Roto Fasco Canada (RFC) Inc. recently celebrated an expansion with a ribbon cutting ceremony at its new building in Mississauga, Canada. According to the company, this latest investment shows that there is continuous support toward future development of North American markets.

From left to right, are: Adrian Steenson, Dr. Eckhard Keill, Marcus Sander, Chris Dimou, Jens Busse and Robert Furgiuele

Roto executives from the company’s corporate headquarters present at the celebration included Dr. Eckhard Keill, global CEO; Marcus Sander, incoming CEO of the door and window division; and Jens Busse, director of the western hemisphere.

“This is the next step in an exciting time at Roto Fasco Canada,” said Chris Dimou, Roto Frank Group president and CEO. “We have significantly invested in the company and have seen the rewards of everyone’s hard work. Roto Fasco has doubled in growth after the 2012 acquisition, and as we look toward the future, I strongly believe that our greatest accomplishments lie ahead of us.”

The new building provides RFC with 58% more space and is equipped to sustain the growth patterns that the company has experienced over the last seven years, officials said. Meanwhile, the company expects the improved layout to lead to a better workflow and an improved logistic efficiencies.

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TORONTO, Ont. – Those who work in Canada’s trucking industry appear relatively satisfied in their jobs, according to a monthly reader poll conducted by Today’s Trucking.

Forty-one percent of those who participated in the Pulse Survey said they were satisfied in their current job, while 39% were very satisfied, and 13% were relatively neutral. About 62% have been in the same job for more than a decade.

Still, 26% have actively searched for a different job in the last 12 months.

Other than higher pay, the top thing that would attract people to another employer would be a positive workplace image, cited by 15% of those in the poll. That was followed by better benefits (13%), opportunities for advancement (11%), different work (10%), and predictable pay (9%).

Not surprisingly, the same issues top the list of things that attracted respondents to their current job including a positive workplace image (20%), different work (16%), opportunities for advancement (13%), and predictable pay (11%). Flexible work hours or dispatching options (6%) were in a statistical tie with better benefits (5%).

More than one third (35%) said they would most likely turn to industry peers to find their next job, with 18% relying on recruiting adds.

The Today’s Trucking Pulse Survey is conducted through email and social media every month.

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To maximize uptime and significantly extend the life of electrical charging system components, Mack Trucks is making a battery refresher standard on all Mack models. The battery refresher helps reduce and reverse the effects of sulfation, giving lead-acid batteries longer life and superior performance. Mack made the announcement during ExpoCam 2019 April 11-13 in Montréal.

“Sulfation is one of the top causes of lead-acid battery failure,” said Roy Horton, Mack Trucks director of product strategy. “With the addition of the refresher, we can increase the life of a battery by up to two times and help prevent unplanned no-starts.”

Police are at the scene of a single-vehicle crash that took place on Highway 1 west of the Town of Cochrane on Wednesday morning.

Officials say a gravel truck, heading eastbound, lost control on the road at about 9:30 a.m. near the Ozada overpass. The vehicle entered the centre median and flipped onto its side.

Police say the driver was taken to hospital in non-life threatening condition.

A gravel truck heading eastbound on Highway 1 crashed just past the Ozada overpass on Wednesday morning.

All westbound traffic was closed on Highway 1 for most of the day, with drivers being detoured off the route. Eastbound traffic was also reduced to one lane.

The scene was cleared at just after 5 p.m.

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BRAMPTON, Ont. – Many Toronto-area aggregate haulers are angry, and there’s no mistaking the target of their wrath. A recent protest in the form of a slow-moving truck convoy included signs that proclaimed “commercial insurance sucks,” and “honk if you hate your truck insurance.”

They’re among the growing list of Canadian fleets and owner-operators facing higher premiums as insurers re-evaluate the risks they’re willing to cover. And that’s when businesses can even find someone to take their money. Some insurance companies are simply stepping away from industry sectors thought to represent an unacceptable risk — like the aggregate haulers operating in densely populated urban areas.

Jagroop Singh, an owner-operator and president of the protesting Ontario Aggregate Trucking Association (OATA), confirms his members’ typical insurance rates have increased by double digits in recent years. It’s why the group is now looking for a political solution, and formed the convoy to apply some public pressure.

But the truck insurance sector is under pressure of its own.

