Road

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

     Cheetah Software Services, a provider of information technology, has delivered the next version of its mobile application to Ward Transport and Logistics, a regional trucking company.    Running on the Android platform, Cheetah Mobile connects field workers with dispatch, customer service, management, and customers through two-way messaging, dynamic ETA updates, and POD verification.    Ward is running Cheetah Mobile on Android tablets because they provide la...

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

     U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Wednesday published a notice of proposed rulemaking that would make substantial changes to the way imported merchandise is transported inland under a bond, enabling the cargo owner to defer payment of duties until it reaches the destination port or is exported.     The primary fixes involve making the in-bond process electronic and tightening up procedures to better track merchandise and prevent diversion. In the past, CBP has...

Monday, February 20, 2012

     Access to the ports of Savannah, Ga., and Charleston, S.C., played a key role in Caterpillar Inc.'s decision to build a new plant in Athens, Ga., the company said Friday.    The 1 million-square-foot facility will manufacture small track-type tractors and mini-hydraulic excavators and employ 1,400 people when fully operational.     The announcement also underscores the recent phenomenon of near-shoring, the slowly growing trend of some U.S. man...

Monday, February 20, 2012

   Deadbeat truckers, bus companies, vehicle rental businesses and motorists who have racked up thousands of dollars of unpaid tolls at bridges and tunnels in the New York City metropolitan area are now having their identities exposed to shame them into compliance.    The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on Friday published its list of top toll violators , who collectively owe about $5 million. Several small trucking firms involved in goods transportation are named. &nbs...

Friday, February 17, 2012

     A study by Pike Research, a market research and consulting firm, found that intelligent transportation systems (ITS) will continue to see increased investment worldwide despite tightening purse strings.    Pike estimates global investments in smart transport technology will reach $13.1 billion from 2011 through 2017.    ITS, also called smart transportation systems, includes electric vehicles, vehicles with advanced telematics systems, new and ...

Friday, February 17, 2012

     Central Freight Lines, a less-than-truckload carrier based in Waco, Texas, announced Thursday it will test 15 compressed natural gas tractors with the help of a grant from the Houston-Galveston Area Council.    If the Peterbilt tractors perform well under operational conditions, the company said it may buy another 200 of these low-emission trucks for use in South Texas.    The regional coordination agency is using $17.5 million in federal funds to subsidize f...

Friday, February 17, 2012

     Old Dominion Freight Line's warehouse in Thomasville, N.C., will be able to offset more than 90 percent of its energy costs with the help of recently installed rooftop solar panels, the company said.     The 1.8 megawatt system is the first foray into solar energy for the less-than-truckload carrier, which has an extensive network of cross-docks around the country. It can produce more than 2.2 kilowatt hours of electricity a year.    The project is the t...

Friday, February 17, 2012

     The Netherlands-based document and small package delivery company TNT Express said Friday it received and rejected an unsolicited acquisition bid from UPS.     Atlanta-based UPS offered 9 euros per share, TNT said, or a total of about 4.99 billion euros ($6.4 billion).    TNT said its supervisory and executive boards "carefully considered the indicative proposal and explored its rationale, merits and risks for shareholders and all other stakeholders...

Thursday, February 16, 2012

     The Port of Seattle announced that cargo operations and deliveries returned to normal Wednesday as a contingent of port truck drivers ended a two-week work stoppage to protest pay and safety conditions.    An estimated 300 to 400 drivers that shuttle containers between the port, local warehouses and rail ramps walked off the job Jan. 31 in an effort to get classified as employees instead of independent contractors and draw attention to alleged occupational hazards such...

Thursday, February 16, 2012

     Ryder System has appointed Robert E. Sanchez to president and chief operating officer.    Sanchez most recently served as president of Ryder's Global Fleet Management Solutions (FMS). During his 18 years with Ryder, he has held a variety of executive-level positions.     Dennis C. Cooke succeeds Sanchez as head of FMS, which is Ryder's largest global business operation with a fleet of more than 180,000 vehicles at 800 locations and serving more than...

