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Emergency personnel are at the scene of a
collision between a van and a semi-trailer on the Trans-Canada Highway
near Kemnay, Man., on Thursday afternoon. (Jill Coubrough/CBC)
One man has died after a minivan collided with a semi-trailer on the
Trans-Canada Highway west of Brandon, Man., on Thursday afternoon.
The collision happened at around 1:30 p.m. on Highway 1, just west of Brandon near Kemnay, Man.
RCMP confirmed that one man is dead after the vehicle he was in
smashed into the back of the semi, which was parked in a weight station
lane west of the Kemnay intersection.
Emergency crews were still on the highway as of 4 p.m., extracting
the van from under the semi. An RCMP traffic analyst has also been at
the scene.
The highway has not been closed to traffic, the CBC's Jill Coubrough reported from the scene.
Police did not release any details about the deceased.
REGINA — Jay’s Moving & Storage Ltd., a Regina-based
moving company that was named Saskatchewan’s Business of the Year in
2010, has been purchased for an undisclosed amount by Mullen Group Ltd.
of Okotoks, Alta.
Mullen Group expects to add up to $40 million in
annual revenue through the purchase of Jay’s Moving & Storage, a
450-employee company based in Regina. Jay’s Moving has 11 full-service
terminals and warehouses and a fleet of over 600 trucks and trailers.
Mullen
Group says Jay’s will be operated as a stand-alone business within the
group. Dennis Doehl, the current owner of Jay’s, has agreed to remain
for the rest of the year to help with the transition.
“We’ll
continue on the way we always have for almost 49 years,’’ said Terry
Simonson, president of Jay’s Moving. “It’s very good for the Jay’s
Group, it’s good for Dennis and it’s good for over 400 people that I
work with here,’’ Simonson told the Leader-Post.
Simonson said the
Mullen Group has assured the Jay’s staff that there will be no major
changes or layoffs. “They invest in good companies, ... but they don’t
manage them. We manage our own (business) and we move on,’’ said
Simonson, who has been with Jay’s for 34 years
“There’ll be no job losses. If anything, we’ll be looking for people,” he added.
“We
are extremely pleased to add Jay’s to our organization,” said Murray
Mullen, chairman and CEO of the Mullen Group. “This is a great company
with an established history and a strong management team. As such, we
anticipate a quick and smooth transition.”
Mullen didn’t disclose
financial terms of the purchase but said it expects Jay’s to add between
$35 million and $40 million of annual revenue, with operating margins
in line with other businesses within its trucking and logistics segment.
It said the purchase will be funded from Mullen’s existing cash reserves.
Mullen
Group is a large provider of specialized transportation and related
services to the oil and natural gas industry in Western Canada and as
one of the country’s leading suppliers of trucking and logistics
services.
Doehl started Jay’s Moving with one pickup truck in
1964. Nearly half a century later, Jay’s has grown to about a dozen
offices and warehouses. In 2004, Doehl was inducted into the
Saskatchewan Transportation Hall of Fame.
Jay’s won the ABEX
Business of the Year award in 2010 from the Saskatchewan Chamber of
Commerce for “demonstrating exceptional performance that is particularly
outstanding and deserving of praise.”
The Canada North Resources Expo Less than a Month Away
Prince
George, BC – We are less than a month away from the brand new Canada North
Resources Expo, (CNRE) that is being held May 31 and June 1st at the
CN Centre in Prince George, British Columbia.
This event
will showcase over 4 acres of indoor and outdoor exhibits featuring all
equipment needed to build the infrastructure for the 70 Billion dollars worth
of resource projects planned and underway in northern British Columbia over the
next 10 years and beyond.
Day two of
the event has been dubbed Future of the Industry Day where industry
stakeholders and workers will be encouraged to bring their families to the
CNRE. This will enable them to introduce and educate the next generation to
these thriving industries and possible career choices. Recruitment is a major
issue for these industries and the families of the current workers could very
well be the next generation of skilled trades’ people to continue on with these
mega projects and we welcome them to the event. Anyone who purchases a regular
admission ($10.00) on this day or have pre-registered will receive free entry
for their families.
Visitors
that are interested in prospective careers in these industries are also
encouraged to come with resume in hand as several exhibiting companies are on
the hunt for new talent and will be identified at their booths with recruiting
here signage. The seminar schedule including the Health and Safety Zone is now
posted online.
To
celebrate the launch of this event, we encourage visitors to pre-register in
advance on our website. The benefits include receiving half price off the cost
of admission at the gate. Doing this will also ensure speedy entry into
the event and will keep you up to date on all the latest happenings with this
event.
For
complete show details and to see WHO is hiring, visit www.CNRE.ca
Truckers take note: Roadcheck 2013, the annual safety
blitz that checks tractor-trailer equipment, driver logs and other
safety aspects of truck drivers’ operations, will take place June 4-6,
according to the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) calendar.
CVSA is an international not-for-profit organization comprising
local, state, provincial, territorial and federal motor carrier safety
officials and industry representatives from the United States, Canada,
and Mexico.
Its mission is to promote commercial motor vehicle safety and
security by providing leadership to enforcement, industry and policy
makers.
CVSA member jurisdictions are represented by various
Departments of Transportation, Public Utility and Service Commissions,
State Police, Highway Patrols and Ministries of Transport. In addition,
CVSA has several hundred associate members who are committed to helping
the Alliance achieve its goals; uniformity, compatibility and
reciprocity of commercial vehicle inspections, and enforcement
activities throughout North America by individuals dedicated to highway
safety and security.
