Fleet Executive September/October 2014

Professional Connection MOTORTRUCK

SEE PAGE 45

SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2014

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Contents.indd 2

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Volume 83, No. 05

September/October 2014

contents

Cover Story 20 NAVIGATING THE ROADBLOCKS

Autonomous and self-driving technology is finally looking like a real possibility, but society doesn’t seem ready to take its hands off the wheel.

21

Features 27 GREEN TO GOLD In Fleet Executive’s 8th annual supplement, companies and organizations explain what they are doing to save the planet while saving money.

34 DATA DRIVEN Bushell Transport depends on cloud-based software to run the business.

37 PROFITABILITY

Departments 4 WHAT’S ON TRUCKNEWS.COM 6 THE VIEW WITH LOU 8 CHECK CALL 9 MAILBAG 12 THE BOTTOM LINE 14 RISKY BUSINESS 16 TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS 18 THE HUMAN EDGE

37 Digging deep and broad | Accurately calculating a truck’s true total cost of ownership means digging deep across all departments.

38

38 The “fun” is back in the LTL industry | Volumes and prices finally favouring carriers.

39 GEARED UP 39 A new star in the desert | Western Star introduces its first aero: the 5700XE.

39

41 Volvo goes big | Review of the VNX heavy hauler.

43 Alt fuel test drive | Taking a CNG retrofit down the highway.

46 INSIDE THE NUMBERS

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FLEET EXECUTIVE 3

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WHAT’S ON TRUCKNEWS.COM Brought to you by the editors of Truck News, Truck West and Fleet Executive

BLOGS

FEATURES

> B ehind the Kriska-Mullen deal Roger McKnight ponders where the gas tax goes. trucknews.com/ blogs/money-paygas-go

Kriska COO Jonathan Wahba explains how it will affect Mill Creek and the Canadian trucking industry tinyurl.com/Mullen-Kriska

>M ercedes-Benz bolsters commercial van lineup Company bringing mid-sized vehicle to North America tinyurl.com/MB-van

> K now when to permit, when to prorate

Being in the right jurisdiction can mean a fortune in HST, GST and PST savings tinyurl.com/permit-prorate

> T he best drivers in Canada

Results from the National Truck Driving Championships

Carolina Billings offers a SMART approach to culture change. www.trucknews. com/blogs/ merger-acquisitionnew-leadershipchange-eminentbegin

tinyurl.com/Can-champs

Web TV:

Transportation Matters TRUCK NEWS TAKES THE ICY PLUNGE Kathy Penner and Lou Smyrlis meet the ALS ice bucket challenge tinyurl.com/TN-icebucket SUCCESS IN THE WEST Western supply chains the focus at CITT’s Logistics Conference 2014. tinyurl.com/CITT-west

Ray Haight shows us his plan to help a fleet halt employee turnover. trucknews.com/ blogs/start-solidfoundation

STOP THIEF PART II More on what you can do to combat cargo theft tinyurl.com/cargo-crime-2 WATCHING THE CLOCK Verspeeten talks tight windows, JIT in automotive hauling tinyurl.com/verspeeten

SOCIAL MEDIA FIND US ON FACEBOOK facebook.com/trucknews

4 FLEET EXECUTIVE ❙ September/October 2014

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FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @FleetExecutive | @TruckNewsMag | @JamesMenzies | @LouSmyrlis @JuliaKuzeljevic | @KathyPenner | @SoniaStraface trucknews.com

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MOTORTRUCK

THE VIEW WITH LOU is written and published for owners, managers and maintenance supervisors of those companies that operate, sell and service trucks, truck trailers and transit buses.

Street wise?

VOL. 83 NO. 05 PUBLISHER & EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Lou Smyrlis (416) 510-6881 lou@TransportationMedia.ca EDITOR

Carolyn Gruske

The public mood can be fickle yet it’s also worth understanding Lou Smyrlis

MCILT, Editor • lou@transportationmedia.ca

T

he American Trucking Associations took the pulse of the American public on a couple of trucking related issues recently and discovered a couple of things fleet executives north of the border should find interesting.

The ATA’s poll, conducted by Public Opinion Strategies and comprising 800 respondents, found a surprising amount of support among the American public for spending more on infrastructure. Participants were asked whether the US should spend more or spend less on several priorities, including K-12 public schools; transportation infrastructure; anti-terrorism and national defense; health care; environmental protection; food and drug inspection; and government assistance to the unemployed.

While K-12 public schools came out on top with 61% supporting spending more on them and only 14% wanting to spend less, spending on infrastructure came out second with 48% supporting an increase in spending and only 10% wanting to spend less. Seventy one percent of respondents felt their nation’s roadways were only in fair to poor condition. Almost half of Americans (49%) believe traffic congestion impacts the quality of their life.

So it would seem US truckers’ long-term plea to improve the nation’s infrastructure is in line with the American public. And that can only be good news for fleet executives hoping for the same kind of support here.

Well, not exactly.

When survey respondents were told that “it is estimated that in order to repair, update and modernize their nation’s roads, highways and bridges, it would cost $4 trillion over the next 25 years” and then given several different ways that this money could be raised, their enthusiasm for infrastructure improvements quickly fizzled.

Not one of the funding proposals presented received a better than 36% approval rating, 6 FLEET EXECUTIVE ❙ September/October 2014

(416) 510-6809

cgruske@TransportationMedia.ca GEARED UP EDITOR

James Menzies (416) 510-6896 jmenzies@trucknews.com FEATURES EDITOR

Julia Kuzeljevich (416) 510-6880 julia@TransportationMedia.ca CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

leading Neil Newhouse, a partner in the firm which conducted the poll to conclude: “Americans say there is a need to spend more money (on infrastructure) but they don’t want it coming out of their pockets…It would take a heck of a lobbying job to get any of these proposals passed.”

As ATA president and CEO Bill Graves pointed out shortly afterwards, infrastructure is not free, and it’s not cheap, and it’s not going to get repaired or rebuilt by osmosis. Unfortunately, the average American seems to believe that it can. Even more unfortunate is the reality that the longer necessary infrastructure repairs are ignored, the higher the repair bill ges.

The second lesson delivered by the poll results has to do with the industry’s image and safety. Turns out the American public may have a more favorable image of trucking than many in the industry would have thought. Almost two thirds (65%) of the survey’s 800 respondents said they had a “favorable” impression of the industry and only 9% said their impression of it was “unfavorable.” The vast majority felt truck drivers were far less likely than passenger vehicle drivers to make unsafe traffic maneuvers, violate the speed limit, or cause a crash. But they did have concerns about the hours truck drivers work and a considerably smaller majority (57%) thought the industry had a good to excellent safety record.

How can the industry be made safer?

Respondents were provided with several options.

Eighty six percent of them chose “placing new technology on trucks to make sure drivers weren’t on the road for too many hours at a time.”

Carriers still opposed to EOBRs in their trucks should note that the industry’s image is inextricably tied to its safety record. And a public that has become progressively used to the efficiency and accuracy of digital record keeping over the past 20 years, finds it rather odd that some in our industry insist on the old pencil and paper. FE

Sonia Straface (416) 510-6890 sstraface@TransportationMedia.ca CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Stephen Ferrie sferrie@bizinfogroup.ca ADVERTISING CREATIVE DIRECTORS

Carolyn Brimer Beverley Richards CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Ken Mark Ian Putzger John G. Smith Carroll McCormick Harry Rudolfs ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

Kathy Penner (416) 510-6892 kpenner@trucknews.com NATIONAL SALES MANAGER

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ACCOUNT MANAGER

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Bruce Creighton Head Office: 80 Valleybrook Drive Toronto, ON M3B 2S9 Motortruck Fleet Executive is published by BIG Magazines LP, a division of Glacier BIG Holdings Company Ltd., a leading Canadian information company with interests in daily and community newspapers and business-to-business information services.

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14-10-08 2:30 PM

CHECK CALL

Embrace the risk Adopt the right attitude and reactions toward technological change Carolyn Gruske

Editor • cgruske@transportatiomedia.ca

L

ooking out a window situated 51 floors above street level should provide a spectacular view of the city skyline, but when the fog rolls in, it’s hard to see what should be right in front of your eyes. Making predictions about the future is a bit like attempting to peer through the fog: it’s obvious that changes will be coming, but it’s pretty hard to see exactly what they are or how they’ll be implemented.

Recently, IBM Canada Ltd. hosted a discussion about cloud computing, connected technologies and smart cities. With no formal agenda or presentations, it was more of a cocktail party in a fancy restaurant attended by old colleagues and fascinating new people than it was a typical industry briefing.

The rain and the fog prevented the view from the highrise eatery from being as spectacular as it could be, but the inclement weather didn’t do anything to dampen the enthusiasm in the room as conversations leapt from the computing and database power required to enable online gaming, to the reasons why smart utility meters aren’t that smart, to the reluctance of Canadian governments (of all levels) to participate more fully in the open data movement.

Transportation and logistics were also popular topics as people talked about augmented reality (AR) systems— DHL, for example, thinks that AR could be used to help drivers find their way while performing last mile navigation and last metre delivery. The company also believes AR could offer enhanced traffic congestion information, and expects it could assist in the cargo completeness check process—predictive traffic light synching (measuring the flow of traffic, analyzing the data and then using the results to adjust the timing of traffic control signals to ensure the traffic will continue to flow as easily as possible further along the routes), networks of Wi-Fi connected vehicles sharing information with each other, and of course selfdriving vehicles (see cover story, page 20).

Despite many of the attendees making their livings by developing and promoting new technologies, everybody had a realistic view about how easy it will be to export the hightech solutions from the engineering labs to the real world.

They understand that there is an inertia hurdle to overcome.

John Longbottom, IBM Canada’s national program executive for smarter cities, described the problem in terms of risk, reward and failure. The more technologically advanced or complicated the project is, the higher the possibility of failure is. If it goes wrong, then the people responsible for it take a

8 FLEET EXECUTIVE ❙ September/October 2014

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hit to their public image, which is a serious problem if you’re a politician looking to get re-elected or even a company executive who has to answer to shareholders. This creates a risk-adverse climate, where a reluctance to try anything new is bred and fostered.

Despite the play-it-safe attitude Longbottom believes that society will be driven to adopt new technologies, as you and I—everyday consumers and citizens sporting multiple devices (smart phones, tablets, laptops, maybe even smart watches)—will push for more and more mobile-accessible services. We will want access and answers at our fingers instantaneously, no matter what the device or platform.

Organizations, be they small municipalities, provincial government ministries or businesses, will eventually learn to adapt more quickly and more efficiently to fast-moving technological changes and will start to create strategies and protocols that will hasten adoption. They’ll figure out how to best manage the volumes of data that will be generated and will then figure out how to tap those goldmines of information and extract value from them.

In order to prepare for this eventuality, Longbottom suggests positioning your business as one that can be part of the value chain: figure out a way you can piggy back off the new capabilities and technologies and offer your customers a way to be part of the coming future. Show them you are a leader in your space, and they can count on you to pull them along and prevent them from being left behind with all of the rest of the dinosaur businesses that can’t evolve.

As to exactly what technologies or systems will become the next big thing, that’s almost impossible to say, just as it’s impossible to see past the fog bank and view the city below.

So in order to put yourself in the best position to take advantage of whatever is to come, Longbottom says businesses— including trucking companies—should focus on “shortening their time to action.”

By becoming nimbler and quicker to respond to change, by having procedures for evaluating new technologies and implementing pilot testing projects, by having proven and effective means of educating employees and introducing new concepts to them, and by having marketing and sales departments that are able to quickly craft messages to explain how your business can utilize the next technology to save your clients time or money and offer better service, your fleet can put itself in the best position to grow and thrive in the future. FE

trucknews.com

14-10-08 2:30 PM

MAIL BAG

MEDICAL MARIJUANA REBUTTAL

Last issue, in his Risky Business column, Rick Gellar addressed the issue of drivers and other employees using medical marijuana (http://tinyurl.com/RiskyBiz-MJ). After reading the column, Edgar Murdoch, a life-long commercial driver, professional singer and trucking memoir author, sent the following response.

P

ot, bud, spice, kief, Mary Jane, MJ, weed, hash, grass, joint, cannabis by any other name is still cannabis. Apparently, according to a recent article by Rick Geller, the use of this prescribed medication in relation to the trucking industry is a stinky red herring. Perhaps that is how it is perceived but it needn’t be seen as such.

Geller asks the question, “How does the usage of prescribed medical marijuana impact the employee’s ability to do the job?” The question ought to be, “How does the usage of any medication impact the employee’s ability to do the job?”

76% of doctors polled in 56 North American states and provinces approved the use of medical marijuana. It is said to reduce arthritic pain and assist in the recovery of chemo patients. It is used widely to help those with AIDS and has been useful in controlling insulin levels and the prevention of diabetes. Dr. Tashkin, a professor of medicine at UCLA and

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the expert on the subject for the US National Institute of Drug Abuse, was stunned to find after a 20 year study of 2,400 Los Angeles residents, rather than causing cancer, the use of cannabis actually helped prevent the dreaded disease. The positives seem to far outweigh any negatives. There is an increase in heartbeat associated with cannabis ingestion, however the criteria here is for medicinal and not recreational usage of the drug. If taken as prescribed there are no adverse reactions.

