Commercial Carrier Journal, December 2019

DECEMBER 2019

SMARTER SAFETY

TECHNICIAN SHORTAGE: WHAT'S AHEAD? Opinions, forecasts from industry experts page 42

TOUGH TIMES?

Fleet closures disturbing, but is it just business as usual?

NACV ROUNDUP All the big news from Atlanta page 52

BUSINESS SOLUTIONS FOR TRUCKING PROFESSIONALS

Machine learning aids driver training

page 48

Wishing You a Happy & Healthy Holiday Season!

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DECEMBER 2019 | VOL 176 | NO. 12

COVER STORY

JOURNAL

Don’t go under

Many carriers last year reaped the benefits of strong rates and tight capacity, but 2019 will close on a much different note. Some carriers may have made the mistake of seeing 2018 as business as usual, and the return to normal over the last 12 months has been difficult for them. It’s the spot market that trucking experts say is largely to blame for carriers’ cash woes this year.

38

LEADING NEWS, TRUCKING MARKET CONDITIONS AND INDUSTRY ANALYSIS

Cover design by Richard Street

FEATURES

42

The next steps for service

8

Trucking companies are discovering that it takes clever, proactive recruiting practices to entice young technician talent — and even more effort to keep them around. In the final part of our 2019 special report on trucking’s technician shortage, CCJ turns its attention to the future — and the employment challenges that currently exist and are likely to persist.

48

Better risk detection

In the transportation industry, advancements in autonomous vehicles, driver safety systems, digital freight matching and other applications all are powered by machine learning technology. Transportation companies are able to manage risk better by staying on top of these expanding datasets by using prescriptive information to change outcomes rather than react to events.

52

NACV Roundup

CCJ rounds up the biggest news and product announcements made at the North American Commercial Vehicle Show held last month in Atlanta.

35

Innovators: Carbon Express

The Wharton, N.J.-based liquid bulk hauler shifts to rating and paying its drivers by the hour to add more clarity to its bottom line.

News Carrier costs, led by driver pay and fuel, surged in 2018 …

Trucking-related fatalities rise 0.9% in 2018, NHTSA says …

UCR security lapse exposed carrier, driver ID numbers … FMCSA website lists 9 trucking fleets participating in under-21 pilot program

… FMCSA official: Zero chance of ELD deadline extension … Senate bill aims to bring more women into trucking … Fleets object to Navistar’s $135M settlement in engine defects case … Hazmat-focused inspection blitz sidelines nearly 700 trucks

12 InBrief

COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL

| DECEMBER 2019 3

DEPARTMENTS

ccjdigital.com

technology

facebook.com/CCJMagazine @CCJnow linkedin.com/ccjmagazine

Editorial Editor: Jason Cannon Senior Editor: Aaron Huff Associate Editor: Tom Quimby Managing Editor: Dean Smallwood News Editor: Matt Cole Contributing Editors: Todd Dills, James Jaillet

16

Diesel still dominant, DTF says

26

editorial@ccjdigital.com

17

Peterbilt delivers first medium-duty Model 220EV to Frito-Lay

Short-haul fleets would curtail ELD use under HOS proposal

27

Panasonic targets last-mile delivery

Design & Production

18

Chevron debuts lower-ash Delo diesel engine oil

20

Continental celebrates grand opening of Miss. Tire plant

20

Phillips, Nussbaum team for “smart trailer” system

22

27

Lanehub updates collaboration tech

28

CarriersEdge offers Weights and Dimensions course

production@ccjdigital.com

28

Loadsmart develops integrated freight match tool

Corporate

28 InBrief 30 Survey: Everyday motorists say

20 InBrief

commercial drivers more risky

Vipar Heavy Duty launches digital ecosystem for parts

32 InFocus:

Driver scorecards

24 InFocus:

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ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

6

Upfront Editor Jason Cannon’s column

64 Preventable or Not?

59 Products Regional tire, vocational suspension, onboard scale, more 4

COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL

| DECEMBER 2019

Tractor-trailer driver John Doe, in the far-right lane of a divided six-lane highway, entered the intersection under a green light, but his rig was struck by a driver who tried to run the red light. Was this a preventable accident?

63 Ad Index

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UPFRONT

Fuel of the future Hydrogen takes center stage in Atlanta at NACV

BY JASON CANNON

E

lectrification is one of the biggest trend drivers in trucking right now, but at one of the industry’s largest trade shows in late October, it was riding sidecar to hydrogen.

Electrification is a little further ahead in practicality than hydrogen depending on the application, but it’s hard to make a long-haul case for an electric truck right now.

With less than 50 hydrogen fueling stations in the United States, it’s not easy to make a case for hydrogen, either. But with range capabilities of 600 miles or more depending on tank configurations, hydrogen currently is basking in the limelight as trucking’s alternative fuel of the future.

“We are going to, by the end of the 2020s, bring fuelcell-powered vehicles into series production,” said Roger Nielsen, chief executive officer for Daimler Trucks North America, at the North American Commercial Vehicle (NACV) Show in Atlanta. “We believe fuel-cell technology and battery-electric vehicles will exist side-by-side as we head into carbon-free logistics over the next 20 to 30 years.”

And they’re not alone.

Hyundai Motor Co. (HMC) debuted its hydrogen-powered fuel-cell electric truck concept, HDC-6 Neptune, in Atlanta.

Maik Ziegler, HMC’s president of commercial vehicle research and development, said hydrogen refueling time is much faster than charging a battery, and the higher driving range enabled by the fuel cell, higher payload and lower costs are key factors in hydrogen’s adoption.

“Fuel cells are crucial for heavy-duty long-haul commercial vehicles,” Ziegler said, noting that with only 10 trucks, a stable business case can be made for one hydrogen refueling station.

Cummins started development of its own fuel-cell capabilities more than 20 years ago. The company recently acquired Hydrogenics, a developer and manufacturer of hydrogen generation and fuel-cell products, and it also made an investment in Loop Energy, a fuel-cell electric range-extender provider.

Cummins also signed a memorandum of understanding with Hyundai to collaborate on hydrogen fuel-cell technology across commercial markets in North America.

“We are willing to work with our partners to pave the way to establish a hydrogen ecosystem,” said Edward Lee,

head of HMC’s Commercial Vehicle Business Division.

This makes Cummins, the grandfather of diesel, a major player in the kind of green energy that one day could displace it. On display at NACV was Cummins’ Class 8 6×4 daycab fuel-cell tractor.

Thad Ewald, Cummins’ vice president of corporate On display at NACV was strategy and leader of the Cummins’ Class 8 6×4 daycab company’s Electrified Power fuel-cell tractor. business, said that developing the hydrogen fuel-cell truck as a technology demonstrator was an important step in gaining insights critical to continuing the development of solutions for the market “and preparing for the next 100 years.

In the long run, the customers we serve will likely need more than one type of power, depending on their specific markets, applications and use cases.”

Designed for vocational, regional-haul, urban delivery, port drayage and terminal container handling applications, Cummins’ hydrogen fuel-cell truck has a range of up to 250 miles, but that can be extended with additional hydrogen tanks, by increasing tank storage pressure or by installing additional fuel-cell modules.

Kenworth and Toyota Motor North America are collaborating to develop 10 zero-emissions Kenworth T680s powered by Toyota hydrogen fuel-cell electric powertrains.

Kenworth’s assembly plant in Renton, Wash., has produced four hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles, and a fifth is now in production. To meet customer needs in these drayage, car-carrier and local-haul applications, the vehicles will offer ranges of over 300 miles under normal operating conditions.

Nikola Motor Co., who practically started this conversation more than three years ago, also was at NACV with the company’s fuel-cell supplier, Bosch. But this discussion has grown much louder since Nikola entered the space in May 2016, with Jason Roycht, Bosch’s North American vice president for Commercial Vehicles, noting a “small band of believers has turned into a large band of implementers” in just two years.

JASON CANNON is Editor of Commercial Carrier Journal. E-mail jasoncannon@randallreilly.com.

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commercial carrier journal

| december 2019

Save on maintenance by renting or leasing trailers with air disc brakes.

Talk about reliability Break the cycle of regular drum brake jobs. With air disc brakes you get longer pad life, reducing maintenance on your rented and leased trailers. They also lower the risk of out-of-adjustment violations and shorten stopping distances. Work with XTRA Lease, because the little extras make a big difference. www.xtralease.com/brakes

LEADING NEWS, TRUCKING MARKET CONDITIONS AND INDUSTRY ANALYSIS

Carrier costs, led by driver pay and fuel, surged in 2018

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er-mile costs for trucking companies surged in 2018 from the previous year, with acrossthe-board increases in spending driving carriers’ costs up 13 cents a mile on average, according to the American Transportation Research Institute’s Combined, fuel costs and driver wages annual survey of carrier spending. and benefits accounted for more than 66% of carriers’ per-mile expenditures For the seventh straight year, higher spending in 2018, according to ATRI’s report. on driver wages and benefits was a chief contributing factor to rising business costs for carriers, though per-mile fuel costs also jumped in 2018 from 2017. Combined, fuel costs and driver wages and benefits accounted for more than 66% of carriers’ per-mile expenditures in 2018, according to ATRI’s report.

Carriers spent 59.6 cents a mile on driver wages last year and 43.3 cents a mile on fuel, on average. Carriers reported spending 18 cents a mile on driver benefits, separate from driver wages.

Fuel costs climbed 6.5 cents a mile last year on average, while spending on driver wages rose 3.9 cents a mile, together representing 10.4 cents of the total 13-cent increase in permile costs.

Insurance premiums rose nine-tenths of a cent per mile last year to 8.4 cents a mile on average.

Tires were the only expenditure category to not see an increase, remaining flat at 3.8 cents a mile. All other categories saw fraction-of-a-penny increases. Truck purchase/ lease payments rose a tenth of a cent to 26.5 cents a mile. Repair and maintenance costs climbed four-tenths of a cent to 17.1 cents a mile. Spending on tolls climbed to three cents a mile, and costs for permits and licensing climbed to 2.4 cents a mile.

Since 2016, carriers’ per-mile costs have climbed more than 25 cents per mile, according to ATRI’s numbers. Costs in 2017 rose 9.9 cents from 2016, ATRI reported last year, following 2016’s 1.7-cent-per-mile increase from 2015.

Costs had dropped significantly in 2015 from 2014, but the spending hikes the past two years have pressed per-mile spending above the recent high-water marks in 2011 and 2014.

Of survey respondents, 18% operate more than 1,000 power units, and 21% operate between 251 and 1,000 power units. A plurality of respondents (29%) operate between 26 and 100 power units, 6% operate less than 5 trucks, 15% operate between 5 and 25 trucks, and 11% operate between 101 and 250 power units.

Survey respondents account for more than Scan the QR code with your smartphone 125,000 power units or visit ccjdigital.com/news/subscribe-tonewsletters to sign up for the CCJ Daily Report, and more than 460,000 a daily e-mail newsletter filled with news, trailers. analysis, blogs and market condition articles.

– James Jaillet 8

commercial carrier journal

| december 2019

Truck-related fatalities rise 0.9% in 2018, NHTSA says

F

atalities in crashes involving large trucks increased 0.9% in 2018 from 2017, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said.

NHTSA’s definition of a large truck includes medium- and heavy-duty pickups, as well as commercial trucks.

According to NHTSA, there were 4,951 people killed in crashes involving large trucks, up from 4,905 in 2017. There were 885 large truck occupants killed in crashes, along with 4,066 others — occupants of other vehicles and pedestrians and cyclists.

The agency noted that fatalities decreased from 2017 to 2018 in all segments except crashes involving large trucks and nonoccupants.

Overall, there were 36,560 people killed on U.S. highways in 2018, a 2.4% decrease from 2017. That year-overyear drop of 913 fatalities came despite a 0.3% increase in vehicle miles traveled.

– Matt Cole

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JOURNAL NEWS

UCR security lapse exposed carrier, driver ID numbers

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he Unified Carrier Registration Plan has acknowledged that its online National Registration System could have exposed the Social Security number or Tax ID number of 30,000 drivers and carriers seven months ago.

Through a statement posted to its website, UCR said a vulnerability on its online NRS during most of March potentially exposed UCR registrants’ Tax ID numbers.

During March 1-28, a registrant’s Tax ID number “was displayed in the status bar of the web browser of the receipt created upon completion of the registration process.”

Upon learning of the vulnerability March 28, UCR said it eliminated it by removing the use of Tax ID numbers in the NRS. The agency then hired a cybersecurity firm, which found that the only way to view a Tax ID number was by completing a successful login to the NRS public website during the affected dates.

There was no indication, UCR said, of mass export of Tax ID numbers during the period. The agency said in a statement that “there is no further risk of Tax ID number exposure.”

UCR said it submitted the list of about 30,000 registrants

Unified Carrier Registration Plan said a site vulnerability existed on its online National Registration System for most of the month of March.

to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for further assistance at the conclusion of the independent investigation and requested that FMCSA determine the number of registrants who may have provided a Social Security number to the database as the Tax ID number.

FMCSA determined that about 23,000 registrants could have done so, and UCR said notices were mailed to the affected group. The agency also has offered identity monitoring services in an effort to prevent further inconvenience.

– Jason Cannon

FMCSA website lists 9 trucking fleets participating in under-21 pilot program

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ine trucking companies currently are participating in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Under-21 Military CDL Pilot Program that allows 18-20-year-olds with the military equivalent of a commercial driver’s license to drive across state lines.

A new FMCSA website (www.fmcsa. dot.gov/under21militaryjobs) lists the carriers that are participating in the program and gives contact information for each so that military members can find and apply for interstate trucking jobs. Participating carriers include UPS Freight (CCJ Top 250, No. 1), Werner Enterprises (No. 11), Prime Inc. (No. 13), May Trucking (No. 107), Lily Transportation (No. 165), PI&I Motor Express (No. 205), Golub Corp., Gully Transportation and Total Transportation of Mississippi.

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commercial carrier journal

“We are excited to offer this resource to help military service members find jobs in the trucking industry,” said Jim Mullen, FMCSA deputy administrator.

“With our country’s economy growing at a record pace, we know motor carriers around the country are looking to hire skilled drivers. We encourage service members, National Guard and reservists to visit this online directory and look for a trucking job today.”

The Under-21 Military CDL Pilot Program is slated to run for up to three years. During the program, the safety records of participating drivers will be compared to the records of a control group of drivers ages 21-24 with CDLs and comparable training and experience driving trucks to determine if age is a critical safety factor.

Following the program, the

| december 2019

The Under-21 Military CDL Pilot Program, slated to run for up to three years, seeks to determine if age is a critical safety factor for interstate driving.

data will be presented to the U.S. Transportation Secretary, who then will report to Congress with recommendations on whether the interstate driving age should be lowered or not.

FMCSA also is considering expanding the pilot program to allow nonmilitary-trained drivers under the age of 21 to participate. A comment period was open during the summer, but no further action has been taken yet.

– CCJ Staff

SPONSORED INFORMATION

ANOTHER TAKE ON AUTONOMY I will be totally upfront about the fact that I am a car (and truck) guy. If I was outrageously wealthy, I would have an enormous garage so full of cars and trucks that Jay Leno would be jealous. I would tinker with them during the day and then take a different one out on the town at night.

Instead, I indulge my love of cars by driving and reading about cars in various automotive publications. In the latest issue of Car and Driver magazine, I ran across an interesting article about autonomous vehicles (AV) that made four interesting points.

First is the developing grass roots opposition to AVs. For example, in Chandler, AZ (where Waymo is testing its fleet of self driving minivans) there have been almost two dozen attacks on self-driving cars.

In addition, the article mentioned an organization that has been created to protect the act of driving. The Human Driving Association (HDA) which currently has 10,000 members, published a 12-point manifesto which describes the organization as “pro-privacy.” This means that HDA members believe all connected services should be voluntary regardless of the level of automation and that all AVs should be capable of operating independent of any communications network The second point was the expected impact on workers, namely CDL drivers where fully AVs will likely first arrive in the trucking industry. I do not necessarily agree with this assumption and believe there will always be a need for a driver to oversee the operation of an AV. The article also included an interview with James Hoffa, Jr., president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents 1.4 million workers. While Hoffa recognizes that that the union will have to adapt, he believes the motivation behind the technology is related to a desire to save money by eliminating the human element. I think carriers employing union workers will receive pushback as they try to adopt to AVs. Accordingly, there may not be the cost savings many expect.

The third point is the susceptibility of AVs to rogue actors and hackers and describes how researchers at Tencent Keen Security Lab in China discovered a way to outwit the driver assistance systems in a Tesla by placing stickers on the roadway. They were able to trick the driver assistance system in the car into making the car change lanes into oncoming traffic. Honestly, this frightens me. Just imagine a rogue actor making a CMV swerve into oncoming traffic.

The hacking concerns are well known and supposedly being resolved. Hacking is a big business and it seems plausible that a team of hackers could work toward the common goal of cracking the code of an autonomous CMV and hold a fleet hostage. The more complex the code, the more susceptible it is to hacking. An AV is estimated to have in excess of 300 million lines of code so it seems that an AV could be vulnerable.

The final point in the article was how weather and visibility impacts the cameras and sensors on AVs. Suppliers are working on solutions but we may see a bad weather scenario where a CMV pulls itself off the road until the weather clears or its monitors are able to function. Imagine a line of unattended, unguarded vehicles full of freight parked on the side of the road just waiting for the weather to clear. I can’t think of anything that could possibly go wrong. Can you?

