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TDMST Weekly Round-Up 2024.12.21

TDMST Weekly Round-Up 2024.12.21 is the trucking commentary on news affecting professional truck drivers for the week ending December 21, 2024, written by Vicki Simons.

I welcome your comments, thoughts and feedback on the items of your choice below.

TDMST Weekly Round-Up

1. Regarding ATRI, holidays, LTL, and weather:

ATRI

The American Transportation Research Institute produced a 2024 Update to the Cost of Congestion to the Trucking Industry.

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According to the second article in this section:

“This level of delay is equivalent to more than 430,000 commercial truck drivers sitting idle for one work year and an average cost of $7,588 for every registered combination truck,” ATRI estimated.

ATRI also estimated that the trucking industry wasted over 6.4 billion gallons of diesel fuel in 2022 due to congestion, resulting in $32.1 billion in added fuel costs, which released an additional 65.4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.

If you are an owner-operator, it would be a good idea to see if there is a way for you to estimate your losses and see if you can write that off on your taxes.

Holidays

During the Christmas and New Year holiday season, some drivers may have their minds on family gatherings — joyful or dreaded — and not on driving.

So, in addition to your standard defensive driving habits, please be sure to anticipate the movements of other drivers so as to avoid potential crashes and problems.

LTL

I’m not sure what to expect from this, but if you are involved in LTL services, this might be something to watch.

Weather

Today is December 21, 2024, the first official day of winter in the northern hemisphere.

Some places have been getting “winter weather” for a while (as evidenced by the snow chain laws in effect).

Please adapt your driving based on weather conditions.

2. Regarding acquisition, bankruptcy, economy, fees, inflation, rates, tariffs, and tolls:

Acquisition

In a rough economy, one may see more and more acquisitions, bankruptcies, mergers, shut downs, and the like.

Bankruptcy

Economy

Fees

Inflation

Rates

Tariffs

Tolls

3. Regarding autonomous vehicles, fuel, oil, and TuSimple:

Autonomous vehicles

I totally object to the operation of driverless, autonomous, or self-driving commercial motor vehicles on the same roads as the motoring public — but I share articles on this topic with our readers to help us stay current on the topic.

Fuel

Oil

TuSimple

This is an autonomous vehicle company.

4. Regarding Amazon, border, brokers, business, containers, employment, and ports:

Amazon

Strike!

Border

Brokers

Business

Containers

Employment

Ports

5. Regarding clearinghouse, crashes, drugs, fatalities, fraud, theft, and violence:

Clearinghouse

Crashes

Please look through these articles to see if there is anything you can learn to help you prevent being involved in a similar crash.

Drugs

Never ever haul or take illegal drugs.

Fatalities

I express my deep sympathy — and offer my condolences — to the family of this truck driver who died in this crash.

Can you learn anything from the article below that would help prevent being involved in a fatal large truck crash?

Fraud

Never attempt to deceive, misrepresent something, intentionally pervert the truth, or pretend to be someone else for the purpose of trying to get something valuable.

Theft

Never take something that doesn’t belong to you unless you have permission from the owner.

With as much surveillance equipment in place in the 21st century, it’s only a matter of time before the thieves are apprehended.

Violence

It is never right to perpetrate violence upon someone in an unprovoked manner.

All perpetrators of violence must be dealt with in a just legal manner.

6. Regarding collapse, roads, routing, and towing:

Collapse

According to the first article in this section:

The cost to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge will be covered entirely by the federal government after the Baltimore Bridge Relief Act was included in a federal spending bill proposed to keep the government operational.

I want to know what happened to the lawsuit against the owners of the ship that was responsible for collapsing the Francis Scott Key bridge in the first place!

Oh, but wait! The article provides some detail (which I find dissatisfying):

In October, the U.S. Department of Justice settled a civil lawsuit it filed against Grace Ocean Private Limited and Synergy Marine Private Limited – the owner and operator of the vessel that crashed into and caused the collapse of the Key Bridge.

Under that settlement, more than $100 million will be paid to resolve the DOJ’s civil claim filed under the Rivers and Harbors Act, Oil Pollution Act and general maritime law.

However, these funds will not go toward the reconstruction of the bridge but are allocated for costs incurred by the federal government during cleanup efforts of the Fort McHenry Channel.

According to Google Maps, the Francis Scott Key Bridge was over the Patapsco River.

June 11, 2024, articles here and here say that “The Fort McHenry Federal Channel was… restored to its original operational dimensions of 700 feet wide and 50 feet deep for commercial maritime transit through the Port of Baltimore after the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26.”

I have been unable to determine where the Patapsco River and Fort McHenry Federal Channel respectively begin and end.

That being said — and if I’m reading this correctly — why weren’t any funds from the lawsuit settlement being put toward the bridge replacement?

Was the settlement not large enough or were the funds somehow misappropriated?

Hmm…

Roads

Routing

Never use a GPS unit meant for cars when you are driving a commercial motor vehicle.

Learn how to navigate yourself according to a proven truckers’ atlas.

Towing

Predatory towing is in direct contradiction to the second commandment to love our neighbors as we love ourselves — and laws need to be put in place to prevent it.

7. Regarding batteries, CARB, electric vehicles, and emissions/climate:

Batteries

CARB

Electric vehicles

Before you buy an all-electric Commercial Motor Vehicle, please do your due diligence by asking some questions and getting answers.

Emissions/climate

I have written before about the emissions/climate issue.

While I believe in being a good steward of the earth, I think that some people have set air quality standards that will be impossible to meet.

In trying to reach for these standards, I think that some things are starting to fall apart.

See the next-to-last article in this section for more info.

8. Regarding fire, inspections, parking, and recalls:

Fire

Why would a tire catch fire on a truck as it was being towed?

Something had to have triggered the fire, but what?

If you know, please submit your comment through the form below.

Thanks.

Inspections

If you keep yourself and your rig in perpetual readiness for an inspection, you’ll never be caught off-guard.

Parking

Recalls

If your tractor or trailer is under a recall, please have the work attended to as soon as possible.

9. Regarding ELDs, politics, politics – shutdown, and regulations:

ELDs

Others within the trucking industry were speaking out against the Electronic Logging Devices “mandate” long before December 4, 2017, but you may read my commentary on the mandate.

In TDMST Weekly Round-Up: 2017.12.09, I quoted Indiana’s Attorney General, Curtis Hill, regarding the self-certification provision regarding ELDs.

I also asked, “In what other industry besides trucking has the government ever mandated the purchase of a ‘self-certification’ product?”

So, I’m truly distressed for every trucker who invested in a “self-certified” ELD that used to be on the approved list, only to later have that certification revoked!

If you are such a trucker, I want to hear from you about how expensive this was for you.

Please comment through the form below.

Politics

The Constitution of the United States — Article I, Section 8, Clause 7 — says:

“[The Congress shall have Power] To establish Post Offices and post Roads;”

Even though it seems to be very inefficient at times, I am concerned about the potential privatization of the United States Postal Service.

Politics – shutdown

This situation seems all too familiar.

Why does the government get down to the end of the year — when timing is critical — to try to push through spending bills?

And why are some of these spending bills so loaded with “pork”?

Regulations

10. Regarding legal, technology, and testing:

Legal

If you are an owner-operator, please keep your eye on the “beneficial ownership information” issue.

Technology

Testing

11. Regarding supply chain and truckers:

Supply chain

Truckers

12. Regarding awards and recognition:

Awards

Congratulations to every professional truck driver who has been nominated for, advanced toward, or has won/received an award for his/her achievement in the trucking industry!

Recognition

I recognize everyone who has helped his/her/their fellow human beings in a time of need, whether the trucker was the helper or the one being helped.

Thanks!

I wish you — and all professional truck drivers — safe travels and lots of money saving opportunities on the road.






Return from TDMST Weekly Round-Up: 2024.12.21 to our TDMST Weekly Round-Up Trucking Commentary or our Truck Drivers Money Saving Tips home page.


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