Marijuana as a medicine to treat disease and to relieve adverse symptomatic pain and discomfort has been used for thousands of years by many, many cultures world-wide.

Smoking the weed is not recommended because of the adverse effects associated with inhaling any substance. When it is made into a confection or an edible concoction it takes a little longer for the beneficial properties to be released but is p11 the much preferred method of consumption.

September/October 2014 ❙ FLEET EXECUTIVE 9

14-10-08 2:31 PM

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MAIL BAG Vicodin, OxyContin, morphine, even Tylenol III (which is widely available) are highly abused and more lethal than medical marijuana. Prescription drug overdoses kill more people than illegal drugs or traffic accidents and over 100,000 ordinary folk die in hospitals in the USA every year due to misdiagnosed or wrongly administered prescription drugs. None die from the use of medical marijuana which is a drug that occurs naturally and our bodies come equipped with natural cannabinoid receptors designed to absorb its benefits.

Modern medical marijuana cultivation has developed a plant with more of the therapeutic and healing characteristics than the psychotropic properties. TCH (tetrahydrocannibinol) is the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis that gets one ‘stoned’.

CBD (cannabidiol) is the healing ingredient and does not produce a ‘high.’ It is the TCH which was idolized and nurtured, while the CBD was largely bred out of the plant that loaded pop culture in the ’60s and ’70s with the baggage that legitimate use today has difficulty in shrugging off. Notwithstanding this however, California, so repressive in so many other ways, legalized its distribution as a medication 18 years ago. Twenty-two other states have since followed suit. It is the giant and unscrupulous pharmaceutical industry that is still attempting to pile on that early baggage since it stands to lose all the profit attached to its legal use. Its lobbyists are legion and with deep pockets!

A very recent study has revealed that in American states that have approved prescribed marijuana for medical intervention

trucknews.com

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there has been a dramatic drop of up to 33% in deaths due to overdose of opioids such as oxycodone and morphine. In the USA alone prescription narcotic painkillers are the cause of 46 deaths every single day.

The responsible distribution and consumption of cannabis as a therapeutic and healing substance, in my opinion, is a safer and healthier tool for medicinal use than the proliferation of any synthetic drug to achieve a similar purpose. Cannabis is much less addictive than these manufactured drugs. The only concern is that because marijuana is a plant there is a disparate range of quality and strength in different strains. It is therefore paramount to locate a trusted source of supply, and of course, keep it out of reach of children and household pets that test everything by putting it in their mouths.

The other question to ask might be, “Would you rather meet a happy and pain-free big rig driver coming at you on the two-lane or a miserable pain-wracked gear jockey high on some prescribed or over-the-counter or even illegal painkiller.

The problem for the international trucking community, is that at the time of writing this item there remains an atmosphere of zero tolerance when crossing the boundary into the Excited States. And don’t forget, any absorption will take the body up to 30 days to result in a negative test.

Ed Murdoch To read and comment on our industry blogs, visit http://www.trucknews.com/blogs

September/October 2014 ❙ FLEET EXECUTIVE 11

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BOTTOM LINE

Spam is dead.

Long live spam

SPAM

Canadian Anti-Spam Law lightens inbox

By Mike McCarron

T

hanking our government for anything is just not in my DNA. So speaking on behalf of my e-mail inbox, I’d like to give kudos to Ottawa for the antispam legislation it put into effect on July 1.

You’ve probably heard about the Canadian Anti-Spam Law (CASL). It applies to commercial electronic messages sent to or from computers and devices in Canada.

Before marketers can hit the send button they need to do three things: they have to identify themselves, they have to offer a way to opt out of similar messages in the future, and they must obtain the consent of their intended victim.

The good news is that the legislation is working. The bad news is that it has created chaos for companies that use e-mail for sales and customer communications.

That newsletter you blindly pump out every week? Do you really need the OK of everyone on your list? That prospect who gave you a business card—does that count as consent?

And what’s your list going to look like now that there’s an “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of your e-mails?

Giving people a way to lighten the load in their inbox can be an opportunity for marketers who embrace a more responsible way of doing business. It reminds me of all the security initiatives in the post-9/11 era. At the time, their cost and aggravation made me loath Big Government even more than usual. But when all was said and done, I realized that playing by tougher rules gave our company a huge competitive advantage. This law is no different.

As you ponder the fate (and legality) of your e-mail contact list, you might want to consider the following:

1. E-mail is not dead Don’t believe the hipsters who say e-mail is dead. It may take more work to use it as a marketing platform, but e-mail remains an accepted and trusted way to communicate, move documents, and archive correspondence. The challenge is to find the most effective way to get the message out, whether it’s by e-mail, social media, or some other means of direct marketing. One size does not fit all!

a reason to consent to receiving what you have to say. Inject opinions and personality into your content. I certainly don’t have all the answers but in my writing I try to educate, engage, and entertain. If you piss off the odd person, so be it. You’ll get a much better response by serving pumpkin cheesecake instead of vanilla content.

3. The new close Every e-mail marketing strategy must involve the sales team.

Once the new carmel chocolate crunch e-mail plan is developed someone has to “close” the customer. Convincing the decision-maker that your new and improved material is worth receiving will be a challenge. But don’t fret if he doesn’t sign on the dotted line. There are lots of ways to engage customers. Have a frank discussion to determine what form of communication works best. At the very least, asking people for their consent to send information shows that you respect them and their time.

4. Behind the scenes The work really starts once your contacts consent to receiving your e-mails. There are excellent e-mail marketing services that can help you build campaigns, manage lists, and provide a treasure trove of data. E-mail open rates and click-throughs will give you incredible insight into what’s important to customers. If no one’s reading the “Commentary from the C-Suite” column it might be time to replace it with something that adds value. Sorry, Mr. President.

Canada’s anti-spam legislation isn’t an obscure law, nor was it snuck onto the books. There’s been a lot written about it and e-mail marketing companies have done a good job educating people about how to comply. The Canadian government has plenty of material online, too (try fightspam.gc.ca or www.crtc.gc.ca).

I was upset when I first heard about the anti-spam law, then I was relieved once it became clear it applied to unsolicited junk mail and not my favorite canned lunch treat. Long live Spam! FE

2. Vanilla tastes bad

Mike McCarron was one of the founding “M”s in MSM Transportation before the company was purchased by the Wheels Group. Based in Toronto, he currently works for Wheels in mergers and acquisitions and can be reached at mmccarron@wheelsgroup.com. Follow Mike on Twitter @AceMcC.

Your marketing department might shoot me for saying this but the reason people ignore your e-mail marketing is because it’s bland. It’s vanilla.

Too much direct-marketing content is self serving and just not useful. It has no texture or flavour. You have to give people 12 FLEET EXECUTIVE ❙ September/October 2014

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RISKY BUSINESS

SOLUTIONS TO HELP CARRIERS TURN SAFETY INTO A PROFIT CENTRE

The lost art of trip planning Better prepared drivers don’t run afoul of HoS regulations

By Rick Geller

H

ours of service regulations continue to be a challenge for a good number of carriers. Some wage war with HoS regulations, looking for exemption loopholes. Others abdicate the responsibility and make it the driver’s problem to manage. The common theme amongst these carriers is they remain convinced that they cannot make money if they run legally.

For these carriers, HoS violations become a vicious circle that is an incredible profit drain on the company. Aside from the obvious fines incurred, there are unscheduled delays, utilization inefficiencies, and increased driver turnover.

According to a recent ATRI study, violators experience a crash rate that is 83% higher than the total carrier population.

Inevitably, their HoS violation rate attracts unwanted attention from either a regulator or an insurer, and their response is to deal with the symptom and provide the driver with refresher training and/or discipline while ignoring the disease.

Most HoS issues can be attributed to a lack of proper trip planning. For several reasons trip planning seems to have become a lost art. Some of the factors include depending on technologies like dispatch software programs that provide pre-plan routing and scheduling, over-reliance on the restart provisions, and, at the street level, swearing by GPS technology that provides a one-dimensional look at the trip.

When I talk with carriers, invariably their trip planning consists of allowing drivers to max out their hours and then use the re-start provision. Most will acknowledge that they have a lot of drivers who get part way home, use the re-start, and then are prevented from using the re-start at home because they do not have the requisite 168 hours between re-starts.

Others acknowledge that crashes happen because the shortest/fastest route identified by the driver’s GPS system included topography that they would have avoided.

I continue to be surprised by the number of carriers that do not know the number of hours required for a common trip that they run. It is not uncommon for me to hear that the company expects drivers to complete a 1,500-mile trip in less than 48 hours!

Over-riding all of this is a lack of communication between the driver and the operations staff after the load assignment has been provided to the driver. The complexity of HoS rules, coupled with the road and traffic conditions routinely encountered, dictate that carriers need to provide additional trip planning support for their drivers. The days of firing up the truck, heading out and then 14 FLEET EXECUTIVE ❙ September/October 2014

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figuring it out as you go are long gone!

If you really want to gain better control over HoS and reduce the associated profitability drains, consider the following: Provide all drivers and operations staff with trip planning training. Operations staff cannot provide guidance to the drivers if they do not have the information themselves.

Develop a means to assess each driver’s proficiency in trip planning. Then tailor the level of support provided.

Manage your customer’s expectations. Become more realistic in your fleet’s ability to provide service.

As a rule of thumb, use 23 mph when dispatching single drivers and 45 mph for teams. This will give you the total drive and rest time needed to complete the trip legally.

Develop a trip plan agreement between the driver and the dispatcher. Have a mechanism in place to ensure adherence to the plan. If, for example, the company expects the driver to leave at 9:00 AM, follow-up to ensure he departed.

Implement a policy requiring the driver and dispatcher to discuss trip segments on a daily basis. When the driver calls in the morning, determine where they currently are, where they are headed for today, where they plan to take their 30-minute break, where are their fuel and meal stops, etc.

If drivers are not going to be able to make delivery, you want to learn that early so you can consider alternatives.

Hold operations staff accountable for adherence to trip plans and avoiding HoS violations.

Don’t tell drivers “do the best you can.” Operations own the responsibility to have freight delivered on-time and damagefree. Drivers are entitled to better guidance and instruction.

In the majority of cases, it is the profit drain associated with HoS violations that causes people to believe they can’t make money running legally. Eliminate the bleeding and watch what happens! FE

Rick Geller, CRM, has been providing innovative and cost-effective risk management solutions to the trucking industry for more than 30 years. He serves on the board of directors for both the Truck Training Schools Association of Ontario (TTSAO) and the Professional Truck Driving Institute (PTDI). He is also the incoming chair of the Toronto Chapter of the Fleet Safety Council, as well as an executive committee member for both the Ontario and Toronto Regional Truck Driving Championships. trucknews.com

14-10-08 2:33 PM

Fleet Safety Council rd 23 Annual Educational Conference November 7-9, 2014

This year’s event promises to be an information-packed three day overview of these topics and more. Watch for details in the coming months at fleetsafetycouncil.com or follow us on Twitter@FleetSafetyConf or contact IHSA at 1-800-263-5024 ext. 7936 Marriott Gateway Niagara Falls, Niagara Falls, Ontario

For more details, use your smartphone’s scanning program to access this code and get additional details about the conference.

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Do you want to: • Improve road safety?

• Prepare better driver files?

• Increase your knowledge of court proceedings?

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TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS

Selling your business? What could go wrong?

Four tips to make sure you get the most for your company

By Mark Borkowski

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our business likely represents a major portion of your net worth. Before you sell your business, team up with an experienced M&A advisor. He or she will help you get the best price for your company and steer you clear of the pitfalls that could cause you to lose the value of your life’s work.

Here are four mistakes that are easily avoided when you have professional advice: Mistake #1: Accepting a large “earn-out” instead of cash at closing A company comes to you with an offer to buy your business.

They tell you what a great job you’ve done and what a great company you’ve built. Then they tell you about their company, they wine you and dine you, and maybe even fly you out to their corporate headquarters. You begin to get comfortable with them. They seem like good guys. Then they make an offer with a very strong price, but with one hitch. Most of the purchase price is an “earn out”—paid to you only if your company reaches certain performance goals going forward.

This kind of arrangement may be acceptable if you get the bulk of the purchase price, let’s say 70-80%, in cash at closing. But if the numbers are reversed and you get only a small down payment, don’t do it. Even if you continue to run the company for the buyer after closing, you’re not really in control. They call the shots. And if their decisions cause your company not to do well, you’re not going to get paid the full purchase price. It’s that simple.

Mistake #2: Taking stock in the buying company in lieu of cash Similar to Scenario 1, but instead of accepting an “earn out”, you accept stock in the buying company with just a small cash down payment. This is even more dangerous than the earn-out scenario.

In the earn-out scenario, you’ll at least have some control of your company after closing. When you accept stock instead of cash, however, you are completely at the mercy of the buyer.

If his company goes down, your stock goes down. And if the market tanks, as we all know it can, the value of your stock tanks as well. What makes this scenario even worse is that the stock you received when you sold your business will often be restricted—you’ll be prohibited from selling it for a period of time after closing, typically two years. It’s a recipe for disaster.

is almost finished, the buyer has secured financing and the deal is scheduled to go to closing. You decide to hold a company-wide meeting to tell your staff about the impending sale. But then something happens. The deal is called off.

