The Motor Carrier Act of 1980 changed the trucking industry forever when it was signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on July 1, 1980. The act deregulated our industry, eliminating barriers to entry and creating a market-driven rate environment which brought competition, innovation and tremendous efficiencies to the supply chain. It was the birth of the truckload industry. We saw a generation of entrepreneurs and leaders across our country embrace the opportunity and start new businesses or grow their existing businesses to unthinkable heights. Truckload was the new frontier, bringing cost ..read more

The days of fleets comprised of disconnected, self-contained trucks have long passed. Semis in 2024 are sprawling, connected computer and IoT devices on 18 wheels. For almost a decade, Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs) have been mandatory mainstays in cabs. While the ELD mandate is relatively recent, it isn't as if ELDs were invented 10 years ago; the first ones began appearing on the scene in the early 1980s. And cybersecurity experts say that legacy equals vulnerability. Legacy meets reality Michael Hasse, an independent cybersecurity consultant who works in the trucking industry, said most ..read more

Trucking news and briefs for Monday, May 6, 2024: J.B. Hunt recognizes 54 drivers for multi-million safe miles J.B. Hunt drivers walk the red carpet during the company's Million Mile Walk of Fame for achieving two, three, four and five million miles driven without a preventable accident.J.B. Hunt J.B. Hunt Transport Services (CCJ Top 250, No. 3) recognized 54 company drivers last week for achieving two, three, four and five million miles driven without a preventable accident at its annual Million Mile Celebration at company headquarters in Lowell, Arkansas. The drivers were awarded a total of ..read more

ROADCHECK IS LESS THAN 2 WEEKS AWAY. If you missed CCJ's AMA with CVSA Inspection Specialist Jeremy Disbrow, click below to receive a recorded version. We received almost 300 questions and this 60 minutes could be a powerful tool in getting and keeping your trucks compliant.  Get the on-demand version CCJ, in partnership with Bestpass, hosted an one-hour webinar Wednesday, featuring Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance's (CVSA) Roadside Inspection Specialist Jeremy Disbrow. Much of Disbrow's 25 years of experience is focused on commercial motor vehicle safety, enforcement, out ..read more

Back before regulators became enamored with batteries, efficiency was the big green play: aerodynamic fairings, wheel covers, trailer skirts, trailer tail pieces and nose cones – trucking efficiency and chasing MPGs used to be an aftermarket bonanza. Now much if it is standard, at least some of the pieces that were able to hang around are.  Then came light-weighting: tucking in aluminum wherever it made sense and spec'ing an 11-liter or 13-liter engine because they made sufficient power for most applications. Gone were the days of max power at all costs. I think they called that ..read more

As speculation swirls about the trucking market’s eventual recovery, the latest data, published Tuesday, serves as a reality check. The truck freight market continued to wane during the first quarter of the year, the U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index revealed. Q1 2024 national freight market overviewU.S. Bank It showed a decline from both the final quarter of 2023 and a year earlier. Spending by shippers dipped by almost 28% from Q1 of 2023, and around 17% from Q4 of 2023. Shipments were also down by more than 21% year-over-year for the quarter. Though there was hope for a freight market turnaro ..read more

Trucking news and briefs for Friday, May 3, 2024: New project to deploy 30 hydrogen fuel cell trucks in Oakland In a dedication event at the FirstElement Hydrogen Fueling station in West Oakland on Thursday, the Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE) celebrated the official launch of NorCAL ZERO, a new project bringing zero-emission freight transportation to the Bay Area and Central Valley. The project is a $53 million collaborative effort to deploy 30 units of Hyundai Motor Company's Class 8 XCIENT Fuel Cell electric trucks. CTE projects that the NorCAL ZERO project has the poten ..read more

ROADCHECK IS LESS THAN 2 WEEKS AWAY. If you missed CCJ's AMA with CVSA Inspection Specialist Jeremy Disbrow, click below to receive a recorded version. We received almost 300 questions and this 60 minutes could be a powerful tool in getting and keeping your trucks compliant.  Get the on-demand version CVSA's North American Roadcheck inspection spree is May 14-16. Inspectors will be on watch for various equipment and driver violations – like brake and tire wear issues, and hours of service – but tractor protection controls in the air system and alcohol and controlled substance pos ..read more

Trucking news and briefs for Thursday, May 2, 2024: High school trucking program instructor up for big award California's Patterson High School is the home base of Dave Dein and his well-known, in some ways pioneering, CDL truck driving instruction program for high school students. Dein was recently honored as Teacher of the Year by the California chapter of the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) for his work teaching and promoting the trucking profession to Patterson students. Dein's influence extends beyond just his local area, too. Since the 2017 start of the high-school ..read more

Sincerity clouds quickly when it meets monied interests. For example, current industry groups claim anything but electric trucks are right for trucking’s future; that BEVs are too costly; that the market isn’t buying them; that net lifecycle emissions are worse than those of current diesels; that the infrastructure can’t be built; that past progress in diesel emissions reductions is sufficient. At the other end of the spectrum,  proponents claim anything but electric trucks are ultimately going to hurt the environment. Those non-BEVs are incapable of competing with BEVs and are poor inter ..read more