A bipartisan bill in the House, introduced by Rep. Andy Levin, D-Mich, hopes to “repeal the motor carrier overtime exemption in the Fair Labor Standards Act, allowing truck drivers to be compensated for all the hours they work.” Currently drivers who spend many hours a day just waiting to pick up or deliver cargo aren’t paid for those hours; this bill is hoping to address that issue and, in turn, keep more drivers in the workforce. Read more...
Construction on the redevelopment of former Connecticut airfield Rentschler Field could begin as soon as this fall, a project that will not only bring hundreds of construction jobs for more than a year, but “ultimately up to 2,000 permanent jobs at a massive logistics center and accompanying high-tech research and development buildings.” The planning and zoning commission “unanimously approved National Development’s plan to create two mega-warehouses of more than 1 million square feet each on the former airfield.” Read more…
WeMake is partnering with Bettaway Supply Chain Services “to launch a structured hiring, training and skills development program providing long-term jobs and career opportunities for adults on the autism spectrum.” NJ-based WeMake, a not-for-profit skills development and workforce management organization for the autistic adult community, has created “a model program and support resources to enable companies to establish and sustain meaningful workplace opportunities designed to help autistic adults succeed on their own in compatible work environments.” Read more…
A truck driver and passenger are hospitalized after their tractor trailer broke through a metal fence on the Fulton Street bridge in Atlanta. Traffic had to be “shut down while crews worked to remove the broken fence and the ramps from Interstate 20 to the southbound lanes of the connector.” The driver is currently in serious condition as investigators are trying to piece together the incident. Read more…
Runway 09-27 and will hopefully be done with the project in four years. The company’s head of finance, John Rodstrom, exclaimed: “it was COVID that brought the company to Hernando County. What it did was it unlocked ecommerce like it never did in our lifetime… we don’t think that genie is going back in the bottle.” Read more…
The American public appears overwhelmingly skeptical of at least two possible solutions to the trucker shortage currently blighting our nation: “nearly 71 percent of registered voters polled by NewsNation opposed lowering the required age to get a commercial driver’s license from 18 to 16. Currently, drivers have to be 18 to transport goods within a state, or 21 to transport goods across state lines.” In addition, “65 percent of Americans said they would feel at least somewhat unsafe with self-driving trucks on the road.” Read more…
Though flatbed trucks are the most widely used open-deck trailers in the industry, recent deaths have renewed safety concerns for flatbed driving. While devices known as headache racks, often made of aluminum or steel, used to be required to protect drivers from shifting loads, this is no longer the case. These open-deck trailers are often hauling a variety of commodities such as “steel, rebars, steel coils, lumbar, construction materials, military equipment, machinery and other heavy goods.” Read more…
Global logistics giants Geodis and Ceva are planning to cut over 450 jobs in Ohio according to paperwork filed this past week. The French logistics company Geodis is planning on closing all of its business operations at its facilities in Columbus, while Ceva will be closing their east portion of their Groveport facility, with “supply chain operation specialists, dock supervisors and material handlers” being among the affected nonunion employees who will be out of work. Read more…
Economic fallout is exacerbating as “Texas Governor Greg Abbot moved incrementally to roll back new inspection rules for commercial trucks entering from Mexico, with some companies saying they aren’t able to fulfill orders because trucks are stuck in multi-mile backups at a number of entry points.” Many companies are bemoaning the fact that the added inspections have already cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars, not to mention the smaller paychecks for all the loaders who have had trucks failing to show up. Read more…
With burnout from the mental and physical labors of truck driving, especially during a global pandemic, the American Trucking Association has predicted a possible shortage of up to 160,000 drivers over the next decade. On the bright side, during President Joe Biden’s recent press conference regarding the industry, Missouri was among the states highlighted that are addressing the shortage, with the state raising its trucker employment rate “by more than 8% over the past year, one of just five states to do so.” Read more…
