Roehl Transport Inc. and Stagecoach Cartage and Distribution were winners of the 2011 Volvo Trucks Safety Award. Roehl, of Marshfield, Wis., won in the over 20 million mile category, and Stagecoach, of El Paso, Texas, won in the under 20 million mile category.

Heartland Express founder and longtime chairman and chief executive officer Russell Gerdin died Oct. 14. Gerdin, who was 70, recently had retired from the North Liberty, Iowa-based company due to health reasons.

The Agricultural and Food Transporters Conference of American Trucking Associations hired agricultural lobbyist Jon Samson as its new executive director, replacing Russell Laird, who left AFTC earlier this year.

Nominations for The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s 29th annual North America Highway Hero program will be accepted until Nov. 30. For nomination forms, go to www.goodyeartrucktires.com/newsroom/highway-heroes/hero-overview.aspx.

Arrow Truck Sales launched its fifth Back On The Road program with a new presenting sponsor: Mack Trucks Inc. The winner will receive a one-year lease on a 2008 Mack Pinnacle, a one-year work agreement with Heartland Express and other products and services. For more information, go to www.arrowtruck.com/backontheroad.

NTTC says halt two rulemakings

The National Tank Truck Carriers last month asked U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to withdraw two rulemakings that it considers unnecessary and counterproductive to safety. The first rulemaking would require a ban on gasoline in loading lines on cargo tanks (wetlines), while the other would turn over certain cargo tank regulatory responsibilities to a third party.

NTTC President John Conley said LaHood can provide political cover to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which developed the wetlines regulation in response to pressure from a congressional committee. PHMSA began the other rulemaking that would abdicate key government safety responsibility if the petitions from two private groups are granted, Conley said.

“Neither of these regulations was actually initiated by your agency for safety reasons, but rather were the result in one case from intense congressional pressure and in the other in response to petitions from an industry group that would financially benefit greatly if its petitions are granted,” Conley wrote to LaHood.

Conley told LaHood that U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) – chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials – and ranking member U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.) both have urged PHMSA Administrator Cynthia Quarterman to set aside the wetlines rulemaking that resulted from pressure from certain members of the T&I Committee in the last Congress and is not an issue of interest to the majority of the current Congress.

Regarding the proposal to turn over regulatory responsibilities to a private entity through a “no-bid” process, Conley told LaHood that “while we can respect the gall of these parties to have the government mandate the purchase of their products and services, we urge you to encourage your agency to reject this attempt to fix something that is not broken.”

Truckload turnover hits three-year high in 2Q