Trucking news and briefs for Thursday, Dec. 16, 2021:
CVSA adopts education program addressing driver fatigue
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) is now home to the North American Fatigue Management Program (NAFMP), a comprehensive educational and training program aimed at preventing fatigue-related risks and crashes and cultivating a corporate safety culture that proactively works to eliminate driver fatigue.
As an organization comprised of law enforcement jurisdictions, motor carriers, trucking organizations, safety associations and federal agencies committed to eliminating crashes, CVSA was tasked by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration with the management and evolution of the NAFMP. The NAFMP steering committee also includes Transport Canada, working closely with FMCSA to support the program.
"Our goal at CVSA is to prevent crashes involving commercial motor vehicles," said CVSA President Capt. John Broers with the South Dakota Highway Patrol. "Offering the North American Fatigue Management Program as one of the Alliance’s driver-related educational programs helps us do our part to combat crashes caused by driver fatigue and exhaustion."
The NAFMP was developed by medical and sleep scientists from Canada and the United States through a multi-year, four-phase comprehensive process. The program aims to prevent driver fatigue and eliminate fatigue-related crashes by:
- Offering easy-to-access online fatigue prevention training and education to commercial motor vehicle drivers, motor carrier executives and managers, freight shippers and receivers, dispatchers, driver managers, driver’s spouses and families, safety managers and trainers, etc.
- Encouraging a motor carrier safety culture that proactively considers situations that may contribute to driver fatigue and fights to prevent it
- Identifying sleep disorders and treatment options
- Utilizing driver fatigue management technologies
Alcohol distributor orders 10 electric delivery trucks
Alcoholic beverage distributor Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits has signed a purchase order with Xos for 10 electric Class 7 refrigerated beverage trucks.
The initial test of electric trucks will be used to inform future deployments of Xos electric vehicles into the company’s national fleet.
“We’re proud and excited to be the first North American wine and spirits distributor in the U.S. to incorporate electric vehicles into our fleet on this scale,” said Ron Flanary, senior vice president of operations, Southern Glazer’s. “We recognize the environmental and efficiency benefits that electric vehicles can deliver for our business. We look forward to deploying the initial 10 Xos trucks into our fleet in 2022 and continuing to identify creative opportunities to reduce our environmental impact.”
The 10 vehicles will be deployed from Southern Glazer’s Dallas/Ft. Worth distribution center and used as part of the company’s delivery fleet supporting the North Texas market in the second half of 2022. Plans to invest in electric vehicle charging stations at the facility are also underway.
Redwood Logistics acquired by investment firm
Third-party logistics firm Redwood Logistics has been acquired by investment firm AEA Investors. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
For the past four years, Redwood has been a portfolio company of CI Capital Partners and has grown exponentially through a combination of organic growth and multiple strategic acquisitions.
AEA’s acquisition underscores Redwood’s mission to revolutionize the freight industry by serving its customers at the intersection of logistics and technology. AEA will partner with Redwood’s CEO, Mark Yeager, and President, Todd Berger, along with the existing management team to help drive the next stage of growth for the company. As part of the transaction, AEA expects to commit substantial resources to fund additional acquisitions and organic growth initiatives.
“We are extremely enthusiastic to be joining the AEA family,” Yeager said. “This additional investment accelerates our organization’s strategic growth plan, all while retaining and underscoring our core values, unique Redwood culture and winning team. Our customers, carriers, vendors and employees will benefit greatly from this partnership as it enables us to accelerate the kind of aggressive innovation that led us to the development and launch of our Logistics Platform as a Service operating model.”
