This is the TDMST Weekly Round-Up of news affecting professional truck drivers, written by Vicki Simons for the week ending November 6, 2021.
We welcome your comments, thoughts and feedback on the items of your choice below.
1. Regarding COVID-19, ports, and supply chain:
COVID-19
The issues of forced vaxxinations has the trucking industry rightfully tied up in knots, especially:
- since some of the articles below indicate that truckers are not exempt;
- while others say that some truckers are exempt.
Again, I strongly encourage you not to get injected with an experimental substance that is responsible for (as of this writing) a minimum of:
- 856,917 COVID Vaccine Adverse Event Reports; and
- 18,078 COVID Vaccine Reported Deaths.
As you may know, I ordinarily oppose trucker protests, but there comes a time when every person has to determine what issue is worth defending.
Getting a jab can lead to vaxxine passports and total control of your life!
For further reading on this subject, please see:
Meanwhile, here are articles about this topic from the trucking industry’s perspective:
- ATA claims ‘major victory’ in vaccine exemption for solo drivers
- ATA confirms vaccine mandate exemption for solo truck drivers
- Biden’s COVID vaccine and testing mandate takes effect Jan. 4
- Biden’s Vaccine Mandate Unveiled: Truckers Must Get Jab… Test Weekly… Or Lose Job
- Bill introduced to exempt truckers from COVID vaccination requirement
- CTA raises alarm about vaccine mandate, Metrolinx cancels buses
- Draft of vaccination rule released; trucking didn’t get an exemption
- ‘Enormous victory:’ Solo truckers ARE exempt from vaccine mandate, ATA declares
- Lawsuits aplenty: 11 states file against vaccine mandate
- OSHA issues COVID-19 vaccine mandate for private employers
- Pandemic effects unkind to auto haulers
- Truckers Exempt From Vaccine Mandate, Labor Secretary Says
- Truckers fail to escape coming U.S. vaccine mandate
- Truckers NOT exempt from Biden vaccine mandate rule going into effect in January, group calls move ‘disastrous’
- Trucking’s Top Lobbyist Says Biden’s Vax Mandate Exempts Solo Truckers, Claims ‘Major Victory’
- Uncertainty surrounds truckers in vaccine mandate
- Unions, Norfolk Southern grapple over vaccine mandate, conductor assignments
- US Supreme Court hearing could exempt trucking industry from California’s AB5
- Vaccine Mandate: Trucking Unsuccessful in Getting Drivers Exempted
Ports
I personally believe that the problem with the ports in California is an engineered one.
Here are articles about the ports from the trucking industry’s perspective:
- 58,900 long-dwelling containers now on penalty clock in LA, Long Beach
- Biden To Fine Cargo Ships, Consumers For Supply Chain Bottlenecks
- Bringing the ports inland
- California Cargo Backlog — Are Trucking Regulations Really to Blame?
- Driver bonuses, new container fees not lifting port confidence
- Fees aim to discourage shippers using LA port as makeshift warehouse
- Lawmaker proposes emergency port trucker bill for 18-to-20-year-old drivers
- Locate a Port of Entry | U.S. Customs and Border Protection
- New Utah Inland Port Seen as ‘Relief Valve’ for West Coast Facilities
- Ship Queues Worsen Port Delays From Singapore to Greece
- Shipping crisis isn’t due to lack of drivers
- SoCal port commissions endorse carrier fines for container backlogs
- TCA, Blume Global to present webinar on port congestion
- The other side of the port story
- The ports of L.A. and Long Beach: ‘Move your freight or else’
- Trucker likens port situation to ‘Black Friday at Walmart, but only ONE cashier’
- Truckers tired of taking blame for congestion crisis at California ports
- Trucking trade group to Gov. Newsom: Enforce law on port fees
- What can really save the ports?
Supply chain
The supply chain is being impacted by COVID-19 jabs, the port situation, and much more.
- Biden calls for international action on supply chain crisis
- Building a simpler automotive supply chain
- Conditions have improved, still remarkably difficult heading into peak season
- Freight Stakeholders Seek Supply Chain Action
- Manufacturing Growth in US Eases as Supply Chain Issues Linger
- No end in sight: Supply chain disruptions roil nation
- Q&A: Supply chain challenges creating a ‘complicated mess’
- Supply Chain Bottleneck — Addressing the Issue Head On
- Supply Chain Delays Disrupt California Agriculture Exports
- Supply chain groups offer five supply chain solutions to Biden Administration
- Surface Transportation Board agrees to hear shipper’s service complaint
- Top Trucking Groups Urge Biden For Action On These ‘5 Immediate Supply Chain Solutions’
- Truckers have their say about supply chain issues
- U.S. DOT, California to Fund Supply Chain Infrastructure Improvements
- Vise likely to tighten around UPS shippers in 2022
- Walmart to Hire Drivers, Supply Chain Workers in N.Y. Capital Region
- Weakest links: Bundle of problems creates major snags in the global supply chain
- White House starts publishing supply chain dashboard
2. Regarding rates, capacity, and chips:
Rates
- Cowen survey: Carriers saw almost 5% increase in rates during Q3
- Pitney Bowes announces 5.9% e-commerce rate increase, hiring plans
- Spot rates post largest gain in eight weeks as market outpaces seasonal expectations
- Trucking contract rates finally gain traction in October
Capacity
Chips
3. Regarding electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles, and fuel:
Electric vehicles
According to an article last updated on March 18, 2021, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA):
Most electricity is generated with steam turbines using fossil fuels, nuclear, biomass, geothermal, and solar thermal energy. Other major electricity generation technologies include gas turbines, hydro turbines, wind turbines, and solar photovoltaics.
A graphic on the site shows the sources of power for electricity generation as of 2020.
If you are considering getting an electric truck, please do your due diligence ahead of time.
Meanwhile, here are some of the most recent articles related to electric vehicles.
- Automotive manufacturers remain laser-focused on electrification
- Einride bringing electric, autonomous vehicles to U.S.
- Kansas to expand electric vehicle charging station infrastructure
- Sensata Adds EV Charging Products
- Volvo’s Voorhoeve Sees Growing Market for Electric Trucks, Driver-Assist Tech
Autonomous vehicles
I totally oppose autonomous, driverless, or self-driving vehicles — especially commercial motor vehicles sharing public roads with the motoring public — but share these articles to help you stay current on the topic.
One article listed below shows a video with a “remote driver” that immediately made me think of all of the in-truck stuff that is missing when one works remotely, including the “feel” of the truck and the road, various smells, and perhaps sounds.
There’s a lot more to this issue than saving wages on truckers!
- $10 Billion Rivian IPO Would Be Seventh-Largest on Record
- Breaking: Rivian targets $53B IPO, could rival value of Ford
- DHL Supply Chain to Deploy Embark Autonomous Fleet in 2024
- Disruption junction: Startup aims to replace locomotives with autonomous railcars
- Einride brings autonomous freight system to US
- Einride Brings Autonomous, Electric Vehicles to U.S.
- Human-guided autonomous trucking could prove invaluable in driver pay reform
- Spartan Radar quickly raises additional $15M for safe autonomous mobility
- Study: Autonomous trucking transfer hubs promise huge cost savings
- Tech company hires ‘WORLD’S FIRST REMOTE TRUCK DRIVER’ amid U.S. operations launch
- Trucking Who’s Who joins autonomous startup board
- TuSimple tops 160,000 autonomous miles with UPS, expands robot-driven freight network
Fuel
- BP Says Oil Demand Is Back Above 100 Million Barrels a Day
- Diesel Nudges Up 1.4¢ to $3.727 a Gallon
- Diesel prices hit seven-year high with latest increase
- FA-4 Oil Products May Deliver Improved MPG in Heavy-Duty Trucks
- Major Truck Stop Chains Reporting Diesel Outages, Capping Fuel Purchases
- On-Highway Diesel Prices Jump Again as Biden Administration Casts Blame on OPEC
- OPEC+ Rejects Biden’s Plea for Bigger Oil-Supply Increase
- Pennsylvania adding clean energy infrastructure
- ProMiles reports drop in diesel prices
- Refiners Are Less Pressed to Shut Down Plants as Fuel Demand Rebounds
- Rolling a seven: DOE/EIA diesel price now up that many weeks
- Should Environmentalists Be Pushing RNG To Power Heavy-Duty Trucks?
- TA reports strong earnings, but diesel sales suggest a demand plateau
- US Says Oil, Gas Sales Damage Climate — But Won’t Stop Them
4. Regarding accidents, drugs, smuggling, and violence:
Accidents
Please learn from these articles what led up to the accidents — and work to the best of your ability to prevent getting in the same kind of set-up yourself.
Prevention is the name of the game.
- Iowa DOT shares photo that’s bad ‘brake’ for ticketed driver
- Log dislodged from semi truck spears occupied school bus
- Major gas tanker explosion triggered by deer vs. car crash
- Turner Turnpike shut down for trailer fire and fireworks explosions
- Two dead after school bus crashed into semi truck on Pennsylvania interstate
- VIDEO: Semi stack goes flying after low bridge strike
Drugs
Never, ever haul illegal drugs, no matter how much you’ve been promised.
