Skyrocketing fuel prices and the weak U.S. dollar are creating unanticipated new opportunities and challenges for local freight brokers and forwarders. Since the cost of diesel fuel has risen 135 percent in the past year, these shipping intermediaries are watching customer loyalty erode as local manufacturers and importers struggle to…
Owning and controlling a business is no walk in the park, as the business owner will be forced to deal with a myriad of complex, stressful and emotionally demanding problems that will arise in the course of doing business. However, as difficult as owning a business is and can be,…
As a third party intermediary, there are certain things that need to do before becoming a full-pledged freight broker agents. Here is the list of the things you have to remember and carry out to jump-start your career in the freight brokering business. Freight Brokering and Freight Broker Agents Experience…
Truck Freight Rates: Setting the freight rates for your trucks is one of the most important decisions you will make when you operate a trucking company. Your rates will determine your success: If your rates are too high, you will not have customers, and if your rates are too low…
Importance Credit report: Along with additional records such as a criminal history, help government officials verify an applicant’s identity, but, more important, those reports help gauge an applicant’s integrity. Customs brokers control millions of dollars of goods entering the U.S. A poor credit history, especially if it includes serious negative…
Payroll costs: Truck drivers may drive hundreds of miles a day, but many are doing it without benefits and routine worker protections, according to lawmakers going after companies that improperly classify the drivers as independent contractors. Assembly members released a proposal last week that sets a much higher bar for port…
International Shipholding Corporation (ISH) today announced the purchase of a 1999-built Pure Car Truck Carrier (PCTC). The vessel acquisition was funded by a $3.5 million cash payment and the sale of the Company’s 1994-built PCTC, Green Cove, to the seller in a transaction valued at approximately $27.5 million. The newly…
Tow truck driver from around central Ohio lined up and drove around Interstate 270 on Friday to say a final farewell to a Columbus man killed on the job. Bill Houck, 60, was killed on Interstate 71 just north of Cooke Road Saturday morning while he was hitching a car…
Interstate 271 was closed for about 90 minutes Saturday afternoon after a tractor-trailer hit a tow truck driver who was changing a tire along the highway. Police said the driver was between his truck and the car he was assisting, on the shoulder of the northbound lanes near the I-480…
Truckers following faulty directions by global positioning systems devices have hit bridges in New York City, Long Island and Westchester County more than 200 times in the past two years, the New York Democrat said in a letter to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood yesterday. About 80 percent of bridge strikes…
The driver of a semi truck died Friday morning after crashing on Highway 18.The driver of the Fed-Ex truck became trapped in the cab when the truck drove off the road near the summit of Tiger Mountain, according to the Washington State Patrol. A witness told troopers he saw the…
Daimler’s European business has strayed outside its normal comfort zone, designing a trailer optimized for maximum efficiency with the company’s own Actros tractor. The Aerodynamics Truck and Trailer, unveiled at the International Motor Show this week, will reduce a semi-trailer’s fuel consumption to less than 25 litres per 100 kilometres,…
Weak demand for commercial vehicles persisted into August, according to the latest report from ACT Research. ACT’s State of the Industry report covers Class 5 through 8 vehicles for the North American market. “Class 8 orders are likely to continue in hand-to-mouth fashion until there is better clarity about the…
Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers will be selling close to 2,450 equipment items and trucks in a two-day unreserved public auction in Bolton, Ont. Sept. 25-26. Equipment highlights heading to the auction block include 115 truck tractors, including four 2011 Kenworth T800 sleeper truck tractors, according to Ritchie Bros. “This is the…
Meritor announced the production of the MTA 25 low-mount and MTA30 low-mount trailer suspensions, the two newest family members of its MTA (Meritor Trailing-Arm Air) suspension series for North American trailer operators. These units are specifically designed as part of a fully-integrated system to optimize performance and weight, and aimed…
Driver walks away: Traffic was backed up along Route 3A south and Route 123 west for a couple of hours on Thursday (Sept. 13) after a roll-off dumpster truck fell onto its side at the Scituate roundabout.The driver of the truck, the sole occupant, was uninjured and walked away from…
Apex Capital marks this National Truck Driver Appreciation Week celebration, September 16-22, by collecting good driver nominations online and on location from their clients and awarding a daily winner with a $75.00 Visa gift card. Five winners will be awarded throughout the week. “National Truck Driver Appreciation Week gives Apex…
It was the height of the truck’s front license plate that first made the officer suspicious. Now, the driver is facing criminal and motor vehicle charges, accused of tampering with his plates to beat the toll at the George Washington Bridge.Port Authority Police Officer Steve Pisciotta was pulling bridge duty…
Driver&Load: Global supply chain optimization provider Manhattan Associates, Inc. (Nasdaq:MANH) today announced that Pacific, Wash. based Gordon Trucking, a local, regional, and trans-continental truckload service provider, has seen substantial reductions in operating costs and deadhead miles following a successful implementation of Manhattan’s Driver&Load® module from the Manhattan Carrier™ suite of…
In Billings, the number of freight shipments have tripled since one of the nation’s largest trucking companies, Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. bought out a Montana business five years ago.That means the freight hauler has far outgrown its in-town terminal at 4300 State Ave.So, Old Dominion — which purchased Bob’s…
The Australian Trucking Association (ATA) has welcomed the VicRoads Road to Respect campaign – which presents the ATA’s safety exhibition trailer, the Road Ahead, in an all-new livery. The Victorian Minister for Transport, Terry Mulder, launched the campaign today. The centrepiece of the campaign is the VicRoads Road to Respect…
PACCAR Australia was last month named Employer of the Year at the Victorian Government’s Training Awards for the second time, after first winning the title in 2007. PACCAR competed with other finalists Crown Melbourne Ltd and Southern Rural Water to take out the award, and will now represent Victoria at…
Through the introduction of innovative programs like the “Buyer’s Boot Camp” and “Sellers Boot Camp,” Andy Ahern, CEO of Ahern and Associates, the nation’s top transportation acquisition consulting firm, has been able to have a marked impact on the current movement within the transportation industry towards consolidation. Ahern’s unique ability…
More than 200 tow trucks flashed their lights in a caravan from Grandview to a funeral home in Liberty on Saturday to honor “a fallen brother” while making a pointed appeal for safety.The folks driving the brawny vehicles were mourning 18-year-old Blake Gresham. He was killed Monday on the Christopher…
