Compared with July 2009, SA tonnage climbed 7.4 percent, which matched June’s increase from a year earlier and was the eighth consecutive year-over-year gain. Year-to-date, tonnage is up 6.7 percent compared with the same period in 2009.

ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said July’s data didn’t change his outlook for subdued tonnage growth in the months ahead. “The economy is slowing and truck freight tonnage has essentially gone sideways since April 2010,” he said.

Nevertheless, Costello believes tonnage will post moderate gains, on average, for the second half of the year. “After accounting for the reduction in supply over the last few years, even small gains in tonnage will have a larger impact on the industry than in past,” he said.

The ATA also reported its not seasonally-adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by fleets before any seasonal adjustment, fell 5 percent in July from June.

Truck operators report more problems with newer model engines.

Problem rates for heavy-duty truck engines manufactured with emissions controls implemented in 2004 and 2007 are nearly twice as high, on average, as rates for engines built prior to these emission changes, J.D. Power and Associates announced Sept. 2.
 
The firm’s 2010 U.S. Heavy-Duty Truck Engine and Transmission Study finds that 51 percent of owners of 1-year-old heavy-duty truck engines in 2010 report experiencing a problem. However, prior to the changes in emissions standards mandated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, only 26 percent of owners of 2-year-old truck engines experienced a problem.
 
“Clearly, the emissions requirements have put a burden on engine manufacturers, and the result is that today’s engines—although environmentally improved—are more problematic,” said Todd Markusic, senior director of the commercial vehicle practice at J.D. Power and Associates. “Given the quality issues that arose from the last emission standards redesign in 2007, the new emissions standards in 2010 will no doubt create another challenge for engine manufacturers, but those that best handle the integration of these new standards will have a competitive advantage.”
 
The study also finds that the number of engine problems increases by 55 percent, on average, after 50,000 miles of usage—up to 80.5 problems per 100 vehicles (PP100) from 51.9 PP100. As a result, satisfaction with engines decreases by nearly 40 points (on a 1,000-point scale) after 50,000 miles.
 
Now in its 14th year, the study measures customer satisfaction with engines and transmissions in 1-year-old heavy-duty (Class trucks. Engines from Detroit Diesel and Navistar perform particularly well, J.D. Power said in a release.
 
The most-commonly reported engine problems are issues with electronic control module calibration (cited by 14 percent of owners) and exhaust gas recirculation valve (13 percent).
 
The study is based on the responses of 1,682 primary maintainers of one model-year-old heavy-duty trucks. The study was conducted in February and March.

In its latest report, ACT said average used truck prices moved slightly higher, despite a slight rise in average age and miles of sold units.

“The average mileage of used Class 8 trucks sold in July rose above trend due to a higher than average number of older trucks being wholesaled,” said Steve Tam, vice president-commercial vehicle sector with ACT. “Anecdotal evidence suggests a shortage of late model, low mileage equipment. This trend will likely continue for several more months until new truck purchases increase and bring in equipment that sat idle during the economic slowdown,” he added.

The ACT Used Truck database contains approximately 2,500 transactions per month and more than 100,000 used truck transaction over the past decade. The company is working with used vehicle market participants to push the number of reported transactions significantly higher. ACT estimates that approximately 10 percent of used Class 8 transactions are included in the database.

Though I imagine the flatbedders out there would take issue with any characterization of their jobs as totally lacking in physical activity, it’s true that, in large part, drivers and owner-operators spend the majority of their days in seats behind the wheel, just as office workers like myself spend most of the day quite sedentarily at desks. The TrekDesk Treadmill Desk, as you can see, is a standup desk that allows its user to place a treadmill below to enable walking in place while working. Long hours can lead to, as one user notes on the TrekDesk site, an average of almost 7 miles walked a day, quite a boon to heart health and muscle tone.

This isn’t going to work in a truck, no doubt, excepting perhaps in the biggest of big bunks; the closest thing we currently have only stimulates muscles — the massaging, vibrating seats of manufacturers like Qualitex Seating. And though there was in fact a STANDUP Act focused on driving introduced in Congress last year, it had nothing to do with building modular stand-up-driven trucks. Which leads to the begged question: With all the focus lately on driver health, from driver-led efforts to regulations, when will the truckmakers themselves, well, stand up and make it possible for drivers to walk in place while driving?

