as a tracking system that mounts in the container’s corrugated panels.

commercial carrier journal

| september 2014

technology: Intermodal technology

The Hub Group is deploying Orbcomm’s GT 2300 container tracking and monitoring platform with cargo and door sensors.

Orbcomm recently developed a modification for its GT 1100 tracking device that uses a sensor to detect if an intermodal chassis is loaded or unloaded to assist with planning.

modal marketing companies, third-party logistics providers, brokers, freight forwarders and other intermediaries that prefer ramp-to-ramp service. The Toledo, Ohio-based company specializes in 53-foot double-stack containers moving on the BNSF Railway network. Its fleet of 500 containers soon will increase to 950 to accommodate growth. Historically, companies that rent containers from COFC would drop a container at one of its depots without COFC knowing the container’s status until the following day. Two years ago, the company began using the Falcon GXT3000 cellular tracking system from SkyBitz. COFC creates a geofence around each depot, and when a container crosses the geofence, the technology automatically generates an e-mail and populates an inventory count. “It helps us move containers a lot quicker,” says Garry Old, president. “It helps us internally to audit our depot costs. We know when things are there and not relying on a yard check.” COFC has position reports integrated 70

commercial carrier journal

with its management software to help make equipment available faster for customers, thus adding capacity. The company has container depot locations in Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Stockton, Calif., and Memphis, Tenn. The accurate and timely information also helps speed billing and improve cash flow; for completed orders, COFC is able to bill customers the following day.

since 2006, but last year it took off, growing by 10 percent, and it currently is on pace to grow another 10 percent in 2014. In 2015, NFI anticipates the business should grow by 50 percent as more shippers learn about the company’s ability to convert refrigerated loads to intermodal, Kurtz says. Base Line Transportation, a Naperville, Ill.-based nonasset brokerage and intermodal marketing company, faced a similar situation when it was looking for software. Most intermodal marketing companies either are large corporations or their subsidiary agents. Many of these companies either had developed their own software or had purchased expensive systems from a handful of vendors. Base Line worked with Aljex Software to develop an intermodal module for Aljex’s Web-based transportation management system. The software’s main function is to send and receive EDI communications with railroads to track shipments and automate invoicing. Dan Krush, owner of Base Line, says railroads have advanced Web portals that make it simple to track shipments and conduct other business transactions. All of this information is accessible within the Aljex system through EDI, which helps make Base Line more efficient. In Krush’s opinion, technology can help maximize efficiency, but that’s not the

AutomAting communicAtions Managing the flow of shipments and information between multiple parties is a complex challenge in intermodal. Domestic containers and trailers will change custody at least three times in transit from separate drayage fleets doing the pickups and deliveries and railroads doing the linehauls. In 2005, NFI was looking for a software system to help manage its new Road Rail business, but the choices were limited. The company found a system from Princeton Consultants called Pegasus, which satisfied a primary need: to provide an interface with rail lines and third-party carriers to track shipment status and receive billing information through electronic data interchange. NFI also uses a Web-based portal from Pegasus to send dispatch information electronically to third-party drayage services – mostly small carriers and independent operators. For company drivers, NFI uses tablets that connect to the portal to receive dispatch information and update shipment status. The software has most of what NFI wants, but management now is looking for a system with more reporting features since the cost has come down and more competitors have entered the market, Kurtz COFC uses the Falcon GXT3000 cellular tracking system from says. SkyBitz to create a geofence around each depot, and when For NFI, the intermodal one of its containers crosses the geofence, it automatically generates an e-mail and populates its inventory count. business had been stagnant

| september 2014

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technology: Intermodal technology McLeod Software is finalizing development of a new module that will cover “the full spectrum of intermodal operations,” says Kinan Saddekni, manager of intermodal development.

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commercial carrier journal

| september 2014

Cost Controls Intermodal also has become a major focus for some of the largest trucking software suppliers. McLeod Software is finalizing development of a new module that will cover “the full spectrum of intermodal operations,” says Kinan Saddekni, manager of intermodal development. McLeod’s new intermodal module will have cost-control measures – such as active monitoring of container and chassis rentals from pickup to return – to help reduce per diem and demurrage charges for fleets. The system has automated invoice reconciliation and accounts payable features to pay for equipment charges from third parties, Saddekni says. The module’s interface suite allows users to reserve equipment from vendors within the software as part of the dispatch planning process. It uses standard EDI to send and receive automated status, invoicing and other forms of communications with railroads. “We are committed to this,” Saddekni says. “We think intermodal is the diversification that our customers need to stay competitive.” The increased interest and investment in intermodal from both asset and nonasset transportation companies is creating demand for new technologies to facilitate growth and increase profit margins in this competitive but expanding market.