JOURNAL NEWS

INBRIEF 12/19 • The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General is reviewing the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s oversight of state driver’s licensing agencies and its procedures for revoking CDLs. The audit stems from a fatal crash last summer in which it was revealed that the State of Massachusetts had not processed out-of-state notifications of convictions for CDL holders in over five years. After the discovery, the state suspended thousands of CDLs. DOT’s OIG also launched a separate audit of FMCSA’s IT infrastructure to determine if any security flaws exist that could expose the agency’s systems and data.

• A reprieve from the 30-minute hours of service break granted to the American Concrete Pumping Association in 2017 is being extended for five years through March 17, 2024, FMCSA announced. The exemption allows all concrete pump operators, concrete pumping companies and drivers who operate concrete pumps in interstate commerce to count on-duty time while attending equipment but performing no other work-related functions toward their 30-minute break. FMCSA said that while most concrete pumping trucks and drivers operate only intrastate, an unknown number operate in metropolitan areas and cross state lines routinely.

• Kentucky Equipment Distributors, a group made up of seven large machinery distributors operating in several states, is petitioning FMCSA to allow its drivers operating under the short-haul HOS exemption to extend their day from 12 hours to 14 hours because they spend most of their shift performing non-driving duties, such as equipment repairs, maintenance and more. The group said its companies currently own and operate 431 vehicles that fall under hours regulations, most of which are field service and parts delivery trucks.

• Two companies that use CDL holders to haul and set up fireworks displays during the Independence Day holiday period each year are petitioning FMCSA to allow their drivers to drive beyond the 14th hour after coming on-duty. In their request, Illumination Fireworks Partners and Ace Pyro asked that drivers of its 60 commercial vehicles be allowed to exclude offduty and sleeper-berth time of any length from the calculation of the 14 hours. The exemption would be effective through the 2024 Independence Day period, which runs from June 26 through July 8 each year.

• Wilson Logistics (CCJ Top 250, No. 109) is petitioning FMCSA to allow its commercial learner’s permit holders who have passed the CDL skills test to drive a truck without a CDL holder in the front seat, effectively allowing them to drive in team operations. The Springfield, Mo.-based company said the exemption would allow the CLP holder “to participate in a revenue-generating trip back to his or her state of domicile to obtain the CDL.” • PTS Worldwide, a 20-truck fleet based in Somonauk, Ill., that transports sensitive Department of Defense property in interstate commerce is petitioning FMCSA to allow its team drivers to split sleeper berth time into 6/4, 5/5 or 4/6 hours. Current HOS regulations only allow drivers to use an 8/2 sleeper berth split. PTS said its team drivers travel more than 1,100 miles per 24 hours and average 60 hours on-duty per week, and that a shorter sleeper berth period would allow them to have nighttime hours in the sleeper berth to minimize fatigue and make them more alert.

• Romulus, Mich.-based automobile transporter United Road Services (CCJ Top 250, No. 55) acquired nonasset-based logistics company Team Drive-Away (TDA) and its affiliates, Driveaway USA and Fr8 Management.

Terms were not disclosed. TDA moves new and used heavy-haul Class 8 trucks through a network of more than 500 independent contractors.

TDA’s headquarters will remain in Olathe, Kan.

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JOURNAL NEWS

FMCSA official: Zero chance of ELD deadline extension

I

n Portland, Ore., on Oct. 24, a roomful of fleet personnel heard a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration official dismiss any chance of the agency extending the final compliance deadline for the electronic logging device (ELD) rule past Dec. 16, 2019.

In December 2017, the agency granted carriers an extension for ELD compliance to April 2018, at which time carriers and drivers would be placed out of service if they did not use approved logging devices that met the automatic onboard recording device (AOBRD) or ELD specification.

On Dec. 16, 2019, any carriers that still use an AOBRD or non-ELD compliant logging software will be placed OOS specifications. The violation will be treated the same as failure to have a record of duty status, which carries a 10-hour OOS penalty.

“Everyone has to be prepared,” said Joe DeLorenzo, director of FMCSA’s office of enforcement, during a discus-

sion at the user conference for ERoad, a provider of ELD software and other technology for fleet management and compliance. “It is not going to get extended again past December.”

DeLorenzo said that since the agency implemented its ELD rule in December 2017, hours of service violations have been reduced by half, but the number of citations for false logs has remained the same. He credited electronic logs for making it easier for officers to discern false logs.

Another positive impact from the ELD rule is that roadside inspections have been more efficient. Rather than review driver logbooks on devices, officers are using the agency’s electronic Record of Duty Status (eRODS) software. More than 500,000 transfers of log data have been made from logging devices to the eRODS system after it was deployed a “couple years ago,” DeLorenzo said. Most of the transfers have happened in the last six months.

FMCSA runs between 40,000 and

Joe DeLorenzo, director of FMCSA’s office of enforcement, answers questions at the ERoad user conference from Soona Lee, ERoad’s director of regulatory compliance.

45,000 successful log transfers a month at a 95% success rate, DeLorenzo said.

The transfer process is “better for everybody,” he said, since the software reduces a typical 45-minute roadside inspection by five to 10 minutes. “I think we are going to see efficiency gains and make the process smoother for everybody.”

The safety impact from ELDs is not yet known. “Safety statistics are something we are really watching closely,” DeLorenzo said. While fatality rates for truck-involved crashes have increased since 2018, “we need to get past the last implementation date [December 2019] to see what type of effect they’ve had.”

– Aaron Huff

Senate bill aims to bring more women into trucking

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egislation introduced in the U.S. Senate would task the U.S. Department of Transportation with working to bring more women into the trucking industry.

The “Promoting Women in Trucking Workforce Act” was introduced by Sens. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.). The bill would require the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to establish a Women of Trucking Advisory Board and task the board with: • Identifying industry trends that discourage women from pursuing trucking careers; • Finding ways trucking companies, nonprofit organizations and trucking associations can coordinate to support women pursuing trucking careers; • Finding ways to expand existing opportunities for women in trucking; and • Identifying opportunities to enhance training, mentor14

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| december 2019

An FMCSA board would be tasked with finding ways trucking companies, nonprofit organizations and trucking associations can coordinate to support women pursuing trucking careers.

ship, education and outreach programs exclusive to women.

After the advisory board identifies these issues, FMCSA would be required to submit a report on the board’s findings to Congress.

The bill was sent to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

– Matt Cole

JOURNAL NEWS

Fleets object to Navistar’s $135M settlement in engine defects case

A

federal judge is set to decide the fate of the class-action settlement proposal by Navistar earlier this year to set up a $135 million fund that offers payouts to owners of certain International trucks.

Judge Joan Gottschall of a U.S. District Court in Illinois was scheduled to hear oral arguments Nov. 13 on whether the deal should be approved and finalized. At least four carriers have objected to the settlement agreement, arguing it doesn’t go far enough in compensating owners of Navistar’s MaxxForce engines for lost resale value of their trucks.

The objection – filed Oct. 10 by attorneys representing Ferguson At least four carriers have objected to the settlement agreement, arguing it doesn’t Enterprises, Southern go far enough in compensating owners of California Edison Co., Navistar’s MaxxForce engines.

Walt Disney Co. and U.S. Foods – could derail the settlement, said attorney Jason Lichtman of Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann and Bernstein, the firm representing the class in Navistar’s settlement.

Should Gottschall side with the fleets and not approve the settlement, the process would have to start over, and parties would need to reach a new settlement deal, Lichtman said.

Navistar announced the agreement in May, noting it already had planned a $159 million charge-out in the second quarter of this year to pay for the settlement. Under the terms of the agreement, those who purchased an International truck equipped with a model-year 2011-14 MaxxForce 11-liter or 13-liter engine were eligible for compensation.

That compensation could come via a $2,500 per-truck cash payment, a $10,000 rebate per truck on a new International truck or repayment for repair costs up to $15,000 per truck.

MaxxForce owners also could choose to opt out of the settlement and pursue separate litigation against Navistar.

Licthman said there’s no timeline or limit for when Gottschall must issue a decision after the Nov. 13 oral arguments, but she could rule as soon as the day of the oral arguments should she choose.

– James Jaillet

Hazmat-focused inspection blitz sidelines nearly 700 trucks

C

ommercial vehicle inspectors across North America inspected more than 9,200 trucks, placing approximately 7% of them out-of-service during a weeklong enforcement blitz focusing on hazardous materials and other Enforcement personnel in the dangerous goods.

United States The Commercial and Mexico Vehicle Safety Alliance joined Canada’s weeklong said 9,259 trucks were enforcement inspected as part of the blitz on group’s Transportation dangerous goods for the first time of Dangerous Goods/ this year.

Hazardous Materials Road Blitz on Aug. 12-16.

Transport Canada has held a weeklong enforcement blitz on dangerous goods since 2012, and enforcement personnel in the United States and Mexico joined for the first time this year.

During the blitz, there were 15,197 total hazmat packages inspected – 8,594 non-bulk shipments and 6,603 bulk. Inspectors placed 683 trucks out-of-service for various hazmat violations, including: • 66 violations for package integrity (leaking); • 204 violations for loading and securement; • 181 other packaging violations, 50 of which were OOS conditions; • 432 placarding violations, with 102 being OOS conditions; • 1,156 shipper paper violations, 226 of which were OOS conditions; and • 171 markings violations, with 35 being OOS conditions.

CVSA said Class 3 flammable liquids were the most-inspected hazmat items during the blitz with 5,446 inspections, followed by Class 2 gases with 2,108 inspections.

– CCJ Staff

commercial carrier journal

| december 2019 15

PRODUCT REVIEWS, OEM & SUPPLIER NEWS AND EQUIPMENT MANAGEMENT TRENDS

Diesel still dominant, DTF says But are CARB regulations holding back clean-technology uptake?

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esearch released by the Diesel Technology Forum (DTF) in October shows the continued dominance of diesel power among commercial vehicles operating today on American roads. Three-fourths of all commercial vehicles registered in the United States are powered by the fuel.

A state-by-state and regional analysis also shows some evidence that California’s in-use Truck & Bus Rule’s rolling deadlines have created what Allen Schaeffer, DTF executive director, called a “perverse incentive” not to upgrade to current technology, ever increasing in efficiency and thus emitting less and less volume of greenhouse gases and other emissions, such as the particulates and nitrogen oxides that once were a big part of diesel exhaust.

No more. Beginning with engines’ 2010 model year, diesels have been equipped with selective catalytic reduction (SCR) and particulate control technologies. These combine to achieve U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emissions requirements for NOx emissions of no more than 0.2 grams per brake horsepower hour. This is in addition to particulate emissions requirements of no more than 0.01 g/ BHP-hr.

Current emissions technology is present in nearly half of all registered commercial vehicles today, DTF’s new research revealed — 43% of the commercial fleet is using new-generation post-2010 technology, representing a 6.8% increase over the same time last year.

A webinar conducted Oct. 22 around the research also included a state-by-state analysis of the distribution of post2010 engines among registered commercial vehicles. Indiana showed the largest concentration of such diesels, with 65% of

This Diesel Technology Forum chart shows regional concentrations of engine-model-year 2010 and newer diesels among commercial vehicles registered, with some state spotlights.

the state’s registered fleet operating post-2010 engines.

California and the entire Western region, meanwhile, were laggards among states. California’s registered fleet showed just 35% of all trucks running 2010 or newer engine technology (Washington: 39%, Oregon: 43%, Idaho: 37%, Nevada: 41%, Arizona: 32%).

That’s in spite of the California Air Resources Board’s required retirement of pre-2007 engine emissions technology in its Statewide Truck & Bus Rule, with a final deadline for all trucks and buses to be powered by post-2010 engines by year 2023.

Schaeffer said he believed CARB’s deadlines had created a “perverse incentive” for truck owners not to upgrade their fleets at this point, even as post-2010 engines have improved year by year in fuel efficiency.

“The Truck and Bus Rule has set up a situation that has fundamentally altered the market for new-technology trucks,” he said. “The net result is that Californians are being denied the benefit of newer [diesel] technologies due to the perverse incentive put in place by the Air Resources Board. These are benefits that are accruing now.”

Chiefly, with gains in fuel mileage, emissions reductions follow. Casey Selecman, with the IHS Markit advisory services group, said the adoption of SCR to meet EPA 2010 emissions requirements drove “downsizing engines and WANT MORE EQUIPMENT NEWS? increasing power density, driving more efficiency from the WANT MORE EQUIPMENT NEWS? combustion event than we’ve ever seen before.”

Scan the barcode to receive the CCJ Scan the barcode to sign up for the CCJ Equipment Weekly A typical Class 8 truck, which used to average 6.2-6.4 mpg, Equipment Weekly or go to ccjdigital.com/ might “now run 10 or close to 10 mpg” in testing with newer e-mail newsletter or go to www.goo.gl/Ph9JK. news/subscribe-to-newsletters ikola Motor Co.’s hydrogen-electric engines and other vehicle improvements, Selecman said. “All of semi-truck will take center stage early next year as the cornerstone of a three-day 16 commercial carrier journal | december 2019 a fleet’s recipe for failure: The expectation that a new hire should hit the shop event the company will use to showcase its

Nikola to showcase hydrogen tractor

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these technologies are helping improve efficiencies and radically reduce CO2,” particulates and NOx, he said. “Emissions rates for Class 4-8 trucks have fallen by 90% compared to 2007.”

With research built to show projections to 2030, Selecman said such improvements would continue and that diesel among Class 4-8 trucks was likely to remain the principal fuel for 80% of trucks in the market through that year.

Schaeffer emphasized that, though new fuels and

technologies that serve as potential alternatives to diesel will play a growing role in the future, “we can’t hit the pause button on [diesel] progress today. These new findings reinforce the importance of the new generation of diesel is delivering vital societal benefits today in the here-and-now. No technology is as vitally important to achieving current and future goals as advanced technology diesel engines.”

– Todd Dills

Pictured from left are Mitesh Naik, Peterbilt’s director of medium-duty sales; Keshav Sondhi, PepsiCo’s director of fleet engineering and sustainability; Michael O’Connell, PepsiCo’s vice president of supply chain; Jason Skoog, Peterbilt’s general manager; and Andy Weiblen, Peterbilt’s director of product planning.

Peterbilt delivers first medium-duty Model 220EV to Frito-Lay

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eterbilt Motors Co. in October announced the delivery of its first Model 220EV medium-duty truck to PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay division. Frito-Lay will use six battery-electric Model 220EVs as part of its Modesto, Calif.-based Zero- and Near Zero-Emission Freight Facility (ZANZEFF) project announced Oct. 3.

“Peterbilt continues to lead the charge in electric commercial vehicle development,” said Jason Skoog, Peterbilt general manager and Paccar vice president.

“With Frito-Lay’s Model 220EV, Peterbilt will have 15 battery-electric trucks in three applications – city delivery,

regional haul and refuse – in customers’ hands running real routes and collecting real-world validation data.”

The zero-emissions 220EV is powered by two battery packs with a total capacity of 148 kWh and a Meritor Blue-Horizon two-speed drive eAxle.

The truck features a range of more than 100 miles and a recharge time of one hour, making it suitable for local pickup-and-delivery operations.

“Frito-Lay is continuously exploring current and emerging technologies for our freight equipment as we work toward reducing PepsiCo’s absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by

2030,” said Michael O’Connell, PepsiCo’s vice president of supply chain. “PepsiCo and Frito-Lay have a longstanding relationship with Peterbilt and are excited to partner in the advancement of electric vehicles within our fleet and to be the first customer to put the Model 220EV in service in our delivery operations.”

Peterbilt’s Model 220EV was introduced at CES in January 2019 and now joins Models 579EV and 520EV in customer field trials. The truck maker also is engaged in validation testing at the Paccar Technical Center in Mount Vernon, Wash.

– Jason Cannon

commercial carrier journal

|

december 2019

17

Chevron debuts lower-ash Delo diesel engine oil

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hevron in October released a new heavy-duty engine oil, a fluid that the company said extends the life of the engine’s diesel particulate filter (DPF) and caps a development process that has spanned more than 15 years.

Current heavy-duty engine oils are formulated up to the API CK-4 limit of 1% sulfated ash, but Teri Crosby, Chevron’s oronite additive global product manager, said the new Delo 600 ADF is formulated to 0.4% sulfated ash, which reduces the rate of DPF clogging.

“The global appetite for high-quality base oils is going to continue to grow,” said Kamala Krishna, manager of process research in downstream technology and services. “More recently, we are more focused on areas of improved catalysis.”

The DPF collects upwards of 98% of particulate matter emissions in the form of ash and soot. While the regeneration cycle combusts most of the soot from the DPF, ash is an incombustible material derived from metallic lubricant additives that over time clogs the DPF. “Ninety percent of the ash that goes into the DPF is from the lubricant,” said Keith Shaw, global manager of OEM technical services and approvals.

“We understand how lubricants enable the hardware,” added Yu Lee Toh, general manager of brand, technology and OEM. The idea for what would become Delo 600 ADF first arose in 2003, Krishna said, and was born from a simple question: “Is it possible to reduce or change the metal additives that cause the ash that clog the [DPF]?” noting the problem was brought on by emissions equipment pressured by tightening emissions regulations.

“Lubricant formulation represents a real balancing act,” said Shawn 18

Whitacre, senior engineer, noting that additives that boost engine performance don’t always have a positive impact on emissions.

