Fleet Owner.com
Over the next few years, motor carriers should gain significant increases in freight rates as the current capacity crunch is expected to last for at least another two years, according to the most recent outlook compiled by research firm FTR Associates.
However, fleets may need to keep money earned from higher rates close at hand as FTR’s analysts think there’s a 60% chance or better that another freight downturn will occur in the 2014-2015 timeframe. However, that one is not expected to be as severe as the drop carriers suffered in the “Great Recession.”
E-trucker.com
Trucking analysts Noel Perry of FTR Associates and Peter Nesvold of Jefferies & Co. will deliver their insights and projections about the trucking industry during the Commercial Vehicle Outlook Conference Aug. 24-25 in Dallas.
They will discuss equipment sales, capacity, fuel prices, employment and freight trends at the conference which unfolds on the eve of the Great American Trucking Show Aug. 25-27 at the Dallas Convention Center.
Transport Topics Magazine
A Buffalo, N.Y.-based Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration field office supervisor has pleaded guilty to accepting more than $41,000 in bribes to provide “inside information” and to ensure that some Canadian motor carriers received satisfactory safety ratings on FMCSA audits and inspections, according to court documents.
According to a plea agreement, the supervisor, James Wood, 44, admitted to accepting the cash bribes from 2008 to 2011 from a Canadian safety consultant who worked for several Canadian trucking companies, which FMCSA declined to name.
It is with deep sorrow that we share with you the news about the passing of Wayne Keller, former partner/owner of Keller Truck Parts.
KELLER , Wayne E. On June 11, 2011, WAYNE EDWARD KELLER, beloved husband of Mary Elizabeth Keller (nee Goonan); devoted father of Dwayne M. Keller and wife Cara, Kevin C. Keller and wife Lauren, and Brian E. Keller and wife Polly; dear brother of Charles, Richard and Donald Keller and the late Vernon Keller; loving grandfather of Zachary, Matthew, Jordan, Haley, Madison, Alyssa, Chloe, Hannah Lee, Sarie and Brendan.
Bloomberg News
The total $2 billion award is five times higher than the largest-ever jury award against Ford in a lawsuit, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News. Ford Motor Co. (F) said it will appeal a $2 billion judgment awarded by an Ohio judge to a class of commercial truck dealers who claimed the company overcharged them for 11 years.
The dealers sued Ford in 2002, claiming the company broke an agreement to sell trucks at published prices, which forced them to pay more from 1987 through 1998 and cut into profits. Cuyahoga County Judge Peter J. Corrigan on June 10 upheld a $4.5 million verdict awarded to one Ohio dealer in February by a Cleveland jury. He also said Ford had to pay similar damages and interest to a class of about 3,000 other dealers.
Transport Topics Magazine
After nine months of wrangling over drayage truck data, Port of Los Angeles officials said they plan to soon ask six carriers who received subsidies for purchasing new cleaner-running trucks to refund a total of more than $1.5 million for trucks that did not make enough trips to the port last year.
Officials said a revised final analysis, released to Transport Topics last week, showed that just under 400 of the more than 2,000 new, cleaner-burning tractors the carriers bought using port funds failed to meet the required 150 container pickup trips for the year ending June 30, 2010.