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Our Forum is the all year around meeting place, where drivers and owners come for Information or discuss trucking and expediting related questions. Whether you drive a Tractor/Trailer, Expediter Straight Truck or Van, you are very welcome here in Expediter World. We bring you Expediting and Trucking News on a regular basis. Trucking Professionals as well as Newbie's enjoy our Photo Gallery and NEW Free Classifieds. You can also find the right job with our new website, please visit us at www.expediterjobsonline.com. You can also check diesel fuel prices with our National Truckstop fuel price locator. Join us in relaxing, having fun and playing games.
Trucking Crews Begin Assistance Effort for California Residents Affected by Wildfires |  | 
With donations to help those affected by the recent California wildfires arriving from around the country, trucking fleets are bracing to help deliver supplies for relief efforts. “Commercial truck drivers and motor carriers are offering assistance in a variety of manners,” said Shawn Yadon, president of the California Trucking Association, in an interview with Transport Topics. “The trucking industry is a very giving industry.” For example, he noted that CTA member companies are partnering with the American Logistics Aid Network, which is organizing the massive logistics effort to get supplies to the fire victims. “They put the donations together with logistics and transportation freight companies — our member drivers and companies — and they put those shipments together with people who can actually help out,” said Yadon. “You do find California drivers and motor carriers that are at the ready. Those type of missions are occurring every day.”
A Camp Fire evacuee looks through donated items in a parking lot in Chico, Calif. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg) The American Logistics Aid Network was formed in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. It provides free disaster logistics relief before, during and after catastrophic events. “Some of it is just the scale of the destruction, trying to make sure that the nonprofit community can get the items they need — and such vast quantities — into the area. That’s one of the challenges the organizations are facing now,” American Logistics Aid Network Executive Director Kathy Fulton told Transport Topics. Fulton noted that with many people expected to remain in temporary housing for extended periods with limited space to store the fundamentals, relief efforts initially will focus on the basics — water, food, clothing and comfort items — until victims can begin rebuilding efforts in their communities. “We’ve just never seen anything on a scale like this, with the numbers of lives affected — tens of thousands of homes destroyed,” Fulton said. “It is not something that we have ever dealt with in this fashion before. But it’s all so early in the disaster, and a lot of the transportation and warehousing needs will come afterwards.” The so-called Camp Fire in Butte County, Calif., is the most deadly and destructive wildfire in state history and also ranks as one of the most lethal wildfires in the nation’s history, Bloomberg reported. The fire has damaged more than 150,000 acres, burning nearly 13,000 structures, and is not expected to be fully contained until Nov. 30. In Southern California, the Woolsey Fire near Los Angeles and Ventura Counties burned nearly 100,000 acres and destroyed or damaged more than 1,800 structures. The fire was expected to be fully contained by Nov. 22. Heavy rains moving in Wednesday through Friday were expected to help firefighters gain control of and eventually extinguish the blazes. However, the National Weather Service warned that rainfall combined with scorched and damaged land could cause widespread flooding and mudslides, making conditions even more challenging for aid workers and displaced residents. Source of article and other great articles click here : Transport Topics
Truck driver delivering liquid CO2 dies from carbon dioxide poisoning | |
 A Minnesota truck driver was found dead in the back of his truck Wednesday morning. He had been overcome by carbon dioxide when the chemical began leaking from the rear end of his truck. According to the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office, the incident occurred in the McDonald’s parking lot around 9:30 am off Highway 65 in Spring Lake Park. The police were called onto the scene after a 9-11 call came in about a seemingly unconscious man in the cargo area of his truck. When they arrived the CO2 was still pouring out of the back, and the driver was deceased. Initially, the leak was thought to have been caused by a mechanical failure in the truck’s distribution system. Dave Eide witnessed the incident and told local news he saw it differently. Eide stated that that it appeared as though the truck driver must have attempted to drive off with the liquid CO2 hose still attached to a fitting. He says he saw the hose outside the vehicle and described it as the hose ‘going wild’. According to KARE11, a Eide had stopped at the McDonald’s for breakfast and noticed that something was going on with the truck. He tried to help the man, but apparently it was too late. In a statement he gave to the news source he said, “I hopped out, went over…(thought) ‘something ain’t right.’ I opened the door of the truck, a bunch of smoke came at me…there was nothing I could do at that point. You couldn’t get in there to shut it off.” The owner of the delivery company refused to speak on camera but did say that a driver “error” was the cause of the accident. Source of article and other great articles click here : CDL LIFE
