AI: More than a trend How carriers are leveraging tech Page 42
December 2024
Dear Valued Partners,
As the holiday season approaches, we at Hendrickson would like to take a moment to reflect on the past year and extend our heartfelt gratitude to you—our trusted partners in the global trucking industry. The economic landscape of 2024 has posed its challenges, but together, we have navigated these complexities and emerged stronger. Your resilience and commitment have been instrumental to our collective success, and for that, we are incredibly thankful.
Looking ahead to 2025, we know there will be changes and challenges, but we are confident that our continued partnership will see us through. No matter the encounters we face, we will tackle them together with the same determination and collaboration that has defined our relationship over the years.
As the world continues to evolve, so must we. At Hendrickson, we are committed to doing our part in building a sustainable future. This includes but not limited to embracing environmental responsibility, promoting social equity, and driving innovation in product development. Our vision is clear: to contribute to a world where business success and sustainability go hand in hand, ensuring a brighter future for everyone.
In closing, Hendrickson wishes you a joyful holiday season filled with peace, happiness, and time with loved ones. We look forward to continuing our partnership in the year to come.
Happy Holidays and a Prosperous New Year!
Matt Joy President and CEO Hendrickson
12 Trucking by the Numbers
Our annual look at the facts and figures that drive the trucking industry: from driver demographics and vehicle registrations to economic data and sustainability.
30 Countdown to ’27
Price hikes on 2027 trucks could cripple small fleets. Now might be a better time to buy, but interest rates and freight rates are not conducive to profitability. What’s a fleet to do?
Essential inspections and
TECHNOLOGY
42 How AI benefits fleets
Artificial intelligence in trucking is more than a trend–it’s here to stay. Here’s how trucking companies and real fleets are leveraging the technology to improve operations.
48 Shift to solar
Photo: THEPALMER | 1974329982 | Getty Images
Photo: Bednarek
Photo: Westhill Innovation
Photo: TAT
Market Leader
Commercial Vehicle Group
Dyanna Hurley dhurley@endeavorb2b.com
Editorial Director
Kevin Jones kevin@fleetowner.com @KevinJonesTBB
Editor in Chief Josh Fisher josh@fleetowner.com @TrucksAtWork
30 Burton Hills Blvd., Suite 185 Nashville, TN 37215
800-547-7377
Trucking’s essential Wreath Across America role
“The trucking industry is the most impactful industry for what we do,” Courtney George, director of transportation and industry relations for Wreaths Across America, told FleetOwner as the organization prepared for another season of honoring late veterans nationwide. “They wholeheartedly make a huge difference. We couldn’t do what we do—we couldn’t remember so many very deserving souls—if it wasn’t for the trucking industry.” FleetOwner.com/WAA2024
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Fleets Explained
Cargo theft: Thieves have preyed on cargo transporters long before trucks became the most popular and efficient way to move freight throughout the U.S. As trucking has become more sophisticated, so has cargo theft. One of the best ways for fleets to combat this crime is to understand it better. FleetOwner.com/CargoTheft
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[ Lane Shift Ahead ]
What’s your trucking AIQ?
We’re halfway through the 2020s. How intelligent do you feel?
By Josh Fisher Editor in Chief
@TrucksAtWork
While we wait for the robots to take over, 2025 could be the year you raise your trucking AIQ—artificial intelligence quotient—while keeping humanity in the business that drives the U.S. economy.
BEFORE THE PANDEMIC changed our world, we looked ahead to 2025. The middle of this decade was supposed to be when we started seeing emerging 21st-century technology take over transportation: Driverless freight movement, electric trucks, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, we were told, would be prevalent throughout supply chains by now.
It was, of course, a lot easier to envision this futuristic world of zero-emission and automated transport when 2025 felt so far away. But here it is, breathing down our necks as the transportation industry closes out another trying, post-pandemic year.
The 2020 pandemic didn’t so much slow technology adoption as it reshuffled the focus: It boosted e-commerce, last-mile delivery, and trucking-as-a-service operations, but a freight boom was followed by a freight recession that has hampered fleets, created tighter carrier profit margins, and cautious spending.
We aren’t as far into the future as we thought, hoped—or maybe feared—we would be. There are just hundreds of electric heavy-duty trucks operating over the road. Humans are still behind the wheels of all Class 8 trucks operating on public roadways.
But these sluggish months reminded us how working smarter can give you a leg up on hard-working competitors. As more fleets get their hands on new equipment in 2025, a lot are going to be amazed at how much safer and efficient their fleets could become.
Our industry is safer today as advanced driver assistance systems are refined. Technology is also making equipment more efficient. While battery-electric deployment hasn’t reached the lofty visions of early developers, diesel trucks burn less fuel and emit less emissions today than at any time in history. AI and machine learning are helping fleets make more informed decisions within an industry that, at its root, is about getting things from Point A to Point B as efficiently as possible.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning help us decipher vast amounts of data quickly, but machines haven’t replaced humans yet.
“One of the things we all like about trucking is that it is pretty simple—the basics have not changed that much,” Rusty Kirby, senior director of transportation for Pilot Flying J, said this fall. “You still need a qualified driver to transport material safely and efficiently over and over again. What’s changed is our ability to optimize that very basic activity for us.”
Kirby said technology advancements are improving logistics through communications. During American Trucking Associations’ management conference, he described how complicated hauling fuel is for fleets like his, which service more than 850 truck stops.
Each day, his team faces intricate decisions about where it can pick up fuel, where it needs to go, and how to get there. And those things change more quickly than a human can keep up. “All that creates a lot of complexity,” he said. AI can improve those fleet operations “to really communicate and get that backand-forth with the driver instantly to scale at a speed you could not do with a traditional means of communication.”
Using advanced telematics technology that ties in shipping documents, asset locations, fuel needs, driver data, and more, Pilot can better manage its transportation network and, thus, better serve its customers. But it’s still dominated by people.
“Telematics information we get from the tractor is a huge volume of data,” Kirby noted.
“It’s all incredibly useful. But it takes a large team of folks to manage that data, to figure out how you can get the most out of it.”
Is 2025 the year you raise your trucking AIQ—artificial intelligence quotient—while keeping humanity in the business that drives the U.S. economy?
The robots aren’t driving yet, but automation and artificial intelligence are making us more efficient—with the help of humans. FO
Torc AV trucking tech reaches another milestone
Torc Robotics’ autonomous truck technology is meeting advanced validation trials using the new generation of Freightliner Cascadias on multi-lane closed courses, the Daimler Truck subsidiary reported. The self-driving company is talking with fleets about implementing its technology into the supply chain this decade.
Torc’s driverless semi-truck acceptance tests were conducted at speeds up to 65 mph as the company appears on track to commercialize its autonomous on-highway freight transportation product for fleets by 2027.
“Torc is currently working with our Torc Autonomous Advisory Council and our pilot customers to further understand and refine the overall total cost of ownership in real-world operations,” CJ King, Torc’s chief technology officer, told FleetOwner. “We will continue to share meaningful implementation data through 2025.”
Torc used Daimler Truck North America’s new fifth-generation Freightliner Cascadia equipped with its AV technology for the trials. King said the test semis include “fully redundant chassis and production intent compute platform and sensor suite.”
TFI wants to grow LTL operations in ’25
TFI International Inc. is preparing for “something of size” regarding a U.S. acquisition late next year or in early 2026, Alain Bédard, chairman,
president, and chief executive, said.
Speaking to analysts after TFI (No. 7 on the FleetOwner 500: For-Hire) reported its third-quarter results October 22, Bédard said he’s interested in growing the company’s less-than-truckload and logistics business via a sizable transaction on top of the several tuck-in acquisitions TFI makes most years. The company’s last big buy was in late 2023 for specialty transportation firm Daseke Inc., which TFI valued at about $1.1 billion.
The weak freight environment of the past two years, Bédard added, means the market for him as a buyer is positive. Assuming TFI pays down some of its debt in coming quarters as planned, he would entertain a deal of up to $5 billion if he could seal it without having to issue stock.
“Our pipeline is solid. We have lots of opportunities. It’s just that we have to be patient,” Bédard said, adding that he walked away from one deal this year because of valuation differences of opinion.
Growing TFI’s LTL presence is a priority for Bédard, who oversaw the 2021 acquisition of UPS Freight’s operations, renamed TForce Freight. TForce Freight handles about 22,000 shipments daily, but Bédard said that’s “too small” and that he wants the LTL group to be third or fourth in the U.S. market rather than sixth or seventh.
CVSA Brake Safety Week yields predictable results
Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s Brake Safety Week, which was held August 25-31 this summer, found similar results to past years, with nearly 13% of inspected vehicles being taken out of service (OOS). According to CVSA, a vehicle is put OOS when critical vehicle inspection items are identified during an inspection.
• 2024: 16,725 CMVs were inspected, and 2,149 were placed OOS for a rate of 12.8%
• 2023: 18,875 CMVs were inspected, and 2,375 were placed OOS for a rate of 12.6%
• 2022: 38,117 CMVs were inspected, and 5,059 were placed OOS for a rate of 13.3%
Read more details on the findings at FleetOwner.com/BrakeOOS.
Paccar, Volvo anticipate 2025 sales growth
Heavy-duty truck sales trends in 2025 could be the inverse of this year, Paccar CEO Preston Feight says: Start somewhat weakly and then build momentum as the calendar progresses.
Speaking to analysts after Washington-based Paccar reported Q3 profits of $972 million on sales of $8.24 billion, Feight said his team is forecasting that Class 8 sales in the U.S. and Canada would be between 250,000 and 280,000 vehicles in 2025 compared to an estimated 260,000 this year.
“Maybe what you’d expect to see in 2025 is a mirror image of [2024], where the year starts a little bit like [this year is] finishing and then accelerates,” Feight said October 22. “I don’t know that, but it does feel like that’s where we’re starting.”
That growth would be a welcome reversal from recent months when several carriers pulled back on purchases as they managed their spending in the face of a weak freight market that may finally be trending up again. Paccar’s global operations delivered about 44,900 trucks in the third quarter, which was down from 48,400 in the prior three months.
Photo: Torc Robotics
Photo: Paccar Inc.
President and CFO Harrie Schippers said that number will drop further to about 42,000 in Q4, partly because of several extra holidays in Paccar’s U.S. operations. Paccar delivered more than 51,000 vehicles in the last three months of both 2022 and 2023.
The preliminary 2025 forecast from Feight and Schippers is in line with those of their peers at Volvo Group, who said they think North American buyers (which for Volvo Trucks also includes Mexico) will need 300,000 vehicles in 2025, up slightly from this year’s volume. CEO Martin Lundstedt told analysts his team also expects “a gradual lift” in volumes for its Volvo and Mack brands during the year.
“We need to make sure that [a] balance is in place, but we foresee […] with a decreased interest rate, consumption, et cetera, [that the] pattern will move up,” Lundstedt said, adding that moving past the presidential election also will reduce uncertainty in the market.
DOT awards $30 million for truck parking, rest areas
The Department of Transportation awarded more than $30 million to create 210 new truck parking spaces and three new rest areas in Ohio, Wisconsin, and Nevada. The funding is part of a massive award distribution through the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America program.
An Ohio truck parking expansion project would repurpose two closed rest areas as new truck parking
facilities on Interstate 70 near New Paris and on I-80 near Hubbard.
In Wisconsin, the money funds rest area and truck parking expansions on I-43 in Manitowoc County. The project would replace the Rest Area 51 Maribel and Rest Area 52 Denmark facilities, creating a new rest area building, maintenance garage, and parking lots for cars and trucks.
