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News

Browse stories from the iTrucker archive.

News · Sep 29, 2019

Truck drivers rank high among sleep-deprived workers, study says

Story by: Max Heine @ Overdriveonline.com The share of Americans who don’t get enough sleep is getting larger says a new study from Ball State University. Not only are professional drivers among those suffering the most, but they’re also seeing above-average growth each year in those reporting sleep deprivation. From 2010 to 2018, the prevalence of inadequate sleep — seven hours or less — increased from 30.9% of respondents in 2010 to 35.6% in 2018, according to the study. No specific cause coul

News · Sep 28, 2019

Trucking Freight Futures Market Activity 9-23-2019

Layla Rapp @ FreightWaves Source and credits: freightwaves.com / Layla Rapp / iTrucker / Mario Pawlowski

News · Sep 28, 2019

Why measuring driver brain waves might be better than cab cameras to prevent accidents

Story by: Vishnu Rajamanickam, Staff Writer @ FreightWavesFor the long-haul truckers that stay away from their families for days at a stretch, fatigue and physical discomfort are some of the most commonly shared realities of being behind the wheel. In some cases, hours-of-service (HoS) regulations have weighed into this issue with unintended consequences. Truckers routinely are left stranded on the side of highways as their HOS clocks run out of time – even when they know full well that they wou

News · Sep 28, 2019

National freight volumes now positive for nine straight weeks

Story by: Seth Holm @ FreightWaves. Outbound tender volumes (OTVI.USA) continued on their upward trajectory and extended their multi-week winning streak dating back to late July. OTVI first crossed over to positive on July 24. It has been positive on a year-over-year basis since. One key question is how much of the sustained volume improvement is being driven by increasing underlying demand compared to how much is being driven by easing comparisons, which eased substantially on a year-over-year

News · Sep 28, 2019

Major winter storm is underway across the Northern Rockies, dangerous driving conditions expected

4:30 am Saturday, September 28th, 2019 Update by weather.gov: A major winter storm is underway across the Northern Rockies. Snow has been falling along and west of Interstate 15 across North Central Montana for most of the night. Rain will continue to transition to snow from northwest to southeast across the remainder of the region through the day today. Due to the heavy, wet nature of the snow and increasing winds; widespread tree damage and power outages are possible over North Central Montana

News · Sep 27, 2019

New truck orders running below replacement demand should boost carrier profits in 2020

Story by: Seth Holm @ FreightWaves The Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) for new Class 8 truck orders in 2019 is trending at approximately 150,000. Note that this number includes orders for interstate, intrastate and private fleets. We estimate total replacement demand in the neighborhood of 250,000 to 300,000 trucks annually based on there being roughly 1.6 million total for-hire tractors in the market and an 18 percent replacement rate (roughly six years). This 275,000 replacement rate at

News · Sep 27, 2019

Freight brokers see more hot loads as carriers manage yield

Story by: John Paul Hampstead, Associate Editor @ FreightWaves Freight brokers said in interviews this week that sustained higher volumes are now making an impact on their businesses as revenue per load and margin per load increase. Brokers reported that more ‘hot loads,’ or shipments tendered with little lead time because they have been rejected by primary carriers, are hitting their boards. While spot rates have not come up appreciably, the time to cover a load has grown longer incrementally.

News · Sep 27, 2019

Major winter storm to impact the Northern Rockies and surrounding areas this Weekend

An anomalous upper-level low-pressure system dropping into the Northwest this afternoon will be responsible for the development of an early-season and major to potentially historic winter storm across portions of the Northern Rockies this weekend. According to wpc.ncep.noaa.gov This storm will bring very heavy snowfall, high winds, blizzard conditions, and extreme impacts to travel. Western Montana is forecast to see the brunt of the snowfall, with as much as 1 to 3 feet (locally more) possible.

News · Sep 27, 2019

FMCSA may face trouble in assessing carrier safety scores

Story by: John Gallagher A federal watchdog has warned the trucking industry’s top regulator that more changes are needed to improve how it evaluates carrier safety compliance. In a 27-page report made available on September 27, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) asserted that while a safety action plan by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) partially addresses issues identified in a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) study, “it lacks im

News · Sep 26, 2019

Used truck prices drop for first time since January 2018

Story by: Alan Adler The final average price of total used Class 8 trucks in August fell 1 percent year over year, the first price decline since January 2018, according to ACT Research. For the year to date, prices are up 7 percent. Overall, used truck sales were down 19 percent through August this year compared with the first eight months of 2018, according to ACT’s latest release of the State of the Industry: U.S. Classes 3-8 Used Trucks. “Dealers are reporting that used truck sales are not in

News · Sep 26, 2019

FBI offering reward for information on fugitive believed to be trucker

The FBI is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading directly to the arrest of an Ohio man believed to be working as a truck driver or dispatcher. According to the article from overdriveonline.com Izmir Ali Koch was indicted for failure to self-surrender at a West Virginia prison to carry out his sentence. The FBI says Koch injured a man he believed to be Jewish outside a Cincinnati restaurant in 2017. The agency says Koch made anti-Semitic statements and threw a punch that hit t

News · Sep 26, 2019

Covenant Transport to close its truck service in Mexico

Story by: Noi Mahoney at FreightWaves. Covenant Transport has decided to end all service to the interior of Mexico, citing dropping spot market pricing, increasing detention times and an inability to gain the freight density needed to balance costs. “After five years servicing the interior of Mexico, Covenant Transport Services will, in coming months, end our Mexico service offering,” said Andy Vanzant, senior vice president of Highway Services at Covenant Transport Services. “This tough, data-d