Now what? Now your employees, your competitors, your vendors and your banker all know that you are trying to sell.

Your employees get nervous and start looking for other jobs, your competitors tell your customers that you’re going out of business, your vendors put you on COD and your banker calls in your line of credit. It’s a nightmare scenario which, with the proper advice about how to maintain confidentiality, could easily have been avoided.

Mistake #4: Choosing the Wrong M&A Firm You attend a seminar where a company promises to sell your business for three, four, five or even ten times its true value. Back away. Don’t get sucked in. This is actually a very sophisticated scam.

Companies like this put on slick presentations, but are really only interested in collecting big up-front fees, not in actually selling businesses. They claim they can create a “frenzy of buyer interest” that will “skyrocket the price to stratospheric levels.” Don’t be fooled. It’s all smoke and mirrors. They want to get you excited and then stick you with a $30-50K up-front fee. And then good luck getting your phone calls or e-mails returned.

Don’t learn the hard way: if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Stick with a reputable broker who is willing to earn his “success fee” only when the sale of your business is completed.

You are an expert in running your business. But you’re not an expert in selling businesses. Most business owners aren’t— they simply don’t have any experience with the process. Just as providing your product or service requires specific experience and expertise, selling your business requires a specific but different set of experience and expertise.

Your business very likely represents your largest personal asset. Selling your business and turning your biggest asset into dollars is too important to be left to an amateur. You need the services of an expert FE

Mark Borkowski, is president of Mercantile Mergers & Acquisitions Corp. Mercantile is a midmarket M&A brokerage firm. He can be contacted at www.mercantilemergersacquisitions.com

Mistake #3: Failing to maintain confidentiality You’ve negotiated a deal with the buyer, the purchase contract 16 FLEET EXECUTIVE ❙ September/October 2014

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THE HUMAN EDGE

PLAN FOR SUCCESS

Well-thought-out HR strategies deliver tangible returns

By Angela Splinter

Trucking HR Canada

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very experienced manager will admit that a business is only as strong as its employees, but many fleets can still be surprised by the tangible returns generated through sound human resources practices.

Recent research by Gallup shows that a business can realize as much as 59% more revenue per employee by systematically picking the right managers, identifying personnel who have the natural talent to excel in specific roles, properly engaging employees, and focusing on employee strengths.

Retaining the right employees will make a difference of its own. Trucking HR Canada research has determined that it costs between $6,000 and $10,000 to recruit and train a new truck driver—and that’s before accounting for the business opportunities that are lost if a truck needs to be parked, 18 FLEET EXECUTIVE ❙ September/October 2014

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or the added risk that emerges when relying on drivers with less experience.

Well-structured employee recognition programs help fleets to retain skilled employees and achieve targets for everything from safety ratings to fuel economy. Enhanced recruiting programs help to reduce turnover and identify the job candidates who share a fleet’s vision. Steps to meet customer goals lead to stronger business relationships and secure revenue.

In an industry where profit and loss are differentiated by pennies on the dollar, they are the types of results which can make the difference between failure and success.

But like every other investment in a fleet, successful human resources strategies need to be based on a sound plan that clarifies a fleet’s priorities, commits to specific tasks and timelines, and keeps everyone on track and accountable.

When developing such a plan, take the time to: trucknews.com

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Understand the business context and objectives Every fleet will have unique goals and priorities, identified through sources such as formal business plans. Once this information is in hand, managers can then begin to identify and rank the related challenges and barriers, as well as business practices that are already achieving the desired results.

Gather the data to identify root causes In addition to identifying a challenge’s underlying cause, quantifiable data offers benchmarks that can be used to measure a related strategy’s future success or failure.

The data can come from a number of sources. A fleet struggling with high fuel consumption, for example, might want to tap into engine electronic control modules to measure factors such as average speeds and idle time, which can be addressed through formal policies, training and incentives. In contrast, a fleet struggling with the costs of high employee turnover might want to look for trends in driver files along with the data collected through exit interviews and staff surveys. Are most of the departures recent hires or retirees?

Do they tend to work with particular customers or use particular equipment?

Each issue would be addressed a different way.

Focus strategies on root causes A tailored HR strategy will always be the most cost-effective option and take the greatest leaps toward a strategy’s ultimate objectives. The good news is that many of the trucking industry’s recognized best practices in human resources are already identified through tools such as Trucking HR Canada’s popular Your Guide to Human Resources manuals.

Name a champion Once a strategy is established, identify the person who will be responsible for meeting the related targets. He or she can ensure the strategies are followed, watch for emerging successes or

failures, and respond to unanticipated challenges or opportunities.

Manage the investment Once the strategies are underway, the emerging benefits can be expressed in financial terms and then compared to the strategy’s cost. But don’t forget to

factor in the value of secondary benefits as well. For example, the same defensive driving program that helps to reduce collisions and workplace injuries (expressed in terms such as lower insurance claims and lost time) also encourages fuel-efficient driving practices. FE

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COVER STORY

NAVIGATING

THE ROADBLOCKS

Figuring out how to make a self-driving truck is the easy part. Integrating autonomous technology into society is where the challenge truly begins.

By Carolyn Gruske

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ruising down the highway, it seems as if everything is just as it should be: visibility is good and traffic is moving well. Suddenly an improperly secured mattress flies off the roof of the sport utility in front of you. There is no way to stop in time and no way to avoid the flying bed. Because you’re aware of your surroundings, you know that immediately to your right in the next lane over is a bus full of school children. To your left is a mini-van full of seniors. In a split second, you’ve got to decide what course of action you’re going to take. Do you swerve left and hit the van, cut hard right and collide with the bus, or keep driving straight on, hoping that the impact with the mattress won’t make you lose complete control?

Actually, you do none of the above. Instead, your autonomous, 20 FLEET EXECUTIVE ❙ September/October 2014

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self-driving truck makes the decision for you, but just what decision it makes will depend on how its software engineers have programmed the truck’s algorithms to minimize harm. In some cases the result might be to take the action that is predicted to injure (or kill) the smallest number of people. In others, they might have taught the truck to crash into the larger vehicle, assuming it can take the brunt of the hit better. Programmers may have even given the vehicle a preference to take every action possible to avoid injuring children, or to do everything in its power to ensure that you, the driver, survives unscathed.

“For the trucking industry, the risk is magnified: we’re no longer talking about two-tonne vehicles of steel and glass, but up to 40-tonne vehicles that may be carrying hazardous freight. So it becomes even more important that manufacturers get crash-optimization right with trucks, given the risk of much more serious—and high profile—harm,” said Patrick trucknews.com

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COVER STORY

Lin, director of the ethics and emerging sciences group and associate philosophy professor at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis, California.

While this may seem like a fantastic scenario, it’s exactly the type of problem artificial intelligence researchers are facing in their quest to produce self-driving vehicles. It’s also the ethical issue that confronts those like Lin whose jobs require them to think about the implications of how society is going to incorporate the latest technological developments.

Whether we are ready for it or not, the technology that will enable vehicles to propel themselves down the road with minimal or no input from a driver is either already here or rapidly approaching. Responses from governments, regulatory agencies and other interested bodies addressing the use of autonomous technologies are still forthcoming, however, especially when trucks are involved.

Seeing is believing Recent months have seen a flurry of demonstrations and announcements from manufacturers anxious to demonstrate the latest developments in their autonomous or driver-assisted technology. ZF, for exampled, showed off a truck piloted by remote control from a tablet. Peterbilt’s truck navigated a course using GPS points. Daimler first demonstrated how its autonomous truck could drive amongst other vehicles on the highway and then, on a later date, deliver a senior company executive to a press conference inside an airplane hanger.

Peloton sent a platoon convoy down the I-75 in Michigan.

While none of these capabilities are currently offered on commercial vehicles, the time when they will be is getting ever closer.

John MacRitchie started out as a bit of a sceptic when it came to autonomous vehicles, but after investigating the topic, he believes we are on the verge of seeing self-driving vehicles on the road. MacRitchie is the regional director of the Ontario Centres of Excellence (COE), a not-for-profit organization funded by the provincial government to help Ontario-based businesses, universities and research organizations bring innovative technology to market quicker. Currently, through the connected vehicle/autonomous vehicle research program (CVAV), COE is operating a pilot project and distributing $950,000 to companies working on self-driving technologies for cars, buses or commercial trucks.

“We’re technically a lot closer to having that [autonomous] capability than people realize,” said MacRitchie.

“When I began to look at this area, the thing that surprised me was how quickly some of the companies that are in this space felt this would happen—2020 is not out of the question.

It’s that soon. From an automotive standpoint, that’s a very short period of time. That’s only about a cycle-and-a-half or maybe two in terms of vehicles between now and then.”

Given that it’s part of MacRitchie’s job description to be upbeat about new technology, some people might be willing to dismiss his timeline projection, but even vehicle manufacturers are talking in terms of years, not decades, and are saying much

DAIMLER SELF-DRIVER It has no headlights, no rearview mirrors and virtually no grille. Yet this, according to Daimler, is the future of truck transportation.

Daimler tonight, for the first time, removed the mask from its Mercedes-Benz Future Truck 2025, which was first demonstrated for industry journalists on a stretch of German Autobahn in July. At that time, the truck’s identity was mostly concealed by a camo-style paint scheme designed to tease the eye and keep secret the more intricate details of the design. That mask came off tonight in front of more than 500 industry journalists from 30-plus countries from around the world, on the eve of the IAA Commercial Vehicles show in Hannover, Germany.

The headlights are hidden underneath the skin of the Future Truck.

Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard, the head of Daimler trucks globally, made a gutsy entrance to the press event, piloting the Future Truck in autonomous Highway Pilot mode into an airport hangar where the unveiling took place.

For the full story by James Menzies see http://tinyurl.com/ autonomous-daimler

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COVER STORY

of the hardware is already in place on their trucks.

“The big picture is two or three years out for lane-keeping, parking assist, traffic assist and technologies like that. Then manned vehicle platooning,” said Bill Kahn, Peterbilt principal engineer and manager of advanced concepts. “Then we step out a little bit farther and we give the truck the ability to manoeuvre around items. Stepping out a bit farther, that’s when we get the possibility of the truck being able to drive urban duty cycles with input from the driver.”

According to Kahn, Peterbilts already come with many of the pieces in place to make the trucks more autonomous.

“They would require an upgraded camera system and an upgraded radar system to what we have today, but that’s something that is already on the product plan for all our trucks. The steering column we are using now is already seeing some use [in autonomous testing] because of its ability to self-centre. If you’re on a crowded road or get a crosswind, it automatically re-centres the steering wheel to zero so it

reduces the fatigue on the driver. That’s an option that can be done next year. The computer controller that ties it all together is not that hard. Basically, we developed this autopilot system on this truck in about two months once we knew we had control of the vehicle.”

Volvo Trucks also has plans to install much of the foundational technology on upcoming models, and Carl Johan Almqvist, the company’s traffic and products safety director, said adding more advanced driver-assist or autonomous technology may “not necessarily” result in pricier trucks.

“Pretty much most of the technology is on the way into the trucks already. In Europe, by the first of November next year, all trucks will have to have collision warnings in them and emergency braking systems. Then you’ve got the radar.

The brakes are in place. We are already equipping a lot of our European trucks with Volvo Dynamic Steering, which is a steering aid. The only thing that is really missing is the communication between those components.”

Careful distinctions

REMOTE CONTROL ZF ZF’s Innovation Truck can be maneuvered from outside the vehicle using a tablet.

During the demonstration, a ZF official standing outside the vehicle guided the truck backwards through a set of cones using only his finger and a tablet app. The truck pulled two trailers collectively spanning 25.25 metres.

“With our Innovation Truck, we illustrate the additional potential already present in our current technologies,” said Dr. Stefan Sommer, CEO of ZF. “We have realized completely new assistant functions that are incredibly efficient and, at the same time, relatively simple to implement. They can also provide answers to many of the complex challenges that forwarding and logistics companies face on a daily basis.”

For the full story by James Menzies see: http://tinyurl.com/ autonomous-zf 22 FLEET EXECUTIVE ❙ September/October 2014

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At this point there are three separate classifications that are useful to keep in mind: connected vehicles, driver-assisted vehicles and autonomous vehicles, and manufacturers are very circumspect about what descriptions they use for their vehicles and products.

Connected vehicles are those which transmit data back and forth between other cars and trucks and can even “talk” to the infrastructure. Weather Telematics, an Ottawabased company working with the COE, for example, places sensors—essentially miniature weather stations—onto truck roofs with the goal of collecting highly localized weather data and transmitting that information to other vehicles heading toward that area. Combining that type of information along with data gathered from a highway alert network, would allow drivers (or autonomous vehicles) to better understand the conditions they are travelling in and adjust their driving styles accordingly.

Driver-assisted vehicles and technologies are phrases used to describe either what is available now (blind spot warnings, for example) or what will be available in the very near future.

Daimler describes these types of technologies as “freeing the driver from monotonous driving tasks, to provide support in highly complex driving situations, and in doing so to advance on the road toward accident-free driving.” According to Daimler, the transition from these technologies to the “longterm objective of autonomous driving will be gradual— hand-in-hand with an increasing level of automation of the assistance functions and the connectivity of vehicles with each other and the infrastructure.”

