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MILTON, Ont. – It’s raining, it’s dark, and you’re squinting to see the lines on the road and the signs ahead of you.

We’ve all been there, but if you’ve ever cursed your inability to see road markings in the dark or bad weather, you don’t necessarily need to blame advancing age or declining sight, say engineers at 3M. Instead, you should blame the sign technology.

A 53-foot trailer containing the best and brightest in sign and paint engineer is touring North America for the 3M Roadshow. The truck was in the GTA this week and will make an appearance at the Transportation Association of Canada Conference Sept. 30 – Oct. 3 in Saskatoon, Sask.

The Roadshow is targeting municipal councilors and other government officials to bring attention to the fact that in most areas of the country the signs on the road are using technology that’s nearly 80 years old.

“Can you imagine using a TV from 1940?” says Doug Boccabella, marketing for 3M.

Three types of signs, road paint, and reflective tape used for construction barrels and other marking are currently being used across the country. Designated either T1, T3/4, or T11, the types are rated by brightness and reflectiveness.

The T1 type of sign was invented in about 1940 and is still commonly used by municipalities for road work, street signs and stop signs.

Boccabella says some municipalities have begun to adopt the T3/4 type of signs for things like construction barrels, but the brightest technology – T11 – has yet to be adopted by most municipalities. Provinces like British Columbia, Alberta, and Quebec have a higher uptake than other areas, but provinces like Ontario have yet to see adoption of the brightest signs.

To show councilors the difference between the technology currently in use and the newest version of available road paint and signs, the 3M travelling trailer not only displays the two side-by-side but puts visitors in a lab-like setting.

In the “lab” guests sit in the driver position in room painted black to look like a dark night. Then, water pours for the ceiling on the road lines ahead, mimicking a dark and stormy night. As your “headlights” shine on the rainy spot in front of you, suddenly many of the freshly painted lines become hard if not impossible to see.

With a white core and greater reflectivity, the brightest of the paint and signs return up to 58% of the available light. While 3M didn’t have numbers available for how much light is returned by T1-type signs, it was significantly less.

Even on a bright clear day 3M says the signs are important for getting the attention of drivers who may be distracted or suffering from highway hypnosis.

That difference in brightness also comes with a cost – something 3M says is the most significant barrier to adoption. T3/4 signs can cost 10 per cent more than the T1 signs, with T11 signs costing 30% more than the T3/4 signs.

Municipal contracts are awarded on an RFP bid system with the lowest bids necessarily getting the work. That legal requirement makes it hard for contractors using the more expensive materials to get the work awarded to them.

Boccabella says the 3M roadshow is aiming to get those in government to see the safety benefits to adding brighter signs and paint to the roadways and make the technology part of any request for work.

The roadshow is also demonstrating how roads of the future will work with autonomous vehicles, showing off “road closed” signs that look like any other sign to the naked eye, but contain an embedded QR code that can be read by an automated vehicle’s infrared sensors.

The signs give the basic information necessary to the naked eye, allowing human drivers to read the information they would normally get from the sign. Autonomous vehicles can get much more information, however, because the embedded code is dynamic.

Boccabella says the signs could impart weather conditions, GPS coordinates for a detour or much more information to the car, giving it specific instructions for how to operate.

Just in the demonstration stage now, there are four of the signs on Michigan Highway I75 for testing.

The coded signs are also being demonstrated with the T11 sign technology – something 3M says will play a key role in getting autonomous vehicles on the road, as consistency is key.

Autonomous cars learn as they go, adapting to road conditions and learning to become better drivers over time, much like human drivers learn. Learning how to see and read signs is a key part of that process, and for the machine to learn it needs consistency.

Consistent signage – including brightness levels – will make the learning process that much easier, says Boccabella. An important step for commercial vehicles which may read signs in several provinces over the course of a single day.

After leaving Ontario the roadshow headed to North Carolina for it’s next stop. It will be traversing North America for the rest of the summer and into the fall.

Source of article click here : Today's Trucking

PHOTO BY MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES VIA AP

PORT HURON, Mich. — Michigan officials say more than 2,000 pounds of live crayfish have been seized from a truck at the border between the U.S. and Canada.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources said conservation officers in St. Clair County were notified in mid-July that the red swamp crayfish were found as a truck tried to cross from the U.S. at Sarnia, Ontario. The agency said the truck originated in Canada and had been in Maryland and Arkansas to pick up its cargo.

Border officials helped the DNR seize 55 bags of live crayfish. The Michigan department said it's the agency's largest aquatic invasive species seizure.

The agency said red swamp crayfish are prohibited in Michigan and Canada. They burrow and create shoreline erosion and compete with native crayfish.

Source of article click here : Arkansas Online

BYD Auto (OTCPK:BYDDF) has grown rapidly on the back of becoming the world's largest EV (electric vehicle) company. Cars both electric and ICE are what mainly moves the stock price, though batteries are of increasing importance to their revenues. They are building up a potentially strong mono-rail business. Their e-bus business is very substantial and growing worldwide.

As I pointed out in an article in November, however, they are also early leaders in e-trucks. These are produced in the same factories as their e-buses. This is becoming an important source of growing revenue for them, and revenue should surge in the next couple of years.

Tesla (TSLA) garnered a lot of publicity when they announced their Semi e-truck plans. However, there is little sign it will see the light of day in the near future. Even if it does, the company is not going to have a suite of products to keep on trucking in a meaningful fashion. There is great potential, but in my view, the Tesla Semi is likely to be a niche product only.

The BYD Offering

My November article gave details of the BYD product range. Unlike its competitors, it has a full range up and running. This is key. Much of the talk has been about the big Class 8 trucks. In fact, smaller trucks in huge demand from the growth of e-shopping and consequent urban deliveries are a more important business. Other specialist products have great potential too. In garbage trucks alone, BYD has a range of products for which orders are starting to build up.

The contract wins keep piling up for BYD.

Recently, the company closed a contract for 500 garbage trucks in Shenzhen (a city to which they have already supplied over 16,000 e-buses). These have a range of 280 kms. One is pictured below:

Source of article click here : Seeking Alpha

Land O'Lakes Chief Supply Chain Officer, Yone Dewberry, told an audience at eft's 3PL and Supply Chain Summit in Atlanta in on June 6th, "We've created it" (the truck driver shortage). "As an industry" (shippers), "we've done this to ourselves."

Land O'Lakes is a member owned cooperative with revenues of $15 billion. The company is best known for dairy products, particularly butter, but the company also has divisions devoted to animal nutrition and seeds/crop protection. When it comes to securing carriage, it is easier if you have predictable demand, use standard trucks, and have long lead times. That does not fit any of their businesses.

The animal feed business does not have seasonal peaks, but 40 percent of deliveries are same day or next day. The dairy business has "huge peaks" according to Mr. Dewberry. Forty percent of butter is sold in November and December and needs to be transported in refrigerated trucks. "Getting refrigerated trucks during the busy season is tough." Finally, the Ag service business is "peaky." "When the weather gets warm, farmers want to plant. It is hard to predict these peaks. And when it rains, farmers are apt to ask for fungicides, and they want those fungicides delivered the same day. 80 percent of deliveries from this business are same or next day.

The trucker shortage is being driven by: unemployment rates being down, which has created a positive consumer outlook and people buying more goods. It is definitely driven by demographics, "in the past ten percent of drivers were near retirement at any point in time, today it is 25 percent" said Mr. Dewberry. The ELD mandate has had an impact, but perhaps not as big as many argue. But a big reason for the shortage is that "we've forced our carriers to drive their prices down. Trucking companies don't have many levers. There is fuel, carriers can not control that. And there are driver wages. For many years, driver wages were not keeping up with wage growth in other sectors.

So, there is a driver shortage. Companies are having a harder time maintaining existing service levels, much less moving to more demanding business to consumer ecommerce type expectations for quick deliveries. "5:00 to 9:00 bleeds over to 9:00 to 5.00" quipped Mr. Dewberry. By that he means that people go home at the end of the day, order on line, are promised quick deliveries, have choices on when and how goods are shipped, and have visibility to those shipments. Those expectations then carry over to the business environment.

So that is the problem, what is the solution? Land O'Lakes is doing several things to deal with a tough freight environment. First of all, the company believes a focus on costs has been overblown. "We don't generally talk about price (with carriers), we talk about how to solve a problem."

Source of article click here : Forbes

S.H.E. Trucking (Sisterhood Helping Empowerment in Trucking) will host its first annual The Big Rig Kids, with Grandma Polly, on:

• Thursday, July 19, from noon-2 p.m., at Leadership for Life, 200 E. 37th St.; and

• Friday, July 20, from 10 a.m.-noon at Girls Incorporated of Chattanooga, 4505 Brainerd Road.

"The purpose of the event is to present a window into the trucking industry for girls and young women who may want to explore the field as a career option.

Truckers will be onsite with their rigs to answer questions, and youth may get a feel of what 'on the road' is like from the driver's seat," officials said.

“We encourage kids and adults can come out to get a full experience,” said Sharae Moore, CEO and Founder of S.H.E. Trucking. “Dream big. You can be anything you want to be,” she said.

Renee Brown, a former trucker who is also known as Grandma Polly, is author of a series of books written to inspire young adults. Through her series, she will cover topics including youth and community-related issues. The Charlotte, NC-based Big Rigs Kids will present their anti-bullying movement, “Stand Up!”

"S.H.E. Trucking Apparel seeks to inspire and empower women in trucking through its clothing brand. The company is a major supporter of women in trucking by connecting women in the field coast to coast, and through its tee shirt sales, by supporting women in trucking in need of financial assistance," officials said.

Sponsors for the event are Sese Logistics, First Class Transport and Chattanooga Wing Factory.

Source of article click here :Chattanoogan