CCJ 0919

SEPTEMBER 2019

WANT YOUR NEW TECHNICIANS TO STAY?

It's not always about the pay page 72

Final deadline nears to make the ELD switch

SIMPLER SAFETY Put all your tech on one data plan page 82

ANALYZE YOUR OIL BUSINESS SOLUTIONS FOR TRUCKING PROFESSIONALS

Learn about your engine's lifeblood page 84

Š 2019 , Inc. All rights reserved.

All marks are trademarks of their respective owners.

* Love’s and Speedco locations in Texas cannot perform warranty services.

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NOW OPEN. FIND A LOCATION NEAR YOU AT INTERNATIONALTRUCKS.COM/LOVES

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Rotella is a trademark of Shell Trademark Management B.V. © SOPUS Products 2019. All rights reserved. CS15192-02

SEPTEMBER 2019 | VOL 176 | NO. 9

JOURNAL

COVER STORY

ELD Buyers’ Guide: Goodbye AOBRD

Those being forced to move from older automatic onboard recording device technology to electronic logging devices this fall can get a sneak preview from carriers that have made the transition.

LEADING NEWS, TRUCKING MARKET CONDITIONS AND INDUSTRY ANALYSIS

Cover design by David Watson

FEATURES

72

8

Targeting Technicians: Stemming the turnover tide

More businesses are investing resources in the recruitment and acquisition of new technician talent, but service providers also must stick the landing. New recruits have to stay.

80

Hours changes proposed

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s proposed changes to federal hours of service regulations would allow drivers to pause their 14-hour clock for up to three consecutive hours and go off-duty in that time period, extending their on-duty window by the same amount.

82

Merging safety tech

Driver safety systems are converging by using common hardware and integrated applications to improve data consistency, reduce cost and simplify the work environment for drivers.

84

A no-brainer test

Used engine oil analysis not only reveals elements and conditions that can help fleets maximize oil life, it also can provide warnings of an upcoming engine failure.

69

Innovators: Reddaway

The Tualatin, Ore.-based less-than-truckload company establishes its own driving school and apprenticeship program to improve driver retention and safety.

News

FMCSA looking to add crash accountability to CSA … Senate advances skeleton highway bill … FMCSA wants to let driver applicants take CDL knowledge test in any state … DOL opinion: Drivers aren’t owed sleeper berth pay for off-duty time … FMCSA begins to explore harassment, assaults of female, minority truckers … EPA watchdog backs study used to justify limiting glider kit production … Massachusetts governor looks to tighten state’s CDL standards …

Coalition to Congress: Kill federal excise tax … OOIDA-backed House bill would nail down definition of auto transporter … Report calls for lawmakers to lift restrictions on interstate tolling … Study: Transportation workers at higher risk of heart disease, obesity … Maritime diesel regs could impact on-highway prices … Fleet survey probes technology advancement challenges

14 InBrief COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL

| SEPTEMBER 2019 3

DEPARTMENTS

ccjdigital.com

technology

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@CCJnow

Lower fuel prices extend anti-idle payback

linkedin.com/ccjmagazine

German e-systems maker setting up shop in Michigan

Editorial

Editor: Jason Cannon Senior Editor: Aaron Huff Associate Editor: Tom Quimby Managing Editor: Dean Smallwood Senior Editor: James Jaillet News Editor: Matt Cole Contributing Editor: Todd Dills

Navistar aims to be ‘premier solutions provider’ Cummins, Omnitracs team for OTA updates

58 59

Volvo, Samsung team for e-truck battery development

28 InBrief 29 Daimler Trucks creates customer

59

experience division

30 30 31 31 32 32

Enforcing mobile policies

editorial@ccjdigital.com

Microdea releases imaging platform

Design & Production

EpicVue available to owneroperators

Peloton working on Level 4 platooning

60

Design Interactive introduces Virtual Equipment Training

60

First eCascadias delivered to customers Penske, NFI

60 InBrief 61 GlobalTranz launches digital

Fontaine designs Freightliner M2 rollup door for first responders

Stay Metrics says early-stage driver turnover increasing Descartes ShipRush adds LTL freight support

freight matching platform

61

Dana’s e-propulsion tapped for hydrogen fuel project

62

Nikola lands $1.7M grant to advance fuel cell research

63

34 Test Drive: Link ROI Cabmate Suspension

Tank Wash Finder helps locate wash locations, services Study shows rise in delivery expectations Verizon Connect rolls out Field Service Dispatch for work fleets

64 InFocus: Payment systems 66 Product review:

36 InFocus: Solar power 38 Severe Service

Wilson weBoost Drive Reach

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

88

4

6

Upfront

96

Preventable or Not?

Products

Tire, wireless battery and starter/charger system tester, wheel hub scrubber, more

COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL

| SEPTEMBER 2019

95

Editor Jason Cannon’s column

Trucker John Doe entered the intersection when the traffic signal turned green, but his tractor-trailer was rammed by an SUV whose driver wasn’t paying attention to his red light. Was this a preventable accident?

Ad Index

Art Director: David Watson Graphic Designer: Kenneth Stubbs Quality Assurance: Timothy Smith Advertising Production Manager: Leah Boyd production@ccjdigital.com

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Commercial Carrier Journal (ISSN 1533-7502) is published monthly by Randall-Reilly Publishing Co. LLC, 3200 Rice Mine Road N.E., Tuscaloosa, AL 35406. Single copy price U.S., $6; Canada/ Mexico, $9; Foreign, $12. Subscription rates, payable in U.S. dollars, $48 per year (in Canada $78 U.S. currency). For subscription information/inquiries, please email commercialcarrierjournal@omeda.com. Customer service: 1-800-517-4979. Periodicals Postage-Paid at Tuscaloosa, AL, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTERS: Send all UAA to CFS. (See DMM 507.1.5.2); NON-POSTAL AND MILITARY FACILITIES: send address corrections to Commercial Carrier Journal, PO Box 2029, Tuscaloosa, AL 35403. Unsolicited letters, manuscripts, stories, materials or photographs cannot be returned except where the sender provides a postagepaid, addressed, stamped envelope. Address all mail to Commercial Carrier Journal Editorial Dept., P.O. Box 3187, Tuscaloosa, AL 35403. All advertisers for Commercial Carrier Journal are accepted and published by Randall-Reilly Publishing Co. LLC on the representation that the advertiser and/or advertising agency are authorized to publish the entire contents and subject matter thereof. The advertiser and/or advertising agency will defend, indemnify and hold Randall-Reilly Publishing Co. LLC harmless from and against any loss, expenses or other liability resulting from any claims or suits for libel violations of right of privacy or publicity, plagiarisms, copyright or trademark, infringement and any other claims or suits that may arise out of publication of such advertisement. Copyright © 2019, Randall-Reilly Publishing Co. LLC All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited.

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Visit verizonconnect.com or call 866.844.2235 for a fleet management consultation. Š2018 Verizon. All rights reserved.

UPFRONT

Running out of thunder Shrouded in mystery, future of battery-powered Semi seems clouded

BY JASON CANNON

W

hen Tesla debuted its Semi in late 2017, it got the same rock spectacle unveiling as the company’s flashier consumer products. Loud music. Lights. Tesla CEO Elon Musk whipping the crowd into a frenzy with promises of otherworldly power, torque and 0-60 times.

Then, moments later, Tesla’s second-generation Roadster rocketed across the company’s design center in Hawthorne, Calif., and a crowd of thousands – mostly Tesla owners, VIPs and some media – lost their collective mind. Like Steven Tyler walked into the building carrying Mick Jagger on his shoulders and passing out vouchers for Pappy Van Winkle bourbon.

Once Musk concluded his remarks, the masses were welcomed to get closer to the truck and the supercar. Semi made for a cool photo-op, but the Roadster 2 already had stolen its thunder, and the Semi has been leaking thunder ever since.

In the months since November 2017, official updates on the Semi have been few. Updates on the Gen2 Roadster have been even fewer. The expected production date for the company’s Class 8 already has been shifted from this year to next, and since the March unveiling of Model Y, Tesla’s compact crossover has become the new EV darling.

During Tesla’s earnings call in late July, the Semi was mentioned only once.

“The story for Tesla in the future is, fundamentally, Model 3 and Model Y,” Musk said. “And then you could throw a truck in there – pickup truck and a Semi – but [Model S and Model X volume] just gets smaller and smaller. [Model S and Model X] are great products, but from a volume standpoint, they’re not all that important in the long term.”

That in and of itself is not all that surprising. When you consider the volume Cascadia occupies of the overall number of vehicles Daimler sells in a year, the on-highway market leader is a small fish in a large pond. But Musk’s latest comment on volume is somewhat of a reversal from February 2018 when he said orders of 100,000 Semis a year by 2022 was “a reasonable expectation.”

Tesla hasn’t confirmed order figures for the Semi in more than a year.

Last year, Tesla delivered just more than 245,000 vehicles — about 146,000 Model 3 and nearly 100,000 Model S and Model X. If the Semi hits the 100,000 mark, its sales would be comparable to the combined current levels of two of its passenger models.

Tesla production and delivery numbers are soaring this year versus last. Its delivered about 158,000 cars in the first six months this year and expects to close the year near 400,000. But 100,000 Semi units still would make up a sizable portion of deliveries, even if you allow for significant automotive growth over the next two model years.

The company hasn’t confirmed order figures for the Semi in more than a year and has declined to provide them every time I have asked. Last May, Musk pegged the figure at “about 2,000” units, with UPS, FedEx, PepsiCo, Anheuser-Busch, J.B. Hunt and Walmart among the carriers with Semis on reserve.

A passing mention on an investor’s call doesn’t necessarily spell trouble, and the project is still in motion as far as we know. Tesla has been using its Semi to shuttle around some of its autos, and Automotive President Jerome Guillen noted in April, “We are very happy with driving the trucks extensively with, I think, so far quite amazing success.”

But I’ve yet to speak to a fleet contact with a Semi on order that has much more information about the truck than what I’ve written here.

Tesla continues to post negative earnings figures. The company lost $408 million in the past three months – despite record numbers of car builds and deliveries – and has lost $1 billion this fiscal year with six more months to go.

What does all that mean for an already-delayed electric Class 8 with a potential sales target comparable to two models that don’t figure to be “all that important in the long term?” My guess is nothing good.

JASON CANNON is Editor of Commercial Carrier Journal. E-mail jasoncannon@randallreilly.com.

6

commercial carrier journal

| september 2019

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LEADING LEADINGNEWS, NEWS, TRUCKING TRUCKINGMARKET MARKET CONDITIONS CONDITIONSAND AND INDUSTRY INDUSTRYANALYSIS ANALYSIS

FMCSA FMCSA wanting allows after-hours to add move crash accountability to park while to loaded CSA

T

Registry hack Senate advances delays medical skeleton highway bill

8

commercial carrier journal

| september 2019

A certificate rule T U.S. Senate committee in late

he heU.S. Federal Department Motor of Carrier Transportation Safety Administration is set to expand its finalized work onchanges to attempting guidance to around soothethe what’s 150-air-mile-radius long been considered agriculture a chief painhours-of-service point of carriers’ exemption scores inand its Compliance, use of the personal Safety, Accountability conveyance safety provision. rating program — the Both lackproposed of accounting changes for crash were fault put forward in CSA’sahead Safetyof Measurement the Dec. 18 compliance System deadline scores. for the agency’s electronic logging device mandate and pitched as providing The Federal clarity and Motor additional Carrier Safety flexibility for drivers.

Administration The new interpretation in late July announced of when it is legal to use a truck for personal conveyance a planallows to remove use whether crashes from the carriers’ truck is loaded or not. Perhaps more significantly, the guidance scores thatanswers are deemed a common not the fault question of of whether it’s appropriate to use personal conveyance the truck operator statusortocarrier. The agency get will to seek a safe comment parking for 60 days. spot If the or rule rest is locamade final, carriers – addition of crash fault accountability tion including after owner-operators hours are – will be able The within CSA is part of a broader effort by exhausted to dispute certain by a shiptypes of crashes via FMCSA to overhaul the program. per the existing or receiver.

DataQs system and potentially “The have movement the associated points removed from their Crash Indicator BASIC ranking. from Though a shipper the Crash Indicator BASIC has never been public and only accessible to caror riers receiver within to their thedashboard and to enforcers, the BASIC is used to target carriers for nearest compliance safereviews restingor other intervention by FMCSA. area Though may be theidentiagency has been testing such a crash-fault dispute system since midfied 2017,asFMCSA personal plans to expand on the program and make it more permanent. Starting conveyance,” Oct. 1, carrierstext will be able to dispute 15 types of crashes rather than the eight types of allowed the clarification under the initial pilot program. The agency says it will make a determination reads, within “regardless 24 months about of the seven types of crashes added to athe list.for personal The additional new interpretation of when it is legal to use truck conveyance whetherrule thehas truck is loaded or not. whether Once the thepublic drivercomment period allows on theuse proposed concluded and exhausted FMCSA publishes his or her a final rule, it can proceed toward removing nonpreventable hours crashesoffrom service, carriers’ as long Crash as the Indicator CMVBASIC is beingpercentile moved solely rankings. to enable Underthe thedriver currentto obtain review system, the required crashes rest deemed at a safe nonpreventable location.” Personal remainconveyance in the BASICused but this are notated way should be as nonpreventable. annotated in theThe log. current crash dispute system will remain operational until Sept.

Personal 30 for crashes conveyance that occurred also is through newly allowed July 31. Crashes when a occurring safety official after that requires date a driver will need totomove be uploaded during in anthe off-duty new system period. starting Sucharound a use Oct. should 1. be “no farther than theThe nearest addition reasonable of crash fault andaccountability safe area to complete within CSAthe is part restofperiod,” a broader the effort text reads. byRegarding FMCSA tothe overhaul 150-air-mile-radius the program, which exemption, was heavily FMCSA criticized clarified in its thefirst definition several of the radius years before as extending Congressfrom yanked the it commodity’s from public source. view. Congress Haulersalso using required the exemption an external but who review extend of thebeyond system by thethe radius National would Academies not need of to Science, start hours which recording last yearuntil recomthey reach the mended edge sweeping of the radius, the agency changessaid. to theSuch pro-drivers Scan the QR code with your smartphone or visit ccjdigital.com/news/subscribe-to-newsreturning gram. FMCSA empty is still can in stop letters to sign up for the CCJ Daily Report, hours the process recording of impleupon rea daily e-mail newsletter filled with news, entering menting those the radius. reforms. analysis, blogs and market condition articles.

– James – Todd JailletDills

July introduced a five-year $278

billion transportation packhe Federalfunding Motor Carrier

age to succeed 2015’s FAST Act. The Safety Administration said

Senatelast Environment and Public Works month it intends to postpone Committee cleared the America’s the implementation of a system Transportation Infrastructure Act of meant toand streamline its communi2019 bycations a votewith of 21-0. state licensing agenThe cies Senate Financedrivers’ Committee will be regarding medical tasked certification with findingstatus. funding avenues, and the chamber’s Commerce, Science The multifaceted rule, partand of Transportation Committee will formulate which took effect in January 2015, the policy measures. requires FMCSA to electronically Likewise, theto Democrat-controlled transmit state licensing agenU.S. House likely will advance its medical own cies the results of drivers’ highway bill, which may force members certifications; FMCSA receives that of Congress to enterfrom intomedical a conference information examincommittee.

The FAST Act expires ers. State agencies then willinsend December 2020, meaning lawmakers the results to the Commercial have a Driver’s little over a yearInformation to flesh out the License bill’s policies find a other way tostates pay for it.

Systemand to make The aware currentoflaw, the FAST was drivers’ examAct, results. signed byHowever, Presidentdue Obama in December in part to the 2015 —ongoing a five-year bill that included outage of the National policy riders such as pullingMedical Compliance, Registry of Certified Safety, Examiners Accountability scoresanfrom public following attempted view, requiring the Federal Motor Carrier hack, FMCSA says it will postpone Safety Administration reform the carthe requirementtothat it submit rier safety rating program opening information to stateand agencies for the door for carriers to use hair sample three years, until June 2021. testing to satisfy driver drug screening – Matt Cole requirements.

– James Jaillet

FMCSA said “an incident that The U.S. occurred Senate Environment in early December and Public 2017” Works led Committee to interruptions cleared the America’s in developing Transportation the electronic and Infrastructure transmission Act of 2019process. by a vote of 21-0.

commercial carrier journal

| july 2018 9

JOURNAL NEWS

FMCSA wants to let driver applicants take CDL knowledge test in any state

T

he Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is proposing another rule to make changes to how drivers can obtain a commercial driver’s license.

The agency last month announced a notice of proposed rulemaking that would allow CDL applicants to take general and specialized knowledge tests in states other than the driver’s state of residence. FMCSA said the proposal “will increase flexibility for driver applicants by reducing time and travel expenditures while having no detrimental impact on safety.”

The rule, if eventually made final, would not require states to offer CDL knowledge tests to out-of-state drivers, but it would give states the option to offer the tests, then transmit the results to the driver’s home state,

which would be required to accept the results.

The NPRM applies to the general knowledge test, as well as specialized knowledge tests for the passenger (P), school bus (S), tank vehicle (N), double/triple trailer (T) and hazmat (H) endorsements. Also, CDL holders who wish to add an endorsement could take the applicable knowledge test outside their home state.

FMCSA said the proposal will make the knowledge testing process more consistent with the skills testing process, which already can be conducted outside the driver’s home state with the results transmitted back to their home state and the home state issuing the license.

This is the third step the agency

FMCSA’s proposed rule would give states the option to offer CDL knowledge tests, then transmit the results to the driver’s home state.

has taken this year to ease the path to obtaining a CDL. In March, FMCSA published a final rule to streamline the process to upgrade from a Class B CDL to a Class A. Earlier this month, the agency published a deregulatory proposal to allow third-party CDL trainers to administer the skills test to their own students.

– Matt Cole

DOL opinion: Drivers aren’t owed sleeper berth pay for off-duty time

I

n a legal opinion issued July 22, the U.S. Department of Labor said that carriers shouldn’t have to pay drivers for off-duty time spent in a sleeper berth. It’s a favorable ruling for fleets after recent federal court rulings argued that drivers should be paid for that time.

Countering recent court decisions involving Swift Transportation (CCJ Top 250, No. 4) and P.A.M. Transportation (No. 58), DOL’s Wage and Hour Division determined that drivers in a sleeper berth are “relieved from all duties … and presumptively [in] non-working, off-duty time.” The opinion is DOL’s latest interpretation of the Fair Labor Standards Act – and its requirement that workers be paid minimum wage for all hours worked – as it relates to trucking and truck drivers. It replaces DOL opinions

handed down as far back as the 1940s.

“It’s a very helpful and important opinion letter, because it directly addresses the facts that you have for drivers in a sleeper berth capacity,” said attorney Bob Roginson, chair of the trucking and logistics group for Ogletree Deakins. “I think it’s pretty persuasively presented that, under these circumstances, it’s not compensable time.”

DOL likened drivers’ sleeper berth time to a construction worker being housed near a construction site away from home, Roginson said.

Despite the higher-profile cases involving larger fleets such as Swift and P.A.M. garnering attention on the issue, it was a smaller familyowned fleet that wrote DOL asking the agency to clarify whether drivers were owed minimum wage

DOL determined that drivers in a sleeper berth are “relieved from all duties … and presumptively [in] non-working, off-duty time.”

for sleeper berth time. DOL didn’t name the carrier, but the 10-truck fleet provided an example to the agency for a drivers’ weekly sleeper berth time, in which a driver was on-duty for 55.84 hours and spent 49.96 hours off-duty in a sleeper berth. The driver was not owed minimum wage pay for the off-duty sleeper-berth time, as the driver was “not engaged to wait” for work during that time.

– James Jaillet

commercial carrier journal

| september 2019 9

SPONSORED INFORMATION

They broke into my truck and stole my stuff

A

truck driver recently reached out to me with some questions about a burglary. The driver had left town, leaving his truck parked the property of his home. When he returned, he found that someone had broken into his truck and stolen some items such as a microwave, TV, DVDs, CDs and clothing. The police filing the burglary report said they found no evidence and could not therefore take any further action. He was concerned there would be no recourse because of this and that he would have to bear the cost of replacing the items.

Burglary is a crime almost as old as prostitution, but often contains more violence. The common law describes burglary as “the breaking and entering the house of another in the night time, with intent to commit a felony therein, whether the felony be actually committed or not.”

Most states have modified the common law definition and codified it into state laws to ensure punishment of the crime. The expansion of the definition has resulted in the house not needing to be a dwelling or even a building; it may include a vehicle such as a car, truck, boat, etc. The breaking does not usually mean physical breaking of property and the entry need not be at night. The intent to commit a felony has become the intent to commit any crime.

Is the driver in this situation out of luck on getting his property replaced? Hopefully he has renters or homeowners insurance. If so, he can look at his policy or call his insurance agent to see what is covered and what the deductible is.

The best thing the driver did was to call the cops so they could file a police report with a description of what was stolen. That gives an insurance claim credibility. The driver must now find the receipts for the microwave, TV, DVDs and CDs that were stolen.

The insurance company will need those in order to write a check.

Best thing is that the driver was not there to confront the criminal or criminals. They may have been armed, under the influence of drugs or alcohol or even a group of kids with too much time on their hands.

One of the best things people can do to protect their property is to take a video of every room in their house showing everything they own. Regular photos will do the same thing. The next best thing is to keep receipts of all property just in case it is stolen. I recommend the video because it is much easier and faster. Insurance companies want and need proof of what was stolen so they can determine what to pay.

Trust me, they will not just take someone’s word for it. They want proof, or they don’t pay.

10

commercial carrier journal

| september 2019

JOURNAL NEWS

FMCSA begins to explore harassment, assaults of female, minority truckers

T

he Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is planning to conduct a study to gather information on the prevalence of harassment and assaults against minority and female truck drivers.

In an Information Collection Request published July 23 in the Federal Register, FMCSA requested approval from the White House Office FMCSA’s survey will ask male of Management and Budget minority and female truckers to conduct the study. whether they have experienced The agency said it has race- or gender-related “accumulated evidence, both harassment or crimes on the job. documentary and anecdotal, for a serious pattern of harassment- and assault-related crimes against female and minority male truckers.”

In its proposed study, a maximum of 440 female truckers and 440 male minority truckers will be included in the information collection through a combination of in-person interviews and an online survey. To be eligible to participate, drivers must report that they are a female or a minority male who has driven a truck professionally in the past two years. A $25 incentive will be given to eligible respondents who complete the in-person interview or online survey.

The survey will ask whether the drivers have experienced race- or gender-related harassment or crimes on the job. If the driver answers yes, the survey will ask follow-up questions on where and when the incidents occurred, any information the driver knows about the perpetrator and whether the driver reported the incident. The survey will be anonymous, and none of the questions will ask for information that could personally identify the respondent, FMCSA said.

The agency said it currently does not provide materials or training to truckers on how to protect themselves from being stalked, harassed, assaulted or robbed. FMCSA said that to develop these materials, it needs to better understand the prevalence, seriousness and nature of the problem of harassment and assaults against truckers. The agency said it doesn’t know the frequency and number of harassment- and assaultrelated crimes occurring, the portion that is unreported and the reasons for underreporting.

If the study finds a significant problem, FMCSA will consider developing training or outreach materials to help truckers protect themselves from crime or harassment.

– Matt Cole

THEY ARE 3.5 MILLION STRONG. LOGGING HOUR AFTER HOUR. MILE AFTER MILE. WORKING DAY AND NIGHT TO DELIVER. SO THE FREIGHT WE ALL DEPEND ON IS THERE WHEN WE NEED IT. THEY ARE AMERICA’S TRUCK DRIVERS. AND TO EACH AND EVERY ONE WE SAY THANK YOU. FOR YOUR COMMITMENT. DEDICATION. AND OF COURSE, YOUR DRIVE.

From the proud manufacturer of The Driver’s Truck.™

The World’s Best®

ISO 9001:2000 © 2019 Kenworth Truck Company. A PACCAR company.

JOURNAL NEWS

INBRIEF 9/19 • The U.S. Department of Transportation increased fines across the board for violations of federal trucking regulations. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is required by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 to adjust fine amounts each year based on inflation. A final rule that published July 31 in the Federal Register made the new fine amounts effective immediately. Go to federalregister.gov/d/2019-14101.

• The American Transportation Research Institute once again is asking truck drivers and fleets to rank the industry’s top concerns for the group’s 2019 Top Industry Issues Survey. Now in its 15th year, ATRI’s annual analysis ranks the issues and provides details on how they are ranked differently by carriers and drivers. The results will be released at the American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference and Exhibition, set for Oct. 5-9 in San Diego. The survey is open through Sept. 20 at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2019-Top-Industry-Issues.

