News
Drop It And Drive provides new resources for CMV drivers
OTTAWA, ON – The Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) wants truck drivers to drop those distractions and just drive. The group is launching two new programs this year through their Drop It And Drive (DIAD) educational arm devoted to making sure drivers really understand what distracted driving means.
NAFTA deal still in question
TORONTO, ON – The future of NAFTA remains uncertain as negotiators prepare for their latest round of meetings, this time in Montreal. Months into discussions, nobody even knows if U.S. President Donald Trump will decide to outright scrap the deal that governs every load of cross-border freight. With about 10 million trucks crossing between Canada and the U.S. each year, there is plenty of business at stake. A recent survey by Export Development Canada even found that 26% of exporters would shift their business to the U.S. if the agreement was revoked outright. Trade between the U.S. and Canada tripled between 1986 and 2017, Canadian International Freight Forwarders Association executive director Ruth Snowden observed, during a January 17 seminar hosted by the Fernandes Hearn law firm in Toronto. “If [NAFTA] goes, it could be very significant.”
Year closes with record-breaking freight volumes
TORONTO, ON – Canadian freight volumes closed out 2017 in record-breaking fashion reports TransCore Link Logistics. The company says Canadian and cross-border freight volumes saw unprecedented growth in the last quarter of the year. Volumes were up by 51% year-over-year, and 9% compared to the previous quarter.
New transportation Minister in Ontario
TORONTO, ON - Ontario is getting a new Minister of Transportation. In a cabinet shuffle happening today, Premier Kathleen Wynne is moving Minister Steven Del Duca from the transportation portfolio to Economic Development, and has tapped Minister Kathryn McGarry to replace him.
Cyberjacked! — Trucks vulnerable to cyber threats
It's Tuesday afternoon, a little after 2 pm. You're the operations manager of a major truckload carrier. The morning rush is over, all the drivers and customers are happy, and now you're gearing up for the onslaught of late-afternoon messages from customers wondering where their trucks are and drivers alerting you that they can't load 'til tomorrow. Typical day. Then a driver calls on his mobile phone. "My engine has just shut down and I'm sitting deader than a doornail in the center lane of Highway 401 between Dufferin and Keele Street," he says.
Context: Understanding electric trucks
Electric trucks seem to be all the rage today, just as natural gas was to be the industry's salvation just a few years back. There's not much excitement in natural gas today, though it remains a viable alternative fuel. Electric trucks, on the other hand, are just beginning their climb to prominence. Interest in electric trucks peaked in November with the world's first look at Tesla's Electric Semi. Whether Tesla can carry the torch for battery-powered heavy trucks remains to be seen, but Elon Musk isn't only player in the market. Transpower's electric Class 8 tractor uses a conventional drivetrain, but with a 400-horsepower electric motor. It has a range of up to 160 kilometers at full load. I drove a fully electric plug-in Transpower USA Class 8 tractor back in 2015. That truck had been in field tests at the port of Long Beach, California, for two years prior to that. The company made headlines recently announcing a partnership with Meritor that will make its technology commercially available in the spring of this year.