A project to widen I-80 in Nevada would also create 50 new truck parking spots. FO
YOUR OIL MAY WORK AS HARD AS YOU. SHOULDN’T IT WORK SMARTER, TOO?
2024
TRUCKING BY THE
Industry landscape evolves as carriers’ costs rise By
More than 1.1 million U.S. companies operated a eet of at least ve commercial vehicles in 2024, a reminder that transportation is one of the most important aspects of the U.S. economy.
However, concerns about the economy were the overarching theme of transportation in 2024 as trucking operations continued to battle supply chain and regulatory headwinds throughout the year. Despite the uphill climb, trucking is the most popular—and ef cient— way to move goods around the corner or across the country.
While the freight recession that started after the pandemic continued deep into 2024, trucking operations became more expensive—despite fuel costs falling. According to the American Transportation Research Institute, the average operating expenditures went up 0.8% to $2.27 per mile, setting a new
record. If you don’t count fuel costs, average truck operations rose 6.6% to $1.716 per mile, according to the 2024 study of 2023 operations.
While some eets are kicking the tires on alternative fuels, diesel still rules the industry. Since diesel prices peaked at $5.754 per gallon nationally in June 2022, prices have receded year over year. On-highway U.S. diesel prices ranged between a high of $4.044 in January and low of $3.558 in September this year. October 2024 prices were more than 90 cents less than October 2023.
As the fleets continue to navigate an evolving economic and regulatory landscape, we present the latest trends, challenges, and opportunities based on data gathered by FleetOwner and several industry organizations. Trucking by the Numbers 2024 shines a light on the top concerns, economic factors, advancements, and more data that tells
Josh Fisher
the trucking story in charts and gures. Along with economic concerns, the industry continues to focus on what can make it better, such as improved truck parking, lawsuit abuse reform, and guring out how emerging power technologies could t into operations this decade.
While for-hire carriers faced limited capacity and lower freight rates in 2024, private eets—owned and operated by businesses to transport their goods— found opportunities in the evolving trucking landscape. Optimizing routes, implementing fuel-saving measures, and leveraging technology to improve efciency can help private eets control costs.
As we move into 2025, the industry is at a crossroads of challenges and opportunities. With rising operational costs and evolving market dynamics, carriers that adapt over the coming months could nd themselves in a better place a year from now. FO
Photo: Eric Van Egeren, generated by Shutterstock/AI
The trucking industry hauled 64.1% (12.98 billion tons ) of all freight transported in the U.S.
Source: U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics
8.5 million people employed in trucking-related activity in 2023
3.55 million truck drivers in 2023
577,019 registered U.S. motor carriers at start of 2024
Trucking made $987 billion in gross freight revenues last year.
Source: American Trucking Associations
As of Q2 2024, nearly 70% of trucking operations were for-hire, almost 20% were private, and the rest operated as both or other.
66.2% of for-hire motor carriers operate one truck
99.5% of motor carriers operate fleets of 10 or fewer trucks
HERE’S TO THOSE HERE S MAKING THE MOST OUT OF EVERY TURN
The Fifth Generation Cascadia offers advanced safety features, improved aerodynamics, and business intelligence tools designed to enhance profitability. Since its debut in 2007, more than one million Cascadias have been sold, making it the most-driven Class 8 truck on North American roads. By listening to our customers and understanding what drivers and fleet managers need, we’ve crafted a truck that meets the demands of today and prepares fleets for tomorrow.
Economic
ACT Freight Composite Index
The ACT Freight Composite is constructed from the freight-driven components of U.S. GDP, excluding services and overweighting durable goods and housing investments. The ACT Research index represents both the for-hire and private truckload markets.
Freight rates and volume
• Truckload Spot Rates: declined by 15% compared to 2023, averaging $2.10 per mile
• Contract Truckload Rates: decreased by 6%, averaging $2.50 per mile
• Freight Volumes: down 8% year over year, driven by weaker retail demand and inventory normalization
Commercial vehicle demand
• Class 8 Truck Sales: 230,000 units, up 2% year over year
• Class 8 Truck Orders: 165,000 units, down 20% from 2023 due to softer demand
• Class 4-7 Truck Sales: 180,000 units, up 4%, driven by e-commerce and last-mile delivery
• Trailer Production: 290,000 units, a 5% drop from 2023 as freight volumes softened
Used-truck market
• Used-Truck Prices: declined by 10% in 2024, averaging $55,000 for 3-year-old Class 8 trucks
• Used-Truck Sales Volume: 100,000 units, up 12% as fleets reduced capacity and sold off excess inventory
fueling lower carbon possibilities
TRUCKING BY THE CONCERNS
Biggest industry concerns heading into 2025
As we hit the middle of this transformational decade for transportation, the trucking industry is still grappling with a sluggish freight economy, which for the second consecutive year was the top concern of thousands of trucking stakeholders the American Transportation Research Institute surveyed in 2024. Along with economic concern reigning atop ATRI’s 20th annual Top Industry Issues report, truck parking remained No. 2 this year, marking the 10th consecutive year it ranked within the top 10.
Fuel prices (No. 3 in 2023) and driver retention (No. 8 in ‘23) fell off the 2024 Top 10 list. They were replaced by the federal Compliance, Safety, and Accountability program, which didn’t make the 2023 list, and insurance cost/availability, which last appeared in 2021.
Economy (No. 1 in 2023)
ATRI researchers noted that the combined impacts of rising operational costs, the lingering freight recession, and declining freight rates make the economy a top concern for fleets and drivers alike.
Lawsuit abuse reform
(No. 6 in 2023)
This is its highest ranking on record. The topic is one of three issues, along with the driver shortage and insurance cost/availability, which ranked among the Top 10 concerns in both the inaugural ATRI top issues survey in 2005 and 2024.
Driver compensation (No. 5 in
2023)
While ATRI found an average 7.6% driver wage increase overall, smaller fleets (those with 25 or fewer trucks) saw a slight dip in driver pay this year as freight rates fell.
Compliance, Safety,
and Accountability (Not ranked in 2023)
Compliance, Safety, and Accountability, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s safety measurement system, is back in ATRI’s Top 10.
Driver shortage
(No. 4 in 2023)
ATRI researchers noted that economic and regulatory matters overshadow challenges in finding qualified drivers. Fleets did less hiring during the freight recession.
About the survey: More than 3,700 trucking industry stakeholders participated in this year's survey, including motor carriers, truck drivers, industry suppliers, driver trainers, and law enforcement. Here are the overall concerns and what worries just executives and drivers.
Truck parking (No. 2 in
2023)
Among truck drivers, it ranked No. 1 and has ranked among ATRI’s top five overall concerns every year since 2015.
Insurance cost/availability
(Not ranked in 2023) Since 2005, ATRI research has documented continuing increases in truck insurance premiums paid by motor carriers, partly driven by losses from excessive litigation.
Battery electric vehicles
(No. 10 in 2023) Challenges associated with the government mandates and timelines for electrifying heavy-duty trucking moved BEVs up the list. Several electrification challenges range from vehicle costs to less cargo space.
Detention/delay at customer facilities (No.
9 in 2023)
ATRI’s latest detention research found that the industry lost 135.9 million hours of driver productivity in 2023, resulting in more than $11 billion in lost revenue.
Driver distraction (No. 7 in
2023)
Distraction was the top concern among law enforcement respondents to this year’s survey. NHTSA reports that 3,308 people were killed in traffic crashes in 2022 that were attributed to distraction.
Drivers’ Top 10 issues of 2024
execs’ Top 10 issues of 2024
TRUCKING COSTS & FUEL
TRUCKING BY THE DRIVERS
In 2023, the industry saw 12,000 new truck drivers increase the U.S. workforce to 3.55 million, a 0.3% increase from 2022. The for-hire and private fleet industries have added some 523,000 drivers since 2010.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor
Driver Race & Gender
Women truck drivers decreased by 41,640 in 2023 to 245,019, or down from 8.1% to 6.9% of the industry.
Black drivers increased by 12.4%, and Latino drivers rose by 3.8%. After rising 6.8% in 2022, the number of Asian drivers fell 12.2% in 2023.
2023 Driver Demographics:
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics Note: Totals are more than 100% as drivers can identify as multiple races.
Driver Pay
Women in Transportation
Mega trucking companies with more than 5,000 employees report that women comprise approximately 7% of their truck driver population
Source: 2024 Women in Trucking Index
Median Annual Pay (in thousands) for Various Driver Segments, Including Incentives and Bonuses
Median Annual Compensation for Various Driver Segments (Thousands) Including Incentives and Bonuses
42% of fleets raised driver pay in 2023, offering a 5.8% average increase
Source: American Trucking Associations
Source: American Trucking Associations
Driver Detention
• Truckload dry van drivers experienced detention time during 32.6% of stops.
• Flatbed drivers experienced detention time during 26.2% of stops.
• Specialized drivers experienced detention time during 19.3% of stops.
• 52% of truckload drivers ran out of available HOS on-duty time at a customer facility due to detention.
• For-hire trucking industry lost $11.5 billion in revenue to detention in 2023.
• 57.8% of truckload drivers were late or had to cancel a pickup or delivery due to detention at the previous customer’s facility at least once in 2023.
Source: American Transportation Research Institute
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TRUCKING BY THE PRIVATE FLEETS
Private Fleets by the Numbers
The National Private Truck Council, the national trade association dedicated to representing private motor carrier fleets, annually assesses how its members compare to each other with its Benchmarking Survey Report. The 2024 report compares the metrics of 122 respondents to each other and past annual data.
Why private fleets exist
Private fleets are over-the-road trucking operations from other companies whose primary business is not freight transportation. Here are the reasons NPTC members said they operate their own transportation systems.
How many miles?
Private fleet heavy-duty trucks drove an average 1,000 miles less this year than the previous, matching a five-year trend. But medium-duty equipment mileage jumped over 13,500 miles last year.
Private fleet’s tractor-to-trailer ratio, which was on the rise since 2019, fell by more than half a trailer in 2023.
Class 8 trade cycles
While private fleets have continued to average at least six years with Class 8 equipment, 2023 marked the lowest average in years and miles driven. Some of this is attributed to fleets taking advantage of better technology and efficiency of newer trucks.
Trucking costs and fuel
The average cost of operating a truck went up 0.8% in 2023 to $2.27 per mile, setting a new record. Without fuel, truck operations rose to $1.716 per mile, a 6.6% year-over-year increase.
Average Marginal Costs Per Mile, 2014-2023
Source: American Transportation Research Institute
Change in Average Marginal Costs Per Mile for Motor Carriers, 2022-2023
Source: American Transportation Research Institute
Diesel pump prices continue receding from the 2022 surge
After diesel pump prices peaked at a $5.754 per gallon national average in June 2022, monthly per-gallon prices have seen steady year-over-year decreases in 2023 and 2024.
U.S. Diesel Prices (dollars per gallon)
On-highway U.S. diesel pump prices during the first 10 months of 2024 ranged between a high of $4.044 in January and low of $3.558 in September.
The national diesel average of $3.858 in October 2024 was 92.2¢ less than in October 2023. On-Highway Diesel Fuel Prices (dollars per gallon)
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration
TRUCKING BY THE REGISTRATIONS
Fleet commercial vehicle registrations by class, duty, fuel types
Some 1.1 million companies operate at least five commercial vehicles in their fleets, with an average of about 25 commercial vehicles per fleet.
FleetOwner data partner ProsperFleet dug into the commercial fleet market data to find the commercial vehicle populations, from Class 1 to 8, in operations across the U.S. The data scientists at ProsperFleet used federal, state, and local data to show registered commercial vehicles by class, duty, and fuel types. We also rank the industries, states, and metro areas with the most electric and alternative-fuel vehicles.
