News
Total aquires Maersk Oil & Gas for nearly $7.5B
PARIS, FRANCE - In a debt for stock swap, petroleum company Total has acquired Maersk Oil & Gas from A.P. Moller. The Scandinavian transportation and energy company will receive nearly $5 billion in Total stock, while Total takes on $2.5 billion in debt from Maersk Oil & Gas. Total has also offered a seat on its board to A.P. Moller's main shareholder.
Trout River and Valley Equipment announce partnership
COLEMAN, PEI - Trout River Industries and Valley Equipment Ltd. have partnered in a deal that will see Valley Equipment and its sister locations become full-service dealers for the live-bottom trailer manufacturer. Valley Equipment, along with Northeast Truck & Trailer Inc. announced they will be the dealer for Trout River Industries for Atlantic Canada.
Fleet Complete wants to bring blockchain to trucking
TORONTO, ON - Blockchain technology is coming to trucking, and Canadian telematics company Fleet Complete is helping to usher it in. The company joined the recently formed consortium Blockchain in Trucking Alliance (BiTA) as a service charter member. The group formed to promote the adoption, education, and development of a standard framework for blockchain in the trucking industry.
Data Driven: ELD’s can open door to big data
If knowledge is power, then Electronic Logging Devices (ELD) could be the most powerful device on the truck. Sure, the device at its most basic is responsible only for monitoring hours of service, but the potential of networking and integrating data is impossible to ignore. Why settle for simple electronic logging when it can serve as a total fleet management solution in a box? A friend of mine drives for a 10-truck floral distribution company and makes regular runs from Ontario's Niagara region to Chicago, Michigan, and western New Jersey. The picture he paints of his distribution manager would be amusing if it were not (most likely) true. The manager must be a fellow who grew up trucking in the '60s, and still listens to eight-track tapes of Red Sovine and Dave Dudley. The routes are badly planned, trucks are frequently diverted en route, the vehicles are always breaking down, and all communication with drivers is done over the -telephone. And he doesn't believe in ELDs. My friend says his boss will wait until the last possible moment to equip his fleet - and then only because he must.
Helpful Moves: Trucks come to the rescue in BC and beyond
British Columbia residents were still fleeing the path of wildfires in mid-July when Shane Reynolds took stock of the supplies on hand. "We're storing 5,000 cots, 5,000 blankets, and other material," said the operations manager at Landtran Logistics' facility in Prince George. "We'll be helping with local delivery of supplies when the Red Cross tells us what has to be done." Having grown up in B.C., then working around Fort McMurray, Alberta, Reynolds knows the devastation that wildfires can bring. With a job in trucking, he understands the challenge of moving relief supplies. He was even part of a team that set up distribution centers after Hurricane Katrina slammed into the U.S. in 2005. When disaster strikes, there are always goods to move and a need for trucks to move them.
VIPAR conference to discuss the future in Florida
CRYSTAL LAKE, ILL - This October parts distributors, suppliers, and industry associates will converge on Orlando, Florida to discuss the future of the independent heavy-duty aftermarket. VIPAR Heavy Duty announced its 2017 business conference, running from Oct. 15-20 in the sunshine state, with the theme "foundation for the future."
June delays at border caused by leaky A/C
OTTAWA, ON - An outage of the Canadian Automated Export Declaration (CAED) system in June, caused delays at the border for some trucks over a 30-hour period. The Statistics Canada outage that affected the CAED, was caused by a leaking air conditioner the CBC is reporting. According to the news outlet, repairs incorrectly done led to an escalating set of circumstances that triggered the second major outage of the year for the statistics bureau.
Prepare for eclipse distraction and congestion Monday
WASHINGTON, D.C. - For two minutes on Monday the world will go dark in 14 states, causing a huge distraction for drivers. Although there are about two solar eclipses a year visible from somewhere on Earth, August 21 marks the first time a total solar eclipse will be able to be viewed from the mainland United States in 38 years.
