Bill Weatherstone:
THE MONTREAL DOCKS (PIERS) 1964

While at my time as one of Izzie’s Gypsies I used to haul bandit loads from Toronto to the docks in Montreal. It was a whole different ballgame than in today’s day and age.

First, in the early 1960’s Izzie had a scrap yard in the old industrial section in Toronto’s east side. There he would buy and sell scrap metals of all kinds. He had a couple of B-61 Mack’s and 36’ flat deck trailers with 36” racks; one of which was my honeymoon chariot.

His specialty was to buy up old used car batteries and scrap them for their lead plates. He had a set of rollers that when the battery was set on and started to roll down into the plant, they would pass trough a box oven (home made) and the gas flames above the battery would melt the top of the casing, and when it reached the end of the conveyer rollers a couple men would take the battery and turn it upside down and dump the guts from the casing (Lead plates & posts) into a steel bin; discarding the Bakelite casing into a pile for the dump.

Now Izzie was a pretty shrewd character and worshiped the all mighty dollar as much as any man in business, perhaps even more so.

He had a few regular customers that he would gypsy loads down to Montreal for them, and then reload scrap batteries for the return load which was the only legal part of the trip.

One of those customers was a chemical company down in the Niagara region that manufactured Aluminum Chloride, and shipped in 45 gallon drums.

I would pick up a load during the day and deliver to the docks in Montréal before 6am the next morning.

We received $10 dollars to hire a dock worker to unload by hand. The tarp was pulled back and the side racks were removed. The lift truck would set a couple stacks of seaway pallets up against the trailer so the loader could hand roll each drum onto them. If I unloaded myself I could keep the fee.

In my case I had hired the dock foreman to unload for me while I grabbed a bit of sleep, while other drivers would keep ½ the fee for themselves and short change the un-loaders. By doing so, 2 or 3 trucks would have to wait for unloading for as much as ½ a day. In my case I was always unloaded and on my way for a pick-up order within an hour.

On one particular trip, the outside temperature was pushing 90 and the inside of the steel storage shed was over 100. The drums started to swell and white smoke began leaking out the top of the drum. The crew immediately took off expecting an explosion. I was approached to see what should be done to prevent a disaster.

I borrowed a screwdriver from the foreman, wrapped a towel around my face and went into the shed. There were 72 drums, and one at a time I backed off the closed vent on top of the drum, releasing the pressure in a cloud of Aluminum chloride fumes. I did all 72 drums before the crew would return to work.

All went pretty good for most of the summer stocking up a boatload of product.

I was early for one load and the foreman came to me and told me to get off the docks right away and wait a couple hours as they were expecting an uprising this day. He did not bother warning the other 2 drivers when they came in (retaliation for cutting the unloading rate)

I went about 6 blocks away and parked in front of a Tavern. (In Quebec, they open at 7am) I sat for an hour & ½ then called to Toronto, getting an OK to drop the load at another storage facility.

The other trucks did not get out till late that night, but got out without damage. The problem was contained at the other end of the pier. After that episode, the other drivers had to pay the full $10 fee, or do it themselves, taking almost all day, and keep looking over their shoulder for possible retaliation.

At another Pier # was a different type of incident.

One of Izzie’s regular winter customers was a hide dealer, who got fresh hides from the abattoirs in Toronto. They dried, scraped, folded and salted, and then tied and tagged each in a bundle.

The trailer was dropped at the shed and loaded by hand. In the early evening we would go and pick up the loaded trailer and be on the docks by 6 am the following morning.

This particular shed was filled with thousands of hides (a boatload) for shipment to Russia.

These were the last days before the introduction of the container system.

My first load was quite an eye opening experience….. While waiting to get into the shed, a dock worker stopped beside a pallet of figs in wooded boxes. He took his hook and smashed open a case, removed a package, ate one fig and threw the rest away, leaving the damaged stock on the ground.

That was one good reason that containers were introduced. Most companies wanted the product rather than an insurance claim.

The lead hand came to each driver and offered $35 a hide (up to 10) if they left them on the nose of the trailer covered over with the tarp. Leaving the docks as empty and delivering them to a drop point where the cash was paid.

The receiver would then remove the coloured tag and replace it with his own and deliver it back to the ship as his.

NOTE; at that time 3 hides were worth close to a weeks pay for a driver.

Just near the end of the ship loading, the Mounties raided the docks and shut down that little enterprise. Fortunately, I was 1500 miles west of Montreal at the time.

This is just a couple more memorable incidents from ½ a century ago when trucking was real trucking without the dreaded computers."

The next couple of stories were told to me by JD McCallum of Hudson Quebec. These days he hauls cryogenic tankers regionally around southern Quebec, but he cut his teeth running A-Trains for AllTrans as a team driver between Montreal and Vancouver.

JD McCallum
“I used to work as a yard man for Motrux in Vancouver (still going strong on Anancis Island). Part of my job was taking the empty trains over to a mill and get them loaded with particle board or plywood. The plant was only two and a half miles away so I'd usually get ahead of them and have to wait for the lifts as they were being made at the factory.

“The glue on those boards would still be hot and on a hot day they'd burn right through my workboots as I was walking across them unrolling the tarps. The funny thing was that the tarps would be folded up wet as the drivers would have run into rain coming through the mountains. And they'd swell up like hot air balloons when the heat from the hot glue hit them. The steam would cause them to billow up. It was like trying to throw a strap over a hot air balloon.

“I was among the first truck drivers to run the Coquihalla Highway—twice! This was back in 1986 and the highway hadn't opened yet. One night on the radio we heard that the highway was open and that a bunch of trucks were going to run it, somewhere around Kamloops.

“We were the only ones on the road that night. But it was weird. There was no signage and the lines hadn't been painted yet. It was almost impossible to tell where the highway ended and the shoulder started. Lucky we didn't drive right off the side of it.