• FedEx (CCJ Top 250, No. 2) announced it wouldn’t renew its domestic parcel delivery contract with Amazon and instead will focus on the broader e-commerce market. FedEx said e-commerce is expected to grow from 50 million to 100 million packages a day in the United States by 2026 and that it already has built out its network and capacity to serve thousands of e-commerce retailers.

Amazon also increasingly has been working to build out its own delivery network, adding increased pressure on both FedEx and UPS (No. 1).

• Kottke Trucking, a Buffalo Lake, Minn.-based provider of refrigerated, dry freight and dedicated services, acquired Wayne T. Fellows Inc., a refrigerated less-than-truckload and truckload hauler based in Davenport, Florida.

Kottke said the acquisition, terms of which were not announced, adds 43 drivers and 22 nondriving positions. This is Kottke’s second acquisition in three years following its purchase of the over-the-road division of Walbon & Co. Inc. in 2016.

• Kevin Baney last month was named general manager of Kenworth Truck Co. and Paccar vice president. Baney previously served for nearly three years as Kenworth assistant general manager for sales and marketing. Prior to that role, he was Kenworth chief engineer for nearly five years and previously had held positions of increasing responsibility in engineering at fellow Paccar company Peterbilt Motors Co. in Denton, Texas.

14

commercial carrier journal

EPA watchdog backs study used to justify limiting glider kit production

T

he U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s internal watchdog has concluded that a 2017 EPA study used to promote limiting production of glider kit trucks was “consistent” with the agency’s research standards and that the study’s conclusions shouldn’t be dismissed.

EPA’s Office of Inspector General released a preliminary report July 31 and said it expects to issue a final report next year. Unless its conclusions change, OIG’s report may help solidify existing EPA regulations that have put significant limitations on the market for glider kit trucks.

A handful of House Republicans last year requested the inquiry into the 2017 study after questions were raised about Volvo’s involvement in the research. The study was published in 2017, pushing back against an EPA proposal to rescind glider kit production limits set in 2016 by the Phase II tractor-trailer emissions regulations.

Those limits capped production of gliders by manufacturers such as Fitzgerald Glider Kits at 300 vehicles a year. Fitzgerald, the country’s largest glider kit maker prior to the implementation of the production limits in January 2018, had been manufacturing upward of 5,000 kits a year.

When EPA sought to review the Fitzgerald Glider Kits, prior to the impleregulations and potentially repeal mentation of the 300-kit production them, EPA staffers conducted a limit in January 2018, had been making study of glider kit vehicle emissions upward of 5,000 kits a year. output. In the study, EPA used trucks donated by Volvo Trucks, a proponent of limiting glider production.

A half-dozen Republicans in the House flagged concerns about the trucks and asked EPA’s OIG to review whether EPA staffers acted improperly by accepting the Volvo units and whether they violated ethical boundaries by communicating with Volvo representatives during the study.

However, OIG found that “EPA complied with standard practices and relevant policies and procedures covering objectivity and integrity in planning and conducting its testing of the glider vehicles in 2017.”

The study wasn’t used to form EPA’s initial 2016 regulations, which were proposed in 2015 and stated that emissions of particulate matter and nitrogen oxides (NOx) of roughly 10,000 glider kits was equivalent to about 100,000 new trucks.

The regulatory debate surrounding the glider kit regulations went back and forth last year, with EPA temporarily suspending enforcement of the regulations before announcing that it would continue to enforce them.

Likewise, EPA tabled a 2017 proposal to rescind the regulations.

EPA’s OIG is still investigating questions surrounding a pro-glider kits study funded and promoted by Fitzgerald. Last year, the university that conducted the study, Tennessee Tech University, told EPA that the study is flawed.

– James Jaillet

| september 2019

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JOURNAL NEWS

INBRIEF 9/19 • CN and CSX announced a new intermodal service between CN’s greater Montreal and Southern Ontario areas and the CSX-served ports of Philadelphia, New York-New Jersey and the New York City metropolitan area.

• A group representing U.S. sod farmers is petitioning FMCSA to include sod grass as an agricultural commodity in the federal hours of service regulations.

Currently, drivers hauling agricultural commodities are allowed to skip recording duty status if they stay within a 150-air-mile radius of the source of the commodity.

Turfgrass Producers International estimates the exemption, if granted, would cover between 2,400 and 10,428 drivers. To view comments, go to Regulations.gov and search Docket No. FMCSA_FRDOC_00012959.

• FMCSA renewed an hours of service exemption for packaging company WestRock to allow its paper mill drivers in Chattanooga, Tenn., to occasionally work up to 16 consecutive hours and return to work with less than 10 consecutive hours off duty. The exemption applies to the company’s shipping department drivers who drive on a public road between its shipping and receiving departments, which are approximately 275 feet apart. The renewal is effective through April 16, 2024.

WestRock, formerly RockTenn, first received the exemption in 2012, and its drivers have operated under it since.

• Missouri-based trucker Bruce Andrew Pollard was shut down by FMCSA after a crash that left three dead and seven injured.

Pollard was speeding while driving a tractortrailer in a work zone along I-465 eastbound in Indianapolis July 14 when his truck collided into a line of vehicles. Two young children and their mother were killed, and seven others were hospitalized. FMCSA later found that Pollard had a history of careless driving and had been fired in April but did not disclose his termination or driving history to his latest employer.

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n the wake of a June crash involving a commercial driver’s license holder in New Hampshire that left seven motorcyclists dead, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker last month proposed legislation to tighten CDL standards in the state.

Baker’s bill, “An Act to Promote Commercial Driver Safety,” would: • Require CDL applicants to have a history of good driving. They would be ineligible for a CDL if they have been suspended or disqualified from driving at any time in the last three years.

• Double the suspension period for CDL holders who commit two serious traffic violations in a three-year period from 60 days to 120 days.

A crash involving Massachusetts CDL • Double the suspension period for holder Volodymyr Zhukovskyy killed CDL holders who commit three serious seven motorcyclists. traffic violations in a three-year period from 120 days to 240 days.

• Require drivers to provide next-day notification to their employer and the Registry of Motor Vehicles if they are convicted of violating any state or local traffic law or if they have their right to operate a vehicle revoked or suspended by any state.

• Require companies hiring commercial drivers to sign up for the state’s Driver Verification System, a free service that provides automatic notification to employers when an employee’s CDL status changes.

• Update several of the state’s CDL provisions to meet minimum federal requirements, including making texting while driving a commercial vehicle a serious traffic violation, requiring hands-free operation of electronic devices while driving a commercial vehicle, and a lifetime ban for a driver who uses a commercial vehicle to commit a crime involving human trafficking.

The crash that sparked the bill occurred June 21 when Massachusetts CDL holder Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, 23, who lives in West Springfield, collided with a group of motorcyclists while driving a 2016 Dodge 2500 with a flatbed trailer. Zhukovskyy was driving for Westfield Transport, an eight-truck operation based in West Springfield.

According to a National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report released July 24, Zhukovskyy crossed the double-yellow line on Highway 2 in Randolph, N.H., and collided with the oncoming motorcycles.

NTSB said that while Zhukovskyy held a CDL, the truck he was driving that day had a gross weight rating of less than 26,001 pounds and did not require a CDL. According to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration data, Westfield is subject to federal regulations including hours of service and drug and alcohol testing and in the last two years has had seven vehicle out-of-service violations and 12 driver out-of-service violations. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced her office is opening an investigation into Westfield over its role in the crash.

– Matt Cole

| september 2019

NEW HAMPSHIRE STATE POLICE

• CargoNet received 150 cargo theft reports during the second quarter of 2019, a 14% decrease from the same period a year ago. The average loss value per theft was $152,844 for an estimated total of $22.9 million. Food and beverage products were the most-stolen commodity, followed by household items. California saw the most thefts, but recorded thefts in the state dropped 28%. Florida and Texas were second and third with the most thefts.

Massachusetts governor wants to tighten state’s CDL standards

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JOURNAL NEWS

Coalition to Congress: Kill federal excise tax

OOIDA said that if a House bill is enacted, it will ensure that auto transporters can use the applicable front and rear overhang.

T

he Modernize the Truck Fleet coalition – joined by the road builders, trucking, logistics and manufacturing industries – last month sent a letter to congressional leaders urging repeal of the federal excise tax levied on the sale of new heavy-duty trucks and trailers.

The 12% FET, first enacted by Congress more than a century ago to help finance World War I, can add more than $20,000 to the cost of a new heavy-duty truck or trailer. Proponents of abolishing the 12% FET say it would help the trucking industry update their fleets and adopt safety equipment and emerging green technologies at a faster pace.

The letter was sent to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

Standalone legislation has been introduced in both chambers, H.R. 2381/S. 1839, to repeal the FET. The House bill has 23 bipartisan cosponsors.

Members of the MTF coalition include the American Truck Dealers, National Tank Truck Carriers, National Trailer Dealers Association, Association for the Work Truck Industry, Truck Renting and Leasing Association and Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association.

The 12% federal excise “For the first time, broad segtax on the sale of new ments of America’s trucking indus- heavy-duty trucks try are uniting to repeal the FET to and trailers was first enacted by Congress modernize the truck fleet and promore than a century mote new, cleaner and safer heavy- ago to help finance duty trucks and trailers,” said Jodie World War I. Teuton, ATD chairwoman.

In addition to the coalition members, also signing the letter were the Agriculture and Food Transporters Conference, American Trucking Associations, Associated Equipment Distributors, American Road and Transportation Builders Association, Automobile Carriers Conference, Baker Commodities Inc., Motor and Equipment Manufacturers Association, NAFA Fleet Management Association, National Association of Chemical Distributors, National Private Truck Council, National Renderers Association, National Retail Federation, Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association, RV Industry Association and Truck Trailer Manufacturers Association.

– Dean Smallwood

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House legislation would redefine interpretation of automobile transporter

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bill introduced in the U.S. House would statutorily redefine the interpretation of an auto transporter, a move backed by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association.

In 2004, the Federal Highway Administration revised its interpretation of regulations that govern the auto transporter industry. At that time, the agency decided that to be considered an automobile transporter, the power unit must be capable of carrying cargo.

OOIDA has long maintained that such an interpretation is wrong and in 2015 pressed FHWA to address it. Two years later, FHWA filed a rulemaking on the interpretation and requested comments from interested stakeholders. That regulatory process is ongoing.

“Across the federal bureaucracy, unnecessary regulatory guidance creates vast uncertainty in what should be simple regulations,” said U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, who introduced H.R. 3474. “A perfect example is the confusion surrounding the FHWA definition of an auto transporter, deeming virtually indistinguishable differences between auto transporters acceptable or unacceptable according to federal regulators. My bill will ensure our hardworking Missouri drivers can stay on the road by clarifying the definition and codifying this fix into law.”

OOIDA said that while it believes FHWA eventually will address this issue, a more permanent legislative action also is necessary. Mike Matousek, manager of government affairs for OOIDA, said the issue was created in 2004 through regulatory guidance, a less formal process.

“Regardless of what the current administration does, we’re still going to seek a statutory fix so future administrations don’t mess it up again,” Matousek said.

“This is one reason why Congressman Luetkemeyer’s bill is so important, and we appreciate his leadership and commitment to getting it done.”

– CCJ Staff

JOURNAL NEWS

Report calls for lawmakers to lift restrictions on interstate tolling

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report released last month by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a nonprofit think tank, advocated allowing states to toll their own interstate segments and supported the establishment of a mileage-based user fee pilot program to examine a shift away from motor fuel user taxes.

“Since 2008, Congress has bailed out the federal Highway Trust Fund to the tune of $140 billion as motor fuel tax receipts have stagnated, while spending has continued to increase,” said the CEI report, “Transforming Surface Transportation Reauthorization: A 21st Century Approach to Address America’s Greatest Infrastructure Challenge.”

“In addition to the revenue-outlay imbalance at the federal level, outdated federal restrictions on highway tolling have denied to states opportunities to

tailor transportation policy and funding to fit their residents’ needs,” the report said. “This status quo is not sustainable.”

The International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association, an association representing toll facility owners and operators and the businesses that serve them, announced its support of the CEI report’s conclusions.

“The Highway Trust Fund is insolvent, and Congress continues to use billions of dollars in general purpose funds to keep it limping along,” said Patrick D. Jones, executive director and chief executive officer for CEI. “The gas tax is unsustainable and continues to fall well short in paying for our roads, bridges and tunnels. Our underfunding and underinvestment in our nation’s infrastructure is showing in degraded roadways, deteriorating bridges on the 60-year-old interstate system and other

A CEI report advocated allowing states to toll their own interstate segments and supported the establishment of a mileage-based user fee pilot program.

highways across America. If we continue to do nothing, or do not properly invest in our infrastructure, the U.S. economy and drivers will continue to suffer, slipping further behind as a world leader. Congress should lead by allowing states greater flexibility to make the best decisions to meet their needs, whether removing restrictions on interstate tolling or embracing alternative funding solutions.”

– CCJ Staff

Study: Transportation workers at higher risk of heart disease, obesity

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ransportation industry employees have a 52% incidence of obesity, higher than the national average of 38%, according to a white paper released by Atlas Injury Prevention Solutions, an injury prevention firm. They’re also at a higher risk for heart disease, stroke and diabetes, the study found.

The paper explored the results of a five-year survey that examined health trends within the transportation industry among both drivers and nondrivers. Conducted from 2014 to 2018, the study included 5,953 driver and 9,212 nondriver employees in the transportation industry. Grouped into the nondriver bucket are also family members of transportation industry employees who were covered by their 20

commercial carrier journal

company’s medical plan.

Of the 15,165 participants, 33% had at least three out of five conditions associated with metabolic syndrome (MetS), including high blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist and abnormal cholesterol or triglyceride levels. MetS increases an individual’s risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and stroke. Drivers in the study were 80% more likely to be in the category than nondrivers.

What’s more, the study found that MetS is common among middle-aged drivers, not just older ones. Of drivers ages 40-59, 50% had MetS — the same percentage as their 60-plus-year-old counterparts. Comparatively, in the general U.S. population, 34% of individuals ages 40-59 have MetS conditions, as do

| september 2019

The study found that drivers are 130% more likely to smoke than nondrivers in the transportation industry workforce.

47% of those 60 and above. Male study participants, independent of age, had a high incidence of all MetS conditions except for waist circumference.

The study also found that drivers are 130% more likely to smoke than nondrivers in the transportation industry workforce. Out of the total study population, 16% reported tobacco use, though the paper contends that number is likely “understated.”

– CCJ Staff

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JOURNAL NEWS

Maritime diesel regs could impact on-highway prices

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tarting in 2020, international diesel standards for maritime carriers will tighten dramatically, forcing them to use a diesel with 85% less sulfur than current levels allow. Though the regulations don’t impact trucking fuel, which uses ultra-low-sulfur diesel, the tighter maritime regulations likely will alter the global diesel market and could put upward pressure on diesel prices as soon as the fourth quarter of this year.

What’s more, the regulations could spur maritime carriers, especially those in heavy shipping lanes from China, to shorten water-bound hauls, meaning freight that might have been bound for the East Coast through the Panama Canal now might wind up at West Coast ports.

Mark Montague, an analyst for DAT Solutions, said that may be the bigger impact for the U.S. trucking industry rather than diesel prices. Montague said the issue could press diesel prices up 5

or 10 cents a gallon, but nothing that couldn’t “be offset by market conditions,” especially since gasoline and diesel prices have been declining slowly throughout most of the year. “It’s really unclear, in the big picture, how this issue fits in,” he said.

Though there’s been concern regarding diesel supply and pricing because of the maritime changes, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration has downplayed the potential impacts in its fuel price outlooks, noting that refiners simply will shift their operations to produce lower-sulfur diesel for maritime shippers.

Montague said refiners may not be ready to make the switch in time, which could stress the diesel market temporarily, likely starting later this year. “We could start to see some disruption in the fourth quarter as they start to change the refinery mix and

The issue could press diesel prices up 5 or 10 cents a gallon, but nothing that couldn’t “be offset by market conditions,” according to DAT Solutions.

shut down refineries for the changeover,” he said.

Chris Lee, vice president of marketing for Bridge City, Texas-based ProMiles, said he’s “pretty sure the refineries around here are through with their turnarounds to significantly boost lowsulfur [diesel] production.”

Lee doesn’t foresee a need for suppliers to hike on-highway diesel prices, but prices could climb regardless given their natural volatility, he said.

– James Jaillet

Fleet survey probes technology advancement challenges

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survey conducted by TD Bank’s equipment-finance group at the April-held annual exposition of the NAFA Fleet Management Association showed more than half the respondents naming new technology as posing the biggest challenge for the coming year.

Anthony Sasso, head of TD Equipment Finance, called the shift under way a “major transformation” for truckers and trucking companies, coming at a time when survey respondents also see further potential for downturn as likely.

Though 59% of respondents reported anticipation of freight volumes to remain level or fall through the next year, 33% are expecting to increase the size of their fleets, reflecting the need to 22

commercial carrier journal

adjust business models and change the types of vehicles in their fleet to accommodate and take advantage of final-mile delivery patterns.

Also, lease options for financing are growing, as 50% of respondents indicated that they are more inclined to finance equipment acquisition through leases. Only 10% indicated they would prefer loans.

“Traditionally, the industry has been defined by trucks and infrastructure, but the use of mobile devices, GPS and electronics has revolutionized logistics,” Sasso said.

Among the fleet managers attending the NAFA exposition, 61% reported they felt autonomous trucks would become mainstream within the next decade.

| september 2019

About six in 10 survey respondents felt the freight economy would remain level or fall within the next year.

Also, nearly half of respondents (45%) would like to incorporate alternative fuels – such as electricity- and liquid natural gas-powered drivetrains – within the next three to five years. An additional 21% indicated they would like to add alternative fuels but have found it to be cost-prohibitive.

– CCJ Staff

PRODUCT REVIEWS, OEM & SUPPLIER NEWS AND EQUIPMENT MANAGEMENT TRENDS

Lower fuel prices extend anti-idle payback 20% fuel usage reduction still ‘not unreasonable,’ NACFE study finds

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dle-reduction solutions are more prevalent than ever, but according to the most recent report from the North American Council for Freight Efficiency, the value they bring to the fleet level is shifting.

NACFE published its first report on idle-reduction technologies five years ago when fuel prices were north of $4 a gallon. While fuel prices still dominate fleets’ operating expenses, lower pump prices have extended the payback time for idle-reduction technologies. The U.S. average price for a gallon of on-highway diesel at press time was barely more than $3.

In terms of fuel savings, a 10% annual reduction in idling equals about 1% in fuel economy, or about $700 annually at $3-per-gallon fuel prices and 100,000 miles per year.

NACFE’s “Idle-Reduction Technologies Confidence Report” called a reduction of 20% “not unreasonable if the right combination of technologies is employed and managed.”

“By investing in technologies and practices, fleets can reduce idle to well below 20%,” said Mike Roeth, executive director for NACFE. “The challenge is figuring out which set of technologies are best for you and being diligent in making it work.”

With payback now a little trickier to catch and no onesize-fits-all or magic bullet options, NACFE found the most efficient and effective idle-reduction solution is more strategy-related than product-related and encouraged the deployment of a combination of complementary technologies for maximum results.

The report identifies four anchor technologies – driver control with fuel-operated heater, diesel auxiliary power unit with fuel-operated heater, battery HVAC with fuel-operated heater and an automatic engine start/stop system – as the best basis solutions, with additional tech-

NACFE’s report found the most significant contribution to fleet operations for idle-free technology is driver attraction and retention.

While fuel prices still dominate fleets’ operating expenses, lower pump prices have extended the payback time for idle-reduction technologies, NACFE found.

nologies to support the anchor. Each of the four anchor technologies directly affects the driver, NACFE said.

Fuel savings aside, the report found the most significant contribution to fleet operations for idle-free technology is WANT MORE EQUIPMENT NEWS? driver attraction and retention, in that they help keep drivers WANT MORE EQUIPMENT NEWS? comfortable during mandated rest periods and allow them Scan the barcode to receive the CCJ Scan the barcode to sign up for the CCJ Equipment Weekly to use computers, gaming systems, microwaves, refrigerators Equipment Weekly or go to ccjdigital.com/ and mobile device chargers with the engines shut off. e-mail newsletter or go to www.goo.gl/Ph9JK. news/subscribe-to-newsletters ikola Motor Co.’s hydrogen-electric “There are a lot of really good reasons to limit the idling semi-truck will take center stage early next year as the cornerstone of a three-day 24 commercial carrier journal | september 2019 a fleet’s recipe for failure: The expectation that a new hire should hit the shop event the company will use to showcase its

Nikola to showcase hydrogen tractor

N

of the main engine in a truck while providing the driver with the most comfortable conditions to spend his or her breaks, saving a little fuel and saving a little wear and tear on the engine,” said Kevin Otto, team lead for NACFE’s report. “Last but not least, it’s good for the environment.”

According to a 20-fleet survey conducted to support the report, idle time for carriers that do not use APUs tends to be in the 30% to 50% range. Fleets using APUs can see idling drop into the single digits to 20%.

Among the secondary takeaways from the report is that the implementation of idle-free solutions is growing. The overall adoption rate of the technologies studied in the report has grown from 17% in 2003 to 44% in 2017.

– Jason Cannon

The overall adoption rate of the technologies studied in NACFE’s report has grown from 17% in 2003 to 44% in 2017.

German e-systems maker AKASOL setting up shop in metro Detroit

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armstadt, Germany-based electric systems company AKASOL is planning a manufacturing facility in metropolitan Detroit with production slated to begin next year.

AKASOL, founded in 1990, is Europe’s largest supplier of battery systems for commercial vehicles and buses with hybrid or all-electric drives and is a leading manufacturer of high-performance lithium-ion battery systems for commercial vehicles, buses, rail vehicles, industrial vehicles, ships and boats.

The company’s commercial customers include Daimler Trucks, Ford Otosan, MAN and Volvo. The U.S. facility in Hazel Park will support growing demand from international customers and will be a multimillion-dollar investment over the next five years that will create about 200 jobs.

AKASOL’s Michigan production facility will have a similar capacity to the company’s production site in Langen, Germany. Initial production will focus on the second-generation AKASystem OEM PRC battery system, with high-energy-density battery systems following soon after.

By 2021, AKASOL expects production to have increased to a three-shift operation. The facility will support Volvo’s Nova Bus unit, with eyes on expanding as U.S. fleets further embrace electrification.

Roy Schulde, president of AKASOL, expects the North American trend in commercial electrification to follow those in Asia and Europe, with buses, refuse and medium-duty delivery leading the way.

“When you look at similar duty cycles, with defined routes like with transit buses, that equates to what you would see in maybe delivery trucks,” Schulde said. “As that [battery] energy density increases, we may be able to meet the requirements for heavy-duty Class 8.”

AKASOL’s plans for its third-generation battery system include shifting to a cylindrical cell system to boost energy density per pack. Schulde said cylindrical cells allow more of them to be placed in the pack, creating a higher energy density.

AKASOL already is active in speaking with North American commercial vehicle OEMs. Schulde said the company’s battery system has been deployed on Mack’s electric LR refuse truck, which debuted earlier this year.

AKASOL is Europe’s largest supplier of battery systems for commercial vehicles and buses with hybrid or all-electric drives.

The company might not yet be a household name like some EV automobile manufacturers, but Schulde said AKASOL’s advantage is its experience in commercial battery systems and not scaling up existing passenger car technologies.

“Commercial vehicle battery systems have longer-term durability requirements and higher cycle life,” he said. “The overall number of cycles would be higher than passenger cars. There’s different chemistry involved in the cells for the batteries used for passenger cars and commercial trucks.”

AKASOL also is active in the construction segment with applications for mining equipment. Schulde said mine operators can reduce overall costs because “they don’t need all that air-cleaning equipment in the mine” since EVs aren’t leaving emissions behind.

– Jason Cannon

commercial carrier journal

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Navistar aims to be ‘premier solutions provider’

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ver the last three years, Navistar has completely overhauled its International Truck lineup and debuted a new engine — two strategies that have paid dividends in that they have helped inch the company closer to consistent profitability and a marketshare improvement to 17% last year.

Last month in Boulder, Colo., the Lisle, Ill.-based truck maker laid bare a customer-centric overview for further growth. Navistar’s Vision 2025 is a company and dealer network collaboration with a goal “to become the premier solutions provider and OEM of choice for trucking customers across North America.”

Developed in collaboration with its 700-plus dealer network, Vision 2025 sets a clear path for the future, said Friedrich Baumann, president of Navistar’s Aftersales and Alliance Management: “to be the most customer-centric, innovative and value-creating truck and bus solutions provider in the Americas, united with the most capable and aligned network in the industry.”

Vision 2025 also represents a change in mindset as the company transitions “from survival mode and this quarter-to-quarter thinking” and into a more long-term strategy, Baumann said.

“Vision 2025 reflects a new level of company-dealer collaboration, one that’s built on transparency, trust and shared goals,” he said.

Parts and service foundation Many future Vision 2025 actions remain in the works, but Baumann said the foundation is already in place.

Among the early rollouts of Vision 2025 is the service partnership with Love’s Travel Stops, which took effect last month and encompasses more than 1,000 locations in North America. Most Love’s and Speedco 26

Over the last three years, Navistar has completely overhauled its International Truck lineup and debuted a new engine — two strategies that have paid financial dividends.

service locations now are authorized to perform standard, extended and used truck warranty work with service repair times of three hours or less for all International Class 6-8 trucks.

“We see that as an opportunity for our dealers to grow their independent and Fleetrite [parts sales] business,” said Joe Kory, vice president of parts for Navistar. The Love’s partnership allows the dealership network to tap into a customer base that otherwise might be unlikely to return to a dealer, Kory said.

Another initiative that took effect last month was the opening of a Memphis, Tenn.-area parts distribution center (PDC). Located in Olive Branch, Miss., approximately 30 miles south of the FedEx World Hub in Memphis, the 300,000-square-foot facility will serve regional dealers with rolling stock and emergency orders. The company’s seventh U.S. PDC and 10th in North America also enables Navistar to deliver next-day parts to more than 95% of its dealers’ service locations due to its centralized location and proximity to FedEx. Dealers can order as late as 11 p.m.

ET and still have the part arrive the

commercial carrier journal | september 2019

next morning. The facility’s extended hours also offer customers additional options when downtime falls outside typical business hours.

Navistar also plans to grow business through the expansion of its Fleetrite and ReNEWed parts lineup. Kory said International Truck dealers will be encouraged to open standalone retail parts stores in locations where a full dealership wouldn’t make sense. Kory said the stores would service customers who traditionally don’t buy parts from a dealership because of the perceived OEM price premium.

Availability and uptime Baumann said Navistar is improving the company’s dealer parts inventory management system even further and targeting several additional improvements in reducing the customer’s total cost of ownership.

“Uptime and total cost of ownership will be the primary focus for parts providers,” Kory added. “Those that are easiest to do business with will win.”

Navistar has improved its 24-hour turnaround repair velocity by 73% from the beginning of 2018 to the

third quarter of this year. Chintan Sopariwala, vice president of uptime for Navistar, said the goal is for 80% of all truck repairs to be completed in less than a day, while the industry averages just under 50%.

“Having the part on the dealer’s shelf maximizes the chances of a repair being completed in under 24 hours,” Sopariwala said.

Navistar has deployed a predictive parts stocking platform that has allowed the company to improve regional fill rates to nearly 100% and boost emergency fill rates by 3%. Using data gathered at the dealership level, customers can be routed to the closest dealer with both part availability and service capacity.

“We truly believe we’re ahead of the pack in predictive stocking,” Kory said.

Terry Minor, chief executive officer for Cumberland International Trucks, said Navistar’s OnCommand Connection telematics system has slashed diagnostics times for its 380,000 users. “[Customers] typically call us when the truck hits the yard and ask us if we’ve already diagnosed it,” Minor said.

Improved cooperation Last year, Navistar’s Executive Leadership Team and Executive Dealer Council collaborated to develop and support a Vision 2025 Committee that both groups hope will differentiate the International Truck network. The committee is comprised of eight members, half from Navistar and half from the dealer network.

Minor, a Vision 2025 dealer channel committee member, said the latest initiatives reflect the collaboration’s impact and the company-dealer teamwork it represents.

“Everything about Vision 2025 can be summed up with ‘[making the customer’s] job easier to do business with us,’ ” Minor said.

Navistar has partnered with a

third-party “mystery shopper” company that compares the International Truck dealership customer experience level to competitors in the company’s top 150 markets. Whether or not the dealership gets the caller’s contact information and how they meet the would-be customer’s expectations is funneled back to the dealership by Navistar to drive improvements.

While customer centricity, uptime and total cost of ownership already are core concepts for Navistar and the International dealer network, Baumann called Vision 2025 “a fresh collaborative effort to drive best-in-class service operations across its whole network.”

“We collaborate weeks in advance on the agenda,” said Justin Fink of Lewisville, Texas-based Summit Truck Group. “[Dealerships] actually get to weigh in on what we’re going to talk about. We have a thorough action plan before we leave the meeting that the dealer and the OEM agree on. It’s been very refreshing as a dealer.”

Minor said the group’s early emphasis was to improve the relationship between the company and its truck dealers to help drive uptime for their customers.

“The more dealer satisfaction we drive, that gets us to this growth prospective

that we have,” Baumann added.

Navistar also established its Aftersales business division. Led by Baumann, who headed Daimler Trucks North America’s Aftermarket business unit for many years, Navistar’s Aftersales unit manages the business’ every facet after the truck is sold, including oversight of parts sales and distribution operations, customer service and technology, uptime and total cost of ownership, and integrated warranty and dealer network management and development.

Since January, Navistar has hosted 39 in-person Vision 2025 workshops for more than 1,000 dealership-level employees. Another 3,000-plus employees have participated online.

“We feel that it’s incredibly important for us to get feedback from the dealer,” said Mark Belisle, vice president of distribution for Navistar. “Not just the dealer principal but everybody who works at that dealership.”

Belisle said feedback from dealers will be used to further improve OEM relations with specific needs of the various channels at the dealership level.

“Our goal is to have a consistent experience for our customer base coast to coast,” he said.

– Jason Cannon

Navistar’s new 300,000-square-foot PDC in Olive Branch, Miss., enables the company to deliver next-day parts to more than 95% of its dealers’ service locations. commercial carrier journal

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INBRIEF • Eaton increased the standard warranties for its Advantage and EverTough Series aftermarket clutches purchased in the United States and Canada on or after July 1.

The Advantage Self-Adjust and Easy Pedal Advantage clutch standard warranties now are three years/unlimited miles, up from two years/unlimited miles, and the EverTough Self-Adjust and EverTough Manual-Adjust clutch warranties now are two years/unlimited miles, up from one year/unlimited miles.

• Kodiak Robotics, a self-driving technology company, said it has started commercial deliveries in Texas with a safety driver behind the wheel. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company also announced it will be supporting its testing and freight operations from a new facility in North Texas and an office in the Dallas-Fort Worth-area.

Kodiak also operates as a true freight carrier and uses its autonomous platform for middle-mile highway routes.

• Seven Caterpillar dealerships formed the RIG360 independent all-makes truck service centers network with 65 locations in 12 states. The network’s“90-Minute Promise” states it will make an initial diagnosis of a truck’s condition, troubleshoot the issue and deliver a verdict within 90 minutes.

Within 90 more minutes, customers will receive an estimate on cost and repair time.

• Continental renamed its Conti Hybrid HS3 long-haul tire to Conti HSL 3 for improved clarity and to help dealers and fleets pinpoint the tire’s application and usage at a glance. The new name spells out the vehicle classification (heavy), axle designation (steer) and application (long-haul) for which the tire was designed. It is available in sizes 11R22.5, Load Ranges G and H, and 295/75R22.5, Load Ranges G and H. • Alliance Parts added 11 new product lines to its portfolio, including diesel exhaust fluid filters, air brake compressors and slack adjusters. The lineup is available at dealerships and Alliance Parts retail locations.

• Kenworth now offers Alcoa’s lightweight aluminum Dura-Black Wheels as an option on its heavy- and medium-duty conventional truck models. Both sides of the wheels are treated for flexibility of mounting in either the steer or drive position. They also feature a color-matched valve stem and Alcoa’s one-piece hub cover system.

They are available in sizes 22.5-by-8.25, -9 and -12.25 and 24.5-by-8.25 inches.

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Cummins, Omnitracs team for OTA updates

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ummins and Omnitracs last month announced a technology collaboration that will use existing hardware for remote updates of Cummins engine calibrations. Cummins’ over-the-air programming Cummins’ Connected Software solution, Connected Software Updates, will allow Updates will allow drivers to drivers to receive engine control unit (ECU) softreceive ECU software updates remotely by leveraging their ware updates remotely by leveraging their existing existing Omnitracs hardware.

Omnitracs hardware.

The companies say that with the new offering, their mutual customers should enjoy: • Improved maintenance logistics, as all drivers across an entire fleet can receive ECU software updates over the air instead of having to bring trucks into a shop; • A reduction in vehicle downtime, since the companies say customers can avoid approximately 2.3 days of downtime at an average cost-plus loss of revenue of $1,000 per day; • Increased compliance, since the system makes updates that ensure vehicles are healthy and running at peak performance; and • Higher optimization, with the ability to optimize the fleet for specific driving conditions than can boost fuel efficiency, vehicle performance and vehicle health.

Omnitracs will facilitate over-the-air software updates on model year 2017 and newer Cummins engines. To be eligible, customers must be using the Omnitracs Enterprise Services platform with an installed Intelligent Vehicle Gateway and an Extended Fault Monitoring subscription.

– Jason Cannon

Volvo, Samsung team for e-truck battery development

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olvo Group and Samsung last month announced the formation of a strategic alliance to develop battery packs for Volvo Group’s electric trucks. Working with Samsung SDI, Samsung SDI intends Volvo Group aims to accelerate the speed of development to provide battery and strengthen the long-term capabilities and assets within cells and modules for Volvo Group’s electromobility across all truck segments and markets. electric trucks.

The alliance will cover joint development of battery packs developed specifically for Volvo Group’s truck applications.

Samsung SDI intends to provide battery cells and modules for Volvo Group’s electric trucks, and Volvo Group will use Samsung SDI’s battery pack technology for assembly in its manufacturing operations.

“The alliance with Samsung SDI is an important next step on our journey toward offering the world’s most truly sustainable transport system with fossil-free alternatives for our commercial vehicles,” said Martin Lundstedt, president and chief executive officer for Volvo Group.

Samsung SDI CEO Young-Hyun Jun said his company is convinced the alliance will provide superior offerings pertaining to energy, safety and sustainability to the commercial vehicle industry. “We are confident that this alliance will secure the market leadership of the two companies in the long term,” Jun said.

– Jason Cannon

commercial carrier journal | september 2019

Daimler Trucks creates customer experience division, taps leadership

aimler Trucks North America announced the creation of a new customer experience (CX) organization and appointed Paul Romanaggi as chief CX officer.

“It is not enough to offer the best commercial vehicles available,” said Roger Nielsen, president and chief executive officer for DTNA. “We are fully embedding a focus on customer culture into the DTNA organization.

I believe strongly in changing the customer experience, and I will continue to prioritize from the top-down. Paul’s leadership and team will be integral to driving this transformation.”

DTNA launched its CX transformation in 2017 with the creation of a Customer Experience Day. During the now-annual event, employees and customers from across North

America are brought together to collaboratively brainstorm solutions to fully embed customer experience into DTNA’s organization and culture. As a result of the sessions, new channels for customer engagement have been established, and DTNA has developed a new metrics suite focused on the processes directly linked to customer satisfaction.

The new CX organization will lead future transformative efforts across the DTNA business, including Freightliner, Western Star and Detroit Diesel for new truck sales, used truck acquisitions and aftermarket service. The group aligns multiple departments – including aftermarket fleet service, warranty, call centers, aftermarket service products and service system – to work toward

Allow to lower your cost per mile.

Mission Excellence is a philosophy that shapes the way you are treated as a customer.

This led us to increase tariff -free tire output in our Thailand factory.

Learn more at www.DoubleCoinTires.com © 2019 CMA, LLC.

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premium, streamlined customer communication and support.

Romanaggi, a 34-year company veteran, brings industry expertise, leadership and experience, having served in numerous customer advocacy senior management roles for parts, service, warranty, quality, production supply chain, logistics and new product launch/changeover.

Romanaggi will report to Stefan Kurschner, senior vice president of aftermarket for DTNA. “It’s our priority to transform the organization, whose focus has primarily been operational excellence, to one that is equally as focused on customer service excellence,” Kurschner said. “Everyone at DTNA is passionate about our customers and has the full support of the organization to take personal ownership of the customer experience.”

– Jason Cannon

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INBRIEF • Rush Truck Centers launched RushCare Complete, a total service management support package that coordinates, monitors and expedites vehicle repairs and maintenance throughout the Rush network. RushCare Complete also provides fault code monitoring, access to online parts and two-way communication on repair status and service history. The package will be free for 12 months for International MV models purchased at Rush locations by Sept. 30.

• Meritor Inc. announced the completion of its acquisition of AxleTech from global investment firm The Carlyle Group, providing it with a complementary product portfolio, including a full line of independent suspensions, axles, braking systems and drivetrain components. AxleTech will operate within Meritor’s Aftermarket, Industrial & Trailer segment.

• Kinedyne, a designer, manufacturer and distributor of cargo securement, capacity and access products for the transportation industry, announced that its new distribution, logistics and warehouse facility in Prattville, Ala., is fully operational. The company said the facility is equipped with the latest inventory management technology to improve its order processing, lead time and accuracy.

• Denso opened its Seattle Innovation Lab to strengthen its development of connected technologies. The company said the facility will support its expansion into software-based offerings to complement its hardware products, bolster its North American research and development and help actualize its long-term plan to create new value for future mobility technologies.

• Mitchell 1’s ProDemand repair information software now includes enhanced wiring diagrams featuring intelligent navigation that takes users directly to the specific component diagram, with the related wires automatically highlighted, making it easier for technicians to find the exact wiring diagram they need for accurate and faster diagnosis and repair.

• Marangoni Tread North America added the Pride Enterprises retread facility in Avon Park, Fla., to its Marangoni Ringtread network. The Pride plant has a capacity of more than 60,000 retreads a year, serving fleets throughout Florida both directly and through a network of associate dealers.

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Peloton working on Level 4 platooning

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eloton Technologies last month Peloton’s Level 4 Automated Following announced its vision for doubling system uses vehicle-to-vehicle the productivity of drivers with the technology to enable a single driver to drive a pair of vehicles. development of a new advanced platooning system.

Josh Switkes, chief executive officer for Peloton, said the Level 4 Automated Following system uses vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) technology to enable a single driver to drive a pair of vehicles. The company said the technology marks the next major milestone in its approach to deploying automation to increase the safety and productivity of commercial vehicles.

Platooning and automated following systems work by using V2V communications and radar-based active braking systems combined with vehicle control algorithms to help improve aerodynamics, fuel economy and safety.

Peloton’s Level 1 system, PlatoonPro, requires a driver in both the lead and following truck. The driver in the following truck steers, but the system controls the powertrain and brakes to manage the following distance precisely and to provide immediate reaction to whatever acceleration or braking the lead truck performs.

Leveraging experience in deploying PlatoonPro, Peloton said its new Level 4 Automated Following system connects a fully-automated following truck with a driver-controlled lead truck to platoon. The V2V link is designed to allow the human-driven lead truck to guide the following truck’s steering, acceleration and braking and connect the safety systems between the trucks with minimal latency.

Peloton said it will be able to bring the system to broad applicability for the industry on a rapidly increasing set of routes and weather and traffic conditions. – Jason Cannon

Design Interactive introduces Virtual Equipment Training

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esign Interactive, a provider of augmented and virtual reality training technology Virtual Equipment Training is set up for fleet maintenance personnel, vendors and to allow for the creation and deployment of training materials on OEMs, released Virtual Equipment Training, virtual vehicles and equipment. a new capability used in conjunction with its Augmentor transportation-focused augmented reality software. The latest offering is designed to allow for the creation and deployment of training materials on virtual vehicles and equipment.

Virtual Equipment Training in Design Interactive’s Augmentor enables training to include actual and virtual parts, systems and vehicles in one location, and with Augmentor, training content can be supplied quickly and easily to technicians on mobile devices and the company’s HoloLens holographic headsets.

Augmentor from Design Interactive also features a new web portal for creating, editing and distributing training modules to mobile devices and HoloLens headsets.

With immediate access to updated content, the transportation-focused offering can be deployed across multiple maintenance locations.

– Dean Smallwood

commercial carrier journal | september 2019

First eCascadias delivered to customers Penske, NFI

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he first eCascadia deliveries began last month, Daimler Trucks North America announced. Freightliner’s first two Class 8 battery-electric trucks were built for Penske Truck Leasing (CCJ Top 250, No. 20) of Reading, Pa., and NFI (No. 28) of Camden, N.J. – both customers at DTNA’s research and development center in Portland, Ore. – and will be part of Freightliner’s Electric Innovation Fleet to test the integration of battery-electric trucks into large-scale fleet operations.

The eCascadias were delivered to the Southern California operations of both companies, with additional deliveries of the 30-vehicle Innovation Fleet set to continue through the rest of the year.

Real-world use of the Innovation Fleet and continuing feedback from the members of the Freightliner Electric Vehicle Council will inform the final production versions of both the eCascadia and the medium-duty Freightliner eM2 in a process of co-creation, said Roger Nielsen, president and chief executive officer for Daimler Trucks North America.

“Our team is incredibly proud to be leading the way for the industry, but prouder still to be working with our customers in a process of co-creation to make real electric trucks for real work in the real world,” Nielsen said. Co-creation is the central tenet of DTNA’s approach to electrifying the future of commercial vehicles and a key enabler of the widespread adoption of battery-electric trucks, he said.

The Electric Vehicle Council brings together 38 Freightliner

The first two Freightliner eCascadias were delivered to the Southern California operations of Penske Truck Leasing and NFI.

customers to identify and address all potential hurdles to largescale deployment of commercial battery-electric vehicles. Issues at the forefront of the discussion include charging infrastructure, partnerships with others in the e-mobility value chain, vehicle specifications and vehicle use cases.

The Innovation Fleet is supported by a partnership between DTNA and the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which focuses on improving air quality in the South Coast Basin and which partially funded the Innovation Fleet with a nearly $16 million grant. The first of the electric eM2s began service earlier this year with Penske Truck Leasing and are operating within the South Coast AQMD. The eCascadia, designed for local and regional distribution and drayage, and the medium-duty eM2 currently are planned to enter series production in late 2021.

– CCJ Staff

Fontaine designs Freightliner M2 rollup door for first responders

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rollup door design from Fontaine Modification helps make it easier for firefighters, EMTs, tow truck operators and others to quickly access tools and equipment stored in the cabs of Freightliner M2 trucks. The patent-pending design allows for a watertight seal of the door to the truck.

Previously, storage door installation involved custom-bending the mounting track to match the truck side’s curvature, which could lead to leaks and challenges with opening and closing the door.

Fontaine developed a mounting system that uses a surround to allow the door to be installed in a vertical orientation rather

than trying to curve to the truck’s side.

“This solution allows for a consistent customized fit for these Freightliner M2 cabs from the beginning rather than needing to modify on the fly if usability issues arise,” said Nate Eichinger, managing director for Fontaine Modification. “Vehicle operators will appreciate the smooth functionality and ability to service – clean, repair and even replace – the door since it can be removed from the framework we designed for this application.”

The mounting system was developed by an engineering team led by Dylan Ramsey, vocational engineering

Fontaine’s mounting system allows a rollup door to be installed vertically rather than trying to curve to the Freightliner M2’s side.

manager, at Fontaine’s Innovation Center for Research and Development in Charlotte, N.C. It will be installed on M2 trucks at Fontaine’s Charlotte Modification Center, which supports Freightliner’s nearby Mount Holly manufacturing facility.

– Dean Smallwood

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INBRIEF • Michelin North America joined Seattle’s Urban Freight Lab, an public-private partnership associated with the University of Washington’s Supply Chain Transportation and Logistics Center. Limited to 13 private- and public-sector members, the structured work group is comprised of senior executives from retail and wholesale companies, manufacturers and final-mile logistics and goods-delivery firms.

• Walker, a provider of emissions control products, updated its website at WalkerExhaust.com to provide a more comprehensive user experience. The site combines Walker’s light vehicle and commercial truck portfolios while addressing the specific needs of each customer group. Commercial vehicle customers also can visit WalkerHeavyDuty.com to view the company’s heavy-duty product offerings and catalog support tools.

• Raybestos added a Brake Solutions & Training Online Portal (STOP) to its Raybestos.com website. The password-protected portal offers professional technicians access to detailed application-specific repair procedures, how-to videos, technical service bulletins, tips and tricks, customer resources and more. Technicians also can share their own tips and tricks with other technicians and find local distributors that carry Raybestos brake products.

• Tulsa, Okla.-based flatbed hauler Melton Truck Lines (CCJ Top 250, No. 85) accepted delivery of its 5,000th Kenworth tractor.

The T680, spec’d with a 76-inch mid-roof sleeper, was purchased from MHC Kenworth-Tulsa and features Paccar’s MX-13 engine rated at 455 hp, 12-speed automated transmission and 40K tandem axles.

• Peterbilt Motors Co. and Decker Truck Line (No. 136) celebrated a six-decade relationship with the delivery of the Fort Dodge, Iowa-based fleet’s 2,500th Peterbilt, purchased from JX Truck Center. The 2,500th Decker Peterbilt, a custom 2019 Model 389, was awarded to Decker’s 2018 Grand Champion Driver of the Year, Steve Alliger, who has accumulated more than 3 million safe driving miles.

• Meritor Inc. is donating a portion of its remanufactured brake shoe sales to Wyakin Foundation, a nonprofit that offers resources to wounded veterans to help them transition from the military to careers.

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Dana’s e-propulsion tapped for hydrogen fuel project

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ana Inc. last month announced that it will provide its Spicer Electrified e-Propulsion product with an integrated TM4 SUMO HP motor-inverter system to power Class 8 tractor-trailer units that will move Dana said its Spicer Electrified freight year-round between Edmonton and e-Propulsion product with an inteCalgary in Alberta, Canada. grated TM4 SUMO HP motor-inverter system was designed specifically The trucks are part of a three-year $11.2 for high-power applications and million Alberta Zero-Emissions Truck Elecmulti-speed gearboxes. trification Collaboration (AZETEC) project, which involves the design and manufacture of heavy-duty extended-range hydrogen fuel-cell electric-hybrid trucks.

Dana said its custom Spicer e-System is optimized for the Canadian market with a hauling capacity of 140,000 pounds. The system’s compact design helps reduce weight and allow for more hydrogen fuel storage, while high-speed helical gearing helps provide greater overall efficiency.

The trucks, developed specifically for Alberta’s operating environment, will be 70ton B-train tractor-trailers capable of traveling up to 430 miles between refueling. They will be operated by Alberta-based trucking companies Bison Transport (CCJ Top 250, No. 56) and Trimac Transportation (No. 66). At the project’s conclusion, the trucks will have carried more than 13 million ton-miles of freight.

AZETEC will test hydrogen as a zero-emissions alternative fuel to diesel for freight transportation and evaluate the requirements of the refueling infrastructure and other systems that would be required for Alberta to implement it.

– Jason Cannon

Nikola lands $1.7M grant to advance fuel cell research

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he U.S. Department of Energy last month awarded Nikola is pursuing Phoenix-based Nikola Motor Co. a $1.7 million grant a new approach to advance its research into fuel cell membrane electrode and unique fuel cell assembly (MEA). The grant was funded by DOE’s Energy membrane electrode assembly architecture.

Efficiency and Renewable Energy Transportation Office.

Jesse Schneider, executive vice president of Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Technologies for Nikola, said the award provides an opportunity for the company’s team to leverage expertise in academia and resources within the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fuel Cell Consortium for Performance and Durability “to accelerate a breakthrough that will benefit the entire hydrogen and fuel cell industry and community.”

Schneider said Nikola is pursuing a new approach and unique MEA architecture to satisfy the high-power output and durability requirements of heavy-duty applications and is working with academic partners Carnegie Mellon University, Northeastern University and the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Schneider said Nikola will bring together advanced concepts in catalysts, ionomers, proton exchange membranes and gas diffusion layers within a robust MEA by using appropriate and scalable fabrication methods.

– Jason Cannon

commercial carrier journal | september 2019

TEST DRIVE: LINK ROI CABMATE SUSPENSION

The smoothest ride for the roughest roads

BY TOM QUIMBY

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ike many cities across the country, Sioux Center, Iowa, has plenty of roads that have been beat up

by Old Man Winter. Combine that with several railroad crossings, and you’ve got an ideal setting to test Link Manufacturing’s new ROI Cabmate Semi-Active Cab Suspension.

The computer-controlled system, roughly 10 years in the making, can make upwards of 200 corrections per second to adjust shocks and air bags to help smooth out rough roads.

“It’s nearly instantaneous,” said Bill Ott, Link’s vice president of engineering.

Constant input from sensors – an accelerometer monitors the cab’s motion, while another sensor measures the cab’s position relative to the frame – are analyzed by Link’s proprietary algorithms. The system uses less than 10 watts of power and requires less air than Link’s prior Cabmate suspension to tame body-jarring rides.