The performance of transportation-related insurance portfolios has been “less than stellar,” says Todd MacGillivray, vice-president of transportation at Northbridge Insurance. “The performance of aggregate haulers has been worse.” Some of that sector’s challenges can be linked to a condo building boom, leading to frequent trips along city streets where trucks are more likely to interact with cyclists and pedestrians, he says.

Truck insurance claims have generally been rising above original projections because of factors such as pricey legal settlements and technology-laden trucks that can be costly to repair. Average claims in Northbridge’s transportation portfolio increased 9% between 2014 and 2018, while average physical damage costs were up 28.5%.

To compound matters, rates that were charged to aggregate haulers were lower than they should have been, MacGillivray adds.

Challenges are not limited to the aggregate haulers, either.

“Anything that’s basically weird and wonderful is difficult to insure,” says Patti Corbishley, senior account transportation executive and project manager with Bryson and Associates Insurance Brokers in Ajax, Ont. Such examples tend to fall outside the realm of 53-foot van trailers and include the likes of livestock trailers, auto haulers, and fuel haulers. Even the commercial haulers of travel trailers can find it harder to secure coverage these days.

“This is the hardest market that I’ve seen in 33 years,” she says of her time in the business.

But history has a way of repeating itself. The ebb and flow of trucking insurance rates tends to follow a cycle of aggressive rate cuts by insurers who want a piece of trucking-related revenue, an unexpected surge in claims, decisions to step away from unprofitable businesses, and the higher rates charged by those who remain.

One of the most notable examples came with 1985’s abrupt collapse of the United Canadian Insurance Company, which at the time was one of the trucking industry’s largest insurers.

As the market tightens, insurers are also taking a harder line on the rules established to minimize risk. For smaller operations, this can mean limits on things like hiring new drivers with less than three years’ experience.

That was an unwelcome surprise for Peter LaRocque of JPL Storage in Haileybury, Ont. His 29-year-old son, Clyde Earl, is training to take over the family’s portable storage operation that uses a pair of tractor-trailers to deliver containers to driveways and construction sites.

The family invested $8,000 in a 200-hour truck driver training course, well beyond Ontario’s mandatory minimum, and Earl secured both an 89% average grade and a Class AZ licence. They even secured a $6,000 tax credit to offset the cost.

The only trouble is that Earl is essentially uninsurable if he wants to drive one of JPL’s trucks.

“We’re now up to 12 companies that have declined to insure him,” says a clearly frustrated LaRoque. Each company has said the only option is Facility – essentially an insurer of last resort funded by the insurance industry itself.

Truck insurance on both JPL tractors and a pickup is scheduled to renew for around $7,500. Allowing Earl behind the wheel of a 2010 International would cost about $20,000 under a Facility policy, and even that would only allow less than 80 km of travel per month. It won’t even cover the container, trailer or load. Full coverage would push annual premiums above $30,000.

Traditional insurance would be limited to larger businesses that might be willing to hire him.

There is simply more support for younger drivers in a fleet environment, Corbishley says, explaining why larger fleets might have more flexibility than an owner-operator or small business. “You typically have a safety manager on board. It’s not just an owner wearing five or six different hats.”

“Why did I pay to train him so he can work for someone else?” Laroque asks. “We need him in our business. We need him to be able to drive the trucks.” He’s particularly frustrated at the limits now that Ontario has established mandatory entry-level training for any would-be truck drivers. What’s the point of setting the limits at 103.5 hours if the new drivers can’t be ensured by small businesses that have jobs to fill?

“Somebody needs to step up to the plate and change the regulations so that some of these new trainees with the proper training or whatever can become insured,” he says.

There’s no mistaking the higher risks that come with newly minted drivers, however.

“The propensity for a claim is drastically higher than it is with someone who has three years’ or five years’ experience,” says Northbridge’s MacGillivray. “The bell curve is quite steep in those early stages … it’s quite substantial.”

Winnipeg-based Rick Geller of Claims Pro says the three-year benchmark was originally established in the 1990s, when he was on the North American Equipment Dealers Association’s insurance committee. Actuaries poured over 115,000 commercial driving records at the time, looking to the likelihood of crash involvement in the next 12 months. They found that drivers with less than three years of experience were three times more likely to have a crash, he says.

“But it was never, ever intended to be a laser pointer as to whether that’s a safe driver or not. It was to be a best practice guideline,” Geller says. “You need to do a deeper dive on exactly who you’re hiring, and maybe a little more stringent road test, and maybe some sort of training – defensive driving training – before you hire them.”