“But we really were among the first trucks to take it on opening day. This was in Kamloops a few weeks later. Somehow we got our truck into the parade of dignitaries. The premier was there, and I remember brass bands and convertable cars full of girls waving. I still have the sticker on my tool box. “I drove the Coquihalla on Opening Day.”

The last story comes from Michael MacClellan, one of the top shunters for National Shunt Service Limited of Cobourg. This is an interesting company that supplies drivers and shunt trucks to companies across Canada, as well as hauling other types of freight. The following happened to Mike on August 20, 2009.

Mike MacClellan:
“I was shunting at Whirlpool in Milton, Ont., and from the yard you have a good view of the Niagara Escarpment and the 401 highway where it cuts through it.

“It was the strangest day, with thunder and lightning all around, grey and black clouds around. I ran over to this ledge and shook my fist at the sky. 'C'mon you mother, is that all you've got?'

“My very next move I was pulling a trailer around the back and the sky went really weird and violent, turning black and grey and brown and shaking the truck. To my surprise my trailer brakes locked up and out the back door I could see the glad hands dancing around in mid-air.

“A few minutes later a couple of Buckley drivers who had been sitting down by the gate came over. One of them asked, 'Did you see those twisters forming up over the top of your truck?' I told him I didn't see nothing but my trailer dynamited and the wind pulled my air lines clean off.

“As it turns out that was the start of the same tornado that hit Woodbridge and Vaughan, Ontario later that afternoon, causing millions of dollars of damage. Since that time I've been more respectful and never called out mother nature again.”

I actually like vampire movies and the new one coming out with Johnny Depp looks like a hoot. On the morning in question, I had just finished watching an installment of Being Human. It’s a British, dark comedy about a vampire, werewolf and ghost that share a home and various adventures. The writing is great and they mix the odd chuckle with some pretty realistic gore, to make it both interesting and a near believable premise.

So, I’m fresh off the vampire story and enter the elevator on the 23^rd floor. I pass on a casual greeting to the young man standing in the corner, texting, head down, as is the case with just about anybody under 30 riding the elevators. I’ve gotten in the habit of striking up a conversation when I’m in this situation and mentioned to the chap dressed in black, long and lean, dark hair and fair complexion, “You could have just walked out of the vampire movie I was watching”. My better half would have kicked me in the shins for that comment... but she wasn’t there.

Without skipping a beat, the young man said “thank you” and I could see a bit of a smile as he continued texting. We arrived at the ground floor and he exited but not before looking me straight in the eyes to say goodbye. His eyes where all black, no colour whatsoever. I have to tell you, it threw me for a loop for a minute or two, as I continued my elevator ride to the parking garage.

I understand he had some kind of contact lenses but it did make me think. What if, along with everything else we deal with on a daily basis, we had to be on the ready to fend off vampire and werewolf attacks? It would certainly put our current challenges in perspective.

Lee’s quote for the day

“Ever feel like you’re in the Bill Murray movie, Groundhog Day? That’s probably a good sign to change things up but do me a favour and don’t do the vampire thing...once is enough.” J

Lee Palmer is the President and Creative Director at Palmer Marketing, a company that specializes in creative marketing and advertising solutions for the transportation industry.

Every company had logo standards and PMT sheets and then of course you would have to match those PMS standards to vinyl swatches for decaling vehicles, thread swatches for embroidery and so on. What a nightmare. The truth is there were so many variables in the resulting colours that it almost made the whole process redundant. Letterhead stock printed different than glossy brochure stock, process colours printed differently than spot colours. The whole deal caused many a sleepless night for marketing professionals.

Although this system continues as the standard today, most work is produced in 4 colour process. The varying percentage combinations of black, cyan, magenta and yellow can reproduce millions of colour combinations. The pre press cost of reproducing materials is a fraction of what it was when I started in the business in the late eighties. The actual cost of printing is similar, while the cost of stock is at least twice as high.

Most of the wrinkles have been ironed out over the years but a couple of things still remain. Along with the various PMS numbers there are a few primary colours that do not require mixing. They gave these colours a name instead of a number, like pantone red, warm red, pantone yellow and reflex blue. Reflex blue is still the worst colour on the planet for reproduction. It never dries without a varnish, it likes to turn purple without warning, so if you’re still using that one...do yourself a favour and heave-ho (or simply revise your reflex blue to PMS 286, no one will notice and it reproduces more consistently).

The moral of the story...when you’re picking or revisiting your corporate colours ask your agency these 5 basic questions before deciding:

1.       How does it reproduce in 4 colour process?

2.       How does it compare on coated and uncoated papers?

3.       Are there thread colours and vinyl colours that match closely to it?

4.       What are the variations of logo colours and proportions you can use across various applications?

5.       What fonts should be used in conjunction with your new corporate standards?

Lee’s quote for the day

“The beauty about rules and standards is that you need to create them knowing they will be broken. If you have a champion to enforce them, they will just be broken to a lesser degree.” J

Lee Palmer is the President and Creative Director at Palmer Marketing, a company that specializes in creative marketing and advertising solutions for the transportation industry.

In this blog, I would like share a few thoughts on this hot topic.

The problem is realThere are some shippers who believe that this issue is manufactured by the trucking industry to help sell freight rate increases. Let me assure my shipper friends that this is not correct. Trucking companies all over North America are having difficulty attracting “qualified drivers.” By this term we mean skilled professional drivers or people interested in becoming professionals.

This shortage is being created by an aging workforce, lifestyle issues (e.g. having to spend time away from home), a lack of interest from women, the challenges of the work, the level and structure of the compensation and the fact that driving truck is not viewed as a profession. The fact is that while there are millions of Americans and Canadians out of work, driving truck is not considered an option for most people.

There is no “quick fix”This problem is going to be with us for a while. It is going to begin having a significant impact on truckers that don’t craft a well thought out driver recruitment strategy. They are going to begin losing business to those companies that have drivers.

It is also going to begin having a more significant impact on shippers. Some companies are going to have problems moving their freight. They are going to have trouble finding carriers with capacity. They are going to have to switch from truckload to LTL or begin paying more. Get used to it and begin expanding your carrier base to minimize the impact of the problem.

What will it take to solve the problem?Take responsibility for solving the problem
The Task Force prides itself on the fact that truckers are taking ownership of the problem. According to the report, "industry leaders need to make a strong statement demonstrating to current and future drivers that we are serious about coming to grips with the issues that underpin the driver shortage." The CTA report sends a loud message that the leading trucking organization in Canada has a sincere concern and is seeking solutions to the problem.

Create a Recruiting StrategyThis responsibility falls on governments and trucking companies to solve. Governments need to develop immigration policies to encourage skilled drivers or those individuals seeking a driving career to come to North America. The CTHRC and other governmental bodies are working on this. Trucking companies also need to craft strategies to secure the type and number of drivers best suited to the needs of their organization. This varies from company to company.

Address the Lifestyle IssueTruckers need to look at making the profession more attractive. This includes looking at how to create more turns and relays so drivers can be home at night and have better quality of life. Increasing the use of intermodal service for long haul movements also has to be part of the solution. Dispatcher training is critical to ensure drivers are treated with dignity and respect.

Make Truck Driving a recognized ProfessionThis will take collaboration between government, carriers and shippers. There needs to be a universally recognized truck driver certification program. The program will need to address safe driving skills, interpersonal skills, making effective use of computers and communications, diet, exercise, personal and lifestyle management. This will create a pool of professionally trained safe drivers. Trucking companies need to invest in these programs and shippers will need to seek out companies that employ professionally trained and certified drivers.

Start Building Capacity nowAlmost every trucker is singing the same song these days. We will replace our fleet but not make any additions for growth until there is a demonstrated upswing in the economy. This is a direct result of the impact of the Great Recession that caused many truckers to park equipment.

The CTA report concedes there is merit – at least in the short-term -- in the argument that a driver shortage is good for the industry in that it creates tightness in capacity which in turn places upward pressure on freight rates. Obviously the “industry” referenced in the quote is the trucking industry and not shippers or the economy.

The market is going to take care of this problem in the years ahead. As the economy improves, there will be increased demand for trucking services. Shippers will gravitate to carriers that invest in their fleet and drivers. Carriers that are trying to harvest their current fleet and not make the necessary investments will lose customers and be left behind. This is what will drive carriers to move from their current yield optimization strategies. More carriers need to begin planning their growth strategy now for both equipment and drivers.

Make CSA a North American Program While some argue that the CSA program in the United States (that applies to drivers who cross the U.S. border as well) is a cause of the driver shortage, the fact is that this program, that is in the process of being refined, elevates the quality of the profession and weeds out substandard trucking companies that do not put a proper priority on safety. Long term, this is a good program for the trucking industry. The CSA program needs to become a North American program and needs to be refined over time to maximize its effectiveness.

Create Best Practice Driver Compensation ProgramsDuring my discussions with truckers this past week, I heard a number of proposals on how to improve driver compensation. These range from paying drivers an hourly wage rather than rate per mile to tying incentive pay to the achievement of various metrics (e.g. stops per hour, safety record, etc.). Improving compensation is clearly part of the solution.

Shipper support for Carriers employing Professional DriversTruckers must focus on making their operations as productive as possible. This includes using the most advanced TMS systems linked to the most cost effective tractor and trailer tracking. In other words, truckers have a responsibility to run the most efficient operations possible. Shippers don’t have to pay for the inefficiencies of their carriers.

People who are potential truck drivers have career options. They can go into construction or a host of other jobs. Driver compensation will have to keep pace with remuneration in other professions.

Freight rate increases should go to those carriers that are the most efficient and can demonstrate how these increases are tied to investments in making their operation even more efficient.

Shippers must be part of the solution to the driver shortage problem. There is a cost associated with recruiting, training and compensating professional drivers. Shippers will likely continue to have the choice between using lower quality carriers that have inefficient systems and don’t train and pay their drivers well to companies that use carriers that provide a high quality service, utilize the best technology and the most skilled drivers. The latter will likely come at a premium.

SummaryCarriers need to plan now to ensure they have the fleet capacity, drivers and technology to run a productive and efficient operation. Otherwise, they risk being left behind. Shippers need to understand that the driver shortage problem is real and that they are part of the solution. Part of the solution is selecting carriers that invest in technology, equipment and professional drivers.

Ottawa’s proposed regulations (see our coverage in your upcoming issues of Truck News, Truck West and Fleet Executive) are designed to reduce emissions from the whole range of on-road heavy-duty vehicles and engines for the 2014 model year and beyond. As a result of implementing the proposed standards, Ottawa anticipates GHG emissions from 2018 heavy-duty vehicles will be reduced by up to 23% from those sold in 2010.

I’m just back from helping chair a two-conference on heavy duty vehicle emissions and fuel efficiency put on by the University of Manitoba Transport Institute. Based on all that I heard, here’s what I like and don’t like about Ottawa’s plans:

I do like that the proposed regulations are designed to be in alignment with those of the US. They are not as progressive as those being put in place in Europe but it’s hard to argue for a “made in Canada” approach considering how closely integrated our heavy duty truck manufacturing is with that of the US. As Stéphane Couroux, a spokesman for Environment Canada pointed out, if we were to go ahead of the US, that would mean truck manufacturers would have to certify their vehicles separately for Canada and the US. And that gets expensive.