Excessive ash and soot buildup – aside from causing engine backpressure and excessive regeneration cycles that drag down fuel economy – can boost regeneration temperatures that can damage the DPF, with replacement costs climbing to $7,000.

“As that ash builds up in the channels, all that really does is really create a smaller DPF,” Shaw said. “That means there’s less room for the soot to pack in, and the regeneration cycles happen more often. As that soot packs in, it may kick up regeneration temperatures up another [100-200 degrees], which can damage or crack the DPF.” Crosby said Chevron’s challenge in reformulation was to take its decades-old legacy formulating platforms, remove metallic parts of the formula and replace them with nonmetallic components while not degrading the fluid’s protection properties.

“The thing that we wanted to do is to do more with less,” said Willem van Dam, manager of product development. “We went through a number of different iterations, and we determined where the problem was. We moved closer and closer to a product that actually worked for all the different performance aspects of the engine.”

Shaw said over the last two years, OEMs have put more than $5 million into testing the product because they see it as a path to improve emissions without having to make the DPF package larger or re-engineer it.

“This is where a fluid can actually influence future design and the maintenance work they’re going to have to do,” Shaw said.

commercial carrier journal | december 2019

Chevron’s new Delo 600 ADF diesel engine oil is formulated to 0.4% sulfated ash, which helps reduce the rate of DPF clogging.

Chevron’s field testing of Delo 600 ADF kicked off in 2008 with a Volvo fleet, van Dam said, and reflected a 60% reduction in ash in the DPF, while levels of calcium and magnesium had dropped and the presence of metals such as zinc and phosphorus had disappeared.

Dan Holdmeyer, industrial and coolants brand manager, said Delo 600 ADF can extend DPF service life by up to 2.5 times and provide a 3% fuel economy retention advantage over the equipment’s life.

Delo 600 ADF is available in 15W-40 and 10W-30 and meets or exceeds API CK-4 and OEM specifications. James Booth, North American commercial sector manager, said Delo also will kick off an online educational campaign and that the initial product rollout will begin with large trucking fleets before filtering down to retail and truck stop chains. Booth said the new blend will slot pricewise between Delo’s synthetic blend and fully synthetic lines.

Rommel Atienza, global commercial brand manager, said a similar formulation to Delo 600 ADF is already in use in China.

– Jason Cannon

©2019 FleetPride, Inc. All marks used herein are the property of their respective owners.

All Makes, All Models – Ready for the Road Ahead™

Find your nearest FleetPride location: 800-967-6206 • FleetPride.com

INBRIEF • The six-week-long United Auto Workers union strike at General Motors delayed the delivery of about 5,000 vehicles to customers, Navistar said. The strike, which caused production shutdowns at GM facilities and affiliated suppliers, impacted the delivery of components to Navistar’s truck assembly plant in Springfield, Ohio. Navistar paused production Sept. 23, affecting about 1,500 plant workers and suspending production of GM cutaway model G Vans and International branded trucks.

• The Volvo Group established Volvo Autonomous Solutions, a new business area to accelerate the development, commercialization and sales of autonomous transportation products. The company formed the autonomous business unit to meet growing demand and offer solutions to customers in segments such as mining, ports and transportation between logistics centers. It will debut Jan. 1, 2020, and will be reported financially as part of Volvo’s truck segment.

• Volvo Trucks in October began sales of its Volvo FL and Volvo FE electric trucks in select European markets to meet increasing demand for sustainable transportation solutions in city environments requiring reduced exhaust emissions and noise levels.

• Volvo Group Venture Capital AB invested in Upstream Security, an Israeli automotive cybersecurity company. Volvo said the investment will fund the development of systems to protect connected vehicles from cyber threats or misuse while stationary and in motion.

• ZF Group announced strategic collaborations with two Israeli-based technology companies, Cognata and OptimalPlus, to bolster its competence in plant operations management and to enhance the efficiency of its Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) validation operations.

• Phillips Industries restructured its business by creating five strategic business units to focus resources on specific markets to be more responsive to customer needs and innovative in product development. The five SBUs are Phillips Aftermarket, Phillips OEM, Phillips Connect Technologies, Phillips Asia-Pacific and Phillips Europe.

• Enterprise Truck Rental opened its first location in the western Montana region.

The new Missoula facility is the company’s 36th branch to open in 2019.

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Continental celebrates grand opening of Miss. tire plant

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Continental has ontinental in October held a grand opening event for its committed nearly new tire plant near Clinton, Miss., to mark the comple$1.4 billion tion of the construction process, which began in 2016. About and expects to employ 2,500 300 guests, including state and local officials, community people when members, customers and suppliers joined 250 Continental its tire plant in employees for the event.

Clinton, Miss., reaches full The new plant is located on a 1,000-acre greenfield site in Hinds County, about two miles from Clinton and 20 miles from capacity.

Jackson. Continental has committed nearly $1.4 billion and expects to employ 2,500 people when the plant reaches full capacity in the next decade.

“The completion of our new tire plant signifies a major step in our global longterm Vision 2025 growth strategy for Continental Tires,” said Christian Koetz, a member of Continental’s executive board and head of its Tire Division.

The plant will produce truck and bus radial (TBR) tires for the U.S. market. Production is set to begin in 2020.

“This is Continental’s first new plant dedicated to truck tires in the world,” said Paul Williams, executive vice president, Commercial Vehicle Tires, the Americas.

“We have seen tremendous growth in this area of our business, and the addition of this production facility will help us continue to satisfy customer orders.”

– Dean Smallwood

Phillips, Nussbaum team for ‘smart trailer’ system

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Phillips Connect Technologies is providing Nussbaum Transportation with tractortrailer pairing to ensure the right tractors are connected to the correct trailers before hauling a load.

hillips Connect Technologies recently partnered with Hudson, Ill.-based Nussbaum Transportation (CCJ Top 250, No. 216) to supply a “smart trailer” system that delivers GPS tracking, cargo detection, automatic tire inflation system (ATIS) alerts, tire pressure and temperature monitoring and an anti-lock braking system (ABS) decoder that provides detailed fault codes, trailer VIN information and mileage reporting.

PCT also is providing Nussbaum with tractor-trailer pairing to ensure the right tractors are connected to the correct trailers before hauling a load. The smart trailer system also provides Nussbaum with detailed information to drive operational KPI reporting metrics. Additional sensor features under consideration by Nussbaum are Phillips Connect’s Lite-Sentry (light-out detection) and Remote PreCheck designed to provide the ability to remotely pre-check lights and tires on a parked trailer from any connected device.

Nussbaum also will combine Pressure Systems International’s TireView system for tire pressure and temperature monitoring with P.S.I.’s ATIS to provide real-time tire health to the fleet’s operations managers, instead of waiting for a driver to report a tire concern, while still automatically maintaining pressures to allow the driver to complete their run. The system also provides visibility of the trailer’s tire status even when it is untethered without tractor power connected.

– Dean Smallwood

commercial carrier journal | december 2019

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INBRIEF • Purkeys Fleet Electric, a provider of electric power products for truck fleets, liftgate manufacturers, trailer manufacturers, truck dealers and truck OEMs, was acquired by Mission Critical Electronics, a designer, manufacturer and distributor of electric power products for applications across all nonautomotive vehicle types, including heavy-duty and work trucks.

Terms were not announced.

• Daimler Trucks North America launched a Custom Hardware and Electronics Configurator (CHEC) tool designed to streamline the vocational customization process by enabling truck equipment manufacturers and dealers to easily view, edit, compare and update electrical configurations for Freightliner’s vocational trucks, reducing upfit time.

Users can create standard templates, enabling them to select pre-existing configurations based on different applications or customers.

• Truck-Lite, a provider of LED lighting, telematics, engine protection, safety and visibility systems, will supply its Road Ready trailer telematics system on all of East Manufacturing’s 2020 model-year flatbed, dump and refuse trailers. TruckLite also has integrated SKF’s TraX wheelend monitor data into Road Ready via its SmartBridge Integrator.

• The Platinum Equity firm acquired TruckPro Holding Corp., an independent distributor of heavy-duty truck and trailer parts; terms were not announced. Headquartered in Memphis, Tenn., TruckPro serves more than 80,000 customers with more than 150 locations in the United States and Canada. Platinum Equity said the purchase is intended to support continued growth and potential acquisitions.

• Hendrickson launched its online digital Truck Suspension Systems Parts Catalog with interactive navigation that can be browsed online at Hendrickson Parts. com under the “Digital Parts Catalogs” header.

• Mckinney Trailer Rentals, a provider of over-the-road trailer rentals and leases, celebrated the grand opening of its new corporate headquarters in Brea, Calif. The company’s former corporate location in Pico Rivera will continue to operate as one of its four Southern California branch locations. The others are in Fontana, San Diego and El Centro.

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Vipar Heavy Duty launches digital ecosystem for parts

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ipar Heavy Duty unveiled PartSphere, the company’s proprietary digital ecosystem, and the first three platforms within the technology suite. The company said PartSphere’s launch at its 2019 Impact Conference represents the next phase of its long-term strategy to deliver best-in-class technology and information-related solutions to support the organization’s parts network.

“The PartSphere digital ecosystem provides robust technology to position Vipar Heavy Duty as a leader within the heavy-duty aftermarket,” said Chris Baer, president and chief executive officer for Vipar Heavy Duty. “The launch of these three initial platforms within the PartSphere environment delivers ‘True Group Value’ today with technology solutions that will support our distributors, suppliers and end-user customers for the long term.”

PartSphere OMS, Vipar Heavy Duty’s next-generation order management system, facilitates the electronic transmission of orders between distributors, suppliers and national fleet trading partners within the company’s network.

The platform is designed to deliver increased efficiencies, enhanced reporting capabilities, improved accuracy and a stable environment for software expansion and continued growth. Since 1997, Vipar Heavy Duty has supported its network with electronic data interchange (EDI) offerings, including VECS and v-Enterprise, and PartSphere OMS replaces the network’s existing v-Enterprise system.

According to the company, new digital environments, expanding sales channels and changing customer and staff demographics magnified the need for enriched product content and a methodology to obtain, manage and distribute content effectively. The launch of PartSphere PIM,

commercial carrier journal | december 2019

Vipar Heavy Duty unveiled PartSphere, the company’s proprietary digital ecosystem, and the first three platforms within the technology suite.

Vipar Heavy Duty’s new product information management system, addresses the increasing demand for enhanced, rich product information.

The centralized PartSphere PIM platform facilitates the storage, management and syndication of product data, specifications, packaging details and digital assets, including images and supporting documents. Using a web-based user interface, distributors are able to access rich product content sourced from a large number of heavy-duty aftermarket suppliers, all within a single resource.

“PartSphere PIM ensures distributors have the information necessary to best represent the products and brands within our network so that end-user customers are fully equipped to select the appropriate products for their needs,” said Jeff Paul, vice president of marketing for Vipar Heavy Duty. “By collaborating with our supplier partners, we are able to leverage economies of scale to execute at a high level and realize our investments in data as a strategic asset.”

Also launched during the 2019 Impact Conference was PartSphere Cloud, the organization’s new webbased file-sharing platform. Integrated with PartSphere PIM, the application is designed to streamline interactions with network partners, providing the ability to redistribute data and digital assets with increased network load distribution capabilities.

– Dean Smallwood

in focus: LIFT MAINTENANCE

Stay on top of lift upkeep Safety requires annual inspections, daily checks

BY JASON CANNON

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ervicing undercarriage components sometimes can require getting the truck off the ground, but having a nearly 10-ton vehicle hanging over a technician can be unnerving.

Bob O’Gorman, president for the Automotive Lift Institute (ALI), said every vehicle lift should be inspected at least annually by a qualified lift inspector, but some lift manufacturers require more frequent inspections, and he advised checking the owner’s manual.

“We recommend hiring only ALI Certified Lift Inspectors [who] have been independently tested and proven qualified to properly inspect any vehicle lift regardless of manufacturer, model, capacity or style using standardized lift inspection protocols,” O’Gorman said. “[By using an ALI certified inspector], the end user is ensured that their inspector meets minimum qualifications to a nationally recognized standard,” said Peter Bowers, technical sales manager for Stertil-Koni.

O’Gorman said an ALI Certified Lift Inspector will provide a copy of a comprehensive inspection report and inspection certificate for each lift, and an ALI Annual Inspection Label will be affixed to each lift that passes.

To comply with the ANSI/ALI ALOIM safety standard, an annual lift inspection should include a detailed electrical and mechanical evaluation of between 40 and 120 inspection points, depending on the lift type and accessories, O’Gorman said. The inspection also should include a review of operator training logs and planned maintenance logs for each lift to verify that employers are complying with lift operator training and maintenance requirements.

Lift operators also should perform daily visual checks, O’Gorman said, looking for the accessibility and readability of the operating procedures, safety tips, warning labels and rated load capacity of the lift; proper operation of the lift controls; deformation or excessive wear of any of the lift’s structural components, hoses, electrical wires, drive chains, wire rope, screws and lift contact points that engage any part of the vehicle; evidence of hydraulic or pneumatic leaks; unusual noises, sudden movements, erratic operation or evidence of chips or filings during use; and cracks or loose concrete around floor anchor bolts, if applicable.

Spencer Labbe, product specialist for BendPak, said any damaged, missing or hard-to-read safety decals should be reordered from the lift manufacturer and replaced, and if oil 24

commercial carrier journal | december 2019

Heavy-duty vehicle lift manufacturer Stertil-Koni’s product line includes mobile column lifts and inground lifts – including piston lifts and scissor lifts – as well as 2-post lifts, 4-post lifts and platform lifts.

leakage is detected or if any electrical issues develop, a local service representative should be called immediately.

“Only qualified lift maintenance personnel should repair a lift,” Labbe said. “Never put a lift back into operation until any faulty parts have been replaced.”

Bowers said daily walkaround inspections should include examining the lift for loose or missing parts, proper functionality of safety mechanisms and/or structural deformations.

“The technician should raise the vehicle approximately 12 inches, pause lifting, and then walk entirely around the vehicle to conduct a visual inspection that also verifies that the raised vehicle on the lift is entirely level,” he said.

Shops can be a dirty environment, and Bowers suggested periodic cleaning with hot water and degreasers. Labbe advised against using ammonia-based products and said that to prevent damage to the column control panels, avoid touching the outside and inside of the box panel with sharp objects or striking the panel with hard objects.

“In addition to keeping the lift clean, it is equally important to maintain the cleanliness of the lift pit, if applicable,” Bowers added.

Bowers said a lift should have an operational lifespan of about 15 years, but a lift’s age or duty cycle may not always provide a clear indicator that its lifespan is nearing an end.

“There are some extremely old lift products that remain in the market today that simply don’t meet current safety requirements,” O’Gorman said. “Having such lifts inspected by an ALI Certified Lift Inspector following the ALI procedures will help the lift owner or employer understand when such risks exist so that appropriate action can be taken.”

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MAKING THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENTS WORK FOR YOUR FLEET BY AARON HUFF

technology An unintended consequence?

Short-haul fleets would curtail ELD use under HOS proposal

A

significant number of short-haul fleets will stop using electronic logging devices if the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration makes proposed changes to the hours of service rule, according to a survey by ERoad, a supplier of fleet management, ELD and electronic tax systems. Results from the recent survey of 272 motor carriers were shared with CCJ during the company’s user conference Oct. 24 in Portland, Ore. The agency’s HOS rule proposal would extend the radius of the shorthaul exemption to 150 air miles.

Currently, fleets operating within a radius of 100 air miles are not required to keep a record of duty status or take a 30-minute break. Also, short-haul fleets would have a maximum on-duty limit of 14 hours, up from 12 hours.

The ERoad survey found that 27% of motor carriers that use the exemption today do not have their short-haul drivers using ELDs. With the proposed changes, 61% indicated they would not plan to use ELDs for their short-haul HOURS CHANGE: A significant number of short-haul fleets are likely to stop using ELDs. ADVERSE CONDITIONS: Fleets may need clarification on the definition of qualifying weather.

OFF-DUTY REST: A majority of carriers are in favor of adding another split-sleeper option.

26

commercial carrier journal

|

Soona Lee, director of regulatory compliance for ERoad, said the company is thinking of developing a short-haul application for its ELD system.

drivers, and that percentage jumps to 69 for fleets with less than 50 trucks. Carriers with short-haul operations that indicated they will continue using ELDs (40%) say the technology will support other business needs for IFTA, IRP, dispatch, operations and driver behavior.

Moving to a 14-hour limit for the exemption appears to be the most impactful change: 58% of respondents that use the short-haul exemption say the 12-hour on-duty limit, not the 100-mile radius, is their most frequently exceeded criteria.

Overall, 20% of respondents indicated they would change how they operate if granted a 14-hour on-duty limit and 150 air-mile radius, and 32% were “not sure yet.” Combining these two responses shows that as many as 52% of fleets could adjust their operations with the new short-haul criteria.