CVSA is an international not-for-profit organization comprised
of local, state, provincial, territorial and federal motor carrier
safety officials and industry representatives from the United States,
Canada, and Mexico. Our mission is to promote commercial motor vehicle
safety and security by providing leadership to enforcement, industry and
policy makers. CVSA member jurisdictions are represented by various
Departments of Transportation, Public Utility and Service Commissions,
State Police, Highway Patrols and Ministries of Transport. In addition,
CVSA has several hundred associate members who are committed to helping
the Alliance achieve its goals; uniformity, compatibility and
reciprocity of commercial vehicle inspections, and enforcement
activities throughout North America by individuals dedicated to highway
safety and security.
In Roadcheck 2012:
• Over 74,000 inspections were conducted
• 20.9% of vehicles inspected were placed out-of-service
• The driver out-of-service rate was 4.6 percent
During "regular" roadside inspections in 2012:
• The No. 1 violation was "Operating Vehicle Not Having The Required Operable Lamps"
• No. 2 was "No/Defective Lighting Devices/Reflective Devices/Projected"
Truck stop mogul says he didn't know of fuel-rebate issues
Embattled truck stop CEO and Cleveland
Browns owner James Haslam took the blame for a lack of oversight in his
fuel-sales
rebate program, which is the subject of a
federal investigation and multiple class-action lawsuits, during a
speech Thursday
morning at the Hilton Indianapolis Hotel.
Haslam’s company, Pilot Flying J of
Knoxville, Tenn., has doubled in size in the past five years but didn’t
have
a chief compliance officer, he told the
audience of trucking industry executives gathered in downtown
Indianapolis for a conference
presented by locally based law firm
Scopelitis Garvin Light Hanson & Feary.
“I take the blame for not having that,”
Haslam said, adding that hiring a compliance chief is one of the steps
he will take to rectify the situation, in
which he said it appears—so far—that about 250 firms may have been
short-changed
on their monthly rebates. Those rebates
can add up to tens of thousands of dollars.
The rebate scheme affects small trucking
firms, in which the monthly discount is manually calculated and passed
along to
drivers who own their own trucks. Out of
Pilot Flying J’s 5,000 customers, about 400 were in the manual rebate
program,
Haslam said. He plans to bring that
program to an end.
Asked whether he had any personal
knowledge of the rebate scheme, Haslam said, “Absolutely not.” Haslam
said
his audit team is scouring accounts and
reimbursing trucking companies with interest.
The fact that Haslam hasn’t been muzzled
by his legal advisors is unusual, Scopelitis partner Greg Feary said.
“That
would be the standard approach, but not
his approach.”
The Scopelitis firm represents trucking
companies in a variety of matters, but so far sees no reason to pursue a
lawsuit
against Pilot Flying J.
The biennial Scopelitis Transportation
Seminar draws about 400 industry executives, giving Haslam a platform to
not only
defend himself but to remind clients of
what Pilot Flying J means to the industry, which has a large presence in
Indianapolis.
Pilot Flying J extends about $500 million
a month in interest-free credit to trucking firms, Haslam said. The
company is
spending $75 million to renovate showers,
restrooms and fuel lanes at its more than 500 stops across the United
States and
Canada, he said.
Montana trucking CEO Ray Kuntz said his
700-truck firm, Watkins & Shepard Trucking Inc., was not shorted,
and he’s
glad Pilot Flying J is still in business.
“I was very impressed with the honesty,” he said after Haslam’s
talk, during which he answered select,
pre-screened questions.
Pilot Flying J is a “very integral part
to both our company and the industry,” Kuntz said. “Hopefully he
can restore the trust he says he’s going
to try to do.”
Haslam’s company, Pilot, bought the
Flying J travel centers out of bankruptcy in 2010, creating the largest
chain of
truck stops in the country.
An estimated 30 horses died in a truck
fire on I-81 in Lisle, PA Monday night. According to police the truck
was driven by Clarence Phelps of Watertown, but the owner of the horses
was kill buyer Bruce Rotz.
When contacted about the accident by Equine Welfare Alliance, Rotz
indicated he would have no comment, saying only “if it burned it
burned.”
Local reports say the truck caught fire and the driver stopped but
neither he nor first responders were able to extinguish the flames. No
reason was given for keeping the horses trapped in the trailer as it
burned. The truck was pulled over in New York on March 13, 2013 and
ordered out of service until repairs and maintenance could be performed.
Nine violations were noted in 2011, one of which was a discharged or
unsecured fire extinguisher.
The horses were reportedly destined for the Viande Richelieu Meat,
Inc. slaughterhouse in Massueville, Quebec. Local reports misidentified
the destination as a “rendering plant”, an operation that recycles dead
animals and animal products into protein based compounds. Richelieu is
not a renderer but a plant that slaughters horses for their meat.
Rotz routinely buys horses from the weekly New Holland, PA horse
auction and other sources and delivers them to Canada for slaughter for
human consumption. For its part, the Richelieu plant has been involved
in multiple scandals.
In February of 2010, the Richelieu plant was embroiled in controversy
when an undercover video was released showing horses being shot
multiple times with a 22 caliber, bolt action rifle. The images of the
horses struggling after improperly placed shots, while the shooter
casually walked back and forth to a table to reload his rifle, were seen
around the world.
More recently, Canadian slaughter houses, which depend on the US for
an estimated 60% of the horses they slaughter, came under scrutiny when
testing showed horses carcasses contained the banned substance
phenylbutazone.
