Trucking

At last week’s NASSTRAC Logistics Conference & Expo in Orlando, Fla., LM Group News Editor Jeff Berman had an opportunity to speak with Leathers about myriad industry-related topics, including energy prices, modal shifts, and government regulation, among others.

Diesel prices remained above the $4 per gallon mark for the third straight week despite dropping $0.7 cents to $4.098 per gallon, according to the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA).

YRC Worldwide recently announced it is making “significant progress” in steps it is taking to meet the agreements required in its effort to achieve its financial restructuring objectives by the end of July.

As I expected, NASSTRAC 2011 was replete with terrific content and information. The fact is, had it not been I would have been shocked.

在第四季度的ATA报道2010, truckload (TL) and less-than-truckload (LTL) carriers bumped up their payrolls, with small truckload carriers boosting employment by 0.8 percent within their driver pool and large TL carriers adding 0.3 percent to payroll by adding linehaul drivers and reducing local driver pools.

While the economy continues its gradual recovery, it has become more important than ever for carriers to manage multiple obstacles while re-growing networks and getting back to full strength. That was the main message of three leading trucking and supply chain executives during a panel discussion at this week’s NASSTRAC Logistics Conference and Expo.

Every so often, it is good to take stock of what is going on in your world—and the world around you for that matter. With that in mind, now is a good time to assess what is happening in the world of freight transportation, supply chain, and logistics.

Commercial trailer orders continued their strong rebound in July compared to a difficult 2009, according to data from ACT Research, a provider of data and analysis for trucks and other commercial vehicles.

Following two consecutive months of declines, the American Trucking Associations (ATA) said that its advance seasonally-adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage index was up 1.5 percent in July.

Truck sizes and weights have largely been frozen at the federal level since 1993. Now the industry and a coalition of shipping interests are again testing the waters in Washington to see if now might be the time to take another look at that emotional and politically charged issue.

While over-the-road transportation capacity remains tight, spot market freight availability continues its upward trend, according to the TransCore North American Freight Index.

While talk of a possible “double-dip recession” gains momentum, results from the most recent Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index (PCI) are doing its part to quell that theory.

Citing a strong rebound in net margins for publicly traded truckload companies in the second quarter, ACT Research, a provider of data and analysis for trucks and other commercial vehicles, said it expects continued improvement in demand for heavy-duty vehicles and trailers.

Even though the price per gallon of diesel fuel has been below the $3 mark for the past 11 weeks, that could be changing soon based on recent data from the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA).

In a development that would be laughable if it were not so calculatingly devious, the Teamsters have forged a partnership with “progressives” comprising community activists and environmental groups to mandate that independent owner-operator truckers be banned from the ports.