The cost of a used piece of equipment can be substantially less than that of a new unit, but that has changed in recent years. Zach Bourn, director of used equipment for PACCAR Financial, said, “By buying late model trucks and trailers, fleets can conserve their cash flows since they don’t have to come up with as large of a down payment as they would buying new equipment. However, used truck prices, along with prices for new units, have increased between 15% and 25% over the last three years.”

Often just as important as price is the availability of a used piece of equipment. If a fleet earns a new three-year contract that requires some additional equipment, used equipment can often immediately provide the truck or trucks needed to meet a business opportunity at an affordable price. Steve Clough, president of Arrow Truck Sales, said, “There are several motivations that we see among our fleet customers. First is the availability of used vehicles versus new. There are times when a fleet has an opportunity to increase its business and can’t handle the long lead time for new vehicles. It needs to get something quicker so it dips into the used truck market. At other times it might simply be lower price.”

Some research into the used truck market may be a good idea for any fleet manager looking to add to his fleet. Darry Stuart, president and CEO of DWS Fleet Services, said, “If you’re running local, maybe a couple hundred miles a day, a used truck with 500,000 miles on the odometer is not going to hurt you.” So, depending on your operation, he believes the purchase of used heavy-duty trucks, tractors or trailers might be an affordable method of responding to an immediate need for additional equipment. But what can you do to maximize your chance of finding vehicles that are likely to provide reliable service for a sufficiently long period of time?

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In many ways, while technology is evident everywhere in the business world, accurately defining a ‘technology’ company has in many ways become more difficult, now that most companies provide various technology-based products and services in addition to their core offerings. For instance, it’s expected that transportation providers, aside from physically moving a shipment from point A to B, will provide shippers with the ability to track their shipments online at the very least, while many have even developed their own robust software products and services that are branded and marketed individually.

Our eighth annual FL100 list of leading software and technology companies reflects this trend and how it’s unfolding in the food and beverage industry. This year’s compilation includes well-known, pure-play technology companies such as Oracle and SAP, along with younger companies like Intelleflex and GT Nexus, who are joining a new generation of providers whose technology advancements in areas like RFID and cloud computing, respectively, are not only exciting but are making it possible to meet the challenges associated with tracking, tracing, and compliance that are imperative for today’s food supply chains.

So, while defining a technology company may not be as clear-cut as it used to be, one thing is clear: technology is a competitive differentiator in our industry, whether you’re a food shipper or transportation provider.

M.J. Kellner Foodservice would agree. They are the recipient of this year’s Golden Pallet Award for small distributors. Their willingness to tackle a business challenge head-on by building a new facility complete with state of the art software and technology (WMS, voice picking, etc.) has yielded a healthy return on their investment, some of which the company itself wasn’t even expecting. Check out their success story on page 34.

Technology is also a predominant theme in our feature on maintaining cold chain integrity.

For example, Great Dane Trailers is making it possible for shippers to get more life out of their reefer containers with their ThermoGuard product. The technology focuses on improving the efficacy of the interior liner, which degrades over time, thereby making the reefer more expensive to operate. Specifically, ThermoGuard reefers can potentially reduce cooling unit run time by more than 1,000 hours over a five-year period.

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Wreaths Across America, a nonprofit organization, coordinates wreath-laying ceremonies each year at Arlington National Cemetery and at other veterans’ cemeteries and locations throughout the nation and beyond.

On Saturday, about 90,000 wreathes were placed at veterans’ headstones in Arlington, the most in Wreaths Across America’s history, said Amber Caron, a spokeswoman for the organization. About 15,000 volunteers participated in the event on Saturday, she said.

Overall, wreath-laying ceremonies were held in 740 locations in the U.S. and 25 overseas, including one in Afghanistan, Caron said. About 325,000 wreaths were delivered in this year’s ceremonies.

“The trucking industry is a major part of this,” Caron said. “The organization would not be able to do what it does without them. The transportation is donated by trucking companies and drivers willing to donate their time.”

click here to visit Transport Topics and read the complete story.

