Transport Topics

On Sunday, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued an emergency declaration for carriers assisting petroleum supply chains after the shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline. The declaration eases hours-of-service rules for drivers assisting with emergency relief in 17 states and Washington, D.C. The shutdown, which was sparked by a cyberattack, is a still-developing story. Head over to tt...

The Lion Electric Co. will build a 900,000-square-foot electric-vehicle manufacturing facility in Joliet, Ill., that it says will represent the largest dedicated production site for zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicles in the U.S. The Montreal-based company has committed to an initial investment of at least $70 million over a three-year period. Lion expects to add a minimum of 750 jobs an...

The U.S. Department of Labor said it would withdraw a federal regulation for classification of independent contractors. The rule, posted in the Federal Register in the last month of former President Donald Trump’s tenure, would have introduced, quote, “substantial confusion and uncertainty on the topic,” end quote. It was generally regarded as favorable to the trucking industry’s use of independen...

Class 8 truck orders in April hit 33,500, ACT Research reported, and the volume underscored how far the industry has rebounded from a year earlier when orders were the lowest since 1995. ACT, citing truck makers’ preliminary data, noted orders were 689% higher than the 4,251 in April 2020. The orders were 16% below the March number of 40,000 orders. The April orders also were the lowest since Sept...

California Trucking Association will appeal a court decision on the state’s independent contractor law that many in the industry deem unfavorable, CEO Shawn Yadon said May 3. A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on April 28 rejected a lower court’s preliminary injunction that halted implementation of a new California law aimed at reclassifying independent contractors as employee...

TFI International announced it has completed its acquisition of UPS Freight for $800 million. The deal was originally announced in January. Most of the UPS Freight unit will operate under a new name, TForce Freight. As part of the deal, TFI, a Canadian company, also has entered into a five-year contract to use the UPS domestic network to move packages. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podca...

Production is set to resume today at Volvo's New River Valley truck assembly plant in Dublin, Va., ending a strike that began April 19. Volvo Trucks North America and the United Auto Workers union reached a tentative agreement April 30 on the terms of a five-year contract that would cover about 2,900 employees. The proposed agreement is subject to ratification by the UAW local membership. Learn mo...

Rep. Sam Graves, the top Republican on the House Transportation Committee, is calling for a bipartisan approach to infrastructure funding. In response to President Joe Biden’s recent address to Congress, Graves said, “Addressing America’s infrastructure is something Republicans and Democrats should be able to come to agreement on. But in order to get bipartisan legislation done, Republican priorit...

The average used Class 8 truck in March brought the third-highest price ever. That’s the word from a new ACT Research report, which found demand raging on and supply remaining tight. The March price — $52,388 — was nearly $9,000 higher than at the same point in 2020. It also jumped up from $49,563 in February. ACT Vice President Steve Tam told Transport Topics that if the industry carries on at th...

Technology giant Apple announced this week it would invest more than $400 billion over the next five years in U.S. innovation and manufacturing. As part of that investment, the company has picked XPO Logistics to operate a $100 million facility and distribution center in Indiana. XPO said it would use its automation and robotics technology to accelerate delivery times and personalize Apple product...

Efforts to enhance access to parking for the nation’s truckers are alive in the House of Representatives. Minnesota Rep. Angie Craig called on the chamber’s transportation leaders to include her parking bill during consideration of the expansive highway funding bill. Craig argued her proposal would improve the safety of commercial motor vehicle drivers by authorizing $125 million for states to put...

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced a new round of Alternative Fuel Corridor designations as part of the Biden administration’s push to advance electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The Federal Highway Administration’s Alternative Fuel Corridors program recognizes highway segments that have infrastructure (or plans for infrastructure) that support alternative fuel options. The Ro...

A group of Republican senators offered a $568 billion counter to President Joe Biden’s $2.25 trillion jobs package yesterday. Despite the lower total value, it in fact focuses more on traditional infrastructure like roads and bridges. It also doesn’t include a corporate tax hike. The five-year plan more than doubles the Biden proposal for roads and bridges — to $299 billion — and splits the rest a...

President Joe Biden is expected to pledge in front of 40 world leaders this week that the U.S. will halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. The 50% reduction target would nearly double America’s previous commitment. Biden reportedly will make the pledge at a two-day virtual climate summit that begins today. China, the world’s largest carbon polluter, with the U.S. second, will be in attendance. Bi...

Truck tonnage in March declined almost 10% on an annual basis, but experts say the comparison isn’t exactly apples to apples. A year ago, COVID-19 had gripped the nation, noted American Trucking Associations Chief Economist Bob Costello after the federation released its monthly For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index yesterday. On a month-to-month basis, the index decreased 5.1% in March after declining 2.3%...

President Joe Biden’s top infrastructure lieutenants will appear April 20 before a Senate panel to attempt to drum up support for the administration’s $2.25 trillion comprehensive infrastructure plan. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo will explain details of the plan to the Senate Appropriations Committee. Key Republicans have said the party may pitch its...

J.B. Hunt Transport Services saw revenue and earnings increase during the first quarter due to strong segment growth. The Lowell, Ark.-based transportation and logistics company reported net earnings of $146.6 million for the three months ending March 31. That compared to net earnings of $104.8 million during the same time last year. The total revenue increased by 15% to $2.62 billion from $2.28 b...

Recruiting military veterans for maintenance jobs in truck repair shops is an oft-discussed industry goal. In practice, however, it tends to be extremely challenging. According to a top veterans official with the U.S. Department of Labor, the government is currently exploring ways to change that. As Mark Toal said during a virtual session of the Technology & Maintenance Council’s spring meeting, “...

President Joe Biden has announced the nomination of Meera Joshi to serve as the administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Joshi has been serving as the acting administrator of FMCSA since late January. She previously served as commissioner of the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, which is the agency in charge of licensing and regulating the city’s medallion taxic...

Darrel Harris was named president of Yellow Corporation yesterday, just six months after joining the Overland Park, Kan., less-than-truckload carrier as executive vice president of strategic initiatives. Harris has been tasked with not only instituting a companywide transformation to modernize the way freight is delivered, but also to expand and enhance the services available to Yellow’s 200,000 c...

Class 8 truck sales in March jumped 33.7% to 22,031 as all truck makers posted gains compared with a year earlier, according to WardsAuto.com. Freightliner led the way with a gain of nearly 48% to 8,839 trucks. Volvo was next with a 44% gain to 2,474 trucks. Peterbilt was third with better than a 41% improvement on sales of 3,181 trucks. This comes as ACT Research says the business conditions for...

General Motors and Ford are making deeper production cuts at their North American plants due to the constricting global supply of semiconductors. GM said it has managed steady production at the facilities that make the popular — and profitable — full-size pickup trucks and SUVs. The chip shortage already has had a profound impact in various markets since last summer, affecting the manufacturing of...

President Joe Biden and his administration are working to bolster public support for their multitrillion-dollar infrastructure proposal before Congress takes it up for debate. Biden’s plan calls for $115 billion for highways and bridges, $85 billion for transit, $80 billion for Amtrak, $25 billion for airports and $17 billion for inland ports. The funding element of the plan consists of raising th...

The National Transportation Safety Board’s new Most Wanted List of safety concerns contains some familiar recommendations. The current list, adopted by NTSB this week, includes a call for automobile and truck manufacturers to develop a standard practice of installing collision-avoidance and connected-vehicle technologies in all vehicles. It also lists priorities to implement a comprehensive strate...

The North American Council for Freight Efficiency expects vehicle downtime likely to be a factor and something to chart in its Run on Less — Electric event in September. The three-week demonstration, scheduled to start Sept. 3 in Long Beach, Calif., will assess zero-emission, real-world goods movement. At the same time, NACFE believes this showcase will underscore the need to think of an electric...