iTrucker archive

News

Browse stories from the iTrucker archive.

News · Mar 9, 2020

Wisconsin trucking company shuts down, blaming insurance and maintenance costs

Story by: Clarissa Hawes at FreightWaves After 13 years in business, 101 Transport Inc. of Hudson, Wisconsin, has ceased operations, citing skyrocketing insurance rates and maintenance costs as the main reasons behind the decision to close. Tom Dahlberg, owner of 101 Transport, said the death knell for his company was when his insurance rates spiked 70% compared with the previous year after one of his trucks was involved in a serious crash in Utah in 2019. “Insurance is making it untenable to do

News · Mar 7, 2020

StradVision developed AI-based animal detection system for autonomous vehicles

Story by: Linda Baker, Staff Writer at FreightWaves StradVision, an Artificial intelligence-based (AI) camera perception system, has announced it is developing animal detection capabilities for its SVNet software, which is used in advanced driver assist systems as well as autonomous vehicles. StradVision CEO Junhwan Kim said in a statement that the new software will “almost completely end” collisions between animals and vehicles. In the U.S. each year there are more than 1.5 million deer-related

News · Mar 5, 2020

Coronavirus impact on airlines could reach $113 billion

Story by: Eric Kulisch, Air Cargo Market Editor at FreightWaves/American Shipper The International Air Transport Association now predicts the coronavirus will cause a much bigger loss in revenues for commercial airlines this year. IATA expects total revenue losses between $63 billion and $113 billion depending on the spread of the coronavirus. The losses are much larger than the $30 billion estimated two weeks ago when the virus was largely confined to China. No estimates are yet available for t

News · Mar 3, 2020

Hours-of-Service (HOS) new rules sent to OMB for final review

Story by: John Gallagher, Washington Correspondent at FreightWaves Major changes to federal hours-of-service (HOS) regulations have been sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for final review after two years of revisions and thousands of public comments. Jim Mullen, Acting Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), announced the progress today at the annual meeting of the Truckload Carriers Association in Orlando, Florida. “We think it is a

News · Mar 3, 2020

Highways closed due to deadly tornadoes and snowstorms

Story by: Nick Austin, Director of Weather Analytics and Senior Meteorologist at FreightWaves Tornadoes killed several people in middle Tennessee overnight, including in the Nashville area. The storms hit mostly between 1 and 2 a.m. CST. The National Weather Service (NWS) issued tornado warnings for parts of Davidson, Wilson and Sumner counties. According to police reports, some of the worst damage is in the Germantown neighborhood in northwest Nashville, and to the east of the city in Mt. Julie

News · Mar 3, 2020

‘Nuclear verdict’ forces trucking company to shut down operations after 19 years

Story by: Clarissa Hawes at FreightWaves A family-owned Arkansas-based trucking company closed its doors on March 2 after notifying its customers and drivers late last week. Randy Clifton Jr., president of RCX Solutions Inc. of Little Rock, Arkansas, confirmed the news of the closure to FreightWaves on Monday. “We got everyone home and they were all taken care of last Friday [February 28],” Clifton told FreightWaves. Clifton, a third-generation trucking company owner, said the decision to close

News · Mar 2, 2020

Oilpatch trucking company shuts down as bankruptcy looms

Story by: Nate Tabak, Border & North America Correspondent at FreightWaves - Monday, March 2, 2020 Dalmac Energy, a trucking company serving Canada’s struggling oilpatch, has shut down as a creditor-imposed bankruptcy looms. Alberta-based Dalmac ceased operations abruptly on Jan. 27 as a court-appointed receiver assumed control over the firm, CEO John Babic told FreightWaves. Dalmac had about 60 power units, down from about 200, and around 80 employees, mostly drivers. “What happened is very unf

News · Feb 28, 2020

Einride to hire first ever remote truck operators, plans U.S. launch

Story by: Linda Baker, Staff Writer at FreightWaves Einride, a Swedish-based remote operated autonomous trucking and transportation company, announced today that they will be hiring their first remote drivers in Sweden in March 2020 and in the U.S. in the third quarter of 2020. “We are very glad to hire someone that will be taking the jobs of the future,” Robert Falck, CEO and founder of Einride, told FreightWaves. The job will pay more than a traditional truck driver position and comes with oth

News · Feb 27, 2020

Illinois carrier is shutting down: cites brutal freight market, soaring insurance costs

Story by: Clarissa Hawes at FreightWaves Family-owned BK Trans Inc. of Arlington Heights, Illinois, said it will cease operations in March, citing a brutal freight market, the ongoing struggle to find qualified drivers and soaring insurance costs as the main reasons behind the small carrier’s decision to close after 10 years. “The market in 2019 was brutal on us and we did everything in our power to survive, but then a couple of months after implementing [electronic logging devices] ELDs, the ma

News · Feb 25, 2020

Video captures train collision with tractor-trailer (Warning strong language)

Story by: Noi Mahoney A FreightWaves A motorist captured dramatic video early Tuesday morning of a passenger train slamming into a tractor-trailer just north of San Antonio. Truck driver and passengers and crew on Amtrak train uninjured. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=32&v=PVotgDgUGYk&feature=emb_logo Video courtesy Chris/YouTube – Warning Strong language and high impact Officials with the Cibolo Police Department said the truck had become stuck at a railroad crossing and couldn’t g

News · Feb 25, 2020

Penske Logistics to shutter cross-dock facility, lay off 120 workers and drivers

Story by: Clarissa Hawes at FreightWaves A major logistics company, Penske Logistics notified approximately 120 workers and truck drivers on Feb. 24 that it will permanently shutter its cross-dock facility in Coldwater, Michigan, on April 30. The closure is in response to “the unexpected loss of a fair market bid with Ford Motor Company,” Randy Ryerson, vice president of marketing of Penske, said in a statement to FreightWaves. He said employees and drivers were notified during an in-person meet

News · Feb 25, 2020

Mexican factories feel coronavirus effect

Story by: Noi Mahoney at Freightwaves Factories in Mexico feeling effect from CoronavirusFactories across Mexico have begun to feel disruptions in their supply chains caused by the coronavirus. The coronavirus has already wreaked havoc in China. Now, Mexican auto parts and electronics factories that depend on materials from China have been affected as well, said industry experts. “We have started to have some adjustments in our supply scheme because of this unfortunate situation, due to the wide