Note: All data is based on 1.1M companies with 5+ commercial vehicles in the U.S.
VEHICLE SUPPORT STANDS
¶ Visual inspection relating to damage
¶ Cracked welds
¶ Retention pin holes oblong-shaped
¶ Correct retention pins
¶ Readable decals and placards
¶ Compromised
FLUID HANDLERS
¶ Visual inspection relating to damage
¶ Leaking fluids
¶ Non-OEM conforming, tampered with or missing components
¶ Readable decals and placards
Visual inspection relating to damage
Cracked welds
Excessive wear
Missing components
Complete functional test
Readable decals and placards
Compromised
by David Heller
Unanswered questions remain
Drivers deserve a concise federal personal conveyance definition
EVEN THOUGH I AM NOT the best cook, I can prepare some dishes that taste great, but I would never classify my cooking as anything close to gourmet. So, I eat out way too often, and when I do, I prefer to pick up the food from the restaurant myself and bring it home, likely because I believe it will taste better than if I had to wait for it to be delivered.
W hat is reasonable to a driver or fleet might mean something entirely different to someone conducting a compliance review.
Looking at this from a trucking perspective, I realize that any time I go out to grab dinner, it would be construed as personal conveyance since it falls outside the realm of my work life, so to speak. As someone who sits at a desk or walks to Capitol Hill, my assimilation to hours of service is different from that of professional truck drivers. However, I cannot help but sympathize with them regarding the ambiguity of the personal conveyance aspect of the rule.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) defines personal conveyance as the movement of a commercial motor vehicle for personal use while off-duty. Seems fairly straightforward to the common person, but it gets more complex. There is some ambiguity when looking at the examples of appropriate uses of a CMV for personal conveyance while off-duty. Example No. 3 cites that time spent traveling to a nearby, reasonable, safe location to obtain rest after loading or unloading certainly lends itself to quite the conundrum.
As an adjective, the dictionary defines reasonable as having sound judgment or fair and sensible. That becomes the very issue that we are talking about here. In the vastness of our driving population or even those in the trucking industry, the word reasonable may vary from person to person. It may mean something entirely different to those conducting a compliance review.
Clearly, our professional driving population should be able to grab a sandwich or hot meal while on their journey, but the ambiguity of such language prevents them from doing so. Based on the position that has been adopted, many have prohibited personal conveyance as part of their practices.
The topic perplexes everyone, even instructors from the North American Transportation Management Institute, who have sounded the alarm as more question what is reasonable during their certification classes. Determining what constitutes as reasonable continues to raise confusion among those in our industry who want their professional drivers to enjoy home comforts on the road.
FMCSA has twice denied the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) formal petitions seeking a revised rulemaking to add time or mileage maximums to
curb improper, even illegal, use of conveyance policy intended for such reasons as drivers making it home to see their family, finding a restaurant or hotel, or being told to move their vehicle by a law enforcement officer.
We get it. Advancing the load under the guise of personal conveyance is a no-no. CVSA has undoubtedly pointed out examples where drivers could, in theory, drive hundreds of miles over several hours under FMCSA’s guidance regarding personal conveyance. Certainly, this example may be extreme, but it clearly illustrates increasing driver fatigue and a high level of risk on our roadways.
But FMCSA needs to redefine what personal conveyance means. Because of the ambiguity surrounding this issue, many carriers—erring on the side of caution—disallow it altogether. Placing time or mileage limits within the rule itself could lend more clarity to a rule that is often questioned along the lines of what is right or wrong. Understandably, a major concern is abusing a rule that defines a driver’s day. However, the lack of clarity surrounding the rule limits drivers from obtaining the comforts of home while traveling on the road.
Placing limits in either time or mileage could go a long way toward providing professional drivers with more consistent guidance on what defines a reasonable amount of personal conveyance. Providing, of course, that drivers are not using it to get a meal cooked by me since I must admit, it would not be worth their personal time in the first place. FO
David Heller | Dheller@truckload.org
David Heller, CDS, is senior VP of safety and governmental affairs for the Truckload Carriers Association. He is responsible for interpreting and communicating industry-related legislation to TCA members.
Photo: 318300391 | Jovanmandic | Dreamstime.com
G L GAIN GROUND
The road to the f u ture relies on dat a . A nd we s peak dat a . At Penske, technology is embedded in ever y thing we do. Our apps and tools help our cus tomer s optimize their fleet by delivering real -time ac tionable insight s s t raight to them.
Anticipated price hikes on MY 2027 trucks could cripple many small fleets. Now might be a better time to buy, but interest rates and freight rates are not conducive to profitability. What’s a fleet to do? by Jim Park
Have you seen the price of coffee lately? A 32 oz. bag of Starbucks Pike Place coffee beans jumped seven bucks at my grocery store last month. It leapt from $17.99 to $24.99. The store manager blamed it on distribution costs.
You can only imagine how much that bag of coffee will cost after the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2027 emissions-related price hikes lter through the supply chain.
Trucking is at a peculiar juncture as the clock ticks down on 2024. The industry appears to be pulling out of a prolonged freight recession, brought on by a combination of excess capacity and tepid consumer demand. Interest rates are lower than this time last year but still hover at unfriendly levels, and eets can’t justify the additional capex on trucks that won’t earn decent rates until at least the middle of next year—if you believe the prognosticators.
And with Donald Trump and the Republican Party’s sweeping electoral wins in November, there’s hope that these emissions regulations relax between now and 2027. Although governmental history says that is not a guarantee.
Adding to fleets’ concerns over the economic malaise are worries about the rollout of model year 2027 trucks. It’s a mere 13 months hence— January 1, 2026—and is expected
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EQUIPMENT FEATURE
to be accompanied by the steepest MY-over-MY price increase ever. Ever. But nobody is offering any clues on how much that increase will be.
That puts fleets’ 2025 purchasing plans in limbo. Or maybe purgatory.
FleetOwner reached out to all the OEMs for some insight on their rollout plans, including asking about their emissions reduction strategies and expected price increases. One declined to comment outright. One never even responded to our emails. Of the responses we did receive to our queries, several indicated they could not comment on speci cs regarding their 2027 product strategy or vehicle pricing.
So far, Cummins is the only engine maker to talk openly about how it plans to meet the new requirements with its X15 engine platform. The global power manufacturer’s leaders did so rst at a media brie ng in August.
Cummins redesigned the pistons and the fuel pump, along with other modications. It added a true DOHC cylinder head design with variable valve timing capability (cylinder deactivation is not planned for MY 2027). In addition, the company has modi ed the aftertreatment system to include higher DEF dosing rates, additional catalyst volume, and an electrically powered 5-kW heater (along with the requisite 48-volt alternator and battery bank) to maintain optimum catalyst temperatures during all duty cycles.
None of the others offered any specifics, short of saying they are working on their aftertreatment systems.
“While we cannot comment on speci cs around our product strategy toward the EPA 2027 requirements, as you’ve seen with our CARB-compliant 2024 engine, there will be enhancements to the exhaust aftertreatment system and within the engine itself,” a representative for Volvo Trucks
North America said. “As we’ve said, these regulations are extremely stringent, so it will take working within many areas to achieve compliance.”
Daimler Truck North America offered these remarks: “DTNA is prepared to meet 2027 emission regulations with a comprehensive propulsion line-up. At DTNA, we are committed to continued investment in clean diesel solutions that offer reduced emissions and improved fuel economy for our customers.”
International Motors was a bit more forthcoming: “The International S13 Integrated Powertrain will mainly remain the same through the 2027 emissions rollout. However, rather than
having to add components to reach the NOx requirements, International will remove components and reduce complexity, which, in turn, drives uptime for our customers ... .”
What are eets to make of the fact that with a little more than a year to go before the MY 2027 trucks hit the streets, the OEMs won’t discuss product strategy or share pricing details?
This lack of transparency is keeping Bruce Stockton awake at night. He’s currently chief operating of cer at Wilson Logistics and still works with other eets
The International S13 Integrated Powertrain will mainly remain the same through the 2027 emissions rollout. Photo: International Motors
The latest X15’s improvements allow it to gain fuel e ciency over older models despite a larger aftertreatment system. Photo: Jeremy Wolfe | FleetOwner
as a consultant under the Stockton Solutions banner. “We’ve not been given a clear explanation of how they’re going to meet the ’27 standards,” he told Fleet Owner . “We’re worried about the unknown. Even though Cummins is touting that they have their solution— and they’ve been pretty transparent about it—we haven’t heard about anybody really running it yet, even in field tests. Maybe a few of the big guys are. I don’t know.
“All that silence kind of leads us to think that maybe they’re all hoping after the election there will be some retraction of these standards. I don’t personally believe that will happen because it’s never happened in the past,” he added.
Stockton said that prior to the rollout of the MY 2007 trucks, with their thennew DPFs, his fleet had 2007 engines in two trucks as early as 2004.
“It seemed then that the OEMs were working in partnership with the fleets
to try to build confidence in that solution. We don’t see that at all today,” Stockton said.
The coming prebuy If not knowing what’s coming emissions-wise isn’t disconcerting enough, nobody is sure how much more these new models are going to cost. It certainly won’t be the paltry 2-3% year-over-year increases fleets are used to.
Back in July at a media briefing at its New River Valley assembly plant, Magnus Koeck, Volvo Trucks North America’s VP of strategy, marketing and brand management, hinted the increase would be steep indeed.
“A new Class 8 truck for 2027 will cost $20,000 more than a comparable model does today,” Koeck told
To meet immediate standards, Volvo Trucks’ CARB 24-compliant engine features an advanced emission control system integrated with a fully serviceable linear exhaust aftertreatment system.
Photo: Volvo Trucks
journalists. “That’s why we expect a massive prebuy in 2026. We see signs it has already begun.”
Stockton said he’s been told to expect a 3% jump early in 2025 as the MY 2026 trucks start rolling out, but the big hit will come between MY ’26 and ’27.
“They’re telling us they’re taking part of the increase in calendar year ’25 for the ’26 model year. They’re taking about a 3.5% increase where they’d normally take a 2%,” he said. “But the big hit for ’27, I’m still hearing, could be as much as $30,000.”
Darry Stuart, president of DWS Fleet Management Services, said he’s been hearing about increases in the $30,000 to $40,000 range for at least one OEM that opted not to share pricing details with us.
Another expert, a sales manager at a Chicago-area dealer who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to comment publicly, said the increase would be north of $20,000. “There’s really no formal gure right
now, but I imagine we’re all going to be around 30 grand,” he said.
“I think the major prebuy won’t start until probably April or May of next year, after all the trade shows are done, and the eets have talked with the reps one on one. From there, they’ll have seven or eight months to order trucks, and that’s it,” he added.
The good news is there are plenty of build slots open right now, so it’s a great time to get your MY 2026 orders in. The bad news is the combination of high interest rates and low freight rates make this a lousy time to be taking on more debt.
“Seeing rates from 5.5% to 6.7% of late pushes the monthly cost of owning a truck from $3,000 per month to $3,600,” Stockton said. “On the other hand, consider what we’re facing with the MY 2027s.”
How to get over the hump
Stockton and Stuart see the next four years as being very tricky to navigate,
and strategies for dodging the coming bullets will vary with the current average of the eet.
“Fleets with a young average age, like Wilson’s 14-month average age, are in good shape. Fleets with 24- to 36-month average ages or greater will nd it difcult to absorb the additional maintenance costs once their eets are out of warranty,” Stockton said.
