Trucking Industry News...

FMCSA Updates SMS Website...

FMCSA has updated the CSA SMS Website with the February 22, 2019 results. Motor carriers participating in FMCSA’s Crash Preventability Demonstration Program will continue to see the Agency’s final determinations on SMS for crashes reviewed as part of the program. Logged-in carriers and enforcement users with crashes determined to be Not Preventable as part of the program can view measures and percentiles calculated with and without those crashes. View the site here: https://maineloggers.us10.listmanage.com/track/click? u=50356bc32e7c1ced15b258bf6&id=7bae694128&e=114d 18f9f8

FMCSA Launches Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse Website...

FMCSA has launched a new website with information about the Commercial Driver’s License Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse. Visit https:// clearinghouse.fmcsa.dot.gov to learn more about how

CDL drivers and their employers will be required to use the Clearinghouse beginning January 6, 2020. You will be able to sign up for email updates.

Canadian Revenue Agency Notice of Fuel Charge and Registration Requirements...

A new fuel charge, administered by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), was introduced as part of the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act.

The fuel charge is expected to be effective April 1, 2019 for the provinces of Manitoba, New Brunswick, Ontario and Saskatchewan and July 1, 2019 for the territories of Nunavut and Yukon.

The attached informational bulletin, provided by the CRA, details the fuel charge plan. IFTA, Inc. is forwarding this bulletin to provide jurisdictions with information to assist their carriers. It will also be posted on the IFTA Inc. website.

The registration materials are available at: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/ excise-taxes-duties-levies/fuel-charge.html

Unified Carrier Registration Online Service…

This service allows Maine based individuals and companies that operate commercial motor vehicles in interstate or international commerce to register their business and pay the annual UCR fee based on the size of their fleet. Brokers, freight forwarders, and leasing companies are also required to register and pay a fee equal to the lowest fee tier. Companies providing both motor carrier services as well as broker, freight forwarder or leasing services are required to pay the fee level set at the motor carrier level.

Roadside enforcement period will begin April 1, 2019. You can access the payment portal at Maine BMV here: https://maineloggers.us10.list-manage.com/ track/click?

u=50356bc32e7c1ced15b258bf6&id=d4a06e1c92&e=114d 18f9f8

CDL class was postponed and the college is seeking to add a few more participants, like you! Class will run from noon to 6 p.m. for the first few weeks. Driving and range times will be scheduled during class to accommodate your schedule.

The next classes are scheduled to start: June 3.

Learn more at: https://www.emcc.edu/workforcedevelopment/non-credit-classes/commercial-drivers-license -cdl-training-center/

BREWER - There are few companies as deeply embedded in Maine’s logging industry today as Milton CAT.

Milton CAT heavy equipment can be found working in Maine forests from Fort Kent to Kittery, and the state’s loggers have been reliable and solid customers for the company for decades. Now, though the company is changing some of its approach to the forest equipment market, its commitment to the Maine logging industry remains as strong as ever.

“For us, Maine is a big piece of the pie,” Peter Collins, Forest Industry Manager for Milton CAT said recently during a discussion at the company’s Brewer location, the distribution center for all forestry parts for Milton CAT. “Maine is historically about half the opportunity in terms of forestry machine sales for the entire territory.”

Those equipment sales are critical to the company, and so is the Maine logging industry, Collins said.

From its start in a dirt floor garage in Concord, New Hampshire, Milton CAT has grown to 12 locations, spanning a six-state territory. Two of those locations are in Maine; Brewer and Scarborough.

Milton CAT has over 1,000 employees, many with twenty, thirty or even forty years of service at the company, and it's widely recognized by Caterpillar as being one of its top performing dealerships worldwide.

Milton CAT still runs on the same philosophy that made the company successful in its early years. The company's growth and reputation have been a result of experience, continuity of purpose, empowering employees, and a longstanding partnership with Caterpillar.