Currently, much of the connected and autonomous vehicle technologies are being developed independently.

“The connected vehicle technology is orthogonal to the autonomous vehicle, but at some point the two will merge and we will gain the benefits of both,” said Paul Godsmark, founder and CTO of the Canadian Automated Vehicles trucknews.com

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

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

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COVER STORY

GPS-GUIDED PETERBILT The steering wheel seemingly had a mind of its own. We watched from the co-pilot’s seat in a stubby little singleaxle Peterbilt 579 day cab as its wheel spun furiously on its own, keeping the bobtailed rig precisely on a pre-plotted, GPS-guided course around a large parking area on Detroit’s Belle Isle during the ITS World Congress.

Processors in the tractor had been programmed with a series of GPS waypoints, like electronic breadcrumbs leading around the lot, which the 579 autonomously followed on its own with bloodhound accuracy. How accurate? On one such loop, after the tractor left its starting point, a full plastic water bottle was placed where its right front tire had started.

After meandering around the tarmac acreage for a couple minutes following the GPS plot, the truck then returned itself to its starting waypoint with sufficient accuracy to squash said water bottle with that same right front tire. All the while, the 579 driver’s hands never left his knees and his feet never lifted off the cab floor (but he was still responsible for situational awareness and looking out for obstacles).

For the full story see by Dale Amy see: http://tinyurl.com/ autonomous-peterbilt Centre of Excellence (CAVCOE), a consultancy group offering advice about preparing for a world containing selfdriving vehicles.

Keeping data safe Even though he is firmly convinced of the economic and social benefits of autonomous, driver assisted and connected vehicles, Godsmark understands that they do offer some challenges, and one of the major ones is around data management and security.

“People talk about there being a data revolution with 24 FLEET EXECUTIVE ❙ September/October 2014

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connected vehicles, but with the autonomous vehicles we’ll have a magnitude more than with connected vehicles. We will be able to do so many good things with that data, even though it has so many privacy issues. That’s a whole new debate that needs to be taken up, but for some reason, it hasn’t been given the air time it needs,” he said.

Godsmark explained that with cameras capturing real-time video and LIDAR (laser-based remote sensing technology) systems tracking cars and trucks, we will have a “real-time, dynamic view of streets—how many vehicles are on the road, how many pedestrians, how many people sat outside at a café. We will have real time information that’s of huge value. Yes, it is incredibly creepy and scary and incredibly powerful and empowering.”

All of these systems won’t just keep track of what’s going on in the outside world, they will also keep a close eye on activities in the truck as well, said Lin. “For the trucking industry, I’d expect that privacy issues will be a top concern. Truck drivers are already held to nearsuperhuman standards to make their trips in a dangerously short amount of time. Add to this the push for telematics by the insurance industry, driver-drowsiness detection and other biometric technologies that monitor humans inside the vehicle and the general appetite for interconnectivity and data collection by the technology industry, and it looks like the perfect storm for Big Brother inside the vehicle. The transportation industry may be affected first, since this would be done in the name of workplace safety.”

Even if the industry manages to figure out how to ethically and responsibly use all of the data it collects, without making the driver feel like he or she is under criminal surveillance, there are others who are less scrupulous with their intentions.

“My biggest concern with autonomous vehicles is the whole cyber security side,” said Godsmark. “A malicious actor could choose to take control of individual vehicles or a fleet of vehicles and do all sorts of damage. That does scare me terribly.

But at the same time, those malicious actors can do pretty much the same thing with people in the vehicles or with unwitting people driving vehicles. The fact is although there is a very high severity associated with it, there is a very, very low risk.”

Problems with people In tightly controlled situations, there is no reason why autonomous vehicles can’t function well. Some mining companies, including Suncor in Alberta are already using self-driving trucks at excavation and extraction sites. But when you add a large number humans into the mix, that’s a whole different story. People are unpredictable. They don’t always make logical decisions. Plus they make mistakes. So designers and programmers of autonomous vehicles have to build in enough intelligence to allow the trucks to react when the unexpected happens.

“That’s the big challenge: that we have to have the systems try to figure out what the human being is going to do, and the human being can do pretty much anything. Definitely the parts trucknews.com

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COVER STORY

where we try to predict what happens with other traffic is a research area we will be looking into—trying to get a picture and understand what is going on around the vehicle,” said Almqvist.

It’s not just trucks that have to adapt to people. People also have to get used to the idea of trucks cruising on autopilot, especially if they are driving along a highway beside a lot of experimental, self-driving trucks, as Marlo Anderson hopes will soon happen. Anderson is the spokesperson for the Central North American Trade Corridor Association (CNATCA), a group of individuals and local governments attempting to turn Highway 83 (which runs north-south from Canada to Mexico through the middle of the US) into an autonomous trade corridor that will allow manufacturers and operators of self-driving cars and trucks to test and operate their vehicles.

Besides the land vehicles, the association wants to create a 40-mile-wide fly zone for drones.

“I think the safety thing is going to be a big deal. We get that question a lot. Millennials adapt to technology pretty easily, but I’ve had this question brought up a few times: ‘What is my grandmother in rural South Dakota going to feel about being alongside this huge flatbed loaded with oil equipment and there is nobody driving it?’ I get that. I really do,” said Anderson. He added that people need to alter their perspectives when worrying about the safety aspects of road-going autonomous vehicles.

“When we fly, the entire flight is autonomous. The only reason the pilots are there is people need that feeling of safety, but it is actually the instruments that fly safer. When you think about it, would you rather trust instruments or pilots when flying through clouds? You don’t have to worry about pilot fatigue. For every argument you can make for a vehicle not being driven autonomously, there is an equal and opposite argument for a vehicle that is driving autonomously.”

Setting the law CNATCA is attempting to convince US lawmakers to create legislation that will allow the use of self-driving and driverassisted vehicles on the highway. Anderson described it as both a time-consuming and time-sensitive process.

“Over the next few months, we are starting to meet the entities in different states that will be involved. Of course we want to recruit the legislators in each of the states that we feel will be the key individuals to help us move forward. It’s a bit of a process because there are six states involved. It’s not just something the federal government can sign off on. A lot of the roads are state-owned roads. Highway 83 is basically stateregulated,” he said.

“We are working on the legislative packets and will be introducing those in the next legislative session, which is early 2015. That’s why we’re so aggressive to meet all of the legislators. Most of the states are in a two-year cycle, so if we don’t get this done in 2015, we’ll have to wait until 2017.

At the minimum we’re hoping for some limited legislation.

If it plays out well, we would have a corridor that would run 1,800 miles by the middle of 2015, but I highly doubt that will happen. Maybe we’ll have something between Bismark, North

PELOTON PLATOON Okay, it was a bit unnerving. Riding shotgun at 100 km/h in a tractor-trailer a mere 13 meters behind a similar rig went against deeply ingrained highway survival instincts and simple common sense.

The looming doors of the van in front just seemed too close for reaction comfort. And this was no test track; we were on I-75, winding our way through metro Detroit in mid-morning traffic. Sure, our driver was manning the steering wheel and fully focused on situational awareness, but his feet were essentially unemployed, as our Volvo VN’s throttle and braking were being remotely commanded from the Freightliner cab in front. We were “platooning,” our two rigs slipstreaming in close tandem like drafting NASCAR racers, a formation that has been shown to increase fuel efficiency of both the lead and following vehicle.

For the full story see by Dale Amy see: http://tinyurl.com/ autonomous-platooning Dakota and Pierre, South Dakota where we’ll have sections of roads where we can start proving the technologies.”

Even if CNATCA only manages to get a small portion of the highway approved for autonomous vehicle testing, the state (or states) involved will still be miles ahead of Canada. So will Nevada, Florida and California as they have already made provisions for the testing of these emerging technologies.

On the federal level, Transport Canada is doing a bit of investigative work, but is taking no steps beyond that. According to Transport Canada spokesperson Karine Martel, one technology that Transport Canada is monitoring is co-operative truck platooning systems, or CTPS. CTPS use specialized software and communications technologies to semi-automate highway driving and platooning of heavy-duty trucks.

“Transport Canada is also testing autonomous emergency braking systems in passenger cars with a view to p44 September/October 2014 ❙ FLEET EXECUTIVE 25

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GREEN to GOLD Ecologically friendly practices, policies and programs that help to save the planet while saving money and improving the bottom line.

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GREEN to GOLD

OPPORTUNE CHALLENGES Making green changes brings in the gold

rucking is an industry that has to fight hard for even the smallest gains in profitability. Understandably that can make fleet owners reluctant to invest in new technologies and programs. Yet the negative impact of operational waste and inefficiency left unaddressed is a serious threat to the bottom line.

For the past eight years that we have produced our Green to Gold supplement we have argued that addressing the industry’s greenhouse gas footprint presents both a great challenge and a great opportunity. We believe there is “gold” to be found in adopting “green” practices.

Fuel economy is the most obvious area to tackle first. As our case study of Challenger Motor Freight shows, the best managed fleets make fuel economy a priority and are keen to sign on to programs such as SmartWay, which provide guidance and tools to help companies of all sizes benchmark their performance.

One of the challenges in improving fuel economy is identifying the products and procedures that truly deliver improved performance from the myriad which simply claim they do.

Setting up appropriate testing is time consuming, expensive and requires expertise beyond the capabilities of most fleets.

That’s the business case behind Performance Innovation Transport, a non-profit, member-led organization that undertakes research projects on behalf of its member carriers to prove just how well technologies and procedures work in improving fuel economy. Its work is the subject of another of our features in this supplement.

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Although fuel efficiency may be the most obvious area to address it is far from the only one where efficiency gains can improve the bottom line. Consider for example something as basic as washing a tractor trailer. Using a pressure washer, it could take up to an hour and 240 gallons of water. Municipal water supply, of course, comes at a cost. So why not use rain water, which is renewable and free? Our feature on harvesting rain water explains how some pioneering transport companies are putting the infrastructure in place to use collected rain water to wash their commercial vehicles.

Research we conducted a few years ago with the Freight Management Association shows that a growing number of Canadian shippers are measuring their environmental performance, including transportation emissions, and environmental considerations are a part of their carrier selection process. The research also shows, however, that for the most part shippers are admittedly not very knowledgeable about how to go about reducing transportation’s greenhouse gas footprint.

Does that not present a glorious opportunity for forward-thinking carriers to take the lead in answering shipper concerns, while at the same time improving their own bottom line?

We hope you enjoy our latest Green to Gold supplement on sustainable transportation practices. As we’ve mentioned many times before, if you take the time to do it right, you can turn green into gold.

Lou Smyrlis | Editorial Director trucknews.com

14-10-08 2:39 PM

GREEN to GOLD

Waiting for the rain Harvested water is starting to be used to wash vehicles

By Carolyn Gruske

R

ain is a free, renewable, natural resource, but despite those attributes, very few transportation companies have bothered to harvest the water or put it to good use—until now.

Even though it’s early in the adoption phase, some organizations, including Great Canadian Truck & Fleet Services/Great Canadian Coaches Inc. and Guelph Transit are beginning to put the infrastructure in place that will allow them to use collected rainwater to wash their commercial vehicles. According to Jack Jackson, president of Awash Systems Corp. in Stoney Creek, Ont., it’s a move that makes ecological sense as washing trucks or buses takes a lot of water. Although Awash sells brushes and attachments for power washers and not rain collection products, Jackson champions the idea of water harvesting because he understands how easy it is to waste potable water.

“If you use a ½-inch water hose with a regular garden sprayer, you are using 11 gallons per minute. If you watch a guy standing there for 15 minutes, he’s using 165 gallons of water just spraying away. If you go to a pressure washer, you are only using 3-4 gallons per minute, but again it could take him up to an hour to wash a truck and trailer, so an hour is 240 gallons of water. If you watch somebody washing a truck with a pressure washer, they spend more time just spraying water on it because that’s easier than scrubbing it,” said Jackson.

Wayne Galliher is well aware of how much water it takes to wash a vehicle. As the water conservation project manager for Guelph Transit, Galliher is overseeing a $160,000 (plus HST) project currently under construction that will collect rainwater from the Guelph Transit operation facility’s roof, treat it with UV light, and then use it to wash the city’s passenger bus fleet. Approximately 40,000L of rainwater will be stored in above-ground tanks, and the pumping system will

use Canadian technology from Fergus, Ontario-based InterPump Supply Ltd. “Currently each bus washed requires 450 to 500L of potable drinking water per wash, with up to 60 buses washed per day through our transit operations,” said Galliher. “Through this installation, we are seeking to reduce our water use per bus by 40% by substituting rainwater into the third and final phase of the bus wash. On an annual basis, this substitution should equal potable water savings of approximately nine million litres of water.”

Along with saving drinking water, Galliher hopes the use of rainwater will help the Ontario city reduce the amount of soap, cleansers and chemicals it requires to clean its buses.

“With Guelph being groundwater-based, we do have naturally occurring hardness in our drinking water. As such, the bus wash process currently uses a streaking agent as part of the final bus wash rinse to eliminate calcium which might form post-wash on bus windows. With the integration of rainwater for use in the final wash—which is naturally soft—we are seeking to eliminate use of the streaking agent,” he explained, adding that softer water requires “a lesser dosing of soap to form lather than hard water sources.”

Guelph Transit hopes to have the construction completed on its rainwater harvesting system this fall, and start using it in late 2014. After testing the system for a few months, the transit authority is expected to send a report to the Ontario ministry of the environment by late March 2015 as part of the government’s Showcasing Water Innovation project.

At about the same time as Guelph Transit is finalizing its report, Great Canadian Fleet Services and Great Canadian Coaches expects to start construction on its rainwater washing system.

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14-10-09 1:10 PM

GREEN to GOLD

Originally, Larry Hundt, who is president of both arms of Great Canadian’s business groups, said there were no plans to install a rainwater collection system but some municipal red tape made the decision an easy one. Looking to expand in 2008, the Kitchener, Ontario-based business purchased a large factory site with the intention of renovating the building.

That’s when things got a bit complicated.

“We have a situation here where we had to review our site plan and work with the City of Kitchener to contain more water on our site,” said Hundt.

“They imposed new regulations on us. What we would have had to do was dig a large hole—a massive hole—and fill it with gravel and take the rainwater from our roof and put it into a stormwater gallery. It’s not a very pretty gallery, it’s very expensive, digging all that soil out and putting all the gravel in. We felt that it would make a lot more sense to use the rainwater.”

According to Hundt, Great Canadian had already installed one storm water gallery which he described as “a hole probably large enough you could park three coaches in it underground,” and didn’t want the expense of installing a second.

While a rainwater collection system would alleviate the need for a second gallery, it would offer other benefits as well.

“Kitchener has very hard water because it’s artesian well water. We have water spots on our windows because of it.

With the soft rainwater, we’ll get a much cleaner rinse and we won’t get the water spots so it’s a beautiful thing to use the rain water, and environmentally it’s a real bonus as well.”

Great Canadian spends a lot of time washing vehicles—

both its own and other people’s. Every one of its 53 buses and 12 vans gets washed before leaving the facility. The Fleet Services side of the business offers not only repair and collision work (including painting) and tire sales for both passenger vehicles and commercial trucks, but detailing services as well.

Hundt said the company washes city transit buses (including double-deckers) and does both pre-delivery prep and detailing for new trucks and thorough cleaning of fleet vehicles in between driver change-overs. At any given time, he said there are between three and five trucks undergoing a thorough detailing.

To make the process more efficient, Great Canadian installed a $100,000 automatic wash system from Whiting Systems Inc. to clean the coaches and the trailers. Tractors, however, are still washed by hand as the automated system works best on large, flat surfaces.

“It’s very efficient in its cleaning. To wash buses or tractors by hand is a big process. It probably does take more water, but it’s so efficient, if you had to wash them by hand it would be a very expensive and long process,” said Hundt.

As to how much water Great Canadian will be able to save by incorporating rainwater, that won’t be fully known until the system is up and running. The company has already purchased two collection tanks but the next phase of the project won’t start for a few months.

“We’re at the point now that we’re going into the winter season, which isn’t going to help us any with rainwater—not with the winter they are predicting.” FE

Money PIT Non-profit organization helps fleets save fuel and earn government rebates

By Carolyn Gruske

I

t can be a bit overwhelming for fleets to be at the receiving end of a sales pitch, as Yves Provencher well knows.

“All our members have vendors going to visit them almost every week with the next technology that will make them rich and save the planet.”

As director of Performance Innovation Transport (PIT), it is Provencher’s job to put those claims to test and give fleets information they need to make informed decision about equipment purchases. PIT is the off-shoot of a forestry industry research organization called FPInnovations. The non-profit organization is a member-led group that undertakes research to prove just how well technologies and procedures improve fuel economy and make fleets greener. It also helps fleets find

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money to help offset the costs of becoming more efficient.

Provencher said provincial and federal governments have a number of programs in place that will provide tax credits to companies conducting original research into fuel saving techniques and devices. Some governments even offer rebates for purchasing technology that will make fleets more efficient.

“We have a full map of those available funds that our members can access,” he said “Many fleets don’t even know they exist. So they don’t apply for them. That’s why some of the fleets choose to become members. We can help them to access those funds.”

PIT conducts research on behalf of fleets in two ways: first it does investigations on behalf of all of its member fleets, and trucknews.com

14-10-08 2:39 PM

GREEN to GOLD

SAMPLE PIT PROJECTS ENGINE TUNING PIT received $243,000 from the Quebec government to study engine tuning. It will compare the performance of engines that have been optimized for a specific application (refuse hauling, long-haul work, etc.) versus those that come with stock tuning from the factory.

The project will last for approximately one year, so that performance over the various seasons can be gauged.

DRIVER TRAINING PIT is conducing a two-year investigation into the effectiveness of driver training techniques, including inclass instruction, time in a simulator, and being coached from the passenger seat. The study wants to look at both the short-term and long-term effectiveness of the teaching styles and the ways drivers prefer to obtain feedback about how they perform. second, it takes on one-off projects for individual members.

“Every year the fleets come together to an advisory meeting. At the meeting we tell them, ‘we have about $2.5 million worth of budget on the table. It’s your money. What do you want to do with it?’ Then they list a bunch of issues they have.

At the end of the day we may end up with some 80 issues on the flip chart on the wall. Then we vote and bring the list down to 10 and that becomes our work plan for the year,” explained Provencher. Member fleets are also asked to participate in the research by providing trucks, mechanics and drivers to install and test the equipment.

Chris Trajkovski, vice-president of maintenance at Bison Transport in Winnipeg, says having the group decide on projects works pretty well.

“There is generally a consensus with the powertrain. When it comes to commodities like tires and fuel consumption, there are some specific needs based on a trade or a vocation and those are managed a little bit differently, based on how much scale is associated with them.”

Long-time PIT member Groupe Robert in Rougemont, Que. is one of the fleets that often volunteers equipment for testing. Currently Groupe Robert is co-operating on a number of different PIT tests, said Yves Maurais, technical manager at Groupe Robert.

“One of them being snow removal from the top of trailers when we’re in remote locations. PIT is in contact with European providers of systems designed to remove the snow from trailer roofs without needing special equipment. This is one thing we would like to evaluate during the winter,” he said.

“We have some ongoing projects. As far as the fuel performance goes, we’re going to compare different configurations of trucks to see which one gives us the optimum fuel consumption depending on operating conditions. We’re looking at powertrain configuration—engine, transmission, tires.

“For us, it’s like having an engineering group within the

company—they’re just not located locally with us, but they work for us. It’s a lot cheaper than having two or three clones of myself just working at that particular type of work. It’s much cheaper to do it with the PIT Group. All we have to do is follow up on the results with them.”

If a fleet is interested in a test that doesn’t make the work plan, or isn’t interested in sharing its results with the rest of the members, or wants a very specific answer about how a proposed solution will work in its own particular circumstances, it can hire PIT to organize a demonstration project. PIT will set out the parameters of test, hire the engineers to analyze the data, and work with the fleet to understand the process and the results. There is a separate fee (in addition to the regular membership dues) for the service, but Provencher said doing the research through PIT is typically much cheaper than hiring an outside engineering or analyst firm.

OEMs and parts manufacturers can also approach PIT to have their performance claims evaluated. Part of that process includes subjecting the equipment to field trials in PIT’s yearly Energotest, which puts the technology onto member-supplied vehicles which are taken out onto the road and around a fourmile oval test track in Blaineville, Que. “It’s good for the supplier because instead of lending a piece of his equipment to 30 fleets and coming back six months later and asking ‘what do you think of my piece of equipment?’ we do the test and we send the results to the fleets. If the product works, obviously the fleets will start to call the suppliers and ask, ‘why don’t you come to see me?’”

While it may seem obvious for large fleets to join, Bison’s Trajkovski said PIT makes sense for small fleets as well.

“It allows the opportunity for smaller carriers to enter into that arena and gain the benefits of some of the larger scale testing without necessarily being financially impacted,” he said.

“It doesn’t take a long time for smaller fleets to see what is happening by what I’ll call curbside engineering. You see what carriers adopted a technology or component or philosophy out on the road pretty quickly. If you’re willing to wait, say anywhere from 18 to 36 months for that to make it to market, that’s fine. If you want to be ahead of the game and feel the risk is not great—certainly you have to decide what that investment ROI is—the uptake is being able to implement an idea and a concept, especially in today’s environment where miniscule percentages can deliver huge results. It all depends on their appetite.”

As to what PIT plans for the future, that can only be decided by membership vote, but Groupe Robert’s Maurais has a good idea of some of the tests he’d like to see.

“We know the larger size boat tail has been approved by Transport Canada. We’re still awaiting the provincial statements about it because it will be different from province to province. Only Ontario has started to talk about it. This is one thing we want to discuss. The evaluation of the LCV program.

We want to work on getting the most efficient equipment to run LCVs. We’re also looking at different configurations for engines and powertrains. Currently that’s what we are looking at because there is nothing new on the horizon.” FE Serptember/October 2014 ❙ FLEET EXECUTIVE 31

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GREEN to GOLD

Doing it the smart way Challenger’s involvement in the SmartWay Partnership Program has not only reduced its fuel costs and emissions, but has also created new opportunities

W

By James Menzies

hen Challenger Motor Freight joined the US Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay Partnership Program in 2006, the company was already actively managing its fuel consumption. You don’t grow a company from a single truck to having a fleet of roughly 1,500 without knowing your costs—and fuel represents one of the largest costs for any trucking company.

“Fuel economy is something we measure every day. We have meetings on it. It’s such a huge cost that you need to stay on top of it,” says Mario Da Silva, director, corporate services for risk with Challenger Motor Freight. In addition to managing risk, Da Silva is also responsible for fuel purchasing, so he’s very much aware of the impact fuel consumption has on the company’s bottom line. Not only is reducing fuel consumption good for business, but it also benefits the environment, since every litre of diesel consumed produces approximately 2.7 kg of CO2.

While Challenger has always been cognizant of its fuel spend and has continuously sought ways to reduce its consumption, going through the SmartWay verification process proved to be a useful exercise, Da Silva says. The program provides handy tools to calculate a carrier’s environmental footprint and through benchmarking, offers insights into how a company measures up against its peers.

“Being a SmartWay member does provide a benefit,” Da Silva says. “At the end of the day it makes good corporate sense to be a member.”

In addition to benchmarking and providing access to analytical tools, SmartWay membership has other advantages,

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such as helping to land new business from like-minded corporations looking to reduce the environmental impact of their supply chains. Ikea, for example, requires all its carriers to be SmartWay-certified. Not only that, but carriers must also meet Ikea’s stringent IWAY standards, which take into account everything from a company’s environmental performance to its worker health and safety programs. The IWAY program involves annual audits, including site visits from Ikea personnel, who ensure its suppliers and transportation providers are doing everything they claim to be doing.

“It’s a lengthy process,” Da Silva says of the IWAY audits.

“They’re here most of the day. They go through all our documentation and look at our processes and they walk around and speak to a number of our employees—drivers, mechanics and office staff—to confirm what we told them is actually going on within the company.”

While this heightened level of customer scrutiny may seem excessive, Da Silva says he welcomes the process because all carriers that haul Ikea product are subjected to the same standard. And it has been good for business.

Challenger is now one of Ikea’s largest Canadian transportation providers.

Of course, that relationship never would have begun had it not been for Challenger’s involvement in the SmartWay program, which is a prerequisite to doing business with Ikea.

“With regards to fuel efficiency, their main area [of concern] was us being members of SmartWay,” Da Silva says. “We also had to show them a 36-month plan of what we’re doing to help reduce our emissions and a lot of that ties in with SmartWay.” trucknews.com

14-10-09 1:07 PM

GREEN to GOLD

BY THE NUMBERS In addition to being a SmartWay member since 2006, Challenger has won SmartWay awards of excellence in 2008 and 2009.

The company has seen impressive results since becoming a SmartWay partner, significantly lowering its fuel costs as well as its emissions output. Some of these achievements were highlighted in a recent SmartWay case study produced by the Supply Chain Management Association, using 2012 data.

Among the highlights: ➤ 1,157 The total CO2 emissions, in metric tonnes, Challenger was able to eliminate by using long combination vehicles in 2012 ➤ 7.9% The fuel economy improvement achieved by Challenger over a three-year period by deploying fuel-saving technologies ➤ 4% The fuel savings expected by Challenger resulting from its use of wide-base tires as part of its future truck spec’ ➤ 95% The percentage of Challenger power units that match the SmartWay specification ➤ 141 million The total number of kilometres the Challenger fleet ran in 2012 ➤ 50 million The amount of diesel fuel, in litres, Challenger’s fleet of vehicles consumed in 2012

Driver and equipment performance is also monitored, practically in real-time, and drivers or vehicles that aren’t meeting expectations are quickly identified. Sometimes a driver requires some extra coaching on fuel-efficient driving techniques while other times a truck requires some additional maintenance to achieve its fuel economy expectations. Driver scorecards are generated, which compare the fuel efficiency of each driver to that of their peers who are pulling similar loads using similarly spec’d equipment.

To remain a SmartWay carrier, members must re-apply each year using the previous year’s data. This helps ensure carriers are keeping up-to-date with their environmental commitments. While SmartWay’s application process may seem intimidating—especially to smaller carriers—Da Silva says it’s manageable and the benefits apply equally to small carriers as well as large ones, such as the Challenger Group of Companies, with its 1,500 power units.