In light of these results, Soona Lee, director of regulatory compliance for ERoad, said the company is thinking of developing a short-haul application for its ELD system that would switch a driver automatically from short haul to a record of duty status if the driver exceeds the short-haul criteria for air miles or time.

december 2019

technology INTERESTED INTRUCKING TRUCKINGTECHNOLOGY? TECHNOLOGY? INTERESTED IN Go ccjdigital.com/news/subscribe-to-newsletters Scantothe barcode or go to www.goo.gl/Ph9JK to to subscribe to the CCJ Technology Weekly e-mail newsletter.

system Interest may in adverse show thatconditions at midnight, the unit is still a quarter-mile away from the Another unloading significant spot. change in the proposed HOS rule would increase the maximum “We are very 14-hour carefully on-duty watching period how byittwo is unloaded” hours forto“adverse determine conditions. when ” The current rules allow a driverfor topickup log twotoextra hours delivery of driving time, on containers actually are available set realistic appointtop of the current as long as the driverisstays within maxments, Prince said. 11-hour “Our joblimit, as an intermodal provider to make surethe a great imum 14-hour period. rule would allow a driver to number of little on-duty things happen onThe timeproposed and correctly.” operate a vehicle for up to 16 hours in the event of an adverse condition.

Nearly one-third of fleets currently do not allow their drivers to use the Predicting trailer capacity adversemaking conditions exemption, survey results.

If the proposed When deliveries, driversaccording often losetoproductive time unloading or rule becomes law, 73% of fleets would allownext more drivers to use the If excepsearching for empty trailers to take to their load appointments. no tion, 21% would fewer drivers, andpersonnel 6% wouldmay notbegin let their drivers empty trailers areallow available onsite, office cold-calling use it. customers in the area to locate empty trailers.

A significant number of respondents suggest they would needSkyBitz’s further U.S. Xpress (CCJ Top 250, No. 16) equips its trailer fleet with clarification on the definition of cargo qualifying weather as the wellnation’s as unusual road tracking system embedded with sensors.

One of largest and trafficcarriers, conditions. truckload the Chattanooga, Tenn.-based company uses the infor“Could I use [the if I trailers didn’t know an accident, andfor mation it receives toexception] predict when will beabout unloaded and ready then I got onAaron a route wherethe there was an accident?” a common question pickup, said Wood, company’s manager ofistrailer management. fleets about usingisthe exemption, “[Fleets] aretransportation wanting more Thehave SkyBitz system integrated withLee U.S.said.

Xpress’ custom clarity.” Another areaand FMCSA will need to clarify is whothat should make management system with ESRI’s mapping software Wood usesthe to decision — the driver or the dispatcher? set up geofences for tracking arrivals, departures, turnaround times and trailer inventories by customer location and geographical planning regions.

Extending the duty “The big thing thatcycle bites us and any carrier is when we have loaded trailThegoing survey found that awhere majority of not carriers in favor of the proposal ers into markets we do haveare loaded freight out,” he said.for adding another to the trailer 10-hour off-duty restplanning period, either U.S. Xpress is split managing counts in each regionbytotaking eight or seven hours in sleeper berth, thennetwork. spending twocompany or three maintain the balance ofthe capacity across itsand freight The hours in off-duty status.

Theand off-duty break not count toward a also uses secondary carriers railroads to would reposition its trailers in its driver’s 14-hour on-duty window. network.

Under this scenario, couldthe go SkyBitz 17 hourstrailer without taking In the three years U.S.drivers Xpressessentially has been using tracking a rest break, Lee said, carriers indicated they would be system, its trailer countand has20% goneoffrom 17,000 to about 14,000 bynot increasing comfortable having the their drivers capacity operate such hours.

Evensaid. so, a efficiency andwith managing available in itslong network, Wood significant majority the proposal thattrailers wouldat extend the 14-hour With SkyBitz, U.S.support Xpress also can identify locations that have dutymoved periodfor with not an off-duty extendedrest. period. These events could signal possible meThe most popular changethat in the proposal, toup. the survey, chanical defects on trailers are HOS causing drivers according to not hook is allowing drivers to satisfy trailer the 30-minute requirement using U.S. Xpress also increases capacity break by monitoring theirbyuse by on-duty nondriving timeshippers or off-duty status, as 60% third-party carriers and through interchange of carriers are in favor allowing unloading agreements.

“We knowof when one ofloading, our trailers starts and otherWood on-duty activities to qualify rest breaks. moving,” said.

The system tracksaswhere trailers Also, underupthe proposal, 30-minute break would are picked and droppeda and how many miles theybe required after eightcan hours driving instead moved soonly the company bill of carriers fortime the authorof eight hours of on-duty ized or nonauthorized usetime. of its trailers.

AARON HUFF HUFF isisSenior SeniorEditor Editorof ofCommercial CommercialCarrier CarrierJournal.

Journal.

E-mail ahuff@ccjmagazine.com or call (801) (385) 754-4296.

225-9472.

Obstacle detection Panasonic targets system fordelivery big trucks last-mile

R M

earobile Viewhandheld Safety device debutprovider Panasonic ed its RVS-125 and Elite Extra Sensestat – anWireless automated The partnership combines routing Obstacleand Detection tracking Elite Extra’s software System designed developed by automated Applied to warn truck Data Consul- Rearrouting and RVSView Safety’s tants drivers (ADC), of potential a logis- 125 tracking Sensestatsoftware Wireless with Detection Panasonic’s Obstacle tics obstacles and technology behind mobile handheld System is designed provider their vehicle – announced with devices. for easy installation a partnership detection range intendedon heavy-duty trucks, with no need to install to of help up tolast-mile 8 feet. The delivery businesses. excess cabling. system The companies is engisay their collaborative full-service neered to provide delivery system will streamline the driver delivery both process audible and and provide visual warning added visibility indicatorstotocustomers avoid backing while accidents. ensuring lessThe downtime wireless ECU due to is the engineered rugged to durabilbe ity waterproof and enhanced and includes features multiple of Panasonic’s antenna Aaron Huff handheld installationdevices. options. A user can–connect to a Sensestat-equipped trailer by pressing the monitor’s sync button.

– Aaron Huff

Lanehub updates collaboration tech In-motion scale anehub, a collabweighs Lorative trans-each axle

A

portation lliancenetwork Scale dedesigned butedtoaenable truck scale Lanehub now provides engineered shippers and to carriers weigh shipment level each to match axle and recurring print a detail by season, receipt freight without lanes based requir- day of week, ing on long-term a driver to stop. directThe current cost and carrier allocation, Alliance partnerships, AxleWeigh an- In and timing The Alliance Motion nouncedTruck software Scaleenis for roundtrip AxleWeigh built hancements to weighintended individu- analysis. In Motion Truck al toaxles improve by driving collaboraover Scale is preconfigured for easy the tionscale for member at 3 mphcompanies. reinstallation gardless New and of truck enhanced lengthcapabilities in- and can be installed or clude configuration. shipment level detailon fora reviewing gravel matches Designed with forother easy companies by season, driveway, eliminating the need use, day aofdriver week,stops current at cost and carrier for ramps. the allocation, controller and and timing for roundtrip enters analysis; hisfrequent truck’s I.D. automatic refreshing of number, up-to-date andlane the data controller to improve will calculate accuracy; the gross, and ledger-like tare and net technology values. Thetoscale trackfeatures and factory-calibrated allocate revenue sharing load cells benefits. and a preprogrammed indicator.

––Aaron AaronHuff Huff

commercial commercialcarrier carrierjournal journal| | september december 2018 2019

35 27

technology

INBRIEF • Payment provider Comdata debuted OneLook, a business intelligence (BI) platform available at no added cost to its fuel card customers. OneLook offers online analytics designed to measure fleet performance using key performance indicators (KPIs), visualizations and near-real-time dashboards.

• Trimble announced new enhancements to its Visibility platform designed to better provide shippers and carriers with insights into supply chain data. A new interface allows carriers to quickly track and update loads directly in their shippers’Visibility network. A new analytics capability uses Microsoft Power BI to provide shippers with insights into on-time percentage, detention time, stops, location and lane-level analysis, allowing them to review a carrier’s key performance indicators (KPIs).

• Transfix, a provider of freight-matching technologies, launched two products designed to help develop regularity and reliability by catering to carrier preferences: My Lanes, which recommends freight based on carrier preferences such as pickup points, destinations, day/time of pickups, types of freight and rates, allowing carriers and dispatchers to be alerted proactively when a load matches their preferences; and Reserved Loads, which are My Lanes loads offered exclusively to top-performing carriers that expire in 60 minutes.

• Fleet Advantage, a provider of truck fleet business analytics, equipment financing and lifecycle cost management, expanded its asset management offerings through its EXchangeIT Trailer Lease Program designed to provide flexible trailer lease options similar to its tractor-specific lease programs.

• Drivewyze PreClear weigh station bypass service now is available at 10 Oregon locations: Woodburn (north and southbound), Booth Ranch (north and southbound) and Ashland (north and southbound), all on I-5; southwest of Juniper Butte (north and southbound) on State Route 97, Wyeth (westbound) on I-84, and Rocky Point (westbound) on State Route 30.

• Zonar launched a grant assistance program to help its fleet customers in the vocational, mass transit and commercial trucking industries. The program is provided by Learn, Design, Apply Inc. to help Zonar customers identify, apply for, secure and manage grant funding to enhance the safety, performance and success of their fleets. Visit ZonarSystems.com/grant-assistance.

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commercial carrier journal

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CarriersEdge offers Weights and Dimensions course

C

arriersEdge, a provider of online driver training for the trucking industry, introduced Weights and DiCarriersEdge’s mensions, an online course to help drivers better underWeights and stand federal and state regulations regarding maximum Dimensions course includes vehicle weights and dimensions in the United States. quizzes and a “Nearly every state differs in the way weight and dimenfinal test, which sion limits are governed,” said Jane Jazrawy, co-founder carriers can use to maintain weight and chief executive officer for CarriersEdge. “This course and dimension aims to alleviate the confusion that can stem from undertraining records. standing the regulations so that drivers can stay compliant and avoid citations.”

Weights and Dimensions uses images, interactivity and real-life examples to cover what drivers need to know about keeping gross vehicle and axle weights in compliance with federal regulations governing the National Network.

CarriersEdge said that after completing the course, drivers will be able to: • Explain the regulations that affect the weights and dimensions of vehicles on federal and state roadways; • Determine the weight ratings for the vehicle as well as its axles and tires; • Describe dimension limits such as kingpin to rear axle and rear overhang; • Explain the steps in using the Bridge Formula Table to determine maximum axle weights; and • Describe how to shift weight between the vehicle’s axles.

Weights and Dimensions can be taken any time and any place drivers are connected, giving them the flexibility to keep up-to-date with training while traveling or at home.

CarriersEdge courses are available in multiple languages, in introductory, refresher and remedial formats, on subjects including defensive driving, hours of service, vehicle inspections, hazardous materials and more.

– Aaron Huff

Loadsmart develops integrated freight match tool

L

Loadsmart’s oadsmart, a digital freight technology company, Smart Match launched a new Smart Match tool intended to provide is available for carriers a faster, easier way to find the right loads. fleets of all sizes, ranging from Smart Match was designed to integrate with fleet manowner-operators agement platforms that carriers use to match available to enterprise trucks with freight. carriers.

Loadsmart said the new digital freight matching technology is targeted primarily toward enterprise carriers that can use API integration. Smart Match uses the location of trucks to instantly connect available capacity with shipper demand.

Loadsmart said Smart Match uses machine learning and other technologies to provide carriers with automated load recommendations based on the current and future availability of their trucks.

– Aaron Huff

december 2019

technology

Survey: Everyday motorists say commercial drivers more risky

A Integrated Video by Verizon Connect captures video and data for review by fleet operators.

recent survey commissioned by Verizon Connect and Wakefield Research identified misperceptions that drivers of passenger cars have about the level of danger posed by

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commercial carrier journal

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december 2019

commercial drivers.

Of those surveyed, 83% believe that their own driving is less risky on the road than commercial drivers. In reality, only 3% of all severe crashes in the United States involve commercial vehicles.

Other findings from the survey include: • 81% of everyday drivers said they have witnessed a commercial vehicle driving dangerously.

• 54% of these respondents also say they have witnessed an accident involving a commercial vehicle.

Survey respondents also say they have witnessed the following risky behaviors by commercial vehicles: • Speeding – 69% • Abrupt lane changes – 55% • Driving erratically – 46% • Taking turns too quickly – 37% In releasing the survey results, Verizon Connect referenced Integrated Video, a recently launched product that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to capture data and event video to help fleets improve driver behavior and protect them from false claims.

The technology uses a smart dashcam for capturing data insights and video. AI automatically captures and classifies video according to the event’s severity. Additional features include Speed Overlay to view the vehicle’s speed directly within the video clip to help determine if speed is the factor that caused the event; and Video on Demand, which allows operations managers to request 40-second increments of available footage.

“We really want the inputs from our customers’ eyes,” said Kevin Aries, head of global product success for Verizon Connect.

– Aaron Huff

INBRIEF • Idelic, provider of a data and analytics platform for improving safety in the transportation industry, announced a partnership with KeepTruckin, a provider of fleet management technologies. Mutual customers will be able to opt in to automatically and securely share telematics data generated from KeepTruckin’s software and hardware offerings directly within the Idelic Safety Suite of predictive analytics for improved real-time visibility into fleet operations and safety.

THE COMPLIANCE PARTNER FOR THOSE WHO AIM HIGHER

• Velociti Inc., a provider of technology design, deployment and support services, announced it has been named the preferred partner for retrofit installations by Drōv Technologies, a provider of tire inflation systems.

• Orbcomm, a provider of machine-to-machine and Internet of Things products, announced that Queen Transportation, an asset-based truckload carrier and logistics provider headquartered in Hickory, N.C., is implementing its in-cab system fleetwide to enhance operational efficiency through increased visibility and auditing. The system provides GPS fleet tracking and connects to the truck’s CANbus to collect data from the engine, brake systems and fuel tanks, providing access to deep analytics and reporting via Orbcomm’s FleetManager web platform.

• Stay Metrics, a provider of driver retention tools for motor carriers, announced that PS Logistics (CCJ Top 250, No. 45) – a Birmingham, Ala.-based flatbed carrier that operates a combined fleet with its partner companies of 3,200 trucks – selected Stay Metrics’ Drive for Gold Rewards Program to recognize drivers for performance, clean inspections and other professional achievements.

The privately branded rewards program is designed to keep PSL’s drivers engaged by earning points from various recognition categories. As points accumulate, drivers redeem them for tens of thousands of items or travel options.

• Luma Brighter Learning, a provider of an online training and learning management system, announced that Rushville, Ind.-based flatbed hauler Fraley & Schilling (CCJ Top 250, No. 161) and Toledo, Ohio-based expedited hauler Premium Transportation Logistics both selected its online training and Rapid Form tool to compress its orientation training by going paperless and improve the learning experience and outcomes for its drivers.

Recruiters now send drivers an email with a hyperlink to complete employment and policy forms online.

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commercial carrier journal

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december 2019

31

technology

in focus: DRIVER SCORECARDS

Coaching for improvement Driver scorecards evolve into real-time coaching mechanisms

BY AARON HUFF

D

o your drivers have an opportunity to elevate their status at your workplace by using a system that tracks their performance with metrics they directly control?

If not, it is fairly easy to create a driver scorecard with the amount of data on performance and safety that already is available. When scorecard information is easily accessible to drivers, they can track their improvement and increase their status on a daily basis.

Driver scorecards are common features in mobile fleet management systems. Fleets also can bring data together from multiple sources, but increasingly the trend is moving toward using technology that provides drivers with instant feedback and coaching.

Coaching apps Driver coaching apps can present drivers a daily assessment of performance.

Drivers can use Verizon Connect’s Coach app, an option for its Fleet platform, to track their progress toward individual safety goals and note areas in need of improvement.

Fleet managers can use the webbased Fleet portal or the Spotlight mobile app to see the driver scorecard data on a higher level to identify areas of focus, said Kevin Aries, head of global product success for Verizon Connect.

A leaderboard feature in Coach will show drivers where they rank among their peers for different safety metrics.

Verizon Connect also has various driver productivity metrics that can be added to separate driver scorecards from its suite of routing and fleet man32

commercial carrier journal

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agement applications, Aries said.

Smart sensors can ascertain driver performance and deliver constructive feedback in real time through audio, video and text-to-speech to provide incab feedback for self-correction.

“We’re now at the point in the technology evolution where we have video and sensors to assess driver behavior on a continuous and consistent basis,” said Jason Palmer, president for SmartDrive. “Technology now provides iconography that tells drivers what issues to improve, measures performance improvement over time and provides information as to how they’re performing to their peer group.”

SmartDrive’s video-based telematics and driver safety system includes a driver app and dash display that fleets can use to provide automatic prescriptive feedback to drivers instead of “blanket warnings with annoying beeps that drivers turn off or learn to ignore,” Palmer said.

Scoring fatigue New developments can make fatigue scores part of the equation for driver performance monitoring and safety coaching. Trimble Transportation’s Safety Analytics dashboard is available as an optional subscription to fleets using its mobility platform for electronic logs and other applications.

The dashboard identifies high-risk drivers based on safety behaviors for speeding, harsh braking, lane departures, hours of service violations and other areas. The dashboard integrates with third-party systems to bring in Compliance, Safety, Accountability

december 2019

A Bendix app allows for information from its SafetyDirect portal to be downloaded directly to a phone to get information quickly to fleet managers and drivers. Drivers can view a safety scorecard that updates weekly to see where they rank against their peers on a leaderboard. They also can login to a separate Driver Safety portal to obtain more granular feedback and see the locations where they had harsh events.

data from Samba Safety and speed monitoring from SpeedGauge.