“Young eets can make it through 2026 and 2027, and probably start buying again in late 2027, getting back on a more regular cycle in 2028, 2029 and 2030, before the next round of emissions rules kicks in,” he continued. “Middle-aged (34 months) or older-aged (48 months) eets are likely where we’ll see the capacity reduction and shrinkage come from.”
Stuart says eets not in a position to prebuy should stay the maintenance course and don’t let anything slip by.
“I think that some eets are holding for more reasons than 2027. Business is not that good, costs are climbing, and rates are squeezing down,” he said. “My advice to them is to stay the normal course with caution. Maintenance magic will prevail as it always has, but be prepared for the hockey-stick rise in cost as we extend vehicle life.”
The magnitude of the anticipated price hike is so enormous that it’s hard for some to comprehend. The sales manager told FleetOwner the minimum price on a sleeper truck order from his company would be in the $185K-$190K range.
“Over time, including two model-year changes (2026 and 2027), we’ll be up maybe $35,000 from current pricing,” he said. “The customers don’t believe it. The big eets and private eets understand, but the small to midsized eets do not believe me when I share that.
“I think the major eets, once they see this, are going to be ordering most of the trucks. I think the owner-operator to small businesses that don’t believe me are going to be left out,” he continued.
There are still so many questions surrounding the MY 2027 trucks that eets
A new Cummins fuel pump, with opposing pistons, better balances its camshaft.
Photo: Jeremy Wolfe | FleetOwner
are reluctant to be the first ones on the block to own one. Will the technology work? Will it be reliable? What will it do to your operating and maintenance costs? These remain unanswered as the door to order a pre-2027 model begins to swing shut.
“Customers are still learning about how the regulations will impact their purchases, so we continue to work with them to make sure both dealers and customers are aware and understand upcoming regulations and determine how to best plan their upcoming truck purchases,” Mack Trucks said in an emailed statement.
We’ll know more about the OEM plans by spring, but by then the order boards will already be filling up. In a good year, about 300,000 trucks can be produced. That means a good number of people will be left on the sidelines. Now might be a good time to stock up on coffee too. FO
Pictured is a prototype of the SCR system for the new Cummins X15 diesel engine. The large cylinders are the SCR housings, where DEF and a catalyst react with NOx.
Photo: Jeremy Wolfe | FleetOwner
by Kevin Rohlwing
Essential inspections and safety
Your drivers don’t have to be experts to find a fault that could save your fleet
WHEN YOU TREAT your body like an amusement park, don’t be surprised when the rides start breaking down. I’ve been saying that for years to cope with how, as I get older, little aches and pains have reached the point where I hurt myself when I sleep. For example, my knee felt fine last night; when I woke up this morning, it didn’t. I have no idea what happened, but it wasn’t a problem when I went to bed. Now it is.
A fleet’s first line of defense is proper pre-trip and post-trip inspections since the driver is the only person who knows the vehicle’s condition at the start and end of each day.
At this point, I just have to accept that the hard miles of life are taking their toll on the chassis. When aches and pains don’t improve after a few days, it’s time to seek help from a medical professional. If I’m honest with them about the location, severity, and frequency of the pain, then I have a better chance of making a full recovery.
Pre-trip and post-trip tire and wheel
inspections are like human self-examinations that are a precursor to a physical or doctor’s visit. Truck drivers are not wheel-end experts, nor are they expected to be. However, to receive a commercial driver’s license, there is a certain degree of training dedicated to inspecting equipment for conditions that may negatively impact the vehicle’s safe operation.
In some cases, a condition is a violation of safety standards established by the Department of Transportation (DOT) that results in a citation. In others, it’s an out-of-service condition (OOSC) that must be corrected before the vehicle can return to service, according to the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA).
A DOT violation or OOSC does not generally happen overnight. Some conditions like cuts, missing rubber, or cracks occur during operation. Still, things like insufficient tread depth and wheel cracks may take some time before they reach the point where a vehicle enforcement official is likely to notice them.
A fleet’s first line of defense is proper pre-trip and post-trip inspections since the driver is the only person who knows the vehicle’s condition at the start and end of each day. Suppose the driver sees a tire or wheel condition that may violate DOT regulations or CVSA safety standards. In that case, they are responsible for reporting it so it can be corrected. If nothing is noted, then DOT, CVSA, and the carrier assume the vehicle is safe to operate.
When a problem is present, and the vehicle is referred to a commercial tire and wheel expert, then the expectation is that the issue will be corrected. I’ve been involved in several lawsuits lately where the fleet requested service on one wheel position, and then shortly thereafter, a tire or wheel in a different position failed and caused an accident. The plaintiffs alleged that it was the service provider’s
duty to provide a complete tire and wheel inspection on the entire vehicle regardless of the service requested. That’s like me suing my orthopedic physician because they didn’t diagnose an ulcer when I got my knee examined.
We live in a society where someone has to be at fault when something bad happens. Driver pre-trip and post-trip inspections aim to identify potential violations before they result in a roadside failure or accident. Thumping a tire is not an inflation pressure check. Suppose there are cracks or cuts in the rubber. In that case, the driver must identify them during the inspection and then refer the vehicle to a professional for further examination to determine if the tires can be operated safely.
If DOT or CVSA violations are not identified and result in an accident, it will fall back on the failure of the driver to fulfill their obligation. Likewise, if the driver identifies a problem and the carrier or vehicle owner refuses to have it corrected, fault will be easy to determine in the eyes of a jury.
The reasonable expectations that form the basis of every standard of care lawsuit are subjective. In the recent cases where I testified on behalf of the defense, it was determined that it was not reasonable to expect a service provider to identify a potential problem on a tire/wheel position they were not asked to service.
Drivers are responsible for inspecting their vehicles and reporting any defects. When that inspection is incomplete or nonexistent, the vehicle’s safe operation comes into question. FO
Kevin Rohlwing | krohlwing@tireindustry.org
Kevin Rohlwing is the chief technical officer for the Tire Industry Association. He has more than 40 years of experience in the tire industry and has created programs to help train more than 220,000 technicians.
Photo: 1140487222 | 1933bkk | Getty Images
Diesel additives
Amsoil
Amsoil diesel All-in-One fuel additive combines the benets of Amsoil Diesel Injector Clean, Diesel Cold Flow, and Diesel Cetane Boost in one package. According to the company, the additive delivers enhanced detergency, improved lubricity, better cold ow and higher cetane, as well as provides all-season protection and performance.
CRC Industries
Diesel fuel additives from CRC Industries are formulated to clean, lubricate, and protect diesel engines under the extreme demands of winter and other operating conditions to ensure maximum performance and ef ciency. The company said CRC Diesel Fuel Therapy diesel injector cleaner with anti-gel adds lubricity to low sulfur fuel, prevents fuel gelling, lowers pour point, increases mpg, cleans injectors, prevents corrosion, improves power, and stabilizes fuel.
Diesel Direct
Diesel Direct’s proprietary Winter’z Edge formulation helps provide cold-weather protection for diesel equipment. Its alcohol-free additive is included in fuel delivered directly to eets during winter months or available in jugs. According to the company, Winter’z Edge helps prevent fuel line icing and lter blockages, which can lead to downtime. Proper storage tank maintenance, along with Winter’z Edge, ensures peak operability throughout winter.
Hot Shot’s Secret
Diesel fuel gels when the paraf n in the diesel fuel starts to crystallize. With enough exposure to cold temperatures.
Hot Shot’s Secret’s Diesel Winter Rescue is an emergency fuel treatment that re-lique es gelled fuel and de-ices frozen fuel lters to restore power and the ow of fuel to the engine. The company said it is suitable for all diesel blends. Diesel Winter Rescue contains a military-grade de-icer and moisture dispersant to de-gel a vehicle’s fuel tank, lines, and fuel pump; de-ice the vehicle’s fuel lter; and add much-needed lubricity for long-term wear protection.
Lucas Oil
Lucas Oil Anti-Gel Cold Weather Diesel Treatment helps prevent diesel fuel from gelling in temperatures as low as -40°F. Advanced wax crystal modi ers ensure that fuel stays uid, reducing the risk of cold filter plugging, which can otherwise cause engine stalls and costly repairs. The company said the added water dispersants help break down moisture, prevent ice buildup in fuel lines and lters, and safeguard engine components. It’s compatible with diesel particulate lters and will not void OEM warranties. A half gallon can treat up to 300 gallons of diesel.
Old World Industries
Renewable Lubricants
Renewable Lubricants’ Bio-Power winter diesel fuel conditioner can boost performance and support cold weather operations. It improves fuel economy and power while keeping engines in “like new” condition, the company said. Tests show a 10% increase in fuel economy, reduction in black smoke of 42%, an increase in horsepower of 6%, enhanced injector cleanliness and enhanced corrosion protection according to the Cummins N14 corrosion/erosion test. The company claims that by reducing exhaust opacity (black smoke), enhancing fuel lubricity, and preventing varnish and sludge formation, users gain smoother, more reliable operation and less downtime. For large eets or a single vehicle, Bio-Power simpli es winter fuel management with cleaner, quieter engines; longer engine life; and lower operating costs.
Rislone
Old World Industries has invested in a new triple- ltration process for its Peak BlueDEF diesel exhaust fluid. Peak BlueDEF and the Peak BlueDEF Platinum will also debut new packaging in 2025. The company said every batch of Peak BlueDEF and Peak BlueDEF Platinum is triple- ltered, lab-tested, and secure-sealed. BlueDEF and BlueDEF Platinum are compatible with all diesel SCR systems. BlueDEF Platinum contains a proprietary additive package to help prevent deposit buildup, optimize fuel economy, and extend the life of the SCR system.
Rislone DEF Crystal Clean Diesel DEF and SCR emissions system cleaner is a blend of cleaning agents and surfactant detergents designed to clean selective catalytic reduction systems in diesel vehicles of all sizes. Diesel vehicles that are regularly driven at low speeds, with light loads, for short durations, or that make frequent stops are especially prone to developing white crystal deposits in their SCR systems. According to the company, Rislone Crystal Clean improves diesel exhaust uid and dissolves crystal deposits throughout the entire system, including the tank, pump, heater, sender, lines, injector, decomposition tube/reactor, and mixer. Rislone DEF Crystal Clean works with all UREA DEF/AdBlue uids and will not void new vehicle warranties. FO
Photo: Amsoil
Photo: Diesel Direct
Photo: Lucas Oil
Photo: Rislone
Freightliner upgrades Cascadia
DTNA rolls out fifth generation of best-selling Class 8 truck in the U.S.
by Josh Fisher
The most popular on-highway tractor in the U.S. is getting a refresh packed with more advanced safety technology, increased aerodynamics, and built-in business tools for fleets. Daimler Truck North America’s fifth-generation Freightliner Cascadia builds on the Class 8 truck brand that debuted in 2007 and was most recently remodeled in 2019.
“Throughout the years, we’ve continued to be known for those innovations in the marketplace and by our customers,” Mary Aufdemberg, DTNA GM of product strategy and market development, said during an industry press preview of the truck in Ypsilanti, Michigan, on October 1. Two weeks later, the OEM rolled out the new Cascadia during American Trucking Associations’ management conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
“But what I love is we never innovate just to innovate,” she continued. “It’s always with purpose, and it delivers something meaningful to our customers, which is why today we’re still around 40% market share, a leader in the industry, in that on-highway market. We stand proud because we know that means we’re doing what we promise and what we deliver. I would say we have become a brand that works for fleets of all sizes.”
Freightliner has sold more than one million Cascadias since 2007, making it the most popular Class 8 truck currently on the road in North America. “When we set out to develop this newest version and build on its legacy of excellence, we listened closely to our customers and what they, their drivers, and their fleets needed,” David Carson, SVP of sales and marketing for DTNA, said. “More safety features, greater efficiency, and increased profitability is what we heard, and it’s what we’re proud to deliver.”
The fifth-generation Freightliner Cascadia is scheduled to begin production in mid-2025. The previous four generations of the Freightliner Cascadia continued to build on previous fuel efficiency gains, which have led to more than 35% in fuel savings since 2007.
“We fought and looked for every opportunity we could to continue to improve fuel efficiency—this time to the tune of 1.9%,” Greg Treinen, DTNA VP of on-highway market development, said in Ypsilanti on October 1. “The main focus of that 1.9%—really the sole focus—is all aerodynamic improvements. So there’s no new additions to the powertrain. From an efficiency perspective, it was all in with aerodynamics.”
Those new aerodynamics include a new hood design, a redesigned A-pillar deflector, three-piece front wheel well closeouts, a hood-to-bumper seal, and new bumper air ducts that direct airflow around the underbody and tires to increase efficiency. The new Cascadia is also available with an optional Max Aero Bumper, which brings greater efficiency without sacrificing ground clearance, durability, or serviceability, according to DTNA.
Powertrain options
Like its predecessors, the fifth-generation Freightliner Cascadia offers a full lineup of engine options to meet the operational needs of fleets and their drivers.
The Detroit DD13 and DD15 engines will be available at launch, with ratings of up to 505 hp and 1,850 lb.-ft. of torque. The Cummins X15 and X15N, the first natural gas engine designed specifically for heavy-duty and on-highway truck applications, will be available for Cascadias built in 2026. They are available with 400 to 605 hp and 1,450 to 2,050 lb.-ft. of torque.
Advanced safety features
The fifth iteration of the Freightliner Cascadia is the first vehicle equipped with new, expanded Detroit Assurance safety technology. These new updates include better computing power to go with an upgraded camera, four new short-range radar sensors, and an improved long-range radar sensor.
This new suite of sensor hardware enables the Cascadia’s updated safety offerings, including:
Active Brake Assist 6: Detroit’s ABA6 can now deploy automatic braking when
The fifth-generation Freightliner Cascadia tractors are available as 126-inch sleeper configurations. Photo: Daimler Truck North America
detecting vehicles stopped at odd angles, vehicles in curves, and stopped vehicles across multiple lanes. While past ABA versions could recognize moving pedestrians, Daimler said it can now detect stationary pedestrians.
Active Lane Assist 2: Detroit’s ALA2’s new capabilities feature lane change assist, which can help reduce outof-lane accidents by countersteering if the truck attempts to enter an already occupied lane.
Attentive Driver Protection: When ALA2’s lane-keeping assist is on and active, the truck monitors driver attention through steering wheel input and can initiate a sequence that keeps the Cascadia centered in its lane, slows the vehicle to a stop, and turns on the hazard lights if the driver is not responsive.
Side Guard Assist 2: SGA2 can now detect and warn drivers about objects on the truck’s driver and passenger sides, from the cab to the end of the trailer.
Intelligent Braking Control System: Cascadia’s new intelligent braking control system, or IBCS, combines brake-bywire technology with backup pneumatics. In order to help create deceleration control, the system employs wheel speed sensors and a chassis-mounted electronic control unit.
DTNA also added comfort braking through the IBCS, which provides brake force distribution, lining wear control, and performance monitoring. These features ensure smoother, more confident braking—especially in sudden stops— and help elongate brake pad life through even wear.
Along with comfort braking, IBCS includes endurance braking, which blends the engine retarder and service brakes when the foot pedal is applied, helping to extend brake life further.
A new electronic park brake features rollaway mitigation, automatically applying the parking brake if a driver leaves the seat or opens the door without setting the brake.
Dual-Stage Intelligent LED Headlights: New dual-stage intelligent LED
headlights feature increased durability and impact resistance. Engineered to melt away ice and eliminate condensation in a matter of minutes, the LEDs have an increased beam pattern, an auto high beam feature, and easier beam adjustment capabilities to increase visibility, safety, and driver comfort as well.
MirrorCam System: A factoryinstalled MirrorCam System uses definition in-cab screens connected to cameras mounted above the doors to provide a wide field of view that can replace traditional side-view mirrors. The camera system uses infrared technology and hydrophobic coatings to repel water and other contaminants. FO
Less impact on the environment deserves more recognition.
Congratulations to the 2024 SmartWay Excellence Awardees!
Arrow Transportation
Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations
Canadian Reefers Ltd.
Cargo Transporters
Covenant Transport
Crete Carrier Corporation
CRST The Transportation Solution Inc
D&D Transportation Services Inc
Danny Herman Trucking Inc
Discount Tire
Divine Enterprises, Inc.
Dollar Tree Stores, Inc
Edgewell Personal Care
Elevate Textiles, Inc.
Forza Transportation Services, Inc
Gap Inc. Canada
Gap Inc. USA
Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products LP
GP Transportation Co
Hirschbach Motor Lines
Hogan Transports, Inc.
Keane Thummel Trucking Inc.
Kellanova
These SmartWay Partners are leaders in freight supply chain efficiency and environmental stewardship. They put sustained effort into sustainability, and their achievement refl ects ours. This year, U.S. EPA’s SmartWay Transport Partnership marks 20 years of progress in empowering businesses like yours to move goods in the cleanest, most energy-efficient way possible while protecting public health and reducing the impact on the environment.
Knight Transportation, Inc.
Kohl’s
Lowe’s Companies, Inc.
May Trucking Company
McDonald’s USA, LLC
Meijer
Mesilla Valley Transportation
Mike Frost Trucking, Inc.
Nussbaum Transportation Services, Inc.
Kimberly-Clark Corporation
To learn how your company can achieve excellence visit: epa.gov/smartway
Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc
Paper Transport, LLC
Prime, Inc.
Royal Trucking Company
Ryder Dedicated Transportation Solutions (DTS)
Saia Motor Freight Line, LLC
Schneider
Swift Transportation Co. of Arizona, LLC
The Home Depot U.S.A., Inc
The TJX Companies, Inc.
Tractor Supply Company
Trans-West Logistics Inc / Logistiques
Trans-West Inc.
Werner Enterprises
Western Express, Inc.
How benefits fleets today
Artificial intelligence in trucking is more than a trend–it’s here to stay. Here’s how trucking companies and real fleets across the industry are leveraging the technology to improve operations.
by Jade Brasher
Photo:
Trucking is in its advanced software era. Transportation management system providers that once held a small footprint at trade shows now take up half of the show floor. These days, it’s hard to find a fleet that doesn’t rely on some form of TMS or advanced computing software.
This rapid acceleration of trucking management technology has brought along trending features and tools with each new year, such as asset tracking, predictive maintenance monitoring, and in-cab driver coaching. One of the most recent tech trends is artificial intelligence.
Actual fleets across the U.S. are leveraging AI technology within their operations, either via a TMS provider or through in-house development.
How are fleets using AI?
Fleets have approached AI from different perspectives. Some have used AI to tackle large projects, such as Dallas-based
Standard Logistics, while others are starting small, such as Mississippi-based Gulf Relay.
Standard Logistics began its journey with AI by deciding on a challenge to overcome. The carrier partnered with Optimal Dynamics to improve load planning and dispatching. Together, Optimal Dynamics and Standard Logistics “implemented a tool to basically help us make the right decisions in terms of what loads we accept and what drivers we dispatch on those loads,” Volker Bargenda, president of Standard Logistics, said during a panel at the 2024 McLeod User Conference.
The AI-driven tool helps Standard Logistics decide whether to accept a load roughly 70% of the time. Of the loads that are accepted, more than 70% of them are automatically dispatched to a driver as well. This automation allows Standard Logistics’ planners to focus more time on value-added activities,
such as exceptions, customer requirements, and more, Bargenda explained.
Alabama-based Action Resources sought to implement an AI solution that would help its employees become more efficient. The company uses AI to create marketing material and to help import external repair orders; it’s also used by Action’s in-house web developer for coding, Jeff Cowart, Action Resources chief information officer, said.
Similarly, Mississippi-based carrier Gulf Relay considered AI solutions using a “thoughtful approach,” Ken Apple, the company’s VP of software engineering, said. The company sought AI solutions for the “low-hanging fruit,” which included planning for its growing number of power units and email optimization.
Gulf Relay’s management noticed a hefty load on employees that was ultimately tied to their inbox. The focus from there was to use AI to create a
“workflow operation that sends off requests that are coming in from our shippers,” Apple said.
This has even helped Gulf Relay become more accurate with data capture, as information from shipper email data is fed straight to the AI solution in place of Gulf Relay employees manually inputting data into the system.
In addition, AI can help fleets with customer communication. One area where Action Resources is actively looking to create an AI-generated solution is through quick, easy, and simple communications with customers.
“My developer and I have been working on a model that has some load data—nothing confidential—to where we can make it easier for a customer to just type in a chatbot, ‘Where’s the order that’s under this bill of lading number?’ without having to go to the portal and log in,” Cowart explained.
Further, Gulf Relay uses AI to automatically respond to quotes and requests
for load updates, which Apple said is a low-cost approach to AI implementation.
This goes back to Gulf Relay’s “low-hanging fruit” strategy. Instead of focusing on “big optimization projects,” Apple said Gulf Relay chose to focus on AI strategies that result in instant value. Once the value has been proven, then it’s easier to implement AI in other areas of business, he said.
Other ways fleets are using AI is by relying solely on their technology providers. One fleet, Western Express, primarily relies on its telematics provider, Motive, and its use of AI to help improve its overall fleet safety.
Western Express uses dash cameras in its fleet, and prior to using Motive, managers had to manually review camera footage, classify the video, run the data on the driver to identify their trends, and then schedule a coaching session, Daniel Patterson, the company’s director of safety, told FleetOwner. The process was tedious and inefficient.
Advancements in trucking tech over the years
Truck
drivers and the trucking industry have been at the forefront of technology adoption throughout history, as outlined in a 2020 FleetOwner article. Here’s a look at how far the industry has come throughout the years.
• 1970s: Truckers begin widely using Citizens Band radios
• 1980s: Truckers use long-distance pagers as another form of communication
• 1990s: Trucking companies begin using GPS technology to guide their routes
• 2000s: Web-based fleet tracking systems enter the market on a massive scale
• 2010s: ELDs are required in trucking
• 2020s: The rise of artificial intelligence
Using Motive’s AI-driven insights from dash cameras gave Western Express a more holistic view of driver behaviors, the context behind them, and whether those behaviors were frequent with that driver.
“Transitioning from ‘Hey, you had a hard brake’ conversation to ‘Hey, these are the trends that I see in your driving behavior, and these are the areas that we need to improve’—that’s a really different conversation,” Patterson said. “And much more productive. You’re addressing the behavior versus the outcome.”
How are trucking technology companies using AI?
Motive isn’t the only TMS provider that helps fleets leverage artificial intelligence in their operations to improve efficiency.
At its most recent user conference, McLeod Software announced MPact.Respond_AI, which integrates with users’ email and telematics systems to generate automatic responses to common questions. It’s one way the company helps “automate responses to routine requests that typically are very time-consuming,” Tom McLeod, the company’s founder, explained.
“You take the repetitive stuff and automate it,” McLeod said. “That’s the definition of productivity improvement.”
But during a press conference at the event, Tom McLeod also explained that the company will continue relying heavily on its integration partners to bring AI to the forefront because of the broad range of needs throughout its customer base.
“It’s certainly presumptuous for us to think that we’d have everything developed internally—there’s just too much development to get done,” McLeod said. “So, it’s always been an important part of our strategy to integrate and partner with other suppliers, especially in the transportation industry, where there is such a broad range of applications and a broad requirement for even just different nuances of capability.”
These integration partners include
telematics companies that are increasingly using AI to crawl dash camera and driver-facing camera footage. AI helps identify risky behaviors or instances that need management’s attention instead of having managers review every second of footage to identify these instances on their own.
Many of Samsara’s customers are seeing improvements in safety through its use of AI, Evan Welbourne, Samsara’s VP of machine learning engineering, told FleetOwner. Fleets are using Samsara’s AI technology to “pull the needle from that haystack of data,” he said.
The Samsara camera solution has “a camera that’s always running and watching to remind drivers to put on their seat belt; put down their phone; or if they’re drowsy, to take a break, et cetera,” Welbourne explained. “That’s something that you can only really do with AI. You can’t have a human just watching every single driver every minute.”
Isaac Instruments is working on similar AI-driven features for its platform, J.S. Bouchard, Isaac’s chief product officer, said. Eventually, Isaac hopes to use AI to alert fleet managers of drivers who repeatedly display risky behaviors, as opposed to coaching oneoff incidents with safe drivers, so that managers can prioritize coaching.
Though artificial intelligence has been a buzzword for the last several months, it isn’t new.
While telematics company Geotab hasn’t always used generative AI, it has used artificial intelligence and machine learning for years to help fleets optimize fuel consumption, reduce idle time, and predict upcoming maintenance, Sabina
Martin, VP of product management at Geotab, told FleetOwner.
Additionally, Uptake, a predictive maintenance technology platform, has used AI for more than a decade. Uptake uses signal data from fleet assets and trains AI models to make predictions using that data, Uptake CEO Adam McElhinney, told FleetOwner.
“Ten years ago, when we got started, just getting the data from the customers was the big challenge,” McElhinney said. “Now, customers are telling us, ‘Hey, I’m flooded with data, and I need to turn it into actionable insights.’ And you’re seeing more and more [assets] become connected.”
Uptake intends to continue using AI to wade through this influx of data and deliver better service to its customers. Uptake has recently improved its offering by using AI to predict tire failure with a six-day lead time and expanding into light-duty tire failure prediction. Before AI, an initiative like this would have required multiple employees analyzing millions of data points.
“The way to think about AI for those use cases is you could conceivably hire a bunch of fleet managers and maintenance experts, and they could manually review all this data,” McElhinney said. “But what you can do with AI is train AI models that replicate what a fleet manager or maintenance expert would do. ... [AI is] reviewing this data and then turning that into models that [offer insights] automatically in real time for you without having to hire dozens and dozens of fleet managers.”
A competitive tool
Successful AI implementation requires buy-in from management and employees. Considering the fear of workers being replaced by AI, this can be challenging. However, fleets using AI to improve operations are using the technology to complement their workforce, not take from it.
“Nobody’s going to lose their job because of AI,” Standard Logistics’
“Together, Optimal Dynamics and Standard Logistics ‘implemented a tool to basically help us make the right decisions in terms of what loads we accept and what drivers we dispatch on those loads.’ ”
— Volker Bargenda, president of Standard Logistics
Bargenda said. “You use the AI for what it’s best at. You use the team for what it’s best at.”
Before implementing AI, one Action Resources staff member spent four hours assigning drivers to orders, Action’s Cowart explained. Now that the company uses AI, this staff member can complete the same task within five minutes.
“That gives her more time to work with the drivers or help out in the building or whatever else to make her job less monotonous,” Cowart said. “It also helps with employee retention.”
Successfully implementing AI also requires the capture of high-quality, accurate, and complete data.
Part of having that full data includes things like verbal agreements over the phone, Doug Schrier, McLeod Software’s VP of growth and special projects, said. If no one inputs the verbal information into the virtual AI platform, this could cause fleets to miss opportunities or keep them from meeting customer needs. Therefore, high-quality and complete data is a must for AI implementations.
While AI has been a game changer for fleets as well as the telematics companies that serve them, it’s ultimately just another tool to get the job done.
Uptake’s McElhinney said his customers aren’t coming to Uptake because it uses AI, but “they come to us to solve a problem. ... How we do that behind the scenes is by leveraging these AI models,” he explained.
Though it’s been a hot topic at industry conferences, trade shows, and in the media, trucking tech experts predict that AI is more than just a buzzword.
“I think that the fleets that adopt these technologies are the ones that are going to be able to be competitive with their customers and be able to have good customer service and on-time deliveries,” Geotab’s Martin told FleetOwner. AI is here to stay, and fleets should use it to their advantage. FO
While AI has been a game changer for fleets, as well as the telematics companies that serve them, it’s ultimately just another tool to get the job done.
FleetOwner zeroes in on refrigerated fleets and technologies in this special section from Refrigerated Transporter —the trusted resource for temperature-controlled transportation and logistics professionals.
Shift to solar
Westhill brings new electric TRU technology to market by
Jason McDaniel
Cerenzia Foods is an early adopter of Westhill’s SunShifter solar system.
Photo: Westhill Innovation
Frank Annunziato, president of California-based foodservice company Cerenzia Foods, had a question about CARBapproved solar technology firm Westhill Innovation after purchasing a new Thermo King T-890 transport refrigeration unit (TRU), so he called the California Air Resources Board for help.
The person he spoke with didn’t know what he was talking about.
“She told me, ‘I’ve never heard of them,’” he said in disbelief. “It’s on their website, right there, plain as day, in the list of approved dealers for CORE [CARB’s Clean Off-Road Equipment voucher incentive program], and she’s never heard of them.”
That’s a problem for eager adopters of environmentally friendly reefer equipment who want to comply with CARB’s zero-emission truck TRU rule—which calls for companies with seven or more of these truck box-mounted units to convert 30% of them from diesel to electric power by the end of the year—without filing for an extension or going broke in the process, and it needs a correction, Annunziato asserts.
Westhill executives agree, and they say that the time is right to shine a light on SunShifter.
“The world is becoming more knowledgeable about sustainability and going green, and shippers are asking fleets about their strategies,” Westhill CEO Ajay Dhingra said. “Governments are applying regulatory pressure, so that’s a market driver, in terms of moving fleets toward zero-emission transportation technologies; and then, more acutely for us and our business is that now we have a working system that’s proven in the marketplace, and the financial aspects are starting to make sense as well.”
The Canadian supplier’s solar energy kit is TRU agnostic for easier implementation, and its supplemental solution promises to extend reefer run times, improve battery life, and increase payload capacity—all while saving fleets up to 20% in operating costs compared to
fueling and maintaining a traditional reefer machine.
“It really behooves fleets that are hauling refrigerated goods to take a good, hard look at us and technologies that are like ours, because there are so many advantages, even regarding the setup cost and infrastructure,” Gina Succi, Westhill president and chief technology officer, said. “Fleets are having a hard time addressing these adoption issues, and we’re trying to minimize the pain by easing them in.”
Innovation’s inception
Succi worked as an engineer in the mining, steel, and construction industries before co-founding Westhill in 2017 with the aim of developing her idea for durable, lightweight, multilayer panels with embedded solar cells for trailers and truck bodies that are capable of withstanding the rigors of transportation. “The goal for the company was always to look for ways to be more sustainable,” Succi explained.
Her team pivoted to powering reefers before the pandemic and developed the first prototype piloted by Loblaw, one of the largest grocers in Canada, in
2019. “We specifically chose refrigeration because it’s a large polluter,” Succi said. “It’s also one of those things that’s really under the radar for government and industry and needs to be addressed.”
She expected to deploy the first unit in March 2020, then COVID-19 put their plan on pause. “So we spent the next nine months fine-tuning the technology and finally launched it in early 2021,” she said. “The whole focus over the last three-plus years has been on further weight reduction, cost reduction, and manufacturability—because the technology has to be economically viable for fleets to adopt it.”
Westhill’s composite panel, which features R6 thermal efficiency and exceptional impact resistance in a package Succi says is 70% lighter than its first iteration, is now patented as a “laminate structural panel for vehicles with integrated solar power generation” in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the U.K. Patents are pending in the U.S. and Canada. Westhill also filed patents for a “solar power distribution and control system for movable storage containers” in the U.S., Canada, and Europe.
The SunShifter system promises to extend TRU run times, improve battery life, and increase payload capacity, all while reducing operational costs. Photo: Westhill Innovation
A sensible solar system
The SunShifter system includes the solar array with no exposed wiring, a box that houses the power electronics, software, and a five-year warranty. The solar modules are designed to Westhill specifications by approved suppliers and transformed into proprietary panels at the company’s 40,000-sq.-ft. facility in Simcoe, Ontario. Westhill also works with specific battery manufacturers to incorporate their charging technology.
CORE’s website currently offers 14 new and retrofitted SunShifter options for various truck and trailer applications, including frozen and refrigerated food transport, with battery size as the primary variable. Westhill’s “solar-asa-service” also offers global visibility, remote programming, and intuitive user interfaces. “We can integrate with any fully electric and hybrid electric TRU,” Succi explained. “We just deliver the solar power. That’s our focus. We’re not looking to build our own transport refrigeration units.”
SunShifter’s modular assembly can be mounted on, or bonded into, a vehicle’s roof system—and even moved between vehicles. Installation at a customer facility, Westhill’s shop, or one of two licensed California installers takes two days. “We’ve taken a very pragmatic approach to building out our system,” Dhingra said.
The forefront of foodservice Cerenzia began building its brand in 1984, when Annunziato’s two older brothers, Joe and Tony, founded the food distributor in Rancho Cucamonga. Frank and younger brothers Chris and Michael joined in the late ’80s and now have five children in the business, including Frank’s son, Nick. Cerenzia supplies small pizzerias and Italian restaurants with 3,500 food items from across the U.S. with four refrigerated tractor-trailers and 20 22-ft. Freightliner trucks with American Truck Bodies reefer boxes.
The company has pursued green initiatives for decades. The energy-efficient,
90,000-sq.-ft. warehouse it opened in 2003 boasts a $1 million solar system on the roof, 25% more skylights than comparable facilities, and yard outlets that supply shore power for Cerenzia’s fleet of Carrier Transicold and Thermo King reefer units. “We definitely want to run our business sustainably—and we want to be at the forefront,” Frank said.
He discovered Westhill’s technology through a consultant he trusts and started testing the SunShifter in 2022 to see if the system could help Cerenzia commence the electric TRU transition while making sure customer products are fully protected on routes that typically cover 150 miles, with seven or eight stops. Satisfied with the early results, Cerenzia deployed two more SunShifters, and Frank expected to have seven in service by the end of 2024, pushing his fleet past CARB’s 30% threshold.
“Why is everybody filing for extensions?” he wondered. “The technology is available.”
Reefer risk vs. reward Frank’s primary concern was reefer run time. With the SunShifter using solar energy to keep batteries charged, Cerenzia’s electric TRUs are running 8-10 hours, giving trucks time to perform their duties and return home safely. Without the sun’s help, Cerenzia would stick with diesel TRUs, Frank indicated. “I was concerned at first, but after evaluating the system for a year and a half, I grew more comfortable with it and satisfied with how it’s produced and implemented, so we moved forward,” he explained.
Cost is another significant barrier, but CORE provides up to $65,000, or half the price of a new SunShifter, Dhingra said. Fleet managers also worry about solar array functionality and durability, but Westhill diminishes these dangers. Solar energy always is available, even on rainy days. Impact testing confirms the composite panels are virtually “indestructible,” and a special coating discourages snow accumulation.
system features solar modules designed to Westhill specs and transformed into proprietary composite panels at the company’s headquarters in Ontario, Canada.