“With fuel costs being a carrier’s second largest expense [after labour], you need to ensure you’re controlling those costs and at the same time, you’re helping the environment,” says Da Silva. “So both from a corporate responsibility side and your bottom line, it’s something you do need to look at.”

Once a company has taken the plunge and committed to the SmartWay program, it not only elevates the carrier in the eyes of its customers and potential customers, but also of its own workforce.

“I’d say the majority of our employees—not just drivers, but office staff—do care about the environment,” Da Silva says. “I believe that us being a good corporate citizen and being a SmartWay partner and having new equipment, does attract drivers by showing them we are doing our part.” FE

Ikea isn’t alone in demanding more accountability from its transportation providers; other large shippers as well are asking what carriers are doing to minimize their environmental impact.

“It’s not just Ikea we’re doing this with,” Da Silva says.

“We have other shippers that look at what our fuel efficiency is and what we’re doing with regards to sustainability. I’m seeing that more and more. Ten years ago compared to now, it’s night and day.”

Challenger has created an infographic that shows its various fuel-saving initiatives, including its use of long combination vehicles, its anti-idling policies, aerodynamic trailers with side skirts and the use of fuel-efficient power units. Even the mud flaps have received attention, with flow-through designs that allow air to pass through the mud flap, eliminating wind resistance, while water and debris is captured and redirected.

Challenger’s commitment to fuel efficiency goes beyond the on-highway equipment it operates; it also uses the latest routing technology to reduce out-of-route miles and to ensure drivers are being dispatched efficiently.

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DATA DRIVEN

Bushell Transport has its head in the Cloud

Heavy-haul company relies on Web-based software to run its business

By Carolyn Gruske

B

ill Vezina never considered himself a computer or IT expert but he certainly has become one.

“The whole company is basically run on the Web. I never knew, until I started working here, how much I actually knew about computers.”

The “here” Vezina refers to is Bushell Transport Company Ltd., an Alberta-based heavy haul transport company that operates out of Acheson and St. Albert, where he is the director of safety and compliance. While Bushell may have celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2013, the company isn’t wedded to the way things used to be. Instead, under the leadership of Grant Glattacker, the son of founder Martin Glattacker, Bushell has turned to cloud-based computer programs to improve operating efficiencies.

“Grant is pretty smart when it comes to this computer stuff.

He has visions about how he would like it to react to make his job and everybody’s easier,” said Vezina.

While the company had been making strides to incorporate new technologies, it wasn’t until Bushell moved into a new building in Acheson last August that the transformation could really begin. “At our other facility, we didn’t have the ability to do that because we didn’t have the office space, we didn’t have the resources to use the software to its full potential. We didn’t have a proper service bay. We weren’t set up as a proper maintenance and repair shop.”

Now Bushell has systems that handle parts inventory and ordering, work order creation and management, hours of service monitoring, and even fluid delivery and monitoring, and Vezina has a desktop computer system that day traders would find very familiar, just so he can monitor all of the applications.

“When we got the new facility, Grant had ordered new computers for everything. For my system here, we actually went with a little faster computer for my office because I’ve got three monitors. And probably could use a fourth.”

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Fluid delivery One of the biggest operational changes that came along with the move to the new building was installing a computerized fluid delivery system. Under the Graco Inc. Matrix system, the amount of oil or DEF each truck requires is specified on the work order.

The maintenance mechanic enters a PIN and then sets the system to automatically dispense the indicated amount of fluid.

Once that happens, an equivalent amount is depleted from Bushell’s inventory listing. While the system is working properly now, getting it set-up and running properly took over a month.

“It is controlled through transceivers and air pumps. And all the guns off the fluid tanks are radio controlled. So if you don’t have your settings right on the system portal, you’re not going to be able to deliver your fluid to the unit. Getting that all lined up and put in place is a chore in its own. For some reason, I couldn’t get the transceivers to read, I had the PAC (pump air control) reading, all the settings were correct, the guns were recognized, but I just could not get it to work,” said Vezina. A service technician finally managed to adjust the settings and get everything running properly.

Parts ordering and inventory control Since Bushell is a one vehicle manufacturer shop, Vezina can take advantage of Peterbilt’s software and tools. Relying on the company’s Web-based ECAT electronic parts catalogue significantly improved order accuracy and decreased the time spent ordering parts.

“There are very few mistakes made anymore [when ordering parts]...Now I can go into ECAT and I know what unit is in the shop that needs this part, I drill into that unit, find the part we need, and the part number is there. There is no error.”

After finding the part number in ECAT, Vezina then turns to PACCAR’s CONNECT, a Web-based computerized maintetrucknews.com

14-10-08 2:39 PM

COMPANY PROFILE Staff: 23 employees Tractors: 16 Peterbilts, including 367s, 379s and 389s Trailers: Approximately 25 trailers, many Murray Trailers with some Western Trailers. Trailer types include low bed expandable trombones, 51 ft. tri-axle step decks, 9 axles, 8 axles and 7 axles Bays: 6 work bays with one being reserved for quick service jobs including oil and fluid changes

nance management system (CMMS), which is linked with Bushell’s preferred parts supplier, Edmonton-based Stahl Peterbilt. Vezina enters the ECAT-provided part number into CONNECT “and as soon as you click that ‘ready for receiving’, it’s instant. The parts manager over there [Stahl] gets an e-mail. I get an e-mail. And my outside sales rep gets an email saying this part has been ordered, and I can tie a note to that order, asking them to deliver that part ASAP or the next morning or whenever I choose. It’s very streamlined. Basically we’ve got the same resources at our fingertips here that there are when you walk into a dealer and go to the parts counter and say, ‘I need a compressor for this truck here.’ You are cutting out the middle-man,” said Vezina.

When asked to describe how much more efficient the parts ordering system has made the shop’s workflow, Vezina responded strongly.

“It’s like night and day. I don’t know about a number to put on it [how much quicker trucks are being repaired]. It’s probably an improvement of 75% to 80%—actually, probably at least 90%. It’s a big increase in productivity. Of course in the new facility, we have six work bays on the one side and one of those bays is a service bay, and our drivers, for the most part will let us know ahead of time when they’re on their way in.”

Besides handling one-off parts orders, CONNECT can be set up to automatically order inventory from PACCAR suppliers once stock numbers drop to a certain threshold. It also

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Bill Vezina relies on Web-based software to keep operations at Bushell Transport running smoothly and efficiently.

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DATA DRIVEN

provides tools to help manage the costs associated with ordering parts.

“I can track what was bought where, when and how I paid for it. Then when I order it again when I need more, it will give me a price comparison, if there is a change in cost. I can print off reports, or the accountant can go into the portal itself and she can get reports. It will give a complete breakdown of what you spent, where and for whom, and how much.”

Since ECAT and CONNECT are proprietary, they don’t interface with other non-PACCAR systems, so while Bushell can place electronic orders with other parts suppliers, Vezina can’t do so through CONNECT. And although non-PACCAR items can be entered into Bushell’s CONNECT inventory system it’s a job that must be done manually. To facilitate that, Vezina said he created bar codes and part numbers for every piece of brass and fastener and air fitting that the shop uses, and as those sundries are added to or removed from inventory, their barcodes have to be scanned so CONNECT can register them.

The inability of CONNECT to speak to outside systems, and Matrix in particular, has also forced Bushell to adopt what amounts to a double bookkeeping system for tracking fluid use. If truck number 50, for example, requires 50L of fluid, that figure must be entered into both Matrix and Connect, if the inventory levels in both systems are going to match at the end of the day.

“So we have to manually make sure we keep the both up to snuff when we get deliveries,” said Vezina, adding that he is happy with the way Bushell is now able to track its stock.

“Our inventory tends to last a whole lot longer. Stuff isn’t just going missing, although I’m sure it still does on occasion.”

Along with inventory management, Bushell uses CONNECT as its work order and workflow system. Vezina can create and access work orders anywhere with an Internet connection, so if he’s at home and needs to amend one, he can, and the mechanics in the shop just need to refresh their computer screens to see any adjustments made to the work order.

Bushell’s employees log themselves in and out of the CONNECT system (by scanning an assigned barcode) at the start and end of the day, and during their lunch breaks, but aside from attaching themselves to each job they’re assigned, Vezina doesn’t use the system to monitor how they are spending their time since the company pays by the hour, not by piecework.

On the road software Vezina also runs programs to give him a window into what 36 FLEET EXECUTIVE ❙ September/October 2014

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Bushell’s drivers are experiencing behind the wheel.

There is one transportation management software (TMS) product offering in particular that keeps Bushell running.

“We use Sylectus, it’s a Web-based software that the whole company almost revolves on. It’s used for dispatching. It’s tied in with Shaw Tracking. And you’ve got Shaw Automated Hours of Service which is tied in with both of them, it’s EOBR. Everything it does ties into Sylectus,” said Vezina, adding that he also keeps J. J. Keller & Associates Inc.’s E-Log System open on one of his three monitors to so he can audit the logs to ensure HoS compliance.

There is one application Bushell purchased that may not be common in most trucking companies, and that’s an accident reconstruction system called Aras 360°. Noting it’s the “same software as the RCMP uses,” Vezina said Bushell has only had to use it once on a very minor single-vehicle collision, but Grant Glattacker prefers being prepared for all eventualities.

Keeping up and keeping online While relying on cloud-based software does have some major advantages, including not having to host software on in-house servers, or not having to roll out software updates, there are disadvantage as well. Consideration must be given to network security. As well there must be plans put in place for what happens if the online systems go down or Internet connectivity fails, which has happened at Bushell.

“Once we had a bad windstorm here. Our Internet is off of a roof on the dish. The wind blew that over. I had nothing. I had no Internet. It was a terrible day. So yeah, I worry. I’m concerned that if we ever lose this, holy moly it’s going to be a very busy day at Bushell Transport,” said Veznia He said the company takes network security seriously, has strong password policies in place and relies on security measure provided by Sylectus and Shaw.

Vezina knows that as the company grows, more Webbased software is likely going to be part of the future, and it’s a future Bushell is well prepared to handle.

“When the shop was built, they ran extra data cables because technology grows phenomenally every year, and Grant was advised ‘this is what it takes for data cables at this time.’

Well Grant took it upon himself to say, ‘let’s increase the data cables we are running because 10 years from now we’re going to be double.’ He pre-planned for the future to ensure we did have the data cables and the ability to accommodate any further technology that does come.” FE trucknews.com

14-10-08 2:40 PM

v PROFITABILITY

Digging deep and broad

Performing a true total cost of ownership analysis means searching all departments.

RENTALS

By Fleet Executive staff

K

nowing how much a truck costs and how much it costs to fix are not the same thing as knowing what the total cost of ownership (TCO) is for that vehicle.

That’s the message Marc Thibeau, senior vice-president of fleet management solutions for Ryder System Inc. drove home during a recent webinar. According to Thibeau, many fleets “had understated their equipment maintenance and financing cost forecasts by an average of 15%. That type of shortfall, if not reconciled can be problematic to many businesses competing in the marketplace today.”

Ryder uses a program created for it by Ernst and Young to assist fleets in performing total cost of ownership evaluations, and after conducting over 6,000 reviews, Ryder has come to some general conclusions about how fleets account for themselves and the numbers they tend to overlook.

First, Thibeau said that companies don’t have a good way of gathering costs distributed across different deparments. For example, administrative costs tend to get buried and ignored.

“One has to think about the indirect costs—the time, energy and resources extended to contract and facilitate repair work, and to pay the bills. My personal experience has been that companies often times overlook many of the indirect costs impacting the total cost of owning and maintaining a piece of transportation equipment, as these costs are typically difficult to carve out of the overall business expenses.”

Not having a full and complete understanding of how well and how long the equipment lasts is another typical stumbling block to achieving a true TCO analysis.

“In a recent study conducted by Ernst & Young, maintenance costs associated with operating a fleet can be upwards of 5.3% of revenue,” said Thibeau, adding that many fleets haven’t figured out the ideal holding period for each make and model, and because of this, they tend to lose money making too many repairs too far into the truck’s lifecycle.

They also make poor assumptions when buying new trucks.

Post-2007 trucks with complex emissions control equipment tend to fail at a higher rates than older vehicles, so estimating future maintenance costs using historic numbers doesn’t work.

“DPF exhaust componentry that comes along with these new designs, have proven to be expensive maintenance additions, driving historical cost run rates upwards by as much as 25% depending on the equipment type or application.” FE

Profitability.indd 37

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14-10-08 2:40 PM

PROFITABILITY

The “fun” is back in the LTL industry Volumes are up and networks are full

By Dan Goodwill

A

s I look at LTL freight transportation today, it is hard to believe that just a few years ago, this was one of the most battered sectors of the freight industry. The LTL freight industry took a tremendous pounding during the Great Recession as business volumes contracted by about 25%. As operating margins shrunk, LTL carriers closed or consolidated terminals and cut staff in an effort to right-size their businesses. Shippers took advantage of the situation by conducting multiple freight bids to leverage their volumes to extract rate concessions.