The meat from Canadian horse slaughter houses is sold mostly in the
EU, where horse meat has been found in a wide variety of products marked
as “beef” since January.
Over 59,000 US horses were slaughtered in Canada in 2012 according to
the USDA. Federal legislation is pending that would ensure our food
supply and exports to foreign countries remain safe by banning the “sale
or transport of equines or equine parts” in interstate or foreign
commerce for human consumption.
USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack has stated on several occasions the need for Congress to find an alternative to slaughtering horses.
Don’t get left behind: Yesterday’s tech won’t run tomorrow’s trucks
One
of today’s more rarified truck-driving jobs is held by lucky souls who
manage to score a gig with a manufacturer. While there’s some
over-the-road stuff with these jobs, it’s usually running validation
tests in Canada during the winter or down in Arizona in August, and they
have to adhere to strict driving guidelines while doing it. And
somebody’s got to get the trucks from the engineering center to whatever
truck show or dealer meeting is on the calendar.
But for the most part, these guys spend their days behind the wheel
driving a set route or on a track following strict parameters set by the
engineering staff as they attempt to work out one problem or another on
the vehicle. All in all, it means an awful lot more time at home with
the family than fleet drivers typically see, and you get to see the
newest trucks and hardware long before anyone else. Small wonder, if you
talk to them, that you find many of them think they’ve found their
dream job in the trucking industry.
One part of their job is to ride shotgun at media and dealer events
when a journalist or fleet executive climbs into the cab and behind the
wheel. They know the vehicles inside and out, can answer any question
you have and can gently coach a novice driver – or a journalist who
doesn’t get as much time behind the wheel as they’d like – in the finer
points of commercial vehicle safety.
I’ve driven a lot of trucks with these guys, and I’ve conducted sort
of an unofficial survey over the years. I always ask them: Among the
different groups of people they take on test drives, who tends to scare
them the most? Is it the dealers or the salesmen? How about journalists
or fleet customers? What about the company engineers or executives?
The answer, more often than not, is fleet owners. As one track driver
told me recently, “Most of them used to drive, but they don’t anymore,
so they’re rusty. But they’re the boss. So they feel like they’ve got
something to prove sometimes. And some of them can really scare the hell
out of you.”
On one level, this is just a funny little anecdote about the
bossman’s ego and his abilities behind the wheel. But maybe there’s more
to it. The boss ultimately OKs new technology options for the fleet’s
vehicles. And if someone is shown that something can increase fuel
efficiency, decrease maintenance costs and improve highway safety – say,
an automated transmission – how big a role does that decision-maker’s
own abilities behind the wheel play into the acceptance or rejection of
that technology?
In other words, his mindset could be “Yes. The best drivers are
getting old and retiring. And the new ones we’re hiring will be safer
and make us more money with these transmissions.” Or it might be “The
old technology was good enough for me. And it ought to be good enough
for anybody driving for me.”
People don’t like change. And in the trucking industry, “change”
usually means “more expensive.” But that doesn’t mean you should
discount any new technology or safety system just because you got by
without it back in the day.
Everywhere we look today, the signs point to a relentless push toward
more technology in commercial vehicles and a greater government-driven
emphasis on safer operations. It’s still possible for fleets to resist
those trends. On the other hand, it’s only a matter of time before other
companies that adopt these new technologies pass them by.
The old days were great, but they’re gone – and they’re not coming
back. That’s something to think about next time one of those
manufacturer drivers is sitting over in the passenger seat explaining a
new piece of technology to you.
KING
CITY, Ont. -- No one in the trucking industry is fond of road salt or
chemical de-icers applied to our highways in the winter, but most will
accept they’re a necessary evil.
Their corrosive effects on vehicles are indisputable, but so too are
the benefits to motorists, as chemical de-icers and road salt make
otherwise treacherous roadways safe to travel. Paul Johnson, operations
manager with the County of Wellington, sees it from both sides.
Operating a fleet of 27 plow trucks, he’s responsible for distributing
sand, salt and chemical de-icers during the winter while at the same
time trying to protect the municipality’s equipment from its harmful
effects.
He spec’s trucks with heavy gauge steel, stainless steel fasteners
and hydraulic couplers. LED lamps are completely sealed, rims are
aluminum or powder-coated and auto-greasing systems are installed. The
trucks are doused with rust control products as soon as they arrive from
the factory. Between storms, the trucks are frequently washed and
bathed in a salt neutralizer.
Still, despite all the efforts, Johnson vehemently defends the use of
road salt and chemical de-icers by municipalities. Speaking at the
Transportation Maintenance and Technology Conference, Johnson said
municipalities are legally bound to keep roads safe in the wintertime. A
recent $1.6-million lawsuit against the County of Wellington served as a
reminder of this obligation.
“We have a legal obligation to meet our level of service and if we don’t, we’re dealing with the consequences,” Johnson said.
Environment Canada, meanwhile, has pushed for the wider use of liquid
de-icers because they’re less likely to leach into the soil alongside
roadways. The County of Wellington, like most municipalities, uses an
assortment of products depending on conditions. They include:
conventional sand and salt, pre-wet sand and salt (which is wet just
before application so it stays in place), and liquid de-icer (which is
applied immediately before or during a storm).
Adding moisture to salt when it’s applied to the road makes it more
effective by accelerating its performance and also assisting with
penetration into ice and packed snow, Johnson explained.
And pre-wet salt keeps the product where it’s needed - on the road
surface. Johnson said the “bounce and scatter” characteristics of
traditional salt cause 15% to immediately bounce off the road surface
into the ditch, with only 46% remaining in the centre of the road. By
comparison, 78% of pre-wet salt stays in the centre of the road, with
only 2% bouncing off the road.