During a test drive near Link’s manufacturing plant in Sioux Center, I sat in the back of Link’s test truck, a 2016 Peterbilt 579 6×2. During a drive before ROI Cabmate was installed, I nearly bounced off the bed in the sleeper when hitting the last of four railroad crossings.

With ROI Cabmate, the ride was noticeably smoother, especially over that last set of tracks, which brings an important point to bear: An active seat keeps only one occupant comfortable, while ROI Cabmate smooths out the ride for everyone in the cab, including that team driver snoozing in the back.

“A lot of the test vehicles within the fleet vehicles are team drives, and we’re hearing that occupants that are sleeping in the bunk get better sleep,” said Ty Davis, Link’s senior engineer. “We’re also hearing greater wind stability. Bridge 34

transitions are much smoother, much more stable. A lot of good feedback like that. Just rough roads in general or any transition to on- or off-highway are greatly improved.”

Michael Hof, Link’s vice president of new business development, credits the quick-thinking electronic control unit for getting the most out of ROI Cabmate’s shocks and air bags.

“With adjustments being made hundreds of times per second, the system can respond appropriately at each instant, thus drivers and passengers immediately have a very soft shock when traveling on a smooth highway, and a very stiff shock when driving on uneven or off-road terrain,” Hof said. “The system deals with unexpected encounters, like potholes, in real time.”

In addition to extensive lab tests through its new state-of-the-art equipment, Link has been drawing on data from ROI Cabmates installed in 20 trucks that together have racked up roughly 1.5 million miles. Driver feedback among the handful of fleets testing the suspension also has been vital.

“It definitely makes the tractor ride better,” said Joel Morrow, senior driver and head of research and development for Norwalk, Ohio-based Ploger Transportation. “There’s no question that the truck rides smoother. I also like the idea that we can shrink the wheelbase a little bit.”

Capt. Fausto Velazquez, president and chief executive officer for Transportada Consolidada in Mexico, has four Freightliner Cascadias equipped with ROI Cabmates. Velazquez said that after 345,000 miles on Mexican roads and highways, his drivers are more comfortable, not only from a smoother ride but also from less noise entering the cab.

“Without the ROI cab suspension, the

commercial carrier journal | september 2019

Link’s ROI Cabmate Semi-Active Cab Suspension can make upwards of 200 corrections per second to adjust shocks and air bags to help smooth out rough roads.

feedback from the drivers is that they’re tired and they need extra days for recovery,” Velazquez said.

Charles McPherson, a driver for Grand Meadow, Minn.-based Valley Transportation, has the ROI Cabmate on a Peterbilt 389.

“Everything’s working out good with the suspension system on the sleeper,” McPherson said. “There’s a lot of things that I’ve had to carry with me for a month at a time. I noticed stuff on top of the sleeper isn’t coming down on the floorboard like it used to. I’m glad they’re working on things to keep drivers comfortable.”

ROI Cabmate also features electronic height control. The system minimizes air consumption compared to traditional height control valves, because it does not fill or exhaust air in response to dynamic suspension motion. The system is designed to produce a better overall ride regardless of road surfaces and atmospheric forces such as wind shear.

in focus: SOLAR POWER

Free energy

Solar conserves diesel, reduces emissions, protects batteries

BY JASON CANNON

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ne of the quickest ways to reduce operating costs is to get the energy that trucks need for free. No one’s giving away diesel fuel, but integrating solar power – and capturing free sunlight – is one way to conserve it while simultaneously upgrading your battery system.

Paul Kroes, Thermo King’s North America Strategic Insights leader, said solar products not only help businesses lower total cost of ownership but also reduce emissions and decrease waste — all of which can be done without significant upfront investment. “[Fleets] can achieve rapid payback by installing 100 watts or less of solar power,” Kroes said. “Even a small 40-watt panel can generate 120 to 200 watts per day, which can fit into a 1-footby-2-foot space and can directly charge a 12- or 24-volt battery system.”

Bob Doane, eNow’s vice president and chief technology officer, said it’s difficult to calculate how much sun exposure a truck will need to see an improvement in energy usage due to a number of factors.

Those factors include geographic location, total wattage of the solar energy system (higher is better), type of charge controller (MPPT is superior to PWM), battery state of health, type of batteries (flooded lead-acid or AGM), number of batteries (four for electric auxiliary power units, up to three for liftgates), other charging sources (alternator or trailer charger) and the application’s power demands (HVAC and hotel loads require more power than telematics).

“Most applications will see a reduction in operating and maintenance costs,” Doane said. “However, based on the factors noted above, the rate of payback will vary from a few months to a couple of years. After the payback is reached, the savings go right to the company’s bottom line and run for many years.”

The North American Council for Freight Efficiency last year released a report on the use of solar in trucking, finding the most common application for panels today comes in support of auxiliary climate control and in-cab power systems that reduce the need to idle the engine during extended down periods.

Mike Roeth, NACFE’s executive director, said battery HVACs were a viable anti-idle solution but often don’t store enough power to get a driver all the way through an off-duty period depending on the need for electricity. “Solar could be a way to help them get all the way there,” he said.

“One of the most significant opportunities for solar is to extend the capabilities of battery-powered APUs, which struggle 36

commercial carrier journal | september 2019

Thermo King’s ThermoLite panels are peel-and-stick, so no holes need to be drilled during installation.

to last the entire duration of a driver’s 10-hour rest period, especially in hot sunny weather,” Kroes added. “Solar panels are very effective at offsetting reduced runtime, because they add additional power back into the system. Solar panels ensure all batteries become fully charged to ensure the APU will provide its maximum potential during the next rest period.”

Reduced maintenance, labor Solar panels used in support of an electrical system also help extend the life of the batteries, which was one of the key benefits NACFE noted.

“Properly designed solar systems constantly monitor battery voltage and battery temperature and charge the batteries based on that data,” Doane said. “This ensures the batteries are maintained in an optimal state of

Xantrex’s Solar Kits are available in rigidand flexible-panel roof-mounted models.

A mesh-grid technology helps make the panels more efficient, allowing them to harvest more energy in low-light and shaded conditions.

charge and not under- or overcharged.”

Doane said that in field tests, eNow solar-based battery charging systems have proven to extend battery life by two to three years.

Kroes said early battery failure usually happens when batteries sit in a deeply discharged state, such as when equipment is parked for extended periods over a long or off-duty weekend.

“Undercharging batteries, especially in cold weather, causes sulfidation of plates and robs life and capacity of the batteries,” Doane said. “Lead-acid batteries dislike being discharged more than 50%. Overcharging batteries causes excess gassing and the electrolyte to boil off, also reducing life and capacity.”

Doane said for all solar applications, a properly designed solar-based battery charging system reduces battery replacement and maintenance costs simply by extending battery life, saving labor costs for removal and installation of batteries.

In its report, NACFE found another benefit of solar came from avoiding emergency roadside assistance and downtime associated with dead batteries.

“Other cost savings include reductions in penalties for late deliveries and municipality anti-idling fines,” Doane said.

Upkeep and durability The top of the trailer is generally not an area prone to impact, but

most quality solar panels have a protective outer layer to guard them from tree branch scratches, water, snow and ice.

“Should there be damage to an individual cell from a sharp object, it will not affect the rest of the cells in the panel,” Doane said, noting there are 72 cells in eNow’s 310W panel.

Kroes said solar panels designed for the transportation industry also tend to be thin and flexible.

“Fleets can install them against the curve of a roof fairing on a truck,” he said. Thermo King’s ThermoLite panels are peel-andstick, so no holes need to be drilled during installation, he said.

Kroes and Doane agreed that the panels themselves are largely maintenance-free aside from an occasional washing, or dusting to remove ice or snow.

“Dust and dirt only marginally reduce output, so cleaning is not required, and the system components are designed to never need maintenance or replacing,” Kroes said.

“If snow has accumulated on top of the panel, the preferred method of cleaning it off is to use a brush or broom,” Doane added. “Once the panel is exposed to the sun, it will warm up and tend to melt further accumulation, under one inch.”

Doane said use of overhead truck snow rotary brush removal devices normally will not hurt the panel, but he recommended that the panel be inspected after the first use of an overhead snow removal device to ensure compatibility.

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EQUIPMENT

Continental renames urban waste transport tire lineup

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ontinental has renamed its commercial waste transport tires and retreads for improved clarity.

The automotive supplier and tire manufacturer planned for the new nomenclature to be descriptive and easy to use, ensuring that fleets and tire dealers are able to pinpoint the tire’s application and usage at a glance.

The new name spells out the vehicle classification, axle configuration and application for which the tire is designed. The Conti HAU 3 WT is a heavy truck tire designed for all-position use in urban applications for waste transport. It is available as a new tire in 315/80R22.5 Load Range L and with the ContiTread HAU 3 WT retread in 210-280 mm widths.

The four-rib tread pattern with zigzag grooves is designed to resist high scrub, while extra sidewall protection helps resist curbing and cuts. Continental’s tread compound is engineered for added mileage and heat reduction, while the advanced bead design offers increased durability and resistance to brake heat.

The Conti HAU 3 WT now is available under its new

name, as well as the main sizes of the retread, ContiTread HAU 3 WT. Renaming of additional retread sizes will occur over the next several months.

In the same family, the Conti HDU 3 WT is designed for drive axle use and is available with The Conti HAU 3 WT, a heavy truck tire the ContiTread designed for all-position use in urban HDU 3 WT reapplications for waste transport, is available as a new tire in 315/80R22.5 Load Range L. tread in 210-280 mm widths. The wide variety of widths helps ensure the retread can fit all major casing sizes. The deep 32/32-inch tread depth and open-shoulder tread design help enhance traction, while notches help prevent heat buildup.

– CCJ Staff

Ultra-high-capacity air suspension Link’s ultra-high-capacity Triton TriDrive Air Suspensions are engineered to be used in multi-axle configurations for heavy-haul and off-highway applications. Designed for productionline installation, Triton has a 105,000lb. carrying capacity that allows for added application flexibility, and it can be combined to provide a variety of vehicle carrying capacities, including 35,000-lb. single-drive, 70,000-lb. dual-drive and 105,000-lb. tri-drive configurations. The air suspensions are designed to integrate seamlessly with most major heavy-haul axle makes and models for applications such as offhighway mining, quarry and logging.

The Triton’s mounting system features extra-wide weight-bearing brackets built to deliver yaw stability and predictable well-balanced handling. Ride quality also is enhanced

by Triton’s high-mounted air springs 38

and under-slung spring saddles, which allow plus or minus 4 inches of articulation, helping to minimize roll.

Longitudinal and lateral control rods help facilitate proper axle tracking and alignment, and the trailing beams are interconnected by a torsion bar, further improving ride stability. Dual-height control valves help the suspension maintain optimum ride height inde-

commercial carrier journal | september 2019

pendent of load levels, and all units are fitted with heavy-duty shock absorbers.

Polyurethane bushings help provide longer service life and eliminate lubrication requirements, while the company’s Link-Koat migratory selfhealing metal treatment coating is formulated for corrosion resistance and rust protection. linkmfg.com

©2019 FleetPride, Inc. All marks used herein are the property of their respective owners.

All Makes, All Models – Ready for the Road Ahead™

Find your nearest FleetPride location: 800-967-6206 • FleetPride.com

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“It seems that every state is operating on different systems,” says David Bosserman, InterChange operations manager. “Some want drivers to email their logs, others want to get in the cab to look at the screen.”

BY AARON HUFF AND TODD DILLS

MAX HEINE

Those being forced to move from older technology to ELDs this fall can get a sneak preview from carriers that have made the transition. Even with market consolidation, dozens of product choices remain.

he day of the electronic logging device mandate’s first enforcement deadline, Dec. 18, 2017, was no different than any other day for carriers using technology qualified as an automatic onboard recording device under the regulations of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

The end of the soft enforcement period on April Fools’ Day the following year, too, held no consequence for carriers that had been logging driver hours with AOBRDs in 2017 and before. All along, the most important date for these fleets has been Dec. 17, 2019.

By then, all carriers must use technology that meets the new ELD requirements of Parts 395.20 through 395.38 in FMCSA’s rulebook. That includes detailed specifications that do not exist for AOBRDs. Many fleets and one-truck owneroperators with authority are delaying the transition. Fewer than half of those using e-log products from Trimble Transportation Mobility, one of the largest telematics and fleet management technology providers, have flipped the switch to update their software, estimates Eric Witty, vice president of product.

That’s roughly the share of survey respondents in the 100-plus truck fleet group that reported they were continuing to use AOBRDs in June. Other fleet sizes show fewer holdouts.

Shifting loyalties Many fleets have legacy systems that will require a discrete software update or hardware upgrade plan to make the transition with their current technology provider. When CCJ and Overdrive surveyed fleets and independent owner-operators with authority in June, 31% of respondents who continued to use AOBRDs noted definitively that they planned to stick with their provider.

Many of those same fleets and owner-operators (43% cumulatively, september 2019 | ELD BUYERS’ GUIDE

41

ELD BUYERS’ GUIDE

according to survey results) are using devices that can operate in AOBRD mode and then switched to ELD mode when the grandfather period ends in December. Providers with such functionality include BigRoad, KeepTruckin and Gorilla Safety.

Only 6% of survey respondents planned to go to a different provider.

Nearly one in five AOBRD users remained uncertain of their provider plans.

A spokesman with Zonar, which offers a dedicated tablet-type AOBRD with wider functionality that updates to the ELD specification over the air, is encouraging current customers to migrate from AOBRDs “no later than early fall.” That echoes comments from other providers.

Zonar expects an “uptick in business from fleets that aren’t happy with their existing providers’ ability to ensure ELD compliance,” the spokesman added.

J.J. Keller expects the same, says Keller’s Rebecca Brown. “The reasons for their interest vary — meeting the coming deadline, the end of a contract, curiosity to see what other systems have to offer, and general dissatisfaction with their current provider.”

That last item could pertain to many customers. Nearly a third of fleet and 42

eld buyers’ guide

| september 2019

MAX HEINE

A major difference in switching from an AOBRD to an ELD is that unlike an AOBRD, an ELD will automatically record nondriving activities above 5 mph on the drive line unless they’re specified otherwise.

independent owner-operator respondents to an CCJ/Overdrive survey in late 2018 reported being “not satisfied at all” with their current provider.

Choosing a platform Nussbaum Transportation (CCJ Top 250, No. 216), having used AOBRDs since 2005, began its ELD transition in May 2018 by forming a steering committee. Management later decided to replace all AOBRD hardware and software in its 430-truck fleet.

The Hudson, Ill.-based truckload carrier switched to Geotab because it offered “a very open interface” that

Use of AOBRDs at midyear, by carrier size

Independent Small fleets, owner2-9 operators trucks 32% 26%

Fleets, 10-100 trucks 24%

Large fleets, more than 100 trucks 47%

For most smaller fleets, the AOBRDto-ELD transition is little more than a date on the calendar. For the largest fleet segment, however, nearly half have work to do before yearend.

would support its needs in the back office and mobile strategies, says Jeremy Stickling, vice president of safety and human resources. The company chose a platform with a plug-and-play Go device that installs in the vehicle and connects wirelessly to an Android tablet display.

In 2018, Schneider (No. 7) executed an earlier decision to not be dependent on a single vendor for electronic logging and telematics technology. The carrier chose a multivendor tabletbased approach.

“We do a lot more than the hours of service on our tablets,” says Mike Degeneffe, Schneider’s vice president of IT solution delivery. “The tablet is an extension of our back office and a connection to our drivers.”

The AOBRD and ELD software that runs on the tablets comes from Platform Science, of which Schneider is an investor. The mobile applications are segmented into a regulatory suite and a productivity suite. Drivers have become familiar with the tools, so as Schneider transitions to ELD software this year, “it’s not a big slap in the face since they are not going to a whole new system,” Degeneffe says.

Safety director Doug Fry, with a Texas- and Georgia-based 200-truck fleet, recently completed a switch to Blue Tree Systems’ telematics platform for logging and more after learning that many of the legacy dedicated AOBRDs his fleet was running would soon need replacement. “Our old provider had discontinued the product and didn’t tell us,” Fry says. He learned this while ordering additional units.

“We went with a company that we think has the right architecture” to build on. It uses what Fry calls a “brain box” buried in the dash that connects wirelessly to the display screen, which can be BYOD (or “bring your own device”) in nature.

McLeod Software’s transportation

ELD BUYERS’ GUIDE

At the opposite pole of consolidating telematics is the base version of the Continental VDO RoadLog, a popular option among one-truck independents.

It requires no subscription fee and is perhaps the only ELD not connected to the Internet. It now goes for around $100 less than it did prior to the mandate. Some other services’ monthly fees also have fallen, in some cases significantly.

Other companies have enhanced functionality options with tiered pricing. The roughly $15 monthly basic version of the DriveELD product adds features such as turn-by-turn CoPilot truck-specific navigation for a slightly higher price. A fleet version adds further functionality.

Dealing with the 5-mph speed threshold for ELDs, such as this model used at InterChange Express, has been the greatest challenge for drivers at the 50-truck fleet.

management software (TMS) integration is also available for the fleet’s management system. Fry’s fleet plans to add forward-facing cameras and more.

Camera systems also can serve to streamline telematics systems. Jason Palmer, chief operating officer for SmartDrive Systems, says the company’s dual-camera video unit can feed data through a single onboard platform that integrates with third-party ELD and telematics systems such as Geotab’s. Fleets “view data as a competitive advantage, both in how they are able to make drivers’ lives easier with access to data and information, and applications to make the job experience better,” Palmer says.

Changes in pricing and functionality as ELD providers get more sophisticated with telematics service offerings have some carriers looking to consolidate as much data as they can through a single system.

“Price pressure is as high as it’s ever been,” Witty says, representing a po44

eld buyers’ guide

| september 2019

tential cost savings for carriers looking to switch. “ELD is a commodity now.”

At the same time, Witty predicts that technology companies will no longer be able to survive just by providing ELD software.

Yard moves and other challenges The most high-profile difference between ELDs and AOBRDs is that the former automatically records nondriving activities above 5 mph, including moves such as docking trailers, on the drive line unless a driver specifies them as otherwise.

“Every time the truck moves, you have got to have a name for that move

One ELD transition challenge found by Nussbaum Transportation was that because operators can initiate edits and must approve back-office edits before they occur, it would create a difficult audit trail. Drivers now are required to notify the safety department beforehand for any log changes, which helps establish a record.

Company analysis showed virtually no difference in driver productivity when it compared its ELD fleet with its AOBRD fleet during the transition.

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ELD BUYERS’ GUIDE

on the drive line,” Stickling says. Nussbaum’s drivers can name an event as an on-duty “yard move” or an off-duty “personal conveyance,” when appropriate, as the wheels start to turn. But failing that, the time will be recorded on the drive line where it cannot be effectively deleted, only reclassified or reassigned. “You can only annotate it,” he says.

That creates work for both the back office and the operators on the front lines. For the InterChange Express 50-truck fleet, the 5-mph speed threshold for ELDs has been the greatest challenge. Drivers have to be trained to record yard moves properly, says InterChange operations manager David Bosserman. “Drivers hear stories from other drivers that they can drive 30 mph without tripping the on-duty status,” he says, which is no longer the case under the ELD specification.

Stickling generally views ELDs’ greater precision in logging activities at customer locations as “a good thing” because its puts pressure on the shipper to avoid interrupting the driver’s off-duty period. Say a driver arrives at a customer location in the evening, planning a 10-hour break prior to an 8 a.m. delivery appointment. When Nussbaum used AOBRDs, the driver might be asked to dock the trailer well before 8.

But under the ELD specification, “if the truck moves at 6 a.m., there is no hiding it,” Stickling says. Nussbaum has trained drivers to explain their hours situation upon arrival at a customer.

“That has helped the driver-abuse side,” he says. “We are seeing less times where a shipper knocks on a driver’s door at 2 a.m. and says ‘move this trailer for me’ when a driver is only six hours into his break.”

For Bosserman and InterChange Express, another challenge is managing carrier personnel and drivers’ confusion over what they’re hearing from 46

eld buyers’ guide

| september 2019

Customer service: What’s really at stake

B

ill Frerichs’ Illinois-based small fleet first invested in an e-logs system, an AOBRD, as he was headed into the first late-2017 ELD mandate deadline.

Since then, he says, his e-logs provider was bought and consolidated under another company.

Frerichs had been reasonably happy How satisfied are you with with performance of the devices, but your ELD/AOBRD provider? not with delays in getting replacement Not satisfied at all 30% Somewhat units when problems arose on three occasions, causing delays of three to six or a little Very satisfied weeks. The provider, he says, “cannot satisfied 23% 12% keep up with the eight-day rule.” He’s talking about the eight days the ELD Satisfied mandate gives carriers and their drivers 35% to use paper logs or logs software More than half of the fleets and while attempting to repair or replace a independent owner-operators malfunctioning device. surveyed by CCJ and Overdrive in In response to demands from carriers late 2018 showed scant to no satisfaction with their ELD shortly after the ELD mandate’s 2017 provider company’s service. enforcement date came down, FMCSA opened up new routes toward expediting requests for more time to deal with delays from ELD providers, but the bedrock eight-day requirement remains.

This summer Frerichs canvassed suppliers as he anticipated the transition to ELDs. He wants a commitment from his provider to “consign two devices” to him, essentially for his parts shelf, “in case something goes awry.” As of last month, he’d found a supplier whose ELD is distributed via the local Volvo dealer through which he orders his fleet’s tractors. “It’s a frontrunner based on that,” he says.

Other ELD customer service issues to consider include the availability and quality of basic technical support. Some providers offer 24/7 service. Customer referrals from any vendor can give you a sense of how that vendor handles support.

Normal downtime frustration is not the only problem with poor customer support. If you are unable to resolve a malfunctioning ELD promptly, as Frerichs emphasizes, you open yourself up to possible violations of the rule. Tell FMCSA on the seventh day of the eight-day grace period that your supplier’s lagging, Frerichs says, and “it’s too late. They’re not going to accept that.” That’s what he was told by his contact in FMCSA’s Illinois division office, he says.

law enforcement officers. “It seems that every state is operating on different systems,” Bosserman says. “Some want drivers to email their logs, others want to get in the cab to look at the screen.

Some have a secure code they give drivers.”

InterChange Express has printers

in the truck for drivers to print out logs, but one officer in Wyoming told a driver that printed logs did not count.

“I think as more people switch over to ELDs, that process will become easier,” he says, with some degree of roadside standardization that just hasn’t been the case with AOBRDs.

ELD BUYERS’ GUIDE

How devices and drivers track duty status changes

BY TODD DILLS

W

hile electronic logs generally automate parts of logkeeping and in some ways simplify the rest, they still require direct driver involvement in most duty status changes. As any driver will know, too, turning the entire process over to a device and its interaction with the truck just isn’t possible.

As with paper logs, drivers using electronic logs are in control of all duty status inputs. The exception is the drive line, which functions automatically as specified by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s final rule.

It’s also the only status the driver will be unable to edit directly through his driver login.

To minimize the need for annotations required with any edit, the long-in-practice habit of “catching up the logbook” by drivers will mostly fall by the wayside. With no pencil to be pushed across paper, as long as the device is operational and open, dutystatus changes happen with the simple push of a button in real time.

Edits made by the driver are possible for every line but the drive line, which is locked down since drive time is based on vehicle movement. The drive line can be edited from the administrator’s account to classify an unassigned driving event or drive time as personal conveyance or a yard move.

Any edits made from the administrator account in the back-office login must be certified as accurate by the driver. This occurs through the driver’s 48

eld buyers’ guide

ELDBuyer'sGuide.indd 48

Previous versions of rules that would have mandated electronic logs for some carriers would have required the devices to notify drivers regarding their hours status when they were approaching a limit. That feature is not a part of the device specs for the new rule, but many e-log providers offer quick-glance views, such as the one shown from ERoad, that amount to quick-compliance dashboards, showing time remaining in the daily and cumulative hours limits.

user interface of the ELD when the edit is made.

An independent owner-operator may have two separate logins for the system: one as a driver, the other as the administrator. An independent lacking two email addresses may need to get a second one. Some systems require unique addresses to associate with the logins as administrator and driver-user.

When it comes to the look and feel of the user interface that e-log provider companies are required to produce, the ELD final rule leaves plenty of room for variation. It did, however, make these requirements of all ELDs:

1) A graph grid of any driver user’s hours analogous to that used in paper logs, showing the various off-duty, sleeper berth, driving and on-duty not-driving lines. The grid display – or as an alternative, a printout, being used

by Continental’s VDO RoadLog device and its built-in printer – is intended for quick interpretation by law enforcement. This serves as a backup to other required methods of data transfer.

