Transport Topics

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds announced $6 million to reimburse eligible employers to help remove obstacles for new truck drivers who want an entry-level commercial driver license. The new effort is called the Iowa Entry-Level Driver Training Program. It is available for Iowa-based employers, employer consortia and nonprofits who hire Iowa CDL drivers and provide entry-level driver training either in-house or with third-party certified training providers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Harassment and assaults against truck drivers are widespread, particularly among women and minority male drivers, according to a new study and survey commissioned by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. “Harassment is more likely to happen at truck stops, places where truck drivers pick up or deliver cargo, and fueling stations,” concluded the two-year study by Battelle Memorial Institute, a private nonprofit applied science and technology development company in Columbus, Ohio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A labor agreement between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association may not be reached until the first quarter of next year. That is the opinion of Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka, whose facility experienced a 25% drop in cargo volume in October and is down 6% for the year. Neighboring Port of Long Beach’s volume fell 17% in October. Some shippers instead have rerouted to the Gulf Coast and East Coast, where facilities have seen a spike in business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trucking technology company TuSimple and truck maker Navistar have agreed to end their co-development of autonomous trucks. The companies created the joint development agreement in 2020. No specific reason was given for why the arrangement was terminated, and TuSimple and Navistar said the action did not preclude them from collaborating on projects in the future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The average price of a gallon of diesel fell 17.4 cents to $4.967, according to Energy Information Administration data released Dec. 5. While the price has seen a few weeks of drops, the cost for a gallon of trucking’s main fuel remains almost $1.30 more than this time last year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tesla late Thursday handed over the first batch of its long-awaited Semi trucks to PepsiCo, kicking off customer deliveries for the vehicle originally unveiled more than five years ago. The event was live-streamed on Twitter, a company recently purchased by Tesla owner Elon Musk. Musk described Tesla’s entry into the heavy-duty truck market as a “crucial piece of the puzzle” in the company’s overall mission to accelerate the shift toward sustainable energy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Moving quickly to help avert a rail workers strike that would have cost the national economy an estimated $2 billion per day, the U.S. Senate on Dec. 1 advanced a tentative labor agreement between railroads and their employees. Senators on Dec. 1 voted 80-15 on the bill, which had been approved in the House of Representatives the previous day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The House of Representatives on Nov. 30 passed a bill outlining a labor agreement between freight rail carriers and workers to avert a strike projected to cost the economy $2 billion a day. The legislation, which advanced to the Senate, would implement provisions negotiated in a tentative agreement reached in September by the Presidential Emergency Board. The measure passed in the House by a vote of 290-137 with bipartisan support. Freight stakeholders, including American Trucking Associations, have called on Congress to act. “Further delays only result in more uncertainty and inflationary pressure at a time when the economy is straining under the weight of both,” ATA President Chris Spear said. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee by a voice vote advanced to the floor of the chamber Shailen Bhatt’s nomination for the top role at the Federal Highway Administration. Bhatt’s credentials were praised by Delaware Democrat Tom Carper, and West Virginia Republican Shelley Moore Capito said she was assured by the nominee that he would commit to implementing the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act as it was enacted. Senate Democratic leaders have yet to schedule a vote in the full chamber during this lame duck session of Congress. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Preparations are well underway for the annual Wreaths Across America event, which will be held Dec. 17. An estimated 2.5 million wreaths will be delivered from Maine to more than 3,700 cemeteries in all 50 states and some territories, including Arlington National Cemetery. Hundreds of thousands of people volunteer for the event every year. This year, one of those volunteers is J.D. Walker, a long-time truck driver who lost his 21-year-old son, Marine Lance Corporal Jeffrey D. Walker, in Iraq in 2007. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The state of Ohio is nearing completion on a project that by next spring will allow truckers and passenger vehicles to travel the length of its 241-mile turnpike without stopping at a toll plaza. The turnpike commission has been rolling out a new toll collection system that removes tolling gates and enables greater use of E-ZPass tolling. The $232 million project involves modernizing 20 interchanges that will eliminate the need for seven toll plazas with efficiency improvements. From January to September, more than 9.8 million commercial trucks drove along the turnpike, which is up 2% compared with the same time last year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Truck tonnage in October increased compared with year-ago levels but declined on a month-to-month basis, a sign that the freight market is reacting to economic and consumer trends, American Trucking Associations reported Nov. 22. The ATA For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index rose 2.8% year-over-year in October but slid 2.3% from September, according to the federation. Though tonnage saw the largest single monthly decrease in October since the pandemic, ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said, tonnage was up 3.9% through the first 10 months of the year compared with 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The chances of a rail strike beginning as early as Dec. 9 were advanced when one of the largest unions involved in the negotiations turned down the tentative agreement reached in September. The Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers union’s decision follows the rejection earlier this month by three other unions. Other unions have agreed to the contract, including most recently the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. With the potential of a strike looming, Congress is being urged to act, if needed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This holiday shipping season is expected to be marked by fewer delays and disruptions compared with the past two years, thanks to early freight movements, a flattening of volume and increased capacity, experts said. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Federal regulators have proposed a new climate-reporting rule that would require large federal contractors to publicly disclose their greenhouse gas emissions, climate-related financial risks and science-based emissions reduction targets. The new proposal, known as the Federal Supplier Climate Risks and Resilience Proposed Rule, would amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation. It was jointly announced Nov. 14 by the Department of Defense, General Services Administration and NASA. The agencies are proposing adding the climate reporting as a revision to the FAR, which governs federal contractors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Senior Democrats are focusing on reducing highway fatalities, backed by provisions in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Sens. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut were joined by colleagues in calling on the Department of Transportation to adopt or pursue programs meant to boost safety along the country’s corridors. The lawmakers’ call to action stemmed from recent federal data estimating nearly 43,000 traffic fatalities in 2021, marking a 10.5% increase from the prior year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Commercial motor vehicle inspectors in North America conducted 38,117 inspections Aug. 21-27 during Brake Safety Week, placing 13.3% of vehicles out of service for brake-related violations. Inspectors in the United States, Canada and Mexico also identified and documented 6,305 brake hose/tube chafing violations, a common brake-related violation that was the focus of this year’s special brake safety enforcement effort, according to an announcement Nov. 15 by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Classes 4-7 U.S. retail sales in October were off 5% from a year earlier, thanks only to strength in Class 6 as the other classes fell, Wards Intelligence reported. Sales reached 20,261 compared with 21,333 a year earlier. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

U.S. Class 8 retail sales in October improved 34.5% compared with a year earlier, Wards Intelligence reported as all but one truck maker showed improvement. Sales were 22,863 compared with 17,002 a year earlier. Peterbilt Motors Co. saw sales rise the most, 49.1% to 3,384 and good for a 14.8% market share. Consistent market leader Freightliner improved sales by 38.9% to 9,056 and pulled down a 39.6% share. Freightliner is a brand of Daimler Truck North America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The retail holiday season is expected to be solid as economists and other experts say sales should increase between 6% and 8% over 2021’s record 14% increase from 2020. But consumers are likely to be more strategic in the items they buy, with inflation eating up some of their purchasing power Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices