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October 1, 2010
truckerBUDDY
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Truck Driving is Safer Year After Year

This is just a little information that we felt should be shared. Especially with the motoring public. It is a very nice trend to know that truck driving jobs are safer than ever.

2009 had a 20% drop in truck-involved accidents.  News that the Trucking Industry is very excited hearing about.  The federal government published the great news the week of 9/13/10.  Even more good news, 2009 had the best year-over-year decline so far in documented history.  Along with the 2008 lowest amount of fatalities record, truck driving is becoming safer for the drivers as well as those driving along side the truck trailers.

The trends show truck-related highway deaths have dropped for four years in a row and three of the four years, are record breakers for the better.

The article “Another Safety Record Set” from Transport Topics, states:

“There were 3,380 deaths in truck-involved crashes last year, 865 fewer than had occurred in 2008. And the 2008 total was about 12% lower than the total in 2007.  These results are unmistakable evidence that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s hours-of-service rule that we have been living with in recent years is working well and needs to be retained.  Greater rest opportunities for drivers under the 2005 hours-of-service rules and a more circadian-friendly approach to a driver’s work-rest cycle have helped truck drivers achieve these exceptional results,” said Bill Graves, president of American Trucking Associations.  “These latest figures illustrate the trucking industry’s deep commitment to improving highway safety,” Graves said.

Changing regulations to allow for drivers to gain more sleep before driving and having less hours on the road at a time have saved lives.  It’s now a proven statistic.

Bill Graves is still striving to improve safety on our roads in the Transportation Industry to this day and will continue for years to come.

http://www.ttnews.com/articles/basetemplate.aspx?storyid=25164&cSTR=1

September 16, 2010
truckerBUDDY
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Wabash National is Example of Trucking Industries Recovery

Wabash National, the one and only manufacturer of semi-truck trailers to be publicly traded in 2009, was barely making it.

According to the Article,

“Wabash National: From 'Near Death' to Top Small-Cap Stock”, written by Chris Prentice,
“It has been an especially good year for investors in Wabash National Corp. (WNC), the second-best-performing stock in the Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks in 2010. Year to date through Aug. 18, the stock has almost quadrupled, vs. the index's return of 0.42 percent.”

There were many reasons for the almost collapse of Wabash National. One, being the economy, as many trucking companies can relate to. The market especially for trailers was very soft.

Lincolnshire, familiar with the building of truck-trailers, invested $35 million dollars “in preferred stock and warrants to acquire up to 44 percent of the outstanding shares, kept the company afloat.” Wabash National’s shares began climbing due to newly issued common stock issued in May of this year. The added income was used to pay off old debt and the company was saved.

Along with Lincolnshire’s money, the economy has begun improving and inventory is starting to move again. In 2009, they had a loss of $10 million. The first quarter of 2010 only had a loss of $500,000. Sales have gone up and new trailer unit orders have gone up to. Even better for the economy, they have added about 700 temporary employees for due to sales forecasts.

All of the transportation industry has a good future in 2010. According to the article,

“Kenny Vieth, a partner and analyst at Columbus (Ind.)-based Americas Commercial Transportation Research, expects 85,000 to 90,000 dry-van units to be sold next year industry wide. ..…To the extent you think the U.S. economy is going to grow, you need more trucks, you need more trailers."

The trailer forecast is good news for truck drivers out there. As fleets add new equipment to meet freight demand, drivers will also be hired.

http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/aug2010/pi20100818_608928.htm

September 13, 2010
truckerBUDDY
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Trucking Companies Worry About Bringing On Qualified Employees.

The trucking industry has valid concerns about the low number of skilled employees coming into their field.   They feel that initiatives need to be enacted to bring about awareness to the younger market that the trucking industry is a great industry to be involved in whether they are technology savvy or interested in electronics.

Johan van der Merwe, the TFM Industries CEO, spoke with Engineering News and expressed his concern with the new shortage of skilled employees within the trucking industry.  He stated: “As technology develops, a technician is also required to upskill and have [an excellent understanding] of the technologies to build or repair trucks.”  Mr. Merwe’s quote expresses the need for all types of job levels in the trucking industry and employees need to be able to evolve with the new technologies that keep improving to shrink the trucking industries emission control standards.