The SunShifter
Photo: Westhill Innovation
Additionally, SunShifter technology helps fleets extend battery life and save weight, he contended.
The “grid-friendly” system replenishes power during operation, so reefer batteries never fully deplete and require only a 15-20% “top-up” when plugged in, allowing Westhill to “at least double” typical lithium-ion battery life by controlling “depth of discharge,” Succi asserted. And maximizing auxiliary energy conversion enables fleets to reduce TRU battery size up to 60% and fuel-tank capacity for hybrid units.
Furthermore, deploying electric reefers offers more “bang for the buck” in carbon savings compared to electric vehicles, which Frank doesn’t believe are ready to meet Cerenzia’s needs from a range perspective.
“If you compare the cost difference for an electric truck vs. the SunShifter, assuming it’s utilized at least 16 hours per day, it’s about one-tenth the cost per ton of carbon savings,” Succi said.
That’s why Dhingra insists they’re “waking people up.”
Buying into a better way
The goal now is to accelerate fleet buy-in. Westhill executives have ramped up their efforts to spread the word about SunShifter’s benefits at investor meetings, industry conferences—like the Truckload Carriers Association’s Refrigerated Meeting Dhingra and Succi attended earlier this year in Vermont—and in the media while still searching for ways to spur adoption with new suppliers, OEMs, and leasing partnerships.
They’ve already had discussions with at least one trailer manufacturer about incorporating the system into new builds, Succi reported. They’re also looking for financing and leasing firms, like current partner Mitsubishi Capital Canada, that can make SunShifter make sense for more folks.
“We want to displace an operating cost [diesel fuel] with a capital asset, so having a partner who can help us is really important,” said Dhingra, who also pointed out technology historically is “deflationary,” unlike diesel fuel prices, which likely will continue to rise.
Currently, “payback” time is three to five years, depending on the use case.
Westhill also plans to build more demonstration, or “customer-acceptance,” systems for refrigerated fleets to test, and it is preparing to launch a range-extension solution for battery-electric vehicles next year.
“That is generating a lot of interest from electric truck manufacturers,” Dhingra said.
Futuristic food transport
That’s music to this early adopter’s ears. Frank envisions a near future in which the sun—“essentially a nuclear reactor in the sky,” as Succi says—supplies power for the reefer and truck batteries to ensure serviceability.
“We’ll have to change the way we do things,” he predicted. “You will start with the delivery closest to you and work your way toward the farthest. At that point, you’ll shut off the reefer unit, because you’re empty, and feed all the solar into the truck battery to increase the range.”
“It’s a win-win down the road—but we’re not there yet,” Frank said.
He hopes to eventually take Cerenzia’s fleet off the grid entirely, and Nick would like it to send power back into the building. “A company like Sysco or U.S. Foods, with hundreds of trucks, doesn’t use them all every day, so they’re just sitting there,” Nick said. “With solar, they could be feeding power into the building. It’s like having solar on your roof, but it’s in your parking lot—mobile, basically.”
Westhill executives can see it, too. But they also know fleets need to have a plan in place that’s effective and achievable before abandoning diesel fuel, so they’re still listening to customers and adjusting their strategy.
“We’re not in the food-and-beverage business,” Succi said. “We’re supplying equipment to them. They’re not engineers, so a lot of learning happens in both directions, and that feedback is important. The right customer partners will help us bring SunShifter to market.”
Westhill’s SunShifter solar TRU system includes the power electronics, such as the battery, charger, and inverter, mounted under the truck body.
Photo: Westhill Innovation
Data-driven decisions
Platform pushes the limits of human decision-making
by Jeremy Wolfe
Strategic freight planning is affected by a countless number of variables—far too much for a single person to follow precisely. When bumping against the limits of what human decision-making can anticipate, data-driven technology can help.
Grand Island Express, a refrigerated carrier that is consistently recognized as one of the Best Fleets to Drive For, had reached that limit of human-driven freight planning.
“We were dispatching in a reactionary type of format,” Deen Albert, VP of operations for Grand Island Express, told Refrigerated Transporter. Thanks in part to an intelligence freight planning platform, the carrier is now proactive in its dispatching. The Optimal Dynamics platform helped the company forecast its operations and
logistical conditions with greater accuracy and precision.
Grand Island is now consistently breaking its previous revenue and loaded mile records while reducing stress on its internal teams. The technology helped Grand Island to not only enhance its revenue but to remain one of the Best Fleets to Drive For.
Limits to human decision-making
Grand Island Express is a Nebraskabased refrigerated carrier that hauls to 38 states, primarily moving beef. The company was founded in 1967 and now commands about 169 tractors and more than 300 trailers.
In the years following Refrigerated Transporter’s profile on Grand Island Express in 2021, the company continued to improve its operations. Over the next years, Grand Island Express
focused on increasing its network velocity. The carrier increased its average load count by decreasing the average length of haul.
“We eliminated a lot of delay time,” Albert said.
After partnering with Optimal Dynamics, the carrier began improving network efficiency and reducing empty miles. Most of Grand Island’s headhauls run along the company’s primary lanes to the northeast. The deliveries are precisely timed, and in order to find backhauls, Grand Island will pick nearby available loads—from other refrigerated goods to non-refrigerated dry van freight.
“During the past two years, we squeezed everything we could out of our network, but there are limits to what humans can bring into their decision-making process,” Albert said in
August. “This need to automate and optimize operations made us look into Optimal Dynamics.”
What does the platform do?
Optimal Dynamics is a technology company providing an eponymous transportation planning platform. The platform aims to improve decision making, from strategic planning to RFPs and execution, by utilizing large amounts of data with the company’s decision intelligence engine.
One of the platform’s main functions is to increase revenue per truck per week. It primarily does so by suggesting ways to match trucks to freight. Customer fleets can follow those suggestions to optimize their operations. Customers can also look at hypothetical operational statistics in a digital twin sandbox to identify optimal decisions under a variety of circumstances.
It can be overwhelming for a dispatcher to juggle driver home time, historical load patterns across several sectors, headhaul and backhaul timings, load profitability, asset utilization, and so much more. The platform can provide a more information-inclusive perspective than what humans are generally capable of, Albert said.
Optimal Dynamics receives its data through the fleet’s transportation management system. If a customer has an unsupported TMS, “we’ll work directly with that TMS provider,” Erica Frank, VP of marketing for Optimal Dynamics, told Refrigerated Transporter.
After TMS integration, training, and database housekeeping, Frank said that Optimal Dynamics can get customers set up in a matter of weeks.
Beginning a partnership Grand Island began working with Optimal Dynamics in January and went live with the platform in April.
The ramp-up before going live required a few things in place for the platform to work correctly. Optimal Dynamics needed a rich supply of data
to drive its operation, and Grand Island needed to restructure its personnel to fit platform-driven operations.
Grand Island uses the McLeod Loadmaster TMS, which supports two-way integration with the Optimal Dynamics platform, allowing for easy information access. However, the carrier still needed to enrich logs for things like driver home time or tractor maintenance.
Grand Island began using Optimal Dynamics to automate some of its load allocation and dispatching decisions. The carrier’s business analytics manager also uses the platform’s bidding feature to back up their own decisions.
In its first week using the platform, Grand Island Express booked about 50% of its loads to the platform’s recommendations. By the second week, that adoption rate reached 84% and has remained high since.
Operational benefits
Since implementing the platform and adopting its recommendations, Grand Island has significantly improved its weekly revenue per truck.
Year-over-year comparisons for May, Grand Island’s first full month of the platform, showed strong improvements: a 5.7% increase in linehaul revenue, 9.3% increase in load count, and 13.6% increase in loaded miles.
The carrier was moving “more volume
than we ever had with functionally less people,” Albert said.
Previously, when Grand Island reached revenue records, its operations would slow down as it reeled from exhausting its capacity, Albert noted. With the Optimal Dynamics platform, Grand Island has been able to consistently stack records—topping three revenue records and two loaded mile records since April.
Some of those revenue records could be attributable to Grand Island’s moderate fleet growth; however, per-truck revenue also rose. Overall revenue per truck per week increased 13.4% over its previous baseline average.
Staying a Best Fleet to Drive For
Grand Island Express takes driver satisfaction seriously. The carrier has received 13 consecutive awards under the Best Fleets to Drive For program.
With the platform, Grand Island’s driver managers have more time to focus on the drivers, which Albert said makes the company a better fleet to drive for.
When a driver manager is spending most of their time putting out fires and 10% of their time focusing on drivers, they won’t be able to serve drivers adequately. Now, managers can spend 90% of their time focusing on drivers.
“We’ve flipped that narrative,” Albert emphasized.
Grand Island Express’s Jim Pirnie, president (right), and Deen Albert, VP of operations, hold an award for placing in the Best Fleets to Drive for Hall of Fame.
Photo: Grand Island Express
Addison Stout is Grand Island’s first optimal solutions specialist, filling a new role to interface with the Optimal Dynamics platform.
Photo: Optimal Dynamics
Cutting-edge cooling
Wabash’s lighter and thermally efficient composite material is a leap forward for reefer transportation
by Jeremy Wolfe
Transportation firms face constant pressure to improve sustainability. With Wabash’s new composite technology, the next big leap forward in temperature-controlled transport efficiency is in the structure of the refrigerated truck body.
“The market has not seen a new way of constructing refrigerated truck bodies for half a century,” Kevin Sumrack, senior director of sales and truck body strategy for Wabash, told Refrigerated Transporter. “That’s why it’s something that’s really revolutionary in the refrigerated market today.”
At the 2024 Wabash Ignite conference in Louisville, the manufacturer displayed a medium-duty truck with the composite material: the Wabash Acutherm refrigerated freight body with EcoNex Technology. EcoNex, the company’s proprietary technology, replaces conventional refrigerated truck body construction using what Wabash says is a lighter and more thermally efficient build.
One material, two functions
The truck body’s EcoNex panels offer an independent structural integrity, which is a key benefit.
Traditional refrigerated body builds generally use an insulating foam for thermal efficiency and support it with structural metal. EcoNex composite
panels bring both thermal efficiency and structure in one package. The composite provides the structural strength to meet operational needs without metal posts. Comparing a traditional medium-duty truck body to one built with composite panels, a body built with EcoNex is roughly 15% lighter— equal to about 700 lb. of weight savings, said Nick Clickenbeard, Wabash product manager.
Greater thermal efficiency
Overall, a refrigerated body using the EcoNex panels is about 25% more thermally efficient than a traditional body, according to Wabash. The composite panels also provide a smoother temperature profile and degrade more slowly with age.
Smooth temperature profile
Traditional refrigerated bodies need metal posts in the walls for structural support, leading to less-consistent temperature control across the body.
Each metal post, less insulated than the rest of the body, brings a significant
change in temperature for specific points in the body. With the composite panels using EcoNex technology, metal posts are not necessary.
“There are so many fewer spots where you have that drastic change in temperature profile,” Clickenbeard explained. “You have a much more consistent temperature profile across the body.”
Reduced moisture intrusion
The tight composition of a truck body using EcoNex panels also means less water intrusion, according to Wabash. The construction of the composite panels, including the composite’s protective gel coating, introduces fewer voids in the body. The panels are then significantly less likely to absorb water over the life of the asset, Sumrack said. Less moisture intrusion translates to greater comparative thermal efficiency as the body ages.
Energy savings
Greater overall thermal efficiency means that fleets can spend less energy powering transport refrigeration units.
