Transport Topics

The federal spending budget for fiscal 2023 includes an increase in funding for the Department of Transportation that is higher than the level requested by the White House. The $1.7 trillion bill — which advanced through the House of Representatives on Dec. 23rd after moving through the Senate the day before — allocates $106.3 billion to DOT and its agencies, $3.4 billion more than the agency rece...

Dec. 17 marked Wreaths Across America Day, when volunteers lay wreaths on veterans’ graves at Arlington National Cemetery and at more than 3,700 other locations. Truck drivers play the vital role of hauling the wreaths, and the event highlights the many military members among their ranks. Notably, this year, the Senate also passed a resolution designating Dec. 17 as National Wreaths Across America...

WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency on Dec. 20 announced more stringent clear-air standards for heavy trucks that the agency said are 80% stronger than current limits. Starting with model year 2027 trucks, the EPA’s new standards — the first update to its heavy-truck rules in more than two decades — will by EPA estimates reduce nitrogen-oxide emissions from trucks by more than 40% by...

Truck tonnage inched up year-over-year in November, but for the second consecutive time declined on a month-to-month basis amid a tepid seasonal environment, according to American Trucking Associations’ monthly For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index released Dec. 20. The index rose 0.8% compared with November of 2021 but declined 2.5% compared with October. This followed a 1.2% decline from September to Oct...

Trailer maker Great Dane announced its longtime CEO, Bill Crown, is stepping down Jan. 1. He will be replaced by company President Dean Engelage as part of a managed executive transition. Crown, who has been CEO for 25 years, said about the change, “Dean and I have worked closely together, and Dean has been a terrific leader and president for Great Dane. I step aside with confidence that Great Dan...

Trailer orders in November hit the second-highest mark this year, ACT Research reported. They were at 39,000 compared with 32,103 in November 2021. This year’s best result was in August, with 47,860 orders. After snags in the supply chain for trailers over the past few years, the backlog-to-build ratios are near the 7.5-month mark, on average. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices...

Trimble announced it has agreed to acquire Transporeon, a cloud-based transportation management software platform focused on connected supply chain infrastructure, in an all-cash transaction valued at $2 billion. Trimble will acquire Ulm, Germany-based Transporeon, founded in 2000, from Hg, a leading software and services investor and current majority shareholder in the business. Learn more about...

The North American Council for Freight Efficiency said fuel efficiency in Class 8 trucks participating in its annual fleet study from 2018 to 2020 remained flat at 7.24 mpg after seven previous years of 2% annual increases. The study had been on a three-year hiatus, in part because of the pandemic, and a new report was released Dec. 13. NACFE Executive Director Mike Roeth said probable reasons for...

Class 8 U.S. retail sales in November were the second-highest this year and continued the trend since May of monthly gains compared with a year earlier, according to Wards Intelligence. Sales rose 39.5% to 23,075 compared with 16,539 a year earlier. August posted the best sales so far with 23,581. Year-to-date sales rose 14.2% to 225,163 compared with 197,224 in the 2021 period. Learn more about y...

After two years of virtual competition due to the COVID pandemic, Rush Enterprises kicked off an in-person Tech Skills Rodeo competition again over the weekend. Rush employees compete in hands-on and written challenges to test their mettle in a range of categories. The three-day event culminates in an awards ceremony. More than a thousand Rush Enterprises employees will be competing, and about $30...

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-hou...

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 Instit...

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. So...

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....

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 overa...

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...

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...

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 Invest...

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-...

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 interchang...

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...

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 Broth...

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 announ...