Most providers integrate the grid into the driver’s basic log view on the interface. Many reproduce it with further information in a special inspection screen for display to law enforcement,

| september 2019

8/19/19 2:10 PM

ELD BUYERS’ GUIDE The base version of the Continental VDO RoadLog, a popular option among onetruck independents, requires no subscription fee and is perhaps the only ELD not connected to the Internet. It has a built-in printer for log checks and now goes for around $100 less than it did prior to the mandate. Some other services’ monthly fees also have fallen, in some cases significantly.

similar to what officers are used to seeing on paper today.

2) On-duty driving status is required to be triggered automatically when vehicle speed hits 5 mph. If the driver is not logged into the system prior to that change in status, an “unassigned driving event” is recorded by the system and can be reconciled only from the administrator account, not via the driver interface.

According to the rule, after a driving status is triggered, the vehicle is considered in motion by the ELD until “speed falls to 0 miles per hour and stays at 0 miles per hour for 3 consecutive seconds,” after which manual duty status changes are possible.

FMCSA noted it would expect that in most cases drivers would make a duty status change in such an event before shutting the vehicle down.

The ELD will record all engine on/off activity.

50

eld buyers’ guide

| september 2019

3) The default duty status for any ELD is on-duty not-driving. Absent a driver’s direct change, after the vehicle has been in motion, the ELD automatically should transfer the driver to Line 4 after the vehicle has been stationary for five minutes.

4) Yard moves functionality was specified in the ELD final rule as a way for carriers to move vehicles

around company terminals without automatically triggering an on-duty driving status.

Yard-moves mode for particular drivers will be enabled from the administrator account and then selected by the driver when making a yard move.

The default status for a yard move is Line 4, on-duty not-driving.

5) Personal conveyance uses of the truck while off-duty also are enabled from the administrator account for drivers. The personal conveyance mode then can be selected by the driver using the truck for personal reasons during off-duty periods.

Once selected, the default duty status is off-duty for the ELD for as long as it’s selected, including when in motion.

GPS refinement is reduced during personal conveyance mode selection from a 1-mile radius to 10 miles.

6) Various hours exemptions and special rule variants such as those pertaining to the 30-minute break and rules for oilfield operations can be handled as they have been, FMCSA’s rule states, via notes sections to the logs.

With the exception of yard moves and personal conveyance, “all other special driving categories, such as adverse driving conditions … or oilfield operations … would be annotated by the driver, similar to the way they are now.”

The most high-profile difference between ELDs and AOBRDs is that the former automatically records nondriving activities above 5 mph, including moves such as docking trailers, on the drive line unless a driver specifies them as otherwise.

THERE’S STILL TIME TO SAVE YOUR FLEET FROM LOGZILLA! THE ELECTRONIC LOGGING MANDATE DOESN’T HAVE TO BE A BEAST. We all saw it coming. Looming over the horizon with ominous threats of new rules and fines. Some panicked and sought help from the first provider to come along. Some took shelter under the AOBRD exception. But the ELD Mandate will be in full effect by December 16 of this year. Now is the time to choose a trusted, experienced ELD partner.

Zonar is one of the first ELD vendors to complete FMCSA end-to-end testing, be independently third-party validated and FMCSA self certified.

As compliance experts, we will be with you every step of the way, from installation to training to 24/7 service and support.

So whether you’re unhappy with your current provider or don’t have a provider at all, it’s Zonar to the rescue!

To learn more and see a demo, go to zonarsystems.com/eld.

877.843.3847 ext. 7777 • zonarsystems.com

Provider

AT&T Fleet Complete

BigRoad

Blue Ink Technology

Blue Tree Systems, an Orbcomm Company

Continental

DriveELD

ERoad

Ezlogz

Device Name

AT&T Fleet Complete ELD

DashLink ELD

BIT ELD

BT500

VDO RoadLog

DriveELD

ERoad ELD

Ezlogz ELD

Type of Device

BYOD | Android, iOS | tablet option available

BYOD | Android, iOS

BYOD | Android, iOS

BYOD | Android, with Samsung, Garmin, TomTom tablet options

Dedicated unit

BYOD | Android, iOS

Dedicated unit

BYOD | Android, iOS

Initial cost

$0

$0 with lease

$295

$0 with lease/ purchase over 3-5 years

$595 for RoadLog; $295 for RoadLog Plus

$0

$0 with monthly plan

$0

Monthly: $14.99 per vehicle

Monthly: Starting at $19.50 for owner-ops

$0, $30 monthly for Full Service package

Monthly: $20$55

$0 for RoadLog; Fully connected Plus package: Subscription cost varies

Monthly: $15 and higher

Monthly: $35$60 depending on options, for qualifying fleets

Monthly: $30

Other capabilities beyond logs

Customizable for fleet management functions such as dispatching, engine diagnostics, geofencing, video telematics, driver behavior reporting/ management, asset tracking and optional custom integrations from Fleet Complete Marketplace

Customizable for fleet management functions such as dispatching, engine diagnostics, geofencing, driver behavior reporting/management and asset tracking; personalized load matching; pay-as-youdrive ELD solution (39 cents/driving hour) options for occasional haulers

IFTA, fault code reading, maintenance features available, OBDII plug-in option for lighterduty trucks; Full Service package adds reduced hardware prices, tire-pressure monitoring, onboard scales, document capture/ share, location sharing, backoffice visibility into services

Weigh station bypass, Canadian ELD, driver comms and scoring, truck-specific navigation, IFTA, TMS integration, container/ reefer/trailer monitoring

IFTA, built-in thermal printer; with RoadLog Plus connected option, real-time data transfer, fuel consumption, engine diagnostics, driver scorecard, integrated dispatch for small fleets

Base ELD version: IFTA, management portal, document capture; Navigator package ($20) adds CoPilot truck-specific navigation, messaging; Fleet version adds sophisticated workflow, integrations, advanced analytics

Electronic weight-mile tax, IFTA, IRP recordkeeping; driver behavior reporting/ management; maintenance, fuel and other management functions; geofencing and retrospective event tools; TMS integrations

IFTA, engine diagnostics, trip-planning functions, social networking tools, document capture

Find more information

ATT.FleetComplete.com

BigRoad.com

BlueInkTech. com

BlueTreeSystems.com | Orbcomm.com

VDORoadLog. com

Drive-ELD.com

ERoad.com

Ezlogz.com

Ongoing lease or service fees per truck

Garmin International

Geotab

Gorilla Safety

GPS Insight

I.D. Systems

J.J. Keller

KeepTruckin

Konexial

Omnitracs

Garmin eLog

Geotab Go

Prime8 Compact/Prime8 Connect

ELD-2000

LV-9000

Encompass Fleet Management System

KeepTruckin

My20

IVG

BYOD | Android, iOS (also compatible with dēzl GPS navigators)

BYOD | Android, iOS

BYOD | Android, iOS | hard-mount options available

Dedicated unit

Dedicated unit | two options, Win-CE (5700) and Android (7000) OS

BYOD | Android, iOS | or paired with dedicated J.J. Keller Compliance Tablet

BYOD | Android, iOS

BYOD | Android, iOS

Dedicated unit

$250

Approx. $170 (price set by local reseller)

$225-$250

$260 for ELD2000 and GPS tracking device combination; $150 setup fee waived for 3-year contracts

$549, lease op- $0 with BYOD tions available option

$150

$130 for hardware

$799 for most options

$0

Monthly: $20$35 approx. (set by local reseller)

Monthly: $20$37

Monthly: $34 and higher

Monthly: $27 and lower

Monthly: $20 (one truck, less with multidriver discounting)

Monthly: $20$35

Monthly: $20$25

Monthly: $23 and higher

Local transfer of logs via USB/Bluetooth during inspections, indevice storage, quick-glance compliance

IFTA data collection, engine diagnostics, driver scorecards and coaching, safety/risk management functions, data integration for management, IOX expansion, more custom add-ons from Geotab Marketplace

IFTA data collection, engine diagnostics, driver scorecards, safety/risk management functions, data integration for management, more custom add-ons from Geotab Marketplace

IFTA data collection, engine diagnostics, routing, hierarchy functions for larger fleets, suite of tailored GPS tracking solutions

Driver/truck performance and engine diagnostics/ preventive maintenance reporting, incab scanning, navigation; road segment speeding available at additional cost

Optional IFTA reporting, dashcam pro video, navigation, engine diagnostics, driver qualification, drug & alcohol management, accident tracking, training, recordkeeping

IFTA, idle-time tracking, fuel management, engine diagnostics, geofencing, driver scorecards, TMS integrations (TMW, McLeod, others), shipper/receiver facility analytics, integrated forward-facing dashcam, other possibilities via KeepTruckin App Marketplace

IFTA, My20 Tower functions for small fleets, dashboards, GoFuel fuel discount and management, navigation/ mapping, GoLoad truckload freight-matching, simple installation

Engine diagnostics, mobile-based weigh station bypass, incab scanning, truck navigation, geofencing, custom mobile forms, TMS integration, idle time tracking, video recording, simple installation, navigation

Garmin.com

Geotab.com

GorillaSafety. com

GPSInsight. com

PowerFleet. com

KellerEncompass.com

KeepTruckin. com

Konexial.com

Omnitracs. com

Provider Omnitracs

Pedigree Technologies

Pegasus TransTech

Platform Science

R&L Fleet Management

Rand McNally DriverConnect Rand McNally

Device Name

XRS

ELD Chrome

Transflo ELD T-Series

Platform Science ELD

Glitch Free HOS ELD

ELD50, DC200

TND765

Samsara Vehicle Gateway

Type of Device

BYOD | Companycertified Android devices

Cab-Mate Open: BYOD, Android | CabMate Connect: Dedicated unit | Cab-Mate One: All-in-one plug-and-play

BYOD | Android, BYOD | Android iOS

Dedicated unit | BYOD also available

BYOD | Android, iOS | or paired with select TND tablets

Dedicated unit

BYOD | Android, iOS

Initial cost

$0 with $0 with lease, hardware lease $399-$799 for option dedicated unit, $219-$299 for BYOD solution

$99 for ELDonly service/$0 when bundled with other Transflo services

Varies

$550-$1,200

$149-$399, custom options available for larger fleets

$699, custom options available for larger fleets

Varies according to fleet size and options

Monthly: $23 and higher

Monthly: $20 and higher

Monthly: $25 ELD-only; varies otherwise depending on services bundled

Varies

Monthly: $37-$70

Monthly: $15 and higher

Monthly: $20 and higher

Varies according to fleet size and options

Other capabilities beyond logs

Base service plan includes engine diagnostics and fuelpurchase and maintenance functions; Premium package includes IFTA, performance reports, video recording option

IFTA, engine diagnostics standard; expandable and customizable with fleet management functions, including dispatch, forms, job management, maintenance, tires, seatbelts, trailer tracking, temperature monitoring, TMS integrations, more

IFTA, maintenance/engine performance data, driver behavior insights, accident detection and reconstruction, TMS integration, loads, dispatch chat, weather, routing, document scanning, settlement statements, more

Driver workflow, messaging, training, remote platform/device management, critical events reporting, driver performance analysis, engine diagnostics, starter interrupt, navigation

Four configuration options for ELD service; reefer temperature and trailer location tracking, driver behavior monitoring, dashcams

TMS integration, workflow, IFTA, mapping, analytics, engine diagnostics; cellular modem in DC200; truck-specific navigation with dedicated TND tablet; OBDII options

Truck-specific navigation, TMS integration, workflow, IFTA, mapping, analytics, diagnostics

AI dashcam, engine diagnostics (including PTO and idle time), IFTA, geofencing, driver scorecards, document capture and management, dispatch, route planning and analytics, TMS integrations (TMW, McLeod), trailer tracking, temperature tracking, 24/7 support

Find more information

Omnitracs.com Cab-Mate.com

Transflo.com

PlatformScience.com

RLFleet.com

RandMcNally. com

RandMcNally. com

Samsara.com

Ongoing lease or service fees per truck

Samsara

Spireon FleetLocate

Teletrac Navman

FleetLocate FL1

Verizon Connect

Verizon Connect

GPSTab ELD Edition

Verizon Connect Reveal ELD LogBook

Verizon Connect WorkPlan and HOS ELD

Zonar Logs

BYOD | Android, iOS

BYOD | Android, iOS

BYOD | Android, iOS

BYOD | Android, iOS

Dedicated unit | Zonar Android tablet or Samsung Galaxy Tab Active2

$0

$0

$0 with lease, $200 to purchase ELD plug

$0

$0 with lease Varies according to option up to $100 and more fleet size and options chosen

Monthly: $30-$60 for service, more with lease if applicable

Monthly: $8.30-$18 depending on options

Monthly: $18$27 per truck

Monthly: $20

Monthly: $46

Varies with Monthly: $36 including hard- service plan/ features ware lease and up

IFTA, engine diagnostics, dispatch and messaging, driver behavior tracking, dashboard cameras, workflow solutions, truck-grade navigation, driver scorecards, TMS integration, fuel monitoring

Customizable for fleet management functions, mobile-based weigh station bypass, more

IFTA, truck parking information, truckloads load board, dispatch and messaging, team driving

IFTA, route history, dispatch, share-specific load tracking, engine diagnostics, service and maintenance reminders

IFTA, load location sharing with customer, document scanner, driver scorecard, flexible reporting, truck parking information/ reservations

Work Optimization, over-the-air updates, IFTA data collection, engine diagnostics, route optimization, optional turn-by-turn navigation

Document capture, trip plan sharing, engine diagnostics and prognostics, more

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity for dispatch, management, operational functions; camera, navigation, Android compatibility, OTA updates, electronic verified inspections (EVIR); Zonar and thirdparty-approved fleet management apps

TeletracNavman.com

Transportation.

Trimble.com

ELD.TruckerPath.com

TruckX.com

UtechCorp. com

VerizonConnect.com

VerizonConnect.com

ZonarSystems.com

Trimble

Trucker Path

TruckX

Utech

Director Drive App

eDriver Logs

Trucker Path ELD

XELD

BYOD | Android, iOS

Dedicated unit (BYOD on the way)

Dedicated units

BYOD | Android, iOS

$0

$0 (minor/ negotiable installation fees)

$0 with lease option up to $950, depending on capabilities

Monthly: $28

Monthly: $45 and higher depending on options

IFTA, fleet management, GM/Ford OEM integrated telematics, equipment/ trailer tracking, FSMA, driver scorecard, engine diagnostics, maintenance tracking

Spireon.com

Zonar

ELD BUYERS’ GUIDE

A guide to ELD providers leading the market

F

or those using grandfathered AOBRDs, weighing options for upgrading to the ELD specification by the Dec. 17 deadline can prove a daunting task, given the hundreds of providers that have self-certified their devices as compliant and registered them with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The providers in the chart on the preceding pages have a significant market share among respondents to a late 2018 survey of CCJ and Overdrive readers.

Key elements to consider when making initial comparisons: COSTS. Prices may vary with volume discounts and ancillary 56

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features, and monthly service charges generally are per-truck/ELD unit unless otherwise noted. As shown, many providers offer lease options for hardware with prices bundled into service packages. Systems with hardware included in new trucks, including some built by these manufacturers, are not reflected.

Some systems use dedicated hardware. Others are “bring your own device” products, where software or tablet software is paired with a device that connects to the engine’s electronic control module. For such BYOD systems, the smartphone/tablet cost and any associated data plan charges are excluded unless otherwise noted.

COMPLIANCE. All devices in

these listings are included on the FMCSA-maintained registry of devices self-certified by the manufacturer as compliant with the ELD mandate. For ultimate enforcement of device specifications, FMCSA relies on roadside enforcement and other intelligence to spur any investigation of any system’s compliance.

An AOBRD user upgrading to an ELD-specification device should be certain to choose a system that meets ELD specifications to ensure continued compliance beyond yearend.

FEATURES. These devices, as a general rule, allow for electronic driver vehicle inspection reports, messaging and unit tracking for carriers, shippers and receivers, as well as other features enabled by the device’s connection to the engine’s electronic control module. Some dedicated logging/DVIR devices have more limited functionality. Some features may require further investment in service or hardware.

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technology MAKING THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENTS WORK FOR YOUR FLEET BY AARON HUFF

Enforcing mobile policies

Truce Software app lets fleets control driver use of devices by context

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istraction related to cellphone use, eating or general inattention is the second-leading driverrelated cause of fatal truck crashes among commercial fleets.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has penalties for drivers caught by officers using handheld cellphones while operating a vehicle.

The fines go up to $2,750 per violation. The agency also can levy a maximum penalty of $11,000 for companies that permit this behavior.

Most fleets already have zerotolerance policies for drivers using handheld devices behind the wheel.

However, enforcement of company policy and FMCSA regulations is haphazard at best.

New technology from Truce Software is designed to allow fleets to automatically enforce safety policies for mobile device use according to the context. A driver could be restricted from using a personal device when behind the wheel of a company vehicle but have full access to all functions DISTRACTION KILLS: It’s the No. 2 driver-related cause of fatal truck crashes among commercial fleets.

ZERO TOLERANCE?: Enforcement of company policy and FMCSA regulations is haphazard at best.

CALLING A TRUCE: New technology can help fleets automatically enforce policies for mobile device use.

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Truce Software’s driver safety platform has an app that resides on personal or corporate mobile devices.

and apps when not in motion or in a personal vehicle.

Another fleet may allow its drivers to make and receive only hands-free calls from their phones and suppress all other device functions and apps while they are in motion.

The Truce platform has an app that resides on personal or corporate mobile devices.

The app can be paired with a small beacon device attached in the cab that permits the app to take control only when the device is inside a company vehicle.

The mobile app can be configured by fleets remotely, through an administrative portal, to restrict use for some or all of the device functions according to contextual indicators such as dates, times, geofence locations and motion.

Truce said its software has machine learning algorithms that can support advanced

september 2019

INTERESTED INTRUCKING TRUCKINGTECHNOLOGY? TECHNOLOGY? INTERESTED IN Go ccjdigital.com/news/subscribe-to-newsletters Scantothe barcode or go to www.goo.gl/Ph9JK to to subscribe to the CCJ Technology Weekly e-mail newsletter.

system may show that athow midnight, the unit is still a quarter-mile away from This flowchart explains the unloading spot.

Truce Software’s contextual mobile device “We are verymanagement carefully watching how it is unloaded” to determine when software works. containers actually are available for pickup to set realistic delivery appointments, Prince said. “Our job as an intermodal provider is to make sure a great number of little things happen on time and correctly.”

Predicting trailer capacity When making deliveries, drivers often lose productive time unloading or searching for empty trailers to take to their next load appointments. If no empty trailers are available onsite, office personnel may begin cold-calling customers in the area to locate empty trailers.

U.S. Xpress (CCJ Top 250, No. 16) equips its trailer fleet with SkyBitz’s fleetofwith drivers can tracking system embedded withsafety cargopolicies. sensors.AOne theteam nation’s largest allowTenn.-based the passengercompany driver to uses havethe fullinforaccess truckload carriers, the Chattanooga, to his or herwill device but suppress mobile mation it receives to predict when trailers be unloaded andthe ready for functions for the driver behind the wheel. pickup, said Aaron Wood, the company’s manager of trailer management. app also has algorithms designed The SkyBitz system is integratedThe with U.S. Xpress’ custom transportation to look for certain images and scenery management system and with ESRI’s mapping software that Wood uses to using departures, the phone’s turnaround camera. Thetimes technology set up geofences for tracking arrivals, and can determine if a driver is in the driver’s trailer inventories by customer location and geographical planning regions. seatany and enforce fleet policies “The big thing that bites us and carrier is when we have accordingly, loaded trailexecutive ers going into markets where wesaid Joseph do not haveBoyle, loadedchief freight out,” heofficer said. forcounts Truce.in each planning region to U.S. Xpress is managing trailer Drivers to an employer maintain the balance of capacity across its might freightobject network.

The company suchtoa reposition technologyitstotrailers place restricalso uses secondary carriers andusing railroads in its tions on how they use their devices, even network. in been an unsafe Yet trailer other drivers In the three years U.S. Xpress ifhas usingmanner. the SkyBitz tracking their employer the system, its trailer count has gonemight from appreciate 17,000 to about 14,000 by using increasing technology given thenetwork, seriousness of said. the efficiency and managing the available capacity in its Wood mobile distraction.

With SkyBitz, U.S. Xpress alsorisks can from identify trailers at locations that have recent Forrester report found that up to not moved for an extended period.AThese events could signal possible me50% of employees to being more productive, less overtime chanical defects onadmitted trailers that are causing drivers toworking not hook up. and feeling generally happier trailer when their workplace implemented U.S. Xpress also increases capacity by monitoring theiran useeffective by mobile device management policy.through interchange third-party carriers and shippers Ruffling some is a chance fleets may agreements.

“Wefeathers know when one ofthat ourmost trailers starts be willingWood to takesaid. to beThe ablesystem to enforce their safetytrailers polimoving,” tracks where ciespicked automatically eliminate distractions. are up andand dropped andmobile how many miles they Trucesoclients normally seebill a 35% to 40% reduction moved the company can carriers for the authorin accidents, Boyle said. ized or nonauthorized use of its trailers.

AARON HUFF is Senior Editor of Commercial Carrier Journal.

E-mail ahuff@ccjmagazine.com or call (801) 754-4296.

Obstacle Microdeadetection releases system big trucks imagingfor platform

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earicrodea, View a Safety provider debut-of ed document its RVS-125 manageSensestat ment andWireless backObstacle office software Detection for Microdea’s Origin is System transportation designedand designed to be up to logistics, warn truck released and running quickly Rear View Safety’s RVSrequires no drivers Origin,ofanpotential imaging 125and Sensestat Wireless upfront investment Detection obstacles platform behind designed Obstacle in hardware or System is designed their to allow vehicle companies with infrastructure. for easy installation atodetection bill customers range the on heavy-duty trucks, with no need to install of same up to day 8 feet. that The loads are delivered. excess cabling. system Drivers is engican use Origin’s mobile app to neered capturetotrip provide documents. Within seconds, the high-quality driver bothimages audiblearrive and visual at thewarning office indicators to be stored to avoid in a digital backing filing accidents. cabinet and initiate The wireless the billing ECUprocess. is engineered to be waterproof and includes multiple – Aaron antenna Huff installation options. A user can connect to a Sensestat-equipped trailer by pressing the monitor’s sync button.

– Aaron Huff

EpicVue available to owner-operators In-motion picVue, a pro- scale E vider of in-cab weighs axle satellite TV foreach the

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trucking lliance industry, Scale deannounced buted athat truckthree scale engineered monthly indepento weigh After upfront hardware and each dent axle subscription and print a installation costs, receipt packages without now are requir- there is no contract ing available a driver fortoownerstop. The and no activation or Alliance operators.

AxleWeigh Drivers In cancellation fees for The Alliance Motion can select Truck a channel Scale is owner-operators to AxleWeigh subscribe toIn built lineup to from weighmore individu- EpicVue. Motion Truck al than axles 100 bychannels driving over Scale is preconfigured for easy the of DirecTV scale at 3 programming, mph restationary or installation and gardless InMotion of dish trucktracking length and whether they can be installed or want configuration. a DVR. on a gravel Designed Drivers have for easy the option driveway, of installing eliminating the need use, the EpicVue a driver stops hardware at themselves using for ramps. the updated controller installation and manuals from the enters company his truck’s or choosing I.D. a $180 professional number, installation andoption the controller available willatcalculate 10 TA- the gross, Petro tare truck and stop netlocations. values. The scale features factory-calibrated load cells and a preproGo to TVForMyTruck.com. grammed indicator.

– Aaron Huff – Aaron Huff

commercial carrier journal | september 2019 2018

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technology

INBRIEF • Michelin subsidiary NexTraq launched MobileBlock, a technology developed in partnership with SafeDrivePod that locks drivers’smartphone and tablet screens during driving to limit distractions.

MobileBlock is a small self-adhering pod designed to be mounted in the vehicle.

An app is downloaded to the tablets or smartphones used by drivers of the vehicle, and the software shuts off all access to apps while driving. Emergency call and navigation apps remain usable with the tool installed.

• Verizon Connect launched its Navigation Mobile App for Verizon Connect Reveal to give drivers directions based on their vehicle and load types to reduce miles driven and improve safety. Verizon Connect said the app can ensure drivers travel on permitted roads only, avoid restrictions such as low bridges or tunnels, reduce out-of-route miles and provide upto-date routes to avoid major accidents, construction and road closings.

• Drivewyze, provider of the PreClear station bypass service, launched Drivewyze Safety Notifications, a free service for PreClear users that provides audible and visual alerts when a Drivewyze-enabled truck approaches a high-rollover area and a low bridge. The service is available throughout Drivewyze’s partner network.

• Cargo Chief, a provider of freight-matching platforms for third-party logistics companies, released version 2.0 of its C4 platform, a database of over-the-road lane preferences and availability. C4 2.0 is designed to enable freight brokers to select available capacity based on their vetted carriers’as well as new carriers’lane preferences, further detailed with frequency, service days and confirmed locations.