Seven years later, the industry has changed dramatically and the pendulum has swung back in the carriers’ favour. As volumes return to pre-recession levels, LTL carriers are finding their networks full of freight. As the North American economy improves, manufacturing is on the rise. The nearshoring movement is also bringing some manufacturing jobs back to America. In addition, the driver shortage is making it difficult to find drivers, particularly for long haul truckload routes. A clogged intermodal system is limiting the opportunities to divert overthe-road truckload freight to the rail system. The net result is that some of this freight is being diverted to large LTL shipments so it can move with an LTL carrier. In other words, this is creating traffic for an already full LTL system.

Unlike the truckload sector where even the largest players control only a small (single digit) percentage of the total truckload sector, the LTL industry is highly concentrated among a core group of companies. The top nine LTL carriers in the United States (e.g. FedEx Freight, Con-way, YRC, UPS Freight, Old Dominion, Estes, USF Holland, Reddaway and New Penn, ABF, R & L Carriers and Saia) control almost 70% of the LTL market. In Canada, the major players, TransForce (e.g. TST Overland, Canadian Freightways, Kingsway, QuikX, Quiktrax, Clarke Transport and Vitran), the Day and Ross Group and Manitoulin would also control a major share of the LTL market. With limited capacity and pricing discipline, this gives these groups of companies considerable pricing power. With high quality costing models, these companies can now seek meaningful rate increases or de-market poor paying accounts.

In other words, the “fun” is back in this business.

To further improve yields, FedEx Freight and UPS Freight are

38 FLEET EXECUTIVE ❙ September/October 2014

Profitability.indd 38

introducing density-based or dimensional or cube-based pricing. I wrote about the potential of this trend years ago on my website (www.dantranscon.com/) and it is finally starting to take hold. Just as airlines charge for “bums in seats” and adjust their plane sizes to each route and the potential passenger traffic, LTL freight carriers are going to become much more diligent about charging shippers for the cubic space occupied on their trailers. Shippers with poor packaging, who don’t nest their products effectively or don’t design their products well or load them smartly, will face a nasty surprise. With so much industry consolidation, it won’t take long before dimensional pricing becomes more standard across the industry.

Another reason why LTL carriers are having more “fun” is in their attitudes toward logistics service providers. A few years ago, 3PLs were viewed as the enemy. They were seen as trying to poach LTL customers and replace their carriers by taking control of the direct customer interface. Times have changed. LTL carriers are increasingly viewing 3PLs as business partners. They are forming alliances with companies that have common objectives and customer profiles so they can collectively bring value to the customer. The large LTL carriers are going a step further by creating their own internal logistics or at least freight brokerage arms.

The terminal networks of the large and even medium-sized LTL carriers serve as barriers to entry. As a result, it is not as easy to establish an LTL freight business as it is a truckload business. This is producing some new models of LTL carriers.

In addition to marketing alliances between regional LTL carriers (to expand market coverage) such as the Reliance Network, we are also seeing the creation of asset-lite or even nonasset based (technology driven) LTL players. Roadrunner Transportation Systems and FreightQuote are just two of the companies now targeting this sector using these new models.

The thrill was gone in 2007 and 2008 but the fun is back in 2014. FE

Dan Goodwill, president, Dan Goodwill & Associates Inc. has over 30 years of experience in the logistics and transportation industries in both Canada and the United States. trucknews.com

14-10-08 2:40 PM

GEARED UP

A new

STARin the desert

The 5700XE is Western Star’s first areodynamic truck and after one of its first test drives, James Menzies predicts it will be a big hit.

T

he only thing more exhilarating than the view of the Nevada desert over the hood of my Western Star 5700, was the view of another Western Star 5700 in my West Coast mirrors.

This is a truck that when seen from the exterior will steal your attention for more than a moment. And yet it’s also a truck you can feel good about owning and operating, because it’s a Western Star that can finally compete with other aerodynamic models in terms of fuel efficiency. Still, Western Star designers stayed true to the brand’s heritage by creating a truck that looks nothing like the others that comprise this segment.

If you were to trace the outline of the various fuel-efficient models on the market today and leave the insides blank, it would take a discerning eye to differentiate them. The same cannot be said of the 5700XE, which somehow manages to eschew the rounded, jelly bean-styled design of other leading models while attaining fuel economy that the EPA considers good enough to place within the same bin as the others under its greenhouse gas emissions program.

T-shirts worn by Western Star people at the truck’s launch declared the 5700 brought an edge to aero, which is an appropriate tagline for this truck.

After a high-profile launch before more than a dozen trucking industry journalists in Sin City, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to stay behind and put the truck through its paces over a two-hour journey in and around Las Vegas. The 5700 I drove had a 72-inch sleeper, an EPA13 Detroit Diesel DD13 engine rated at 455 hp/1,550 lb.-ft. and the DT12, 12-speed direct drive automated manual transmission.

This is the integrated Detroit powertrain that the company says will provide a significant portion of the fuel savings customers will see from this truck, compared to previous Western Star vehicles. They’ve opted to make the truck available only with Detroit power and no other automated manual will be offered. Yes, there’s a risk some Cummins loyalists may be unhappy with this decision, but Western Star officials are confident enough in the product that they feel demand for the new truck will be such that customers will accept the Detroit powertrain and then become converted, once they experience its efficiency and performance.

Aside from the Detroit powertrain, further gains come from the redesigned front end, which better directs airflow over and around the cab. Interestingly, this is the same base cab you’ll find on traditional Western Star models, including its vocational offerings. The Western Star cab is known for its steep windshield, September/October 2014 ❙ FLEET EXECUTIVE 39

Geared.indd 39

14-10-08 2:41 PM

GEARED UP

which is not exactly conducive to aerodynamics. However, engineers discovered ways to help assist the air up over that windshield. The most visible of these enhancements is a kick panel on the hood, just before the windshield, that directs air up and over the cab. This air ramp, if you will, doesn’t impact visibility over the hood as long as your seat is properly positioned.

The front bumper has been redesigned to keep air from getting caught up in the wheel wells. Two end sections dubbed ‘fangs’ (yes, even the bumper end caps on this truck have attitude) reduce wind resistance without detracting from the truck’s unique look. The Western Star 5700 has a distinctive face that’s unlike any other truck in the marketplace.

The raised center section of the hood has been carried over and this section on the truck I drove was painted matte black, reducing glare off the hood. The sun visor has also been kept, which helps direct air over top the roof cap. Other aerodynamic improvements come in the form of fairings and flares that encourage air to flow to where it will provide minimal disruption to the vehicle’s forward progress.

Inside, this truck is unmistakably a Western Star. The most notable upgrade is a redesigned wood and leather steering wheel with controls placed at the driver’s fingertips, which allow the driver to scroll through the information on the driver display, flash the marker lights or control the cruise, Bluetooth, radio, etc.

However, while other models have transitioned to a more automotive-styled driver environment, the 5700 is pure truck.

The signal light stalk is heavy, the gauges large and the dash has a classic, driver-friendly layout. The driver display area is small compared to other models, which limits the likelihood of distraction and also helps retain the classic look of the interior.

Western Star has brought over from the vocational segment some serviceability features, including easy access to the fuse panels and power distribution module, which can be accessed from the passenger seat by simply removing four bolts.

The entire panel can be pulled out from its home here for easy serviceability—a vocational feature that technicians will appreciate just as much on an on-highway tractor.

The 5700 uses the same honeycomb-style sleeper cab that’s offered on its previous models. Its lightweight construction means the 5700’s total weight compares more favourably 40 FLEET EXECUTIVE ❙ September/October 2014

Geared.indd 40

to other aero models as the sleeper size increases. There has always been a perception that the Western Star is a heavy truck due to its steel cab, however the truck I drove weighed in at a very respectable 17,500 lbs. and that was with disc brakes and that 72-inch sleeper.

The Western Star 5700 provided an exceptionally steady ride, particularly while cornering, an attribute that stems in part from its wide cab mounts.

It was comfortable to drive, particularly with the DT12 automated transmission. There are some surprisingly steep grades outside Vegas, including a long 6% climb near Summerlin, which tested the DD13. It was up to the challenge, though I bet many Canadian customers will opt for the DD15, which will net better fuel economy when you’re running the hills.

Climbing that long 6 percenter, I was able to employ the kickdown feature available on the DD13/DT12 combo, which when the pedal was depressed to the floor dropped a gear and provided a little extra torque to manage the climb.

The DT12’s paddle shifter allowed me to drop a gear or activate the engine brake without reaching to the dash.

Another nice feature available on the Western Star 5700 is Meritor Wabco’s OnGuard collision mitigation system. I’ve experienced it before, but not in heavy traffic such as that I encountered returning to the city. When in cruise control OnGuard measures the distance to other vehicles in front of the truck and applies the engine and service brakes as necessary to maintain a safe following distance. It took some getting used to, before I was willing to really trust the system but after a few miles of interacting with heavy traffic I found I was able to place my trust in the system and let it do its thing.

OnGuard seems to have been dialed in; it didn’t overreact to vehicles that momentarily cut into my personal space, as long as those vehicles were moving faster than I was and quickly got out of my way. When cruise isn’t set, audible warnings will alert you to potential danger but it’s up to the driver to adjust his or her speed as necessary. OnGuard is a really nice option to have, especially in traffic.

My daytime drive didn’t give me the opportunity to check out the improved lighting system offered in the 5700 but officials claim a new projector beam headlight design provides much better nighttime visibility. I know they look good from outside; we got a sneak peek at the 5700 after dark and the headlights ensure you can identify this truck even when it’s dark out. A thin LED accent strip along the top and outside edges of the lamp give it a distinctive appearance.

Only a handful of 5700s have been built and it was exciting to be among the first to drive one. Now the race is one to see who’ll be the first to own them. This is a truck that will stand out on the highway and separate its owners from the herd. Production is scheduled to begin next April and will ramp up over the summer. When it comes to design and drivability, the Western Star 5700 hit not just home runs, but grand slams. If its fuel-efficiency comes in on target and it’s priced right, this truck may finally allow the brand to break through into the on-highway tractor segment in a big way. FE trucknews.com

14-10-08 2:41 PM

GEARED UP

VOLVO GOES

BIG

The VNX is a true heavy-hauler

By James Menzies

W

hen you spec’ a heavy-haul tractor, some compromise is expected. Here in Canada, we’re allowed to pull some pretty hefty payloads, often over mountainous terrain. To do this we need big noisy engines, stiff suspensions and nothing less than an 18-speed manual transmission. Or do we?

With its new VNX, Volvo delivers heavy-haul capabilities within a package that features all the comforts and amenities found in its VNL highway tractor. It has created a rugged truck with big-time power that drives as smoothly and quietly as any other VN. I recently spent a couple hours driving a VNX around southwestern Ontario, pulling a load of Challenger Bulk-supplied trash contained within a seven-axle Titan trailer. The load grossed 124,278 lbs and stunk to high heavens. But this is heavy-haul—we weren’t looking for a load of flowers.

It’s true that southern Ontario offers few hills of any significance to truly test the D16 engine. But it does have its share of bumpy, two-lane roads and we spent about half of our drive navigating such roads before venturing through downtown Woodstock and then joining the 401 for some highway cruising.

The VNX is a bona-fide heavy-hauler, not an overspec’d highway tractor. The powertrain features the Volvo D16 engine with 500, 550 or 600 hp and the I-Shift automated manual transmission comes standard. An 18-speed manual is available as well but Jason Spence, marketing product manager,

long-haul, said all buyers to date have taken the I-Shift. Not long ago, this would have come as a surprise; early generation AMTs being limited mostly to linehaul applications whether out of necessity or due to perception.

However, the I-Shift has proven to be capable of some fairly robust hauling and across the pond it’s routinely found in applications much more severe than we can throw at it here.

Consider that Volvo produces a 750-hp engine in Sweden, which can be mated only to the I-Shift, which is used in offroad mining and logging applications. By comparison, our 125,000 lbs. of garbage hauled over southern Ontario’s flat roads was nothing to sweat.

“The I-Shift is fully capable of this application,” assured Spence as we headed out from Expressway Trucks. “It is set up for 200,000-lb. GVW and will go even higher than that, but you need application approval.”

This particular VNX was a day cab powered by Volvo’s D16 engine, which produced 600 hp and 2,050 lb.-ft. of torque.

The I-Shift was a 12-speed Performance version, which allowed me to override its gear selection if so inclined, or shift into Performance mode for some extra oomph when climbing through the lower gears.

Even at 125,000 lbs, I was able to get up to speed quickly thanks to the I-Shift’s affinity for skip-shifting. This is important on rural roads as it deters impatient motorists from darting out into oncoming traffic to complete a pass.

The VNX shares the same cab as its on-highway cousin but the truck itself is a true heavy-hauler. It is recommended for September/October 2014 ❙ FLEET EXECUTIVE 41

Geared.indd 41

14-10-08 2:41 PM

GEARED UP applications that will remain on-highway about 95% of the time, but that require the occasional off-road foray, whether it be into a landfill site or the bush. The VNX marries aspects of the VNL with attributes from Volvo’s VHD vocational product.

For example, the VNX mirrors the 10-inch ride height found on the VHD and features a heavy-haul bumper with a single tow eye. The steer axle can accommodate wide 445 tires but we were running 385 Michelins. The truck also features a dual steering gear for improved handling and a set-back axle that provides a tight turning radius.