That’s why larger fleets are able to hire those with less time behind the wheel.

“It’s no secret that the results on the trucking industry in terms of insurance haven’t been good, and they haven’t been good for awhile, and the insurance companies are struggling to find that laser pointer in terms of is this a safe carrier or not,” Geller says.

“I think there’s an element of the normal cycle that the insurance industry goes through, but I think there’s a larger element – that this becomes a matter of survival for the insurance industry, and I don’t think you’re going to see a relaxing any time soon.”

Says Corbishley: “Insurance is all about money. It’s money in and money out … you need them to make money to be there.”

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The driver of a transport truck that rolled over and halted traffic onto the eastbound Highway 401 on-ramp from Highway 400 for several hours Monday morning has been charged with careless driving, according to police.

The fully loaded tractor trailer was heading southbound on the 400 exit just before 6 a.m. when it flipped over on its side, said Sgt. Clayton Brown, a spokesperson for Ontario Provincial Police's highway safety division.

Northbound and southbound traffic trying to exit the 400 onto the eastbound 401 was diverted for nearly five hours due to an investigation. The ramps reopened around 10:45 a.m. after police cleaned up a small fluid leak and towed the truck away.

Two occupants of the truck were taken to hospital with minor injuries, said Sgt. Kerry Schmidt.

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MONTREAL, Que. — Don’t let the size of a truck fool you. Medium-duty trucks are dwarfed by their Class 8 counterparts, but such equipment can present some of the biggest challenges for a repair facility.

Chief among them is the fact that many of these trucks are owned and operated by businesses that often treat trucks as an afterthought. The people at the wheel might be bakers, carpenters, electricians or landscapers. They don’t think of themselves as truckers. The trucks are simply seen as a way to deliver tools of the trade.

It’s up to technicians and mechanics to be able to draw out the information they need, even if the customers are not as familiar with truck components.

“The more skilled the technician is and understands our truck, the easier it is for him to work with the customer to diagnose what the issues are. The key thing is really communication,” says Andy Craig, director of Canada operations for Isuzu commercial trucks, stressing the importance of continuous training.

Still, the discussions that lead to accurate diagnostics can be complicated by the fact that many medium-truck users are not dedicated to the trucking business at large. They can struggle to explain how a vehicle feels when they’re behind the wheel.

“Their core business isn’t making deliveries. They purchased something to help get the product there,” says Robbie McLellan, director of service operations at Altruck, a multi-store International dealer headquartered in Guelph, Ont.

The lack of familiarity with the truck can also be the source of trouble, says Fred Lafleur, owner of four Mecamobile multi-brand service shops, operating in the Montreal area under the TruckPro banner.

“It’s common that the medium-duty user doesn’t really know what his truck can and can’t do,” he says, referring to weight capacities that can be stretched to the limit by an occasional excessive payload.

Extra weight takes a toll on components including the suspension, tires and steering system alike. And those already face unique stresses in the midst of urban routes where potholes and tight turns are part of the daily routine, compounded by regular contact with curbs.

Even a reasonable payload can lead to maintenance challenges if the weight is badly distributed. Think of a plumber who carries all his pipes and fittings on the same side of a cube or panel truck. In a case like that, maintenance teams will need to pay special attention to the suspension and uneven brake wear.

“Brakes would be a big one for sure,” McLellan says, observing how Class 3-7 trucks usually find themselves in a constant stop-and-go environment.

While some medium-duty equipment can come with exhaust brakes to help preserve service brakes, their bark tends to be silenced in the urban areas where these vehicles tend to operate.

Steering systems present another maintenance challenges since many of the front ends in these vehicle classes are non-greaseable, Lafleur adds.

Other components such as wheel bearings can be serviced more easily, but are too often neglected on medium-duty trucks, he says. “These trucks are not built to run 200,000-plus  kilometers without the wheel bearings being disassembled, adjusted, lubricated or replaced if needed. That can be a real problem for a truck driven mostly in urban settings.”

“Awareness of the importance of preventive maintenance is the big issue within the segment,” says Isuzu’s Craig. Thoughts about a truck’s condition often take a back seat to other business demands.

It’s why many medium-duty truck dealers focus on coaching customers about preventive issues – particularly when it comes to the warning lights linked to complex aftertreatment systems. For a non-trucker who ignores the check engine light in their car for weeks on end, just how important is the regen supposed to be?