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only factor in growing a business. “Bells and whistles don’t really move freight,” he says. “What moves freight is relationships.”

SkyBitz modified its GXT3000 device to track location and status of container chassis. A pressure sensor detects if the chassis is loaded or unloaded.

ark A. Cleveland is CEO and co-founder of Elicit Brands, LLC, a company that produces Swiftwick brand athletic compression socks. Cleveland is known throughout the trucking industry as an entrepreneur with a successful track record in innovation and the pursuit of cutting edge technology. Cleveland’s trucking experience began in 1989 and brought him to work with several transportation businesses such as Jubitz Corporation, Park ‘N View, TripPak Services and Sea Bridge Freight. When Cleveland first encountered the Swiftwick brand in 2007, the company focused solely on custom socks. He acquired the brand and led the team toward conquering the competitive performance sock market. Swiftwick has rapidly become the compression sock of choice from everyone from PGA tour professionals, Olympians, NHL hockey players and weekend warriors alike. At the close of 2013, Swiftwick was the leading sock with independent bike dealers and a top selling brand at running specialty retailers. Because of his affinity for and previous leadership roles in the trucking industry, it’s no wonder his current mission is dedicated to bringing the healing properties of compression socks to American truckers. “I’m thrilled to return to my roots in transportation. Using proven technologies that promotes high performance in health and athletics, I wanted to create a product that can contribute and impact drivers’ health in the trucking industry. It was a natural progression to make the leap from serving athletes to serving transportation professionals because our socks are meant to provide everyone with comfortable feet,” says Cleveland. His concern for the health and well being of truckers is shared by trucking company owners who are aware of the challenges of life behind the wheel of a truck. Because of the sedentary nature of trucking, drivers are at a higher risk than the general populations for serious health conditions such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and deep vein thrombosis (DVT). That’s why he’s excited about the opportunity to offer a medical Class II compression sock designed for travel comfort at an incredibly affordable price. This sock is medically beneficial for tired and aching legs, leg discomfort, mild to moderate swelling, poor circulation and mild varicose veins. Benefits also include helping prevent edema and DVT for long-haul truckers traveling great distances with few breaks.

Q: Why should drivers wear compression socks?

A: The fact is that sitting can kill you. Studies strongly suggest that sitting for more than three hours at a time contributes to poor health and puts the trucker at a much higher risk for both cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack and stroke as well as metabolic syndromes, a cluster of conditions that includes increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist and abnormal cholesterol levels. A sedentary lifestyle along with an unhealthy diet, limited routine freedom of movement or purposeful exercise and limited access to regular health care contributes to the increased health risks drivers face.

Q: How can Swiftwick HEALTH+ Compression socks help drivers’ health?

A: Swiftwick Medical Class II compression socks increase blood flow and circulation from the lower limbs, helping prevent complications like deep vein thrombosis and edema. Compression therapy is an important treatment in recovery and general healthcare. It helps with mild to moderate swelling. This compression sock is comfortable, makes you feel better and it’s a tool for travel safety.

Q: How does the compression sock work?

A: The Medical Class II HEALTH+ sock line is the first graduated

compression sock specifically designed to meet the demands of transportation professionals introduced at an affordable price. It provides compression from the ankle to below the knee, improving blood flow in the lower leg and protecting against discomfort. The plush foot bed adds to Swiftwick’s careful attention to antimicrobial and moisture-wicking capabilities. The sock is a valuable tool in the fight against ailments caused by constant long-distance traveling.

Q: How can fleet owners encourage healthy habits among their drivers?

A: Focus on rewarding drivers for improvements in their diet and fitness levels, not just cost per mile and other long standing metrics. Provide truckers with education about the health risks they face and how to take proactive steps toward wellness. Encourage them to know the warning signs and symptoms of deep vein thrombosis and how to prevent a serious blood clot from forming.

Q: Where can truck drivers purchase this product? A: We realize how little free time truckers enjoy, so that’s why we’re stocking truck and travel centers nationwide with the Swiftwick HEALTH+ Compression socks.

About Swiftwick: Founded in January 2008, Swiftwick is headquartered in Brentwood, Tenn. The company is a performance sock manufacturer that proudly employs an American workforce in high-quality textile manufacturing. Swiftwick is an innovator in designing and producing superior socks and has a culture focused on manufacturing through environmentally friendly means, social responsibility and leading customer service.