Trucking news and briefs for Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2021:
Four ELDs now listed on Canadian registry with apollo ELD’s addition
apollo ELD by assured Techmatics was posted on Transport Canada’s website as a certified ELD on Sept. 1, bringing the total to four ELDs listed on the country’s ELD registry. apollo received its certification on Aug. 27 through the accredited body Commercial Driver Technology Inc., becoming the first U.S. ELD provider compliant with the Canadian mandate, the company says.
"We are extremely happy and proud to be among the first ELD providers certified in Canada,” said David Seijo, president of assured Techmatics. “It has been a challenging but a very interesting learning process for us. For nine months, the whole team's focus was to strategize and develop the ELD solution that would work flawlessly in both U.S. and Canada and pass all the 400 pages of certification testing procedures.”
The apollo ELD joins Hutch Systems’ Connect ELD, Diesel Tech Industries’ Guardian ELOG DTIE02, and Pedigree Technologies’ Cab-Mate One as certified ELDs for Canada’s ELD mandate.
The Canadian ELD mandate took effect June 12, 2021, but the rule is not being enforced until June 2022.
Old Dominion sees revenue growth surge
Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc., (CCJ Top 250, No. 10) Tuesday provided an update to its third-quarter 2021, which is seeing an explosion in revenue and load demand.
Revenue per day, the company said, increased 29.1% as compared to August 2020 due to a 10.9% increase in LTL tons per day and an increase in LTL revenue per hundredweight. The change in LTL tons per day was attributable to a 17.3% increase in LTL shipments per day that was partially offset by a 5.5% decrease in LTL weight per shipment. For the quarter-to-date period, LTL revenue per hundredweight and LTL revenue per hundredweight, excluding fuel surcharges, increased 15.5% and 9.9%, respectively, as compared to the same period last year.
President and Chief Executive Officer Greg C. Gantt said Old Dominion’s revenue and shipment growth for the first two months of the third quarter reflects strength in both the domestic economy and demand for our service. "While our daily volumes increased during August, our growth was affected by the recent rise in COVID-19 cases as well as various other matters impacting customers’ supply chains throughout the country," he said.
Mack dealer expands with acquisition
Longtime Mack Trucks dealer Nextran Truck Centers has acquired Westfall-O’Dell Truck Sales, making the acquisition one of the largest by a Mack dealer in the past five years.
The acquisition adds three Mack locations to the Nextran footprint, bringing its total Mack facilities to 20.
Established in 1993, Nextran currently has locations in Alabama, Florida and Georgia. With the Westfall-O’Dell acquisition, Nextran, a full-service commercial vehicle dealership, adds locations in Grand Junction, Colorado; Kansas City, Kansas; and Kansas City, Missouri.
The acquisition is part of Nextran’s strategic growth plan, which saw two other acquisitions within the past three years, resulting in the addition of Mack locations in Fort Myers, Florida and Tallahassee, Florida.