The most effective way to keep roads clear, however, is by applying
an anti-icing spray before the snow falls, or as it’s falling. The
sprays prevent the snow and ice from bonding to the road surface in the
first place.
Johnson said it costs 10 times more to de-ice a road than it does to
apply anti-icing material beforehand. Another problem with conventional
road salt is that it loses effectiveness the colder it gets. While most
fleet operators accept the application of road salt and chemical
de-icers as a necessary evil, it doesn’t make it any easier on
equipment.
Eldon Gerber, trailer maintenance supervisor with Home Hardware in
St. Jacob’s Ont., is one of many maintenance managers who’ve struggled
to reduce its corrosive effects. He has learned a few tricks along the
way.
Starting in the early 1990s, Gerber began galvanizing parts of the trailer including, door frames and eventually entire bogies.
“That has really turned out well,” he said. “We have no rust at all on our bogies anymore.”
That didn’t help prevent corrosion in the wheel-ends, however, and
rustjacking of brake shoes remained a problem. Gerber began using brake
turbines, which generated air flow, keeping the wheel ends cleaned out,
but the supplier went out of business and they’re no longer available.
But simply removing dust shields has proven to be equally effective,
Gerber explained.
“With dust covers, you keep the dirt in the wheels and it stays
there. The road salt and sand stays in there and chews everything up and
that creates the rustjacking,” he said.
Over time, Gerber said Home Hardware has been gradually pulling dust
covers off its trailer wheel-ends and it has greatly reduced rustjacking
occurrences.
Perhaps Home Hardware’s biggest breakthrough was the purchase of a
Hydro-Chem drive-through wash system that thoroughly cleans an entire
tractor-trailer (including B-train configurations) in just minutes.
During the wintertime, half a ton of sand is removed from trailer
undercarriages each day, Gerber said. Home Hardware has run
tractor-trailers through the wash more than 11,000 times now with an
average cost of $5.31.
Paul Kirkup, national fleet manager with Krown Corp., said equipment
corrosion is a $23-billion problem in the US. He urged fleets to be
proactive, to wash and inspect vehicles regularly and to use treatments
with rust-inhibiting properties. He suggested using products that aren’t
WHMIS controlled so they’re safe to handle.
How much can a proactive corrosion prevention program save a fleet?
Based on a US Department of National Defense case study, $6 was saved
for every dollar spent on corrosion prevention.
“Prevention is better than correction in dollar values, time and efficiency,” Kirkup said.
8 Events to Keep You Trucking Through the Summer Months
Summer. It’s the time when you want to be outdoors, but sometimes if
you just don’t set aside the time the season passes you by. Here are
some events to give you the best possible summer, wherever you are in
North America.
VEGAS, BABY: Get your
summer started with a visit to Sin City for the Great West Truck Show.
With over 300,000 square feet of trucks, trailers and more, plus the
Pride & Polish truck beauty competition, there’s plenty to see and
do during the day. And then at night, everything else Vegas has to
offer. The show takes place May 30 to June 1. For info visit greatwesttruckshow.com.
LOVE THE GREAT OUTDOORS: Dust
off your golf clubs and head out to Montreal—well, just outside
Montreal (Hudson, to be precise)—for the Private Motor Truck Council of
Canada’s second golf tournament of the year on June 5. The Whitlock Golf
& Country Club features spectacular views throughout the 27-hole
course. Visit pmtc.ca to register.
MEAT-LOVERS WANTED: For
rib-lovers across the nation (and Ontario in particular), Tallman Truck
Centre is presenting the Big Brothers Big Sisters Kemptville Ribfest
from June 14 to 16. You’ll come for the ribs, but stay for the music,
pro wrestling show, boat and ATV show, as well as a variety of other
activities. For more details and to support the cause go to their website.
BLAST FROM THE PAST:
Vintage truck lovers gather in Clifford, ON to celebrate and admire
trucks from the ‘50s to ‘80s in this non-judged event. Last year the
show brought out 171 trucks and it’s sure to increase again this year.
The Clifford Classic Antique Truck Show takes place over Canada Day
weekend (June 28-30), so if you’ve got some time off, why not check out
some of the nicest antique big rigs around? GreatLakesTruckClub.com.
IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME:
This one goes without saying, but the Iowa 80 Truckers Jamboree is one
of the biggest events around and is sure to be one of the best things to
do if you find yourself in the mid-west from July 11 to 13. With over
175 exhibits, Trucker Olympics, and fireworks, the Jamboree is a great
way to experience all summer has to offer. Iowa80TruckStop.com.
RODEO DRIVE: From August 1
to 4 the town of Notre-Dame-du-Nord, QC heats up with its annual Truck
Rodeo (Rodeo du Camion). Attracting more than 60,000 visitors, besides
the typical fare there is also the Rodeo Draw, which features a class 8
tractor as the prize. Feeling lucky? Check out the Rodeo’s website for more.
GOLDEN CHARI-TEE: Each
year the Saskatoon Transportation Club holds its charitable golf
tournament and on August 23 you can hit the links in support of Crisis
Nursery, a Saskatoon organization dedicated to helping local families in
trouble. Register at the STC’s website.
LIGHTNING STRIKES MORE THAN ONCE:
Heading in to its ninth year, the Thunder in the Valley Drag Race in
Drayton Valley, AB is a great way to cap off your summer. Taking place
from August 30 to September 1, the drag race features the only three jet
cars in Canada. The event is sponsored by the Rotary Club of DraytonValley and proceeds go towards funding community projects. Speed over to their website for more.
Ban on trucking hazardous materials across Ambassador Bridge between US-Canada c
DETROIT — The Michigan Department of Transportation has recommended
lifting a ban on trucking hazardous materials across the Ambassador
Bridge that connects the U.S. and Canada, and the idea has prompted
concerns on both sides of the border.
The agency is taking public input on the idea until May
27 and any changes likely could take a year before taking effect, The
Detroit News reported (http://bit.ly/15rYTi8 ).
Explosives, radioactive material, flammable liquids and
corrosive material currently are banned from the bridge connecting
Detroit and Windsor, Ontario. They're also banned from the
Detroit-Windsor Tunnel. A ferry service currently operates on the
Detroit River for trucks carrying hazardous materials.
The state's review of the issue came after a request
from the Detroit International Bridge Co., which owns the Ambassador
Bridge. March 22 public meeting was held on the request, and MDOT said
10 Canadian officials were among those on hand.
"There's not enough detail or consultation that has to
be in a report of this magnitude," said Mario Sonego, chief engineer for
Windsor.
Plans are in the works to build a new Canadian-financed
bridge across the river at Detroit, and that bridge is expected to be
open to trucks carrying hazardous material. Gregg Ward, who has owned
the Detroit-Windsor Truck Ferry since 1990, opposes ending the ban at
the Ambassador Bridge.
An
international truck ferry carries trucks across the Detroit River to
Canada on Wednesday, May 8, 2013. The Michigan Department of
Transportation has recommended lifting a ban on trucking hazardous
materials across the Ambassador Bridge that connects the U.S. and
Canada, and the idea has prompted concerns on both sides of the border.
(AP Photo/Detroit News, Elizabeth Conley) DETROIT FREE PRESS OUT;
HUFFINGTON POST OUT
"It goes counter to the
reasoning about why we need a new bridge, which is redundancy," he said.
"We can't rely on one bridge. Now, when something happens there are
huge backups on the bridge."
In a study released Dec. 27, MDOT supported the idea of
transporting flammable gas/liquids, flammable solids and reactants,
oxidants and peroxides, poisonous materials and infectious substances,
corrosive materials and other dangerous products across the Ambassador
Bridge.
"This issue has been out there for quite a while and
it's definitely not a done deal at this point," said MDOT spokesman Jeff
Cranson.
MDOT didn't recommend lifting the ban on explosives and radioactive material on the bridge.
Hazardous materials are allowed across the Blue Water
Bridge between Port Huron and Sarnia, Canada, and are restricted to
designated lanes. Following MDOT's review, there are no plans to
consider allowing trucks hauling hazardous materials in the
Detroit-Windsor Tunnel.
The
development manager of Port Hawkesbury Paper has agreed to talks on the
condition that truckers resume hauling wood to the (Nova Scotia) mill.
Trucking companies at loggerheads with
the mill over the price of supplying the paper mill with wood agreed to
begin hauling late Sunday afternoon (May 12).
Northeastern Pulp Truckers Association representative, Fred Kennedy,
said individual truckers have been adamant that something has to be done
in order to be able to pay the bills.
Kennedy said it wasn’t until Sunday morning that there was a
breakthrough. He said mill development manager Marc Dube paved the path
for talks to begin.
“We had held many talks over the weekend between individual truckers
and after this progress the general feeling was it was the best thing
for the community, woodlands staff, mill workers, wood producers and
others, and a decision was made to discontinue the standby service mode
we adopted and returning to hauling,” said Kennedy.
Kennedy said the group is now formalizing a list of discussion topics and will meet with mill management in the coming days.
Many local trucking companies stopped delivering wood to the mill,
located in Point Tupper, on Tuesday (May 7) in an attempt to negotiate a
fairer price with the company that took over the mill last year.
The truckers estimate the pay scale implemented by Port Hawkesbury
Paper will cut their revenues by 15 per cent compared to previous mill
operator, NewPage Port Hawkesbury Corp.
Members of the association are also frustrated that the company
doesn’t want to negotiate with them as a group, preferring to deal with
individual contractors.
In a statement issued by Port Hawkesbury Paper late Friday, the
company said it has confirmed with other forest product hauling
businesses that their wood hauling rates are competitive with rates
being paid across Atlantic Canada.
“We have reached out directly to individual hauling contractors and reinforced how important it is that wood deliveries resume.”
In the meantime, the mill is attempting to secure alternative wood
supply arrangements to ensure they can meet the needs of their
customers.
Bluewave Energy 'Ready to Roll' with automated fleet fueling solution
RICHMOND
HILL, Ont. -- Bluewave Energy is looking to turn fleets’ downtime into
uptime with its new “Ready to Roll” automated fueling solution. The new
service, officially launched today at a ribbon-cutting ceremony at
Bluewave’s Richmond Hill facility, delivers fuel on-site directly to
fleet equipment.
Willie Rouse, vice-president of commercial fuels for Bluewave’s
Eastern division, says the service is intended to save fleets both time
and money by avoiding the hassle and risk associated with on-site fuel
storage, eliminating the need to travel to fueling stations, and
maximizing efficiency by fueling up during fleet downtime – often
overnight.
“This service is specifically designed so that when [customers] come
in in the morning, they’re literally ready to roll, hence the name,”
Rouse told Truck News at the event.
Rouse says that an added benefit of the service is its Web portal,
which allows online access to real-time fuel reports and individual
billing information for each piece of equipment.
“The Web portal connection for this service just allows customers to get a lot better data, cleaner data,” Rouse said.
Though the service was officially launched today, some customers have already been enjoying the benefits of Ready to Roll.
“With the speedy service that they’re providing, the efficiency with
which they’re delivering fuel, and the way that they’re able to track
the fuel consumption of each unit, we’ll be able to better cost our
projects and ensure efficiency,” Eliseo Lancione, president of Lancorp
Construction, told Truck News at the event.
At present, the service is rolling out in Toronto, but officials at
Parkland Fuel Corporation, Bluewave’s parent company, say expansion
across Canada is slated for the future.
“We need to innovate on that front and be market-leading. We thought
this was a capability we didn’t have and we could grow,” said Bob Espey,
president and CEO of Parkland. “Our business is all about growth. We
have grown about 20% annually for the last five years, so we’re very
keen to add new capabilities to us that enable us to keep growing.”
tti expands mobile camera lineup with an intelligent Trucking fleet solution
tti
(Burnaby, Canada) a leading supplier of in-vehicle digital video surveillance
technology for the trucking fleet industry, today unveiled a versatile onboard
video surveillance and driver behavior modification system – the Buddy BX1500
Pro. Featuring HD Video, continuous capture, solid-state storage, passive GPS
and a three-axis G-Force inertia sensor, the Buddy BX1500 Pro is the ideal
safety and risk management solution for any fleet. Designed to provide fleet
directors with increased visibility and control over fleet operations, the Buddy
BX1500 Pro unique blend of powerful features reduce liability and promote safer
and more efficient driver behavior.
“The new Buddy BX1500 Pro system is an
integration of driver behavior management solutions and tti’s proven Plug &
Play technology approach,” said Peter Allott, tti’s President and CEO. “Fleet
directors can use the footage and driver performance data collected by the
BX1500 Pro to help correct dangerous driving habits, reduce liability, ensure
drivers observe proper safety procedures and even help train new drivers.”
Small,
durable and inexpensive, the Buddy BX1500 Pro design packs in big features.
Mounted to the inside of the vehicle’s windshield or dash mount the camera can
be either powered by the cigarette lighter or hardwired to the vehicle battery.
A built in lock protects the video captured on the 32GB SD Card so only
authorized personnel can retrieve the data.
A
G-Force inertia sensor, built in GPS and other sensors housed within the unit
automatically register erratic activity, including aggressive driving, hard
braking, speeding and collisions. Reviewing events marked by the BX1500 Pro can
provide fleet directors with valuable insight into their drivers’ habits and
how best to alter dangerous behavior.
Unlike
other event-based digital video recording systems on the market, the BX1500 Pro
is a completely self-managed solution and does not require a monthly
subscription. The system also utilizes a continuous record method, capturing
footage for the entirety of a vehicle’s route and marking recorded data when an
event occurs.
The
GPS antenna built into the BX1500 Pro also stamps the footage recorded by the
DVR with location and speed information, allowing fleet directors to track the
routes of vehicles in the field through Google® Earth and Google® Maps.
ROBERT-BUILT:
The whole story of LNG class 8 trucks in Canada took off when the
innovative Claude Robert ordered 180 LNG tractors from Peterbilt.
In late January, energy-producer Encana announced that it is
commissioning a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant near Strathmore, AB.
The plant, Encana announced, “will play a key role in providing an
alternative fuel to diesel for heavy-duty transportation including rail
and long-haul trucking.”
Late last year, Winnipeg-based carrier Bison Transport announced its plans to run 15 LNG tractors in Alberta.
“Bison’s five-year fuel-supply agreement marks the first step in
launching Shell’s LNG refueling infrastructure in the province. Shell
Canada Products will fuel Bison’s new LNG-powered truck fleet between
Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer.”
Bison will get the fuel from Flying J outlets in Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer, all of which are expected to open this year.
Then again, maybe you don’t want to buy a gas-powered truck. Maybe you’d just like to rent one.
You’re in luck. Excellence Peterbilt, based near Montreal in Ste.
Julie, is making LNG-fuelled Peterbilt 386s available for rent.
That’s fitting, seeing as how the whole story of LNG class 8 trucks
in Canada took off when the innovative Claude Robert ordered 180 LNG
tractors from Peterbilt.
Elsewhere in La Belle Province, Gaz Metro Transport Solutions has
been leading the LNG fuel supply and infrastructure push in the area,
specifically for the Hwy. 401 corridor between Quebec City and
Mississauga.
So it’s no surprise that Gaz Metro has partnered with Excellence on the LNG-rental initiative.
Oh, did we mention that natural gas exploration is sparking up again
in Nova Scotia? And that more serious efforts are being made to market
Canadian-born natural gas to that far-east avid and avaricious consumer
of everything we can produce called China?
There’s little doubt natural gas is in the air. And there’s even less
doubt that natural gas is not for everybody. Neither is it even close
to being widely available.
Natural-gas-powered trucks are almost definitely a part of this
industry’s future. After all, industry leaders like Claude Robert and
Fred Zweep at B.C.’s Vedder Transport are embracing natural gas and,
well, they wouldn’t be leaders if others didn’t follow them.
So on the one hand, to the vast majority of operators out there who
have no more intention of buying natural-gas-powered trucks than they
have of moving to Kathmandu, rest assured you’re not alone.
On the other hand, all evidence shows natural-gas power — LNG as well
as the compressed variety — is around the corner. And in these days of
instantaneous communication and rapid-fast competition, “the corner” is a
lot closer than it used to be.
That’s why Newcom Business Media — the publishers of Today’s Trucking, Transport Routier, and Truck and Trailer
wants readers to have all the information they need to adapt to their
ever-changing environments. That’s why Newcom Business Media published
“The Natural Choice.”
The intention is to provide working truckers with a realistic view of
a highly sensationalized issue. And if natural gas isn’t a part of your
operation by the time you retire, you can bet it will figure largely
when the next generation is running things.
Government of Canada supports essential skills in the trucking industry
Workers and employers in the trucking
industry can look forward to learning more about improving safety and
increased productivity as a result of funding provided by the
Government of Canada. The announcement was made by Scott Armstrong,
Member of Parliament for Cumberland-Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley, on
behalf of the Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and
Skills Development.
"Our government's top priorities are creating jobs, economic growth and
long-term prosperity," said Mr. Armstrong. "The Government of Canada
and the trucking industry are partnering to ensure more employees have
the essential skills required to succeed in today's economy."
Trucking Human Resource Sector Council Atlantic is receiving over
$640,000 from the Adult Learning, Literacy and Essential Skills Program
to undertake a study of literacy and essential skills levels among
employees in the trucking industry. The study will allow the industry
to better assess the impact of literacy and essential skills on safety,
productivity and employment patterns. From this study, a toolkit will
be developed to help employers address essential skills challenges in
the workplace.
"Our organization is very proud to be leading this exciting initiative,"
said Kelly Henderson, Executive Director of Trucking Human Resource
Sector Council Atlantic. "We are aware that low essential skills levels
can impact safety performance. This project will allow us to work with
multiple partners, including the Province of Nova Scotia, to explore
this relationship and identify a plan companies will be able to
implement."
The trucking industry will need 30 000 more qualified workers by 2015.
Increased literacy levels in the industry will become increasingly
important to both safety and productivity as technology becomes more
complex, and this project will help employers meet their current and
future human resources needs.
Economic Action Plan 2013 introduces a number of measures to connect
Canadians with available jobs and equip them with the skills and
training they need. These include the Canada Job Grant, creating
opportunities for apprentices and providing support to
under-represented groups such as persons with disabilities, youth,
Aboriginal people and newcomers.
One person died in this crash on the QEW near St. Catharines on Thursday morning. (Tony Smyth/CBC)
The QEW near St. Catharines has reopened after two people died in an
early morning crash. The highway was closed for most of the day.
The collision happened before 4 a.m. and closed the QEW both directions from Seventh Street to Highway 406.
"It
looks like one of tractor trailers actually went from the Fort
Erie-bound QEW, flipped over the ramp into the Toronto bound [lane] and
struck another tractor-trailer," said the OPP's Dave Woodford,
describing the accident.
Shortly after the crash the OPP confirmed that one person died. At
about 12:30 p.m. Thursday the OPP confirmed that a second person, the
driver of one of the trucks, had died in hospital.
In
a second accident, four people were taken to hospital with serious
injuries following a crash on the eastbound Gardiner Expressway near
Highway 427.
Police say a car was stalled in
the passing lane just before 4 a.m. when it was struck from behind by
another vehicle. Three people were trapped inside the stalled car.
Truckers using Valleyfield as shortcut to Highway 30
The newly-built Highway 30
connecting the off-island towns of Vaudreuil, Valleyfield and
Châteauguay may have been meant to help alleviate traffic through
Montreal — but truck drivers seem to be using Valleyfield as a shortcut
now.
By taking Valleyfield's Monseigneur-Langlois Boulevard, which
connects highways 20 and 30, truckers not only shave a few minutes off
their drive, but also avoid the new highway's Serge Marcil toll bridge
and a weigh station.
As a result, there’s been an exceptional increase in traffic, said Valleyfield mayor Denis Lapointe.
“We knew at the beginning there would be an increase,” he said.
Highway 30 was completed in late December 2012. (CBC)
Transport Quebec said they would study the situation through until the end of 2013 before taking any action.
But Pierre Aubin, former head of the Quebec Trucking Association and
the owner of two trucking companies, said it wouldn’t make sense for
truckers to avoid Highway 30 merely for its toll and weigh station.
He said the majority of trucks coming from Ontario are already crossing at least two scales on the way to Montreal.
“So why would they avoid the Quebec scale when they’ve already crossed [ones in Toronto and Ottawa]?” he asked.
Still, Lapointe said Transport Quebec is looking at ways to funnel truck traffic onto the new road.
Drivers may not have a choice, though, when upcoming construction on
the Monseigneur-Langlois Blvd. ultimately forces them onto Highway 30
anyway.
North Vancouver drug smuggler gets 12 years in U.S.
A North Vancouver truck driver who worked for the Hell’s Angels,
driving massive shipments of marijuana and cocaine over the Canada-U.S.
border, has been sentenced to 12 years in a U.S. jail.
Judge John
C. Coughenour of the U.S. District Court of Western Washington sentenced
James Postlethwaite, 60, to 144 months in prison plus five years of
supervised release for his role in what prosecutors described as a
“sophisticated drug trafficking conspiracy.”
Postlethwaite was sentenced Tuesday after being found guilty by a jury in November of conspiracy to traffic marijuana.
He had been in custody since his arrest at the B.C.-Idaho border in March 2012.
In
handing down the sentence, Coughenour said Postlethwaite had been
involved in the drug smuggling ring for a “significant amount of time”
and was responsible for smuggling “vast quantities of marijuana into the
United States” as well as smuggling cocaine back to Canada.
Postlethwaite
smuggled the drugs across the border in a tractor-trailer that
contained a sophisticated hidden compartment that could hold more than
600 pounds of marijuana.
Postlethwaite, a truck driver for 30
years, would also carry a legitimate load like scrap paper or other
recyclables placed on top of the hidden compartment, according to court
documents.
He would drive through the border, drop off the
recyclables, then continue to a warehouse in Kent, Washington, where the
marijuana would be unloaded.
Money from the marijuana sales would
be used by members of the drug trafficking ring to buy cocaine from a
Mexican drug cartel. Postlethwaite would also smuggle cocaine back into
Canada.
One person who testified at his trial in co-operation with
authorities spoke about seeing workers loading about 60 kilograms of
cocaine into the secret compartment of Postlethwaite’s trailer for the
return trip to Canada.
“Once in Canada, this cocaine fuelled
addiction, violence and death on the streets of Vancouver and other
cities,” prosecutors said.
Another person who testified during the
trial estimated that Postlethwaite had smuggled about 8,200 kilograms
of marijuana into the U.S. in one year alone.
Postlethwaite is believed to have made the cross-border drug runs for at least seven years.
Several
U.S. agencies including the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task
Force and Department of Homeland Security had been working on the
investigation since 2010. A series of wiretaps revealed the location of
the Seattle-area warehouse where Postlethwaite would deliver the
shipments of “B.C. bud.”
Postlethwaite, listed as the owner of Strive Trucking on Westover Road, has no criminal history.
Prosecutors
in the case recommended the sentence of 144 months — the same sentence
handed down to two others found guilty in the conspiracy case.
The
judge recommended that Postlethwaite be jailed in a medium security
prison in Victorville, Calif., at the request of his defence lawyer.
More than a dozen pulp truckers are protesting outside Port
Hawkesbury Paper this morning because they say the mill hasn't been
giving them a fair price for their wood.
They're refusing to provide the paper mill with any more fibre.
Claude Bourgeois, president of the North Eastern Pulp Truckers
Association, said at least 50 trucking companies have stopped delivering
wood to the mill.
"You know we need so much money to break even and turn a small
profit. They don't really seem to care. You know it's more like a
dictatorship where they decide the rates and right now the rates are
even worse because they just plug numbers in a computer and we don't
even have a rate sheet where we know what we're gonna make before we
even go. We sometimes only find out when we get our pay."
Bourgeois said truckers are fed up because they're receiving lower rates for their wood than last year.
He said the rate fluctuates and they often don't know what they are getting paid when they deliver the wood.
The association also said Port Hawkesbury Paper is refusing to
negotiate with trucking associations and will only talk to individual
truckers.
Bourgeois said they won't deliver wood until they get a better deal.
"Everybody's fed up because if they weren't they wouldn't be staying
home. They only got three loads of wood on Monday morning and there was a
bit of a misunderstanding by some of the trucks and they only got three
yesterday. Everybody that's hauling as far down in Yarmouth way are
staying home."
Bourgeois said if the protest continues the mill will run out of wood by early next week
He meet with managers at Port Hawkesbury Paper Wednesday morning, but
there's no word yet on what, if anything has come from that meeting.
TransLink to develop Goods Movement Strategy for Vancouver region
VANCOUVER,
B.C. -- Metro Vancouver’s regional transportation authority TransLink
has announced it will develop a Goods Movement Strategy as part of its
regional transportation strategy. Building on the work of several
transportation and trade partners, including Metro Vancouver, Port Metro
Vancouver, the Gateway Council, Transport Canada and others, the
strategy will incorporate goods movement into the overall transportation
plan for the region.
“Goods movement is strongly linked to the
region’s goals for the health of the economy, the environment, and the
region’s communities,” says Sany Zein, director of roads for TransLink.
“These goals mirror TransLink’s overall vision to create a better place
to live built on transportation excellence.”
“As we develop the
regional transportation strategy, it is important that we better
understand the role of Metro Vancouver’s goods movement sector in our
local economy,” added Zein. “From this, we can better define TransLink’s
role in supporting goods movement in the region.”
In 2012,
TransLink commissioned a review of goods movement in Metro Vancouver and
looked at best practices from around the world. The papers describe the
role of goods movement in the region and the importance to long-term
transportation plans. TransLink officials say initial stakeholder
consultation also indicates that the goods movement industry benefits
from transportation strategies that manage congestion and improve
reliability, including investments in transit infrastructure and
services.
Other findings of the studies include:
• Goods movement is important to the local economy. Statistics Canada
reports that trade, transportation and warehousing accounts for 21% of
the region’s jobs.
• Port Metro Vancouver ranks first in North
America in foreign export shipments and second on the west coast of the
Americas in total cargo volume. Vancouver’s port activity and volume is
increasing, creating a greater demand for the local transportation
network.
• On average, close to 10% of all weekday traffic on TransLink’s bridges is truck traffic.
• Stakeholders representing numerous public and private agencies
involved in goods movement have informed TransLink that it has a pivotal
role in integrating national and provincial goods movement initiatives
with regional industrial land use plans and municipal road networks.
“There are tremendous opportunities to help provide consistency for
provincial, regional and municipal collaboration,” Zein said. “As the
region’s transportation authority, we are making it a priority and
facilitating the conversation with stakeholders.”
The strategy
further aims to develop policy recommendations to guide future
decision-making on goods movement issues and present considerations and
strategies for TransLink and other agencies to support the sector.
