In the not too distant future, everything in a trucking company will be connected – not just a carrier’s moving stock, but every device and piece of equipment within the operation.

That was the message delivered by Kenneth J. Spangler, senior vice president and chief information officer with FedEx Ground and FedEx Freight, during his keynote address to attendees at the Carrier Logistics user conference and executive forum April 10 through 11 in White Plains, N.Y.

Spangler told trucking executives attending the conference that he expects there to be more change within the next five years in terms of information technology than occurred over the last 20 years.

As an example, he cited the latest technology deployed by FedEx that can take pictures of all six sides of a box as it moves along a conveyor belt in their sorting facilities. Likewise, designs for the latest forklifts the company plans to deploy include onboard computers and scanners.

Chuck Hammel, president of Pitt Ohio Express told attendees that rebranding, aggressive marketing tactics, taking care of drivers and diversifying their offerings were key components of his company’s success.

In addition to the keynote speeches, conference attendees attended workshops on various CLI software capabilities, social media and security. A supplier showcase displayed offerings and services from CLI’s technology partners.

CLI provides transportation software for customers in the less-than-truckload, package delivery, combined LTL/truckload and bulk liquid carrier segments.

By Rose Russell

Ron Hawkins, Jr., wants to save your life, especially if you’re sharing the road with a semi truck.

Say you’re driving and you need to get around the tractor-trailer in front of you. You decide to use the right lane to pass the semi.

Bad idea, Mr. Hawkins says. Why? Because the truck driver cannot see you.

“Never pass a truck on the right side because my blind spot is four or five lanes wide,” on that side of the truck, he said. “If you cannot see the driver’s face in the mirror, he cannot see you at all.”

That’s why he urges passenger cars to “Always pass on the left. The blind spot is smaller.”

Mr. Hawkins should know. He’s been driving a semi for 30 years, and not once has he had an accident. In March his company, K-Limited Carrier LTD of Toledo, honored him for having such a stellar record. He has driven more than 2 million miles, and in 2007 he was named the state’s professional driver.

In 2009 and 2010 he was an American road team captain, which featured his driving skills. Mr. Hawkins is currently a finalist for the National Tank Truck Usher Driver of the Year award.

He enjoys talking about his clean record, and he makes it clear that he wants other motorists to be safe around tractor-trailers. In 2012, there were 1,130 traffic fatalities on Ohio highways. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration reports that slightly more than a third of all highway fatalities involving trucks occur within a truck’s blind spots.

Mr. Hawkins talked more about the blind spots around semis after the Toledo Trucking Association’s annual luncheon at the Inverness Club. The highlight of the event was the awarding of a $5,000 scholarship to Christina Koepke, 21, of Temperance. The University of Toledo student has a triple major: supply chain management, human resources management, and marketing.

Semis need a significant safety cushion so they can stop safely, according to Mr. Hawkins, who has driven semis for 30 years.

Mr. Hawkins, a 1976 graduate of Toledo’s Start High School, said, “The main thing about driving around large vehicles is that you want to give them plenty room. I cannot see you if you are within 25 car lengths behind. I can take a full length school bus, fold the mirrors in, and park it behind the truck, and you would never see it in my mirrors.”

Because of their size, semis need a significant safety cushion so they can stop safely, Hawkins explains. When the tank on the 55-foot to 60-foot long semi he drives is full, it takes the length of “one football field and both end zones to stop.”

Stopping distance can also be impacted by the cargo being carried. Smooth bore tankers (ones that don’t use baffles to compartmentalize their cargo) have nothing inside to slow down the flow of the liquid. Therefore, forward and back surge is very strong. Smooth bore tanks are usually those that transport food products such as milk. Sanitation regulations rule out the use of baffles because of the difficulty in cleaning the inside of the tank. Corrosive liquids are also routinely transported in smooth bore tanks.

He also warns passenger car drivers not to linger while passing big trucks. And once by a semi, Mr. Hawkins said, “don’t get back into the lane until you can see both my headlights in your rear view mirror.”

The American Trucking Association estimate there are 15 million trucks on U.S. roads and highways, 2.3 million of which are semis.

Truck drivers need a significant safety cushion so they can stop safely, Hawkins explains. When the tank on the 55-foot to 60-foot long semi he drives is full, it takes the length of “one football field and both end zones to stop.”

Mr. Hawkins, who lives in Perrysburg, has noticed some changes during his three decades behind the wheel of a rig: “Traffic is getting heavier and there’s not as much courtesy,” he said.

And sitting high in the cabin, truck drivers see quite easily into passenger vehicles. “I’ve seen guys shaving and people reading the newspaper,” he said — and yes, he means while they were driving.

“Everybody” is distracted, he laments, whether it’s young people talking to their friends, a parent trying to sooth a crying baby in the back seat, someone eating, or putting on makeup.

The No. 1 offense? That’s easy: passenger car motorists using hand-held cell phones to talk and text. And if you’re curious, Mr. Hawkins said, “It’s illegal for truckers to use hand-held cell phones.”

 

By Steve Ponder and Mike Card – Chairman, and Chairman, Fundraising, Trucking Moves America Forward

It’s the age-old question, “What do you do for a living?” Throughout our lives, we’ve spoken with countless professional truck drivers who tell us their responses are met with scorn, disdain and lack of respect.

The public perception of professional truck drivers is not consistent with reality. Instead of hard-working, family men and women who are away from their families for long stretches of time, professional truck drivers can be seen as dangerous and an unwelcome highway hazard. The truth, however, is that today’s truck driver is a skilled professional who follows stringent safety guidelines and is experienced with the new and improved technologies that make trucks smarter, more fuel-efficient and safer than ever before.

Safety is perhaps where public opinion is most skewed. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, large-truck crashes and fatalities have drastically declined between 2000 and 2010.

In fact, the past few years have seen the lowest numbers in crashes and fatalities to date. And while these numbers have dropped, the miles traveled have increased.

In our ongoing quest to educate the public, at the Mid-America Trucking Show, representatives from every sector of the trucking industry will stand behind a new industrywide image and education initiative — Trucking Moves America Forward.

TMAF’s goal is to unify, educate and inform policymakers, motorists and the public about the benefits of the trucking industry and to build the groundswell of support necessary for continued growth.

With this movement, you will meet the people — behind the wheel, in the garage and at the truck stops — who continue to bring communities together and drive the American economy forward with each mile logged. You will see the faces and learn the stories of the dads and moms, brothers and sisters, parents and friends who work every day to better the lives of the American people.

The trucking industry brings more than $642 billion in revenue into the country, thanks to the nearly 7 million people employed in trucking-related jobs — about 3.1 million of them as drivers. That’s equal to the populations of West Virginia and Maine combined.

At a time when almost 10% of our country’s workforce is looking for employment, industry experts project the transportation industry will add 30,000 jobs this year alone.

Trucking stimulates growth in nearly every sector of our economy — health care, fuel, transportation, retail, agriculture, banking and many others — and pays around $18 billion in total federal highway taxes annually. That’s billion with a capital “B.”

Nearly all the goods consumed in the United States are delivered by truck at some point before reaching their final destination. In fact, trucks exclusively serve more than 80% of the country’s communities — if it doesn’t get there by truck, it doesn’t get there. Imagine a supermarket without food or an office or home without furniture; that’s the America we would be looking at without the trucking industry.

We know the important role our industry plays in keeping the nation running, and we’re proud to serve America’s businesses and communities. Now it’s time to share our story through the TMAF movement.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, along with American Trucking Associations, the Truckload Carriers Association, the Allied Committee for Transportation (ACT 1) and other organizations, recently combined forces to pledge their support to TMAF by joining the movement.

Visit our website at www.truckingmovesamerica.com to learn more about trucking and how to get involved in improving the image of our strong and essential industry.

Steve Ponder is vice president of Great West Casualty Co., and Mike Card is president of Combined Transport Inc. and immediate past chairman of American Trucking Associations.

By James Jaillet

In making the push for his group’s joint effort to build a new trucking and driver image initiative, Todd Spencer of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association said while dealing with the issue of “driver image,” the industry as a whole needs to “deal honestly” with issues that impact drivers’ negatively, like pay and treatment by shippers and receivers.

Driver image is a two-sided issue, Spencer said: Part of image, he says, in addition to what the public and trucking outsiders think, is also what truck drivers think of themselves.

And how drivers think of themselves stems from how they’re treated by others in the trucking industry, like carriers and shippers and receivers, Spencer said.

“These are challenges that the trucking community itself has to be honest about and has to deal with,” Spencer said March 26 at the Mid-America Trucking Showwhile introducing a new industry-wide image campaign called Trucking Moves America Forward. “A lot of what makes drivers feel good about themselves is how they’re treated in the industry they work in.”

Trucking Moves America Forward will be part advertising blitz and part grassroots growth brought by social media presence and exposure through things like trailer wraps, said some of the spokespersons for the group at the MATS-held event.

The goal of the campaign is to build an image of drivers — as a means to attract new workers to the industry and change negative public perception — as working professionals in an industry that plays a huge role in the U.S. economy.

Spencer, who was one of about five speakers in a lineup that also included two drivers, talked about the key points of the theory behind the campaign (truckers are the foot soldiers of the industry that drives the economy), but he also took a more pointed approach in his address, pushing the American driver as the most important piece of trucking’s — and in many ways, the economy’s — puzzle.

Spencer didn’t offer specifics, but he did say carriers should consider how they pay drivers — either amount or structure — as a key pillar to showing drivers appreciation and helping boost their own self-image.

“Those behind the wheel [are] clearly the most important people in trucking. Without them we are absolutely nothing and without them this industry doesn’t exist,” he said. “If you want somebody to feel good about themselves and want them to make [driving] their future, give them a reason. Make them know they’re appreciated.”

By James Jaillet

ACT 1 officially unveiled a new image campaign for the industry aimed at attracting drivers, educating the public about the industry’s ubiquitous role in American life and the U.S. economy and changing policy makers’ perceptions of trucking.

The Trucking Moves America Forward campaign was announced March 26 at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Ky.

“We have a great story to tell,” said Todd Spencer, executive VP of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association. “We want to reach out [to the public], because America moves by truck. The people that operate trucks are some of the finest Americans, and we need to spread the word.”

Spencer’s OOIDA is one of several dozen partners that have signed on for the campaign that include carriers, manufacturers, media and truck stop chains.

Kevin Burch, president of Jet Express and a VP at the American Trucking Associations, says the program is meant to be one that brings all members of the industry together, from carriers, owner-operators and drivers, but also one that melds even more specific interests, like unionized drivers and non-unionized drivers or company drivers and owner-operators.

Once seen as the “Knights of the Road” until the mid-1970s, the trucking industry’s reputation has been on a steady decline ever since, and our image today is at or near its lowest point. Compounding …

“It’s imperative we understand how we all connected and work together,” Burch said. “Our industry is crucial to the well being of the American economy. We are the rolling inventory,” citing the industry’s numbers as evidence — 7 million employees, $10 trillion in goods moved a year and 9.4 billion tons of freight annually.

Burch said one of the key goals of the campaign is to mitigate a driver shortage that he said could grow as large as 1 million drivers in the next 10 years. “We need an image,” he said. “We need to show exactly how passionate we are [about the industry]. America’s not going to move if we don’t have professional drivers.”

The campaign will consist of “heavy advertising, public affairs,earned media and paid media,” along with intensive social media campaigns, said Amos Snead of Story Partners, the agency that’s assisted ATA in crafting the initiative. There will also be lots of truck wraps that promote the Trucking Moves America Forward campaign, distributed by ATA and state associations to carriers.

Spencer said he hopes the campaign push trucking again as an industry that children aspire to be involved in, much like when he was young. “We’re always going to need trucks,” he said. “If we don’t have the best out there, we all suffer for it.”