I do like that, according to government estimates, by the year 2020, GHG emissions from Canada's heavy-duty vehicles will be reduced by 3 million tonnes per year by this legislation. This is equivalent to removing 650,000 personal vehicles from the road.

And I also like that the regulations can be met by using existing technologies for fuel efficiency, aerodynamics and idle-reduction. I think that’s a smart way to introduce new legislation and ensure we are getting the maximum benefit of existing technologies.

What I don’t like is that Canada (and the US) have missed an opportunity to encourage even great fuel efficiency. Prime example is that both the Canadian and US regulations don’t include the trailer, which contributes a great deal to loss of fuel efficiency. The US has indicated it will do so in the next round of legislation and I hope Canada does too.

Ottawa can also do more to simplify and speed up penetration of more fuel technologies. The Canadian Trucking Alliance’s recommendations of a labeling system identifying “GHG compliant tractors” and an accelerated capital cost allowance to encourage their purchase are such no-brainers I don’t understand why Ottawa isn’t jumping to put them in place.

Claude Robert also raised a very valid point that while we are rightly concerned about harmonizing legislation with the US, differences in provincial legislation on items such as wide base single tires and LCVs are frustrating fleets wanting to use environmentally sustainable practices on a national level. We’ve got to do something about those and we need to do it in real time not government time.

Reducing GHGs is accomplished through improving fuel efficiency. With diesel prices spiking, it’s safe to say that carriers’ fuel efficiency goals are now in perfect alignment with society’s desire to reduce GHG emissions.
Ottawa needs to be careful not to squander such opportunity.

President Barack Obama firmly defended his record on oil drilling recently and ordered the government to fast-track an Oklahoma pipeline while accusing Congress of playing politics with a larger Canada-to-Gulf Coast project. Alberta, home to the world’s third largest pool of oil reserves, is working to increase capacity to transport crude amid opposition from environmental groups as companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and Suncor invest about C$20 billion annually in the oil sands.

In addition to increasing supply, trucking companies are instituting measures to ensure these energy supplies are utilized as efficiently as possible. Three such strategies were highlighted in a recent paper prepared by Derek Singleton, ERP Analyst at Software Advice. Here are some excerpts from Derek’s paper and from other industry sources.

Careful planning and the use of predictive technologies–such as distribution business software–can minimize the impact fuel costs have on the bottom line. Companies that manage a fleet can cope with rising fuel costs using three general strategies:

1. Streamline fuel procurement;
2. Improve operations and fleet management; and,
3. Better plan delivery routes and shipment loads.

Streamline Fuel Procurement

Managing fuel costs isn’t just about taking steps to control the costs. According to David Zahn, VP of Marketing at FuelQuest, significant savings can be realized simply by building predictability into fuel procurement budgets. Gas prices typically swing five cents per gallon, up or down, on any given day. When purchasing thousands of gallons of gas, buying at the wrong time can be devastating to a company’s bottom line.

Technology solutions like FuelQuest give companies that store gas a way to forecast demand, monitor on-hand fuel, and procure at the best market price. Automating the fuel procurement process, says Zahn, typically saves companies four to six cents per gallon.

Long-haul carriers don’t have the luxury of being able to fill up on-site. Companies that transport long-haul freight should consider fuel optimization programs that indicate where to refuel and how many gallons to fill at each location to minimize total fuel costs. Maps with turn-by-turn directions – even those designed for truckers – are available free from a number of web sites, including Truckinginfo.com (powered by ProMiles Software Development Corporation). These services do a good job of routing and costing. On the other hand, full-featured, trucking-specific routing and mapping software used by many large carriers can do much more than tell you which highway to take, when to turn left and right and calculate a trip cost.

Many packages are integrated with a carrier's management and dispatching software to not only give drivers detailed driving instructions, but also provide fleets with useful management data and automate many record-keeping tasks. When tied into a fleet's business management software, some routing packages can become powerful sales and management tools. These packages can calculate miles for billings and settlements, optimize fuel purchases, locate truck stops and fueling sites along the route, record state mileage data for fuel tax reporting, identify truck restrictions or construction along a route and compute lane rate information.

The most recent demand is for fuel optimization programs. ProMiles now includes a fuel optimization module built into its flagship software and offers a stand-alone fuel program. Over the last year, fuel purchase optimization has become the most requested feature since it saves money for fleets and owner-operators.

With the ProMiles fuel-optimization module, users enter their fuel network information, mpg, tank capacity, a beginning fuel level and an ending fuel level. The program then looks at the truck's fuel level at any point along the route and suggests where to fuel and how much to buy. This allows the user to optimize retail price or price minus IFTA taxes collected at the pump.

Improve Operations and Fleet Management

Any cost savings from purchasing fuel at low prices can be nullified by transporting with an inefficient fleet. Most efficiency improvements–such as streamlined trailer aerodynamics or retrofitting the engine for renewable fuel use–require significant capital investments. However, there are several controllable factors that can boost fuel efficiency for a fraction of the cost.

One of the biggest boons to fuel efficiency is employing highly-skilled drivers, which can improve fuel efficiency by five to 20 percent. Roy Craigen, President of Transcom Fleet Services, suggests testing drivers beyond licensing standards to ensure they’re versed in industry-standard driving techniques, such as accelerating smoothly and minimizing idling. Beyond that, routinely monitoring things like tire air pressure and speed go a long way toward conserving fuel. Here are a few quick stats Craigen shared with Derek in a recent conversation that show the impact driver actions can have:

• A three percent variance in air pressure impacts fuel efficiency by one percent.
• For every 10 MPH over 55 MPH, you consume 10 percent more fuel.
• A 100 truck fleet operator can add over $700,000 to its bottom line by improving fuel efficiency just a half a mile per gallon.