The article, “Developing, attracting youth key to trucking industry” by Karishma Thakurdin, gives the example of the following:

“… new emission control initiatives are controlled by advanced electronic systems, which require technicians to have a thorough knowledge and understanding of the electronics to maintain a truck.”

With the idea of trucking jobs not being a high paying, nor a “glamorous” job, Johan van der Merwe feels that is the reason that “trucking industry is not considered a glamorous or high-paying industry and, therefore, it does not frequently feature in ‘top career’ lists.”

The author of the article, Karishma Thakurdin, also states that competition in salaries in the industry and recession also have hurt the trucking companies across the industry bringing on of young talent.   Good quality skilled employees are too costly and the inexperienced employees are to be trained on the job.

The low number of skilled workers entering the industry may mean that those with experience may garner a higher rate of pay as competition for Americas top drivers increases over time.

http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/skills-shortage-a-significant-challenge-2010-08-04

August 19, 2010
truckerBUDDY
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Tire Debris is Becoming More Common on Highways

TimesFreePress.com, from Chattanooga, Tennessee, had an article on 8/15/10, called “Why rubber meets the road” by Adam Crisp.  The article had an interesting twist in that it showed the dangers of State Clean Up Departments loosing funding in the long enduring economy.  Adam expressed concerns of tire debris containing metals as well as rubbers and the dangers and costs that are incurred upon the drivers of the road.  He believes that if the states do not clean the roads, that taxes should be lowered to help drivers pay for damages upon their automotives.

He also brought on some interesting statistics to support his stand below:

TIRE DEBRIS

A national study of tire failures showed:

* 39 percent of tire failures were caused by road hazards;

* 32 percent were caused by maintenance and operating issues;

* 30 percent were caused by excessive heat

* Majority of tire debris collected was not a result of manufacturing or retreading process deficiencies.

Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute’s “Commercial Medium tire Debris Study”

Adam Crisp focuses on compares Georgia and Tennessee.  Georgia is facing more state cuts this year and it shows on the roads.  They have one maintenance employee for every 28 miles.

The state of Tennessee, on the other hand, just spent $2 million dollars in 2009 for road clean up and maintenance and hope to raise that cost five percent by the end of 2010.

With the economy struggling and states hoping to stay afloat, cuts are made that affect our day-to-day lives.  Luxuries we don’t realize we have are being minimized with only necessities left.  Some may argue that road clean up is not a luxury but a necessity for safety concerns.  Unfortunately, other priorities take place, all different in various states.

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2010/aug/15/why-rubber-meets-road/

August 17, 2010
truckerBUDDY
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Truck Sales are up for the first half of 2010

Good news for the Trucking Industry.  Truck registrations are in its third straight year of gains.  This hasn’t happened since 2007 and is a sign of a strengthening economy in the Trucking Industry.  Read the statistics:

“In June, registrations were up 6.9 percent from the year-ago month and 3.1 percent for the first half of this year, compared to the same period of 2009.  All classes of trucks saw a year-over-year improvement, with the exception of Classes 4 and 5.

For the first half of this year, registrations were 170,300 units.  However Polk’s recent Commercial Vehicle Market Intelligence Report points out that performance during the first half of this year is the lowest first six months of new registrations since 1991.”

This information came from the article, Truck Registrations See Third Straight Year-Over-Year Gain”, written on 8/16/2010 on truckinginfo.com.  The article goes on stating that used truck sales were double in the first half of 2010 and that 67.5 percent of the registrations were from the buying of used trucks.  The Polk Index of U.S. New Commercial Vehicle Activity report believes that this phenomenon shows an “indication of the availability of clean used equipment and the desire of owners to upgrade their equipment.”

Combining both new and used vehicle registrations together, sales are up 18.9 percent for the first half of 2010.   This is great news!  The latter end of 2010 looks positive with higher growth in both truck and trailer sales.

It looks like trailer sales were also on the rise in the beginning of 2010, showing that the economy is turning for the better and the freight industry is strengthening from the recession.

http://www.truckinginfo.com/news/news-detail.asp?news_id=71355&news_category_id=6