Transport Topics

Utah-based motor carrier C.R. England this week filed a civil lawsuit alleging that a New Orleans law firm and six co-conspirators were paid nearly $5 million in a fraudulent settlement for a staged accident. The accident in question involved a C.R. England tractor-trailer in 2015. The 98-page lawsuit includes allegations that several groups participated in a total of 150 staged accidents with tractor-trailers from 2015 to 2018 in the New Orleans area. To date, 33 individuals have been indicted in the scheme, and 15 have pleaded guilty for participating in staged accidents. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg will quarantine for 14 days after being in close contact with a member of his security detail who tested positive for COVID-19. Buttigieg, who has since tested negative and has shown no symptoms, said late Monday that he was feeling fine and that the agent had no signs of the coronavirus other than testing positive. Buttigieg was confirmed as transportation secretary Feb. 2. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Daimler AG’s plan to spin off its truck division has earned praise throughout the industry since its announcement last week. But perhaps no one is happier than the man in charge of the company’s global truck operations. Martin Daum, head of the Germany-based Daimler Trucks, didn’t hide his excitement in an interview with Transport Topics. He said, “I was pushing for this for years and finally it came. It’s a dream come true.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The company formerly known as YRC Worldwide, now going by Yellow Corporation, released its first earnings report since its name change, reporting Q4 net losses widened to $18.7 million compared with a loss of $15.3 million in 2019. Other trucking companies fared better, however. Universal Logistics Holdings reported its highest fourth-quarter earnings on record, showing net income of $16.2 million, a 59.9% increase compared with $8.7 million in 2019. USA Truck posted record fourth-quarter earnings too, listing net income of $5.9 million compared with a net loss of $4.8 million during the same time the previous year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

