Trucking Industry News...

Maine Bureau of Highway Safety Fall Reminder

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As we enter into the fall we enter into the increase of morning and afternoon traffic with schools starting up. Please take time to plan your routes and to be aware of not only the increase in vehicle traffic, but expect an increase in pedestrian traffic and bicycle traffic! EYES UP… JUST DRIVE and BE AWARE.

Reminder: Onboard documentation and supporting documents…

Motor carriers and drivers have specific requirements under the ELD regulations. Some of the most commonly cited violations pertain to the documents and materials drivers are required to have with them in the commercial motor vehicle (CMV), or that motor carriers must retain in their files, and provide to enforcement personnel upon request. Below are a few reminders to help motor carriers and drivers adhere to these requirements.

Hours Of Service Changes Clarified – Change

Does Not Impact Maine 100 Air Mile Exemption

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The recent hours of service changes that were effective September 29, 2020 have caused a few questions including about the difference between the Maine 100 air mile rule and the new Federal 150 air mile rule. The recent changes do not in any way change Maine’s 100 air mile rule that has long been afforded to drivers and motor carriers who operate in Maine and within 100 air miles of their normal work reporting location.

In short, the Maine 100 air mile rule exempts motor carriers and drivers that operate within 100 air miles of their normal work reporting location (and do not further interstate commerce) from hours of service and from the medical card requirements found in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. These drivers may not drive when sick or fatigued, but are not required to keep a log book or ELD and do not require a medical card. This is due to the fact that Maine adopts the federal regulations with some state amendments, most notably in the area of hours of service and medical card requirements.

To summarize, the recent changes to the hours of service regulations do not impact the Maine 100 air mile rule. A CDL driver that exceeds the 100-air mile radius in Intrastate commerce must either rely on the federal 150 air mile rule (“short haul” exemption) or must keep a log book or ELD. Additionally, drivers who exceed the 100 air miles in Intrastate commerce must have a valid medical card.

FARMINGTON - owner of a division of Jackman Equipment, likes to say that even though he never cut wood for a living, his whole working life has been built around the woods business.

In the four decades since he began hauling logs in the Maine woods in 1971 as a teenager, that experience has served him well as he - like others in his family - has built successful businesses in the forest products industry in Maine and Canada.

The Carrier family of course needs no introduction in the Northeast. Its members left Canada to pursue opportunities in logging, trucking, and other industries in the U.S. decades ago, building well known and successful companies from Connecticut to Maine through a combination of hard work, good business sense, and perseverance.

Mario grew up on the family farm with his siblings in Saint Honore’ Quebec, and recalls his father farming in the warmer months and traveling into Maine in the winters to work in the woods like many others in the region.

“Growing up, we were staying home to take care of the farm until we were old enough to go to work,” Mario said. “My father had been working in the woods since 1955 to support the family because the farming was not enough.”

As a boy, Mario remembers always being interested in equipment and fixing things. He was mechanically inclined and this would eventually lead him into the businesses he has built over the years, but before that, in the fall of 1971, he got his visa and joined his father and older brothers for the first time at a job in Maine, in West Middlesex Canal Grant Township, northwest of Moosehead Lake.

“We had a camp trailer and that crew was not very big and we would stay in the camp trailer and draw water from the river next to us, for me it was like being paid to go camping,” he laughed.

Members of the Carrier family will tell you learning on the job through experience was the family way. Though Mario had never driven one before, he was put to work hauling wood with a Chevrolet C60 single axle with pony wheel truck. For his first run he followed his father with half a load of 4’ pulp logs, hauling from West Middlesex to dump the load into the Kennebec River. After that first run, he was on his own. He didn’t feel confident driving at first, but after the first mud season, he was. He learned quickly in his early days on the job. Once, he showed up for a load of wood and there was no one to load him. He didn’t want to tell his brothers he hadn’t even tried to load the truck so he got in the seat and loaded himself, did it badly, and had to redo it to balance the load, but he soon got better.

Mario’s reputation mechanically went up with the family after a loader quit on him and the foreman on the job site quickly figured out the problem and helped him to pull the transmission, which he then took back to Jackman.

“So when I got back to the apartment we were at I had the transmission with me and I gave that to my brother who was in charge and God he thought I was a good mechanic, I did not say a word, I never told him,” Mario laughed.

The West Middlesex job was on Scott Paper land. The crew moved that same winter to another Scott Paper job in Tomhegan. In 1972, they began hauling lumber from the Golden Road to Beaudrey Lumber, a major employer in the Jackman area at the time.

“I was proud to drive a truck, I was always the youngest one of the crew until my younger brother showed up,” Mario said. “We went from job to job to job, and we were always renting either an apartment or installing a camp wherever the job was located.”

In 1973 Mario moved up to driving a tractor trailer and his very first job was hauling wood from Dole Pond via Canada and then back into the U.S. It was a challenging run because the border area includes the highest points of land in that region and the uphill and downhill portions were very difficult, particularly in bad weather. That year he also began making runs to paper mills to the south in Madison and Winslow.