“You can do it for a couple of hours until you get to a shop, but if you ignore it for a week,” Lafleur says. “You probably have damaged all your DPF system and you get stuck on the side of the road because regens didn’t occur, and everything [in the aftertreatment system ] got clogged.”

Excessive idling tends to be common in many medium-duty applications as well, causing its own harm to the aftertreatment systems. It’s why McLellan thinks technicians should pay particular attention to them. “You create soot, dirt, and things like that internally that you wouldn’t create if you were running down the highway,” he says.

That’s one of the reasons why Isuzu dealers often focus on operating hours rather than mileage when assessing a truck’s health.

“The truck maybe starts up at 8:00 and goes until 6:00 and never shuts off,” Craig says, referring to long idle periods.

Some buyers dodge the need for diesel exhaust fluid by selecting a gasoline-powered model. There are no regens in those. But you still have emissions-related issues to manage, and maintenance needs for components like injectors, Lafleur says.

“Gasoline engines have been using EGR valves forever and still do. They also need to calculate fuel pressure, they have a canister system for gasoline fumes, and they also have a catalyst. It’s not as advanced as on a diesel, but it’s still there.”

While electrical malfunctions can be a nightmare to address on any truck, medium-duty models also introduce the added challenge of bodies or vocational equipment that was introduced by a body builder after the truck rolls off the assembly line. If the body wasn’t properly connected to the chassis, there will be wiring issues to address.

Most truck manufacturers have addressed such challenges by adopting plug-in, ready-to-use harnesses rather than requiring splices. “We provide all the body builders with wiring diagrams and information on alterations, what to touch, what not to touch,” Craig says.

“The old style was, you searched through the dash and found a power wire and you found a ground wire and you found the signal wire,” McLellan says. “All manufacturers have done a really good job for the body builders.”

But even the best connections will face attacks from de-icing compounds and the repeated splashes of standing water on city streets. To compound matters, urban driving tends to expose the units to plenty of road dust and airborne particles that might otherwise blow off a Class 8 tractor at highway speeds. It means rads can require regular cleaning to keep the cooling system operating as it should.

Lafleur notes that some pick-up based medium-duty trucks are equipped with as many as seven different radiators that all need to be taken care of. “A tiny leak is enough for oily matter to accumulate on radiators and dust to stick to it, potentially leading to engine overheating issues and premature wear,” he says.

All that dust and road grime can also play a role in shortening the lives of fuel filters, requiring careful attention for the equipment that tends to run at low speeds in heavy city traffic.

Many truck owners adopt rust-proofing treatments as a barrier against the corrosive threats, and Lafleur recommends the work.

“We can see by the floor, lower body panels or radiator supports’ level of corrosion if the owner had it treated. The difference is huge. After 10 years, rust hasn’t eaten away the vehicle,” he says.

Given their low mileage, it’s not unusual for medium-duty trucks to stay in service for 10-15 years, sometimes more. This means shop managers need to secure access to a particularly wide selection of spare parts, and ensure technicians are trained in equipment with a wide range of model years.

It’s one of the reasons why some shops that service medium-duty trucks like to hire personnel from the car business. “If you’re a truck guy, you may not have worked on hydraulic brakes for the last 10 years. It might have always been on air brakes,” McLellan adds.

In the meantime, they require some of the earliest training on advanced technologies, since the trucks travel distances that are more likely to support alternative fuels or battery-electric operations.

But technicians know that a truck is more than the powertrain. Eliminating the internal combustion engine still leaves plenty of maintenance demands, Lafleur says. There are still the brakes, the suspension, steering and lighting to contend with. That will all need a level of specialized repair.

And that will require savvy truck techs.

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TORONTO, Ont. – There were more trucks chasing loads in Canada’s spot market in April than an any other month in history, according to TransCore Link Logistics.

Meanwhile, load postings took an expected turn down compared to March, but the last week of April saw a 14% jump in loads compared to the previous week. April load volumes were 17% off March levels, according to TransCore, and down 41% year-over-year.

Intra-Canada loads accounted for 33% of load volumes, but were down 3% from March and 26% year-over-year. Cross-border load postings dropped 16% in April, with loads leaving Canada down 31%.

Truck postings were up 13% from March, and were up 68% year-over-year, marking an all-time high. There were 3.78 trucks per load in April, a 36% increase over March’s 2.70 truck-to-load ratio. Year-over-year, the truck-to-load ratio was up 185% from 1.32 last April.