Bear in mind that if you enter a port into another country, your truck is most likely going to be searched!
- Border Agents Seize Nearly $1 MILLION Load of Cocaine From Big Rig Arriving From Mexico
- CBP seizes more than $960K in cocaine from semi
- Driver convicted for hauling $2.2M in meth, fentanyl
- Nearly $1 million worth of cocaine seized from tractor trailer at Texas/Mexico border
- Trucker found guilty of hauling $2.2 million of meth and fentanyl
Smuggling
Never, ever agree to haul human beings like cattle or cargo, no matter how much of a financial incentive you are offered.
- Dozens of migrants found locked in refrigerated trailer
- Truck Driver Arrested After 75 ‘Shivering’ Illegal Migrants Discovered in Refrigerated Trailer
Violence
While I certainly understand self-defense, please seek to avoid situations where violence is an option.
- Murders at 100 Year High: Concealed Carry May Get Trucker 10 Years in Prison
- Road rage incident ends with trucker’s thrown pee-bottle
- Trucker Could Face Charges After Allegedly Splattering Motorist With ‘Urine Bomb’
5. Regarding FLSA, pay, shortage, employment, and retention:
FLSA
This is a very important article!
Pay
By listing these articles, I am not making an endorsement.
- Cargo Transporters Announces Driver Pay Increases
- Cargo Transporters raises pay for third time in 2021
Shortage
The so-called “trucker shortage” is going to be greatly exacerbated if truckers are required to get a COVID-19 jab and many truckers leave the trucking industry!
- ATA Indicates Country Needs 80,000 Truck Drivers to Fill Workforce
- CTA promoting industry image in face of truck driver shortage
- FMCSA committee to discuss trucking workforce challenges in upcoming meeting
- Lack of drivers hamstringing supply chain recovery
- New coalition hopes to create demand drivers for sustainable solutions
- Republican Senators call for under-21 interstate truckers for ‘driver shortage’ relief
- Senators spooked by ‘truck driver shortage’ call on FMCSA to allow under 21 truckers
Employment
- Cardinal hiring non-CDL box truck drivers in Massachusetts and Washington
- Desperate Massachusetts towns are offering up to $200 an hour for plow drivers
- Employment in trucking is up, but will it last?
- Hiring Rebounded in October, 531,000 Jobs Added
- Survey Finds 65% of Truck Drivers Not Looking for New Job
- Update: Truck transportation job numbers rising toward 2019 figures
Retention
- Driver Recruitment, Retention Agencies Release Truck Driver Survey Results
- FMCSA’s Joshi talks driver retention, detention time with OOIDA Board
- MCSAC to tackle driver retention again in December
- Tips for boosting driver retention
6. Regarding benefits, business, and economy:
Benefits
Now is a time for “open enrollment” for health insurance for many truckers.
Please allow us to share a snippet from our background.
After many years of paying ever-increasing health insurance premiums that we rarely (or never) used, we investigated a non-insurance alternative called Christian Heathcare Ministries (CHM).
It is a membership-based, nonprofit ministry. Christians voluntarily share to pay each other’s medical bills. It’s budget-friendly, Biblical, compassionate, and legal.
We switched to CHM in 2017 and will never look back.
For full transparency, if you sign up through the link on this page, we will receive a free month worth of service.
Meanwhile, here is one article on this topic from a trucking publication.
Business
Economy
These articles are about some aspect of the economy, from the trucking industry’s perspective.
- Burgeoning back orders: Fleets reluctant to book new trucks in October
- Class 8 Orders Remain Tight Due to OEM Production Issues
- Exclusive: Daimler drops Western Star 5700XE model, some current orders canceled
- Expeditors’ revenue jumps 84% alongside 97% transportation cost leap
- Freight markets find stability during final week of October
- Monthly Truck Tonnage Continued Climb in September
- November starts slow, but elevated levels keep pricing power with carriers
- Peak season analysis and strategy
- Sinking Auto Steel Demand Reveals Cracks in Robust US Market
- Touching trucking: Consumer spending can mean lots of loads … or hardly any
- Truck orders being canceled, rebooked amid production challenges: FTR
- Truck orders soften but supply chain pressure remains
7. Regarding maintenance, repairs, parking, and idling:
Maintenance
- 12 Steps: Winterizing Your Semi-Truck – Foley RIG360 Truck Centers
- The Aftertreatment Systems in the Heavy-Duty Industry: Beyond Regens and Resets
- TMC, consortium join forces to better predict vehicle health
Repairs
- Commercial Truck Repair Guide: Diagnostics
- Service Database Lists Shop Rates to Help with Repair Decisions
Parking
- Iowa rest area to close for winter
- Rest Area on Interstate 35 in Iowa Set to Close Due to ‘Dangerous Situation’
Idling
Are only clean-idle trucks allowed at these ports?