Trimble Transportation recently added a new option to monitor driver fatigue levels through an integration with Pulsar Informatics. The electronic logging data of fleets can be sent automatically to Pulsar’s data models for predicting fatigue based on a driver’s work and rest activities over the last seven days.

Fatigue notifications appear in the Safety Analytics dashboard, and the incab device’s text-to-speech feature could be used to trigger an automatic message to drivers to contact the office, said Jim Angel, vice president of Video Intelligence for Trimble Transportation.

The fatigue risk scores in the Safety Analytics dashboard are elevated for drivers who exhibit behaviors such as speeding or hard braking. The data may show a driver is spending less time on cruise during periods of fatigue to “keep themselves busy,” Angel said.

If fleets want to use any or all the data in Safety Analytics as part of a separate driver scorecard, the data is available for download from the Analytics dashboard, he said.

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CARBON EXPRESS Wharton, N.J. “Trucking is almost like a commodity,” he said. “ ‘Oh, well, it’s a downturn, and the rates are going down.’ And I’m like, ‘Come on. Are you kidding me?’” he said. “Your cost doesn’t go down.

What you have to do is simply figure out your cost per hour to run your business, and we can all do that, because you’ve got fixed [costs] and variable [costs]. Figure them out, analyze it, and come up with a cost per hour.”

THE TRUE COST

OF TRUCKING Carbon Express uses time, not miles, to calculate expenses, maximize profit

BY JASON CANNON

F

ederal mandates dictate how much time drivers can spend on the road, but otherwise time doesn’t factor heavily into the business of moving freight.

“The whole world rates by the hour except trucking,” said Steve Rush, founder and president of Carbon Express.

However, Rush – an early adopter of electronic logs more than a decade ago – saw the opportunity to add more clarity to his bottom line by charging customers for the time drivers spend behind the wheel rather than the number of miles they spend touching it.

“I never understood the rate per mile,” he said. “How do you calculate that? No one’s ever really been able to sit down and pinpoint it to me. No one has a set way.

It’s all over the place.”

Seven years ago, the Wharton, N.J.-based liquid bulk hauler shifted to rating by the hour. “It opens your eyes to so many wrongs,” Rush said. “It makes things so much easier. For 30-plus years, we rated on whatever we thought the traffic would bear, and I believe to this day that’s what most truckers do. I don’t care about the mile. I care about the time that it’s going to take me to do that trip.”

The variability of a cost-per-mile rate structure can have a negative impact on profitability, Rush said, because so many of a fleet’s costs are fixed.

How does it work?

Trips that can be completed in eight hours or less are billed an eight-hour minimum. For longer hauls, Rush calculates his hourly rate based on an average driving speed of 50 mph, although he noted a deep dive is necessary on lanes with heavy congestion.

His company has a 40-mph average through the Boston area. “[On trips of 350 miles or more], you can set your clock that 99% of the time, you’re going to average 50 mph almost everywhere you go,” he said.

“Then you throw in your time to load and time to unload, and whatever costs may be in there consistently, then you just multiply by the hourly rate you need.”

Rush said for a 300-mile trip, Carbon Express would calculate that trip, startto-finish, at 10 hours, multiply that by its hourly rate, and add fuel costs (fuel economy across the fleet is averaged to account for consumption), tolls and any

The liquid bulk hauler shifts to rating and paying its drivers by the hour to add more clarity to its bottom line.

commercial carrier journal | december 2019

35

Charging by the hour has put a greater emphasis on making sure shippers respect Carbon Express’ drivers’ time.

other accessorial fees that may apply.

Two hours each for load pickup and delivery are baked into the hourly quote.

“Finding the [average] mile per hour and then finding out what your cost is per hour — those are two parts that you need, and then it’s easy,” he said.

Drivers rejoice Around the time Carbon Express transitioned to electronic logs 12 years ago, the company started paying drivers an hourly wage based on the hours logged on the device.

“We pay our drivers by the hour, so charging by the hour makes all of this work,” Rush said.

On-highway drivers routinely can earn between $80,000 and $100,000 annually, while local drivers sit between the low $70,000s and $80,000s.

“One of the big contributors to safety, in our opinion, is pay,” he said.

“If you pay them to go fast, they’re going to go fast. If you pay them to go the speed limit, they’re going to do the speed limit. So, you’ve really got to look at pay as part of your safety.”

Carbon Express pays drivers time and a half, puts them up in hotels overnight and spares little expense in getting them home on weekends.

As a result, turnover is “in the single digits, if we have any at all,” Rush said, adding that the company has lost three drivers this year, all driven by a business drop-off in their lanes.

36

be there on Monday,” he said.

Hourly rates also have gotten shippers’ attention with regard to detention, as an extra 15 minutes sitting at the dock is billed back to the shipper or receiver at the hourly rate for each additional hour the driver spends waiting.

“If there’s no consequence, [shippers] are going to do whatever they feel like doing,” Rush said. “If a customer refuses to pay detention, we do not do any more business with that customer.”

No means no Rush said charging by the hour also Rush said the shift toward an hourly rate structure wasn’t met with much has put a greater emphasis on makpushback from customers and that ing sure shippers also respect Carbon many found it easier to understand Express’ drivers’ time.

“What we’re going through right now than cost per mile.

“If you use $100 an hour, what do [with the transition to ELDs], it is not unlike deregulation,” he said. “Deregula- you think that comes to per mile [at 50 mph]? Two bucks a mile,” he said. “It’s tion took a number of years to sort out so much easier to say ‘I’m charging you before it moved on to the next period, $100 an hour to do this run because it’s and the period between deregulation going to take me X amount and now has really taken the of hours to do it.’ ” trucking industry forward in The deep dive into how some ways but backwards in long it takes to move a load many.” He believes the backalso enabled Rush to move wards movement came in the away from unprofitable loads. abuse of drivers.

Steve Rush, Carbon Express instituted “We walk away from so founder and fees for after-hours loads much freight now, because president of Carbon Express, to help provide additional it doesn’t match what we was an early pay to drivers willing to take need for the hour,” Rush said. adopter of “Our bottom line has done those undesirable hauls. electronic logs more than a nothing but go up. We don’t “We also bill extra for decade ago. weekends or holidays, and struggle like we did to make a when asked to load a longer good bottom line.” trip on Friday for a Monday delivery, Carbon Express has seen its fleet our [customer service] folks are trained grow from 23 to 72 trucks.

“It’s taught us to be able to say ‘no’ to ask that out of respect for our drivand made it easier, because if you’re ers – home time with his or her family – is there a possibility that this load can not making money at it, why do it?” he said. “Most trucking companies are deliver on Tuesday,” Rush said. afraid to ask for more money. I’m not With the added fees, many of the afraid.” once-urgent loads all but disappeared, and were rescheduled during normal CCJ INNOVATORS profiles carriers and fleets business hours. “You would be very that have found innovative ways to overcome surprised to see how many weekend or trucking’s challenges. If you know a carrier that holiday loads are then moved off, and has displayed innovation, contact Jason Cannon how many loads really do not have to at jasoncannon@randallreilly.com.

commercial carrier journal | december 2019

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In 2018, 310 carriers called it quits. By September of this year, more than double that amount – 640 companies – had folded.

DON’T GO UNDER

Experts advise minimizing risk, investing in safety technology, controlling costs to avoid bankruptcy

M

BY TOM QUIMBY any carriers last year reaped the benefits of strong rates and tight capacity, but 2019 will close on a much different note. The return to normal over the last 12 months has been difficult for some.

“Last year, it was almost impossible to go out of business,” said Donald Broughton, principal and managing partner for Broughton Capital. “You had a historically low failure rate.”

According to Broughton, 310 carriers called it quits in 2018. By September of this year, more than double that amount – 640 companies – had folded.

“It looks like a dramatic jump, and indeed it is, but it’s off an extraordinary all-time low,” Broughton said.

Carriers counted among CCJ’s Top 38

commercial carrier journal

250 have not been immune. New England Motor Freight (No. 67 in 2018) closed its doors in February, and HVH Transportation (No. 231) folded in August. Falcon Transportation and LME Inc. shut down in April and July, respectively. Stevens Transport (No. 38), Roadrunner (No. 31) and Swift Logistics, a subsidiary of Swift Transportation and the Swift-Knight conglomerate (No. 4), all recently announced layoffs.

“While there certainly have been some bankruptcies, including some high-profile bankruptcies in both the LTL and truckload space, I don’t think there’s been an alarming number of bankruptcies to-date,” said Mark Montague, senior industry pricing analyst for DAT Solutions. “The ones that have occurred have been very high-profile,

| december 2019

because there was an absence of any failures last year with the really good rates.”

Avery Vise, vice president of trucking for FTR Transportation Intelligence, pointed out the overall number of carriers is still higher than last year.

“While we’re losing a lot, we’re also adding a lot,” Vise said. “The net so far – and when I say so far, I’m talking about into the first quarter of this year – it’s still a positive, which might surprise a lot of people.”

Overall capacity may not have been impacted too widely by company closures, as Vise speculated that many of the employees of companies forced out of business didn’t leave the industry.

“When carriers go out of business – and typically we’re talking one-, two-, three-truck operations – quite often,

BUSINESS | TRUCKING BANKRUPTCIES

they will give up their authority,” he said.

“But then they will turn around and begin driving for a trucking company, or they’ll sell their truck and become a truck driver.”

The historic market of 2018 was not business as usual, and some carriers may have made the mistake of setting that bar as the new normal.

“To the extent that we’re talking about new operators, a lot of them may have simply thought of the market that we had that year – 18 months ago – as sort of standard operating procedure, and they weren’t really prepared for what a normal market looks like,” Vise said.

“Frankly, that’s kind of where we are.

Strictly from a demand standpoint, we’re not in any kind of crisis.”

Spot the causes Though rising insurance rates brought on by record verdicts certainly have chipped away at the bottom line, it’s the spot market that trucking experts say is largely to blame for carriers’ cash woes in 2019.

Unlike contract rates, which typically are locked in for one or two years on fairly predictable supply chains, spot freight is the go-to market where sudden market changes – such as a bumper crop of tomatoes or a strong storm – require

an expedited deal with a trucking company to get products to market as soon as possible.

During 2018, rising spot rates owed their meteoric rise to various market forces, including domestic manufacturing, oil and gas activity, procrastination on electronic logging device acquisition and tough weather.

Relatively moderate diesel prices, corporate tax cuts and surging 401(k)s also converged to create a more favorable market for trucking. Broughton said.

“What happened in ’18 was that pricing was relatively strong,” he said. “We had the introduction of ELDs, and we had a real surge in economic demand, both in the industrial and consumer economies, in part because of the cut in corporate taxes, in part because of the demographics and in part because Baby Boomers saw the value of their portfolios or 401(k)s surge and decided that they wanted to remodel the bathroom in the house that they’re going to move into and live for the rest of their lives or until someone puts them in a retirement home. Or they look at their portfolio and go, ‘It’s so fat, our grandchildren, the Millennials, need help with a down payment on the house, and so let’s help them do that.’ Millennials started moving out of the basement.”

DAT, which operates the industry’s largest electronic marketplace for spot truckload freight, points to raucous weather and ELD holdouts as among the most notable influences on spot demand.

“We can point to several factors, beginning with a series of hurricanes in August and September 2017,” said Peggy Dorf, senior market analyst for DAT. “Hurricane Harvey devastated Houston, followed 10 days later by Hurricane Irma on the Atlantic coast. Trucks were diverted away from these regions or used for relief, reconstruction and resupply efforts just as the peak freight season boosted demand for trucks across the country.”

At roughly the same time, Dorf said, carriers that waited to comply with the December 2017 ELD deadline faced delays or were sidelined momentarily because ELD providers were backlogged by last-minute installation requests.

“This further reduced the number of trucks available for late-season e-commerce deliveries and post-holiday returns,” she said.

The weather in 2018 was ugly early on, and more bad weather was in store, including Hurricane Michael, one of only three Category 5 storms on record to make landfall in the United States.

“In early 2018, severe winter storms

When carriers go out of business, they often will give up their authority, but then they’ll sell their trucks and become a truck driver.

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| december 2019 39

BUSINESS | TRUCKING BANKRUPTCIES

tied up capacity and led to sharp increases in spot rates,” Dorf said.

“Even after the weather improved, small carriers and owner-operators were able to make good money while working fewer hours. They spent more time at home, which further constrained capacity.”

Needing more trucks, shippers paid higher contract rates and turned to freight brokers and third-party logistics providers to source additional trucks on the spot market. Carriers enjoyed higher spot and contract rates, and as the money poured in, many bought new equipment and raised driver pay.

“Carriers focused their resources on their contract customers, who made less freight available to spot-market participants,” Dorf said. “The negotiation balance shifted back in favor of load providers, which caused intense competition among small carriers. The end result: 6% more loads moved on the spot market in the first nine months of 2019 versus the same period in 2018, but rates were 15% lower because capacity grew faster than demand. Contract freight grew more slowly, and rates dropped only 1% compared to their 2018 peak.”

Planning ahead Minimizing risk is key to staying afloat during market downturns, and while acquiring equipment during the high margins of 2018 may have seemed like a good idea, getting saddled with that debt compounded uncertainty when coffers started running low.

Next year is forecast to look more like 2019 than 2018, and Broughton advises fleets that struggled to stay afloat this year to begin evaluating debt.

“I would sell any unseated trucks,” Broughton said. “I would pay down debt. Strategically, those are the things I would do, because carriers who don’t have debt tend to survive.”

Survival also includes streamlining business processes to lower costs.

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Fleets should handle paperwork in a timely fashion by getting it into the central office to bill customers as soon as possible and reduce DSOs.

“It boils down to efficiencies of your operation,” said Doug Schrier, vice president of product and innovation for Transflo. “One of the big things that you can do to help control your costs is to be able to handle your paperwork in a timely fashion. Get it into your central office to bill your customers as soon as possible and reduce your DSOs (days sales outstanding). It’s amazing to see how much money is hung out there for a carrier.”

Schrier said carriers average between 35 and 45 days in collecting from shippers. “You reduce that by one day, and you’re going to have more cash flow for your operations that could potentially be reinvested into things that will make you even more efficient, or at the minimum is a reduction in interest expense,” he said.

Another recent issue is massive multimillion-dollar verdicts against trucking companies in traffic accident cases that have made headlines, rattled insurance carriers and resulted in rising insurance

| december 2019

costs.

Michael Nischan, vice president of transportation and risk control for Edgewood Partners Insurance Center, said carriers can expect to see 20% to 30% increases in insurance premiums.

Reducing those costs means making safety education a priority throughout the entire fleet, he said.

“Roadcheck, Brake Safety, Operation Air Brake — all these enforcement events are opportunities to get good data going into the system,” Nischan said. “That’s really a freebie. I prepare all our clients approximately a month in advance of these events by reminding them to ensure that their drivers, number one, understand how to interact with officers during a roadside inspection. Number two, don’t do anything to attract the attention of enforcement.”

Tommy Ruke, founder of the Motor Carrier Insurance Education Foundation, said that it’s now more important than ever for carriers to align themselves with an insurance agent that un-

BUSINESS | TRUCKING BANKRUPTCIES

derstands the transportation industry.

“What happens is the motor carrier tells the retail agent, who then takes that information to insurance companies, so that retail agent has to know enough about the trucking business and understand the uniqueness of the trucking business to take that information from that trucker and help them improve and then paint the picture that’s the most favorable one to the insurance provider,” Ruke said. “And the insurance provider is going to have to trust that agent.”

Investing in technology can not only improve efficiency but also reduce exposure, he said.

“It’s crazy that a motor carrier doesn’t have an event recorder,” Ruke said. “I understand the privacy issue, but that’s for training purposes. What they don’t understand is that the greatest value of the event recorder is to get the insurance carrier to know immediately how to handle a claim. There’s actually more cost savings when we find the motor carrier is at fault than when they’re not at fault, because if they are at fault, then we don’t fight it. We don’t hire attorneys.

We don’t pay the $700. We don’t do the reconstruction with claim. If we know we caused it, then we don’t pay all that extra cost.”

Improving Compliance, Safety, Accountability scores also needs to be a priority, Nischan said, and that starts with thorough pre- and post-trip inspections.

“It’s about changing the culture,” he said. “It’s about changing behavior and having those policies and procedures. If you have a good disciplinary program, good incentive program, good management team, good training program, then you can impact the culture to where you don’t attract the attention of enforcement. Or, if you do get stopped for whatever reason, then at least you’re able to demonstrate compliance and get a notice of no violation, which again is good data going into the system.”

Profitability during a downturn becomes easier through diligent risk and cost management, Vise said.

“You can survive, and you can even be profitable in an environment like this, if you watch your costs,” he said.

“Whether you can make as much money depends on exactly how much of

a swing it was and what your base cost structures are. I think it’s just the case where the very small operators have to be extremely vigilant over cost and also have to put away as much cash as they can. It’s going to be difficult, though, in the near term to build up cash reserves in the environment we’re seeing.”

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THE

NEXT STEPS FOR SERVICE A look into the future of trucking’s technician shortage

BY LUCAS DEAL

E

verywhere you go, you see the signs. Restaurants.

Big-box retailers. Home improvement stores. Gas stations. Even government offices. “Help wanted.” “Now hiring.” They’re all over the place.

While it’s clear that now is a good time to be a jobseeker, the employment market isn’t as rosy for the other side. It’s hard for businesses to make a good hire for an open position when a qualified candidate conceivably can land a job anywhere.