The Obama administration announced the elimination of dozens of burdensome regulations on traffic signs which cash-strapped state and local governments expect will save them millions of dollars. The U.S. Department of Transportation is proposing that communities replace traffic signs when they are worn out rather than requiring signs to be replaced by a specific deadline. The proposed changes will eliminate 46 deadlines mandated by federal traffic control regulations.

In January, President Obama called for a governmentwide review of regulations already on the books. The purpose was to identify rules that needed to be changed or removed because they were unnecessary, out-of-date, excessively burdensome or overly costly. “A specific deadline for replacing street signs makes no sense and would have cost communities across America millions of dollars in unnecessary expenses,” says U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

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Book Chronicles Trucking's First "Grand Aventure"

OTTAWA — Everybody involved in the truck business has been on at least one — A Trip that Never Should Have Worked, that is.

And here’s a little known historical fact.

The very first truck trip across North America, back in 1911, fell into the “never should have worked” category.

But work it did. And the trip has just been immortalized in words and pictures in a fascinating and entertaining new book called “A Grand Adventure,” by Ottawa-based journalist Ron Corbett.

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Demand for Federal Highway Project Funding Underscores Need for Upgraded Infrastructure

The U.S. Department of Transportation announced $417.3 million in grants to fund an array of efforts ranging from interstate maintenance to research into innovative bridge materials and construction methods.

“Transportation investments like these will create jobs, increase mobility, improve quality of life for all Americans and strengthen our national economy,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “The demand from the states for these funds shows just how critical the need is for infrastructure investment.”

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Nation's Mayors Not Buying Into Highway Expansion Projects

A draft of a six-year surface transportation funding bill released late last week by the Obama administration seeks to allow state and local governments more flexibility to impose roadway and bridge tolls and also proposes to create a study group to examine the feasibility of moving to mileage-based user fees as an alternative to using fuel taxes to fund infrastructure needs.

The 60-plus page draft of the bill – dubbed the Transportation Opportunities Act – is being characterized in many circles as a “trial balloon” by the administration to test the political waters on several potentially contentious proposals, especially the wider use of tolls.

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Tornadoes in Southeast Damage Flatbed Carrier in Birmingham

For the bulk of the transportation industry, the rash of severe storms and deadly tornadoes that roared through the south this week will have little long-lasting impact. The storms, which killed nearly 300 people in several states, have left thousands without power and destroyed a Petro Truck Stop in Virginia.

But for one carrier, the damage was quite severe. Boyd Brothers Transportation, a flatbed carrier based in Clayton, AL, had the second-floor roof of its maintenance and dispatch center in Birmingham ripped off when a tornado touched down just 100 yards from the facility, David Baker, vice president of maintenance, told Fleet Owner.

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The American Trucking Associations has released the latest edition of its annual statistical compendium, “American Trucking Trends 2011,” for sale through its commercial arm, ATA Business Solutions. “For over 60 years, ‘Trends’ has provided a profile of the dynamics shaping the trucking industry,” says Bill Graves, ATA president and chief executive officer. “It is the singularly most important guide to trucking facts and figures and also serves as a vital source of information on major trucking and transportation issues.”

Among the facts contained in this year’s edition of “Trends”:
• The trucking industry employs nearly 7 million people – including more than 3 million drivers, 164,000 of whom are women;
• Texas has the greatest number of people employed in the trucking industry, but on a percentage basis Nebraska ranks first;

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U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on Monday, Feb. 14, praised President Obama’s $129 billion budget for the U.S. Department of Transportation, saying that it would lay a new foundation for economic growth and competitiveness by rebuilding the nation’s transportation systems, enabling innovative solutions to transportation challenges and ensuring transportation safety for all Americans.

“President Obama’s budget for the Department of Transportation is a targeted investment in America’s economic success,” LaHood says. “If we’re going to win the future, we have to out-compete the rest of the world by moving people, goods and information more quickly and reliably than ever before. President Obama’s investments in rebuilding our crumbling roadways and runways, and modernizing our railways and bus systems, will help us do just that.”

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