Thursday, February 16, 2012

     Florida-based Sylectus, a unit of Qualcomm Enterprise Services, has reached agreement with MacroPoint to offer an “intuitive" fleet tracking application for trucking companies.    Sylectus said the offering will allow 3PLs, fleet owners and managers, freight brokers, and carriers to track loads and drivers without requiring any new hardware or long-term contracts. The application will offer a “pay-for-play” model that can add location tracking to any existing transportation...

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

     As anticipated, the American Trucking Associations on Tuesday filed a petition asking a federal court to review the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s recently published final rule changing the hours-of-service regulations for commercial truck drivers.    The new rulemaking retained the 11-hour daily driving limit for truck drivers, which the agency considered shortening by an hour. But it increased the required rest period for drivers at the end of each wee...

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

     Internet retailers and other e-commerce services will generate half of the United Kingdom's parcel volumes in the pre-Christmas peak within five years, according to Global Freight Solutions (GFS).    The study by GFS, a U.K. parcel and carrier manager, found the number of packages sent by e-commerce firms during November and December last year increased 15 percent from 2010.    Director Simon Veale said Web retailers accounted for 37 perce...

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

   French freight company Flash Europe has continued its expansion by taking over the British express logistics provider v-one.     Flash said this acquisition is important because of v-one’s success with automotive markets. Flash also said v-one will round out its time-sensitive freight offerings for both air and road freight.    James Griffiths of v-one will be head the company in the United Kingdom.    Flash's operations now cover 78 countri...

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

     President Obama is proposing a fiscal year 2013 budget for the Department of Transportation of $74 billion, 2 percent, or $1.4 billion, above the 2012 enacted amount.    It's one piece of a $3.8 trillion plan that raises spending to support the middle class through incentives for domestic manufacturing, lower payroll taxes, infrastructure investment and other steps while raising revenue through taxes on the wealthiest Americans and reductions in subsidies for the ...

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

     Seattle-based Zonar has announced its new ZTrak solution for companies that need to manage the transfer of assets and track the locations of valuable materials.    Zonar said the service could be used to track equipment, shipping containers, hazardous materials trailers, rental equipment, high security items, and other assets that must stay in certain areas.    The company said it has used the same high-definition GPS imaging and cellular technology...

Monday, February 13, 2012

   Overland Park, Kan.-based RedStone Logistics, which specializes in logistics management services, has acquired privately held Headhaul.com .    Headhaul provides shipment management services via multi-modal, dry van/truckload, refrigerated, flatbed, less-than-truckload (LTL) and over-dimensional shipment operations.    During the next 30 days, Headhaul employees will integrate with the RedStone staff.    As part of the acquisition, RedStone will levera...

Friday, February 10, 2012

     APL said it will begin phasing out its U.S. fleet of container chassis during the first half of 2012.     The Singapore-based shipping line expects to stop providing chassis at inland locations by the end of the year, divest itself of chassis at East Coast ports in 2013, and complete the phase out in early 2014.    “This is the direction the container shipping industry is moving,” said APL Americas President Gene Seroka, who is based at the company’...

Thursday, February 09, 2012

     Owens Corning has an active policy to transport as much of its building materials and supplies as possible on trucks powered by liquefied natural gas engines to save fuel costs, Wayne Johnson, the company's manager of global carrier relations, said Jan. 24 at the Transportation Research Board's annual meeting in Washington.    The Toledo, Ohio-based manufacturer has a contract with Dillon Transport for 25 dedicated LNG tank trucks to haul sand and asphalt to plants in ...

Thursday, February 09, 2012

     The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released work plans for its civil works program through the end of the current fiscal year 2012 and increased the amount it will spend on harbor deepening projects.    Projects underway or planned to deepen harbors in Jacksonville, Fla.; Savannah, Ga.; Charleston, S.C.; Wilmington, N.C., and the Delaware River all received multimillion increases in funding.    The South Carolina Ports Authority said the plan included $2.5...