These are the 15 toughest states for moving violations | |
These 15 state truck enforcement programs in 2017 encoded the largest percentages of moving violations, measured as a share of all of each state’s issued violations, the nation over. From top to bottom, the states that show the heaviest focus on traffic enforcement, as evidenced by data from inspection reports, are:
As in evident in the map at the top, there’s some of Midwest regional proclivity for an outsize focus on traffic enforcement. In Minnesota, it’s on the rise. That state’s moving violations as a percentage of all issued violations nearly doubled between 2014 and 2016, before dropping a hair in 2017. The state’s 9.8 percent measure, still, is almost double the national average for moving violations marked on inspection reports, which make up just 5 percent of violations nationally. However, Minnesota is typical in its region and one of seven Midwest states in the top 15. Source of article and other great articles click here : Truckers News
OSHA fines trucking company after ‘on-site dangers’ leads to employees death | |
 The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has concluded their investigation into the death of a U.S. Xpress employee. An accident in April involving the death of an employee prompted the OSHA investigation. The incident took place at the Dollar Tree Distribution Center in Savannah, Georgia, when a yard truck struck the man while he was walking between two semi-tractor trailers. The truck had dragged the man for some distance before the driver realized what had happened. The accident ultimately lead to his death. According to a press release from the U.S. Department of Labor, OSHA issued a citation to Dollar Tree and U.S. Xpress for exposing their workers to hazards and on-site dangers that lead to the death of an employee. In addition to these citations, the press release from OSHA notes that The Dollar Tree Distribution Center was also cited specifically for the following reasons: “using a vehicle with a non-functioning headlight, failing to guard a nip point on a conveyor discharge belt, and storing unstable materials on racks.” In detail, U.S Xpress Inc. faces penalties of $12,934, and Dollar Tree Distribution Center Inc. faces penalties of $130,112. After the accident, Dollar Tree gave a statement to a local news sources that said, “Safety is always our first priority and we are cooperating fully with the investigation.” However, OSHA’s Savannah Area Director, Margo Westmoreland, seems to disagree. She says, “This tragedy could have been prevented had the employer assessed the workplace for hazards and taken action to eliminate the safety risks to employees.” Source of article click here : CDL Life
Trucking company loses more than $20,000 in email scam | |
 GRAND ISLAND, Neb. — A Grand Island trucking company is out more than $20,000 after police said they fell victim to an email scam. The Grand Island Police Department said an employee at Sunrise Express received an email that was spoofed to look like it came from a manager. Police said the email was instructing the employee to pay an invoice to an international account. Reports indicate that $23,546.30 was transferred to the account before the company realized that the orders weren't actually coming from a manager. No details were available on any bank efforts to freeze the account or recover the money. Grand Island police are encouraging people to use other means to ensure the communication is legit before taking any action, including calling the manager or talking to them in person. Source of article click here : NTV
CVSA: Don’t disturb off-duty drivers for inspections | |
Updated policy guidance from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance issued recently says inspectors should not disrupt drivers’ off-duty or sleeper berth time, when they’re legally parked, for a random inspection. Though the policy is not law, CVSA guidelines are intended to create uniform inspection policies. The text of the updated guidance dictates that “inspectors shall not disturb/interrupt any driver of a commercial motor vehicle in off-duty or sleeper berth status when legally parked for the purpose of conducting a random inspection.” Collin Mooney, executive director of CVSA, says inspectors can still interrupt drivers when they’re parked illegally and need to move their truck. “But when they’re parked at a safe location, a rest stop, the prohibition is to not wake the driver to complete an inspection,” says Mooney. The decision was based on anecdotal feedback, said Mooney, though there were no specifics as to any inspectors or departments that had been interrupting drivers during off-duty periods. But “apparently it was an issue somewhere,” he said. “It became apparent that we needed to add a sentence” to guidelines for random inspections. This extends to off-duty drivers in team operations, says Mooney. “Our policy is to not wake up any drivers. As far as a co-driver needing to be woken up — it’s not something that we encourage, because it defeats the purpose at that point of the driver getting their rest. With ELDs, [inspectors] should have access to that information without having to wake up the driver anyway.” |
Your next FedEx delivery may arrive via Chinese electric truck | |
Your next package delivery might be a little bit greener. FedEx announced today that it will add 1,000 Chinese-built electric delivery vans to its fleet. The Chanje V8100 vans will be operated in California, and FedEx expects them to save the company about 2,000 gallons of fuel annually. The vans are manufactured by a company called FDG in Hangzhou, China, and are sold through California-based Chanje Energy. Of the 1,000 that FedEx will add to its fleet, 100 will be purchased directly and the remaining 900 will be leased through Ryder System, which will also provide maintenance and servicing for the vans. The all-electric vans have a 150-mile range on a charge and a load capacity of 6,000 pounds. According to Chanje Energy, the vans have 675 cubic feet of storage capacity, and their electric motors produce 198 horsepower and 563 pound-feet of torque. "FedEx continually seeks new ways to maximize operational efficiency, minimize impacts and find innovative solutions," Mitch Jackson, FedEx chief sustainability officer, said in a statement. "Our investment in these vehicles is part of our commitment to that approach of serving our customers and connecting the world responsibly and resourcefully." FedEx says it first operated all-electric delivery vehicles in 2009 and has since tested various different models, as well as a large fleet of hybrid vehicles. In 2014, for instance, FedEx began using the Nissan e-NV200 compact van. More recently, the company has said it will order 20 Tesla Semi trucks, once they are available. Source of article and other great articles click here : Road Show When truckers are out of time, where do they park their rigs? PennDOT is looking for space | |
A change in federal regulations to better control the hours truckers spend on the road has created another problem: lack of parking. As a result, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is gathering information on the best way to address the situation. It has established an online request for information through its Public-Private Partnership Office as it tries to determine where the parking problems are and whether they should be addressed by state government, private industry or a combination of the two. In January, federal regulations changed to require the hours truckers drive to be monitored electronically rather than recorded manually by the drivers. The goal was to provide safer highways by reducing the number of drivers who cheat by driving more hours than allowed by law. But an offshoot of the regulations is that making truckers park their rigs has overwhelmed the available parking facilities in many areas, said Rick Daley, president of the southwest chapter of the Pennsylvania Motor Trucking Association. “This in itself has raised a huge issue. Truck parking is a big problem,” said Mr. Daley, a vice president at Tri-State Trailer Sales Inc. on Neville Island. “In the past, these drivers were doing hand-written logs but with electronic logs, there’s no way to manipulate the hours. When a driver is out of time, he has to shut down. [Existing parking facilities] just can’t handle all the truckers that are out there.” Mr. Daley said truck parking isn’t a major problem in this area — a small new parking facility is being developed along Interstate 79 near Portersville — but truckers around the Harrisburg area are having terrible problems where Interstates 81 and 83 intersect near the Pennsylvania Turnpike. “Is it the state’s problem? I don’t know,” said Mr. Daley. “It’s probably beneficial to the state to open up places to park to help move commerce. Who should pay for [additional parking places] is a big question.” PennDOT spokesman Rich Kirkpatrick said in an email the state’s goal is to find out how serious the problem is and the options for addressing it. “Is PennDOT responsible? Or is it the private sector?” Mr. Kirkpatrick said. “We want to know where are the most needs for extra parking.” Right now, truckers pay at private facilities for parking and other amenities such as showers. At roadside rest areas and welcome centers, which are maintained by PennDOT, they are only supposed to stay for two hours before they move on. PennDOT’s request for information, available on the Public-Private Partnership website www.P3.pa.gov through 1 p.m. Dec. 12, asks 11 questions, including whether the state should provide more facilities and how private industry and government might work together. Trucks moved about 867 million tons of goods in Pennsylvania in 2011, PennDOT said, and that is expected to nearly double to 1.5 billion tons by 2040. “Pennsylvania’s status as a critical freight connection and distribution point is growing every day and we expect exponential freight growth in the future,” PennDOT Secretary Leslie S. Richards, who also chairs the board that oversees the department’s public-private partnerships, said in a news release. “Truck volumes need to be considered from a traffic perspective, and this process to hear from the public and explore innovative delivery options works toward our goal to ensure safe operations and options for the people moving all of these goods on our roadways.” Source of article and other great articles click here : Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The Trucking Alliance Lays Out Its Argument In Favor Of Hair Testing | |
 Todd Spencer of the Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association recently questioned the Trucking Alliance’s claim that an opioid addiction problem exists in the trucking industry. Spencer suggests no data supports that claim. The Trucking Alliance claims otherwise and offers the following evidence. JB Hunt Transport is one of freight transportation’s largest employers. Since 2006, the company has relied on two drug tests before hiring a job applicant. The first is a urine test, the only method recognized by the Department of Transportation. JB Hunt also requires applicants to pass a hair exam, which USDOT does not recognize. The Trucking Alliance adopted JB Hunt’s policy in 2011, as one of its operating principles. Carriers that affiliate with the Trucking Alliance also agree to utilize hair exams in their pre-employment hiring policies. Dean Newell, vice president of safety and training at Maverick USA, and a member of the Alliance’s Advisory Group, recently presented Maverick’s drug test results at a forum hosted by the United Nations. Newell said that requiring a person to pass a hair exam before hiring them as a truck driver is a ‘no brainer’ for any company in the industry. Newell explained that hair exams accurately identify lifestyle drug users. Urine tests can reveal drug use, but only for hours before a test is conducted. Hair exams can identify drug use up for to 90 days before the test is conducted. Newell believes that due to the safety sensitive functions of the profession, the hiring standard for truck drivers should be that applicants are drug free for 90 days prior to employment. JB Hunt has tracked its drug testing data since 2006. As of September 2018, JB Hunt reports that 131,364 job applicants were asked to pass both tests, and 6,786 people, or 5.17%, either failed the drug tests or refused to take them. But surprisingly, the urine test failed to catch 86% of the drug users. Almost 9 out of 10 drug users passed their urine test, only to fail the hair exam. Almost all trucking companies only require applicants pass the USDOT mandated urine test. So, presumably, most job applicants who fail a hair exam simply go down the road. They find a job at another trucking company that requires only one drug test. Or they purchase a truck and work for themselves. The Alliance believes the industry should eliminate any chance that drug abusers are driving tractor trailers. The Alliance also claims opioid abuse is growing among truck driver applicants. JB Hunt data shows that, in 2017, 7.7% of its job applicants tested positive for drugs, a two percent spike over the company’s 12-year average. Ninety percent (90%) of those applicants who passed their urine test failed the hair exam. Opioids accounted for 48 percent of the illegal drugs identified. Cocaine was second. The Alliance maintains its stance that the USDOT should not rely on urine test results and should recognize hair testing and formulate policy accordingly. Source: The Trucking Alliance Additional turnpike patrol unit will target trucking violations | |
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — In what was described as a coordinated effort to increase safety for the traveling public, the West Virginia Parkways Authority, the Public Service Commission and the West Virginia State Police announced Tuesday that they will dedicate an additional full-time patrol unit to intercepting potential hazards involving tractor-trailers on the West Virginia Turnpike. The unit will perform safety inspections, and issue citations to drivers of commercial motor vehicles for speeding and for having defective equipment while driving on the turnpike. PSC spokesperson Susan Small told MetroNews the unit’s function will be specific, and targeted toward certain types of violations. “They watch for vehicles that are not operating in a safe manner, such as an unsecured load (or) if they don’t appear to be breaking appropriately…it just gives a higher awareness to the truck drivers