3/12/2010  The Changing Face of Trucking: Part I
By Deborah Lockridge, Editor

Once upon a time, you had truckload companies, less-than-truckload companies, warehousing/logistics companies, rail intermodal companies, port drayage companies, and brokers. But today, the lines are blurring.

J.B. Hunt, a pioneer of the truckload business, now generates about three-quarters of its total operating income from intermodal operations. Go to Schneider National's web site, and you'll see a slide show of not only Schneider tractors and trailers, but also trains, planes, ships, forklifts, warehouses, computers, and stacks of intermodal containers - and it's growing its new regional fleet to 2,500 drivers this year. LTL giant Con-way now boasts a truckload division and two divisions that broker loads. FedEx, once known only for its overnight packages, now offers customers LTL, truckload, expedited and more. Average length of haul for big truckload carriers is dropping, while it's rising for the smaller guys.

There are a number of factors at work. In an industry known for tight margins, some companies are turning to diversification to improve the bottom line. Some analysts say the truckload model is simply broken, and LTL hasn't been faring any better. And then there's the question of how the industry may change coming out of the recession and facing tighter government restrictions.....

3/12/2010  Best Solutions For Locking Up Tools
By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

New York City is famous for horror stories about crime in general and theft in particular. Here's one we just heard: A tradesman had all his expensive power tools stolen from his locked van by someone who was destructively determined. The thief broke a window in one of the van's doors to get in, but wasn't content to reach in and unlock it. He also punched a hole in the sheet metal, wrapped a cable through the two ragged openings, then tied the cable to another vehicle and yanked the door right off.

Locking the van was not the complete answer here. Would an alarm have made a difference?

A high-tech option

Tattletale Portable Alarm Systems thinks so. It suggests rigging a truck, bulldozer, building or anything that needs protecting with a motion detector that's wirelessly connected to a base station. The station, about the size of a slide projector, knows the instant somebody moves near the protected equipment and sets off a loud, flashing alarm. Meanwhile it alerts the equipment's owner by calling or texting him on his cell phone. The owner knows within a minute or two that his stuff's in jeopardy.....

3/5/2010  Fuel Management Lost at Sea
By Glen Sokolis, Sokolis Group

Fuel Management might be lost at sea, but it hasn't gained any demand on land either. What are we talking about? For the last 18 months or so the volume of fuel being stored at sea on tankers had climbed rapidly. Last year we had almost 90 million barrels of crude oil or fleet fuel or heating oil floating around in this huge stockpile of extra volume.

That amount of fuel floating has declined to 43 million barrels, and we will probably see that number erode even more as in recent weeks freight rates have risen and the spread in the price gap between storing it at sea and selling it at a later date has become even greater to speculate. This fleet fuel sitting on a tanker ship waiting for the price to rise has been another energy speculation that has been going on for a while but several groups feel that this market is drying up. Even though the International Energy Agency expects a 1.8 percent growth in fuel demand in 2010, supply is still plentiful and spare capacity in oil producing countries remains high.....

3/4/2010  Drive Performance Using Key Indicators
By Tom Flies, Xata Corp.

We've all heard the old saying: you can't improve what you don't measure. Yet that is exactly what fleets are trying to do these days.

There are some questions that fleet managers should immediately know about their fleet:

* "What is your fleet's average idle time?"
* "What is MPG this month, compared to last month?"
* "Which customers get the most late deliveries; the most on-time deliveries?"

If these questions can't be answered, it is time to realize an immediate positive impact to the bottom line with key performance indicators (KPIs).

KPIs: Driving Performance the Data Way

KPIs are quantifiable measurements that drive fleet-and corporate-performance. Typically tied to an organization's goals, KPIs provide everyone in the organization with a clear picture of what success looks like. KPIs also clearly state what's going to be measured and how.....

2/12/2010  All Aboard: Getting Drivers on Board With In-Cab Technology
By Diana Britton, Managing Editor

In early December, two executives from Panther Expedited Services traded in their suits and ties to take up the job of Panther's owner-operators for a week, delivering freight in the Northeast. The goal of the exercise was not only to raise money for charity, but also to gain insight into the challenges facing their drivers - including in-cab technology.

Driving a Sprinter cargo van, Panther President and CEO Andrew Clarke and Chief Information Officer Ed Wadel had a chance to evaluate - from a driver's perspective - in-cab technology, which includes Qualcomm's OmniVision system.

Not all fleet executives have the chance to test in-cab technology in the field, and getting drivers on board with new technology can often be a challenge. Panther offers two days of technology training when a new owner-operator joins the fleet. According to Clarke, Panther tries to be sensitive to those who are not comfortable using the technology.

"We don't just say, 'hey, here's something brand new and everyone should use it and adopt it right away,'" he says.

While in-cab technology can provide improved communications and a return on investment for fleets, if drivers do not accept the technology, the benefits go out the window.....

2/10/2010  Lifelines: The Tools You Need to Prepare For CSA 2010
By Diana Britton, Managing Editor

In July, fleets across the country will be hit with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's new Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010, or CSA 2010, which will completely redefine the way motor carriers must comply with regulations.

For Fleetmaster Express out of Roanoke, Va., unsafe and fatigued driving will be an issue, as these things will now be a focus of roadside inspections. For specialized hauler Pedowitz Machinery Movers in Branchburg, N.J., the concern will be cargo securement, another area that will be weighted according to its relationship to risk.

But the safety directors at these companies are not just sitting around waiting for doomsday to get here. They have taken it upon themselves to find helpful tools to prepare for CSA 2010.

Under the FMCSA's new system, six is the magic number, as a motor carrier's last six months of data will be rated the heaviest. That means fleets have the opportunity to get good data into the system in order to get a leg up before CSA 2010 kicks in. What happens now will affect your score come July.

Fleets that typically have not had to focus much on safety in the past are all of a sudden experiencing shellshock, as things that didn't hurt before, under SafeStat, will hurt them now. For example, 70 to 80 percent of the points accrued under CSA 2010 are tied to non-out-of-service violations, which were never included in SafeStat.....

2/9/2010  Oil Intelligence
Commentary by Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor

One of the more intriguing devices I have stumbled across at shows is the Intellistick. It is, as you may have already guessed from the name, an intelligent replacement for the humble dipstick.

It's an oil condition and temperature monitor, tracking additive depletion, increasing viscosity, but most importantly, instantly indicating the presence of water or coolant in the lube oil.

When I saw it I was impressed. After all, having the oil condition at your fingertips, so to speak, is a big plus for any machine, especially an internal combustion engine. But when I saw the price at around $500, I could see that the military-derived product would have some significant market objections. After all, you can get a lot of information from ongoing oil analysis at a fraction of the price.

Of course, you don't get the available instant contamination notice, which can be communicated from the truck to the back office in real time. That's information you need to act on immediately to avoid costly damage, especially if the truck has just had an oil change and has thousands of miles to run before the next change and analysis flags the coolant in the oil.....