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Drivers across Nova Scotia may encounter police checkpoints on the road over the next week.

It’s part of a national campaign to improve road safety during Road Safety Week, which runs from May 14 to May 20.

The Mounties will be conducting strategic checkpoints across the province as a way to create awareness and remind people that all drivers have a role to play in making roadways safe.

Each day of Canada Road Safety Week will be dedicated to a different aspect of road safety.

• May 14: Launch of Canada Road Safety Week
• May 15: Alcohol-Impaired driving
• May 16: Fatigue-Impaired driving
• May 17: Distracted driving
• May 18: Drug-Impaired driving
• May 19: Aggressive driving
• May 20: Seat belts

Corp. Lisa Croteau says whenever you see any emergency vehicle pulled over on the side of the road to “Move over and slow down.”

“During the road safety week that we have going on right now, our main point is to drive sober, drive slow, try not to be distracted and wear your seat belt,” said Croteau.

Between Jan. 1, 2019 and April 30, 2019 Nova Scotia RCMP reported 10 collisions in which someone was seriously injured or killed. During that same time frame, 139 people were charged with an impaired driving-related charge.

This week is meant to remind drivers stay safe while on the roads.

“There will be some enforcement during Road Safety Week. You will see checkpoints in some locations to try and get the public more aware of this week,” said Croteau.

Drivers who come through a checkpoint may encounter sobriety test for alcohol and drugs and failure to participation a sobriety test could result in criminal charges.

The Canadian Automotive Association (CAA) says drivers should also slow down and move over for emergency vehicles, including tow trucks helping other drivers.

Julia Kent is the public and government affairs director at CAA and says no matter who is pulled over on the side of the road, it’s important to remember to give them space.

Kent says this includes tow truck drivers.

“This is where they work,” she said. “They deserve to be safe on the side of the road and we really need to slow down give them space and move over to ensure they get home safely.”

The CAA says that tow truck drivers know firsthand about the consequences of unsafe driving.

“Our drivers report frequent near-misses and almost every single one of them have a story that was really scary,” said Kent.

“On the side of the road in the last two and a half years we’ve actually had three instances where drivers have been injured.”

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The Mustang’s driver was able to exit the vehicle by himself and refused medical treatment. (Image Courtesy of Indiana State Police)

Mechanical failure reportedly led to the driver of a Ford Mustang finding himself wedged underneath a moving semi on I-69 Sunday, May 12, around 12:10 p.m., according to the Indiana State Police.

A 1989 Ford Mustang, being driven by 40-year-old Ryan Lawson, was driving northbound in the passing lane alongside a 2017 Volvo tractor-trailer when Lawson lost control and veered under the tractor-trailer. The Volvo’s driver, 59-year-old Ivan Stovburn from Montreal, Canada, didn’t immediately realize Lawson and his car were wedged underneath his trailer and continued traveling for another one-half mile before stopping in the driving lane.

Police are attributing the crash to mechanical failure on the part of the Mustang. Lawson was able to exit his Mustang on his own. He refused medical treatment. Stovburn was uninjured. The accident caused traffic on I-69 to be at a standstill for about 30 minutes.

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PedalCoach’s gauge display represents fuel consumed at a given moment. The more time the driver spends in the green zone, the better his fuel economy will be.

TORONTO, Ont. — How do you coax drivers to operate more fuel efficiently? Is it enough to encourage them to reduce idling or use progressive shifting techniques? If not encouragement, then how about coercion using idle-shutdown timers, speed governors, or engine-rpm limiters? Such devices effectively take away control from the driver — and drivers hate them. Paying fuel bonuses can be a one-way ticket to a toxic workplace depending on how they’re managed. Drivers respond well to incentives when they are seen as fair, but it’s almost impossible to manage a fuel incentive program based solely on fuel consumed.

Drivers will argue, rightly, that there are too many variables at play to compare even two identical trucks on identical routes. Factors such as traffic density, weather, schedules and even tire tread depth come into play. Fleets that have tried such programs can give up in frustration, and drivers come away feeling the fleet is pitting driver against driver on a very unlevel playing field.

But what if drivers were rewarded for driving the truck properly, coaxing every last meter out of a liter of fuel rather using an mpg-based bonus system?

“What’s 7 mpg anyway?” asks Jeff Baer, founder and CEO of LinkeDrive, developer of the PedalCoach in-cab coaching application. “Without some context, the mpg gauge doesn’t know if 7 mpg is good or bad. Would you bonus a driver that gets 7 mpg with a load of ping pong balls? How about a load of bricks?”

PedalCoach is an in-cab application that provides drivers with visual cues to help them drive more efficiently by constantly calculating the optimal fuel rate at a given moment. It gives drivers a moving consumption target that doesn’t penalize them for heavy loads, old trucks, headwinds, or traffic density. It simply encourages proper operation of the truck.

Isaac Instruments takes a similar approach with its Isaac Coach application, bundled into its fleet management devices. It uses visual indicators to coach drivers on proper throttle management and gear selection while providing a performance-based scorecard for realistic comparison of the drivers’ eco-driving skills.

“When fleets monitor fuel economy, they tend to group drivers in similar operations for easier comparison: U.S., heavy-haul, city, etc.,” says Isaac Instrument’s vice president of marketing Jean-Sebastien Bouchard. “Isaac Coach takes the actual fuel mileage out of the equation, and instead monitors how efficiently the driver operates the truck. You could score any two drivers in the world accurately and fairly.”

Vnomics uses only an audible signal in the cab to indicate when certain thresholds have been exceeded. Reports can be produced showing driver fuel and shifting scores as well as fuel burned and fuel wasted.

The True Fuel application from Vnomics takes a similar approach, but uses an audible alert to warn drivers when they are straying outside the envelope. Using algorithms developed in-house, True Fuel calculates the maximum potential fuel economy at a moment in time and compares it precisely to the actual fuel consumed. If the driver is operating correctly, nothing happens. If drivers accelerate too hard, take engine revs too high, or exceed a set speed limit, they hear the beep of an alert.

“We feel that feedback in the cab should be exception-based and audible rather than visual for safety reasons,” says Vnomics’ chief technology officer Lloyd Palum. “True Fuel is a low-drag, easy-to-understand tool that gives drivers the ability master fuel-efficient driving for themselves.”

While these tools might deliver their messages in slightly different ways, they share several things in common. They all tap into the truck’s data port and draw fuel consumption numbers and vehicle parameters directly from the ECM; they provide drivers with indications of how well they are driving, to encourage better performance rather than taking something away; and they provide feedback and score drivers based on technique, independent of actual fuel consumption.

“PedalCoach is as much a driver engagement tool as it is a fuel-saving device,” says Baer. “We don’t make assumptions on the amount of fuel used, just that the driver is using the minimum amount of fuel possible to maintain speed. For every mile drivers keeps the gauge in the green, they get a point. When the trip is over, the number of points over miles is the PedalCoach score. It really just indicates how hard the driver is trying to conserve fuel regardless of what they have to work with.”

Isaac Coach uses colored dots to represent throttle pedal position and fuel input, along with words like “coast” or “accel” to encourage certain driver behaviors.

Who hasn’t heard of the old piano teacher who would rap students’ knuckles with a ruler for improper technique? That’s no way to teach a new skill. Fortunately, apps like Isaac Coach, True Fuel, and Pedal Coach are kinder, gentler, and way more effective than a figurative rap on the knuckles.

True Fuel, on the surface, has the least intrusive interface. The black box connected to the data port can be hidden anywhere. The driver sees nothing, but hears a tone only when he or she is exceeding some parameter. At the end of each leg of the trip, whenever the key is turned off, the system announces the driver’s score. A score of 100 would be perfect. Such near-immediate feedback for the driver is a better coaching tool than sitting down with a supervisor a week or two after the fact to review reports, says Palum. By that time, the driver will have forgotten the incident, and it will be of no value as a teaching tool.

“There are two prongs to what we do for a teaching experience,” Palum says. “The first is the audible feedback at the moment in time you’re doing something inefficient. The other is a ‘game-film’ approach where the driver can review a previous run and get detailed information about the truck he or she was driving, where the waste was sneaking in, and under what conditions.”

A visual report shows actual fuel economy for a trip as well as potential fuel economy — an estimated number based on sticking with best operating practices — as well as a “gallons lost” field. This shows how much fuel was wasted. In addition to an overall 0-100 driver score, a gear shift display shows truck and engine speed as well as gear choices, and the time at certain engine speeds in certain gears. This is a clear reminder of whether drivers are using progressive shifting.