Better Plan Delivery Routes and Shipment Loads

A final strategy for reducing fuel costs is to plan more intelligent routes and truckload shipments. Both of these goals can be accomplished with transportation management system (TMS) software. TMS software helps fleets suppress fuel costs by planning routes in a way that minimizes miles travelled and the number of stops. The resulting efficiency gains can help fleets make more deliveries within comparable operating hours. When used in conjunction with a well-trained dispatcher, this can be a great way to minimize things like time spent in fuel-wasting commuter lanes.

Creating intelligent routes is complemented by load planning features that ensure trucks leave with a fully-stocked load to reduce return trips. This limits fuel surcharges incurred by making less frequent shipments. It also helps make difficult decisions, such as whether to drop off the heaviest load first–even if it’s farther away–to make the rest of the drops with a lighter, more efficient vehicle.

As Derek stated, companies that put these strategies to use will be prepared to deal with the high fuel prices of today and tomorrow. By reducing the impact of rising fuel prices, companies with fleet operations can maintain competitiveness without sacrificing their bottom line.

Yet as the study’s findings indicate, attracting a sufficient amount of new blood to meet the expected demand for supply chain employees over the next five years will be a distinct challenge.

Based on the current sector total of 767,200 employees, an annual employee demand growth rate of 8.6% will result in approximately 65,979 new and vacant positions to be filled. In addition, respondents to the employer survey indicate current unmet employment demand of 3.5%, resulting in the need to fill approximately 26,852 current vacant positions within the sector. As the report points out, “this is an enormous challenge.”

Particularly discouraging is that many of the issues identified back in 2005 as keeping supply chain operations from attracting the amount and quality of new entrants remain unresolved, including:

• Low awareness and understanding of the sector (resulting in recruitment issues);
• Lack of the required skills among new recruits (particularly leadership skills);
• Small and diminishing talent pool (due to poaching and retirement);

The CSCSC got the ball rolling in terms of awareness by clearly defining the sector through development of national occupation classification (NOC) codes and by developing their corresponding job descriptions. It has also addressed awareness issues through outreach activities, such as the CSCSC led Toronto District School Board project; career presentations to conferences of professional associations in career and guidance positions; national career fairs and support of local career events; and creating a Recruitment & Retention Toolkit with speakers notes and collateral including videos for stakeholders to use in presenting to high schools
.
This is necessary work and more of it needs to be done. I agree with the report’s recommendation that a national strategy is required and additional resources should be sought to continue work on sector promotion and development of additional human resource initiatives. Targeting high school students, immigrants, women, mature workers who are retraining for second careers, and Aboriginal peoples in Canada also makes sense.

How does one reconcile the need for investment in such a strategy, however, with Ottawa’s drastic cuts to sector councils?

In a tight labour market it will not be sufficient to simply attract new supply chain professionals; they will need to be retained. As the report points out, this doesn’t mean just competitive salaries. Both the report and our own research show supply chain professionals are not primarily motivated by money, but rather by the opportunities the sector provides. So to hang on to these professionals, employers will need to concentrate on providing greater clarity in terms of career paths and provide, more flexible working arrangements, and accommodating membership and participation in industry associations. The research found that employees who are members of supply chain associations have better career outcomes and lower turnover.

What the report found about education and training is also a concern. The learning institutions believed the students entering the work force were well trained. However, employers believed that new entrants lack the decision making and leadership skills needed to succeed in the field. Sounds like there is not enough communication going on between employers and the education and training system, as the report points out. The CSCSC provides information about the training requirements of various occupations within the supply chain so that potential entrants are aware of the skills employers require. This needs to be continually updated if we are going to be serious about getting the right job candidates.

But again, this and the other recommendations included in the report require a commitment by government, industry and the educational institutions to a human resource strategy that is national in scope, visionary in design, consistent in application, and, just as importantly, properly funded.

Let’s continue the conversation on supply chain issues. Join me at two special events coming this
spring: the Supply Chain Canada conference, May 8-9, International Centre, Toronto (go to www.supplychaincanada.com to register), and the Carbon Economy Summit, June 6, Metro Toronto Convention Centre (go to www.carboneconomysummit.ca to register).

Let me introduce you to Mike Dingler, an owner/operator with International Truckload Services (ITS) in Belleville, Ont. Mike works the nightshift, running drop-and-hook domestic loads between ITS in Belleville and customers in the Greater Toronto Area, Hamilton and Brantford to the west and Cornwall and Brockville in the east. What’s extraordinary about Mike, is that he does all this despite being confined to a wheelchair.

I recently spent an evening with Mike, as we ran a load of paper from ITS’s Belleville yard up to the space it leases from Maritime-Ontario in Brantford and then back to Belleville with an assortment of general freight. I’ll be telling his story in the June issues of Truck News and Truck West. But when I have a good story to tell, I have a really hard time keeping it to myself – even just temporarily - so I’ll share a few details with those of you who frequent this blog.

Mike is 44 years old and has always been mechanically inclined, spending his younger days tearing down engines, transmissions and other components and then carefully reassembling them. He lived on a farm in Durham Region and was comfortable operating heavy trucks and farm equipment from a young age. At the age of 20, he fell asleep while driving a pick-up truck with a load of wood and careened 151 feet off a dead-end road before a large tree abruptly stopped the truck in its tracks.

“I never broke one bone in my body but it tore the main aorta from my heart. I don’t remember anything,” he told me. Mike was airlifted to Sunnybrook Hospital and once stabilized, sent to the renowned Lyndhurst Centre for rehab. They were to teach him how to use his wheelchair, but after several weeks of being put off by doctors, Mike called a buddy to come pick him up. He left the rehab centre and learned how to get around in the wheelchair on his own.

Since then, Mike’s been getting by on a $1,000 monthly disability cheque and doing odd jobs to make ends meet. He decided he wanted to earn a better living, get off disability and improve his lifestyle. So, he did what most of us would consider unthinkable and decided to pursue a career in trucking.

