SHERWOOD PARK, Alta. – Vertex Resources Group has acquired Three Star Trucking, an environmental services company that provides fluid hauling, pressure truck, hot oilers, and combo vac services in Western Canada.

The purchase adds more than 270 pieces of equipment to Vertex’s fleet, including high-pressure fluid hauling trailers, which enable the company to offer propane, butane, and NGL fluid hauling services.

“Through acquiring Three Star, we are adding an experienced management team and operators to Vertex in addition to strengthening our service lines in Saskatchewan and the United States,” said Terry Stephenson, CEO and president of Vertex. “Three Star’s proven customer base, experienced management team, and safety program allows us to confidently expand this service line. With the completion of this acquisition, Vertex will be the leading provider of fluid hauling services in Western Canada and will have the capacity and experience to continue serving these clients while growing Three Star’s United States operations.”

Three Star was established in 1962 and is licensed to haul condensate, NGL, butane, and propane between Canada and the U.S., with a federal transportation licence in five states.

Big Freight Systems

Winnipeg, Manitoba-based Big Freight Systems, a division of Daseke Inc., on July 5 announced it is merging with Kelsey Trail Trucking, which has locations in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and Innisfil, Ontario.

Kelsey Trail will become a division of Big Freight and keep operations intact. The operations combined have nearly 750 tractors and trailers.

Transport truck driver Jaskirat Sidhu walks out of provincial court after after a hearing in Melfort, Saskatchewan, Tuesday. AP

A Canadian truck driver charged in connection to a horrific bus crash that left 16 people dead was allowed to walk free Tuesday — on $1,000 bail.

“I’d prefer he be kept in jail, but we don’t have a choice in that,” said Russell Herold, whose son Adam died in the crash. “The process is what it is.”

Speaking to CBC News on Tuesday after the bail hearing, Herold was joined by other grief-stricken parents and family members who also lost loved ones in the April 6 bus accident in Melfort, Saskatchewan.

Many of the deceased were members of the local Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team, whose players range in age from 16 to 21.

In spite of this, a judge released Jaskirat Singh Sidhu — the 29-year-old truck driver — on bail thanks to an agreement between his defense lawyers and prosecutors. The young man is accused of causing the fatal bus crash by failing to stop at a flashing stop sign.

“This prevents unnecessary delays in court proceedings,” explained defense attorney and legal expert Brian Pfefferle.

While defendants are typically granted bail in Canada, a judge can deny their release depending on the circumstances surrounding their case.

“At least they put some conditions on it,” Herold said, in reference to Sidhu’s release. “The bail seems low, but I guess if you go by the law — he doesn’t have a prior record and hasn’t tried to flee so I guess this is common.”

Sidhu may be a free man at the moment, but he must abide by a number of rules while his case is being heard. His bail conditions require that he stay at his home in Calgary and follow a curfew. He must also surrender his passport — and his banned from driving.

The victims’ families believe Sidhu was not properly trained to drive, and they’re now suing both him and the trucking company he worked for. He is due back in court on Aug. 21.

Source of article click here : New York Post

EDMONTON, Alta. – Partners in Compliance (PIC) has been awarded for its use of smart transponders to expand weigh station bypass opportunities for the Alberta trucking industry.

PIC, an Alberta Motor Transport Association (AMTA) initiative, received the award from the Intelligence Transportation Systems Society (ITS) of Canada with its top award for projects on three levels – larger metropolitan, provincial, and federal levels.

“This award honors the Alberta Justice and Solicitor General Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Branch (CVEB), Alberta Transportation, and the Alberta Motor Transport Association for their forethought in adopting a smart transponder-based system, which allows them to sustainably grow the Alberta PIC program bypass,” said Janneke van der Zee, general manager of ITS Canada. “It’s clear from the results that provincial officials made a good decision in choosing this technology for providing weigh station bypasses. It fulfills ITS Canada’s objective in achieving the highest and best possible use of the latest technology to improve efficiency of the Canadian highway transportation system and the safety of the motoring public.”

Drivewyze has been a big reason for the expansion of the bypass program in Alberta. As Brian Heath, president and CEO of Drivewyze, pointed out, the number of weigh stations with bypass have nearly tripled in the province from 23 to 56, with nearly 56,000 participating PIC member trucks taking advantage.

“Our technology can stand on its own or as an addition to the existing technology commercial vehicle enforcement agencies use in offering weigh station bypass,” Heath said. “By utilizing the cellular network and the GPS-based geo-fencing capabilities Drivewyze offers, the Alberta PIC program not only delivers more bypass opportunities at more locations for members, but also opens the door to other future freight mobility and safety initiatives.”