In the trucking industry, where the driver and technician employment shortages continue to stunt business growth and productivity, companies are discovering that it takes clever, proactive recruiting practices to entice young talent — and even more effort to keep them around.

According to a 2018 survey by Randall-Reilly (publisher of CCJ) of more than 1,200 professional technicians in the trucking, agriculture, construction and automotive industries, six in 10 technicians admit they are a pay raise away from abandoning their current position for work in another industry.

These technicians, 64% of which already earn at least $50,000 a year, cite

Companies are discovering that it takes clever, proactive recruiting practices to entice young talent — and even more effort to keep them around.

burgeoning job markets in other fields and the potential for higher compensation, stronger insurance packages, more paid time off and other benefits as the enticements that would lead them out of the trucking industry.

The grass might not actually be greener, but for a lot of workers, it sure looks like it.

In the final part of our 2019 special report on trucking’s technician shortage, CCJ turns its attention to the future — and the employment challenges that currently exist and are likely to persist in the coming years for one of America’s most vital industries.

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Solving the unsolvable One pervasive opinion plaguing trucking’s service channel is that its employment issue is unsolvable — that even with stronger recruiting efforts and improved retention practices, trucking never will be able to acquire and maintain enough technician talent to render its hiring problems a thing of the past. The work is too specialized, the industry too far from the mainstream and the jobs too laborious to hook young people into technical careers.

To many, the service channel is forever doomed to push its employment boulder up the mountain, knowing it

EDITOR’S NOTE: TARGETING TECHNICIANS IS A QUARTERLY SERIES PROVIDED IN SPONSORSHIP WITH SHELL. 42

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EQUIPMENT: TARGETING TECHNICIANS

The North American medium- and heavy-duty technician population is significantly younger than most believe.

will never reach the top.

Others look at the future more positively.

For every pessimist, there’s an optimist; and for every industry veteran who sees the technician employment shortage and fears the worst, there’s another professional in a similar role who sees opportunity.

But no matter where they fall, everyone tasked with hiring in today’s service channel is in agreement on one point: If the industry has any hope of solving its biggest problem, it has to start working on it immediately. Trucking’s future will be defined by maintenance. Any service business that fails to address its employment challenges today is endangering its viability in the years to come.

The good news?

A data point regarding employment that should encourage service businesses in the trucking industry is this: The North American medium- and heavy-duty technician population is significantly younger than most believe. It’s true that many skilled veteran technicians are retiring across the marketplace, but these exiting technicians do not represent anywhere close to a majority of the market’s overall population.

According to CCJ’s 2017 reader profile survey, most technicians still are many years from retirement. Among service providers who responded to that survey, only 1.5% claimed the average age of their technicians was greater than 60 years old. That segment was dwarfed by all other options — 72.1% of responders pegged their average technician age at 31 to 45; 22.1% said their average technician was 46 to 60 years old, and even 4.4% of responders said their technician population was less than 30 years old.

That data was confirmed by the 2018 Randall-Reilly technician survey. In that report, nearly 60% of responders claimed they had worked in the maintenance industry for less than 10 years, while only 19% had at least two decades of experience in their field.

When coupled with the more than 10,000 technicians graduating from diesel and heavy truck post-secondary schools each year, it appears the service channel continues to replenish its employment base. While landing and keeping these technicians may be another story, the industry’s talent pool hasn’t run dry from a supply perspective.

In his role as past chairman of the American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC)

SuperTech and FutureTech competitions, George Arrants met hundreds of young technicians in their first years in the trucking industry who loved their job and were eager to build a career.

Arrants said many of those technicians who found work with fleets, dealers and independent service shops that valued their technicians and were invested in their success are still in those roles or have been promoted. He said it’s those who weren’t as fortunate that have since left the industry.

Arrants said that’s one of the first problems the industry needs to solve.

“We can’t be out there eating our young,” he said. “We have to be thinking about how to onboard them into our company culture so they want to stay.”

The service channel also can take solace in that its challenges aren’t being ignored by industry partners.

The expansion of the supplier community’s technical training library has exploded over the past decade, as manufacturers identify technical guidance and expertise as a key factor in customer satisfaction and technician retention.

Also, many OEMs and industry organizations have introduced partnerships with vocational schools in the hopes of creating a stronger employment pipeline to the service channel.

“We recognize if we have fewer techs available that we need to grow their skills to make up for that shortage,” said Peter Adair, technical training manager for Meritor.

Technician career development paths also exist in the industry at both the individual business and OEM levels, as well as through TMC’s soon-to-be completed Recommended Practice on the subject.

Volvo Trucks Academy’s technical curriculum doubles as a career advancement tool and covers “everything from basic entry-level technician needs to Master-level requirements,” said Donald Coldwell, VTA’s retail development

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| december 2019 43

EQUIPMENT: TARGETING TECHNICIANS education manager. “Successfully attracting the next generation of professionals to our industry will require working partnerships between manufacturers, dealerships and educational institutions.”

The bad news?

Even with a growing segment of the trucking industry dedicating resources to the technician shortage, the issue still presents major challenges.

To Arrants, the biggest challenges are withstanding attrition of the industry’s current workforce and strengthening retention in a competitive job market.

Speaking at TMC’s Annual Meeting in March, Arrants cited a 2018 Automotive Service Excellence career education survey of recent automotive and diesel vocational school graduates that reported more than 40% of new vehicle technicians had decided to exit their new industries within two years of their graduation.

Arrants said these former technicians referenced a number of reasons for their career shift, though better wages and assistance with educational expenses were the dominant reasons given.

“We have shops in our market paying $9.50 an hour, and you have to bring your own tools,” he said. “Why would a kid want to stick with that job if you can walk into a Buc-ee’s [Texas-based gas station chain] and make $14 off the street with a 401(k) and three weeks of vacation?”

And technicians aren’t being pulled out of the market exclusively into other transportation roles. The U.S. unemployment rate hit a 50-year low in September. Jobs can be found anywhere.

“Too many of these techs are coming out of vo-tech programs carrying student loan debt,” said Tim Spurlock, president and co-founder for American Diesel Training Centers. “If you’re trying to take care of a family on $16 an hour with a $40,000 loan to support, you do the math. There’s going to be job-hopping.”

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Volvo Trucks Academy’s technical curriculum doubles as a career advancement tool and covers everything from basic entry-level technician needs to Master-level requirements.

And it’s not as if the work is getting any easier. The technology boom that hit trucking in the last decade has fundamentally changed the way the industry’s equipment works and how it’s repaired.

What was once a mechanical career now requires a deep understanding of connectivity, computer diagnostics and proactive maintenance.

Coldwell said that while “mechanically savvy and hands-on technicians will continue to perform a critical role in service shops across the country,” current and future technicians also will be expected to perform “more vehicle healthcare that keeps the wheels rolling and less fix-after-failure emergency triage.”

To make matters worse, those in the service channel acknowledge that stepping into a service bay today is stressful — particularly early in one’s career.

“A lot of these techs come out of these schools, and they’re scared,” said Chris Paris, a service manager for Affinity Truck Center. “They want to do a good job, but they feel the pressure. It takes a lot of coaching.”

Meanwhile, not all technicians enter the market with proper training.

Brandon Eckenrode, director of

| december 2019

development for the Collision Repair Education Foundation, the technician recruitment arm of I-CAR, said the service channel must do a better job of communicating with educators to develop a curriculum that best prepares new technicians for the work they’ll be doing upon their entrance to the workforce.

This focus on common service work, such as vehicle inspections and preventive maintenance, is more cost-effective for the student and provides a base level of education that can be built upon through an employer once the technician has committed to the career.

Eckenrode said that by getting involved with a prospective employee’s education early and focusing his learning on entry-level work, service shops can make new employees more productive on the job, “which should result in them increasing their earning potential.”

One thing is for sure, experts say: The industry can’t afford to lose any more skilled workers, especially when its technician population needs are expected to rise.

“The trucking industry is the engine that drives our nation’s economy,” Coldwell said. “The movement of freight, growth of cities, industrial and

EQUIPMENT: TARGETING TECHNICIANS of these same people since have stopped looking for work because they believe no jobs are available to them. These people are among those counted in the BLS’ monthly U-6 rate, which measures the total number of unemployed workers, “plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percentage of the civilian labor force.”

BLS reports U-6 was 6.5% nonseasonally adjusted and 6.9% seasonally adjusted in September — still not a large number, but enough of a bump to give the service channel options.

The technology boom that hit trucking in the last decade has fundamentally changed the way the industry’s equipment works and how it’s repaired.

commercial construction and countless other societal needs rely on this industry in some shape or form. Add to that the advances in autonomous vehicles and introduction of alternative fuels, and the demand for technicians will only increase.”

2

The national challenge One major obstacle to eliminating trucking’s employment issues is similar to shortages found in most other industries across the United States.

The job market crunch is impacting everybody.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the U.S. economy recorded its 108th consecutive month of payroll gains by adding 136,000 nonfarm jobs in September. These gains also helped drive the nation’s unemployment rate down to 3.5%, the lowest mark for the economy in 50 years.

Yet as strong as these numbers appear, when coupled with the even stronger payroll gains of 2018, BLS notes the U.S. workforce is approaching its operational peak. There simply aren’t enough active applicants left in the market to fill all the open positions in today’s economy.

Such a competitive hiring market is doubly challenging for trucking’s service

channel, which requires a higher level of education and expertise among its employees than most service sectors that hire off the street. Yet some within the market also believe the industry’s education requirement could be turned into a positive if managed properly.

A service sector employee with no formal training and experience has little job security beyond a strong economy.

However, truck technicians, once trained and skilled, are likely to be able to maintain their position and grow their career within the industry with less risk of job loss.

“We need to be promoting the career, that you don’t have to be a technician for 30 years,” Spurlock said. “If you want to be, you can, but if not, you’re going to have chances to do more.”

Added Coldwell, “The most important factors in retaining newly hired technicians are quality hiring and onboarding practices, providing career development opportunities, respect and a productive work environment.”

It also is important to note that a falling unemployment rate doesn’t mean all the capable workers already have a job.

BLS data shows 22.7% of unemployed workers (1.3 million people) have been out of work for 27 weeks of more. Many

3

Generational perceptions The skills and responsibilities of heavy truck technicians always have changed with the times — and today, those times are changing fast.

Maintaining a capable technician workforce in the coming years will require fleets, dealers and service shops to train their associates on new components and systems being spec’d into the equipment population as well as advanced maintenance and connectivity technologies developed to enhance equipment performance and reduce downtime.

In the future, technicians won’t just be expected to replace parts. They’ll also be required to understand the technology that tells them why a part needs to be replaced.

New vehicle technology From a spec’ing perspective, many technologies that appear destined to become industry mainstays already have been introduced.

Disc brake take rates are on the rise across the fleet community, and both truck makers and brake suppliers believe disc brakes will replace drums as trucking’s preferred stopping method within the next decade. Automated manual transmission acceptance also is on the rise, as is the industry’s transition

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EQUIPMENT: TARGETING TECHNICIANS

The service channel must do a better job of communicating with educators to develop a curriculum that best prepares new technicians for the work they’ll be doing upon their entrance to the workforce.

toward slightly smaller diesel engines and alternative fuels such as natural gas, hybrid and electricity.

Though diesel is expected to remain the dominant fuel source in the market for years to come, each of the aforementioned developments will require heavy truck technicians to expand their CCJ AutoDeck Ad.pdf 1 11/7/19

expertise to serve customers in the future.

New vehicle connectivity Being a successful truck technician in the future also will require a fundamental understanding of vehicle connectivity and the numerous technologies in development or already in use to better moni8:08 AM

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tor equipment performance. In large fleet and dealer shops, this means understanding how to navigate and absorb data found in predictive maintenance portals.

All service providers also will be expected to understand how vehicle sensors and monitoring devices work in conjunction with one another. The idea of a connected truck does not refer exclusively to an asset’s real-time connection with a fleet terminal or OEM; it also refers to the interconnected systems onboard a truck and trailer that will link together to share data and maintain maximum vehicle performance.

“Now more than ever, those who will be repairing vehicles need to have up-todate training and technical knowledge to ensure the repairs are done correctly,” Eckenrode said. “For the same reason an individual would want a doctor to be properly trained if they were to be operating on you, the same goes with vehicles.”

BETTER

RISK DETECTION Machine learning improves accuracy of driver safety technology

BY AARON HUFF

E

arlier this year, news surfaced that employees at two of the world’s largest companies were listening to audio recordings of private citizens that own Amazon Alexa and Google Home devices.

The fact that any company would have employees who review data, audio and video captured by Internet of Things (IoT) devices is not surprising.

Human review is an integral part of the process for software to “learn” automation.

In this instance, Amazon and Google employees were transcribing words and phrases that software on the IoT devices did not recognize automatically. Some employees were caught sharing funny recordings with co-workers and admitted to hearing some troubling content.

These controversies aside, many software developers use human review in concert with machine learning, a form of artificial intelligence (AI), to provide a feedback and validation loop for “machines” to grow smarter at a rapid pace.

In the transportation industry, advancements in autonomous vehicles, driver safety systems, digital freight 48

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Nauto’s real-time AI-powered Driver Behavior Learning Platform is designed to connect all the company’s existing in-vehicle hardware, software and cloud-based services.

matching and other applications all are powered by machine learning technology. Perhaps more importantly, transportation companies are able to manage risk better by staying on top of their rapidly expanding datasets by using prescriptive information to change outcomes rather than react to events.

Managing more risk As the amount of data continues to expand, fleet owners and executives are concerned about having more data than they can manage properly. This concern emanates from the real dangers of having information about drivers and other areas of risk but failing to act.

During an accident investigation, a plaintiff attorney might discover instances that prove management knew about a problem but did nothing to resolve it. Data that shows a driver had an elevated risk of an accident might be ignored.

Another concern is that technology may have unintended consequences. Installing more devices that warn drivers about unsafe following distances, lane departures and objects in their blind spots could erode their trust in technol-

| december 2019

ogy or cause distractions.

Driver safety systems are designed to be accurate most of the time, but “when a system gives false positives, those who are trying to be affected by it lose confidence, which means the system has zero value,” said Steve Mitgang, chief executive for SmartDrive Systems, which offers a video-based driver safety and telematics platform.

Human review and machine learning are making it possible for driver safety systems to continuously improve the accuracy of risk detection and alert drivers and fleet managers at the right moment.

“There is so much in the real world that the machine doesn’t know yet,” Mitgang said. “You need human intervention until you can do it correctly.”

Standalone driver safety products that do not have the benefit of human review may lack context for understanding risk, he said.

A device that detects drowsy driving needs to alert drivers at the right moment to trigger a change in the risky behavior. The driver has to respect the alert’s accuracy, and the intervention has to happen far enough in advance to

CHEAPER ISN’T ALWAYS BETTER. IT IS THIS TIME.

change the outcome, Mitgang said.

“You don’t want the driver to ignore it,” he said.

SmartDrive recently added a driver feedback display option for its in-vehicle Smart Recorder 4 (SR4) safety platform that can provide drivers with various audible text-to-speech alerting and visual icons. The alerting can come as a message from a fleet manager based on a review of driver behaviors, such as speeding, and also can arrive as instant warnings and visual cues for a variety of behaviors that the SR4’s machine vision camera and sensors detect, Mitgang said.

Instant risk detection Some camera-based driver safety systems use a video review service. The companies employ behavior analysts that review video footage captured by their in-vehicle IoT devices to note risk factors that the software did not recognize, such as driver distractions and weather.

Increasingly, technology companies are bypassing this video review service to lower costs for their customers and provide more immediate information to drivers and fleet managers.

Nauto’s real-time AI-powered Driver Behavior Learning Platform uses in-vehicle artificial intelligence and multi-sensor fusion to perform real-time risk assessment. The platform continuously analyzes sensor data from driver behaviors, exterior hazards and vehicle movement using an in-vehicle device. The device runs its proprietary risk detection algorithms to identify distracted driving, drowsiness, tailgating, hard acceleration, braking and cornering.

Nauto also detects fleet policy violations for cell phone and cigarette use.

The on-device algorithms are augmented by additional cloud algorithms for further analysis and refinement.

The company said it continuously improves its algorithms with real-world

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49

TECHNOLOGY: MACHINE LEARNING data, machine learning and human review.

Rather than offer a review service, Verizon Connect uses real-time feedback from its customers to power the machine learning for its Integrated

Video system, an option for fleets using its Reveal management platform.

When reviewing event videos, Verizon Connect customers rate the accuracy of the AI-generated classification of harsh driving events by using a scale of 1-5. The company uses this feedback to continuously improve the accuracy of its algorithms in the IoT device and its cloud-based software for detecting crash risk.

Driving safety improvements

SmartDrive’s next-generation Smart Recorder 4 (SR4) platform is an edge device and a cloud-enabled analytics infrastructure designed to capture data for analysis of commercial routes and events to find correlations with safety and operating efficiency.

With the latest machine learning technology, especially in the area of driver safety, motor carriers and logistics providers are taking a more prescriptive and measured approach to solving problems and focusing human resources on tasks that will create better outcomes.

Such has been the experience of National Grid, a provider of natural gas and electricity in the U.S. Northeast,

48349A Magazine Adjournal slack adjuster different formats 50 SilverbackHD commercial carrier december 2019 V4.indd 2

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since it first deployed a video-based driver safety and telematics system from Lytx in 2010.

