Transport Topics

Senate Republicans rejected an effort Wednesday to begin debate on a big infrastructure deal that a bipartisan group of senators brokered with President Joe Biden. But supporters in both parties remained hopeful of another chance possibly as soon as Monday. The party-line vote was 51-49 against proceeding, as Republicans said the bipartisan group needed more time to wrap up the deal and review the...

Truck tonnage in June inched up 0.5% compared with year-ago levels, a slowdown compared with recent months amid a tempering of freight activity nationwide, according to American Trucking Associations’ For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index. The index equaled 111.6 in June, ATA announced in a July 20 news release. When measured against May, the index decreased 1.5%. For purposes of the index, the year 2015=1...

Senate Republicans in bipartisan talks on a $579 billion infrastructure deal are warning Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) that if he goes through with a July 21 vote to start debate on the plan he won’t have their support and his attempt to enforce a deadline will fail. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said there is “no way” the group of 22 Republicans and Democrats can finish pulling together a...

A new Department of Transportation Inspector General audit criticized states for too often failing to transmit driver electronic conviction notifications in a timely manner to federal regulators. The audit said that states did not transmit electronic conviction notifications in a timely manner 17% of the time. Federal regulations require that states disqualify the CDLs of drivers convicted of majo...

Uber Freight has expanded beyond truckload services and is now also offering shippers options for less-than-truckload, the company announced July 15. Uber Freight has been primarily focused on truckload shipments since its founding in 2017. The company views LTL as the natural next step, considering it to be in high demand and ripe for innovation. Michael Bailey, product manager at Uber Freight, s...

Classes 4-7 U.S. retail sales rose in June to the second-highest level of the year as they cleared 20,000 units, with all segments improving over the same period last year, WardsAuto.com reported. Sales hit 20,944, the second-highest 2021 total to date. A year earlier they were 17,515. March’s medium-duty sales sit at the top this year at 23,575. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoi...

U.S. retail sales of Class 8 vehicles in June topped 19,000, WardsAuto.com reported, and reached the second-highest volume this year. June improved 49.4% to 19,840 compared with a year earlier when sales were 13,276, according to Wards. Only March has been higher this year, when sales exceeded more than 22,000. Once again, sales cleared the generally accepted U.S. replacement level of 16,000 — as...

A strike continues at the Volvo Trucks North America plant in Dublin, Va., even though the truck maker has announced it will not engage in further negotiations. VTNA says it will stand by the terms of its third tentative agreement that was reached with leaders of the United Autoworkers but was rejected by its membership. A union spokesman urged members not to cross the picket line. A second vote o...

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says he wants his chamber to vote on pivotal budget and infrastructure legislation before lawmakers break for their August recess. He also warns that he may delay that summer break to allow more time for work on President Joe Biden’s top domestic goals, which includes infrastructure. The first hurdle for Schumer and the Democrats is for Congress to approve a bu...

Despite oppressive heat hitting the western United States, trucking operations are pressing on. Montana has issued regulatory relief for truckers as part of statewide emergency declarations, including relaxing hours-of-service requirements for commercial vehicle drivers providing support to fire suppression activities and suspending HOS requirements for drivers transporting certain agricultural pr...

Class 8 orders in June cleared 25,000 and bounced 61% higher than those placed a year earlier in the pandemic, ACT Research reported, citing truck makers’ preliminary data. Orders reached 25,700 — the highest level since June 2018 — compared with 16,000 in the 2020 period. June’s volume was expected, according to ACT, as the backlog of orders is essentially filled and production slots for 2022 are...

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings has announced plans to acquire less-than-truckload specialists AAA Cooper Transportation in a deal involving two companies on the Transport Topics Top 100 For-Hire list. It’s Knight-Swift’s first foray into the less-than-truckload sector. CEO Dave Jackson said AAA Cooper fit the company’s criteria for LTL acquisition: It had significant market share, it was pro...

Trucking and oil industry experts are warning of possible delays in fuel deliveries during the peak of the summer driving season as the pinch from the driver shortage — particularly among tanker truck drivers — could slow down service to fueling stations. Oil Price Information Service founder and industry analyst Tom Kloza said tank truck companies have enough equipment to move fuel to fueling sta...

Legislation that would update the country’s highway and wastewater policies was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on July 1, an effort by congressional Democrats to advance President Joe Biden’s multitrillion-dollar infrastructure agenda. The chamber gave approval to the $715 billion measure by a vote of 221-201, mostly along party lines. The INVEST in America Act consists of a five-ye...

U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced June 30 that the agency plans to award $905 million in grants through the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America program. The funding will support 24 projects in 18 states, including efforts to facilitate the movement of goods. The discretionary grant program funds transportation projects of national and regional significance and...

The average sales price for a used Class 8 vehicle sold in May set the all-time record, jumping ahead of April’s claim to that title, amid the trend of strong demand for trucks once again outpacing the available supply, ACT Research reported. The average price was $58,652 compared with $41,027 a year earlier — a price ACT revised from its initial estimate of $36,954 in the 2020 period after it sub...

Legislation designed to update the country’s surface transportation policies is scheduled for floor consideration this week, likely Tuesday or Wednesday, in the U.S. House of Representatives. The leaders of the chamber’s Democratic majority tout the legislation as a key piece of President Joe Biden’s infrastructure agenda. They intend to advance the bill prior to July 4. The five-year, $547 billio...

The optimism surrounding the announcement of a bipartisan infrastructure deal on Thursday was doused with a bucket of sudden uncertainty on Friday, as Republican senators expressed shock to learn of conditions President Joe Biden set for signing the deal. In Biden’s second of two press conferences Thursday, he said he would only sign the infrastructure deal in tandem with a companion package of ne...

President Joe Biden and a group of bipartisan lawmakers announced yesterday that they had come to an agreement on an infrastructure proposal. The deal includes some $559 billion in new spending, with more than $300 billion of that devoted to transportation. According to a fact sheet published by the White House, $109 billion would go to roads, bridges and major projects; $66 billion to passenger a...

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Truck tonnage rose 3.7% in May compared with year-ago levels, and is pacing well against comparisons to the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, according to American Trucking Associations’ For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index. Through the first five months, the index is up 0.4% compared with 2020. ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said that freight will remain strong in the near term, but the industr...

Amazon announced that it has placed an order for 1,000 autonomous driving systems from Plus. The retail giant also has acquired an option to buy as much as 20% of the self-driving truck startup. Plus is planning a merger with a special purpose acquisition company and is set to have a valuation of $3.3 billion, the company said last month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/...

Some fleet operators, especially package couriers and final-mile delivery providers, achieved significant revenue growth in 2020 amid a surge in e-commerce volumes. Other trucking companies contended with severe supply chain disruptions and market volatility in the initial months of the coronavirus outbreak. This dichotomy is reflected in the 2021 Transport Topics Top 100 For-Hire Carriers list, w...

Rep. Peter DeFazio says he is well aware that being stuck in traffic is bad for business. For that reason, he wants to remind the country that his new highway bill is designed to help everyone spend less time in traffic. DeFazio, chairman of the U.S. House transportation committee, is the author of a comprehensive five-year, $547 billion highway bill that he says would be the largest-ever single i...

U.S. retail sales in May for Classes 4-7 improved 36% compared with a year earlier, as all but the heaviest class showed strong gains, WardsAuto.com reported. Sales reached 20,134 compared with 14,809 in the 2020 period. Year-to-date sales jumped 21.5% to 99,318 compared with 81,766 last year. Act Research Vice President Steve Tam said, “Private fleets and lease and rental fleets are driving the d...