Perspectives

50-truck fleet owner, and still driver, recounts a strange, tough year

Last March and April, CCJ talked to dozens of fleets about how the COVID-19 outbreak was impacting their daily operations, their business, and their personnel. We’re catching up with some of those same fleets a year later to see how they’re faring.

March 8, 2021

This Freightliner Cascadia is one of more than 50 that Zeller Transportation uses in its East Coast and midwest runs hauling refrigerated loads.

Documentation software

Digitizing paper for trucking success

Efficient document management is quickly becoming a vital survival strategy.

March 4, 2021

Efficient document management and digitization are becoming vital to the survival strategy of motor carriers.

Don't get left out in the cold in a hot used truck market

In the Class 8 market, the number of available advertised trucks has gone from 40,000 last June to 16,000 today.

March 2, 2021

A tractor that eight months ago sold for $30,000 can sell for up to $55,000 today.

Tech insurance startup seeking to streamline process for fleets

Koffie Labs bills itself as "a digital insurer purpose-built for the next generation of trucking and transportation, and "the first insurtech to integrate safety technology into underwriting, pricing and loss control."

February 28, 2021

Koffie COO Mike Dorfman and CEO Ian White founded an insurtech focused on reinventing the trucking and transportation markets and have raised $4.5 million in venture financing.

12 months in, two fleets recall the ups and downs of trucking in a pandemic

Last spring, CCJ talked to dozens of fleets about how the COVID-19 outbreak was impacting their daily operations, their business opportunities and their personnel. We’re catching up with some of those same fleets a year later to see how they’re faring.

February 26, 2021

Bee-Line Transport operates a 60-truck regional fleet out of Houston, Texas. When we caught up with safety director James Jeter this week to recap the past year, the fleet was fresh off dealing with last week's torrential weather across Texas and other parts of the Southeast. 'It was almost a total shutdown,' he said. 'We got people home or to a place where they could ride it out. Everybody's safe -- no accidents, no problems. We were pretty worn, though. We spent hours on the phone and through messaging systems keeping up with everybody.'

Truck replacement, investment strategies will rise in 202

As the tumultuous economy of 2021 makes its way through the first quarter, businesses are encountering sporadic patterns of equipment investment demand depending on which market sectors they serve.

February 23, 2021

The reason for this stronger recovery for transportation fleets is a product of the country’s reopening plans that placed heavy dependence and shipping activity for transporters.

Alternative power

Grid vulnerabilities for commercial EVs are troubling

Electric trucks and vans have a much lower TCO than conventional but grid vulnerabilities demonstrated this week in Texas and other states could bring on serious setbacks for fleets that are eager to embrace all-electric powertrains.

February 18, 2021

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Dash cams capture more good than bad

Dash camera footage cannot always help a motor carrier with respect to liability, but it can fleets from having to pay excessive damages.

February 17, 2021

Most commercial motor vehicle drivers are good drivers, and it is very rare that a motor vehicle collision involving a truck is solely the fault of the truck driver.

Truck accident video prompts Florida to change law

A recent victory in Florida civil law will allow trial judges to weigh compelling video evidence to issue summary judgements.

February 10, 2021

Fleets and insurers are using compelling evidence from video event recorders to minimize litigation expenses.

Equipment controls

Afraid of autonomous trucking? Here's why you should embrace it

Richard Stocking, principal and founder at DPX Consulting and former CEO of Swift Transportation, envisions a greener, leaner autonomous future for the industry and for society.

February 10, 2021

'These are exciting times for trucking. I’m excited for the benefits autonomous trucking will provide for both our industry and the society we serve,' writes Richard Stocking, CEO and principal at DPX Consulting. Below, he details the changes he envisions looming for the industry and society when autonomous trucks become commercialized.

8 basis steps in choosing tech solutions

Once you have identified your goals, you can begin determining if technology even is the right solution; is this something that can, or should be, solved with technology?

February 5, 2021

Once you have identified your goals, you can begin determining if technology even is the right solution; is this something that can, or should be, solved with technology?

Owning versus leasing an asset

Truck leasing companies offer a variety of operating lease solutions, bundling in various life-cycle administrative and operating services that deliver meaningful value to a lessee.

February 4, 2021

Leasing is a common financial method for acquiring assets versus purchasing them. There are generally two types of asset leases: operating leases and capital leases.

Savings noted in truck lease over ownership

Fleet Advantage's latest Lease versus Ownership Analysis of heavy-duty truck equipment shows an after-tax advantage to leasing tractor equipment.

January 31, 2021

The second quarter last year was a historical low-point, but bolstered by stimulus money and a resurgent freight environment (and accompanying rate spike), 'the propensity to finance equipment is higher than it has been over the last two to three years as long-term interest rates have fallen sharply,' the ELFA wrote.

Alternative power

Green energies present many TCO unknowns

Market impacts for truck TCO estimation used to only be impacted by uncontrollable market variables like interest rates and residual value of used trucks.

January 29, 2021

There is complexity in estimating a residual value for vehicles when there is not yet any established track record for used battery electric and fuel cell trucks.

Driver scoring app is creepy but effective

The author and his family take on a driver monitoring program that has them a little creeped out and frustrated but also striving to keep their driving scores high.

January 27, 2021

driver-performance-app

Building learning communities in trucking

Education strategies have the potential to make a difference with driver engagement and retention.

January 26, 2021

If a driver does not have access to a computer, a tablet, or a Smartphone, the carrier could offer the experience in both asynchronous or synchronous formats.

Economic trends

Three areas to watch in 2021

The virus, the economy and regulations: Here's what to look for in 2021.

January 19, 2021

Recruiting & retention

Driver happiness begins with trust

Showing appreciation to drivers and empowering them to play a leading role in their own safety and improvement has never been more important.

January 17, 2021

Showing appreciation to drivers and empowering them to play a leading role in their own safety and improvement has never been more important.

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The so-called ABC test institutes a three-point criteria for determining whether a worker can be classified as an independent contractor. For trucking, that relates to loads that motor carriers can contract to independent contractor drivers, such as leased owner-operators. The B portion of the ABC test is widely interpreted as prohibiting motor carriers from contracting with such owner-operators. The PRO Act, introduced in Congress last month in both chambers of Congress, would institute a national ABC test criteria for determining worker classification.

Nationalized ABC test would ice trucking’s independent contractor model

A bill making its way through the U.S. House would follow in the footsteps of California’s A.B. 5 law passed in late 2019 by severely curtailing the ability of owner-operators to haul freight for larger motor carriers.

This Freightliner Cascadia is one of more than 50 that Zeller Transportation uses in its East Coast and midwest runs hauling refrigerated loads.

50-truck fleet owner, and still driver, recounts a strange, tough year

Fleets are using new online platforms to collaborate, even with competitors, to find new markets for unused trailer space and equipment.

New tech creates 'sharing economy' for fleets

Efficient document management and digitization are becoming vital to the survival strategy of motor carriers.

Digitizing paper for trucking success

Goodyear Introduces Tire Management, Improving Efficiency for Fleets

Goodyear Introduces Tire Management, Improving Efficiency for Fleets

Get all the info on the top 250 trucking companies in America

View, sort and download the trucking industry’s most comprehensive ranking of for-hire carriers in North America, based on a blend of metrics including fleet size, annual revenue and number of drivers.

Take Control of Toll: How Violations Work and How to Minimize Fleet Impact

With the rapid adoption of cashless tolling across the country and the associated benefit in transponder deployment for operations and the company’s bottom line, it is now more important than ever for fleets to develop an informed toll management strategy