National Grid deployed the Lytx DriveCam program across its gas operations fleets, made up of almost 4,000 vehicles, to reduce unsafe driving incidents and provide drivers with greater awareness of their own risky behaviors.

From 2010 to 2018, its utility fleets saw a 94% reduction in collisions, an 84% reduction in avoidable near-collisions, an 83% reduction in severity of events and an 84% reduction in frequency of events.

“Over the past decade, the Lytx Driver Safety Program has helped us make safe driving a top priority by coaching and reducing unsafe driving habits,” said Samantha Murray, vehicle safety manager for National Grid.

“Additionally, and just as important, we are shifting toward a culture where we emphasize the safe driving habits

2019-09-06 3:36 PM

TECHNOLOGY: MACHINE LEARNING Lytx ActiveVision uses machine learning to detect behaviors that may indicate fatigue and distracted driving.

from our good drivers through positive recognition programs.”

During the last year, the company has accelerated its risk reduction. From April-June 2018 to April-June 2019, it saw unsafe following distance behaviors

decrease by 51%, collisions by 24% and handheld cell phone use by 13%.

This year, National Grid began using Lytx’s open application programming interface to create its own internal vehicle safety performance dashboard

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that combines data from the Lytx Driver Safety Program and Fleet Tracking Service with its own internal and third-party data.

With this central data warehouse and user interface, National Grid users can access real-time and historical fleet data tailored to what matters most to their teams.

“The new dashboard reconfigures the information we’re getting from Lytx to highlight the improvements of our driving behaviors even further while continuing to note areas for growth,” said Tyler Virkler, program manager for National Grid, who spearheaded the project’s design.

One benefit of technology powered by machine learning is that the accuracy of driver safety and risk management systems are improving continuously, and motor carriers are able to take action on areas that otherwise might go unnoticed.

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NACV THE FOLLOWING IS A ROUNDUP OF NEWS AND PRODUCT ANNOUNCEMENTS MADE AT THE NORTH AMERICAN COMMERCIAL VEHICLE SHOW HELD IN OCTOBER IN ATLANTA.

BY JASON CANNON AND JEFF CRISSEY

EATON TO LAUNCH 4-SPEED HEAVY-DUTY EV TRANSMISSION

NAVISTAR TO DEPLOY ELECTRICFOCUSED BUSINESS UNIT

Eaton announced plans to launch a

Navistar launched a new business unit

4-speed transmission for Class 7 and 8

targeting the delivery of a customized

electric commercial vehicles operating

electrification solution to its truck and

across numerous segments, including pickup and delivery and port drayage. The company said the new transmission will help electric trucks climb grades under load at highway speed by expanding the motor’s range. The heavy-duty EV trans-

Eaton’s heavyduty EV transmission currently is being tested with multiple truck OEMs.

mission does not have a clutch; instead, shifts are synchronized using the traction motor. Fine-pitch helical gears enable smooth low-noise operation.

school bus markets. Vehicles developed

by International’s NEXT eMobility Solutions will be offered under the International Truck and IC Bus nameplates and sold by their dealership networks. Navistar plans to introduce International medium-duty

International’s eMV concept is designed to accommodate multiple battery capacity options ranging from 107 to 321 kilowatt hours.

electric trucks in early 2021.

International also showcased a prototype electric version of the International MV Series medium-duty vehicle. The eMV concept’s

Eaton also introduced a new Flex Power Distribution Unit (PDU)

electric motor features peak power of more than 645 HP (474 kW)

for high-voltage electrified commercial vehicles that is designed

and continuous power of more than 400 HP (300 kW), which is

to handle multiple load requirements. Eaton has reached an

available at all times. Customers operating a pickup-and-delivery

agreement with Cummins to supply elements of the Flex PDU.

truck with a 321-kWh battery should be able to travel up to 250 miles on a single charge.

GREAT DANE DEBUTS SMART TRAILER SYSTEM

VOLVO DEBUTS NEW VNR MODEL WITH SHORTER BBC, LESS WEIGHT

Great Dane unveiled FleetPulse, its new integrated smart trailer telematics system that provides a high-resolution look at the condition of components and pairs that information with other proprietary information about the asset, including specifications, aftermarket parts numbers and tools from component suppliers.

Data from Great Dane’s FleetPulse integrated smart trailer telematics system is collected and reported via 4G signal.

Volvo Trucks North America introduced the latest model in its regional VNR lineup.

The VNR 660 features a 164-inch bumperto-back-of-cab length and lighter weight due to decreasing the truck’s size, allowing fleets to deploy more versatile tractor-trailer combinations for increased cargo capacity.

Volvo Trucks North America’s VNR 660, the latest model in its regional VNR lineup, enters limited production in March.

FleetPulse, part of a monitoring chain with

It comes standard with Volvo’s D11 engine,

Grote’s Guardian and Wabco’s ABS, features built-in sensors that

the company’s I-Shift transmission and

monitor tire inflation systems, open doors, cargo weight, burned-

Volvo Active Driver Assist (VADA) 2.0 collision mitigation system.

out lights, anti-lock braking system fault codes and mileage.

Great Dane also announced a partnership with Coretex, a

The VNR 660 combines a high-roof configuration with a 61-inch sleeper that can accommodate an extra person on overnight

provider of supply chain compliance and fleet management

stops. It also has room for a refrigerator, microwave and television,

systems, to offer FleetPulse with Reefer Control by Coretex.

with storage above the driver and passenger seats.

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commercial carrier journal

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SPECIAL REPORT | NACV

HYUNDAI DEBUTS HYDROGEN-POWERED ELECTRIC TRUCK CONCEPT Hyundai Motor Co. debuted its hydrogen-powered fuel-cell electric truck concept, HDC-6 Neptune, with a grille that integrates hidden retractable steps. Hyundai aims to establish production capacity of 500,000 fuel-cell systems by 2030

MERITOR ENHANCES 14X HE LINEHAUL TANDEM DRIVE AXLE, ADDS TO LINE The design of Hyundai’s HDC-6 Neptune draws inspiration from the streamliner railway trainsets of the 1930s with its Art Deco function-driven style.

mercial truck divisions.

The company also showcased its trailer that uses a cryogenic nitrogen refrigeration technology system that reduces temperatures more quickly, while the cooling unit is virtually noiseless. The concept slashes the trailer’s carbon footprint by 90%

Meritor’s new 17X HE tandem drive axle is suited for heavy-duty applications.

linehaul tandem drive axle and added two more drive axles to its high-efficiency line. The 14X HE – along with the new RT160 HE for heavy-haul and vocational applications and the 17X HE for heavy-duty applications – is assembled with high-

efficiency bearings, specialized gearing, fast ratios for downspeeding and Meritor’s Lube Management System.

Meritor also unveiled its lightweight single-piston EX+LS air disc

across its passenger car and com-

HT Nitro-ThermoTech, a refrigerated

Meritor detailed enhancements to its 14X HE

Hyundai’s HT Nitro-ThermoTech concept refrigerated trailer was developed in collaboration with Air Liquide.

brake for linehaul and trailer

Meritor’s lightweight single-piston EX+LS air disc brake for linehaul and trailer applications weighs 71 pounds.

applications. The brake comes standard with the company’s new MA9300 N-level friction designed to meet reduced-copper regulations.

and roof are constructed as a single piece — a structural

NACFE REGIONAL FUEL ECONOMY RUN ON LESS TOPS 8 MPG

sandwich foam panel with Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP)

Ten fleets taking part in the North American

skins that creates a lighter-weight trailer with increased wall

Council for Freight Efficiency’s Run on Less Re-

strength and enhanced thermal efficiency.

gional freight efficiency demonstration averaged

less than that of a traditional unit. The side wall, front wall

8.3 mpg for the three-week event, a more than 30% improvement over the 6.0 mpg national

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES TRUCK LINEUP

average.

International Truck announced

Grocers, Hirschbach, Hogan Transportation, J.B.

Nine diesel trucks from C&S Wholesale Hunt, Meijer, PepsiCo, Ploger Transportation,

several updates to its lineup for the 2020 model year aimed at boosting fuel efficiency and uptime.

Aerodynamic advances include an enhanced roof fairing, daycab extenders that are 12 inches longer to close the tractor-trailer gap, sleeper

International LT and RH Series trucks now in production, spec’d with an A26 engine, will feature remote cellular over-theair updates.

Schneider and Southeastern Freight Lines, along with one CNG tractor from UPS, saved 2,750 gal-

lons of fuel – the equivalent of $8,249 – and 27.9 tons of carbon dioxide over the course of 18 days.

longer, steering wheel closeouts

ZF PREPS 8-SPEED POWERLINE TRANSMISSION

around the front tires, longer chassis-skirt Vidon strips, cab-

ZF will start production on its

to-skirt closeouts, a 1-inch-lower bumper valence and Flow

8-speed Powerline transmission

Below’s 2.0 design optimized for the LT Series.

and expects a rollout to commence

cab extenders that are 3 inches

International will offer Cummins’ updated fuel-efficient

for 2021 with an OE partner. Pow-

X15, and Predictive Cruise Control will be standard on the

erline can be paired with a wide

2020 LT Series, RH Series and LoneStar.

range of vehicle classes from Class

Navistar also unveiled its International 360 platform

The trucks covered 58,633 miles over 135 driving days. Payload averaged 22,198 pounds, yielding 93 ton-miles per gallon at an average speed of 55 mph.

ZF’s 8-speed Powerline transmission supports engine ratings of 1,000 lb.-ft. and vehicle weights of 57,000 lbs.

3 to Baby 8.

that provides real-time service status updates delivered

Optimally spread gears enable up to 30% faster acceleration com-

through a portal, email or integrated third-party system,

pared to conventional 6-speed transmissions. An edge twin-torsional

along with a complete VIN-based service and communica-

damper torque converter enables more than a 10% fuel-efficiency

tions history for each repair order.

improvement and reduced greenhouse-gas emissions. commercial carrier journal

| december 2019 53

SPECIAL REPORT | NACV

DANA ROLLS OUT ELECTRIC POWERTRAIN FOR TERMINAL TRACTORS

MACK DEBUTS LIMITED-EDITION BLACKED-OUT ANTHEM Limited to a run of 500 70-inch stand-up sleeper trucks, the Mack Black Anthem features a black

Dana’s Spicer Electrified e-Powertrain for terminal tractors is built

Dana’s Spicer Electrified e-Powertrain consists of the company’s e-Power system and e-Propulsion system with a Dana TM4 motor and inverter.

by Lonestar Specialty Vehicles and can be adapted by Lonestar SV into a vehicle with a nonpowered rolling chassis or into existing dieselpowered vehicles for an all-electric power system to repurpose aging diesel-powered equipment.

Mack wordmark across the grille, cab steps and deck plates powder-coated in black, flat black trim stripes added to the air intakes on each side of the hood, black mudflap brackets, black aluminum fuel tanks, Alcoa Durablack aluminum wheels, a limited-edition Anthem doorplate and a custom black Mack Bulldog hood ornament, a

Each Mack Black Anthem comes with a Yeti softside cooler and commemorative memorabilia, including a watch and a keychain.

first ever for the company.

Inside, the steering wheel has been wrapped in black leather, gauge

The Spicer Electrified e-Power system leverages motor, inverter, power electronics cradle

bezels have been blacked out, and black wood trim accents have been

and battery systems components from a number of Dana

added. Black seats and sleeper trim complete the interior package.

acquisitions in the last two years, including Nordresa, TM4, SME and Oerlikon, as well as the company’s investment in

KENWORTH, PETERBILT ADD NEXT-GEN BENDIX WINGMAN FUSION FEATURES

Hyliion’s Class 8 electric-hybrid offering.

Kenworth and Peterbilt both announced the ad-

DAIMLER TRUCK FINANCIAL OFFERS PAY-AS-YOU-DRIVE

dition of enhanced capabilities and new features

Daimler Truck Financial, the finan-

collision-mitigation system that comes standard

for the next-generation Bendix Wingman Fusion on Peterbilt’s Model 579 and Kenworth’s T680.

cial arm of Daimler Trucks North America, will begin offering payas-you-drive financing on Freightliner Cascadias spec’d with Detroit engines beginning in early 2020.

The Dynamic Lease program uses embedded telematics data from the Detroit Connect platform to

DTF’s Dynamic Lease will be available exclusively to U.S. customers at launch, with plans to roll it out to Canadian customers later.

Highway Departure Braking (HDB) provides an audible alert to the driver and, if necessary, applies the foundation brakes to reduce vehicle speed up to 20 mph if the system determines the vehicle has left the roadway unintentionally.

Highway Departure Braking (HDB), available on Kenworth’s T680, builds on Bendix Wingman Fusion’s existing lane departure warning capability.

Multi-Lane Emergency Braking (AEB) helps the driver mitigate both the first, and potentially second, crash situation when more than one

track truck mileage and allow truck

highway lane is blocked. Once a collision mitigation braking event

operators to align truck lease rates to actual utilization.

begins and the driver steers into an adjacent lane to avoid the forward

The program consists of a minimum monthly base pay-

vehicle, the new Multi-Lane AEB feature continues to apply the brakes if

ment as well as a variable payment based on miles driven.

it detects another forward vehicle blocking the path in the new lane.

APERIA ADDS VEHICLE LOCATION TO HALO CONNECT TIRE ANALYTICS

CONTINENTAL ROLLS OUT NEW REGIONAL STEER TIRE, TRAILER TPMS

Aperia Technologies is adding vehicle location and service insight features to its Halo Connect tire analytics platform in addition to tire tread depth and replacement tracking.

The Halo Connect platform categorizes tire-related issues by

Aperia’s Halo Connect is available for use on trucks equipped with the company’s Halo Tire Inflator automatic tire inflation system.

Continental highlighted its new intelligentcapable regional steer tire, which rounds out its revamped steer portfolio. The Conti HSR 3 is designed to deliver higher mileage than its HSR 2 predecessor and is built on the Conti 3G thirdgeneration casing for improved durability, scrub resistance and retreadability.

Continental also spotlighted ContiPressure-

Continental’s updated regional steer tire, the Conti HSR 3, features an enhanced belt package versus its HSR 2 predecessor.

severity and provides proactive alerts and maintenance

Check Solo, a trailer TPMS system designed to

recommendations for leaks, underinflation and wear, allow-

notify the driver of tire pressure issues in real time

ing fleet managers to take immediate action.

while keeping the trailer system separate from the tractor.

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commercial carrier journal

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SPECIAL REPORT | NACV

DONALDSON TO OFFER WIRELESS AIR FILTER MONITORING Donaldson announced that its wireless remote

WABCO LAUNCHES INTELLIGENT ABS FOR TRAILERS

Filter Minder monitoring system for truck en-

Wabco’s iABS Intelligent Anti-Lock

gine air filters will be integrated into Geotab’s

Braking System is designed to opti-

MyGeotab fleet management platform to provide fleet managers enhanced visibility into the status of their engine air filtration systems to optimize maintenance.

Donaldson said it currently is field-testing its connected Filter Minder and that the Geotab integration supports a commercial launch in 2020.

Donaldson’s Filter Minder connected option is designed for easy installation and can be retrofitted onto existing filtration systems.

mize trailer control during emergency braking by preventing the trailer’s wheels from locking and slipping. The Intelligent Braking Platform combines iABS and iEBS (Intelligent Electronic

Wabco’s iABS device can monitor overall trailer health condition and set up alerts for required preventive maintenance.

Braking System) on a common platform, making the braking systems easily interchangeable.

Since iABS supports 5V Controller Area Network (CAN) communications ports and Generic Input/Output (GIO) ports,

HENDRICKSON DEBUTS LIGHTWEIGHT AIR DISC BRAKE, UPDATES HAULMAAX Hendrickson introduced Chamber Up, a lightweight trailer air disc brake option engineered to maximize brake component life while cutting 33 pounds per slider. Chamber Up is available exclusively on Ultra-K air slider systems spec’ing air disc brakes.

The company also unveiled its next-generation heavy-duty rubber suspension, HaulMaax

trailers can become intelligent and be connected to a telematics unit without a system upgrade. The iABS device is designed for all trailer types, with tank- and frame-mounting options.

Hendrickson’s Chamber Up lightweight trailer air disc brake moves the brake chamber to above the suspension trailing arm for more clearance.

KENWORTH, PETERBILT OTA UPDATES COMING FOR MX-EQUIPPED TRUCKS nounced plans to launch over-the-air programs that will allow customers to

EX, designed with more vertically angled bol-

remotely install engine and aftertreat-

ster springs to carry the majority of the payload in compression during

ment software on models equipped

empty or lightly loaded conditions, which improves ride quality.

with 2017 or later MX-13 and MX-11

Hendrickson also launched its Optimaxx forward liftable tandem axle

Kenworth’s TruckTech+ OverThe-Air service will begin in December for select customers, with a full rollout next year.

Kenworth and Peterbilt both an-

engines. Active Kenworth TruckTech+

system and Airtek NXT for the Freightliner Cascadia. The company also

and Peterbilt SmartLinq customers can access these updates

introduced its wheel-end sensor technology for trailers that operates on

on the Paccar Solutions online portal or through the Paccar

the vehicle area network developed by Sensata Technologies.

Over-The-Air mobile app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

Kenworth and Peterbilt both also announced the expan-

SAF-HOLLAND ANNOUNCES NEW INTELLIGENT TPMS SYSTEM

sion of the Paccar 12-speed automated transmission to their respective vocational segments.