The Isaac Coach interface is visual. On a tablet screen, the driver sees three green or yellow circles. Data on the truck’s weight, speed, and terrain come from the ECM, while the algorithm calculates potential fuel savings compared to actual fuel used based on inputs like which gear the truck is in, and the percentage of the throttle pedal input.

Three green circles indicate more throttle can be safely applied. Three yellow circles means the driver is close to the throttle input limit. If the word “accel” appears, the driver has exceeded the throttle input and should back off a little. If the driver removes his or her foot from the pedal and coasts, the word “coast” appears in the display, and this earns extra points toward the Isaac Score. The word “shift” appears when the driver exceeds a certain rpm in a certain gear, or when traveling faster than 90 km/h when not in top gear.

“Even if all the fleet’s trucks are doing different operations — city, highway, heavy or lightly loaded — they are all scored the same way with Isaac Coach,” says Bouchard. “It’s not the actual fuel consumption that matters, it’s how well the driver operated the trucks by following the prompts on the tablet. The fuel economy follows when the driver is driving properly.”

With PedalCoach, the driver interface is more visually oriented, displaying what looks like a speedometer with numbers from 0 to 100. The gauge is shaded green (0-45), yellow (25-75) and red (65-100). Essentially, it displays the relationship between the fuel going into the engine, the vehicle speed coming out, and the rate of change between those two signals. “We’re also looking at pedal position and what they are doing with the brakes and everything else,” says Baer. “It’s very simple for the driver. All they have to do is keep it in the green and they are operating in the most economical range of the engine under a certain set of conditions, uphill, into a headwind, or on flat ground.”

If the driver encounters a hill or a sudden change in wind direction, trying to maintain the same speed will require more throttle. So as he or she steps on the pedal, the gauge creeps upward toward 100. Staying in the green might require giving up a bit of road speed to maintain efficiency.

At the end of each day the driver is emailed a daily summary report called MyDrive, showing details from the trip including miles driven (at highway speed and in the city), weather conditions along with wind direction and speed at various points along the route, and a few other useful summaries. “Drivers get instant feedback from the gauge display and report from which they can learn from the day’s driving,” Baer says.

All of these tools work equally well with automated transmissions, by the way. More emphasis is placed on throttle use, such as sudden acceleration; choice of performance, economy or manual mode; as well as throttle position and speed control. But the basic concept of managing throttle and road speed still apply.

“Use of these tools lines up with how the fleet is already doing in terms of a culture of performance and cooperation with its drivers,” says Palum. “If the fleet feels that it doesn’t have a constructive relationship with its driver pool, then introducing something like this, where there’s already a lack of trust, can be counterproductive. The fleets that do the best are those that have a culture of trust.”

Palum went on to describe a such a fleet, where the drivers are saying, ‘Hey, please give us another decimal point in the score so we can break a tie.’

The company says the purchase strengthens the national scope of its logistics operations, with five operation centers across Canada. Trident focuses on the mining, heavy machinery, steel and pipe and railroad industries.

It’s also strong in the overdimensional and temperature-controlled segments, Manitoulin announced.

“Bringing Trident into the group enhances the flexibility of our ground transportation offerings,” said Jeff King, president, Manitoulin Transport. “This enables us to accommodate the bigger, more complex and highly customized moves. We will continue to expand our logistics division through acquisitions and organic growth in keeping with our commitment to always anticipate customers’ needs and find new and better ways to provide them with convenience, quality, and choice, wherever they may be.”

“Joining Manitoulin is an exciting opportunity for Trident’s customers,” added Mike Davies, founder and president, Trident Freight Logistics. “We are thrilled to become part of a company that we feel sure will continue to provide the degree of care and service that we have provided over the years and which can also provide our customers with easy access to many additional service offerings which can greatly benefit their business.”

Trident will continue to operate under its existing name.

“We are always looking to build out our supply chain services to ensure Manitoulin Group of Companies provides a national scope with all of our offerings,” said Gord Smith, CEO, Manitoulin Group of Companies. “Trident is an excellent fit and we are very pleased to bring into Manitoulin an organization that demonstrates a commitment to their customers and quality service. We are looking forward to introducing Trident’s customers to the many additional services that Manitoulin Group of Companies offers. I have great confidence that we will be able to help them reach their supply chain goals and be their partner for any future growth that they are anticipating.”

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