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HAMMOND –A new trucking school might not cost you anything out of pocket, and you could end up with a high-demand job that pays $65,000 the first year and offers full health insurance benefits.

YRC Freight opened its new CDL Training Academy at 2345 Summer St. in Hammond. The Overland Park, Kan.-based company hopes to graduate up to 165 new drivers a year, to put a dent in a driver shortage that's resulted in a lot of Russian and Eastern European immigrants coming over for trucker jobs.

"Finding qualified drivers has become increasingly difficult," said Sean Saunders, senior vice president of human resources at YRC Freight. "We decided to take matters into our own hands to some extent and create a superior curriculum that sets drivers up for long-term success with our company. Our largest demand for drivers comes from Chicagoland, so it made sense to open our first school in the area."

Trucking jobs present opportunity for advancement, said Richard Ganch, a Miller resident who worked his way up from being a 19-year-old dockworker to one of YRC Freight's four division vice presidents in the country.

"We have drivers who have become middle management because they decided they want to do more," he said. "It all starts with getting into the industry... I just see opportunities for anyone who takes that same path through the industry. It just depends on what you want to do and how aggressive you want to be. If you want to work hard and put your nose to the grindstone, the world's the limit. You don't have to have doctorates or MBAs. Our chief executive officer started in sales, and his father was a truck driver. The sky's the limit."

Trucking jobs also are plentiful, and are only expected to get more so since the average of private fleet drivers is 52 years old, according to the American Trucking Association. The ATA forecasts as many as 890,000 drivers will need to be hired over the next two decades.

Classes at the YRC Freight CDL Training Academy start every two weeks. As many as 10 students at a time can participate, and it's free if they're qualified, such as if they pass a criminal background check, a Homeland Security HAZMAT background check and a Department of Transportation physical.

They split their eight-hour days between classroom training and driving tractor-trailers out in the field, including in training courses on the five-acre property. They rack up 320 hours of training, including 160 hours in a finishing school when they transition to becoming employees.

Once they earn their commercial driver's licenses, they will have the opportunity to immediately start working for YRC Freight, which is one of the largest transporters of goods in the industry.

"This is an exciting time for YRC Freight," Director of Driver Recruitment Dave Renfrew said. "Something we've been working against for a very long time is hiring drivers."

The company, which is based in the Kansas City area, is looking to open more schools in other trucking hubs in the future.

Source of article click here: The Times

A sharp drop in the price of oil is lowering fuel costs for transportation providers, a welcome development as they struggle with weak demand

Plunging fuel prices are emerging as a rare bright spot for logistics companies, which have struggled recently with weak demand.

A gallon of diesel costs $2.34 in the U.S., a six-year low and down about 30% from the same time last year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The price of bunker fuel, which powers engines on container ships, is down about half from a year ago, according to Bunker World.

Transportation firms generally pass along much of their fuel savings to shippers. But the steep decline in energy costs is providing relief at a time when meager global economic growth is holding down freight volumes. Many trucking companies, airlines and shipping lines have been forced to cut their prices to hold onto customers, and lower fuel prices help soften that blow, analysts say.

“The ongoing decline in the cost of fuel has effectively lowered the cost of operations for all modes of transport, which allows marginal operators to continue where they would have otherwise failed, and allowing better operators to thrive,” says Donald Broughton, an analyst with Avondale Partners.

Ultra-cheap fuel is a particularly welcome development for ocean carriers. Global container-shipping rates are down by more than 47% since the beginning of 2014, according to Drewry Shipping Consultants Ltd., as big shipping lines contend with massive overcapacity and weaker-than-expected demand.

Maersk Line, the world’s largest container ship operator and a division of A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S, said in its third-quarter financial results that its average rate fell by 19.2% compared with the same quarter in 2014, while bunker costs fell by 41.5%. The disparity boosted quarterly profits by $264 million.

The industry as a whole will likely earn about $5 billion in profits this year, largely thanks to low fuel prices, said Simon Heaney, a Drewry analyst. Shipping lines lost $19 billion in 2009, when the financial crisis sparked the sector’s last downturn.

“Fuel prices have propped them up,” Mr. Heaney said.

For trucking companies, falling oil prices can be a double-edged sword. Most truckers charge customers a fuel surcharge on top of their base shipping costs. When diesel prices fall, it lowers costs, but also revenues.

At the same time, overcapacity and weak demand for over-the-road shipping services have depressed freight rates for trucks. Spot rates for long-haul big rigs carrying dry goods, flatbeds and refrigerated trucks have all fallen by between 16% and 18% in the last year, according to freight brokerage DAT Solutions.

Jacob Eberhart, whose family-run private equity firm owns three trucking companies, said that while the cost of operating his tractor-trailers has fallen about 10% in the last year, fuel surcharges have fallen faster. Demand for trucking services has not picked up as much as he expected, muddying the math for his trucking operations.

In some cases, Mr. Eberhart’s companies have tried to raise freight rates to fill the gap. A year ago, for example, Poling Express, one of Eberhart’s companies, charged $2 per mile to ship a truckload of frozen turkeys 1,700 miles from Minneapolis to Oregon -- $1.50 for the freight, plus a $0.50 fuel surcharge. Today, the same load ships for $1.79 – $1.55 for the freight, $0.24 for the surcharge. He said he raises freight rates sparingly and infrequently to avoid upsetting customers.

“Generally, when oil prices go down, and fuel surcharges go down, and we see an uptick in business,” Mr. Eberhart said. This year, the uptick in business is “nowhere near” past years, he said, because of tepid demand for food shipments around the holiday season. “Whatever is causing the economy to remain slow is damping what would otherwise be a strong season.”

C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc. and Werner Enterprises, Inc., both recorded declines in revenue in the third quarter due to reduced fuel surcharges. “The decrease was driven by lower rates charged to our customers, primarily due to the lower cost of fuel,” C.H. Robinson wrote in its third-quarter earnings report in November. Yet both companies produced a higher profits in the third quarter compared to a year earlier.

Source of article click here: The Wallstreet Journal

(Photo: CalTrans)

A fatal accident involving a FedEx big rig is blocking all northbound lanes on Interstate 5 near Seamas Avenue in South Sacramento.

According to CHP officer Michael Bradley, the FedEx truck was driving on the southbound side of Interstate 5 around 6 a.m. in the rain. The driver lost control, hit the center median and crossed into the northbound lanes of Interstate 5, hitting a truck in the process, killing the driver.

The victim was identified as a man and the driver of the Fed truck was identified as a woman, but authorities have not given any more information on their identities.

It was not immediately clear if the morning rain was a factor in the accident.

CHP says traffic is being diverted at Seamas Avenue.  CHP also shut down Interstate 5 northbound lanes at the Florin Road exit and is directing traffic off that exit.

Expect over an hour delay coming into Sacramento from Elk Grove. CHP said delays can be expected to continue through the afternoon.

CHP suggests these detour options: State Route 99 via State Route 120 in Manteca, or State Route 4 (Crosstown Freeway) in Stockton or Highway 99 or take surface streets into Sacramento

Source of article Video and pictures click here: ABC