A privately-held company, Milton CAT is owned by the Milton family. Dealer principal and Chief Executive Officer Chris Milton, is the third-generation Milton to be at the helm of a Caterpillar dealership. Chris Milton's father, Jack, learned the ropes under his father, Milt Milton, at former Massachusetts CAT dealership PerkinsMilton. In 1960, Jack Milton and partner Bill Jordan founded Jordan-Milton Machinery and represented Caterpillar equipment and engines in New Hampshire and Vermont, expanding into Maine with the acquisition of Arnold Machinery Company in 1982. In 1991, JordanMilton acquired Southworth Machinery and the company name became Southworth-Milton. That name was changed to Milton CAT shortly after the company expanded its territory into western New York with the acquisition of bordering CAT dealership Syracuse Supply Company in 2004.

Today, the company's products and technology can be found in logging camps and nuclear facilities; dairy farms, U.S. Army Defense installations, hospitals, lobster boats and underground salt mines; solid waste landfills, data centers, paving projects and ferries; commuter rail trains, quarries, school buses and on job sites of all sizes.

Peter Collins has been with the company for 36 years and his long-time customers include many founding members of the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine (PLC). He has worked with multiple generations of many well-known Maine logging families.

Milton CAT’s relationship with the PLC began long before the organization offered Supporting Memberships (Milton CAT is an Enhanced Supporting Member). The company has been a strong supporter of PLC’s Log A Load for Maine Kids annual fund raising efforts and other initiatives over the years.

Among the most noteworthy of Milton CAT’s more recent contributions to the PLC’s efforts has been the company’s support for the Mechanized Logging Operation Program (MLOP), launched three years ago to provide entry level training for mechanized logging operators. The program was created thanks to a partnership between three Maine community colleges, the PLC, and industry partners including Milton CAT and Nortrax. The program gives students a broad overview of the most common mechanical systems found in modern timber harvesting equipment, an understanding of the variables of timber growth, tree species, and markets, and a strong emphasis on safety. It also includes hands-on training in mechanized logging equipment, and Milton CAT has provided half the equipment for the training program since its start. On the Milton CAT website, a video promoting MLOP is prominently displayed in the forestry section.

Like most companies involved in Maine’s logging industry, Milton CAT realizes there is a skilled worker shortage in the state’s forest economy, particularly for mechanized logging operators and truck drivers, Collins said.

“I think the training program is a good thing as we try to deal with the situation, and I think Milton CAT has put some money and some emphasis on that because you’ve got to try and do something about it,” Collins said.

Milton CAT has been a strong supporter of the Mechanized Logging Operations Program since it began three years ago. Opposite: Graduates of the most recent class pose with a grapple skidder donated by Milton CAT for their use in the summer of 2018.

Milton CAT has served Maine loggers through major changes and challenges in the industry, and is committed to maintaining the health of that industry.

In August 2018 Caterpillar Inc. announced a major change for the industry itself - Caterpillar had entered into a preliminary agreement with Weiler, Inc. to sell its forestry product business, which includes Wheel Skidders, Track Feller Bunchers, Wheel Feller Bunchers and Knuckleboom Loaders. As part of the sale, Weiler is taking ownership of the Caterpillar manufacturing plant in LaGrange, Georgia, the training center in Auburn, Alabama and the parts distribution center in Smithfield, North Carolina.

For Milton CAT the announcement is bringing change, but not drastic change. Milton CAT already had a long-standing relationship with Weiler in the paving

Milton CAT Continued Page 24

Alex Labonville, Sales Manager

Cell: 207-233-4801 www.labonville.com business, and Weiler will be manufacturing track feller bunchers, skidders, rubber tired feller bunchers, and knuckle booms. The machines to mount delimbers on will still be manufactured by CAT.

Ask about special PLC of Maine member only discounts!

Milton CAT will remain the source for sales, parts and service on CAT forestry products as well as Weiler forestry products and will remain the source for parts and service on Prentice product as part of the deal as well.

This spring Milton CAT is continuing to sell Milton CAT forestry equipment but it is anticipated that Weiler product will be available this year. Milton CAT is also selling Logset forwarders and processors, so the product lineup for the company is diversifying, but customers so far seem comfortable with the changes, Collins said.

For Milton CAT the relationship with the PLC and with Maine’s loggers is a natural one that is mutually beneficial, and that is not going to change, Collins said.

“The membership needs to know how important their business is to our business, it’s not just an afterthought, Collins said. “Long term we’re committed to this and we’ve got a lot of different products that we’ working with now and Milton CAT’s still going to be in the forestry business, we’re not going anywhere.”