Of course it wasn’t easy. There are few, if any, paraplegic truck drivers out there, so off-the-shelf driving aids weren’t readily available. Mike found a 2004 Freightliner with a Meritor automatic transmission on Kijiji and traded his pick-up truck for it in a straight-up swap. He then built his own hydraulic lift system to get him in and out of the truck and installed controls allowing him to work the throttle and brake by hand. Mike then had to get the entire system approved by the MTO.

Next up, he needed a job. Mike went to work with Musket Transportation but when the contract he was serving went away, he moved on to ITS. Chris McMillan, field operations manager with ITS, told me Mike quickly proved his abilities during the road test.

“Belleville has some really interesting corners and after the first hard right-hander at the bridge downtown, I knew that Mike would be a great addition to the ITS family,” Chris told me. Still, the company wasn’t planning to treat Mike any differently than any other company driver or owner/operator. Nor did Mike want special treatment.

Mike’s been working at ITS for a couple months now and by all accounts is doing a great job. He does his own pre-trip inspections and even more remarkably, most of his own maintenance, including oil changes. He has a forklift in his shop to which he’s attached a platform to the forks so he can raise himself up to whatever height is necessary to perform maintenance and repairs. He has also welded together two creepers, so he can get underneath the truck without his feet dragging along the ground. It’s a good thing too, as repairs have been plentiful. In his first weeks with the truck, the starter, clutch and air compressor all needed replacing. Welcome to life as an owner/operator, Mike.

Mike can couple and uncouple the trailers, but many yards park the trailers so closely together that he can’t get to the landing gear in his wheelchair. He has hired his cousin to come along with him to handle coupling and uncoupling. His assistant also earns his keep by running into any offices that aren’t wheelchair-accessible to pick up the required paperwork.

What’s unique about Mike is not only the fact he’s a paraplegic truck driver, but also the fact he goes about his business with a consistently positive attitude. He’s thrilled to be on the road and realizes he’s lucky to be alive. He hopes to one day get daytime work with ITS, but he’ll bide his time and earn it just like everyone else has to. He really doesn’t feel like anyone owes him a thing. His outlook is refreshing and invigorating.

This blog was intended to be a short glimpse into Mike’s life – a teaser, really – for the feature coming out in the June issues of Truck News and Truck West. I failed to keep it short, but believe me, I could go on much longer and I will do so in the print edition. This is a story you don’t want to miss.

Meanwhile, I want to hear your stories. Do you know any professional drivers with disabilities? How have they overcome the challenges that are inherent to the job?

I would like to bend everyone's ear for a minute, and discuss the show for a few lines.
1) To me, this has to be ONE OF THE BEST NETWORKING EVENTS FOR OUR INDUSTRY IN CANADA.
2) The industry has spawned so many new ideas, educational tools, drivers aides, it is another industrywithin the industry.
3) Very interesting discussing things with our colleagues, at the show. So much to take in, it really did need 3 days, to fully comprehend what is out there, what is available, what can assist, and what we can learn, TO HELP US ALL OPERATE SAFER AND BETTER.
4) Hats off to all the ladies in the industry. It has or was MALE Dominated for so long. Especially now, with the WOMEN IN TRUCKING MOVEMENT.
5) Likewise HATS OFF to JAYNE GUNN who while employed FULL TIME at Caravan as a recruiter has found time, and had the wisdom, and fortitude to push for the Driver Recruiting Assoociation, and having it recognized and its affiliation with the OTA.
6) I personally, met many, many people at the show, and although most agree that controversy is good, and does spark conversation, and will get people talking, and is needed in the industry as a whole, This BLOG and everyone that takes the time to give their (TIME AND POINT OF VIEW) in it are making a difference.
7) Although this BLOG as defined on the web by very definiton is (a Web site containing the writer's or group of writers' own experiences, observations, opinions, etc., and often having images and links to other Web sites.) We are never sure, as the BLOG WRITERS, if in fact people read it, and only a very few respond or reply or comment on what has been written. I was thrilled, that so many people came up to me and thanked me and found my ideas, and my BLOG as interesting as they do. It was also a great EGO BOOST, to have most of them say KEEP IT UP (the blog)
On a sad note, Just like at the ACADEMY AWARDS each and every year, we have lost many leaders in our industry, and our thoughts are with each and every family member, touched by such great leaders, trail blazers, and PIONEERS,

Those of you planning on attending see you at FERGUS and see you at ROAD TODAY (BOTH TRUCK SHOWS COMING UP SOON), of course all the GOLF TOURNAMENTS as well.

This is a great location as Cloverdale is a rodeo capitol in it's own right, with if I remember correctly the second biggest rodeo in Canada next to the Calgary Stampede. And as we all know trucks and rodeos are a natural match.

Seriously, this will be a terrific home as so many people will get to experience this collection and Surrey is itself a trucking hub. Teamsters are trying to get out of funding a museum as I guess it was costing them money to keep the trucks in quasi-storage. And Norm is relieved as he can start his retirement for real now.

I'd write more about this museum, but I just got in from Montreal and I"m tired. And I've already written and salivated over these trucks in print and blog previously Plus I'm going to Truck World in a few hours. So in brief , the museum was born in 1996 when Garnett Zimmerman of Teamsters local 31 charged Norm with finding a truck to celebrate the local's 60th birthday. He did and it was a 1935 Chevy Maple Leaf. The collection grew from there and was lovingly cared for by retired teamsters and truck restoration enthusiast to this day.

After the deal went sour with Merritt, the Surrey Historical Society drew a bead on the collection and began the process of acquiring the vintage trucks and archives.

The exhibit will be temporarily located in the Cloverdale Fairgrounds, and the irony is that many of these vehicles lived in Cloverdale previously when they were part of the former BC Transportation Museum.