Oh, wait, there’s the whole seatbelt thing, and the distracted driving thing…. Would it be possible to shift gears while walking in place? … Let us pause while I attempt to throw off the dirt that’s quickly piling up in the hole I’ve dug here …

In any case, welcome to Thursday. If you missed myself and Max Kvidera on Allen Smith’s Truth About Trucking online radio program on the subject of cargo theft last night , you tune in and give it a listen in Smith’s archives here. Of particular note in the conversation were discussions of connections between the cargo theft problem and the growing dearth of parking in high-traffic lanes, where most cargo theft occurs. As attorney Jared Palmer and others on the National Cargo Theft Task Force lobby for federal money (from both Justice and Transportation departments) to help states and local jurisdictions implement the new federal UCR on cargo theft (which will go a long way toward helping the industry highlight the growing cargo theft problem), they are indeed looking at the potential for transportation dollars to help.

As news of the sentencing of two accomplices to the murder of driver Jason Rivenburg came out yesterday, the need for secure parking for the nation’s drivers is ever more apparent. Last night, a caller noted that that need for security extends not only to the general motoring public but to drivers’ cargo, drivers’ freight, the increasing theft of which adds to the cost of so many manufactured goods for the general public. Jason’s Law is a fine bill to get behind, but as you push it forward, make the cargo theft connection apparent when you speak to lawmakers.

• Calculating the highest net revenue from multiple load options.
• Determining how fixed and variable costs affect your revenue.
• How to research fuel prices in specific lanes and work them into your calculations.

The one-hour webinar will start at 8 p.m. (CDT) Sept. 29.

Visit www.truckerwebinars.com to register. At that site you can also check out other upcoming webinars and browse archived presentations brought to you by the editors of Overdrive and Truckers News.

Jason Rivenburg and son.

Two men charged as accessories in the murder of trucker Jason Rivenburg were sentenced in a South Carolina court to 30 days in jail Aug. 30.

Jimmy Haygood, 21, and Willie Reed, 21, can serve the time on weekends. They also were assigned 100 hours of community service and five years probation.

On March 5, 2009, while waiting to make a delivery, New York-based truck driver Jason Rivenburg was murdered at an abandoned gas station and robbed of $7. Willie Pelzer, 22, was convicted of the murder and is serving a life sentence without parole.

Reed and Haygood testified against Pelzer at his trial.

But, hey, that’s just a survey of how people feel. A report this morning shows that manufacturing, which has a more direct impact on trucking, continues to improve. One of the most active manufacturing sectors was transportation equipment, which includes trucks.

Factory activity expanded in August for the 13th consecutive month, and the overall economy grew for the 16th consecutive month, says the Institute for Supply Management. Its data is based on polling supply executives.

ISM’s Purchasing Managers Index for August registered 56.3 percent, an increase of 0.8 over July. A reading above 50 percent indicates that the manufacturing economy is generally expanding.

Eleven sectors reported growth in August, in the following order: primary metals; apparel, leather & allied products; transportation equipment; fabricated metal products; electrical equipment, appliances & components; miscellaneous manufacturing; computer & electronic products; paper products; chemical products; food, beverage & tobacco products; and printing & related support activities.

The five industries reporting contraction in August were: furniture & related products; petroleum & coal products; nonmetallic mineral products; plastics & rubber products; and machinery.

The sites newly offering the scan service are  PlazaGo, near U.S. 50 in South Hutchinson, Kan.; Safeway Travel Center near I-65 in Hope Hull, Ala., south of Montgomery; Ghost Town Fuel Stop & Restaurant on Route 20 and 26 in Casper, Wyo.; Steel City Fuel Center near the juntion of I-94 and I-90 on the Indiana Toll Road in Lake Station, Ind.; the I-10 Truck Stop near I-10 in Rialto, Calif., west of San Bernardino; and Fuel Express near I-40 in Holbrook, Ariz.

The service is available at more than 750 truck stops in the United States and Canada including Pilot, Flying J, and Love’s locations.

For details, go to www.pegasustranstech.com.

We’ve been talking about building your dream operation. The final step is buying your equipment. It’s the most fun part, but it’s also the most expensive, and one that owner-operators often mess up.

Only after you’ve decided on your preferred operation and located a carrier or set of shippers/brokers to use should you start the buying process. To buy a tractor without an idea of its application is putting the cart before the horse (or, we might say, the trailer before the tractor).

You might have decided to run an operation that is local or regional rather than long-haul. Maybe you want to be in an expedited operation as a team, or a specialized heavy hauler with a drop-deck trailer. Those are very different operations with very different equipment requirements.

For example, my operation entails pulling double 28-foot package trailers on a dedicated run, 540 miles per day in Florida and Georgia. The tractor is back in the domiciled terminal every day. I operate single-axle daycabs with full aerodynamic treatments. They are very light, and the No. 1 priority is fuel economy and low maintenance cost. Horsepower is set between 350 and 430, torque is set accordingly, with 10- or 12-speed automated transmissions.

