With many industries worried about losing jobs to technology, truck drivers joined the fray at a recent Capitol Hill hearing on the future of autonomous trucking. Chris Spears of the American Trucking association spoke on behalf of the industry’s largest companies attempting “to quell those fears by asserting that automation is indeed to bring more drivers into the industry – not push them out.” Read more…
Category Archives: CDL
CALIFORNIA TRUCKERS ASK GOVERNOR TO SIGN SELF-DRIVING BILL
Lawmakers, union leaders, and truck drivers in California are imploring Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom to sign into a law a proposal “that could save jobs as self-driving trucks are tested for their safety on the roads.” The law “would ban self-driving trucks weighing more than 10,000 pounds(4,536 kilograms) – which would include vehicles from UPS delivery trucks to massive semi-trucks – from operating on public roads unless a human driver is aboard.” Read more…
TRUCKER WARNS EPA ABOUT AMERICAN FOOD SUPPLY ISSUE
Mike Kucharski, a trucking executive who is the vice-president and co-owner of JKC Trucking, has exclaimed that the new emission standards put forth by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would have a “catastrophic” impact on both the trucking industry and American food supply. The EPA rule, which went into effect on March 27, 2023, aims to lessen air pollution from heavy-duty engines and vehicles by making them more strict and covering a wider range of operating conditions. Read more…
IMPORTERS DITCHING WEST COAST PORTS
U.S. importers have been moving their business away from West Coast ports due to the fraught nature of the labor dispute between the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) and the International Longshore and Warehouse union. The Wall Street Journal reports that ports’ share of US containerized import cargo dropped from 37% to 35% year-over-year in June. Read more…
FLEXPORT CEO RESIGNS
David Clark, who was the CEO of Flexport, a logistics company, resigned on Wednesday September 6, 2023. After leaving Amazon in June, Clark had a tough time transitioning and faced criticism over his leadership style. Flexport founder Ryan Peterson, the previous co-CEO, will be replacing David as he is reportedly considering a run for governor of Texas in 2026. Read more…
ALCOHOL HELPING TO FUEL THE LOGISTICS INDUSTRY
During the heart of the truck driver shortage last year, “Walmart decided its own ranks of 1.6 million employees might want to learn how to drive a big rig for Walmart,” so the company “dangled first-year truck driver salaries of up to $110,000 and a 12-week training program for its Walmart and Sam’s Club store and warehouse workers” Former retail employees recently constituted the first graduating class from a training center in Walmart’s Sanger distribution center in Denton County, Texas. Read more…
WALMART TRUCKING PROGRAM PRODUCES FIRST GRADUATING CLASS
During the heart of the truck driver shortage last year, “Walmart decided its own ranks of 1.6 million employees might want to learn how to drive a big rig for Walmart,” so the company “dangled first-year truck driver salaries of up to $110,000 and a 12-week training program for its Walmart and Sam’s Club store and warehouse workers” Former retail employees recently constituted the first graduating class from a training center in Walmart’s Sanger distribution center in Denton County, Texas. Read more…
SHUTDOWN OF YELLOW TO AFFECT TRUCKERS
About 30,000 workers are set to lose their jobs as the shipping company Yellow has apparently shut down operations. Being one of the country’s biggest carriers specializing in smaller freights that don’t fill up an entire truck, the closure will “likely affect how certain goods will continue to be delivered.” Read more…
TRUCKING INDUSTRY STAGNATION
According to experts, the trucking industry has “stumbled through the first first quarter amid a slowing economy and high inventories.” Allison Poliniak-Cusic, a Wells Fargo analyst, claims: “‘things are a bit muted than maybe we anticipated as we entered last year. A lot of macro uncertainty is still very much front-and-center. So, I would say from a volumes standpoint, earnings will be lower, volumes will be lower, pricing seems to be coming in at the lower end of where we thought originally.” Read More…
TRUCK OWNER-OPERATORS HAPPY WITH CAREER CHOICE
Despite critical, common challenges, trucking professionals are increasingly happy with their choice of career according to a new Truckstop commissioned survey of 500 U.S.-based owner-operator truck drivers. The report goes on to say that “close to two-thirds (65%) of owner-operators surveyed are currently extremely satisfied with their job and more than half (57%) say they are much more satisfied now compared to in 2021.” Read more…