With the refrigerated truck body built from EcoNex composite panels, both interior and exterior walls are smooth and without excessive seams. Photo: Jeremy Wolfe | FleetOwner
Energy savings for the body also go beyond TRU use. With a lighter overall weight compared to traditional bodies (about 700 lb.), the medium-duty truck body using EcoNex panels requires less fuel or energy to move.
With the onset of electric vehicles, limited range makes energy efficiency crucial, and heavy batteries make lightweight builds advantageous.
“It’s great for ICE engines, and I would say it’s even better for electric vehicles,” Sumrack said.
EcoNex panels in action
Kroger embraced the panels’ effectiveness in one of the technology’s biggest single commercial application so far. The grocery giant runs hundreds of refrigerated truck bodies using EcoNex Technology on light-duty trucks.
The companies’ partnership started with a traditional RFP process. Kroger was seeking refrigerated truck bodies uniquely designed to fit its standards for weight, size, and thermal efficiency. At the time of the RFP, Kroger implemented a unique automated distribution model from Ocado. The refrigerated body needed to be effective but also sized according to the bins utilized in the Ocado model.
“The truck body that they were looking to purchase was very much developed around that technology,” Sumrack explained. “The intent was to have a very specific use case for these commercial vehicles.”
Weight reduction and thermal efficiency were both key factors for Kroger.
“And that’s really where EcoNex Technology shines,” Sumrack said. “It really fit the bill for this exact use case that Kroger had.”
Rapid development
Once Kroger chose Wabash, the manufacturer developed the refrigerated truck body very quickly.
“It’s probably one of Wabash’s greatest product development stories, to be honest,” Sumrack said. “From
acceptance of the RFP by Kroger to the pilot phase and getting into production, it took us about eight months.”
Kroger runs the truck bodies on Ford Transits and E350s. The truck body interior provides precise space for bins of produce and maintains two different temperatures: 60 degrees Fahrenheit in the back and 32 degrees in the front.
Today, Kroger’s automated facilities support direct home grocery deliveries in multiple states.
Kroger continues to grow its distribution centers and delivery service across the nation. According to Sumrack, Wabash produces hundreds of the refrigerated units per year to build Kroger’s fleet.
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All-star trucking character
NPTC honors the drivers who make private fleets shine
A RECORD 27 private fleet truck drivers who have demonstrated high-performance standards were honored in September by the National Private Truck Council as the 2024 National Driver AllStars. The award has been supported by charter co-sponsor International Motors for 15 consecutive years under the leadership direction of Bob Mann, International’s VP of government sales and Diamond Logic Builder and NPTC Board member.
A ll Star Drivers’ commitment to daily renewal involves investing in their personal growth, learning, and improvement.
NPTC launched the National Driver All-Stars program in 2009 to identify those drivers of its fleet member companies who merit special recognition based on how they perform against their internal corporate benchmarks of excellence. Metrics typically measure superior performance in customer service, safety, adherence to company rules and expectations, regulatory compliance, and community service.
NPTC is honored to showcase these drivers for achieving high levels of
performance. This year’s winners embody the character, skills, and attitudes that are the heart of what enables the private fleet to be a competitive advantage in corporate transportation. The drivers are exemplary ambassadors for their companies and the private fleet community.
Uniquely good character and positive attitudes are hallmarks of this year’s honorees. Many drivers are guided by their faith, and each follows the “Golden Rule” to treat others how they would want to be treated. Whether it’s a customer, another highway user, or a company employee, everybody they encounter is treated with courtesy and respect.
Relationships with others are nurtured, but self-care is also important. Committing to a healthy lifestyle is essential to their daily routine. As a result, they show up to work well-rested, fueled with the right kind of food, and focused on the task at hand.
These drivers are always early, allowing them to avoid potential problems with minimal stress. Calm, emotionally level-headed, and well-balanced, they don’t get excited or stressed. Before getting behind the wheel, they check their problems and keep their emotions “between the lines.”
These drivers invest in their equipment by conducting thorough pre- and post-trip inspections to ensure their vehicles operate in peak condition. They refuse to pencil-whip the process. In situations that can be dangerous, stressful, or frustrating, they remain patient and refrain from overreacting,
Each is committed to excellence in all facets of their lives. It is clear to them that doing a good job does not begin and end at the company gates. Their commitment to daily renewal involves investing in their personal growth, continuous learning, and improvement.
How they conduct themselves is one of class, confidence, and optimism. They anticipate customer problems and issues on the highway before they become problems or before the customer realizes there is a problem. They handle complex on-the-road challenges with ease.
For them, hard work is a way of life, but they don’t view it as work. Each driver volunteers for extra assignments, helps conduct training, and coaches other drivers. In addition, they volunteer time outside the truck cab in numerous community improvement projects.
Each displays great pride in all facets of their life. Whether it’s the way they keep their truck clean, the way they dress, the way they speak, or the way they treat the customer, they respect themselves and everyone else.
Furthermore, they are humble to a fault, complementing their pride. Nothing they do is done for the sake of recognition but because it is the right thing to do. As they know taking things for granted is a recipe for disaster, they fight complacency.
In their minds, truck driving is not a job. It’s a passion that carries a great deal of responsibility because it’s more than simply driving a truck. They are genuinely excited about the opportunity to serve the customer safely and in a professional manner.
To read more about this year’s National Driver All-Stars, visit FleetOwner.com/NPTCstars. Take note of their “all-star” character. By looking for these traits in the drivers that you hire, you, too, can enhance the winning performance of your driver team. FO
Gary Petty | gpetty@nptc.org
Gary Petty has more than 30 years of experience as CEO of national trade associations in the trucking industry. He has been the president and CEO of the National Private Truck Council since 2001.
2024 National Driver All-Stars Photo: NPTC
Meeting modern challenges
Christenson Transportation succeeds by staying true to its principles
by Seth Skydel
After 40 years in business, Don Christenson knows the trucking landscape inside and out. Today, Strafford, Missouri-based Christenson Transportation president and chief executive has a well-informed view of freight haulers’ modern challenges.
“A lack of tort reform is costing the industry,” Christenson said. “There should be a federal law covering U.S. and interstate highways that governs how accident damages are awarded. They should not be based on how much insurance you have or are required to carry, and we should not have to buy additional coverage to protect ourselves against multimillion-dollar claims.
“We all have a responsibility when we drive, and we don’t take that lightly,” Christenson continued. “We have an extremely good safety program, but when an accident happens, the first question that’s usually asked is, ‘How much is it worth?’ The only thing that seems to matter is what we didn’t do or might have done differently.”
Over the years, Christenson has seen his share of freight market ups and downs. “The lessons we learned in 2000 carried us through the freight recession we experienced in 2009,” he said. “This time ... there’s no predictability. And the financial markets are propping up new and mostly unprofitable competition by lending money and leasing trucks to new carriers who typically don’t have the customer base to sustain them.
“At Christenson, we’ve always been actively trying to grow but only by focusing on stable customer relationships and long-term opportunities, not short-term gains,” Christenson continued. “Over 90% of our hauls are contract freight, and we generally don’t use the spot market. In addition, we won’t sacrifice equipment investments or underpay
Photo: Christenson Transportation
drivers to get a shipper’s business.”
Christenson regularly invests in its fleet and drivers. The company turned over its entire fleet in 2022 and now operates 2023 through 2025 model year Peterbilt Model 579s. “That positioned us to get on a roughly three-year trade cycle and replace about 100 tractors each year,” VP RayVaun Christenson said.
About 90% of the Christenson Transportation fleet is now under lease-purchase plans with drivers, including equipment and full-service maintenance managed in-house but provided by longterm partners. “We’ve been making the transition to lease-purchase agreements because driver productivity is better when they have a stake in their success,” RayVaun Christenson said.
Since 2023, Christenson Transportation has also been providing its 300 drivers with the Trucker Path app. “We had a navigation system that was supposed to generate truck-specific routes, but our drivers kept running into restricted roads and low bridges, leading to complaints and the possibility of late deliveries, violations, and even accidents,” Chandler Klein, senior business analyst, explained. “Since adopting the truck-safe navigation features in Trucker Path for Fleets, driver calls about routes have gone away,
and the possibility of accidents and violations has dropped significantly.”
The Trucker Path for Fleets truck-safe navigation uses geolocation data from orders in the carrier’s McLeod Software TMS. Through an integration enabled by Trucker Path, the data is used to build routes, and navigation details are transferred to Samsara ELDs, where they are immediately accessible to the driver.
The app allows fleets to input vehicle dimensions to avoid low overpasses, sharp turns, and weight-restricted roads. App users contribute more than 800,000 inputs each month to help keep route information updated and accurate. The routing solution also guides drivers to proper entry points at customer locations, and fleets can enable or restrict access to specific points of interest using a custom map layer feature.
Family-owned Christenson Transportation provides 48-state service hauling high-value, high-risk and time-sensitive freight. The company also operates a regional fleet in the Southeast.
“For almost 40 years, we’ve been successfully providing quality service at Christenson Transportation by sticking to our principles and doing what we do in the best way possible,” Don Christenson said. FO
Christenson Transportation provides 48-state service hauling high-value, high-risk and time-sensitive freight. It also operates a regional fleet in the Southeast.
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larry@fleetowner.com
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Richard A. White Business Operations Manager richard@fleetowner.com
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TAT HONORS TRUCK STOP MANAGER FOR HELPING TRAFFICKED WOMAN
by Jenna Hume
Charles Bernsen, general manager of Petro in Florence, South Carolina, has been named the winner of the 2024 TAT Harriet Tubman Award presented by Progressive Commercial.
The award, which includes a trophy and a check for $5,000, was presented to Bernsen by TAT Executive Director Esther Goetsch and TA CEO Debi Boffa at TA Florence, South Carolina, the location where Bernsen worked as general manager during the incident for which he was recognized. Nikki, the traf cking survivor Bernsen aided, also attended the awards presentation. It was the rst meeting between the two since the incident that rst brought them together.
Bernsen, one of 18,000 TA employees who receive TAT’s human traf cking training annually, noticed a distressed young woman hanging around the store. She would disappear for periods into the restroom but then reappear in the lobby area. Bernsen approached her after a couple of days and asked if she needed help. She burst into tears, telling him she had escaped a man who had been holding her captive in a hotel across the street
from the TA where he’d been selling her for sex.
Bernsen offered her food, clothing, a blanket, and information about TAT. He had her call the National Human Traf cking Hotline and speak to them. He then purchased a bus ticket for her to get home and provided money for expenses along the way. The young woman, Nikki, later made a video with TAT about her experience and said Bernsen’s soft-spoken demeanor and compassion enabled her to trust him.
Bernsen said the TAT training better prepared him for this situation. “Once you’ve been exposed to all this evil,” he said, “it’s always in the back of your mind that this could be happening, and it could happen in the blink of an eye. The education, the videos, and conferences we’ve gone to have been a huge help.”
TAT (formerly Truckers Against Trafcking) created the annual award to honor a member of the trucking, bus, or energy industry whose direct actions help save or improve the lives of those exploited or prevent human traf cking.
vor; and TAT Executive Director Esther Goetsch.
“We are extremely proud of the actions Charles took when encountering Nikki and are so grateful for the positive outcome in this situation,” Debi Boffa said. “Charles is a true role model for all our team members, and I know his actions and this award will inspire others when they see something. Here at TA, we remain committed to educating all of our team members on human traf cking awareness and empowering them to take action. They are the eyes and ears of our nation’s highways, and as Charles has shown, we can make a difference.” FO
Top, pictured left to right: Debi Bo a, TA CEO; Charles Bernsen, Harriet Tubman Award Winner and general manager at Petro Florence, South Carolina; Nikki, human tra cking survi-
Photos: TAT
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