Live capacity is paired with actionable information from carriers, ranked by best match for when and where the carrier is available to haul the next load.

• Geotab, a provider of Internet of Things and connected transportation technologies, announced that its telematics platform has achieved FedRAMP Ready status. The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program is a government program that provides a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization and continuous monitoring for cloud products and services. Geotab’s telematics platform now is listed on the FedRAMP Marketplace website.

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Stay Metrics says early-stage driver turnover rising

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Stay Metrics’ Stay Days Table tracks early-stage driver retention across a broad range of carrier clients representing dry van, tanker, refrigerated, flatbed and more segments.

tay Metrics, a provider of driver retention tools for motor carriers, updated its Stay Days Table for the first half of 2019 to include data from its carrier clients for drivers hired each month from January 2018 through May 2019. The table reveals what percentage of them stayed with their carriers for 30, 60, 90, 120, 180, 270 and 365 days.

The Stay Days Table tracks early-stage driver retention across a broad range of carrier clients representing dry van, tanker, refrigerated, flatbed and more segments. The latest iteration of the table includes data for 47,283 drivers and 93 carriers.

The company said the update’s key insight is that early-stage turnover is increasing overall across the industry. While drivers hired in January 2018 stayed an average of 283 days, drivers hired in June 2018 stayed only 216 days on average, a decrease of 67 days.

The early indications for drivers hired in 2019 also seem to be following this trend, as 84.9% of drivers hired from March through May 2019 made it a full 30 days with their carriers compared to 86.3% over the same period in 2018.

Among drivers hired in the first quarter of 2019, only 64.9% made it 90 days, almost a 5% decrease from 69.3% during the first quarter of 2018.

– Aaron Huff

Descartes ShipRush adds LTL freight support

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escartes Systems Group, a provider of logisticsbased ecommerce technologies, announced that Descartes ShipRush is its ShipRush cloud-based ecommerce shipping ofdesigned to make it easier for fering now fully supports both parcel and less-thancustomers to evaluate parcel truckload freight to provide companies with a single and LTL options to make better shipping decisions for platform to meet their shipping requirements. their requirements.

Descartes said the benefits include: • Parcel and LTL freight in one offering: Provides a list of national and regional LTL freight carriers and the ability to access both parcel and LTL services; • Side-by-side carrier rate shopping for LTL freight: Simplifies the process of sorting through carrier options and factors to determine cost-effective LTL shipment alternatives; • Savings on bulk and large items: Helps to determine when and how to use LTL; • Automate best practices: Standardizes and streamlines shipping decisions to help ensure the correct procedures are followed, cost-effective options are selected and the time to make shipping decisions is reduced; and • LTL freight capabilities that access ShipRush functionality: Connects ecommerce companies to over 80 marketplaces, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and accounting solutions. Download and manage orders, shop for rates, print shipping labels and keep accounting current with one system.

– Aaron Huff

september 2019

technology

INBRIEF

GlobalTranz launches GTZamp digital freight matching platform

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lobalTranz Enterprises, a technology and third-party logistics provider for shippers, logistics service providers and carriers, announced the launch of GTZamp (Automated Movement Planning), a proprietary platform that combines multiple predictive analytics techniques for a seamless freight-matching shipper experience that can be executed at scale.

GTZamp is a proprietary platform Benefits, according to the company, include: for GlobalTranz customers • Load Affinity analysis that identifies shipdesigned to combine digital freight matching with enhanced ments suited to be combined into a multimovemultimovement planning. ment route.

• Carrier Match functionality that algorithmically matches loads with the best carriers based on a host of factors, including volume covered, on-time performance, cost, seasonality and bounce and roll percentages.

• Cost Prediction Model that predicts lane level costs based on a wide variety of features, including historical costs and current market conditions, to help determine the lowest possible rate.

• Load To Truck Forecasting, a predictive analytics tool that leverages leading indicators to predict capacity availability.

– Aaron Huff

Tank Wash Finder helps locate wash locations, services

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ulk Connection, a freight broker for tanker truck shipments, released its Tank Wash Finder, an online tool designed to allow carriers and drivers to quickly locate wash facilities for tanker trucks across the United States and Canada. The company said the Bulk Connection’s Tank Wash Finder locator at BulkConnection.com/Tank-Wash- provides detailed information on facilities and services for over 400 Directory provides detailed information on North American wash facilities. facilities and services for over 400 North American wash facilities.

“We wanted to create a practical easy-to-use tool that would save dispatchers time and allow them to determine, without a phone call, the right facility for their needs,” said Jim Cordock, president for Bulk Connection.

Users can access the Tank Wash Finder on their desktop or mobile device. On the tool’s entry screen, users select the state or Canadian province in which a wash facility is needed. A map displays all tank wash facilities in the area, and users can click on a location icon for more information about the facility, including cleaning, maintenance and driver services available, in addition to the facility’s address and contact information.

Detailed information includes the types of washes performed, certifications and driver amenities such as overnight parking and laundry services. – Dean Smallwood

• Comdata now offers a National Tire Discount Program for trucking fleets.

Under the program, Comdata has joined with tire manufacturers to offer Comdata fuel card customers access to National Account pricing on truck, trailer and retread tires nationwide. The discounts are part of Comdata’s MyFleet Program and can average over $200 less than the lowest advertised tire cost.

• TruckPark and software developer UTech announced a partnership to help truck drivers easily find safe, secure parking. The TruckPark app will be accessible to more than 10,000 drivers via UTech’s GPSTab software that resides on an in-cab tablet.

GPSTab keeps track of hours of service through electronic logging device data.

• Kuebix, a provider of a transportation management system and a connected shipping community, added fleet capacity to the available truckload options in its Community Load Match offering through Estes Truckload Management. Kuebix users searching for truckload capacity can compare spot quotes in Community Load Match from a network of brokers, carriers and freight marketplaces.

• Karmak Inc., a provider of business management systems, announced integrations with Soarr, a provider of internet marketing services for the heavy-duty industry, offering dealerships enhanced inventory management and sales tools that upload inventory in real time to the dealer’s website; and Optimum Solutions, a provider of in-house systems for payroll, human resources and time and attendance.

• Manhattan Associates, a provider of supply chain and omnichannel commerce technologies, announced a partnership with Newmine, a consulting and technology company focused on retail commerce optimization. Newmine is joining the Manhattan Value Partner program, which fosters collaborative partnerships between supply chain, logistics, inventory and omnichannel providers.

• Corcentric, a provider of procurement and financial process automation offerings, announced that URM, a Spokane, Wash.-based regional co-op grocery distribution company, selected its system to better establish leasing schedules that optimize equipment usage as the company continues to grow.

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technology

INBRIEF • Lytx, a provider of driver and fleet safety technologies, announced that Midland City, Ala.-based Coleman World Group (CCJ Top 250, No. 110) subsidiary Coleman Worldwide Moving is implementing its Driver Safety Program across its fleet of more than 700 tractor-trailers throughout the United States. The Lytx program designed for Coleman combines DriveCam-based video capture of road incidents such as sudden swerving or hard braking, data analysis of those incidents and personalized coaching insights to improve driving behavior.

• I.D. Systems, a provider of enterprise asset management and Internet of Things technologies, announced that American Intermodal Management, a provider of chassis provisioning and asset management, is implementing I.D. Systems’PowerFleet for Logistics system to manage its 11,000-unit fleet. PowerFleet is designed to streamline core business intelligence and tailor asset management options to help improve operational efficiency and increase agility. AIM said PowerFleet’s chassis tracking and sensor monitoring will help its lease and rental customers maximize chassis utilization and benefit from greater visibility and data that lead to reduced transit cycle times and enhanced productivity.

• Descartes MacroPoint, a provider of freight visibility products, announced that Transplace, a third-party logistics and transportation management services provider, will use its offerings to provide customers real-time visibility as a standard feature without any extra transaction or an integration fee, providing customers with greater efficiency and coverage.

Transplace will make shipment tracking available for truckload shipments in the United States and Canada by January 2020 and plans to expand the Descartes-based offerings, as well as other modes, to Mexico and other geographies in the future.

• 3Gtms Inc., a provider of transportation management software systems, announced that Gerber Plumbing Fixtures selected its 3G-TM TMS to meet the needs of its wholesale distribution customers and end consumers. Gerber is using the TMS to reveal insights into shipping and process efficiency, enable flexible routing and uncover cost-saving opportunities for the company and its customers.

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Study shows rise in delivery expectations

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n-demand delivery apps, coupled with the growing options for same-day delivery, are reshaping expectations for customer service among consumers and businesses, with delivery now at the core of the customer experience, according to a report According to project44’s survey, the from freight visibility provider project44. expectations for customer satisfaction center on low-cost, fast and highly The report found that 94% of people transparent delivery of goods. who make purchases for their company expect the same level of focus on customer satisfaction as when they’re making personal purchases. These expectations center on low-cost, fast and highly transparent delivery of goods, according to project44’s report.

“The Delivery Economy and The New Customer Experience” report by project44 is based on blind surveys of over 750 consumers and 500 marketing executives.

“We find it very telling that consumers give the same weight to delivery as they do to the price of a product in their customer experience,” said Jett McCandless, founder and chief executive officer for project44. “With the rapidly growing use of on-demand delivery apps and same-day delivery services, customers aren’t just buying a product, they’re buying an entire experience. The Delivery Economy is here to stay and will continue to have a vast influence on B2C and B2B expectations.”

Key findings outline how expectations have shifted, according to the company: • 85% of marketers say that delivery is moderately to very important to their brand and customer experience.

• 74% of consumers say that when a package isn’t delivered when expected, it hurts their impression of the company.

• 52% of consumers say free or discounted shipping is one of the most important factors in their purchase decision and gave shipping the same emphasis as the price of the product.

• 65% of marketers also cited good customer service as a core driver of purchase decisions, but only 25% of consumers agreed.

• 71% of consumers say on-demand delivery apps are reshaping consumer expectations for how they want their online purchases delivered.

• 56% of marketers cite delivery and transportation companies and supply chain/shipping departments among the top three stakeholders to deliver the best customer experience.

“One of the biggest draws of on-demand delivery apps like Postmates and Instacart is that customers know where an order stands, can map the route and know down to the mile and the minute when a product will arrive at their door,” said Elaine Singleton, vice president of Supply Chain for Technicolor.

“Brand leaders and marketing departments should be partnering with key internal and external stakeholders like sourcing, inventory, logistics and transportation carriers in order to gain control of these new customer experiences and truly succeed.”

– Aaron Huff

september 2019

technology

Verizon Connect rolls out Field Service Dispatch for work fleets

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erizon Connect added a Field Service Dispatch application to its Reveal mobile fleet management platform.

The software is designed for dispatchers to schedule and communicate job information to technicians and customers throughout the day in near-real time.

Field Service Dispatch combines vehicle location data and technician status to help operations managers make faster, more informed decisions and provide better service. Verizon Connect said this now can be done from a single application without having to switch between telematics and field service applications.

“Operations and fleet managers want a centralized hub where they have complete visibility into vehicles, workers and the work they are doing,” said Erin Cave, vice president of product management for Verizon Connect. “Verizon Con-

nect’s Field Service Dispatch provides a simplified approach to managing drivers, technicians and jobs and enables customers to streamline business processes, efficiently schedule jobs and improve customer service all from one pane of glass.”

Key features include: • Simpler scheduling: View available technicians and vehicle locations, and schedule jobs in an easy-to-use calendar.

• Easy dispatching: Assign and dispatch jobs to notify one or more technicians that a job is scheduled.

• Real-time notifications: Automatically send booking confirmations and reminders to customers.

• Technician mobile application: Add notes, photos and signatures from the jobsite via the mobile app to keep the office updated.

Verizon Connect’s Field Service Dispatch is designed for dispatchers to schedule and communicate job information to technicians and customers throughout the day in near-real time.

• Live Map integration: View a technician’s real-time vehicle location and schedule information on the Live Map and make more informed scheduling decisions.

Verizon Connect said Field Service Dispatch also helps operations managers improve customer service by providing more accurate estimated times of arrival to their customers.

– Aaron Huff

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in focus: PAYMENT SYSTEMS

Digitizing payments Technology moving trucking closer to cardless purchasing

BY AARON HUFF

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uel transactions are as easy as swiping a card at the pump, but other types of purchases made by truck drivers aren’t so simple. An unexpected breakdown may require a driver to make a phone call to the office to request a money code.

A trucking company issues Comchek Express Codes for specified amounts to drivers to redeem for cash at merchants in Comdata’s network. Over 700,000 payments are made through Comchek every year, but increasingly fleets and drivers are turning to digital solutions that add more security and convenience.

Last year, Comdata launched OnRoad, a MasterCard-branded fleet card that combines driver funding with fuel payments. With the funding tools, fleets are able to deposit cash advances, payroll and settlements directly to the card accounts of drivers for them to use OnRoad as their personal debit card.

When drivers use their OnRoad card to make a non-fuel purchase, the card automatically debits the driver’s personal fund balance.

Comdata also has a cloud-based software product, Comchek Mobile, that drivers can use to receive funds.

Drivers can enter a Comchek Express Code they receive to transfer the funds into the mobile digital wallet app. The funds are available immediately and can be transferred to the driver’s OnRoad MasterCard or to an external linked bank account.

About 10% of Comchek transactions currently are going through the Comchek Mobile platform, said Justin King, the company’s senior vice president of product. By having funds available on Comchek Mobile, a driver

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can make digital peer-to-peer payments. The mobile app has functions similar to consumer digital wallet apps such as Venmo.

A driver could transfer funds received from Comchek Mobile to other users in the network, such as lumpers, by entering the payee’s unique ID. Making it easy for vendors Just as digital payment systems are becoming the norm for fleets and drivers, industry vendors have new technology options to replace traditional point-ofsale systems.

RoadSync’s cloud-based point-of-sale mobile payment platform has invoice generation and workflow tools designed for people and businesses to request and accept payments digitally.

Robin Gregg, chief executive officer for RoadSync, describes it as a version of Square that was built specifically for handling payments in the transportation and logistics industry.

“We figured out how to create an experience that works for logistics and transportation by using industry-specific forms and workflows,” she said.

People and businesses can use RoadSync to collect payments from company drivers and owner-operators for common over-the-road services and expenses. Warehouses use RoadSync to collect accessorial fees for loading and unloading trailers. The company also counts truck repair and towing companies among its customers.

“Companies that do repairs and tow merchants are able to send out digital work authorizations to the company with clarity about what is going to be charged,” Gregg said.

september 2019

Comdata’s Comchek Mobile digital payments offering effectively turns the company’s Comchek Express money transfer system into a PayPal-like system for sending and receiving electronic funds.

The driver can pay for a transaction using any debit or credit card on the spot. The platform also allows the merchant to text or email the invoice to a motor carrier for real-time payment.

Funds received through the app for payment are deposited directly into the bank account that the user chooses. RoadSync plans to release a new feature for smaller customers that will enable them to have funds transferred directly to a debit card, Gregg said.

A new feature, Express Deposit, allows RoadSync users to cash out minutes after a transaction is completed. Standard payments typically take between two and four business days, but customers using Express Deposit can receive funds on their debit card in 30 minutes or less for a transaction fee.

technology

product review: WILSON WEBOOST DRIVE REACH

Need a few more bars?

Drivers could use Drive Reach’s extra cellular oomph

BY AARON HUFF

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otor carriers routinely incentivize drivers with giveaways and door prizes. Based on past experience, fleet executives say the most popular prize items for drivers are those they actually use on the road.

Blankets, leather gloves, clothing with reflective decals, electronics and accessories are among the types of products that increase comfort and convenience for road warriors. Some fleets also will give away vacation packages and ATVs to help drivers enjoy memorable quality time off the road.

Another item that could be popular with drivers is the new weBoost Drive Reach cell signal booster kit from Wilson Electronics. The company says the product works in all types of vehicles, including semi-trucks, to get a reliable signal and faster data.

Let’s face it: In our modern age, few things are as frustrating as dropping calls or waiting for a website to load.

Drive Reach is engineered to provide the maximum allowable gain of 50 dB under Federal Communications Commission standards.

Wilson recently sent me a Drive Reach kit for testing. My first impression was how simple and straightforward the installation is. You simply place a magnetic antenna on top of the vehicle and route the wire through any door seal. I chose to route the wire through the hatch of my SUV, but a truck driver easily could run the wire through a side door.

For an aluminum roof, the kit comes with a sticker for the antenna. The antenna plugs into a booster unit, which is designed to cling to any carpeted or

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Wilson’s weBoost Drive Reach signal booster has a power unit that clings to carpeted surfaces.

The inside antenna mounts in close proximity to where a cell phone is used.

An outside antenna mounts to the roof and routes through any door opening.

felt-lined surface. I stuck the unit to the side of my felt-lined trunk.

Next, I connected a power wire to the unit from my vehicle’s 12V receptacle and a wire from an inside antenna that is supposed to be mounted in proximity (between 18 and 36 inches) to where your cellphone will be used.

I mounted it on the B-pillar on the driver’s side, next to the seatbelt, with a Velcro strip that was included.

september 2019

The setup takes all of five minutes, with clearly marked instructions and numbers on each of the separate items.

Like most vehicles, my SUV supplies power through the 12V receptacle only when the key is on. This setup made it easy to test the signal boost strength.

Generally, I found that when my phone had three or four (out of five) bars of service, when I powered on my car, the phone immediately jumped to

technology five bars, so Drive Reach really works.

When driving around town, my phone always had five bars of service, as far as I can remember.

With respect to data speeds, the download speeds were about the same with and without the booster, but the upload speeds were significantly higher with the booster. I ran the test three times. The average upload speed without the booster was 16.5 mbps and with the booster was 22.3 mbps, an improvement of about 35%.

When leaving town, the signal booster did not always give me five bars.

Generally, I found the device boosted my signal by about 100%. If I had one bar of service, I could get two or maybe three bars with a signal boost. If I had two bars, my boosted signal would come through at four bars.

If I had no signal at all, Drive Reach did not make a signal appear out of nowhere. I tested Drive Reach in several remote areas of Utah and Wyoming where I was lucky to get one bar of service on my own. If I got one bar, Drive Reach would boost my signal to as many as three bars. Three bars still weren’t enough to browse the web or send files with any degree of speed, but it was enough to place a reliable phone call.

Based on Drive Reach’s pricing, it would be considered by drivers to be a premium gadget. If truckers decide to buy one on their own, they will need three components: • The base Drive Reach (which I tested): $499.99 • OTR Antenna Truck Edition: $109.99 • Connector: $7.99 That brings the total for a trucker to $617.97. A carrier still might consider buying one for drivers to show appreciation, and based on my experience, it would be a gift they would hold onto and use regularly.

The power cord connects to a 12V outlet and includes a USB charger.

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REDDAWAY Tualatin, Ore. initial four weeks of training, apprentices attend classes, practice their driving on the skills development course and receive on-the-road training.”

Apprentices are paid and meals are provided for the duration of their training.

Remaining training occurs at terminals throughout the Reddaway network.

Reddaway provides direct regional delivery in California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming and British Columbia.

“Instructors work one-on-one with apprentices to personalize a learning plan to ensure their success,” Smith said.

Reddaway tackling driver shortage by starting its own training program

BY JASON CANNON

D

rivers new to the industry are the most likely to leave it, and they’re also the most prone to accidents.

Tualatin, Ore.-based less-than-truckload carrier Reddaway, through its Reddaway Driving Academy and Truck Driving Apprenticeship program, is hoping to suppress both trends.

The apprenticeship, a yearlong training program, allows applicants to earn their Class A license and accumulate driving experience while being paid full wages plus benefits. Students who successfully complete the apprenticeship are graduated to a job as a driver for Reddaway — celebrating its 100th year in 2019 as the oldest continuously operating motor carrier in Oregon.

The apprenticeship program is open to Class A holders with less than one year of experience or no experience, as well as individuals interested in a career as a professional truck driver.

Jared Smith, senior director of human resources for Reddaway, expects to train more than 180 drivers this year at the Reddaway Driving Academy.

The program is sectioned into three parts spread out over a year: four weeks within a dedicated school environment; three weeks with one of Reddaway’s more than 70 certified driver trainers in a live environment; and consistent follow-up training throughout the driver’s first 12 months.

The initial four weeks of training are held at one of four school locations: Los Angeles, Salt Lake City and Portland and Medford, Ore. “This is so apprentices can focus solely on learning,” Smith said. “A designated area gives apprentices a safe open space to practice and enhance their skills. During the

Checking in Once apprentices are released to the open road – ongoing learning plan in-hand – their job descriptions barely differ from that of a career driver. However, periodic check-ins are used as extensions of the driver’s formal training.

“Someone will reach out to discuss and review, provide additional training — skill training or a reassessment,” Smith said. “It’s not as if once someone leaves the academy, it’s done. Most people don’t master every concept the first time they hear something. [Drivers] will have some things we’ll want to see continually developed.”

Check-in cycles vary from driver to driver, but Smith said drivers play

The less-than-truckload company establishes its own driving academy and apprenticeship program to improve driver retention and safety.

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Students in Reddaway’s Driving Academy and Truck Driving Apprenticeship program start with four weeks of training in a school environment at one of four locations: Los Angeles, Salt Lake City and Portland and Medford, Ore.

an active role in the personalization of their learning plan. As things get checked off the plan, it evolves to further hone their skills.

“You get some good training initially, but [the apprenticeship] puts us to where you hear from your safety manager or a terminal manager, so there’s that extra layer of accountability,” Smith said.

The apprenticeship significantly ups the minimum requirements to be a driver, Smith said.

“We’re not going on a compliance standard — we’re going on a success standard,” he said. “Even in that initial period, we’re going beyond what we have to do and showing this is a long-term program and an investment.”

Favorable early returns There are currently 46 active Reddaway line-haul drivers who have driven more than one million miles without a preventable accident, while 23 have done even better by reaching two million miles. Smith is hoping to see those numbers grow as more apprentices hit the highway.

Reddaway’s initial data show immersion in the training program leads to safer drivers, as accidents for drivers with less than one year of experience are down 30%.

Safety incidents among those enrolled in the program are also bet70

After completing classroom-based training, students spend three weeks with one of Reddaway’s more than 70 certified driver trainers in a live environment, with consistent follow-up training throughout the driver’s first 12 months.

ter when compared to drivers who didn’t come up through the academy but joined Reddaway with more time behind the wheel.

“This group of new drivers is outperforming groups that have come in and have more experience,” Smith said.

For the early part of 2019, LTL carriers saw driver turnover climb about 8%, according to the American Trucking Associations. Now reaching 18%, LTL turnover is at its highest point in 15 years but is still below truckload turnover of about 73%.

“We tend to keep a lot more people in their first 90 days,” Smith said of apprenticeship enrollees. “The stress of starting a new job and new career is significant, and [the apprenticeship] sends people out there with confidence, and I think that keeps them in the industry longer.”

Reddaway’s first group of 12 apprenticeship enrollees were set to complete the program at summer’s end. Upwards of 50 enrollees are more than halfway through the program, and 125 people have started it.

Driver retention among the group going through the experience is currently in excess of 85%.

“When I go out and talk to people at schools, people want to be successful,” Smith said. “They want to be a good driver. [The apprenticeship] really appeals to people who want to be really good at

commercial carrier journal | september 2019

their job. They know that we’ve bought into them. ‘Here’s a program where I’m not just going to have a job, but people are going to help me be a professional and safe driver.’ ” Accountability is paramount Reddaway’s apprenticeship program was certified May 31 by the U.S. Department of Labor — a step Smith said the company wanted to take to show enrollees that just as the carrier holds its drivers accountable to a standard, the company also holds itself to one.

“You get a second set of eyes,” Smith said of having DOL review the program’s coursework and training programs.

“It improves the quality of the written materials out there, it puts requirements on our training and follow-up times, and people know it’s been thoroughly vetted and approved. It adds a legitimacy to the program.”

Certification also unlocks state and federal dollars that can be applied toward career training programs. Reddaway recently received a $40,000 grant from veteran employment software company Fastport to support the apprenticeship program.

CCJ INNOVATORS profiles carriers and fleets that have found innovative ways to overcome trucking’s challenges. If you know a carrier that has displayed innovation, contact Jason Cannon at jasoncannon@randallreilly.com.

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Investment in your business can help retain your best technicians

A

BY LUCAS DEAL s employment turnover issues continue to plague the trucking service channel, more businesses are investing resources in the recruitment and acquisition of new technicians.

It’s a valid strategy that makes sense considering the need.

But recruitment alone will not solve any business’ employment problems.

To halt employee turnover and begin building a dependable team of technicians, service providers also must stick the landing. New recruits have to stay.

According to a 2018 survey by CCJ publisher Randall-Reilly, of more than 1,200 professional technicians in the trucking, agriculture, construction and automotive industries, more than half of today’s technician population has worked for at least two maintenance or repair businesses in the past five years.

In the trucking market, specifically, 56% of the more than 800 technicians surveyed claimed they are on at least job No. 2 in the last five years, and 20% said they’ve had three or more jobs.

Despite the revelation that two-thirds of the heavy truck technicians surveyed

by Randall-Reilly also have a vocational degree in their line of work, only 11% said they would not consider leaving trucking for a different industry that offered better wages, training, career advancement opportunities or a favora-

ble location.

For a market desperate to retain talent, such a willingness to exit by the industry’s educated professionals should be alarming to anyone responsible for keeping a technician position filled.

Yet it’s also important to note that while employee retention is getting harder, keeping quality technicians isn’t impossible. Those same surveyed technicians who were so open about their propensity to job-hop also were adamant that such career moves aren’t made on a whim.

Technicians say they leave employers because they feel underpaid and underappreciated. They also admit that when they find an employer that treats them well, they’ll stick around.

In responding to Randall-Reilly’s survey, one technician said he deliberately evaluates a company’s culture when considering a new role. “How much do they value my position?” he asked. “How much do they value their technicians? Being appreciated and valued is really important.”

Several other technicians referenced employee morale and management styles. One said: “The biggest factor for me is the person I work for. People don’t quit jobs, they leave poor management.”

And while other more tangible factors such as salary, benefits and

paid time off also were referenced as recruitment and retention tools, the survey respondents made it clear that benefits alone won’t keep every technician happy.

As one technician succinctly said, “I would love to actually be able to work around other professionals that know and understand the industry and make work flow easier.”

In Part III of our 2019 Special Report on trucking’s technician shortage, CCJ seeks to evaluate these comments further, clarifying what technicians desire in their occupation and showing how proactive service providers can develop strong employee retention strategies to reduce turnover.

1

Want them to stay? Pay them One fact confirmed by RandallReilly’s survey is that the best way to retain technicians overwhelmingly continues to be a strong pay structure.

Today’s technicians understand their value to their employers. They realize how much revenue they generate and aren’t willing to work for less than their fair share.

More than 70% of technicians responding to Randall-Reilly’s survey pegged pay and benefits as their top factor when abandoning a job or choosing a new one in the heavy truck, construction, agriculture and automo-

EDITOR’S NOTE: TARGETING TECHNICIANS IS A QUARTERLY SERIES PROVIDED IN SPONSORSHIP WITH SHELL. 72

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To halt employee turnover and begin building a dependable team of technicians, service providers also must stick the landing. New recruits have to stay.

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SPECIAL REPORT | TARGETING TECHNICIANS

Summit Truck Group invests in Navistar’s national technical education program that provides equipment, tools and scholarships to students.

tive industries. Within just the trucking market, pay was the top reason for 72% of responders and the second choice for another 11%.

“Techs know if they are experienced, they can go anywhere and get a job,”

said Jim Hinton, service trainer for Summit Truck Group. “They can look for the highest bidder. I don’t think you can reduce your turnover rate without talking about technician wages.”

Yet despite it being a major point of

contention, most technicians are earning a living wage. Nearly 60% of heavy truck responders to Randall-Reilly’s 2018 survey reported making at least $50,000 annually, with 38% surpassing the $60,000 barrier and one in 20 technicians (5%) claiming to pull in more than $100,000 per year.

Survey responders say their main issue isn’t so much base pay as much as how their pay corresponds to their value. To quote one responder, technicians believe their pay “should be appropriate” to their duties.

One way proactive service providers are looking to solve this issue is by clearly communicating how an employee’s performance corresponds with their pay and impacts it.

Hinton said Summit has started conducting bi-annual performance reviews of its technicians to give them the potential to earn multiple raises per year.

These reviews, coupled with a new bonus program that rewards employees for completing elective online training courses, have increased Summit’s technician morale and retention.

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

Apprenticeship programs can increase retention rates

O

ne established recruitment and retention strategy growing in popularity in the trucking industry is apprenticeship programs. These traditional career training and preparation courses typically are built in conjunction between a service center and a technical education partner such as a local vo-tech school.

When done well, apprenticeship programs – also sometimes referred to as internships – provide technician students invaluable insight on the day-to-day experience of working in a diesel service shop, including common repairs, management styles, employee expectations and overall corporate culture.

However, when done poorly, these programs can send talented potential technicians hurtling away from the trucking industry before earning their first full-time paycheck.

Experts say that to make an apprenticeship program worthwhile, it’s important to devise a plan that’s simple, transparent and educational. Even the best apprentice or intern is still a

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student first and should be treated as such.

That’s something Affinity Truck Center took to heart in developing its apprentice and internship programs, said Chris Paris, service manager. Affinity introduced both programs six years ago and has built them as tools to recruit, train and retain young people considering a technical career.

“We’ve attacked the [tech] shortage from so many different angles, but eventually we realized if we really wanted to solve our problem, we had to build something ourselves,” Paris said.

The internship program is a once-a-week onsite program for area high school students enrolled in vocational education courses. The apprenticeship program is a two-year comprehensive training course Affinity uses to onboard its technician hires new to the industry.

Regarding the latter, strong students occasionally complete the course in less than two years but spend at least 18 months

SPECIAL REPORT | TARGETING TECHNICIANS

“I think we’ve tried to create a work environment and culture where [technicians] know they will be rewarded for working hard,” Hinton said.

Jordan Schroeder, president for Truck Equipment Inc., hopes to have similar success with a quarterly program his team has developed called “Give Yourself a Raise.”

“It’s a bonus program where we do quarterly updates on how all of our departments are performing,” he said.

“We talk about margins, labor efficiencies. The goal is to drill into the details of how each employee can make an impact and give yourself a raise.

One of my hopes with the program is we improve our profitability, and that becomes a part of [employees’] pay package.”

Bonuses also can be valuable on an individual basis. Randall-Reilly’s survey indicates more than 85% of diesel technicians are paid an hourly rate — a payment structure that lends itself well to performance-based compensation.

At Affinity Truck Center, bonuses are paid based on technician efficiency, said Chris Paris, service manager. The

more hours a technician bills, the more he earns.

Service providers also shouldn’t overlook the value of providing debt relief and reimbursement for technicians, particularly young professionals still burdened by student loans and tool expenses. Hinton said Summit invests in Navistar’s national technical education program that provides equipment, tools and scholarships to students.

Ray Schmidt, service manager for McCoy Freightliner, said his company recently introduced a tuition reimbursement program for interns and part-time associates that pays 100% of a technician’s educational expenses if they maintain a B average and stay with the dealership for two years after graduation.

Service providers say that any method that shows associates how much they are appreciated has value.

“At the end of the day, [technicians] are trying to make a living for their family,” said Charlie Nichols, general manager for TAG Truck Center-Calvert City, Ky.

in three distinct positions. Affinity’s existing technicians serve as mentors and educators throughout the process.

That inclusion has been critical to the program’s success and something Paris said he’d recommend to any other service provider considering such a program. “Our guys welcomed the challenge as something new and exciting,” he said.

Bob Blanchard, Affinity’s training manager, said “it’s a huge sense of pride” for existing technicians to see their apprentices graduate up into the business.

Apprentice programs also work best when some time is set aside for students to learn about their employer outside the service bay. Both Affinity interns and apprentices are introduced around their facilities early in their programs and then are briefed on different departmental responsibilities at various points during their time at the business.

“We try to give them a little bit of insight about what it would be like to work here,” Paris said.

Finally, honesty is another necessity when building an apprenticeship program. A technician student should expe-

2

Workplace culture can help Another important takeaway indicated within Randall-Reilly’s survey is the importance of culture in employee retention. While it might not be a technician’s top priority when hunting for a new job, corporate culture has a definite impact on how long an employee hangs around.

No one wants to work where they’re unhappy.

“Obviously, you have to pay a good wage and provide good healthcare benefits, but I think everyone knows that,” said Greg Klein, president for Inland Truck Parts and Service. “I think the other thing that goes together with that is to create a culture where [employees] feel they are a part of something.”

Klein said one way that’s done at ITP is with the company’s employee stock ownership program (ESOP). Employees gain access to the ESOP during their first year and reap the benefits of the program as long as they remain employed with the company.

But Klein said ITP’s low technician turnover rate can’t be attributed entirely to the ESOP. He said the

Apprenticeship programs provide technician students invaluable insight on the day-to-day experience of working in a diesel service shop, including common repairs.

rience a service provider’s workplace like it actually is — not some fictionalized or idealized version that doesn’t accurately reflect how the business operates when the student leaves.

“We want our apprentices to be able to make an educated decision about if they want to do this as a career or not,” Paris said. commercial carrier journal

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SPECIAL REPORT | TARGETING TECHNICIANS

Inland Truck Parts and Service is committed to offering a top-rate service experience that also helps keep technicians engaged.

company’s commitment to offering a top-rate service experience also helps keep technicians engaged. Between its corporate training center staffed with four full-time trainers and its many new state-of-the-art service facilities, ITP strives to make its service business the vanguard of the independent aftermarket.

“We want to be perceived as a firstclass operation, and we believe people want to be proud of where they work,” Klein said.

A strong corporate culture also can be instilled other ways. A focus on collaboration and positivity has netted a strong service culture for Texas Truck Direct, said Christy Cozby, vice president of operations.

“Guy [Robertson], who runs our service department, has really pushed a team environment, and I think we’ve seen some positive results from that,” Cozby said. “[Sometimes technicians] get hot and frustrated, and it’s so easy to fall

A focus on collaboration and positivity has netted a strong service culture for Texas Truck Direct.

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into negative behavior. Guy has really been hitting the shop hard with ‘Let’s have a positive outlook. Let’s treat each other with respect.’ If you can maintain a positive environment, it makes it much easier to come into work every day.”

Environment matters, agrees Ian Johnston, vice president of marketing and operations for Harman Heavy Vehicle Specialists.

“We had a bit of turmoil in our department last year, and you could see

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SPECIAL REPORT | TARGETING TECHNICIANS

that wave of morale go down,” Johnston said. “It has gone back up again, but we could see then how much our culture can impact our employees.”

There’s also the matter of resources.

The more a service shop does to provide assistance for its technicians, the less likely those technicians will be to seek out other opportunities.

Klein points to ITP’s training center as an advantage in this area. With each of the company’s trainers offering more than two dozen courses per year, ITP technicians have access to training at all times. And at a company where every employee’s investment in their work is literally paid back through the ESOP, most ITP technicians are highly motivated to learn and improve their skillset, he said.

That thirst for knowledge was visible in Randall-Reilly’s survey, as 10% of heavy truck responders reported continuous education/training or access to the latest technologies as their top motivator when searching for a new job — ahead of location, benefits and even pay.

And these resources and technologies don’t refer solely to training or education. Chris Sterwerf, chief financial officer and chief operating officer for Fairfield Auto & Truck Service, said he’s found success supporting technicians through tool purchases and reimbursements — helping employees cover an out-ofpocket expense most young technicians don’t even know is coming until they’ve just begun working in the industry.

“Whether you’re recruiting or trying to keep technicians, you have to do things that make your business attractive,” Sterwerf said. “I think something as simple as tools can go a long way.

The cost of tools is a barrier to entry for a lot of young technicians today.”

Sterwerf admits such a move is an investment but said it’s one he’s glad to 78

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make to avoid the potential dangers of the status quo.

“I don’t want techs trying to use the wrong tools for the job,” he said. “That just causes more issues for everyone.”

3

Generational perceptions One aspect of workplace culture that is overlooked when discussing employee turnover and retention is generational understanding. The work environment that Millennials and Generation Z expect from their employers is different from the Baby Boomer-developed corporate culture found in most of trucking’s service businesses.

While Generation X accepted a workplace culture it didn’t prefer but generally understood, latter generations aren’t quite as malleable. Retaining young professionals in today’s service channel doesn’t require a complete overhaul of one’s business, but it does require a willingness to accept that not all employees have the same personal and professional desires.

One area where this is most evi-

dent is in how young professionals approach their career path. Millennials are eager to climb the corporate ladder. Many become disillusioned by long periods in a single role, and some will abandon a steady job with one employer for the potential of career advancement elsewhere.

“That’s very clear with the generation we see coming into the business today,” said Homer Hogg, director of technical service for TA/Petro. “If you don’t show them your opportunities, it is easy for them to think they are stuck in one environment.”

Managing those expectations can be difficult in service operations where promotion opportunities are minimal, but executives and service managers can allay some concerns from young associates by presenting clear expectations necessary to meet pay increases, bonuses or access to a preferred schedule.

That latter point, in particular, shouldn’t be overlooked. Millennials and their Generation Z counterparts aren’t always looking for 9-to-5 jobs.

Affinity Truck Center operates a two-year apprenticeship program in which new technician hires are paired with veteran mentors to learn about the company and how to be capable technicians.

| september 2019

SPECIAL REPORT | TARGETING TECHNICIANS

“These days, young people want to know their career has meaning and purpose,” he said. “They want their job to have an impact and to make a difference. Being a heavy truck technician is a great way to satisfy those desires, because it’s more than just a job. Keeping trucks up and running

is not only important to the driver who is on the road supporting his family, it’s also critical to our overall economy.”

– Bill Grabarek, Truck Parts and Service online associate editor, contributed to this article.

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Many are willing to work longer days, nights and weekends to provide flexibility for their personal lives.

Many young associates also are hungry for education and validation.

They want to know when they are doing a job well, but they also want to know when they’ve done something wrong. They want to know when they mess up and want to learn to be better. That goes back to their upbringing, said Jim Pancero, professional sales adviser and consultant.

“Millennials have grown up in a rules environment,” Pancero told attendees at Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week 2018.

“They didn’t go outside to play. They went to practice. They were taught best practices their whole life, so they’re demanding best practices from your company.”

Service providers can offer that guidance through training and mentorship. Both methods have proven effective at Affinity, which operates a two-year apprenticeship program in which new technician hires are paired with veteran mentors to learn about the company and how to be capable technicians.

Paris speaks glowingly of how the program has helped assimilate young technicians into the company’s ranks, referencing the mentor aspect specifically as an invaluable resource.

“We’ve found that some techs coming out of school can be a little scared at first, a little shy about asking questions,” Paris said. “The [apprenticeship] program has helped with that. It’s gives them someone they can go to so they aren’t asking questions in front of everyone.”

And when those questions are answered and young technicians start thriving, they should hear about that, too, both to validate their performance and to affirm their importance to their employer and the customers they service, said TAG’s Nichols.

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commercial carrier journal

| september 2019 79

FMCSA’s proposal would allow drivers to split their off-duty sleeper berth time into two periods of seven hours and three hours, similar to the eighthour/two-hour split allowed under current regulations. Neither period would count against the driver’s 14-hour driving window.

Drivers could pause 14-hour clock for three hours

T

BY JAMES JAILLET he U.S. Department of Transportation last month officially announced proposed changes to federal hours of service regulations for truck operators. The proposal would allow drivers to pause their 14-hour clock for up to three consecutive hours and go off-duty in that time period, extending their on-duty window by the same amount.

Drivers would be required to take a 10-hour off-duty break at the conclusion of their 14-hour on-duty hours after using the proposed pause option, and the pause would have 80

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to be at least 30 minutes long. Also, the 11-hour drive-time limit for an on-duty shift would remain. Allowing drivers to pause the 14-hour clock would help them avoid peak traffic hours and weather events and help “mitigate the effect … of long detention times,” according to notes within the proposal, which was announced Aug. 14 by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

The notice of proposed rulemaking was published Aug. 19 in the Federal Register, and drivers and the public at large had 45 days after that date to file

| september 2019

comments for the agency to consider in crafting a final rule, a process that likely will take months if not a year or longer to be finalized. Once published, the final rule likely won’t take effect for another year or more. Ray Martinez, FMCSA administrator, said he couldn’t provide a timeline as to when a final rule would be crafted and when it might take effect.

Martinez touted the proposal as one that provides flexibility while maintaining safety, and he encouraged drivers to comment on the proposal to help guide the agency in

BUSINESS | HOURS OF SERVICE

crafting a final rule. “We put forward a proposal that retools current hours of service regulations so that drivers can have the flexibility they need to complete their work efficiently while promoting the highest level of safety on America’s roadways,” he said in a conference call with reporters.

Martinez said the proposal is meant to address the common refrain from drivers that they “race the [14-hour] clock.” The proposal “puts the power back in the hands of drivers” to manage their daily schedule, he said.

Though the proposal didn’t mark a return to wider options for splitting on-duty and off-duty time that were available prior to instituting the 14-hour rule, the agency did address some of the current rule’s rigidity via the proposed option to go off-duty for as little as 30 minutes or as long as three hours. That option closely resembles a recommended change put forward in a petition filed last year by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association.

Proposed changes FMCSA proposed a slight revision of the allowed split-sleeper berth options, which would allow drivers to split their off-duty sleeper berth time into two periods of seven hours and three hours, similar to the eight-hour/two-hour split allowed under current regulations. A significant difference is summarized in the proposed rule’s opening text: “Neither period would count against the driver’s 14-hour driving window” unlike the shorter of the split periods under existing rules.

This change would be in addition to the proposal to allow drivers to pause their 14-hour clock up to three hours at any time followed by a 10-hour break.

FMCSA also proposed changes to the required 30-minute break. Though the agency intends to keep the 30-minute break required in the current regula-

tions, it proposed slight changes for when drivers must take it. Instead of requiring the break in the first eight hours of on-duty time, FMCSA proposed requiring the break within the first eight hours of driving time, offering drivers more flexibility in its use. Rather than a required off-duty break, the agency proposed that it can be on-duty not-driving time.

Lastly, FMCSA proposed two other changes: (1) Allowing drivers to extend their 14-hour on-duty period by up to two hours in the event of adverse conditions, such as weather or congestion; and (2) extending the allowed on-duty period for short-haul drivers from 12 hours to 14 hours and extending the short-haul radius from 100 air miles to 150 air miles.

These are the first significant changes to hours of service proposed since 2011. Those regulations took effect in 2013, though the bulk of those changes later were struck by Congress.

Following calls for change as the electronic logging device mandate’s first enforcement deadline in late 2017 approached and came to pass, FMCSA began seeking feedback on potential hours of service changes in August 2018 and last March filed a proposal with the White House Office of Management and Budget. The filing followed extended rounds of discussion with individual truck owners and drivers, driver and carrier groups and other industry stakeholders. Those discussions were supplemented by listening sessions conducted throughout 2018 at various industry events and in other venues around the country.

Industry reaction OOIDA lauded the proposal as a “common sense” approach to hours regulations. “There may not be a onesize-fits-all solution, but the proposed changes are a positive start since truckers don’t have any control over

their schedules or traffic conditions,” said Todd Spencer, OOIDA president and chief executive officer. “For too long and too often, they find themselves in unsafe circumstances because of current, overly restrictive rules that decrease highway safety.”

ATA also hailed the proposed changes. “(U.S. Transportation) Secretary (Elaine) Chao and Administrator Martinez are to be commended for their commitment to an open and data-driven process to update the hours of service rules,” said Chris Spear, ATA president and CEO. “We look forward to studying and understanding how these proposed changes will impact our industry so we can provide relevant data and information to strengthen and support a good final rule that bolsters safety and provides drivers needed flexibility.”

The Truckload Carriers Association applauded FMCSA’s “efforts to create safety-first data-driven regulations,” said John Lyboldt, TCA president. “The initiative to reduce roadway fatalities represents an industry lift for which TCA is committed to uniting with our federal agency partners.”

In a conference call with reporters, FMCSA enforcement chief Joe DeLorenzo suggested the agency was open to data that might bolster the safety case for further liberalization of the split-sleeper rules, a change that was suggested by the Trucker Nation group ahead of the agency’s formal efforts to collect data and opinions on hours changes.

Regarding the split-sleeper changes proposed, “we moved forward with a proposal based on the data and information we have available,” DeLorenzo said. He also said the agency would be asking “a series of questions” during this month’s comment period “about the possibility of more data being available” to address other split-sleeper scenarios or options.

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Systems converge to expand functionality, reduce cost

BY AARON HUFF

T

ruck OEMs have numerous options for fleets to order advanced safety systems on new vehicles. The options include, but are not limited to, adaptive cruise control (ACC), automatic emergency braking (AEB) and lane departure warning (LDW).

These and other technologies integrate with vehicle controls, such as throttle and braking, and electronics, from the driver display to infotainment systems, for visual and audible cues.

More safety technologies are available in the aftermarket, such as video-based telematics systems that fleets use to review actual footage of risky events and score driver behaviors.

The hardware, software and data from these safety technologies often overlap, which can lead to fleets cobbling data together to review and analyze events.

Increasingly, driver safety systems are converging by using common hardware and integrated applications to improve data consistency, reduce cost and simplify the work environment for drivers.

Layering on technology With a wide portfolio of safety technology, Schneider (CCJ Top 250, No. 7) saw an opportunity to consolidate some functions.

The Green Bay, Wis.-based fleet has been ordering vehicles with stability control systems since 2004, long before the technology became standard in trucks from 2017 onward. Schneider also was an early AEB adopter in 2012.

The company orders all new trucks with automated manual transmissions (AMTs) and uses Bendix’s radar-based AEB Zonar’s Coach fleet management platform uses a forward-facing camera that communicates with an app on Zonar’s rugged tablet display to give drivers audible in-motion feedback.

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SmartDrive’s video-based telematics and safety platform calculates driver safety scores based on speed, following distance and seatbelt compliance.

system that works with the AMTs to support ACC. Schneider also has forward-facing cameras that provide its safety personnel with footage of risky driver behaviors and events. The camera system monitors the vehicle databus to identify trigger events, such as activation of the electronic stability control, AEB and other safety systems.

“Video also provides an opportunity to exonerate and thank drivers for doing a good job, or provide an opportunity for coaching,” said Tom Di Salvi, Schneider’s vice president of safety, driver training and compliance.

With so many technologies and its ongoing driver training, safety awareness and communications, the large carrier finds it difficult to isolate results for any single technology. Di Salvi said the exception is collision mitigation technology, as its safety benefits were clear from the start.

In 2015, after three years of using the technology, Schneider saw a 68% reduction in crash frequency and a 95% reduction in severity.

“Highway-speed rear-end crashes are exactly the ones you

TECHNOLOGY: CONVERGING SAFETY TECH want to eliminate,” Di Salvi said. “This is something we believe all Class 8 tractors should have. It has been that successful.”

Lytx’s ActiveVision platform gives real-time feedback to drivers while capturing video of risky events for review through the DriveCam program.

Consolidating cameras Companies that operate mixed fleets may not be able to standardize their safety technologies on factory orders. Some OEMs now offer their own camera and radar systems.

Schneider orders a suite of safety technologies from Bendix on new vehicles that includes the Wingman Fusion system, which combines camera, radar and brake controls for ACC with active braking and collision mitigation.

The new Cascadia trucks that Schneider orders from Freightliner have the optional Detroit Assurance suite that fuses ACC with LDW and optional video capture. Di Salvi sees an opportunity to leverage the system’s cameras to eliminate installing aftermarket cameras.

“We do believe that in the future, as OEMs add video for sign recognition and lane departure warning, that (the camera) could also become a technology that would capture forward-facing video,” he said.

Schneider also sees an opportunity to leverage video from a vision-based safety system it currently is testing, MirrorEye from Stoneridge. The system mounts cameras above the doors that feed in-cab display screens mounted on both A pillars, as well as a center screen that displays video from the right side to eliminate the blind spot.

Di Salvi said MirrorEye allows drivers to view their surroundings without having to look outside the truck, and Schneider management is interested in adding MirrorEye video to its event recording system to enhance driver coaching and liability protection.

Capturing video from the Detroit Assurance camera on the vehicle’s blind side is another possibility, he said.

Bringing it all together The expanding functionality of video-based telematics systems is bringing together more safety functions in a single platform.

Oakley Transport (No. 185), a food-grade tank hauler based in Lake Wales, Fla., has been able to consolidate hardware and data since it started using SmartDrive’s video-based telematics The Bendix Wingman Fusion system adds a camera to work with the radar of Wingman Advanced for collision mitigation to help reduce false alerts and interventions.

system. The 500-truck fleet has ordered Volvo trucks with Bendix’s AutoVue LDW and Wingman Fusion systems.

The SmartDrive platform uses the Bendix system’s forward-facing camera and alerts to trigger event records. Kelly McDowell, Oakley’s director of safety and compliance, said everything managers want to know about driver behavior and risk now is available through the SmartDrive program, which brings data together into “one package to measure safety.”

P&B Transport, a 55-truck less-than-truckload and truckload carrier based in Montreal, Quebec, uses Mobileye’s camera device that alerts drivers for tailgating or crossing over lane markings without using turn signals.