The woods business is volatile, and in 1974 the Carriers went from having plenty of work to a short period of none, but after that other contracts showed up and they kept going. In 1975, they got a sizable contract to haul 6,000 cords of 4-foot wood to the International Paper mill at Three Rivers, Canada.

The mid-70s were a time of change in the logging industry, as the era of logs being moved by water on Moosehead Lake and down the Kennebec River came to an end. Mario was there for those changes, and was interviewed in 1975 for a major news broadcast showing the last 4’ logs being pushed into Moosehead Lake.

“Every job we moved and every job we adjusted. All this time I was working for my father and older brother E.J.,” Mario said.

In late 1977, at the age of 22, and while on Christmas vacation, his time working in the woods came to an end.

“They asked me if I wanted to take care of the gas station in Jackman my older brother E.J. had purchased, and my response was, if you think I could I’m ok with that, but I don’t speak English,” Mario said. “I started working there January 3rd, 1978 at six in the morning, and when I got out of there at night after being on the concrete all day standing up I did not know if I should go home or go to the hospital I was so exhausted.”

He went back to work the next day, and that gas station and garage, which he would eventually buy, was the start of Jackman Equipment, the parent company to Davco, Canadian Chains, and Pro-Pac. Today Mario speaks English fluently, but back in 1978 he knew very little and immediately this posed a challenge as customers brought in equipment for repairs and he had to order parts over the phone. His sister spoke better English than he did and helped, but the first time he tried to order a part himself, a hydraulic pump, the person on the other end of the call couldn’t understand him and hung up.

“Then something came from heaven, we had a worker start working for us, his name is Mike Begin, and he was bilingual and that helped me more than anything, and he’s still with me after 43 years, thank you, God,” Mario said.

Not long after that the garage became a dealer for the Tree Farmer skidder line, and began selling and servicing them. In 1983, they added the Husky Brute hydraulic log loader line. They were busy, never had to look for work, work always found them, Mario said.

The Carrier family by now had begun branching off into new business ventures, and the members together

Davco Continued Page 30 and on their own would eventually found many. Mario and two of his older brothers established Pro Pac in Quebec in 1985 and the equipment brand would become a mainstay of the region’s logging industry. In 1989 Jackman Equipment, which Mario now owned and managed, purchased Davco in Farmington, building it into a successful annex for Jackman Equipment.

1985 was also the year Mario became a U.S. citizen.

“My father was proud to be working in the U.S., as a farmer coming down from Canada to be able to make a living in the U.S. he was very proud of that,” Mario said. “And I’m proud to be American and proud to be Canadian.”

Mario eventually stopped dealing and servicing Husky Brute loaders and began dealing strictly with Hood loaders. The Tree Farmer skidder factory closed in the 1990s and from that point on Davco focused on Hood and Pro Pac equipment. Another great thing that happened in the early 1990’s was John Fontaine coming on board at Davco. He also is bilingual and is still with Davco today.

In 2000, Jackman Equipment purchased the traction tire chains manufacturer Canadian Chains in Skowhegan.

Today Davco carries a wide range of parts and products including loaders, attachments, and implements; with the trusted brands Hood, Timberjack, Tree Farmer, Pro Pac, and Rotobec. Its service department is always busy with maintenance and repair work. Mario feels that the work effort is no different than any other logging field.

Mario still has his Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) and he never misses a chance to jump in a truck and use it, but today he is found most often at the Davco shop, fielding questions on parts and equipment on the phone and in person, keeping the busy operation rolling. Jackman Equipment remains his original business and today is located in a larger building across the street from the original gas station and garage, and along with Davco; Pro Pac, managed by his son Dave; and Canadian Chains, managed by his son Jason, continues to be an important piece of the region’s forest products industry.

Like most business owners today, Mario faces challenges finding enough workers, but he is satisfied with how his businesses are doing and always working to improve them. Good service combined with a willingness to take on any challenging job has built and maintained their reputation.

Mario gives much for the credit for the success of those businesses over the years to the workers he has been fortunate enough to have.

“This is something that helped the journey, all the good people who work for us,” Mario said.

Mario also gives credit to his sons Jason and Dave and his daughter Audrey.

Davco has been a major supporter of the Mechanized Logging Operations Program (MLOP) - which was started by the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine (PLC) - since 2019, this year donating use of a Hood crane, Pro Pac slasher, and equipment training. Davco has also provided great service for the program, according to Donald Burr, coordinator of MLOP.

Davco is an Enhanced Supporting Member of the PLC, as are Jackman Equipment, Pro Pac, and Canadian Chains. Mario has been and remains very supportive of loggers and the work of the PLC.

“I feel the organization is doing a very good job,” Mario said. “I have difficulty finding any complaints about PLC.”