Lynch thinks the Surrey Historical Society, which is behind the acquisition will eventually build the museum a permanent home. For five years anyway, it will still be called the Teamsters Freight Transportation Museum which is fitting as the Teamsters predate trucking in that province.

The historical society was hoping to have the trucks on display (many of them are in running condition) by May 15, but Norm doubts it can be done that quickly. I heard that a local towing company had agreed to transport the trucks at no cost, but I can't find the name anywhere, would mention this donor if I could. See you at Truck World, stop by the Truck News booth!

Norm Lynch, president and curator of the Teamsters Freight Transportation Museum and Archives pictured below

We’ve grown and are at the point that we need to add more structure and streamline our processes. We provide a great service but I believe we can reach higher. We’ve hired a champion whose expertise is project management and we are starting down the road once more, to elevate the performance of our company.

What I’ve learned from past experience will help us on this journey. For anyone else looking at this, here are 5 common sense tips as a reboot for you... and myself:

1.       Don’t introduce too much change at once. Make one new behavior a habit before implementing the next

2.       Don’t create process to address the exceptions. It will bog you down unnecessarily. Focus on the 80% that drives your business on a daily basis and address the things that fall outside the norm individually

3.       Appoint the right person to manage change. Give that person the authority they need to make things happen

4.       Communicate. Communicate. Communicate. Try to have quick stand up meetings that address details as they come up. Get to the bottom line, make decisions and move on. Addressing the issue when it’s fresh is the way to go. Avoid long, merry go round meetings that accomplish nothing

5.       Find a way to pull out people’s strengths. If you have a great thinker that is lousy at follow up, get someone else on the follow up and let your thinker, think. Too often we focus on what’s wrong with someone, not what’s right

Lee’s quote for the day

“We can always improve and turn disappointment into opportunity. A healthy first step is consciously flipping that internal switch from ‘I Can’t’ to ‘I Can, I Will and I Must’. More importantly, down the road when the circuit breaks (and it will), flip it on again and again and again...” J

Lee Palmer is the President and Creative Director at Palmer Marketing, a company that specializes in creative marketing and advertising solutions for the transportation industry.

Business is business and all businesses run on the same principle gross revenue comes in you deduct all the related expenses and what is left is either profit or it’s a problem you need to tackle ASAP. As I am sure you know there are plenty of desperate people right now in this industry these are scary times and they aren’t going anywhere soon. So if you’re an Owner Operator and it is time for you to get tough here is what I suggest you to do and do fast.

Start by making a list of every business expense you have and I mean everything related to the operation of the truck you are operating, everything! This is where the person who has been keeping good records has a huge advantage over the driver who does their filing in a Wal-Mart bag. Now that you have everything listed organize the list with your largest expense at the top of the page in order to your smallest expense at the bottom of the page. Have a pad of paper handy that you can make a list of things to do and investigate as you dissect each expense item.

Now its reality time, take a hard look at each item on your list starting at the top of the page I am going to guess that fuel and wages are going to be number one and two. Fuel is a variable cost because the more you drive the more you spend on this one and it has two or three controllable components assuming your engine and running gear are set up properly. What speed are you running the truck at and I know we are all sick of this subject but every mile over 60 miles an hour is 1/10th of a gallon in fuel economy gone out the stack and this crunch time remember. Is your idle time cut back to a minimum and I know it is tough this time of year but you need to look at every possible area of savings possible. Have you measured the ROI (Return on Investment) on an APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) put this item on your things to do list. After you have rationalized these two areas ask yourself this question, if you are buying your fuel right from your carrier do you get a reasonable discount off the pump price on the road or in the yard? Some of the fuel optimization programs that are available for a cheap subscription cost might be helpful, maybe you should do some research here, also put this on your “Things to Do” list.

Your truck payment is a fixed cost because it does not change no matter how many miles you drive in a month; think of a fixed cost as something that is usually paid on a calendar basis. Not too much you can do here usually but you should be aware of what your finance cost is over the life of the payment schedule, separate the principle from the interest. Once you do this you can see how important it is to shop for your finance contract the same way you do a truck, every percentage point of interest over a 3-5 year contract means thousands of dollars.
Your maintenance costs are variable and regardless of your experience in this industry or as an owner operator there are benchmarks to go by that are usually fairly accurate. For a new truck put 2 cents per mile in an escrow account because you will spend it eventually on maintenance, 1 year old 3 cents, 2 year old 4, 3 years 5 cents, 4 years 7 cents and 5 years 10 cents per mile. If you are spending more than this now, figure out why and how to bring it back in line ASAP. If you’re off here, make a note to take your favorite mechanic out to lunch and discuss the numbers with them don't let this slide.

Driver wage! Here’s a toughie, what kind of money are you drawing out of the business to satisfy your lifestyle? To do this one right you need another piece of paper and you need to do the same thing that you just did for the truck expenses, highest to lowest expenses and scrutinize each one of them to ensure they’re necessary and legitimate. You got to know that your truck will only make so much money no matter how lean and smart you are as an operator and living beyond your means personally is a slow death filled with stress, who needs it.

You get the idea of what I saying here do this for every expense you have and then get to work on your things to do list; this is key component of how a business operates if you’re looking after it. Another thing I do is read and no not Tom Nicks novels or comic books, I read self help books I read business books, I read titles and subjects that I think will help me run my business better. I have stayed away from recommending titles but I can’t help it this time, I strongly recommend anything written by Larry Winget. How can I not like a guy who written books titled “Shut Up, Stop Whining and Get a Life?” or “People are Idiots and I can Prove It” how about “It’s Called Work for a Reason” the one I recommend for drivers and Owner Operators who have trouble watching the nickels and dimes is “Your Broke Because You Want To Be”. You can also visit larry@larrywinet.com for some other nuggets of wisdom.

