Highways, truck stops closed following Hurricane Laura landfall

Updated Aug 28, 2020

Trucking news and briefs for Thursday, Aug. 27, 2020:

Highways, truck stops closed in Louisiana, Texas after Hurricane Laura landfall
Hurricane Laura made landfall around 1 a.m. Central time Thursday as a Category 4 storm along the Gulf Coast near the Texas-Louisiana border. As a result, highways and truck stops in the region are closed.

The Louisiana DOTD has closed I-10 in both directions between the Texas/Louisiana state line and west of the Atchafalaya Basin.The Louisiana DOTD has closed I-10 in both directions between the Texas/Louisiana state line and west of the Atchafalaya Basin.

As of Thursday afternoon, I-10 is closed from the Louisiana/Texas state line to west of the Atchafalaya Basin. The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development is directing traffic to detour north to I-20 using U.S. 61, I-55 and I-59.

I-10 remains open in Texas, and the Texas DOT is asking travelers to take U.S. 96 north to I-20.

Additionally, evacuation orders and power outages in affected areas prompted a number of major truck stops to temporarily close locations.

Love’s Travel Stops has five stores that are at least partially closed as of Thursday afternoon, in the following cities:

  • Boyce, Louisiana – Temporarily closed due to power outage.
  • Iowa/Lake Charles, Louisiana – Temporarily closed.
  • Beaumont, Texas – Temporarily closed for Truck Care and restaurants. The store and fueling remain open.
  • Vinton, Louisiana – Temporarily closed.
  • Duson, Louisiana – The Truck Care, Wendy’s and Chester’s are temporarily closed, but the store remains open.

TravelCenters of America has four stores currently affected by the hurricane, including:

  • TA in Lafayette, Louisiana, at I-10, Exit 101, is closed due to a power outage.
  • TA in Baytown, Texas, at I-10, Exit 789 – fuel is currently down and Truck Service shop is offering limited service.
  • Petro in Egan, Louisiana, at I-10, Exit 76, is closed due to a Hurricane Emergency Evacuation Order.
  • Petro in Beaumont, Texas, at I-10, Exit 848, is closed due to a Hurricane Emergency Evacuation Order.

Finally, Pilot has closed four locations, including two in Orange, Texas; one in Lake Charles, Louisiana; and one in Bunkie, Louisiana.

Landstar owner-op to win new Cascadia next month
Landstar System will announce the winner of its 2020 Landstar Deliver to Win Truck Giveaway on Friday, Sept. 18, to close out National Truck Driver Appreciation Week. The annual giveaway, for which all of the company’s nearly 10,000 owner-operators are automatically entered, will take place via Zoom.

The winner will receive a new pearl blue Freightliner Cascadia that’s powered by a 14.8-liter, 455-hp Detroit DD15 with a Detroit DT12 automated transmission.

Every eligible owner-operator leased to Landstar automatically earns one entry for every 10 loads safely delivered during the contest period. Throughout the year, drivers have multiple opportunities to earn additional entries to increase their chances at winning the truck, including monthly contests held via DeliverToWin.com.

After the contest period ends, entries are gathered into a pool of names for the finalists drawing, with all eligible truck giveaway finalists selected by a computerized random number generator.

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Digital brokerage Zuum Transportation offers one-stop-shop logistics service
Emerging freight brokerage platform Zuum Transportation announced recently it has secured $12.58 million in seed funding to launch what it calls a “logistics super platform” that includes a digital freight marketplace, driver app, carrier TMS, shipper TMS and broker software.

In addition to a digital freight marketplace, carriers can also manage documents, billing and payments, provide load visibility and more using Zuum’s system.

According to Zuum’s website, the platform handles thousands of loads per month through nearly 500 partnered shippers with an average payment time to carriers of two to three days.

“We reduce transportation cost and improve service levels for shippers,” said Matt Tabatabai, COO of Zuum. “Our software minimizes load failures and increases customer satisfaction for brokers. We reduce empty miles and maximize profitability for carriers.”

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