Drivewyze is also working toward providing PIC members access to driver safety notifications and electronic inspections in the near future, something PIC director Andrew Barnes is looking forward to.

“I think this award confirms and reinforces the belief we held 18 months ago that partnering with Drivewyze would provide our members a great opportunity to leverage the work they do in meeting the program requirements,” said Barnes. “With all of the additional technology truck fleets have had to install with recent changes in HOS compliance, it’s good to see how Drivewyze can help PIC members and their drivers further leverage that technology as they work to maintain Alberta’s highest roadway safety ranking.”

The bypass program also helps those on the enforcement side.

Systems usually consist of one or two cameras, one facing forward the other toward the driver. Some systems can accommodate as many as nine camera at various locations around the truck.

TORONTO, Ont. — Canada has a lot of workplace privacy legislation on the books, some of which can be applied to driver-facing cameras. Some jurisdictions seem favorably disposed to the video monitoring of operators (drivers) in safety-sensitive positions, while others suggest cameras might be OK, as long as no other reasonable mechanism exists to achieve the same results.

Tobi Cohen, senior communications advisor for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, told Today’s Trucking that “video surveillance should only be deployed to address a real, pressing and substantial problem, and it should be viewed as an exceptional step, only to be taken in the absence of a less privacy-invasive alternative.”

For example, the Commissioner’s Office made submissions to Parliament regarding Bill C-49, which mandates voice and video recorders in trains and became law in May.

“In the context of C-49 we acknowledged the impact of audio/video recordings on employee privacy but based on the evidence put forward by the Transportation Safety Board, we generally accepted that their use for safety reasons was reasonable, provided appropriate controls are in place to prevent use for inconsistent purposes,” Cohen said.

Policy and guidelines coming from the Privacy Commissioner of Canada through the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) apply only to federally regulated business, including inter-provincial and international trucking.

According to Lyndsay Wasser, a partner the McMillan law firm, several provinces also have legislation in place regarding employee privacy that would apply to intra-provincial operators. In Ontario, for example, there is no legislation in the private sector that applies to employee personal information.

“That doesn’t mean there are no laws,” she says. “There are tort laws relating to privacy, such as ‘intrusion upon seclusion’, which is invading someone’s privacy in a manner that would seem highly offensive to a reasonable person.”

Typically, monitoring for safety reasons, to track stolen vehicles, or to improve client service efficiency is more likely to meet the test for being reasonable than monitoring for employee performance for management purposes, she says. Usually, but there are no guarantees.

The Quebec division of an international food service company recently lost a court challenge to its use of driver-facing cameras as a safety tool. The action followed a grievance filed by the Teamsters Union. In its decision the Quebec Superior Court ruled — we paraphrase here — that installing driver-facing cameras was a “preemptive” measure rather than a response to a specific risk, such as a pattern of repeated driver errors, which did not warrant such an invasive solution. Less-invasive measures were available, such as cameras that face forward only.

“We are on record as opposing driver-facing cameras as they infringe upon a driver’s right to a reasonable expectation of privacy in the vehicle,” says John McCann national freight director, Teamsters Canada. “We are satisfied with the Quebec Superior Court ruling that found there are less invasive ways of monitoring drivers and improving fleet safety.”

Source of article click here : Today's Trucking

VICTORIA, B.C. –Michelin North America is lauding the B.C. government for increasing the load limits on “super singles.”

The B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure increased the load limits for new-generation wide-base single tires (also known as super singles) that are size 455/55R22.5 from 7,700 kilograms to 8,500 kilograms last month – making them equivalent to those trucks using dual tires.

The move brings B.C. in line with other provinces allowing the more eco-friendly choice in tires. The tires leave less of a carbon footprint through greater fuel efficiency.

Michelin and the British Columbia Trucking Association (BCTA) made submissions to B.C.’s Climate Leadership Consultation ahead of the Paris Agreement highlighting the tires among other technologies as tools for creating sustainable mobility.

The submission said heavy trucks expend an estimated one in every three tanks of fuel to overcome the rolling resistance of the tires alone, which is improved with wide-base, single tires.

“B.C.’s openness to well-founded arguments from knowledgeable stakeholders, such as the British Columbia Trucking Association, on how to reduce the carbon footprint of the commercial transport sector benefits the majority of Canadians. Heavy trucks now have the option to run competitive loads in an uninterrupted and eco-friendly fashion from coast to coast,” said Jeff MacLean, president, Michelin North America.

Source of article click here : Today's Trucking