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News

Browse stories from the iTrucker archive.

News · May 6, 2020

Amazon’s brokerage operation goes national

Story by: Brian Straight at FreightWaves.com As demand for goods from its own warehouses as well as third-party suppliers skyrocket, Amazon is expanding its brokerage division, first launched just a year ago. The e-commerce giant is now offering brokerage services in 48 states, a spokesperson confirmed to FreightWaves. Amazon’s shipper-focused website, freight.amazon.com, now says service areas include “all U.S. states except Alaska and Hawaii.” The service matches shippers with freight capacity

News · May 5, 2020

Family of Wyoming man killed in truck crash sues driver and carrier

Story by: Clarissa Hawes at FreightWaves.com The family of a man killed two years ago in a tractor-trailer crash on Interstate 80 in Albany County, Wyoming, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a North Carolina trucking company and one of its former drivers. Vidal Madera, 57, of Laramie, Wyoming, died when Tonya Hightower, 48, of Wichita, Kansas, lost control of her rig while traveling westbound on I-80 around 5:15 a.m. on March 21, 2018, drove through the median and hit Madera, who was dr

President Trump responded to the truckers!

News · May 4, 2020

Trump responded to the truckers waiting outside the White House

President Donald Trump responded to truck drivers who gathered outside the White House since Friday by tweeting this message: "I’m with the TRUCKERS all the way. Thanks for the meeting at the White House with my representatives from the Administration. It is all going to work out well!". He also sent one of his associates to meet with some of the truckers and assure them that he received the message from the truck drivers. His representative also gave a bag of caps to the drivers with an "Americ

News · May 1, 2020

Trump appointee reaches out to ‘Mayday’ trucker to set up possible meeting

Story by: Clarissa Hawes at FreightWaves.com Scott Jordan a trucker from Peculiar, Missouri, arrived at the nation’s Capitol early Friday morning with a mission – to meet with President Donald Trump and deliver his letter in person about how some small-business truckers are days or weeks away from shuttering operations because of low freight rates amid the coronavirus outbreak. Jordan, the owner of Powerhouse Transportation, said he went to the U.S. Secret Service gate outside of the White House

News · Apr 29, 2020

Two small trucking fleets file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy

Story by: Clarissa Hawes at FreightWaves.com Two small trucking companies in Arkansas and Texas filed for Chapter 7 liquidation in April. Family-owned Fairfield Trucking Inc. of Hamburg, Arkansas, headed by James Andrew Barnes, submitted a bankruptcy petition in mid-April. The company lists assets ranging from $0 to $50,000 and liabilities as being between $500,000 and $1 million, according to its filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Arkansas. The carrier, which haul

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News · Apr 29, 2020

Great American Trucking Show (GATS) is cancelled due to COVID-19

Randall-Reilly is canceling the Great American Trucking Show (GATS), scheduled for Aug. 27-29, 2020 due to the COVID-19 outbreak. This decision has been made with the health and well-being of all participants first and foremost in mind. According to the official GATS website. You can find more info HERE at truckshow.com Source and credits: truckshow.com / Randall-Reilly / iTrucker / Mario Pawlowski

News · Apr 29, 2020

A standoff between police and truck driver shuts down i-94 in Skokie IL

Story Updated 4?29?2020 at 8:00 PM (CST) According to the article in the patch.com and Illinois State Police- "Both directions of Interstate 94 were shut down at Old Orchard Road for more than four hours Wednesday morning. State police shut down the Edens Expressway in both directions at Old Orchard Road Wednesday morning due to a standoff with someone in a semi-truck". "Northbound traffic is closed at Dempster Avenue. Southbound traffic was closed at Skokie Boulevard. Both entrance ramps at Old

News · Apr 27, 2020

Will coronavirus pandemic accelerate the adoption of autonomous vehicles?

Story by: Vishnu Rajamanickam at FreightWaves With roughly one million people infected with COVID-19 in the U.S., the importance of social distancing cannot be overstated. However, this is easier said than done within the freight industry. Being frontline responders to the crisis, the trucking community cannot afford to stay at home in quarantine. This puts them at severe risk of contracting the virus, as social isolation for a majority of logistics workers remains inadequate. This has led to co

News · Apr 25, 2020

Hotel chain offers discount, meals for truckers during COVID-19

Story by Clarissa Hawes at FreightWaves.comOne hotel chain is offering a significant discount on its daily rates as a way to say thank you to truck drivers hauling essential freight during the coronavirus pandemic. Drury Hotels, a private, family-owned and operated company, is offering rooms for $59 for truckers at its 150 hotels in 27 states for $59, which includes two daily grab-and-go meals. All but nine locations offer free truck parking. Drury is also offering the same deal to healthcare an

News · Apr 17, 2020

PPP, key tool to keep workers employed, runs out of funds

Story by: John Kingston at FreightWaves The Payroll Protection Plan (PPP), which was designed to keep people employed and paid, has run out of money. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) posted the news on its website this morning, April 16, under a banner that said “Notice: Lapse in Appropriations.” “The SBA is currently unable to accept new applications for the Paycheck Protection Program based on available appropriations funding,” the SBA said under the stark heading. The news was not

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News · Mar 29, 2020

Drugs worth $38 million hidden in tractor-trailers were seized over two days in Texas

Story by: Noi Mahoney at FreightWaves Law enforcement found two tons of marijuana and 1,800 pounds of methamphetamine during two separate drug busts in Texas last week. Both seizures occurred at international bridge crossings with the narcotics hidden inside produce shipments from Mexico. The first incident occurred on March 22 when United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents at the Pharr International Bridge cargo facility intercepted a commercial shipment of fresh bananas. Officer

News · Mar 28, 2020

Scared drivers press on toward looming freight cliff

Story by: Alan Adler at FreightWaves A train coming to a sudden stop is how veteran driver Henry Albert describes what truckers will soon face in seeking freight loads to haul. “When the front of a train stops, the slack between the couplers comes out,” he said. “I can see for the first time that there are trucks coming out of the equation.” Trucking companies last week began to accept loads they would have rejected two weeks ago. There are fewer loads to choose from as the coronavirus pandemic