Thursday, February 09, 2012

     U.S. Xpress Enterprises, a large North American truckload carrier, has appointed Ray Harlin to president.    He succeeds Patrick Quinn, the company’s co-founder, who died in December.    Harlin joined U.S. Xpress in 1997 as an executive vice president and the company’s chief financial officer. In addition to his duties as president, he will continue to serve as the company’s CFO.    Before joining U.S. Xpress, Harlin held numerous management positio...

Thursday, February 09, 2012

     Ryder System, a transportation and supply chain management company, has launched its new mobile application, Ryder Locator, to help customers find the nearest Ryder truck rental, maintenance, or fueling location in the United States and Canada.    The app, free and available to iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android users, shows the specific services offered at each location.

Thursday, February 09, 2012

     Xata Corp. had a loss of $1.7 million for the first quarter of its 2012 fiscal year ending Dec. 31, compared to a loss of $85,000 in the same period the year earlier.    Revenue was $16.6 million in the quarter, compared to $14 million in the same 2010 period.    The company said it experienced growth in both hardware and software revenues. Software revenue reached $11.7 million, a 3 percent increase over the same 2010 period. This was driven largely by a 52 ...

Tuesday, February 07, 2012

     A federal judge in Manhattan on Tuesday denied a request from the Automobile Club of New York and the Automobile Club of North Jersey (AAA) for a preliminary injunction against the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to keep the agency from raising tolls on its four bridges and two tunnels.    The toll hikes have upset some commuters and truckers in the region. Tolls vary according to time and day of use and whether a vehicle has an EZ pass radio-frequency tag. For ex...

Tuesday, February 07, 2012

     YRC, a subsidiary of Overland Park, Kan.-based YRC Worldwide, has rebranded itself YRC Freight.    YRC Freight said its rebranding was preceded by a leadership change and a focus on improving service and safety.    "In the four months that new leadership has been in place, we have experienced month-over-month increases in our on-time service performance, our customer satisfaction scores, and in our market share position," said Rick Mathews, senior vice presid...

Tuesday, February 07, 2012

     FuelQuest. an on-demand software company for the energy industry, announced a five-year contract with J.B. Hunt Transport Services, a large North American trucking company.    FuelQuest’s Fuel Center will be responsible for managing J.B. Hunt’s bulk fuel purchases within its terminal network.    Fuel Center forecasts fuel use for the customer. It also takes on varied responsibilities around fuel management like orders and tax reconciliation.

Monday, February 06, 2012

     Con-way Inc. reported a profit of $23 million in the fourth quarter ending Dec. 31, 2011, compared to $2.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2010.    Results for the 2011 fourth quarter included a $10 million gain from a settlement of a purchase-price dispute related to the 2007 acquisition of Chic Logistics, while the 2010 fourth quarter included restructuring and other employee separation costs of $1.1 million.    Revenue was $1.3 billion...

Friday, February 03, 2012

     The American Trucking Associations has promoted Prasad Sharma to senior vice president and general counsel and named Richard Pianka as vice president and deputy chief counsel.    Sharma has worked for the ATA since 2000, most recently as vice president and deputy chief counsel. During that time he has been responsible for the association's business activities, as well as concentrating on cargo claims and motor carrier operations issues. He also oversaw the Highway Watc...

Friday, February 03, 2012

     Wilder, Ky.-based trucking company RWI Transportation has appointed Kevin Kauppi as Midwest regional sales manager.    Based in Chicago, Kauppi focuses on new business in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri for temperature-controlled truckload and tonnage growth. Through his efforts, RWI's growth in the Midwest and in its West Coast, Texas, Southern Louisiana/Mississippi and New Jersey lanes will continue, the company said.     RW...

Thursday, February 02, 2012

     The U.S. Department of Transportation on Tuesday said it will make $500 million available this year in the fourth round of TIGER funding for surface transportation investment.     Infrastructure projects will be evaluated on how they advance the Obama administration's goals of safety, improving the nation's economic competitiveness, livable communities, environmental sustainability, keeping assets in a state of good repair and short-term job creation.    The ...

Thursday, February 02, 2012

     Old Dominion Freight Line said Wednesday it has opened its first container drayage facility in the Pacific Northwest on the heels of a 19 percent increase in container drayage shipments nationwide in 2011.    The company’s new Seattle-Tacoma drayage operation will directly serve all ports, rail heads and container yards in the Pacific Northwest. Co-located with Old Dominion’s Seattle service center, the facility gives Old Dominion direct access to Washington’s two largest p...

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

     Truckers serving the Port of Baltimore can now receive up to $20,000 towards disposal of their old, polluting rigs and purchase of newer model trucks under a program announced Tuesday to help reduce diesel emissions.       The "cash-for-clunkers" incentive is primarily aimed at individual operators who own their trucks and upgrade to tractors with 2007 or newer engines.    The Environmental Protection Agency set new emission standards...

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

     A new transportation bill was introduced in the U.S. House by Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John L. Mica, R-Fla., and other members of his committee on Tuesday.    They said the American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act (H.R. 7) would authorize approximately $260 billion over five years to fund federal highway, transit and safety programs, “consistent with current funding levels.”    Mica called it the “largest transportation reform...

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

     The Port of Oakland said a study by the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California at Berkeley found a 50 percent decline in diesel particulate matter emissions from drayage trucks and a 40 percent decline in nitrogen oxide emissions in the port area following implementation of the clean trucks component of the port’s comprehensive truck management program.    The UC Berkeley study measured ambient conditions directly above 7th Street in a...

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

     To boost its South American sales, Casio Computers set up Casio Latin America in Montevideo, Uruguay, as a logistics management company, and has recently started operating its regional distribution center in the country.    Before the change, which started in August, Casio shipped most of its products from China directly to each of its Central and South American country markets. With a centralized logistics operation in South America, the company said deliveries in the...

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

     UPS announced Tuesday record full-year earnings per share and a 17 percent increase in adjusted operating profit to $2 billion during the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31.    The world's largest package delivery company said it also set fourth-quarter records for volume and revenues.    During the quarter, it delivered 1.13 billion packages, including 480 million during the peak holiday season, an increase of 3.6 percent from the same 2010 period. Revenues were u...

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

   The Urban Institute has established a multi-dimensional Infrastructure Initiative designed to inform the public and government officials about the important tradeoffs in developing, operating, maintaining and financing the nation's core systems that support society.    The research effort will examine the fiscal, social and environmental costs and benefits of policy choices at all levels of government related to transportation, electrical, water, sewer, wireless and broadband ...

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

     Old Dominion Freight Line has expanded its Pacific Promise less-than-container load (LCL) service to 10 additional ports in Asia.    The ports covered by the expanded service include Manila, Singapore, Jakarta, Surabaya, Penang, Port Kelang, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, Phnom Penh, and Busan. The service, launched in China in 2009, now covers 23 ports across Asia.    Old Dominion said it saw a 40 percent increase in shipments from Asia in 20...

Monday, January 30, 2012

     Savi, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, has launched a mobile tracking system that identifies and tracks in real-time the location, movement, and condition of high-value assets.    Savi said its new system is aimed at governments, heavy industry, large organizations, and manufacturers that have complex logistics requirements.    The Savi Mobile Tracking System includes software and hardware designed to monitor a range of cargo, such as ocean containe...

Monday, January 30, 2012

     Cleveland-based ContainerPort Group said this spring it plans to open a “mega” multipurpose terminal at Columbus, Ohio.    The new facility will allow CPG to consolidate its trucking, container yard, maintenance (chassis and containers), and cargo transfer services into a single location. The site will have access to both CSX and Norfolk Southern railroads. CPG said it secured land to expand its existing facility to about 70 acres.    CPG ...