North American Class 8 orders are off to a stronger-than-expected start in 2021. ACT Research reported 42,200 in January — a 146% improvement from a year earlier. The January figure is a 17% dip from December, but still reflects competition for truck makers’ remaining build slots, according to ACT Vice President Steve Tam. His organization is expecting a 40% increase in production in 2021 compared with 2020. Tam told Transport Topics, “We as an industry need to recalibrate our expectations. Maybe we need to look higher.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Freight operations in the Northeast are resuming after a snowstorm walloped the region and caused some temporary restrictions on commercial vehicle travel. Leaders in several states enacted truck travel restrictions ahead of the Nor’easter on Monday — to the dismay of industry leaders. While the storm dropped more than a foot of snow in places like New York City, its effects were less severe in other states that limited travel preemptively. Christopher Maxwell, head of the state trucking association in Rhode Island, was critical of his state’s 24-hour highway ban for all tractor-trailer trucks. He said, quote, “No challenges or danger existed at any point during the storm. Leaders mean well in the name of safety, but far more thought and restraint needs to go into these decisions.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The U.S. Department of Transportation has a new leader in Pete Buttigieg, a 2020 presidential candidate and the former mayor of South Bend, Ind. Buttigieg was confirmed to become secretary of transportation by a Senate vote of 86-13 yesterday. Buttigieg, who succeeds former Secretary Elaine Chao, will lead a department tasked with ensuring the safety of the nation’s mobility networks, managing the introduction of new technologies and addressing growing concerns linked to climate change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Senate will vote at noon today on the nomination of Pete Buttigieg to head the Department of Transportation. During his Jan. 21 confirmation hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee, Buttiegieg conveyed an ambitious agenda for infrastructure transformation. The committee responded warmly to the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., and on Jan.27 voted 21-3 to move his nomination to the Senate floor. If confirmed, Buttiigieg will become a key shepherd of the multitrillion-dollar infrastructure proposal reported to be forthcoming from the Biden administration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Maryland Department of Transportation has released its latest strategic highway safety plan, identifying actions to help eliminate fatalities on state roadways. Maryland has set a goal of zero vehicle-related deaths and serious injuries by 2030. Currently, about 318 police-reported traffic crashes occur in Maryland every day, and one person is killed every 16 hours as a result. The plan would advance efforts supporting infrastructure modifications to reduce fatalities involving freight vehicles. It also seeks to educate drivers, enforcement officers and motor carriers about trucking regulations and visibility issues. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Used Class 8 sales rose in December, marking a seventh consecutive month of year-over-year increases. Sales reached 21,500 compared with 19,300 a year earlier, according to an ACT Research Report. The average price of a used Class 8 sold in December also rose — 17% over the year-ago value. ACT Vice President Steve Tam said, “The buyers could have gotten better prices if they’d bought earlier in the year, but they still got very good value for their money.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Navistar announced yesterday it would develop a zero-emission longhaul truck using fuel cell systems supplied by General Motors. The goal is to bring an International RH Series FCEV model to commercial markets in 2024. Before that happens, longtime Navistar customer J.B. Hunt Transport will deploy some of the trucks in a pilot program starting in 2022. Navistar also announced it had taken a minority stake in OneH2, a North Carolina company that will supply the needed hydrogen production, storage and delivery. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trucking has embraced risk management and technology that drives efficiency in response to the coronavirus pandemic.That was the assessment by XPO Logistics CEO Brad Jacobs and FedEx Custom Critical CEO Ramona Hood during a panel discussion Monday. The symposium was part of the SMC³ Jump Start 2021 conference. Jacobs said health risk wasn’t as high on the list of priorities before COVID-19, but fleets have since taken measures to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, and that those steps are here to stay. Hood said a company’s progress often is linked to its ability to adapt to ever-changing circumstances by adopting new technologies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The for-hire trucking world saw a major change yesterday, as news broke that TFI International was acquiring UPS Freight in an $800 million deal. According to TFI, the UPS division generated about $3 billion in revenue last year and was approximately break-even from an operating income perspective. Under the deal, UPS Freight’s less-than-truckload segment will operate independently within TFI’s LTL business segment with the new name of TForce Freight. The truckload assets will join TFI’s truckload operations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A so-called spotter who participated in at least two staged accidents against trucks in the New Orleans area has been sentenced to 21 months in prison for his part in the wire fraud conspiracy. Mario Solomon, 48, of New Orleans, also will be on three years supervised release after serving his sentence and will be required to pay restitution of nearly $72,000 to the victims in the case. Federal court documents said that Solomon conspired to commit wire fraud in connection with multiple staged accidents. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the early days of President Joe Biden’s administration, a new Department of Transportation is starting to take shape. Yesterday, Transportation Secretary-nominee Pete Buttigieg made his case to the Senate Commerce Committee, touting a goal of transformative infrastructure legislation. Additionally, DOT announced that Biden had tapped Meera Joshi to serve as deputy administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, among other appointees. For a more detailed list, vist ttnews.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Labor Department issued an opinion letter ruling that motor carriers can supply independent contractors safety equipment such as dash cams, speed limiters and driver monitoring systems, and also require that they take safety training, without jeopardizing their independent contractor status. The letter was written in response to two requests, one made by American Trucking Associations, and was based on a number of different scenarios posed by the requesters. ATA President Chris Spear said, “This opinion will make it easier for motor carriers to utilize owner-operators, while maintaining important safety standards, without risking those drivers’ independent contractor status.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trucking closed a tumultuous 2020 on an upswing, as truck tonnage in December rose a seasonally adjusted 2.3% year-over-year and jumped 7.4% compared with November in the strongest month-over-month gain in American Trucking Associations’ freight index since the summer. ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said, “Freight continues to be helped by strong consumption, retail inventory restocking and robust single-family home construction.” However, freight tonnage was down 3.3% for all of 2020 compared with 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s 2018 determination that interstate motor carriers are exempt from California’s stringent meal-and-rest-break rules. The California law requires employers to provide a “duty-free” 30-minute meal break for employees who work more than five hours a day, as well as a second duty-free, 30-minute meal break for those who work more than 10 hours a day. The law also requires additional 10-minute rest periods every four hours. By contrast, federal law states that except for certain shorthaul drivers, a property-carrying commercial motor vehicle driver working more than eight hours must take at least one 30-minute break during the first eight hours, although the driver has flexibility as to when the break occurs. American Trucking Associations called the ruling a huge victory for the industry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The North American Council for Freight Efficiency has announced plans for a technology demonstration of a variety of battery-electric trucks in everyday operation. The event, Run on Less - Electric, will begin in September and last for three weeks. NACFE Executive Director Mike Roeth told Transport Topics that this 2021 edition of Run on Less would feature up to 10 trucks, drivers and charging infrastructure systems across the U.S. and Canada. The goal, he said, is to dispel the notion that electric trucks aren’t ready to haul freight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

WardsAuto.com reported Jan. 13 that sales for U.S. Class 8 trucks in December reached 21,402, the high mark for 2020. However, this figure was down 7.4% compared with December 2019, when sales were more than 23,000. Year-to-date sales were 191,900, down about 30% compared with 276,348 a year earlier. All truck makers posted double-digit percentage declines for all of 2020 compared with 2019. In terms of market share for 2020, results compared with 2019 were mixed. Four brands improved their market shares, and three posted declines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices