Trucks at Work Blog

“You can’t move goods competitively to markets without a solid transportation system, and if we let those systems decline further, we won’t be able to sustain that export-led growth. Bottom line: It’s vital to the national economic recovery to have a world-class transportation system.” –John Horsley, executive director, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)

What’s ahead for transportation in 2011? That’s a question on the minds of many in trucking, even as the holidays now loom large.

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) is one group that’s gone public with what it believes should be the top 10 pressing issues facing the transportation sector in 2011 – and, not surprisingly, the still-unfinished five-year transportation bill heads the list.

“We are urging Congress to write a balanced bill next year that meets the needs of preservation and new capacity, meets the needs of rural and urban America, and meets the needs for highways as well as transit,” said John Horsley, AASHTO’s executive director. “It’s important to remember that for every dollar that we don’t spend today to preserve highways, five years from now it will cost us $7. But if we get a bill passed with these elements, we have a shot of meeting the country’s needs.”

Even though the trucking community and state transportation officials don’t see eye to eye on everything – and frankly, they shouldn’t, as state DOTs must take a much broader view of how to move both goods and people inside and outside the U.S. – it’s worth taking a look at what AASHTO thinks should be the key topics of discussion next year when talk turns to transportation. more

“We’re expecting mid-single digit industry volume growth and low-single digit price increases for the sector. As a result, additional free cash flow generation should occur, creating greater financial flexibility for transportation companies.” –Bryant Bedwell, associate director, Fitch Ratings

Here’s a bit of good news as 2010 draws to a close: analysts at Fitch Ratings that a number of positive trends are coming together to favor the freight hauling business next year. And while we’re not talking about a truly rosy outlook here – worthy of popping champagne corks and the like – it’s definitely cheerful considering the rough patch the trucking industry has been slogging through.

Fitch’s experts expect increased stability in the ratings for U.S. transportation companies in 2011, driven by modest volume growth, consistent core pricing improvements, strong liquidity, and steadily declining leverage metrics.

As U.S. freight haulers continue to benefit from what is believed to be a sustainable economic recovery, they further expect improved profitability and cash flow generation improvement, leading to an overall strengthening of the industry’s credit profile. Now, although credit quality is improving, Fitch does not expect many positive rating actions in 2011 due to limited debt reduction, regulatory uncertainty and the expectation for increased discretionary spending. more

“Clearly, there is an expectation that the move away from petrol will accelerate as hybrids and EVs 0electric vehicles) now begin to attract greater market share.” –Chris Chandler, principle consultant, Lex Autolease

There’s no small amount of danger (not to mention hubris writ large) when one makes bold predictions about the not-so-distant future (take the infamous Dewey Defeats Truman Chicago Daily Tribune headline for example).

Yet that’s exactly what Lex Autolease – a fleet management and vehicle funding specialist based in the U.K. – recently did when it published a study stating that “petrol-only” powered company cars (i.e. those fueled solely on gasoline) could almost be obsolete in 10 years.

The firm went on to say that two surveys it conducted with some 300 private industry finance chiefs and company car drivers reveal that early adopters of hybrid and electric vehicles could sound the “death knell” for petrol-only vehicles more broadly in the global market over the next decade – about as bold a prediction as you can make these days. more

“Me and my dad thought it would be a good idea to get into racing as a way to spend time with each other and to do something fun.” –Jared Beyer, Grand-Am race car driver for Beyer Racing

I bumped into Jared Beyer at the Rush Truck Centers (RTC) 2010 Technician Skills Rodeo this week out in San Antonio, TX, and, well, what can I say? I just couldn’t pass up an opportunity to talk to someone who wants to spend his days strapped into a small car going over 200 miles per hour (mph).

Only a handful hardy souls can do this kind of thing for a living (I know because I’ve been in a stock car going over 160 mph and it’s scary as hell) and what makes Jared’s story all the more interesting is that he’s been chasing the speed demon since 12 years of age – first racing go-karts, then moving on to faster pursuits.

[His passion for motorsports mirrors that of another young driver I spoke with recently, Caitlin Shaw, who you can read about by clicking here.] more

“You pay less for fuel, get longer oil change intervals, and the engine lasts longer because propane burns much cleaner. Those savings add up fast, especially for municipalities.” –Joe Allen, technical support, Rush Bus Center, a division of Rush Enterprises

Got a chance to sit down with Jacques van Heerdon and Joe Allen at Rush Truck Centers 2010 Technician Skills Rodeo this week to talk about propane-powered school buses – an appropriate topic for the two as they are, respectively, the operations manager and technical support chief for Rush Bus Centers (RBC); a division of Rush Enterprises dedicated to the school bus market.

RBC is an authorized dealer for Blue Bird school buses so it’s not surprising that they were showing off not one but TWO different propane powered versions; a Vision model equipped with a GM 8.1 liter engine designed and engineered to operate on propane by Powertrain Integration using CleanFUEL USA’s liquid propane injection system, with the other a smaller “Micro Bird” model built on a Ford E-450 chassis using a 6.8 liter engine powered by a Roush liquid propane system.

Why propane power for school bus fleets, you ask? Well the big reason (no surprise here) is economics; at the end of the day, using all the tax credits available, school bus fleets will typically only pay 58 to 68 cents per gallon of propane. And it takes only five minutes or so to refuel a propane bus; almost equal to the time needed for refilling a comparable diesel- or gasoline-powered model. more

“Technicians are the heartbeat of the dealership simply because service sells trucks in this business. You guys are where it’s at. You make us who we are.” –W.M. “Rusty” Rush, president and CEO of Rush Enterprises

It’s certainly something to spend two days watching 65 of some of the best truck technicians you’ll find anywhere in the business competing against each other (and the clock for that matter) to win big money and bragging rights.

But it’s even more impressive to watch how a competition like this has grown in size and scope over the last five years in the face of some of the toughest economic times anyone’s witnessed in recent memory.

Yet that’s what Rush Truck Centers (RTC), a division of Rush Enterprises, has managed to do with its unique Technician Skills Rodeo, which just wrapped up its fifth year. more

“The diagnostic work technicians need to perform in order to figure out what needs to be fixed is almost always the hardest part; fixing the truck itself is the easiest part. And what makes this competition so tough is that we put these guys out on an island, by themselves – they can’t go to anyone for help. That’s the complete opposite of how they work in the shop.” –Mike Besson, vice president-service operations, Rush Truck Centers

For the fifth straight year, Rush Truck Centers (RTC) – a division of Rush Enterprises – is holding its annual Technician Skills Rodeo here in San Antonio, TX.

[You can watch some of the challenges faced by the 65 semi-finalists here at the rodeo below, which include hands on problems as well as ones that require a computer to solve.]

As I write this, the 15 finalists are gathering in the cavernous convention hall below me here in the Grand Hyatt to start punching laptop keyboards, turn wrenches, and flip pages of half a dozen different service manuals to see who’ll win the right to be called “the best of the best,” while pocketing some serious winnings – for at stake is the chance to win between $3,000 to $5,000 cash and anywhere from $1 to $1.50 per hour raise in pay. more

“It’s really hard to beat the look of black and silver.” –Kirby Martin, an owner-operator out of Gettysburg, PA, and the 2010 grand champion of American Trucker’s “Reader’s Rig” contest

One of the many “other hats” I wear in this business is that of editor of American Trucker magazine; a publication dedicated to those fleets and independents that rely on used equipment to get their respective jobs done.

Perhaps the best part of this particular job is putting together a special section every month called Reader’s Rigs, which shows of photos of all manner of trucks sent in by readers from all over the country.

I also do some of my own “shutterbugging” for this section, too, when I’m out at truck shows and such, as there’s an awful lot of fine-looking hard working iron out there that rarely gets to grace the pages of a magazine, much less the digital halls of the Internet. more

“In both the [survey] results and among our clients, we’re seeing CEOs increasingly view international markets as holding the best growth opportunities. But they’re navigating a complex environment as well – reviewing a variety of tactics for global expansion, as well as strategies for dealing with ongoing economic uncertainty.” –Ken Esch, a partner with Pricewaterhouse Cooper’s private company services practice

Truckers more than anyone know this is a very ticklish time for the U.S. economy, with growth here at home stalling out to a degree in recent months – which might translate into lower freight volumes in the not-so-distant future.

Then again, this may just be another stage on the path of economic overhaul, as our economy – like much of the world’s – continues to undergo a variety of changes in the face of new factors, such as the ever-larger (and still cheaper) workforces in places such as China and India. [Jason Thomas, chief investment officer of Aspiriant, made some interesting comments on this theme recently for CNN.]

Consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) recently chiseled some information out of some 225 top U.S. CEOs and CFOs in its quarterly Private Company Trendsetter Barometer, with 145 of those executives from companies in the product sector and 110 in the service sector, averaging $252.4 million in enterprise revenue/sales. more

“While [climate change mitigation] programs could be seen as a burden, they are actually great opportunities to cut costs while reducing an organization’s environmental footprint. The risks – once identified and managed for an individual organization – can help foster customer relationships and yield competitive advantages.” –Steve Starbuck, Americas leader-climate change and sustainability services, for consulting firm Ernst & Young LLP

There’s an old saying in business: if you only have lemons to work with, make lemonade. That increasingly seems to be the axiom that many transportation and logistics experts are working with as pressures to reduce the environmental impact of global supply chains continues to mount.

“Regardless of the outcomes of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 16) in Cancun, Mexico this month, businesses face increasing pressure to identify environmentally-sound alternatives for managing operations risks, particularly when it comes to the supply chain,” noted Steve Starbuck, Americas leader for Ernst & Young LLP’s climate change and sustainability services. more