Friday, January 27, 2012

     National trucking company J.B. Hunt said it had profit of $72.6 million in the fourth quarter, compared to $57.9 million in the same 2010 period.    Revenue for the quarter was $1.2 billion, compared to $1.02 billion recorded in the fourth quarter of 2010.    For the full year, Hunt had a profit of $257 million, compared to $200 million in 2010. Revenue in 2011 was $4.5 billion, compared to $3.2 billion recorded the previous year.    John ...

Friday, January 27, 2012

     Arkansas Best Corp. had a fourth quarter profit of $1.4 million in 2011, compared to a loss of $3.1 million for the same 2010 period.    Operating revenue was $463 million in the quarter, compared to $441 million in the same 2010 quarter.    The less-than-truckload company had a profit of $6.2 million for the full year, compared to a $32.7 million loss in 2010. Revenue was $1.91 billion in 2011, up from $1.66 billion the year previously.   ...

Thursday, January 26, 2012

     Swift Transportation Co. said it had a profit of $36.8 million in the fourth quarter, compared to a loss of $48.3 million in the same 2010 period.    Operating revenue in the quarter was $861 million, compared to $780 million in the fourth quarter of 2010.    For the full year the national trucking company had a profit of $90.6 million versus a loss of $125.4 million in 2010. Operating revenue in 2011 was $3.3 billion, compared to $2.9 billion in 2010. &...

Thursday, January 26, 2012

     Transportation and supply chain management company Ryder has launched the latest version of its RydeSmart onboard telematics system and now provides it as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) product to make it easier to deploy and monitor.    RydeSmart 3.0 offers GPS fleet location, tracking, and vehicle performance management via a hardware and software unit installed in the vehicle and connected to its existing computer and diagnostic system. RydeSmart wirelessly syncs wi...

Thursday, January 26, 2012

   Expaq, a European parcel delivery service, has announced it will issue Honeywell’s Dolphin 99EX mobile computers to all its 2,100 drivers to increase productivity on the road.    The Dolphin 99EX allows drivers to process orders and deliver more parcels while their packages and location are better tracked.    The Exapaq units will feature 3.9G wireless technology. The technology also integrates the Adaptus Imaging Technology 6.0, which allows workers t...

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

     Chicago’s Load Delivered Logistics, a third-party logistics firm, has launched a new mobile phone app, Load Finder, for users of Apple’s phones and tablets.    The app will connect customers with Load Delivered’s compliant carrier partners, letting them view and bid on available freight. Carriers can search for shipments based on a variety of criteria including current location, date, desired location, equipment type, or radius.    Users can also create a fav...

Monday, January 23, 2012

     Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich played to the local audience in Thursday’s televised primary debate leading up to the South Carolina primary by talking about infrastructure upgrades at the Port of Charleston as an example of how the government could help create jobs.    Gingrich won on the South Carolina primary on Saturday.    The former speaker of the House said he would push for increased off-shore drilling for natural gas and use the royalties to...

Monday, January 23, 2012

     Massood Logistics, a North Carolina firm formed last fall after the shutdown of Furniture Transport Group, has added two executives and expanded its available services.    Tara Massood, a former executive with Thomasville Home Furnishings in New Jersey, is the company's new general manager, and Paula Powell Cubberley, previously of Furniture Transport Group, will join the company as an account executive.    The Massood family founded MGM Transport and continu...

Friday, January 20, 2012

   UPS Freight, the less-than-truckload service of express giant UPS, has promoted Paul Hoelting to senior vice president of sales.     Effective March 31, Hoelting succeeds retiring John Fain, a long-time executive of Overnite Transportation who became a key figure in UPS's acquisition and transformation of that company into UPS Freight.    Hoelting started his career more than two decades ago with Union Pacific. He moved to Overnite, then a unit of UP, in 1993. S...