In February, P&B installed Zonar’s camera device and added its Coach product to its mobile fleet management platform.

Coach uses a forward-facing camera that communicates with an app on Zonar’s rugged tablet display to provide drivers audible feedback while in motion.

The feedback includes warnings for following too closely, running stop signs, heavy braking, poor fuel economy and aggressive turns.

Since P&B has been using Coach, the Mobileye product has become somewhat of a duplicate device, said Brian Telford, manager. The audible warnings are useful, but drivers see Coach as more of an incentive to improve their behaviors than “to not hear beeping,” he said. Coach captures footage of risky incidents and scores drivers.

“Coach is a better overall tool and more appreciated by the driver,” Telford said.

Fleets also can use telematics systems to consolidate wireless costs. Schneider is in the process of funneling the data and alerts from its camera system through its mobile telematics system from Platform Science to have a single wireless data plan.

Schneider has a suite of mobile apps for driver safety, compliance and productivity that run on Platform Science.

The Drivewyze app recently added alerts that make drivers aware of upcoming low bridges and ramps and curves with high rollover risk.

As more driver safety technologies become available, Di Salvi plans to find the right mix that will help drivers be safer and more alert behind the wheel.

“You can’t put everything in the truck, or it becomes too confusing,” he said. “You’ve got to find the right balance.” commercial carrier journal

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In addition to taking a closer look at engine health, an oil sampling program can lead to longer drain intervals, which reduces costs and frees up technicians at Pilot Flying J Truck Care and elsewhere to take on other projects.

There’s nothing bad about engine oil sampling — if it’s done right

BY TOM QUIMBY

O

xidation, fuel dilution, copper, lead, potassium, aluminum, iron and so much more. Used engine oil analysis not only reveals elements and conditions that can help fleets maximize oil life, it also can provide warnings of an upcoming engine failure.

“I think it’s a very good way to be proactive on maintenance,” said Stede Granger, OEM technical services manager for Shell Lubricants, who has studied thousands of engine oil reviews over the past 40 years.

Granger said mechanical systems typically provide a warning of some type. “If you’re smart enough to pay attention to that warning, you can do things like work to prevent breakdowns on the road, because you get a warning ahead of time before the catastrophic failure happens or the failure happens to the point that you can’t drive the truck,” he said. “This is a way for you to pick up on early warnings before the failure actually happens.”

Dave Latimer, vice president of shop operations for Pilot Flying J Truck Care, said that in addition to taking a closer look at engine health, an oil sampling program can lead to 84

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longer drain intervals, which reduces costs and frees up technicians to take on other projects.

“By having a good oil analysis program, you can maximize your serviceability,” Latimer said. “You can extend your drain, taking it out as far as what’s best for your vehicle without causing any damage. I always look at it and say it’s really very cheap insurance. It’s not an expensive endeavor, but it amazes me that more companies do not participate.”

The American Petroleum Institute, which regularly tests oils to ensure that they live up to the manufacturer’s performance claims, believes oil sampling among fleets makes good sense.

“There’s a false way of thinking that all oils are the same,” said Kevin Ferrick, director for API Product Programs. “We’ve licensed more than 20,000 products in our system, so that tells me that there’s more than one way to make an engine oil. If fleets are devoting some time to making sure that the oil is performing as they expect, I think that’s a wise thing for them to do.”

One company that does participate in regular oil testing is Dot Foods, the nation’s largest food industry redistributor. Dot

EQUIPMENT: ENGINE OIL SAMPLING relies on ExxonMobil to take a closer look at engine performance through careful examination of their used engine oil. Reports are shared with Dot. “The big benefit is seeing the results come back with no alerts,” said Mike Jones, Dot’s truck maintenance manager. “This tells us our maintenance program is working as intended and that the engine is in good condition.”

Sometimes tests will show engine issues that need Dot’s attention.

“We have seen results come back with coolant intrusion, fuel contamination, high carbon content, high metal content,” Jones said. “These results trigger us to look into the causes of the alert and make the repair, preventing road breakdowns and catastrophic failures either as a single engine or possibly a group of engines.”

Paul Cigala, commercial vehicle lubricants application engineer for ExxonMobil, said it typically takes 24 to 36 hours to provide fleets with oil sampling test results.

“I send out daily reports to my customers to say, ‘Hey, I see XYZ in this report. You may want to take a look at this and make a repair before it becomes an engine breakdown,’ ” Cigala said.

Fleets work with oil analysis managers to determine testing parameters. Results can vary depending on various criteria such as engine age and condition, duty cycle, oil type and additive levels.

“The most things I see in a used engine oil analysis report typically are fuel dilution —anything over 5%, 6% or 7% fuel dilution, and we can start seeing the loss of that lubrication boundary of the oil and start seeing internal wear inside the engine,” Cigala said. “Then EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) coolant leaks, head gasket leaks — those are other common things that I can pick out in a used oil analysis to help the customer out.”

You’ve come a long way, baby Oil analysis is nothing new. Decades of careful observations of an engine’s lifeblood have led to innovative formulations and, when paired with new engine technology, have delivered impressive gains in oil life.

Granger and Latimer each have spent about 40 years studying and responding to oil performance tests, and they have seen oil change intervals lengthen dramatically, which has delivered fleets plenty of savings in time and money.

“I’ve been in this business since 1982, and back then, our service intervals recommended by the manufacturers were 10,000 miles, 20,000 miles,” Latimer said. “Now they’re about four or five times greater. Sure, oil has changed somewhat. The effectiveness of filtration has changed somewhat. But mainly, we were throwing away good oil — that’s the reality.”

Careful oil analysis coupled with new technology is helping to change that. In December 2016, the oil industry underwent a

noteworthy change when the new PC-11 oils (CK-4 and FA-4) hit the market. Oil analysts have been getting more real-world data ever since, and they like what they see.

“One of the objectives of PC-11 was to increase the oxidation resistance of the oil, and it sure has done that,” Granger said. “Our products look very good in oxidation control — so much so that we go with pretty long drains, and we still see some oxidation protection still remaining in the oil.”

Cigala also is impressed with PC-11. “These formulations are very robust,” he said. “Oxidation stability is very good. Viscosity control is fantastic compared to what it was in the past.”

Though compatibility is still fairly limited, fleets that are using FA-4 are seeing encouraging results.

“There’s another .5% to 1% over a CK-4 oil fuel economy benefit that we’ve seen in our testing,” Cigala said.

As oil formulations have changed through the years, so have testing parameters. Granger recalls when testing for the presence of sulfuric acid in crankcase oil ranked high among analysts.

The highly corrosive acid can cause greater engine wear if not addressed properly with an alkaline additive that will counter low pH levels. The acid was traced to high levels of sulfur in diesel fuel that were 33,000% higher than today’s ultra-low-sulfur diesel, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has capped at 15 parts per million.

“One of the highest limits I can remember was 5,000 parts per million sulfur,” Granger said. “That was pretty high, and what happens when those contaminants get inside the crankcase, some of that sulfur in the fuel found its way down into the crankcase and combined with some moisture which is part of the combustion process and formed sulfuric acid.”

As emissions became more of a concern, engine design changed to help lower pollutants. Unfortunately, using new technology can mean trading one problem for another.

Oil analysis is a tool helpful in determining the quality of an engine’s oil and how much additional service life it can offer. A number of OEMs partner with customers on analysis programs to help evaluate qualifications for extended drain intervals.

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EQUIPMENT: ENGINE OIL SAMPLING equipment, which does a great job,” Granger said. “It freed the engine designers away from running the engines for emissions purposes to running the engines more for efficiency purposes, and getting diesels back to where they were even before emissions became a factor in trucks.”

Dot Foods, the nation’s largest food industry redistributor, relies on ExxonMobil to take a closer look at engine performance through careful examination of their used engine oil. Reports are shared with Dot.

“What they did to the engine actually created more fuel soot, which was finding its way down into the crankcase,” Granger said. “Then after a while, our condemning limit became fuel soot and also oil thickening from that oil soot. We were seeing some really, really high levels, and sometimes as a result, you could thicken up an engine oil up to the next SAE grade or higher. That became kind of a condemning point.”

Soot levels dropped as new aftertreatment emissions control systems emerged.

“Fast-forward to where we are now with this emissions control Small fleets and owner-operators tend to be more conservative with existing drain intervals, often not realizing the OEM recommends intervals longer than what they’re practicing.

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Data-driven results Oil in today’s hardworking engines provides plenty of important clues that oil analysts share not only with fleets but also with OEMs. “Your more sophisticated fleets are working with their oil supplier as well as their engine OEMs to maximize the most they can get out of that oil,” Cigala said. “We work very closely in conjunction with the OEMs to make sure they’re comfortable with the (oil analysis) results and that the customer still retains their warranty coverage.”

However, fleets that focus on buying new trucks and running them until their warranties lapse may forego oil analyses.

“Most fleets are not getting the full lifecycle of their vehicle,” Latimer said. “They’re trading that vehicle before the engine is worn out. It’s probably that second owner that will be more inclined to do an oil analysis program.”

Oil sampling results provide insights into engine health that otherwise might have gone unnoticed: • High levels of diesel fuel could be a sign of a leaking injector.

• High levels of copper and lead might mean the bearings are close to failure.

• Excessive amounts of aluminum and iron can indicate excessive engine wear.

• High levels of potassium, sodium and molybdenum can indicate a coolant leak.

“We look at those levels as well and flag them accordingly,” Cigala said. “If we start to see coolant intrusion into the engine oil, and then based on if there’s lead, typically that’s direct coolant into the engine oil. If there’s no lead in the sample, then it’s usually being ingested through the intake system, and that’s usually an EGR cooler leak.”

Cigala said testing also will reveal if a fleet is using additives that promise increased lubricity. Additives remain a controversial topic among oil companies and fleets alike.

“Most of your larger fleets are anti-additive,” said Latimer, who owned an additive company before coming to Pilot. “Normally, oils no longer have zinc, but it is something that is in a lot of additives, and it is valued by some engine manufacturers because it provides lubrication features.”

Other additives also include viscosity enhancers, molybdenum and Teflon, all of which can be detected during oil analysis.

“Some people think an additive will increase the serviceability of the oil,” Latimer said. “Some oil companies say ‘No way.’ Additive companies say ‘Way.’ So it depends on what you believe.”

EQUIPMENT: ENGINE OIL SAMPLING Granger said iron levels typically are higher in a newer engine and will subside as the engine is worn in.

“Modern engines have got that iron wear rate down very, very low,” Granger said. “We see very low iron numbers as compared to what we used to see in engines years ago. That’s probably a combination of improved oils, improved rings, improved liners and so forth and so on. We might tend to plot the data and see if there’s any upturn or sudden increase in the iron generation rate. But we generally see a decrease in the iron generation as the engine gets broken in.”

Sometimes there are some surprises in engine oil testing.

Granger said Shell was getting interesting levels of aluminum and potassium in new engines. After conferring with OEMs, Shell traced those elements to a brazing flux used during the production of aluminum components such as charge air and EGR coolers.

“There’s some mechanism that helps get that into the combustion chamber, and at that point, some of it finds its way down into the crankcase,” Granger said. “There’s a sort of rough ratio, but it bounces around.”

Those aluminum and potassium levels drop as the engine is worn in.

Oil sampling done right When it comes to extracting oil samples from engines, Cigala has a memorable saying that’s worth keeping in mind: garbage in, garbage out.

In other words, oil samples taken hastily from the oil pan drain are likely to be filled with a disproportionate amount of contaminants such as water, fuel and wear metals.

Whether a sample is taken from the oil pan drain (the least preferred method), through the dipstick or from a sampling valve (the most preferred), the engine should have been run and brought up to temperature prior to extraction. Sampling should be done within 30 minutes after cutting off the engine.

A live extraction is possible through a sampling valve while the engine is running. However, if the oil is taken through the dipstick or drain, the engine should be off. Take precautions when extracting hot oil.

If a sample has to be taken from the oil drain, wait 30 seconds or so after removing the drain plug to let heavy contaminants flow from the pan prior to collecting a sample. Five ounces of oil normally will suffice.

Withdrawing oil through the dipstick can be done with clean vinyl tubing and a suction device, Cigala said. Cut the tubing to the length of the dipstick, add another six to eight inches of tubing so you have some maneuverability with the vacuum pump, and screw on a clean bottle down to the dipstick tube.

“That gets you into about the middle of the oil pan,” he said. “Engine up to temperature, then off. Take your sample.

Fumoto Engineering’s N-Series Engine Oil Drain Valve is designed to replace standard oil drain plugs to help simplify oil changing.

The forged brass ball valve also allows the operator to draw a small amount for oil analysis sampling.

Seal it. Register it. Send it in for analysis.”

Analysis programs vary and should be set based on fleet needs that fall within OEM and oil manufacturer guidelines.

“There are multiple different types of analysis programs,” Latimer said. “Some are fairly skinny and only check a certain number of wear particles. A full-blown oil analysis usually checks about 25 different items, including your current viscosity, any wear particles parts per mil, and it will give you a reading as far as what’s acceptable and what’s out of tolerance.”

Oil sampling frequency varies, with some fleets opting for analysis at regular oil change intervals, while others double up and also get sampling inbetween. Dot Foods prefers this approach.

“We set up the sampling interval to match up with our scheduled maintenance program to give periodic results between the oil change interval along with results at the oil change interval,” Jones said.

Analyses done during and between oil drain intervals can help identify issues sooner rather than later, Cigala said.

“We might be able to catch a fuel dilution issue, or we might Cummins’ OilGuard engine be able to catch an EGR cooloil analysis program is free ant that’s just starting to leak for customers who sign up for and receive oil sample kits to so they can watch and see the send back to the company’s engine consuming coolant, and lab for analysis. Cummins then they know where to start personnel analyze the oil and make recommendations on looking for that leak and make oil drain intervals. a repair,” he said. commercial carrier journal

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Redesigned tube bumper latch system

Magnum’s redesigned latch system for its tube bumpers features improved components for impeding movement caused by travel vibrations. The redesigned locking cam is made to be fastened securely by a retractable knob that helps keep the latch in place and prevent any movement, reducing wear on all components. For daily inspection under the hood, simply pull the knob out, and lift the latch. The knob is spring-loaded so that it locks into place automatically once the latch is in the closed position. All the company’s tube bumpers come with the updated system, and retrofit kits also are available.

Magnum Trailer & Equipment Inc., www.magnumtrailer.com, 800-661-3406

Long-haul trailer tire

Cooper’s Pro Series LHT long-haul trailer tire features the company’s ECO (Energy Conservation Optimization) technology that combines design, compounding and construction to provide an ultra-low-rolling-resistance tire with long miles to removal and optimized fuel efficiency. The tire features 12/32nds of tread depth and is engineered with a V-shaped tread pattern with ribs evenly spaced to facilitate improved load distribution. The design also helps ward off irregular wear, and its four-belt steel casing construction allows for multiple retreads.

Cooper’s Wear Square on the shoulder ribs is designed to illustrate tread depth, indicate irregular wear and show when the tire should be pulled for retreading.

The tire is available in size 295/75R22.5 with additional sizes planned.

Cooper Tire and Rubber Co.,

Air compressor for Ram models VMAC’s Underhood 70 Air Compressor is available for 2019 Ram models powered by a Cummins diesel engine. The rotary-screw air compressor is designed to be installed in the engine compartment for protection from the elements and to produce up to 70 cfm of continuous airflow at 100 psi (maximum 175 psi). The lightweight compact unit helps allow customers to carry more tools and equipment and take advantage of better fuel economy.

VMAC, www.vmacair.com, 888-514-6656

Wheel hub scrubber

Blue-Point’s ATHubScrub Hub Scrubber with Pad is suited for wheel service jobs or any job that requires wheel removal. The tool is engineered to remove rust, dirt and corrosion from studs, rotors, hubs and wheels. Its long-lasting disposable abrasive pads are designed to be used with a ½-inch drive impact wrench.

www.coopertire.com, 800-854-6288

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Snap-on, www.snapon.com, 877-762-7664

PRODUCTS

Intelligent control module

Ametek’s user-definable Intelligent Control Module for rugged applications is designed to connect with multiple vehicle systems to enhance control for end users.

The ICM is made to interface through dual CAN buses and 32 switched inputs to control power for up to 40 devices. Using visual logic programming and a builtin Simulink integration, the ICM is engineered to sense and control devices such as lighting, HVAC, radio, switches, sensors, motors and solenoids, allowing users to leverage advanced diagnostics and a wide array of inputs to enhance a vehicle’s telematics system with a more detailed view of the vehicle’s status.

Ametek Vehicular Instrumentation Systems, www.ametekvis.com, 630-231-5900

Refrigerant analyzers Robinair’s R-ID (No. 16990) and R-ID Plus (No. 16995) Refrigerant Analyzers are designed to determine the refrigerant purity of an A/C system quickly and accurately. The analyzers are powered by an internal lithium-ion battery and are engineered to measure the percentage of the refrigerants and of any R-22 and hydrocarbon contaminants. The analyzers also measure the percentage of air in pure R-1234yf and R-134a refrigerants.

An optional R-12 hose is required to test R-12 refrigerant. The tools feature a large easy-to-read color display that shows analysis results. The R-ID Plus adds an internal printer to print test results.

Robinair, www.robinair.com, 800-533-6127

Wireless battery and starter/charger system tester Bosch’s BAT 120 wireless battery and starter/ charger system tester is engineered to perform faster battery system tests and receive full alternator health reports. The tester is designed to work on regular flooded, enhanced flooded, absorbed glass mat (AGM), electric vehicle and start-stop models, as well as batteries with as little as 1.5 volts. The tester displays results through three LED indicators and is equipped with a 20-inch cable with clamps and replaceable test leads and clamps. It stores up to 2,000 test records and email results.

Bosch, www.boschdiagnostics.com/pro, 855-267-2483

Battery vent for electric vehicles Donaldson’s Dual-Stage Battery Vent is engineered to help provide protection for an electric vehicle’s battery pack from water, dirt, contaminants and fluids. The vent equalizes the battery pack’s pressure by protecting the housing from excess over- or under-pressure under normal operating conditions and from the need to expel large amounts of gases quickly if a thermal runaway event begins within the battery pack. The vent’s first stage is designed to equalize pressure while preventing the ingress of water and contaminants, while the second stage is built to activate in response to rapid pressure and heat buildup by opening the vent and allowing expanding gases to escape, which helps deter damage.

Donaldson, www.donaldson.com, 952-887-3131 commercial carrier journal | september 2019

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PRODUCTS

Accessory battery charger

Purkeys’ SteadyCharge Accessory Battery Charger is designed to monitor and maintain an optimal charge level in accessory batteries serving trailer refrigeration and heating units. The charger helps prevent battery depletion during periods of inactivity without overcharging by maintaining a shallow depth of battery discharge.

The durable 10-pound device is rated for exterior mounting on the trailer body and is engineered to operate whenever the tractor is connected to the trailer by using the trailer’s existing seven-way cable, eliminating the need for extra charging cables.

The charging system’s logic controller includes a low-voltage disconnect that helps protect tractor batteries and is programmable to any LVD setpoint. LED status indicators display alerts for any issues and that the unit is functioning properly.

Purkeys, www.purkeys.net, 800-219-1269

Wheel hub cover

Alcoa’s One-Piece Hub Cover with Secure Fit Retention is designed for proper fitment with reduced installation time through the addition of threaded nylon nuts – three per cover – built for consistent contact points to help secure the cover to the wheel end, with taller lug nut towers made for increased stud standout on wide-base wheels and disc brakes. Offered in both front and rear applications, the system is designed to fit 10-hole hub-piloted wheels with a 285.75-mm bolt circle (22.5- and 24.5-in. in diameter). It is available in matching matte black to complement the company’s Dura-Black Wheels.

Alcoa Wheels, www.alcoawheels.com, 800-242-9898

Engine oil

Hot Shot’s Secret’s Green Diamond Fleet Engine Oil is composed of Group III base oils infused with the company’s FR3 Nano Technology and a CK-4 additive package developed for stop-and-go deliveries, severe-duty fleets hauling heavy loads and operations with high levels of airborne particulates. The fully synthetic engine oil is formulated to keep the injectors, turbocharger and engine cleaner while providing oxidation and thermal stability, preventing deposit accumulation and oil breakdown, reducing shearing and friction, preserving film strength and keeping the oil cleaner longer, leading to longer drain intervals, improved mileage and horsepower and reduced soot, noise and vibration. The engine oil is available as a 5W-40 or a 15W-40 blend in 1- and 5-gallon containers. It is recommended for use every 6,000 miles and can be used for up to 60,000 miles.

Hot Shot’s Secret, www.hotshotsecret.com, 800-341-6516

Expanded air disc rotor line

Raybestos has added four air disc rotor part numbers to its specialty rotor line, offering increased coverage for air disc applications. The company’s air disc line is engineered specifically to handle the demands of Class 7 and 8 vehicles by providing better stopping power, durability and endurance under extreme temperatures and vehicle load. All rotors are coated for corrosion resistance.

Raybestos, www.raybestos.com, 815-363-9000 commercial carrier journal | september 2019

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AD INDEX ATA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . mce .trucking .org . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Bestpass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . getbestpass .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Biberk Business Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . biberk .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 CCJ Innovators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ccjinnovators .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 CCJ Solutions Summit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ccjsolutionssummit .com/register . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Citgo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . citgo .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Direct Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . directequipmentsupply .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Double Coin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . doublecointires .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Driver of the Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . truckload .org/driver-of-the-year/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Drivers Legal Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . driverslegalplan .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10, 11 Eberspacher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . eberspaecher-na .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 ERoad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . eroad .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .IFC-ELD Etcom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . etcominc .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 EZ Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ezoildrain .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Fleet Complete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . bigroad .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43-ELD FleetPride . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . fleetpride .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Fumoto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . fumotousa .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Hankook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . hankooktire .com/us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .IBC Howes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . howeslube .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Idelic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . idelic .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Instructional Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . instructiontech .net . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 International Trucks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . internationaltrucks .com/loves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IFC-1 IPA Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ipatools .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Kenworth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . kenworth .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-13 Konexial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . my20eld .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49-ELD Noregon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . noregon .com/jpro/CCJ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 O’Reilly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . oreillyauto .com/professional-catalogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Pedigree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pedigreetechnologies .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IBC-ELD Peterbilt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . peterbilt .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BC PrePass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . prepass .com/CCJ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 ProMiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . promiles .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 RigDig . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . randallreilly .com/amslideshow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Shell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . shell .us/b2training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Shell Rotella . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . shell .us/rotellavaluecalculator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 TA Petro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ta-petro .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Teletrac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . teletracnavman .com/ccj . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45-ELD ThinAir Telematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . thinair .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47-ELD TMC ATA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . tmc .trucking .org . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Veeboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . veeboards .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Verizon Connect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . verizonconnect .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Verizon Connect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . go .verizonconnect .com/get-eld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BC-ELD Vipar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . truckforceservice .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Xtra Lease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xtralease .com/sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Zamzow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . zamzow-tarp .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Zonar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . zonarsystems .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 commercial carrier journal | september 2019

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commercial carrier journal | september 2019

he fender-bender occurred about 9 a.m. at an intersection in downtown Indianapolis. At that time, the sky was bright blue, and the surface of two-lane West 86th Street – occupied by John Doe’s tractor-trailer – was bone dry. As the traffic light turned green, Doe took a second to make sure no red-light runners were making a lastsecond dash, and then he nosed his tractor-trailer into the intersection.

Immediately, a tremendous “BANG!” indicated that something had ruined his day. Sure enough, a glance at the West Coast mirror showed that a somewhat-compressed car had molded itself around his trailer’s tandem. Happily, no one was injured, and the commercial vehicle was undamaged.

It seems that a brown Dodge SUV driven by 18-year-old Herbie Hoffmeyer had been proceeding toward the intersection on North Township Line Road at an estimated speed of 35 mph when it suddenly dawned on Hoffmeyer that the traffic signal ahead was bright red.

Trucker John Doe entered the A panic stop proved insuffiintersection when the traffic cient to save the day. Leaving signal turned green, but his 15 feet of skid marks in his tractor-trailer was rammed by an wake, Hoffmeyer’s car slid SUV whose driver wasn’t paying into the intersection and attention to his red light. Was struck Doe’s trailer! this a preventable accident?

Doe’s trucking company wondered if he could have avoided the accident in some fashion. Consequently, accident details were forwarded to the National Safety Council’s Accident Review Committee for a final decision. NSC’s judgment was nonpreventable. Even if Doe had dragged his heels in moving into the intersection, his rig would have suffered from the SUV’s kamikaze attack.

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TREAD B R A V E LY .

Hankook long haul tires are developed for dependability and fuel efficiency, delivering increased mileage and total lifecycle cost savings. Learn more at www.HankookTire.com/us

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DELIVERS DAY AFTER DAY

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