SAF-Holland, in partnership with AKTV8, launched Smar-te Tire Pilot, an intelligent tire pressure management system that combines patented electro-pneumatic controls with SAF’s Tire Pilot Plus wheel ends to sense and adjust tire pressure by axle load to maximize tire sidewall and tread life.

The system is engineered to work with SAF’s integrated suspensions and functions to inflate, deflate and equalize all tires to ensure they wear evenly, with no regulators to wear out or

SAF-Holland’s Smar-te Tire Pilot offers Bluetooth and CAN connectivity for enhanced configurability and serviceability with optional telemetry integration.

recalibrate. Smart-Alerts provide live system status, while an onboard

TRUCK-LITE ADDS VOLUMETRIC CARGO SYSTEM TO ROAD READY SUITE Truck-Lite added a volumetric cargo system to its Road Ready trailer telematics suite. The system works by dividing a trailer into zones, depending on its size, and employs up to five cargo sensors that work in conjunction.

Cargo volume from the new system

Truck-Lite’s volumetric cargo system for its Road Ready suite is designed to allow fleets to see if there is any cargo space that is not being used.

scale features potential overload alerts. The system also is designed

will appear on a single widget on the Road Ready user

to improve cushioning of both the vehicle and cargo.

interface. commercial carrier journal

| december 2019 55

SPECIAL REPORT | NACV

ALLISON, DAIMLER TEAM FOR REGIONAL TRANSMISSION Allison’s 3414 Regional Haul Series (RHS) automated manual transmission is an upgrade variant of the company’s 3000 Series and is suited for mixed-duty fleets that make deliveries during the day and longer regional hauls at night. The com-

HINO UNIFIES TRUCK LINEUP Hino Trucks unified its lineup of trucks, including Daimler Trucks North America is the first OE to offer Allison’s 3414 Regional Haul Series automated manual transmission.

model names. For the 2021 model year, the M4 and M5 cabovers – which replace the company’s 155, 195 and 195h models – have a new grille design with optional LED headlights and an HD

A driver’s seatbelt sensor is available on Hino’s lineup.

6-speed Aisin automatic transmission with a gear-hold feature and a Lane Departure Warning (LDW) System. Interior upgrades include a new shifter layout, steering wheel controls and a new gauge cluster with a 4.2-inch LCD display.

pany collaborated with Daimler Trucks North America on

The L6 and L7 Conventionals – which replace Hino’s 258, 268 and

the transmission, which initially will be offered on Freight-

338 models – boast a bolder front fascia with optional LED headlights,

liner M2 112 and Cascadia 116 trucks paired with a Detroit

as well as new wheelbase options and extended and crew cab configu-

DD13 engine starting in the second half of 2020.

rations. The redesigned interior includes a large 7-inch LCD display and

The 3414 RHS offers ratings from 370 to 410 hp and

more storage and leg room. Available safety systems include Electronic

1450 lb.-ft. of torque to facilitate faster acceleration. The

Stability Control (ESC), Collision Mitigation System (CMS), Active Cruise

transmission leverages Allison’s xFE technology.

Control (ACC) and LDW. The XL Series now offers extended cab and crew cab configurations.

The XL7 and XL8 also are available with ACC, building on the trucks’

P.S.I. UNVEILS TIRE MANAGEMENT TOOL

ESC, CMS and LDW active safety offerings.

Pressure Systems International (P.S.I.) unveiled TireView Live, the company’s latest tire management tool designed to allow fleet operators to see and analyze the health of their tires fleetwide and help them decide whether a repair can be scheduled at the end of the run.

The company said TireView Live provides a data analytics platform, the ability to categorize assets, user-

Vehicles equipped with P.S.I.’s TireView Live can be grouped in categories, including tractor vs. trailer and over-the-road vs. pickupand-delivery applications.

JACOBS: STUDY SHOWS CYLINDER DEACTIVATION SAVES FUEL Jacobs Vehicle Systems released the results of fuel consumption and emissions reduction tests for its Cylinder Deactivation (CDA) technology. The company’s CDA was installed on a 13-liter Navistar engine under evaluation by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Super Truck II program and showed a 3% improvement in fuel consumption.

Jacobs said CDA also provided for a corre-

Jacobs said that at the lowest engine loads and with three of six cylinders deactivated, its CDA can improve fuel consumption by up to 20%.

specific alerts, notification flexibility, telematics integration

sponding decrease in NOx emissions from the

and independent platform updates. P.S.I. has partnered

baseline of 0.107 grams per horsepower-hour to 0.097 grams.

with three telematics integration partners – Road Ready by Truck-Lite, Phillips Connect and FleetLocate by Spireon.

MAXION REINVENTS THE WHEEL, ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP BENDIX TO DEBUT ADB WEAR SENSING TECH, NEW AIR DRYER Bendix introduced pad wear sensing on its ADB22X air disc brake for tractors and trailers. The sensors use telematics to notify fleets when a pad’s thickness is wearing down and replacement time is near, allowing for proactive maintenance.

Maxion Wheels introduced a 64-lb. 22.5×8.25 commercial vehicle steel wheel that is 4 pounds Bendix’s standard AD-HF fullfunction air dryer incorporates 200cc of integral purge volume.

An optional extended purge version has 300cc.

Bendix also showcased its new AD-HF full-function air dryer, with production set to launch in early 2020.

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commercial carrier journal

| december 2019

lighter than the company’s previous steel wheel and is optimized for a 7,400-lb. wheel load rating using a new circular handhole shape rather than the company’s traditional D shape. The company also unveiled Aerowheel, an aerodynamic wheel cover concept that brings wheel covers to steer axles to allow for efficient brake cooling and

Maxion said its new commercial vehicle steel wheel reduces structural stresses by 10% over the previous generation and will be available in 2020.

reduced drag for improved fuel savings and lower CO2 emissions.

Maxion also announced it is partnering with ZF Openmatics for a smart wheel connectivity offering.

DON’T RISK YOUR EQUIPMENT BY USING UNTRAINED STAFF Shell Lubricants can train your staff in a wealth of technical and application knowledge.

Visit shell.us/b2btraining to learn more.

Tread monitoring system Tyrata’s IntelliTread Drive-Over-System is designed to provide actionable data regarding tire tread wear when a vehicle drives over the system’s low-profile speed bump-like unit. The system monitors tread wear in real time via sensors that are linked to cloud-based data analytics that help alert managers and facilitate proper tire service, reduced fuel consumption and enhanced safety by keeping worn tires off the road to minimize tread-related failures. The rugged system is built for easy implementation, operation and maintenance, with all hardware, software and analytics included.

Tyrata Inc., www.tyrata.com, 704-593-8418

Urban TRU Thermo King’s SLXi Local Transport Refrigeration Unit is suited for urban applications and is engineered to be quieter to help meet noise regulation trends and to be lightweight and thinner to help increase payload capacity and meet physical space constraints that require tight turning capabilities. The unit’s slim profile reduces the tractor-trailer gap by 7 inches, which also helps decrease air drag and enhance tractor fuel efficiency. The unit is seven-year California Air Resources Board-compliant and uses R452A low-emissions refrigerant and the company’s Whisper kit for quiet operation. Telematics hardware enables Thermo King’s ConnectedSuite real-time monitoring platform.

Onboard scales

Thermo King, www.thermoking.com, 952-887-2200

Truck battery

East Penn’s Fahrenheit battery is equipped with the company’s Thermal Shielding Technology designed to better handle cycle service, varying climates and intense vibration and to extend battery life in the midst of increasing battery box temperatures and key-off power demands.

East Penn, www.fahrenheit31.com, 610-682-6361

Air-Weigh’s latest trailer-specific onboard scales are available for air-ride and most mechanical suspension axle options. The LoadMaxx Plus model is designed to allow for third-party onboard software integration options when connected to a LoadMaxx Tractor Scale. Also, both the LoadMaxx Plus and QuickLoad Plus scales are Bluetooth-enabled to allow for communications to any smart device via the Air-Weigh app that drivers can use to view weight data and email weights and location. The scales feature a user-friendly icon-based touchscreen display and alarm functions that can be programmed for a warning and overweight trigger. They also feature a redesigned body and mounting system to facilitate increased durability and easier installation.

Air-Weigh On-board Scales, www.air-weigh.com, 888-459-3444 commercial carrier journal | december 2019

59

PRODUCTS

Vocational tandem drive suspension

Link’s 52K Air Link Gen 3 Tandem Drive Suspension has been reconfigured to improve clearance for tire chain use on heavy vocational equipment with 315 tires. The hanger brackets have been lengthened, heavy-duty dampers moved forward, center bushings raised and vertical distance between the trailing arm and walking beam pivots optimized.

The suspension also features larger high-volume low-frequency air springs engineered for a smoother ride whether the vehicle is under load or empty. Dual height-control valves help maintain proper ride height, leveling the vehicle independent of load and maximizing its roll stability. The suspension has been designed with a lower number of moving parts, extra-large bearing surfaces, beefier main components and a higher level of load-bearing redundancy, and once wheel alignment is set on the Air Link, no future adjustments are required. Weight is distributed equally to both axles.

Link Manufacturing, www.linkmfg.com, 800-222-6283

Dry van corner cargo lamp

Phillips’ Permalite XB Corner Cargo Lamp for dry vans is an ultra-compact high-output LED designed for easy retrofitting because it does not require a ceiling pan or conduits and only needs low power. It is suited for multi-temperature and center-divide applications and has high-power diodes and 1,200 effective lumens to work with body heat-activated motion sensors. The lamp is angled to project light over the load and floor, and the corner mounting helps protect it from damage. The circuit board has a waterproof coating to help protect the lamps from moisture, and the design allows daisy-chaining the lamp to fully illuminate a trailer while minimizing voltage drop.

Phillips Industries, www.phillipsind.com, 800-423-4512

LED lamp with graphics

Optronics’ 4-inch round and 6-inch oval stop, tail, turn lamps with integrated graphics are designed to merge brand identities into the lighting design. The lamp’s traditional LED-style lens pattern surrounds the smooth GloLight logo portion in the middle of the lamp, and the logo graphic illuminates when operating in its standard function as a tail lamp. When the lamp’s turn signal or brake functions are in operation, all portions of the LED lamp brighten. GloLight can be used in either red or white or a combination of both.

Optronics International, www.optronicsinc.com, 800-364-5483

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commercial carrier journal | december 2019

All-in-one nosebox

Purkeys’ OneConnect nosebox with built-in light control capabilities is designed to streamline tractor-trailer electrical system connections via a user-friendly, energy-saving and space-efficient device for fleets that do not need liftgate charging systems. The streamlined all-in-one option is engineered to eliminate the need for multiple noseboxes and the associated clutter and upkeep frustrations and to consolidate all electrical connections into one easily adjustable aesthetically-appealing system. The device features a downward-facing receptacle to help prevent water buildup and corrosion.

Purkeys, www.purkeys.net, 800-219-1269

Coolant heater

Webasto’s Thermo Top Evo Coolant Heater operates from diesel fuel drawn from the vehicle’s primary fuel tank while the engine is off, reducing idling time, warming engines so they start easier and helping reduce the strain on emissions control devices. The compact unit has an 8,600-17,200 Btu/h (2.5–5.0 kW) range and operates at a high maximum combustion air temperature engineered to allow it to be mounted in more locations within the engine compartment. Its coolant inlet and outlet ports can rotate up to 180 degrees, offering greater flexibility for routing coolant lines, and it comes with a long fuel line, a universal controller harness and a mounting bracket. The unit can be controlled manually or programmed to turn on in advance.

Webasto North America, www.webasto-comfort.com/en-us, 810-593-6000

Redesigned winches

Kinedyne’s redesigned winches have a working load limit (WLL) of 6,670 pounds for added securement and a black matte powder-coated finish. The company offers weld-on, portable, sliding, double “L” sliding and combination winch styles, and all now feature reduced weight for easier handling and a “Thumb Saver” pawl to facilitate easier operation, even with gloved hands. All of Kinedyne’s 3-bar winches also have been redesigned and feature the “Thumb Saver” pawl and increased spacing between bars from 0.75 inches to 1.13 inches.

The 3-bar winch reel design helps simplify strap insertion, and each winch frame uses heat-treated carbon steel and a single-piece rolled heat-treated split mandrel with a welded cap and a forged-steel thumb pawl.

Kinedyne, www.kinedyne.com, 800-848-6057

PRODUCTS

Solar charging system Go Power’s Solar Only DCS (Dual Charging System) for commercial liftgates and pallet jacks is designed to eliminate dead batteries on trailers. The system employs a large controller and an upgraded auto-switching unit box and supports up to 600 watts of solar power, helping it function as a standalone charging system to eliminate the need for truck-to-trailer chargers. With built-in intelligence, the DCS is engineered to detect and select which battery it charges, automatically switching between the liftgate and pallet jack batteries without human intervention.

Needle-nose pliers Snap-on’s Talon Grip 5-Inch Plastisol Grip Needle Nose Pliers are built to provide increased pulling power with a relocated joint, optimized handle shape and diamond-serrated jaws. Rounded jaw edges are engineered to allow technicians to make loops and bends without fear of cutting wires. The jaw tips are aligned and feature machined teeth to facilitate more accurate gripping strength and positive control. The tool’s contoured handle is designed to offer a more comfortable grip and added leverage.

Snap-on, www.snapon.com, 877-762-7664

Go Power, www.gpelectric.com, 866-247-6527

Regional vocational tire line Prometeon’s Nextroad tire line is suited for regional applications and is being introduced to small fleets and owner-operators in the United States and Canada in three standard sizes: 295/75R22.5, 11R22.5 and 11R24.5, with the latter available in early 2020. Featuring steer and open-shoulder drive applications, the new range is designed for various vocational segments, offering high mileage, enhanced traction in all weather conditions and added retreadability.

Prometeon Tyre Group Commercial Solutions,www.prometeon.com/tires/en-us/ truck_bus/homepage, 800-747-3554 commercial carrier journal | december 2019

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December 2019

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AD INDEX Ancra Cargo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ancracargo .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 CCJ Innovators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ccjinnovators .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Citgo Partner Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . citgo .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IFC-1 Clean Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cleanenergyfuels .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Direct Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . directequipmentsupply .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Drivers Legal Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . driverslegalplan .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12, 13 Eberspacher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . eberspaecher-na .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Fleetpride . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . fleetpride .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Fleetworthy Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . fleetworthy .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Fumoto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . fumotousa .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 EZ Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ezoildrain .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Holland Motor Homes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . holland-motorhomes .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Howes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . howeslube .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Imperial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . imperialsupplies .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 IPA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ipatools .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Isuzu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . isuzucv .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Instructional Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . instructiontech .net . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Napa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . napatruckservice .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .IBC NTEA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . worktruckshow .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 O’Reilly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . firstcallonline .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Peterbilt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . peterbilt .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BC PrePass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . prepass .com/ccj . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 ProMiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . promiles .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 RigDig . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . randallreilly .com/amslideshow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Shell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . shell .us/b2btraining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Shell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . shell .us/rotellavaluecalculator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Silverback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . silverbackhd .com/seehow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 TA Petro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ta-petro .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 TCA Driver of the Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . truckersnews .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 TMC/ATA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . tmcannual .trucking .org . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Veeboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . veeboards .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Verizon Connect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . go .verizonconnect .com/truckingdoneright . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Vipar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . truckforceservice .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Wheel-Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . wheel-check .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Xtra Lease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xtralease .com/brakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 commercial carrier journal | december 2019

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PREVENTABLE or NOT? Doe mangles Marv’s Mercedes

O

n a bone-chilling morning, with a dry-freight trailer in tow beneath a cloudless blue sky, tractor-trailer driver John Doe chewed on a celery stick and pondered the wisdom of buying an antique Ford Bronco 4x4 from his neighbor, retired triples driver George “Gramps” Grumble. While the Bronco had more than 200,000 miles under its fan belt, it still ran strong. And it’d be a zillion times better in snow than Doe’s performance-tuned Mustang, 10-4? Yep, some cash and Doe’s scoped Winchester rifle – which Gramps had coveted for years – should do the trick!

At the moment, Doe was rolling along in the far-right lane of Beaver Boulevard – a divided six-lane highway – and approached the traffic-signalcontrolled intersection with Deerfoot Drive. While the light ahead was bright green, Doe cautiously slowed down before entering the intersection and managed to pass two car-occupied lanes of Deerfoot before … Holy smokes! That dummy is gonna … AHHHH! WHAMMO!!!

Alas, despite an attempted panic stop, Doe’s tractor had broadsided a silver 2018 Mercedes-Benz driven by late-for-work banker Marv Melfritch, who’d insanely Tractor-trailer driver John Doe, decided to run the red light and in the far-right lane of a divided thought he had enough room to six-lane highway, entered the intersection under a green light, beat Doe through the intersecbut his rig was struck by a driver tion. When Doe contested the who tried to run the red light. Was preventable-accident warning this a preventable accident? letter from his safety director, the National Safety Council’s Accident Review Committee was asked to resolve the dispute.

NSC immediately ruled in Doe’s favor and deemed the accident nonpreventable, noting that he’d slowed down before entering the intersection and had braked hard when the other vehicle came into view. It was impossible for Doe to have seen or anticipated the arrival of Melfritch’s ill-fated Mercedes.

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commercial carrier journal | december 2019

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