- Fifty Years in Idle Time Seen for Trucks at Two Major US Ports
- Truckers have sat for 50 years worth of collective idling at US ports in 2021, data shows
8. Regarding technology, emissions, parts, equipment, and tires:
Technology
- 3G on the way out. What’s this mean for my ELD?
- Check Call: Data is everywhere
- Check Call: New format Who dis?
- Cyber Official Warns ‘American Way of Life’ at Risk From Hackers
- Cybercriminals selling access to shipping, logistics firm networks, report warns
- Direct-to-consumer brands are losing their cookies, and maybe their sales
- Drilling Deep: Starting a truckload carrier with AI as its backbone
- ERoad Introduces Stand-Alone Dash Camera
- FMCSA warns carriers on ELD data-services shutdown
- FMCSA warns that upcoming 3G sunsetting could render some ELDs obsolete
- FMCSA: Sunset of 3G Networks Could Impact ELD Tech Specifications
- Ontario to require ELDs for provincially regulated carriers
- RECALL: ‘Software Issue’ Causing Some Volvo VNLs to ‘Shift Into Neutral Unexpectedly’
- Retailers want shipment visibility, Narvar wants to give it to them
- WATCH: Body cam shows intoxicated driver in the moments before his arrest
- With 3G sunsetting just months away, ELD compliance at stake
Emissions
- Port of Seattle accelerates zero emission goal by a decade
- Push for zero-emission trucks in the works
- Shipping Firms Seek Technology to Cut Emissions
- SuperTruck 3 projects to focus on zero-emission trucks
Parts
Equipment
Tires
9. Regarding roads, safety, and fatalities:
Roads
- Colorado DOT reminds drivers about I-70 sun glare safety closures
- Daily Infographic: 5 Interstate stretches that pose greatest risk
- FreightWaves Classics: I-26 serves three southeastern states
- I-17 closures planned this weekend in Phoenix
- I-17 improvements scheduled north of Phoenix
- I-70 faces safety closures over sun glare
Safety
- Follow good safety practices to avoid injury while loading or unloading a trailer
- Georgia cops challenge you to spot the violation
- Georgia DPS highlights trucking safety in weekly social media post
- Michigan DOT urges safety this winter
- National Transportation Safety Board chief says focus on road safety must shift to entire system
- Safety her utmost priority, FMCSA Administrator nominee Meera Joshi tells Senate panel
- Social Media Chides Flatbed Trucker For ‘Absolutely Insane’ Load Securement Violation
Fatalities
Surely, these are not all due to truckers!
- Estimated Roadway Fatalities Up 18.4% for First Half of 2021
- NHTSA estimates first quarter fatalities up over 2020
- NHTSA: Highway fatalities hit 15-year high in first half of 2021
- US cites ‘crisis’ as road deaths rise 18% in first-half 2021
10. Regarding fleets, productivity, training, and testing:
Fleets
Productivity
Training
- Aspiring Truckers Have Time To Avoid New Entry-Level Driver Training Regulations
- DIY: Hear how Hirschbach is successfully training the drivers it needs
- Entry-level driver training rule changes game for behind-the-wheel safety
- Kenworth Launches EV Training, Certification for Service Techs
Testing
11. Regarding politics, tolls, and chain law:
Politics
- Congress passes another short-term extension of FAST ACT
- House Transportation Panel OKs FEMA Recovery Bills
- National Consumer Complaint Database needs overhaul, OOIDA says
- NDDOT ‘Road train’ pilot study seeking applications
Tolls
- Broening Highway truck tolls in Maryland, explained
- New Toll Hikes on Maine Turnpike Now in Effect, Price Increases Blamed on Pandemic
Chain law
12. Regarding awards and freebies:
Congratulations to all nominees and winners of awards — and for those who have been otherwise recognized!
Awards
- Landstar driver honored for helping stranded motorist & her kids
- Pilot Flying J awards $10K to 2021 ‘Road Warrior’
- TCA Company Driver of the Year: Betty Aragon drew up the perfect plan for capping off 44 years on the road
- TCA Highway Angel of the Year Royford Burris describes saving a teenage girl from a horrific wreck
- TCA Owner-Operator of the Year: Bryan Smith employs perseverance, knowledge to succeed in trucking
Freebies
- Pilot Flying J offering free meals to military veterans
- Truck stops offer meals, thanks on Veterans Day
My husband Mike and 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: 2021.11.06 to our TDMST Weekly Round-Up Trucking Commentary or our Truck Drivers Money Saving Tips home page.
