• Transportation

Hillbilly Elegy provides life lessons for those seeking a career in transportation

by Dan Goodwill

Last week, while on a brief vacation, I had the privilege of reading the book, Hillbilly Elegy, by J.D. Vance. The book tells the story of how the author, a…

Target: Fuel Economy

by Rolf Lockwood

Amidst all the talk of progressively wilder technologies, there's one fundamental subject that comes first: fuel economy and how to maximize it.

Anything is possible

by Rolf Lockwood

Where are we headed? Well, with enormous potential waiting to burst, we're in the midst of the second industrial revolution. It's all about the Internet of Things, meaning a network of physical things embedded with electronics and sensors and internet connectivity -- and crucially, the ability to exchange data. Put a savvy truck in the middle of that network and start thinking about what it could link up with.

Stronger Together: Sometimes it doesn’t make sense to go it alone

by John G Smith

Those who work in the trucking industry tend to be an independent lot. Maybe it’s a function of a driver’s job. Those who crave crowds would likely struggle in a…

• Transportation

Mentoring key to changing of the guard

by Lou Smyrlis

Over the next couple of decades our industry will face a deeply transformative changing of the guard. As baby boomers and then Gen Xers – the people who shaped the…

• Transportation

Where are all the trucking poets?

by Harry Rudolfs

Ran across this poem that puts a spotlight on our profession. I’ve often wondered why are there are so few good trucking poems. Anybody out there got anything to offer?…

• Transportation

Driving mentoring programs: Will they work at your company?

by Ray Haight

I have attended many trucking association events for many years now; the one I attend on a regular basis without fail is the Truckload Carriers Association’s annual convention, I…

• Transportation

The unending confusion around the new, upcoming carbon tax

by Roger McKnight

As a kid, I had a fascination and fear of jugglers I watched on TV variety shows. It wasn’t the ones who threw up into the air multiple chainsaws, machetes,…

Picture This: Grab your cameras Oct. 12 and show us your day

by John G Smith

Many years ago I remember asking owner-operator Dale Holman what kept him behind the wheel. Trucking is no easy job, after all. The hours are long. The tasks are complex and often physically demanding. Even the most comfortable sleeper will never be quite as inviting as a family home, especially when trips drag on for days or weeks at a time.

Trucker, Protect Thyself: Formal contracts and paperwork are an owner-operator’s best defence

by John G Smith

There is a certain pride that every owner-operator should enjoy. Mastering skills at the wheel is just the beginning of their professional journey. Our trucking industry's hybrid of driver and entrepreneur is expected to master trucks and business ledgers alike. Sadly, far too many fail because of a lack of focus on the latter point.

• Transportation

Why is OPEC cutting crude supply?

by Roger McKnight

As I understand it, “trial balloon” is a term used for a thought or action before being respectively verbalized to a nervous audience, or enacted upon the now even more…

• Transportation

Trouble for Diesel on the horizon?

by Roger McKnight

Gasoline continues to outperform diesel in the ‘On-road Demand Sweepstakes,’ for light trucks. Indeed, the sales of these Plus SUV’s, and their funny cousins in the attic, the…

• Transportation

Small carriers: How well do you know your operation?

by Lou Smyrlis

Know what one of the biggest differences is between large carriers and small carriers? It’s not equipment; I’ve seen small carriers invest in equipment that’s just as good as that…

The urban future?

by Rolf Lockwood

As I write this in a hotel room in Hannover, Germany -- where 400 other trucking journalists are also lodged -- I'm anticipating the opening of the 2016 IAA Commercial Vehicles Show tomorrow morning. Ultimately there will be some 2500 motor noters like me descending on the Hannover exhibition grounds and then rushing about this way and that like pen-wielding ants, all of them looking for a story that nobody else has discovered.

The United Kingdom is still focused on Brexit, as well as US Presidential race

by Roger McKnight

I spent a portion of my vacation this summer in the UK. For two weeks I scoured the British media in search of opinions or updates on any oil…