The steering on this truck is exceptional. Even over the bumpier roads we encountered, the harsh inputs from the road were barely felt through the steering wheel. The steering was responsive and comfortable, always.

The VNX also offers an extremely quiet ride, particularly for a day cab. This speaks to a well-designed cab that keeps engine noise and other ambient sounds from invading the driver’s workspace. Noise is not only an irritant, it’s also fatiguing.

The integration between the D16 engine and the I-Shift allows for some special features that are fun and useful. The engine brake is quiet enough you can ignore those municipal bylaws prohibiting their use and effective enough to limit wear on the service brakes.

The cruise control also benefits from the integration between engine and transmission. One of the nice features was to set the highway cruise speed at 100 km/h and the top speed cruise to 108 km/h; this would activate the engine brake automatically when 108 was reached when descending a grade, holding the vehicle within the specified speed window.

With your upper and lower speeds locked in, you can sit back, relax and enjoy the sights.

Visibility out of and around the VNX is excellent, thanks to a short sloped hood and well-placed hood-mounted mirrors.

Volvo recently extended the length of its windshield wipers to 24 inches from 22, providing a larger clean view when they’re required. The windshield wiper motors were upgraded accordingly as well.

I didn’t need windshield wipers on this sunny late-July afternoon. I did, however, appreciate the exterior sun visor, which Volvo has chosen to retain while many other OEMs are eliminating them due to interference with aerodynamics.

Spence told me Volvo conducted extensive testing and found its exterior sun visor didn’t impact fuel economy, yet actually provided some efficiency benefits.

“The exterior sun visor is functional,” Spence explained. “It reduces the solar load into the truck itself, so the air-conditioning doesn’t have to work as hard to keep the cab cool.”

And of course, it also reduces the glare of the sun. Speaking of sun visors, the internal ones are cleverly designed as well.

Two separate visors along the windshield overlap to provide complete coverage. And they don’t swing towards the driver—a potential safety hazard—as there are separate visors mounted above the side windows. These are small things that exemplify the attention Volvo affords safety.

The VNX, with heavy load in tow, over rough country 42 FLEET EXECUTIVE ❙ September/October 2014

Geared.indd 42

roads, drove as smoothly as any highway tractor and much more smoothly than you’d expect from a heavy-hauler. This is partly due to the tandem drive axles: the 46,000 lb.-rated RT46-164EH from Meritor, which was designed for the Canadian market, its rough roads and heavy payloads, and the 46,000-lb.

Neway ADZ-246 rear suspension. The front axle was Volvo’s own VF20 rated at 16,000 lbs.

As in the VN, the driver display provides real-time driver performance and coaching info. Dollar signs indicate how well the driver is remaining within the engine’s sweet spot.

This can be set up to reward efficient driving, for example, by providing drivers with extra speed, which seems counterproductive, like rewarding good behaviour in prison by giving the prisoner the keys to the bank. But nonetheless, if you want to do that, you can.

Volvo’s driver display is well designed, providing the information you want and need but not so much that it becomes a distraction.

The Volvo VNX was designed to bring an on-highway driving experience to the heavy-haul segment and it has accomplished that mission. It makes heavy payloads less daunting for drivers with little or no heavy-haul experience. And it’s a nice looking truck, too.

Volvo began taking orders for the VNX late last year and so far, not surprisingly, most of the interest in the truck has come from Canada. The truck I drove was one of several demonstration vehicles that are making the rounds among customers.

There are many heavy-haul applications within Canada that are well suited to the VNX. In the oilpatch and the quarry, the landfill and the bush, the KWs and Petes may have to make some room for a new heavyweight contender. FE trucknews.com

14-10-08 2:41 PM

GEARED UP

Alt fuel test drive Could a CNG dual fuel conversion be the right move for an aging fleet?

By Harry Rudolfs

I

’m a big fan of alternative fuels, so I jumped at the chance to test drive a duel-fuelled tractor. My ride was to be 2007 International 8600 model powered by an 11-litre Cummins ISM engine that had been converted to run on a 75/25% blend of diesel and CNG (compressed natural gas), respectively. It was waiting for me at the Woodstock, Ont. OnRoute rest area on the 401 and I was late.

While giant carriers like Bison and Groupe Robert have invested millions of dollars in decked-out LNG-fuelled 386 Peterbilts, my ride, complete with a half a million kilometres and a sagging seat, was a seven-year-old Cornbinder day cab that had been retrofitted in a local Kitchener garage.

The 2007 International is a demonstration unit provided to W.S. Bell Cartage for a five-week trial by Alternative Fuels Alternative Solutions (AFAS) in partnership with Universal Truck Rentals. The tractor was slotted into a dedicated auto parts run between Kitchener and Windsor, Ont., and the driver, George Lazenby, was waiting for me.

About half the trucks I drive these days are automatics, but I’m always at home with an Eaton Fuller 10-speed, and happily skipped a gear or two coming out of the service centre.

The truck creaked and groaned a bit, (its odometer read 468,000 km) but its 410 Cummins’ horses got up to highway speed in no time and sailed along fine. A push-button indicator on the dash engages the CNG and four tiny LED bars indicate how full the tank is in quarterly increments. Otherwise the dash panel is exactly the same as any other 8600.

I wasn’t expecting anything dramatic and Steve Baty, director of AFAS, confirmed that expectation.

“It’s going to drive exactly like any other truck,” he warned.

But the real test of this blended fuel system is the driver George Lazenby, himself. This is the kind of driver you want to hire—old school. Guys like him put “class” in a Class A licence. At 69 years of age and with a couple of million miles under his belt, he’s seemingly indefatigable, working close to 60 hours a week, and essentially doing the work of two drivers.

“We didn’t even tell him we were testing CNG,” according to Baty of AFAS. “We started out with him running on diesel alone. We wanted him to drive exactly the same way as he would any other truck.”

Cosmetically, the only visible difference from a factory 8600 is the extended CNG tank on the passenger side. The tank is 66 inches long, 23 inches in diameter but fits within the frame. The tank holds the equivalent of 80 gallons of diesel, but even so, it’s not enough CNG to make the whole 600-km journey, running out after 400 kms.

The CNG tank and gauge are incorporated into the passenger step.

Baty chose the 8600 because the conversion is rather simple with most of the piping fitting neatly on the right side of the engine. But he insists a conversion can be fitted to any truck.

Unlike the expensive LNG Peterbilts running up and down the 401, the AFAS conversion can be done for a fraction of the cost: less than $25,000. The big difference, said Baty, is that “it’s still a diesel with a dual-fuel CNG fuel management system enhancement.”

Baty also claims fine-tuning the engine to run on the CNG/diesel mixture has improved fuel economy from 5.6 mpg to around 10 mpg. The truck starts and idles on diesel, while CNG is gradually added as the RPMs increase and the turbo kicks in, until the optimum 75/25% ratio is achieved.

Baty thinks that that ratio can also be improved eventually to 60/40% mixture cutting fuel costs further.

When I asked Lazenby about the performance, he was unequivocal. “No difference,” he said without blinking. And the same goes for me. The CNG blend worked as well as any Cummins-powered International I’d ever driven. After I’d backed the trailer into dock in Kitchener, Lazenby bobtailed us back to Bridgeport where W.S. Bell has its headquarters.

Overall, the trip was relatively unremarkable and that’s good—the blended fuel conversion was indistinguishable from full-on diesel. The bottom line is savings, of course.

Based on George’s trial runs, Baty estimates that it would save over $16,000 in fuel in the course of a year, and over $20,000 if it could carry enough fuel for the entire round trip.

Dallas Bell, vice-president of W.S. Bell Cartage is generally pleased with the results.

“Ideally we’d like to try it with a newer truck,” he said.

“We’ll have to sit down and confer about our next step. With the limited number of fuelling spots it would have to be the right run and the right truck.”

One option is to put in a “slow fill” fuelling station where individual trucks could be fuelled over the eight to 12 hours when they are off-duty. This can be done anywhere with natural gas service. But it is expensive to put in a slow fill terminal, about $12,000 per unit.

But on paper a dual-fuel CHG conversion looks like an affordable option considering the cost of new LNG and CNG engines. Rather than a payback period of 3.5 years for new LNG equipment, Baty said the AFAS dual-fuel system should pay for itself in 18 to 24 months, based on the amount of daily travel and the cost of the fuel cylinders chosen.

“The fuel cylinders are the most expensive component of the dual fuel management system,” he added. FE September/October 2014 ❙ FLEET EXECUTIVE 43

Geared.indd 43

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COVER STORY

p 25

determining if regulated performance requirements for such systems may be needed. These systems are also available on a voluntarily fitted basis in Canada now, on some new commercial trucks.”

It seems as if the government is leaving the door open for manufacturers who want to bring highly automated vehicles into the country. “Transport Canada would permit the importation of an automated vehicle, provided that it has been certified by the manufacturer as complying with the current safety standards that apply to the vehicle class,” said Martel.

As mentioned earlier, Suncor Energy is running a pilot project in Fort McMurray to test what it calls its autonomous haulage system (AHS), but because the vehicle (reportedly from Komatsu) doesn’t operate on public roads, the province has no need or authority to regulate its use. And even though awareness has been raised about the capabilities of autonomous technology, Alberta is not even considering making legislative changes to allow self-driving vehicles on provincial streets or highways.

Ontario by comparison is miles ahead in the autonomous vehicle race, even if it is still in the starting gate.

“As part of our monitoring, on December 17, 2013, the Ontario ministry of transportation posted a potential autonomous vehicle pilot framework on the Ontario Regulatory Registry for consultation,” explained spokesperson Ajay Woozageer.

“The potential pilot looked to safely test and evaluate fully autonomous vehicles under prescribed conditions before they become widely available to the public. The posting was open to the public for 45 days and closed on February 24, 2014.”

The proposal called for the pilot project to run for five years, and apply to passenger cars and light trucks only. Since the comment closing date, however, there has been no word about the status of the project. CAVCOE’s Godsmark believes the “project got shelved during the provincial election. Now we are waiting to hear what Ontario will do to move forward.”

Finding fault One of the reasons governments may be reluctant to jump on the self-driving bandwagon is that right now there are no good answers to the question ‘who is responsible if an autonomous vehicle gets into an accident?’ If there is no driver to blame for not paying attention or failing to make a proper lane change, does the liability fall to the fleet operating the truck, or the vehicle manufacturer who built the truck? What about the third-party OEM that provided the logic controllers or who wrote the collision-avoidance code that sent the truck careening into that bus full of school children? Governments themselves may come under extra scrutiny, said Godsmark.

“You’ve got the road authority, as the road layout and engineering becomes absolutely key now… Driver error is the cause or major factor in 90% of crashes. What will happen with autonomous vehicles is as we mostly remove the drivererror component we’ll discover deficiencies in the road are actually contributing to crashes,” he said.

44 FLEET EXECUTIVE ❙ September/October 2014

Cover story.indd 44

“The finger will be pointed at every single one of those and the law will find out where the liability lies. Once that happens, we set a precedent and move forward,” he said adding that he expects there to be early, precedent-setting lawsuits for billions of dollars, but after the first few are settled, it will start to become obvious what the law of the land thinks about who holds responsibility and liability.

Godsmark also said that he could see manufacturers and equipment makers combining funds into a common insurance pool designed to handle the initial accident claims before the insurance companies become comfortable adding self-driving trucks to company policies.

Creating the support system Another reason governments may be unwilling to encourage autonomous vehicles are the extra demands that may be placed on them to improve infrastructure or change procedures.

“You see a lot of discussion about V2I which is vehicleto-infrastructure communications,” said Kahn “and which require a government or a municipality to install [smart] infrastructure and then maintain it. It’s just something we at Peterbilt don’t want to focus on if we have the ability to have the vehicle be situationally aware of its surroundings. That’s why GPS navigation is so important to us.”

As well, governments will have to devise and oversee new tests and inspection procedures to certify that the self-driving trucks are safe enough to be on the road, all of which will cost time and money, although Godsmark predicts that any costs associated with turning our highways over to self-driving vehicles will be more than off-set by the monetary benefits they will provide. He cites figures that say road crashes cost Canada $62 billion per year, or 4.9% of our GDP. In contrast, he says investing in autonomous technology returns between 10% and 20% in cost-savings.

“Owners and operators will potentially make a lot of money while drivers can potentially lose out big time. Right or wrong, overall society will benefit from lower costs of goods in the shops, but at what price for the truckers’ job?” he asked. He added just because there is a driver shortage now, it doesn’t mean that situation will continue once self-driving technology proves itself. Then drivers will be reduced to chaperones, will be brought inside to handle more administrative duties, or will have to be retrained for other jobs. “I think we should be preparing now and having plans in place so when it does happen we will have a good idea what to do.”

Even for those who are sceptical that self-driving trucks will soon be popular enough to put drivers out of work, it’s still important that society as a whole gives consideration to the emergence of autonomous technology, so we are ready to deal with it when it finally does arrive—even if it winds up presenting itself in a different form that originally predicted.

“Now the technology has come so far, that’s when you start thinking ‘is this really what we want to do? Why do we want to do it?” said Almqvist. FE trucknews.com

14-10-08 2:37 PM

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