Where do we even begin?  This has, without question, been one of the most horrific events to ever hit the New York/New Jersey area and we face another storm this week.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone who has suffered far greater than we have.  Many of us remain without power, and with damaged homes, but thankfully everyone is safe.   Businesses and transportation are starting to resume and the recovery and rebuilding will begin as soon as possible.

I personally want to take a moment to express my gratitude to Shuie who worked around the clock coordinating with our engineers before, during and after the storm to ensure CAB’s services stayed up and running through this mess.  How he actually did that is beyond what I can describe here, but we are all so thankful that he was able to keep that going, even while he had no power and four young boys at home!  We hope to have everything and everyone back in operation quickly.

As this was already in the works before the storm hit we are still going to provide a limited Bits and Pieces this month.

BRAKE SAFETY RESULTS – CVSA results for Brake Safety Week, the annual enforcement and education campaign focused on regulatory compliance of truck and bus brake system maintenance, found at least one in seven vehicles chosen for inspection had brake-related out-of-service (OOS) violations. These rates are comparable to recent years, but slightly higher for the second year in a row. Of the vehicles inspected September 9-15, the OOS rate for all brake-related violations was 15.3%. This is higher than in 2011, 2010 and 2009 (at 14.2%, 13.5%, and 15.1%, respectively), but lower than in 2008 and 2007 (18.4% and 17.8% respectively).  They reported:

21,255 vehicles were inspected. This is fewer than the record 30,872 vehicles in 2011.

1,993 or 9.4% of vehicles were placed OOS for brake adjustment (8.4% in 2011, 8.9% in 2010).

1,664 or 7.8% of vehicles were placed OOS for brake components (7.9% in 2011, 8.0% in 2010).

3,248 or 15.3% of vehicles were placed OOS for brakes overall (14.2% in 2011, 13.5% in 2010).

Over 2.6 million brakes have been inspected in the 15 years since the program’s inception.

HURRICANE REGULATION MODIFICATIONS – Various states and the DOT have waived many regulations as they look to get trucks into effected areas.  A listing of all waived provisions is being maintained by the DOT and can be viewed here.

INSPECTOR GENERAL INVESTIGATIONS – I learned this month that the DOT Inspector General maintains a data base of fugitives involved in interstate transportation crimes, mostly involving household goods fraud.  You can check that website to see if any of the names ring a bell.  Speaking of HHG movers, the FMCSA has announced stiff penalties and suspensions under a new enforcement policy to get at rogue carriers.

TRUCKING FINANCIAL ISSUES – Truck failures are up slightly from a 25 year low according to Avondale Partners.  115 companies operating 2,020 trucks failed between July and September.  In other financial news initial third quarter results for publically traded companies are not great.  There are mixed results as soft demand and increasing costs have impacted the bottom line for many carriers.  On the plus side, 3600 jobs were added, with a total of 1.354 million jobs, up 3.6 percent year over year.

The economic impact of Hurricane Sandy on the transportation industry is now being considered.  The initial estimated loss is $140 million per day, although expectations are that the losses will be recouped with the growing need for trucks to move supplies back into these areas.
Read More

Welcome to Fall.  The cooler air in most parts of the country seems to come with more work for everyone as we head into the last quarter of the year.  We welcome the newest member of our staff, Robert Haupt who will join us as an Account Executive.  Be nice to him when you get a chance to speak with him. We have told him only nice things about most of you! Tiana and I will be at the AAMGA meeting in Tennessee at the end of October and we look forward to getting a chance to catch up with some of you.

In the news this month we report:

VEHICLE REGISTRANTS – The enactment of the FMCSA requirement that all current “vehicle registrant only” operations either switch their designation to a motor carrier registration or deactivate the number has been slowed.  The FMCSA has advised that it will now phase in the requirement in order to give states time to address the changes and determine how to minimize the impact on state operations. The DOT number of vehicle registrants is set to expire in mid-October.

SHUT DOWNS – The FMCSA has ordered HP Distribution LLC to shut down stating that the Kansas based operation posed an imminent hazard to public safety,” Apparently the company’s drivers had extensive hours-of-service violations. The out-of-service order included information on repeated violations of hours-of-service laws, and also concluded that the carrier permitted its drivers to falsify logbooks to hide the violations.  In other orders, just two months after shutting down Three Angels Farms of Lebanon, TN the FMCSA has now shut down Terri’s Farm in TN.  It was ordered to cease operations after investigators found the company was “operating the same vehicles, and maintaining the same operational and safety management structure as former horse transporter, Three Angels Farms.”

ANTI-INDEMNITY STATUTES – Massachusetts has joined 34 other states in outlawing indemnity provisions in truck contracts. Provisions are no longer permitted in motor carrier contracts that provide for shippers to be indemnified for losses caused by their own negligence, making them void and unenforceable. Michigan is expected to follow shortly, with legislation close to signature.

RISE IN EQUIPMENT LEASING – We just learned that there is an Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation which provides a Monthly Confidence Index for the Equipment Finance Industry (MCI-EFI) . This month they report that the index is up to 53.0, up from the August index of 50.2, According to the foundation this reflects an increased optimism and willingness to expand businesses operations even when there are uncertainties over the path of the country. Thank goodness we get some good news.

BUREAU OF TRANSPORTATION REPORTS – The BTS has released a few reports which may be of interest.  They released the State Transportation Statistics 2011. It includes calculations showing which states had the highest and lowest number of highway traffic fatalities per 100,000 population in 2010. The ninth annual STS consists of 115 tables of state data on infrastructure, safety, freight transportation, passenger travel, registered vehicles and vehicle-miles traveled, economy and finance, and energy and environment, plus a U.S. Fast Facts page. The report can be viewed here.  If you want to know more about the trends for containerized shipments moving in the U.S. they also released a report on the trends in containerized freight.  The report can be viewed here.

DRIVER TURN OVER INCREASES – The ATA reports that driver turnover at large truckload carriers (those with revenues in excess of 30 million) reached 106% in the second quarter — the highest level since the final quarter of 2007. A 106% turnover rate means that drivers on average spend less than one year at a particular company. Not good news for an industry already suffering from tight capacity. Read More