Trucking news and briefs for Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025:
A. Duie Pyle opens new facility in Pennsylvania
A. Duie Pyle (CCJ Top 250, No. 59) is expanding its Northeast network with a new facility in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. The company's first expansion this year brings A. Duie Pyle to 31 facilities total. The new facility extends customer access to Pyle’s LTL services and includes 85 LTL service center doors situated on 11 acres.
The service center is currently undergoing a complete refresh, including all offices, dock area and fleet maintenance facilities. The new facility is strategically positioned off I-83 and US-11 to efficiently service Pyle’s customer base in the Northeast. Upon its opening, the facility added 35 drivers, 18 dock workers, five fleet technicians and six leaders, creating a total of 64 new jobs and boosting the local economy.
"Opening a facility in Camp Hill strengthens our significant footprint in the Northeast, allowing us to maintain our commitment to delivering top-tier service and solutions," said John Luciani, COO of LTL Solutions at Pyle. "With increased operational capacity in the region, we are well-positioned to meet evolving customer demands, drive local economic growth and create new opportunities for the community and the Pyle team."
By year end, Camp Hill is projected to have over 150 employees as Pyle continues to optimize its terminal network to support new business growth.
State trucking org blasts kickoff of New York congestion pricing
The state of New York Jan. 5 kicked off its congestion pricing program, which transportation stakeholders argue unfairly targets trucking and logistics companies, which are charged far higher rates than passenger vehicles.
“While congestion pricing has only just taken effect, our drivers are already bracing for the severe impact these tolls will have on their operations in the days and weeks ahead. To be clear, we are not inherently opposed to congestion pricing," said Trucking Association of New York President Kendra Hems. "As we’ve said all along, as well as in our ongoing litigation against the MTA, our concern is that the current plan disproportionately targets trucking operators by charging them on a per-trip basis, unlike passenger vehicles which are charged once per day. This fact alone will have devastating downstream impacts across the city due to the essential role that the trucking industry plays in our economy—consider that nearly 90% of goods in the five boroughs are delivered by trucks.”
Under the plan, vehicles are charged a toll to enter the Congestion Relief Zone (formally referred to as the Manhattan Central Business District) – the area of Manhattan south of and including 60th Street, excluding the FDR Drive, West Side Highway/Route 9A, and the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel connections to West Street. Large trucks (tractor-trailers) using E-ZPass will be charged $36 to enter the area during the peak period, which is defined as 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends. Trucks will be charged $9 to enter the zone during the overnight periods. Single-unit box trucks will be charged $24 during peak hours and $6 overnight.
"[The] trucking industry is not able to adapt like commuters who have the ability to use alternative modes of transportation. Grocery stores, after all, can’t be stocked with shipments that travel on the subway," Helms contended. "Additionally, while we fully support overnight deliveries, our drivers do not determine when and where deliveries occur — their customers do. In other words, drivers do not have the luxury of being able to drive during off-peak hours. The trucking industry fully supports finding a way to reduce traffic and improve the environment, but these efforts should not come at the cost of businesses and residents who in many cases serve as a lifeline to New Yorkers.”
EzFill acquires fleet of Shell mobile fuel trucks
EzFill Holdings has acquired a fleet of trucks from Shell Retail and Convenience Operations, a wholly owned subsidiary of Shell Oil Products US. By integrating these trucks into its existing fleet, EzFill bolsters its operational capacity and expands its service footprint in Texas while launching in Arizona.
The transaction closed on December 27, 2024. As a result, EzFill has officially commenced operations in four new markets: Phoenix, San Antonio, Houston, and Austin; and expanded operations in Dallas. EzFill has started integrating the Shell trucks into its infrastructure.
The acquisition adds 73 trucks, increasing the fleet to 139. EzFill expects to deliver approximately 16 million gallons with these new trucks alone, in 2025.
With the purchase, EzFill now has a presence in 6 states and 14 markets, including: Miami, West Palm Beach, Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Nashville, Detroit, Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, and Phoenix.
