News
Tight equipment supply at Edmonton auction
EDMONTON, AB - Ritchie Bros.' Edmonton auction house sold $553 million in equipment this year, dropping the hammer last week on the sixth and final sale of 2017. "Online and onsite bidders were eager to snatch up equipment for winter work, resulting in strong pricing both days of the auction last week," said Trent Vandenberghe, sales director. "We continue to see relatively tight equipment supply as many companies are hanging on to surplus equipment in anticipation of upcoming projects. This continues to result in higher demand at our auctions and an uptick in pricing across many equipment categories." More than 4,500 pieces of equipment and trucks were sold for $66 million at the most recent auction, which attracted more than 7,850 bidders. About 5,850 of the bidders were online, and secured 71% of the available equipment.
Pilot Flying J updates parking app
KNOXVILLE, TN - An updated smartphone application by Pilot Flying J will deliver real-time parking availability information to the truck stop's customers. The app called myPilot, developed in partnership with Sensys Networks, is being rolled out after 18 months of testing for accuracy and durability, the company says. Thirty Flying J locations across the I-5 corridor from San Diego to Seattle, and one location in Knoxville - where the company is headquartered - will feature the sensors that collect and distribute the parking information to commercial drivers.
OPP week-long blitz puts officers in trucks
TORONTO, ON - The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) are conducting a blitz this week on the province's highways, paying special attention to heavy-duty commercial vehicles, and they're doing it from a new angle. OPP Deputy Commissioner Brad Blair said the group is using the two OPP Class 8 tractors - normally reserved for hauling police vehicles around Ontario - during the week to give them a better view of distracted drivers in the Greater Toronto Area. "Starting with this initiative, we are enhancing our observational investigative abilities on the road. Officers will now be conducting patrols in transport trucks," said Blair. "By giving our officers an enhanced vantage point they will be better positioned to detect transport truck drivers that are distracted, or engaging in other dangerous behaviors behind the wheel." Officers across the province, along with aerial patrols, will also be participating in the blitz the OPP is calling Operation Safe Trucking. Blair said the Highway Safety Division of the OPP has responded to more than 6,200 collisions involving commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) on provincially patrolled roads since the beginning of 2017. Of those 72 were fatal, causing the deaths of 87 people. More than 1,000 others involved personal injury. More than 5,000 of the crashes involved property damage. Blair says collisions have real social and economic impacts even for those not involved in them directly, with everything from the loss of life, to medical treatment costs, loss of productivity, and the disruption in the movement of goods and people due to highway backups costing business and individuals. "The vast majority of [collisions] are attributed to poor driving behaviors, and they are completely preventable," said Blair.
Mixed emotions mark the sale of 88-year-old MacKinnon
GUELPH, ON - Size and human resources issues were behind the recent sale of MacKinnon Transport to Contrans Group, that took just 24 days from handshake to final close. Former president and CEO of MacKinnon Transport, Evan MacKinnon, says the company was doing well, but couldn't overcome some of the challenges associated with their size, forcing them to choose to grow, or sell the family business.