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

   The Coca-Cola Co. has awarded DB Schenker Logistics two businesses for its warehousing and transportation operations in Poland.    The Atlanta-based soft drinks giant will integrate previously owned and operated satellite distribution centers for its finished goods into existing DB Schenker warehouses.    Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, nor was the length of the contract.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Bentley     Helen Delich Bentley, a former Maryland congresswoman and past chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission, has proposed changing the Harbor Maintenance Tax so that it's collected not only on ocean-borne cargo, but on all freight from foreign sources entering the United States.     The tax is not paid by freight entering the United States from Canada or Mexico.    A press release said she made her proposal Tuesday evening in Tacoma, Wash.,&nb...

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

   The North American Produce Transportation Working Group (NAPTWG) on Tuesday released its new North American Produce Transportation Guidelines.    The document integrates multiple existing transportation guidelines into a single set of best practices which can be used throughout North America by the carrier industry. These best practice guidelines were also agreed to by various stakeholders in the produce supply chain and were endorsed by the Blue Book and the Dispute Resolution Cor...

Monday, January 16, 2012

     The U.S. Commerce Department on Friday reported that U.S. exports of goods and services in November 2011 fell 0.9 percent from the previous month to $177.8 billion.     However, the department noted that November’s exports of consumer goods ($15.7 billion) were the highest on record.    U.S. imports of goods and services increased 1.3 percent to reach $225.6 billion, causing the U.S. trade deficit to increase 10.4 percent to reach $47.8 billion in November. P...

Monday, January 16, 2012

Schneider     Don Schneider, who built Schneider National into the largest privately held truckload carrier in the United States, died Friday after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease. He was 76.    Schneider led the trucking company for more than 25 years, taking advantage of the motor carrier industry's deregulation of the early 1980s to expand the company and move it into the logistics and intermodal arenas as well. Under his watch, Schneider was one of the most techn...

Friday, January 13, 2012

     New Penn, a Pennsylvania-based less-than-truckload carrier, has launched a service alert process that will inform its shippers about situations that could impact their supply chains.    Aimed largely at addressing the seasonal effects of winter weather, the new email-based alert and its corresponding Web page will provide detailed information about weather, natural disasters, and other circumstances that can impact service.    "A consistent flow of goods...

Friday, January 13, 2012

     The United States can't afford for Congress and the White House to avoid addressing critical issues such as infrastructure and job creation because it is an election year, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donahue said in his annual State of Business speech Thursday.    Inaction would be particularly harmful at a time when the economy is still underperforming and unemployment is at 8.5 percent, he said.     The head of the world's largest business fed...

Thursday, January 12, 2012

     Bill Graves, president of the American Trucking Associations, expressed pessimism  again Tuesday that Congress will pass a surface transportation reauthorization in 2012 even though it is 2.5 years overdue.    A bill to pay for highway and transit infrastructure, and streamline programs, is pending in the Senate and House leaders have expressed interest in finding revenues to bridge the shortfall in highway tax receipts. Many political observers expect C...

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

     U.S. Xpress Enterprises said Monday it has appointed Todd Smith as president of Arnold Transportation Services, the company’s regional truckload carrier.    Smith most recently was president for five years at LinkAmerica Corp., a holding company for several regional truckload carriers that operate mainly in the south central and southeastern United States.    “Having worked in both truckload and regional operations, I am quite familiar with U.S. Xpress and Ar...

Friday, January 06, 2012

   Illinois-based third-party logistics provider Superior Logistics has opened an airside facility at cargo-dedicated Rickenbacker International Airport in Columbus, Ohio.    Superior is leasing 20,000 square feet of office and warehouse space from the Columbus Regional Airport Authority, which operates Rickenbacker International Airport and develops surrounding property.    The company specializes in import deconsolidation - the process of breaking down bulk internatio...

Friday, January 06, 2012

   Robocom Systems has finished its acquisition of Ontario-based Accord Software, which manages transportation operations with on-board tracking and real-time dispatch capabilities.    The Accord Software purchase was New York-based Robocom's third supply chain software acquisition in 2011.    "Despite the economic strain of the past few years, Robocom has continued to deliver results for our customers and remained strong," said Robocom Chief Executive Officer Jon ...