June 2008 Volume 28, Issue 6 Delivering daily news to Canada’s trucking industry at www.trucknews.com
A NEW APPROACH?: The proposed access road will take trucks from downtown Windsor and put them on a costly below-grade road linking Hwy. 401 with a new border crossing. The DRIC group has the support of industry, the province and the feds. But the City of Windsor says the proposal’s not good enough.
DRIC group puts forth plans for new border access road By Ron Stang WINDSOR, Ont. – The Trucking industry’s on-board. And so are a raft of companies that ship their goods by truck, like the Canadian
Vehicle Manufacturers Association, the Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association, and automakers like Chrysler Canada and Ford.
All that remains for the new proposal by a four government consortium – known as the Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) team – to build an ac-
cess road and new bridge between Hwy. 401 and Detroit is “crossing the T’s and dotting the I’s,” said Dave Wake, the Ontario
DO YOU KNOW THIS GUY?: Carriers are putting themselves out of business by underbidding on freight and placing unsustainable pressure on rates.
Transport and recently elected 2008-2009 chairman of the Truckload Carriers Association. “And it’s a slow death. Eventually the companies who do it go out of business. I hear the survival of the fittest argument – that eventually rates will go up when consolidation happens – but I don’t think a downward pressure on rates is good for the industry at any time.” Haight says safety is just one of the sacrifices carriers make in order to run for less. “What I worry about is that smaller carriers will find a way to survive by putting more hours on their trucks on a daily basis than they should legally. It creates all sorts of problems for everyone,” says Haight, who also worries
Are trucking companies facing Darwinian extinction? By Ingrid Phaneuf TORONTO, Ont. – To hear trucking industry insiders describe it, the current rate crunch is Darwinian in scale – long, drawn out and threatening to change the face of the trucking industry as we know it. And it’s all thanks to rate cutting, a practice which, according to
Report on maintenance • Maximizing fuel mileage in the shop • Rugged computers • Better brakes • On-board diagnostics – and more!
See pages 49-56
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Inside This Issue... • Super single solution?: It looks like higher weights will be allowed on single tires across Canada.
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• Getting to know DTNA:
We catch up with Daimler Trucks North America at the Mid-America Trucking Show to discuss key industry issues, including plans for 2010. Page 38
See our ad page 74
• Keeping it cool: A look at what refrigerated fleets must do to become California-compliant. Also, we check out some nifty new developments in the world of reefers. Pages 44-47
• Dalton and the Bandit: Mark’s troubles don’t end after his run-in with a thief.
Careers Pages 58-68 PM40069240
existence will have folded.” First comes rate cutting, and then comes extinction, warn those in the know. “It’s devastating, very harmful,” says Ray Haight, executive director of MacKinnon
trucking industry insiders, is spreading like cancer and causing an equivalent amount of damage. “A tremendous amount of rate cutting is happening,” says Caravan Logistics general manager Kevin Snobel. “Between now and next year I’m predicting at least 10% of companies now in
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Ad Index 75
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