Economy, Regulations, Top Most Important Trucking Stories of 2010

To help us pick the top trucking-related stories of the year, we looked at what we covered, what articles were the most-viewed on Truckinginfo.com, and the top concerns of the industry as ranked by an annual industry survey.

The Economy

The sluggishness of the economic recovery was a major concern this year, and we covered it with numerous articles and analyses from industry economists and analysts. The American Transportation Research Institute, the American Trucking Associations’ research arm, reported the economy as the top concern among trucking executives surveyed. About 35 percent of respondents marked it a their number one issue, while 16.3 percent ranked it as their number two concern.

As the economy recovers, fleets are facing a different problem: Having enough drivers to handle increasing amounts of freight, especially given increased regulatory action that could reduce the available driver pool. The coming driver shortage was number five on that ATRI list.

One story that looks at both the recovering economy and the driver shortage is a September piece by Editor Deborah Lockridge, “ATA Economist Predicts Supply Crunch Like Industry’s Never Seen.”

Many fleets are looking to owner-operators to expand capacity as freight picks up. But as Equipment Editor and former owner-operator Jim Park explored in our February cover story, one of the most-accessed stories on Truckinginfo.com, changes in the supply chain, the regulatory environment, and legal challenges to independent contractor status will mean both challenges and opportunities for a new breed of owner-operators.

In fact, a story on Swift Transportation being hit with a class action lawsuit alleging the misclassification of drivers as independent contractors was one of the most-viewed stories of the year on Truckinginfo.com.

CSA 2010

We devoted a great deal of space in the magazine and on Truckinginfo this year to CSA 2010, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s new enforcement system. The ATRI survey ranked it a close second among the top concerns of fleet executives, with just over 25 percent marked it as their number one concern, and another 21 percent ranking it as number two.

A feature kicking off a features series in the magazine in January was one of the top-viewed stories this year. In “CSA 2010: New Safety Enforcement System Means Big Changes For Carriers,” Washington Editor Oliver B. Patton reported that “The system will place significant new demands on carriers and drivers, and industry safety professionals warn that carriers would be wise to start preparing right away.”

Throughout the year we also covered the experience of carriers in the pilot states testing the program and some of the problems the pilot uncovered. That led to the FMCSA making industry-suggested changes to the program.

In September, we reported in HDT that these changes looked promising. And in November, the agency announced it would address some of the complaints about the Cargo-related category, and also changed the terminology for data that triggers an intervention.

You can learn more about CSA 2010 in the CSA 2010 category of our new Safety & Compliance section on Truckinginfo.com.

Hours of Service

Number four on the ATRI list of concerns was hours of service. The FMCSA has been working all year to revamp its HOS rule in an effort to put an end to litigation by safety advocacy groups that have sued repeatedly since the rule was first published in 2003. Last year, facing yet another suit by the safety advocacy coalition and the Teamsters, the Department of Transportation agreed to prepare a new proposed rule.

FMCSA held a series of listening sessions, which kicked off in January in Washington, D.C., and concluded with a fifth session at the Mid-America Trucking Show in March. At the MATS session, FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro told the audience that more than than 7,000 people had participated in the listening sessions via e-mail, phone and webcast, on top of about 3,000 people physically participating.

Right before Christmas, FMCSA published its proposed changes in the hours of service rules, which promptly elicited a highly negative reaction from the American Trucking Associations, calling it “overly complex” and saying it would substantially reduce productivity.

Related to hours of service was the FMCSA’s April release of a final rule requiring electronic onboard recorders for nearly 5,700 trucking companies with histories of HOS violations.

In September, a group of trucking companies formed to push legislation to mandate electronic onboard recorders for all carriers. The Alliance for Driver Safety & Security is pushing a bill introduced by Sens. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.

Distracted Driving

Distracted driving has been a passion — some even might call it an obsession — of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. In January, the DOT announced a ban on texting by commercial vehicle drivers, but it was just the first step in the DOT’s campaign against distracted driving.

By September, the texting ban was reinforced with a formal rule which went further, banning texting on other devices besides cell phones.

And in December, FMCSA proposed a ban on the use of handheld cell phones by commercial drivers, which essentially says that truck and bus drivers could only use a hands-free phone while driving.

Fuel Prices

Fuel issues continue to be a major concern in the trucking industry, coming it at No. 6 on ATRI’s list, and as fuel prices continued to head skyward near the end of the year it will be an even bigger story as we head into 2011.

The average price of diesel ended the year at $3.294 a gallon, its highest since fall 2008, when prices were coming down off of the record near $5-per-gallon highs of that summer.

Meanwhile, we reported numerous stories this year on growing interest in alternative fuels and hybrids.

EPA 2010 Engines

This was the year that the Environmental Protection Agency’s latest emissions regulation went into effect. There are two competing technology approaches to meeting the stringent standards. Most of the industry chose selective catalytic reduction, or SCR, which relies on the addition of diesel exhaust fluid to an exhaust aftertreatment system. Navistar, however, chose a non-SCR approach it’s calling Advanced Exhaust Gas Recirculation. The debate over the pros and cons of both approaches has generated lots of coverage for the past couple of years.

One of the top-viewed stories on Truckinginfo.com in 2010 was Executive Editor Steve Sturgess’ report on a July workshop held by the Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board to look at some possible changes to EPA’s 2010 emissions regulations relating to selective catalytic reduction technology. The proposals are for ways to make the driver add diesel exhaust fluid – “inducement strategies” if the DEF tanks get to very low levels of the reagent, and to keep them from running without fluid or with incorrect fluid, or tampering with the SCR system.

The level of interest in the 2010 engines topic was also reflected in the fact that a story that actually was posted in late 2009 made it into our top 20 list of most-accessed stories during 2010. “Cummins Previews 2010 ISX” was from the December 2009 issue of Heavy Duty Trucking.

You can learn more in the EPA 2010 section of Truckinginfo.com.

Highways

Stories about rockslides, sinkholes and flooding that closed highways drew lots of visits to Truckinginfo. In March, a rockslide in Colorado closed I-70 in both directions as workers removed 20 boulders, the largest weighing about 66 tons. In May, a large sinkhole opened up on I-24 in Tennessee. In August, flooding closed I-35 and other major roadways in Iowa.

The big question going into 2011 is, how is the country going to pay for much-needed improvements to the nation’s highway infrastructure? Washington Editor Oliver Patton explored the question throughout the year in his monthly Washington Report in HDT, and this November 15 piece on Truckinginfo.com, “Outlook for Highway Reauthorization Unclear after Election,” was one of the top-viewed stories of the year.

Caterpillar

The big yellow construction equipment company may have exited the on-highway market, but there’s still plenty of interest in the company among Truckinginfo readers. Two stories about Cat were among our top-accessed this year.

One was a guest commentary by Steve Brooks, editor-in-chief of Australia’s Diesel magazine, about the introduction of Cat-brand trucks Down Under.

The other was Senior Editor Tom Berg’s story about a lawsuit filed against Caterpillar over its Acert engines. Continual breakdowns, ineffective repairs and financial losses from disrupted operations have pushed frustrated fleet owners to sue Caterpillar Inc., along with the truck and engine dealers who sold and tried to fix the trouble-prone heavy-duty diesels.

Berg will be at the March launch of the Cat-branded vocational truck in the U.S. at the ConExpo convention in Las Vegas.

Trucking Companies

Truckinginfo readers like to read about what’s going on with the competition, as evidenced by a number of articles about trucking companies making it into the most-viewed stories list.

In March, Fortune magazine chose seven trucking, transportation and logistics companies and five delivery companies to be part of its World’s Most Admired Companies list. C.H. Robinson Worldwide ranked at the top among trucking companies, while UPS was the Most Admired delivery company.

We reported frequently about LTL giant YRC’s struggles, and a March story where Chairman Bill Zollars predicted more layoffs made our top 20 list of most-viewed stories on Truckinginfo.

In April, news that Knight Transportation was looking at buying another truckload carrier sparked a lot of interest.

Flying J-Pilot

In late June, Flying J received final approval from the Federal Trade Commission to merge its travel plaza business with Pilot Travel Centers. The merger, Flying J officials said, would help the company emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and create an entity of more than 550 interstate travel centers and travel plazas in 43 states and six Canadian provinces.

source: http://www.truckinginfo.com/news/news-detail.asp?news_id=72541