Simply can't get enough of this #brexitmonster #brexitbeest. Goed gedaan #brexitloket. That lorry driver is all of us. #brexitmuppet #brexit pic.twitter.com/iWZJHV5gL3
— Katrina (@greatnorthernsk) February 15, 2019
As the potential for England to separate from the European Union without a deal that would grease the logisitical skids by, for one, setting appropriate customs procedures for Britain’s relationship with its biggest trading partner (the European continent), truckers operating into and out of the Port of Rotterdam are being greeted by the blue-monster “muppet” you see pictured above, on 25,000 leaflets reportedly distributed to truckers directly by port operators.
“Staff at Europe’s busiest seaport have stepped up a campaign to ensure lorry drivers, companies and exporters are ready for the impact of Britain’s departure from the EU,” the French AFP news agency reported, “especially if there is no divorce agreement.”
The Dutch government adopted the blue monster earlier this year as a whimsical symbol representing the potential for economic, logistical and other disturbances that could result from the “Brexit” of the U.K. from the European Union. The Port of Rotterdam has a variety of mechanisms in place meant to ease delays for trucks that may occur as a result, including installation of temporary parking facilities, new registration procedures for truckers serving the port and more.
Makes me wonder, though: Perhaps we could have used something similar around the time of the ELD mandate going into effect … Can’t you see it now? The ELD monster camped out like a protester in the last otherwise available parking spot at the truck stop? Or sitting on a not-prepped-and-ready loading dock with his hands up, palms out? Other ideas?…
‘The drones are here, the drones are here!…’
Look up, drivers, in Christiansburg, Va., and, according to this Politico report, you may well see a FedEx package being carried by a small remote-operated flying machine of Wing Aviation. The project, conducted by Wing in collaboration with Virginia Tech’s Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership, FedEx Express, Walgreens and local retailer Sugar Magnolia is “the first to receive approval from the FAA for commercial drone package delivery in the United States,” wrote reporter Sam Mintz. The trial is part of “the DOT’s [Unmanned Aircraft Systems] Integration Pilot Program.”
How long before, as was once suggested by former Overdrive contributing blogger and then-owner-operator Phil Madsen, DOT actually puts drone bears in the air? No telling. In any case, here’s a blast back to the past on these subjects (and an Overdrive jigsaw puzzle from the 1970s):
