CCJ’s Indicators rounds up the latest reports on trucking business indicators on rates, freight, equipment, the economy and more.
Market conditions for trucking companies gained steam in August, according to the monthly Trucking Conditions Index produced by FTR.
Web game helps illustrate trucking’s essential role in day-to-day living — and that it’s how supplies get through when disaster strikes
Fleet management systems company Omnitracs today unveiled a Halloween-timely PR effort in the form of an online game called Zombie Dispatch. And while it’s meant to be for fun, there are serious undertones.
ANN ARBOR—As the U.S. trucking industry faces new federal limits on greenhouse gas emissions, a University of Michigan team surveyed fleet managers to gauge their views on fuel usage, fuel economy and fuel-saving technologies.
The survey results, released today with the American Transportation Research Institute, include responses from nearly 100 heavy-duty fleet managers who operate more than 114,500 truck-tractors and haul 9 billion tons of freight across 1.8 billion miles annually.
A new regulation that will force U.S. trucking companies to electronically log employee hours is designed to limit accidents by keeping tired drivers off the road.
It may also drive smaller trucking firms out of business.
A trucking industry survey earlier this year of mostly small operators found that 84 percent lacked electronic logs, according to load-matching firm truckstop.com. Paper logs allow transport companies already facing razor thin margins to fudge the books, boosting their hours on the road to help the bottom line.
Trucking industry revenue hit a record $726.4 billion in the U.S. last year, according to a new report from a national trade group.
The American Trucking Associations released its American Trucking Trends 2016 compilation Thursday — the latest in some seven decades of data sets from the organization.
Employment in the industry increased slightly to 3.5 million drivers in 2015 from 3.4 million the year before. More than 7 million people work in trucking related jobs — including manufacturing, mining and finance.
Sales exceeded $700 billion for the second year in a row, according to the report. Trucks collected 81.5 percent of freight revenue nationwide last year.
The vehicles hauled 10.49 billion tons during the period — some 70 percent of all domestic freight tonnage, according to the report. They chewed through 54.3 billion gallons of fuel, spending some $105.2 billion on diesel— the lowest expenditure since 2009.
PULASKI CO. — There is a great need for truck drivers across the nation, but the demand is growing faster than schools can deliver.
Shawnee Community College is trying to help the industry keep up with the need for drivers.
Driving a truck may not be the most glamorous job but it is one in high demand, especially with other industries suffering.
“We see an influx of students every time there is a layoff,” said Wade Ralls, Truck Driving Coordinator with Shawnee Community College.
The latest trucking-focused analysis regarding freight and equipment trends are not exactly heartening, even if they project mild optimism in some cases.
Indeed, the latest downgrade to the outlook for truck production rates in 2017 – combined with the ongoing slump in Class 8 orders and weakening used Class 8 prices – isn’t exactly making the near-future look any rosier for motor carriers.
At the heart of it all are freight volumes, which may be more “normal” than many in trucking might think.
By Julia Love and Heather Somerville | October 5, 2016
With its recent acquisition of self-driving truck startup Otto, Uber Technologies Inc. is plotting its entry into the long-haul trucking business, aiming to establish itself as a freight hauler and a technology partner for the industry.
Otto plans to expand its fleet of trucks from six to about 15 and is forging partnerships with independent truckers, Otto co-founder Lior Ron told Reuters in an interview. Starting next year, Otto-branded trucks and others equipped with Otto technology will begin hauling freight bound for warehouses and stores, he said.
The nation’s largest less-than-truckload carriers had one consolation in the second quarter — they weren’t truckload carriers. Most LTL carriers saw revenue slip year-over-year as the U.S. freight economy weakened, but not to the same extent as their truckload counterparts.
To date, the only large LTL carrier that hasn’t reported a revenue decline in the quarter is the largest, FedEx Freight, which increased revenue 2 percent in the quarter that ended May 31. (XPO Logistics, the second-largest U.S. LTL carrier, will report earnings on Aug. 4).
Across the publicly owned LTL sector, second-quarter revenue slipped anywhere from 0.9 percent at Old Dominion Freight Line to 11.9 percent at Roadrunner Transportation Systems.
The introduction of more advanced diesel truck engines, innovative emissions control systems, and cleaner diesel fuel over the past decade have successfully resulted in major improvements in air quality and fuel efficiency.
That’s the consensus of new research compiled by The Martec Group, a global technical marketing research firm, for the Diesel Technology Forum. The four million cleaner heavy-duty diesels introduced from 2007 through 2015 have saved U.S. consumers: