Technician Shortage Increasing Labor Rates

Commerical Truck Technician Shortage Leads to Increasing Shop Labor Rates

The Heavy Duty Truck maintenance and repair industries are experiencing a skilled labor shortage as those working the technician positions in the Baby Boomer demographic retire in greater numbers than those replacing them, causing the unintended consequence of higher shop labor rates. “The key differences impacting maintenance costs today are skilled labor shortages combined with advancements in vehicle technology. Employees with advanced technical skills are becoming more difficult to find…

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FMCSA Denies ELD Exemption for Small Carriers

FMCSA Denies ELD Exemption for small Carriers

A group representing trucking and other companies with 50 employees or less has been denied an ELD exemption from the FMCSA and their federal electronic logging device (ELD) mandate. The exemption, filed by the Small Business in Transportation Coalition (SBTC), received nearly 2,000 comments after it was posted in June 2018, with the vast majority – roughly 95 percent – in favor of the exemption. However, the Federal Motor Carrier…

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Trump to Ease Drive Time Rules for Truckers

Trump Administration moves to ease truck drive time rules

Truck driver Lucson Francois was forced to hit the brakes just five minutes from his home in Pennsylvania. He’d reached the maximum number of hours in a day he’s allowed to be on duty. Francois couldn’t leave the truck unattended. So he parked and climbed into the sleeper berth in the back of the cab. Ten hours would have to pass before he could start driving again under current drive…

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Bosch to Supply Nikola Electric Powertrains

Bosch to Supply Nikola Hydrogen Electric PowerTrain

Nikola Motor Co. and parts supply company Bosch will jointly develop powertrain systems for the Nikola One and Nikola Two, hydrogen-electric Class 8 semi-trucks scheduled to reach the market by 2021, the companies announced Tuesday. Separately, Nikola confirmed that the trucking startup completed a $110 million funding round in late June to bring its total to $900 million. Under the powertrain agreement, Bosch will supply Nikola with its eAxle technology that houses…

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DriveWyze CA Weigh Station Bypass Service

Drivewyze to operate Weigh Station Bypass Service in CA

Drivewyze has announced that it has been awarded the contract to operate its Drivewyze PreClear weigh station bypass service in California. The company is working to install its service with existing weigh-in-motion scales, underway at 37 locations where the state has chosen to operate bypass services. Drivewyze expects the service to be fully operational in the state within 60 days. The 37 sites supporting PreClear are located on many of…

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Garmin FMCSA Compliant ELD Solution OBD

Garmin FMCSA Compliant ELD Solution OBD Port Connection

Garmin International Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), today announced the Garmin eLog Compliant ELD – a sleek, easy-to-use, hours-of-service (HOS) electronic logging device (ELD) designed to be used by drivers who are currently required to prepare HOS records of duty status (RODS) in compliance with recent amendments to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) ELD mandate. The Garmin eLog is easy to install and setup and…

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Samsung & Magellan Partner on ELD Solution

Samsung & Magellan Announce Partnership on ELD Solution for Long & Short Haul Truckers

Samsung Electronics America has partnered with GPS navigation provider Magellan to deliver an ELD-compliant hours-of-service tracking solution for short and long haul trucking. Samsung mobile devices will now be part of Magellan’s fleet management solutions portfolio as part of an agreement between the companies. Magellan’s fleet solutions can be integrated and pre-loaded across a range of Samsung mobile devices, requiring minimal installation for drivers and offering device flexibility for fleets.…

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ExpoCam Kicks Off Today in Montreal Quebec

ExpoCam 2017 Kicks off today in Montreal Quebec

With an eye to changing commerce patterns, Volvo Trucks North America and Navistar’s International division both unveiled regional semi-truck models for the North American Market at ExpoCam, Canada’s largest truck trade show. Volvo debuted its new VNR regional semi-truck, its first full redesign of a mid-range tractor since 1996, Wednesday night. Not to be outdone, Navistar on Thursday also introduced its new generation International RH Series regional haul truck line at…

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Navistar & Dana Offer Extended Warranties

Navistar Dana to Offer Extended Warranty

Navistar and Dana concurrently launched several extended warranty packages for Navistar’s Durastar medium-duty truck program and its school bus platform. Spicer S140 Series and Spicer 060 Series axles, Spicer E-Series steer axles, and Spicer driveshafts are all available components covered under the International Durastar Powertrain Warranty program. Dana will remain the standard-position driveshaft supplier across all Navistar truck models, and Navistar will have access to all of Dana’s current driveline…

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Great American Trucking Show Aug 25-27

Great American Trucking Show

The Great American Trucking Show is a trucking convention with more than 500,000 feet of exhibit space, aisles full of vendors, and thousands of professional truck drivers. It happens in Dallas every year. And on Thursday, Aug. 25, through Saturday, Aug. 27, the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center will be turned into a trucking hub. Some of the events include the Pride and Polish Truck Beauty Competition, educational seminars, Landstar’s…

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