Transport Topics

The national average price of diesel dropped by a healthy 7.1 cents this week, tumbling to $5.073 a gallon. The price fell in all 10 regions that are surveyed by the Energy Information Administration, ranging from 10.2 cents in New England to just 1.3 cents in the Rocky Mountain region. Overall, diesel is still $1.944 a gallon more expensive than a year ago. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...

Tesla will start production next year of three products that have fallen behind Elon Musk’s original schedule, including Tesla’s electric truck called the “Semi.” At the opening of the carmaker’s newest factory in Austin, Texas, the Tesla CEO said the company would be in production in 2023 with Cybertruck, the Roadster and the Semi. In January Tesla said it was delaying introductions of new models...

Self-driving truck tech company Aurora Innovation yesterday announced a partnership with carrier Werner to haul freight between Fort Worth and El Paso in Texas. Aurora said the trucking lane it will test for Werner is an essential link in the nation’s freight network, as it is the middle leg between Atlanta and Los Angeles. The route is more than 600 miles and takes approximately nine hours to com...

North American Class 8 orders in March were just over 21,000 and kept pace with the levels over the past few months, ACT Research reported, citing truck makers’ preliminary data. Heavy-duty orders, which will be adjusted later in the month, were 21,300. ACT President Kenny Vieth noted manufacturers are only reporting orders scheduled to be built within 12 months. “Long backlogs and supply chain-co...

Standing alongside three Class 8 trucks parked outside the White House, President Joe Biden yesterday described a federal apprenticeship program designed to accelerate commercial driver license training as a “key ingredient” to boosting recruitment efforts in trucking. During an April 4 address that marked the culmination of a workforce recruitment challenge to trucking, Biden touted programs that...

America’s employers extended a streak of robust hiring in March, adding 431,000 jobs in a sign of the economy’s resilience in the face of a still-destructive pandemic and the highest inflation in 40 years. The Labor Department’s April 1 report showed that last month’s job growth helped reduce the unemployment rate to 3.6%, the lowest level since the pandemic erupted two years ago. Despite the infl...

February’s average retail sales price for a used Class 8 set another all-time record, besting January’s previous high by jumping beyond $94,000, according to ACT Research. Company Vice President Steven Tam called February’s $94,273 average retail price “incredible” compared with $51,494 a year earlier. January’s price was $88,386. ACT also estimated used Class 8 sales in February were 21,900 compa...

The 2022 Operation Safe Driver Week is scheduled for July 10-16, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance announced on March 29. During the heightened enforcement operation, law enforcement will be issuing warnings and citations to commercial motor vehicle and passenger vehicle drivers engaging in unsafe driving behaviors, such as speeding, distracted driving, following too closely, improper lane ch...

The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing April 6 with oil company executives regarding skyrocketing gasoline prices. Officials from Devon Energy Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp., BP Plc, Chevron Corp. and Shell Plc will be among the witnesses who plan to participate. Pioneer Natural Resources Co. executives also may testify. The committee’s chairman, New Jersey Democrat Frank Pallone...

FedEx Corp. founder Fred Smith is stepping down as CEO of the company and transferring those duties to Raj Subramaniam, who currently serves as president and COO, the company announced March 28. Smith will remain as executive chairman. Subramaniam will retain the role of president. The change will officially take effect June 1, but Subramaniam has been named president and CEO-elect of FedEx Corp.,...

XPO Logistics announced March 25 it has sold its North American intermodal business to STG Logistics, a Chicago-based provider of import-export and value-added warehouse logistics services, for a cash price of $710 million. Last year, XPO’s intermodal division generated $1.2 billion in revenue as it provided rail brokerage and drayage services at 48 locations with an estimated 700 employees. Those...

Navistar yesterday in San Antonio opened the doors to a new $250 million manufacturing plant that will produce diesel- and electric-powered Classes 6-8 trucks. Navistar said the nearly 1 million-square-foot facility includes a body shop, paint shop, general assembly shop and logistics center. The truck manufacturer reported that the first vehicle off the line at the new facility was electric. Lear...

Truck tonnage in February increased 2.4% compared with the same month a year ago, according to American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Index. The reading of 115.3 remained unchanged month-to-month after moving up 0.4 percent in January. ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said February marked the first month that the index didn’t increase since last July. He also n...

The weekly price for a gallon of diesel dropped for the first time since the first week of this year, tumbling 11.6 cents to $5.134, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration. That price is still $1.94 a gallon more than a year ago. While the price dropped in every region, it was smallest in California, where a 4.6-cent slide only lowered the price to $6.218 per gallon. L...

Fueled by a strong holiday shopping season by both its business and consumer customers, FedEx reported higher fiscal third-quarter earnings. The Memphis, Tenn.-based company said net income rose 23% to $1.1 billion, or $4.20 per share, compared with $892 million, or $3.30, the year before. FedEx saw revenue growth in all of its business divisions, but saw income drop at FedEx Ground and corporate....

U.S. trailer orders edged past 26,000 in February, keeping pace with the past few months, ACT Research reported. Preliminary data shows orders were 26,500 compared with 25,514 a year earlier, according to ACT, which noted the order pace that closed 2021 and opened 2022 continued for the third straight month in February. Net orders were 26,595 in January and 26,382 in December. Supply chain and sta...

In an effort to open up the nation’s clogged supply chains, the Biden administration on March 15 announced a pilot program under which trucking companies, ports, retailers and major ocean carriers would share data with one another to improve the overall flow of goods. Called Freight Logistics Optimization Works or FLOW, the program will start with 18 companies, including UPS Inc., FedEx Corp., C.H...

American Trucking Associations is among the groups proposing that the California Air Resources Board consider supply chain pressures for granting the industry alternatives to certain regulatory compliance. In a recent letter to CARB’s leadership about an emissions rule for trucks, the groups insist it would be difficult for aspects of the industry to upgrade to a 2010 model year emissions-equivale...

Over the coming weeks, Congress is expected to be consumed by rising energy prices and a foreign policy agenda that includes Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Democratic leaders are signaling the potential for considering legislative remedies aimed at providing some sort of assistance to middle-class households grappling with inflation and the price at the pump. The price of diesel shot up 40.1 cents,...

Retail sales and orders for Class 8 trucks in February barely budged over January numbers. Sales reached 14,916, a tiny increase over January’s total of 14,854, according to Wards Intelligence. Class 8 orders in February came in at 21,000, or essentially even with January’s volume, according to ACT Research. But compared to a year ago February, numbers were down slightly for sales, 2.9%, and signi...

Pilot Flying J announced March 9 that it plans to spend $1 billion to remodel nearly 500 of its oldest travel centers across the country. The Knoxville, Tenn., company said the three-year initiative it is calling “New Horizons” is the largest plan in its history to modernize and upgrade its facilities. All told, Pilot Flying J has 800 stores. Some of the money will be spent to upgrade its newer fa...

Ceva Logistics announced it teamed up with autonomous commercial vehicle technology company Kodiak Robotics to deliver freight autonomously between Dallas-Fort Worth and Oklahoma City, expanding on an existing relationship. The latest route on the Interstate 35 corridor runs 200 miles between a Ceva facility in Dallas and the delivery point in Oklahoma City. The companies said the shipments along...

XPO Logistics Inc. announced that its board of directors has approved a plan to separate its tech-enabled brokered transportation services from its less-than-truckload business in North America, and intends to divest its European business and North American intermodal operation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yesterday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a proposed rulemaking to further restrict emissions of soot-forming nitrogen oxides by heavy-duty diesel and gasoline engines starting in model year 2027. EPA’s intention is to reduce these types of emissions from trucks by as much as 60% in 2045. EPA also announced it intended to set new greenhouse gas emissions standards for heavy-dut...

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told U.S. senators his agency is addressing the need for increasing access to parking for truck drivers. The longstanding industry concern was raised during a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee with the secretary on March 2. Buttigieg pointed to several DOT programs that would ideally help tackle the issue. In addition, the recently...