that the Public Service Commission is out there and looking for unsafe vehicles,” she said. Small noted that there has been a dramatic increase in accidents on the turnpike involving tractor-trailers over the past 4 years, although that increase includes incidents that were not the fault of the truck driver. “Oftentimes, you’ve got a car that thinks it can jump out in front of you, and a tractor-trailer takes a much longer time to come to a stop then a sedan would, so there needs to be increased awareness, not only by the truck drivers but those that are driving around the trucks,” said Small. In 2013, there were 58 accidents involving commercial vehicles on West Virginia roads, resulting in 34 injuries and one fatality. In 2017, there were 120 such accidents resulting in 71 injuries and nine fatalities. A similar increase has occurred nationwide, according to numbers released by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The additional officer is expected to be in place within the next few weeks, in advance of an expected increase in holiday traffic. The Parkways Authority will be responsible for the salary and cost of the vehicle used by the new patrol unit. The officer will be certified and trained by the Transportation Division of the Public Service Commission. AGT Global Logistics Founder Eliacostas Named 2018 Influential Woman in Trucking | |
Angela Eliacostas’ father once told her that as a woman in trucking, she would face many challenges, but that hard work knows no gender. Freightliner Trucks and the Women in Trucking Association presented the eighth annual Influential Woman in Trucking award to Angela Eliacostas, founder and CEO, AGT Global Logistics. The winner was announced during the panel discussion of “Hard-Won Lessons from Trailblazing Women” at the WIT Accelerate! Conference & Expo in Dallas, Texas. The panel was facilitated by Joann Lublin, a Pulitzer-prize winner and news editor for The Wall Street Journal. Eliacostas was presented the award by Kary Schaefer, general manager, Product Marketing and Strategy, Daimler Trucks North America. “From occupying seats in the truck to chairs in the boardroom, it is important that we recognize and celebrate the outstanding leadership contributions being made each and every day by women in our industry,” said Schaefer. “Through involvement in organizations like Women in Trucking, we want to highlight the career opportunities available to women in our industry. I am privileged to present this award to Angela Eliacostas, founder and CEO, AGT Global Logistics, and proud to be part of Women in Trucking, which is focused on attracting top talent and promoting influential leaders across all roles within the truck industry.” The Influential Woman in Trucking award recognizes women in the trucking industry who make or influence key decisions, have a proven record of responsibility, and mentor and serve as a role model to other women. The award was developed in 2010 as a way to honor female leaders in trucking, and to attract and advance women within the industry. With more than 30 years in transportation, Eliacostas has worked her way from the ground up. Following generations of relatives with expertise in the transportation industry, she made the natural transition to her own career by learning the processes at trucking companies to running third-party logistics. In 2005, Eliacostas formed All Girls Transportation and Logistics Inc. As offerings and services grew, a name change was required to fit their expansion and AGT Global Logistics was born. The company, headquartered in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, provides a broad range of third-party logistics (3PL) services. Eliacostas has been recognized for making AGT Global Logistics one of the top 50 in Illinois and top 1,000 woman-owned businesses in the United States. Eliacostas’ father once told her that as a woman in the industry, she would face many challenges, but hard work knows no gender. “These are words to live by and I'm honored to help encourage and hopefully inspire women in the world of trucking,” she said. The finalists of the 2018 Influential Woman in Trucking award also included Nozuko Mayeza, managing director, Tulsawiz Logistics, and Brooke Willey, vice president-human resources, CRST International. Source of article click here : Truckinginfo
XPO launches accelerated training for veterans | |
XPO Logistics now has two free national driver training programs to give military veterans and reserve forces members an accelerated start to their trucking careers. Service members who trained as drivers in the military but have limited experience behind the wheel will be able to participate in a four-week driver training program. XPO has also created a second program for military service members whose time in the military didn’t involve work in transportation to help them acquire CDLs for free. Students participating in the accelerated training program for veterans and reservists who come to drive for XPO pay no tuition or fees. |
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