Having these very precise specs from the front bumper to the mudflaps really pays off on the bottom line. Take tires, for example. The tractor has only four tires because the drive axle uses wide-base singles. Compare that to what most contractors on the same run are using: three-axle tractors with dual drive tires. That means they have 10 tires to buy and maintain instead of four. The average fuel mileage for trucks in this lane is 5 mpg to 6 mpg. My trucks are getting close to 8 mpg. When you compare overall operating costs – fuel, maintenance, tires, etc. – the properly spec’d truck is saving $12,000-$15,000 yearly.

Using equipment designed for the job is the most cost-effective approach to an owner-operator business. Take the time to do it right. You will be rewarded many times over for years to come. n

Kevin Rutherford is an accountant, small-fleet owner and the host of “Trucking Business & Beyond,” which airs on Sirius XM Radio’s Road Dog Trucking Radio. Contact Rutherford through his website, www.LetsTruck.com.

Sams Trucking LLC of New Tazewell, Tenn., paid Knoxville Thermo King close to $10,000 for each of four TriPac APUs this summer to outfit part of its five-truck over-the-road fleet with idle-reduction technology. The bill was offset, though, by Tennessee’s “Idle Smart” rebate program, which offers state-based owner-operators and fleets rebates of up to 50 percent of the cost. Sams Trucking received $4,000 back for each of the four TriPacs.

Billy Sams was able to cash in on hefty rebates from a Tennessee program that covered almost half the cost of this and three other TriPac auxiliary power units now part of his small fleet.

Nancy Sams, whose husband, Billy, drives a custom 300-inch 2001 Peterbilt 379 in their fleet, says they had their sights on the TriPacs regardless of the rebate program. However, the “free money” helped them decide to take the plunge. “That’s a lot of money to spend at one time,” she says.

Nancy reports their drivers “just love them. My husband said that if he had known it was going to be as nice as it is, he’d have put one on a long time ago.”

A fully functional auxiliary power unit run by a diesel-fired engine, with the ability to both cool and heat the cab as well as power in-cab electronics and other devices, according to the Overdrive Partners in Business manual, costs $6,000 to more than $11,000 installed. Battery-powered devices with similar functionality can come in between $4,000 and $11,000. Cab heaters can be had for $2,000 or less. Evaporative coolers (also referred to as “swamp coolers”) can be equally inexpensive if you’re cooling needs are occasional.

APU payback scenarios in the Partners in Business manual show most devices can return the investment through fuel savings and reduced maintenance (less wear and tear on the engine) in fewer than three years for the most expensive devices.

A rebate or grant reduces the payback time further. In addition to the loan/grant/rebate programs listed below, many states have Small Business Assistance programs that include low-interest financing for pollution-reducing equipment of all types, not just APUs.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (ooida.com, (816) 229-5791) has an APU- and cab heater-financing program for members. Leased operators may find their fleets offer similar incentives, and APU manufacturers such as Cummins and Thermo King, among others, often provide affordable financing programs.

SmartWay Transport Partnership: grants, low-interest loans

This public-private collaboration aimed at increasing transportation efficiency is led by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which disperses federal money to many state-run programs. The partnership’s main site is a good resource for information about grants and low-interest loans.

At the SmartWay Finance Center website (www.SmartWayFinanceCenter.com), you can fill out a single application for loan or lease funding for a SmartWay-certified APU that will go to all participating private lenders and lease companies.

www.epa.gov/smartway, (734) 214-4767

Cascade Sierra Solutions: loans, rebates

Oregon-headquartered Cascade Sierra Solutions began with a focus on providing owner-operators in Washington, Oregon and California (or operating along the I-5 corridor) with information about idle-reduction and other efficiency-boosting technologies. From the CSS website, or working with a representative at one of its four locations at truck stops along I-5, you can apply for a U.S. Small Business Administration loan or obtain information on regional programs.

CSS is launching a 20 percent rebate program for owner-operators nationwide who purchase shorepower-capable APUs under the Shorepower Truckstop Electrification Project. You can become a CSS fleet member for $25 a year. The membership fee “helps pay for our communications network and for our people to keep getting out there and finding these grants,” says CEO Sharon Banks.

www.cascadesierrasolutions.org, (866) 345-3390

Arkansas: low-interest loans

The state Department of Environmental Quality’s Business Assistance Program offers a low-interest loan program to small state-based businesses investing in any pollution-reduction/waste-control program, including idle reduction technology.

Primary contact: Liz Rusk, (501) 682-0709

Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, Business

Assistance Program, www.adeq.state.ar.us/poa/businessasst.htm, (888) 233-0326

California: grants, low-interest loans

California-based owner-operators selecting an APU may qualify for grant assistance through the Carl Moyer Program of financial incentives if they choose one of certain zero-emissions options, such as battery-powered devices. The grants are administered through local air quality districts. California’s small-business loan program may also be a good source of low-interest funding. The California Air Resources Board operates a one-stop hotline for truck-related information at the number below.

California Air Resources Board, www.arb.ca.gov (click “the Truck Stop” on the left), (866) 634-3735

Maine: low-interest loans

The Efficiency Maine program offers low-interest loans for up to $35,000 investment in efficiency-boosting equipment to Maine-based small businesses – the current interest rate is 1 percent. (See also Cascade Sierra Solutions’ “Great SmartWay Rebate Program.”)

Efficiency Maine, www.efficiencymaine.com, click “For Small Business” under “At Work,” (866) 376-2463

Massachusetts: loans

Microfinance institution Accion offers loans to small businesses in Massachusetts (see also New York) for investing in efficiency-boosting equipment like APUs. Interest rates of 8.99 percent are available for loans of up to five years.

Accion USA, www.accionusa.org, click “Small Business Loans & Resources,” (866) 245-0783

Minnesota: low-interest loans

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, through its Small Business APU Loan Program partly funded by the Midwest Clean Diesel initiative of the EPA, offers low-interest loans to state-based owner-operators and small fleets.

Primary contact: Mike Nelson, (800) 985-4247,

michael.nelson@state.mn.us

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, www.pca.state.mn.us, search “Small Business Assistance,” (800) 657-3864

New York: loans

See Massachusetts. Accion USA also offers its loans to New York small business haulers.

North Carolina: rebates

The Division of Air Quality of the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources was awarded federal funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to offer rebates on idle reduction equipment. As of late May, more than $250,000 was still available for rebates of up to $2,500 per APU purchase, with a limit of three per company.

Primary contact: Heather Hildebrandt, heather.hildebrandt@ncdenr.gov, (919) 733-1498

NCDENR, Division of Air Quality, www.ncair.org, click “Motor Vehicles,” then “Idle Reduction,” (919) 733-3340

Oregon: low-interest loans

The Lane Regional Air Protection Agency in Eugene, Ore., received EPA funding and loan money from the Oregon Department of Energy to conduct its Everybody Wins demonstration project to assist a small number of truckers in the I-5 corridor in buying APUs. Phase II of the project planned to outfit 250 trucks operating primarily within Oregon.

LRAPA, www.lrapa.org, click Projects and Programs, then Everybody Wins, (541) 736-1056

Pennsylvania: low-interest loans, grants

The Small Business Pollution Prevention Assistance Account Loan Program, administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, has provided low-interest loans of up to 75 percent of the cost of waste, pollution or energy use reduction projects. Interest rates of 2 percent for up to 10 years apply. The DEP’s Small Business Advantage Grant program also awards up to $7,500 in grants toward funding up to 50 percent of an applicant’s project, including truck APUs. DEP says the program may reopen this year.

Primary contact (Advantage grants): David Barnes, (717) 772-5160, http://www.epadvantagegrant@state.pa.us; (PPAA loans): Gene Delvecchio, gdelvecchi@state.pa.us,

(717) 783-8411; Pennsylvania DEP Office of Energy and Technology Development, www.depweb.state.pa.us, click “Energy,” then “Small Business Ombudsman’s Office,” (717) 783-0909

Tennessee: rebates

Tennessee’s Idle Smart Clean Diesel rebate program covers up to 50 percent of the cost of idle-reduction technologies. It’s available to Tennessee-based fleets and owner-operators, and has been extended through March 30. After that date, the program will continue for owner-operators and very small fleets.

Primary contact: Jimmy Calcagno, (865) 974-7723; Department of Environment and Conservation, www.tn.gov/environment/recovery, click “Diesel Emissions Reduction,” (615) 532-0779

Texas: rebates, grants

The Texas Emissions Reduction Plan, administered by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, offers financial incentives, including rebates and grants, to help businesses buy emissions-reducing equipment. Application deadlines for grants have passed but more may open. The North Central Texas Council of Governments often offers grants for fleet and owner-operator upgrades.

NCTCOG, www.nctcog.org/aqfunding, (817) 640-3300

TERP, www.tceq.state.tx.us, click “Air,” then scroll down to topics under “Pollution Prevention and Reduction,”

(512) 239-1000

Wisconsin: grants

The Department of Commerce administers the Wisconsin Diesel Truck Idling Reduction Grant Program for Wisconsin-based owner-operators. Since 2006 more than 1,100 devices have been installed with grants of up to 50 percent of the cost.

Primary contact: Jean Beckwith, jean.beckwith@wisconsin.gov, (608) 261-2517; Wisconsin DOC, www.commerce.state.wi.us/BD, click Diesel Idling Reduction Grants, (608) 267-9214 n