The last word is about the dreaded tax man, yes it is that time of the year again, get it done right and by a firm who knows this industry. Working with a good business advisor and tax specialist can be the single greatest ROI you will ever get in business.
Safe Trucking
Rjh

The Shipper Pulse Survey, a joint project we undertook with the Canadian Industrial Transportation Association this January, uncovered some gripes that should be cause for alarm. For example, almost 30% of shippers no longer think fuel surcharges are necessary (even though fuel costs are on a steep rise.) More than 60% see fuel surcharges as a source of profits for their carriers, rather than as a neutral cost pass through. More than half of the group thinks carriers should move to market rates that include fuel surcharges.

Already about a quarter of shippers have taken the matter into their own hands and developed their own fuel surcharge index that they require their carriers to use.

While it’s natural to want to shout at the apparent unfairness of it all – after all trucking did lose a good quarter of its small carrier base a little over a decade ago when diesel prices spiked and carriers were caught without fuel surcharges in place – perhaps it’s best to take a different approach.

Perhaps it’s time to break the industry’s reliance on diesel and being victimized by all the politics that drive its pricing. Transport companies using a variety of fuels to power their fleets would be less exposed to surging oil prices.
Of course, until now that was just talk; it wasn’t reality.

But that is starting to change and, in some instances, that change may pick up steam quickly. As executive editor James Menzies, who was among the more the 750 transportation professionals attending the recent Green Truck Summit in the US, points out, the general sentiment is that alternative fuel vehicles have moved beyond the “science project” stage and are now delivering acceptable paybacks when placed into the appropriate applications.
Natural gas may be the best of several alternative energy examples.

Although there have been pioneering efforts to move to natural gas, which costs about $1.50 per equivalent gallon less than diesel, two of the biggest barriers to transitioning the long-haul trucking industry to natural gas have been the cost of the equipment and availability of the fuel. But in the US those two obstacles are being addressed by an innovative arrangement between truck maker Navistar International and gas supplier Energy Fuels. The companies jointly announced a program that will allow a customer to purchase natural gas-powered trucks from Navistar at no more than the cost of a diesel equivalent and then pay for the technology through slightly inflated gas prices over a five-year period, while still enjoying fuel costs significantly lower than diesel. To participate in the program, customers will have to agree to purchase most of their fuel through Clean Energy’s rapidly growing US fueling network. Clean Energy has vowed to open 70 liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueling stations in the US by the end of 2012, with another 100 to follow in 2013. And for its part, Navistar has promised to develop a natural gas version of every one of its medium- and heavy-duty products.

In Canada, Shell’s Canadian Green Corridor, the company’s first large scale LNG project in North America, launches this Spring. Initially employing a mobile refueling unit to service the needs of fleets running the Edmonton to Calgary corridor, the company also has agreements in place with three Flying J stations in the corridor for them to supply LNG starting in the third quarter of this year. And, if there is sufficient interest, Shell is looking to expand far beyond the Edmonton-Calgary corridor. (For more info see our stories in the Green to Gold section.)

I’m willing to bet that if the industry moved aggressively to finally curb rising fuel costs, shipper concerns about fuel surcharges would melt away.

Let’s continue the conversation on transportation issues. Join me at two special events coming this Spring. The Supply Chain Canada conference, May 8-9, International Centre, Toronto. Go to www.supplychaincanada.com to register. And also the Carbon Economy Summit, June 6, Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Go to www.carboneconomysummit.ca. to register.

David Benjatschek is "Your Man with the Plan for Better Teams and Better Results". Based out of Calgary, David trains Emerging Leaders and Supervisors around the globe on managing people. about.me/yourmanwiththeplan

That said, the Ontario championships are still going strong, although they've dropped the small truck division too. But last year's provincial championships at the Mohawk raceway saw about 85 participants--all winners and runners up from regional competitions. This was down from about 100 entries the previous year but is still a healthy group. And some companies get behind this big time, i.e. Tim Horton's, Fed Ex, etc. This year's championships are set to go at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, and my only regret is that I won't be able to go head to head against some FedEx tractor driver for all the glory. With more than 30 years driving semis I must be pretty good, but don't have any way to measure it. Are Truck Rodeos a good idea? How can we make them relevant to today's commercial drivers?

On another note, I'm compiling a feature on summer driving conditions and stresses and how to best deal with them. I'd like to have input from drivers across the spectrum, not just dry van haulers. I'm also looking for gravel haulers, tanker pilots, deck drivers and bulk haulers, heavy duty tow truck drivers, car and speciality haulers, those delivering chemicals, shunters, and anyone else in the industry. Stresses include extreme heat, summer storms, holiday drivers, etc. What's your worst summer trucking experience and how did you deal with it? What are your strategies to deal with summer conditions? What works and what doesn't? When the going gets tough, the tough get going. I'm reminded of the commercial where this fellow hauling beer has to stop making out with his girlfriend because the trailer's getting too hot. Let me know your thoughts, Harry

I came to Toronto in the early eighties. I was a full time musician at that point in my life and against the advice of pretty much everyone I knew, I came to Toronto to give my music career another try. Not having any resources at the time, I needed to get to work immediately and I called on the one and only contact I had in Toronto. He connected me with someone in Bowmanville that needed a guitar player the very next day. For the next two years, I worked as a full-time sideman in various bands that played the local circuit.

At one point and time, I auditioned for two different groups on the same day (both with female vocalists). One was “blues” and about to tour Western Canada. The other was “country” and about to tour Eastern Canada. I nailed both auditions and could have had either gig. I struggled with the decision, but being from New Brunswick originally, I thought it made more sense to go east.

In short order, I ended up managing the band and supplying the truck and PA system. This extra responsibility and income soon turned into a liability when our crooked music agent took me for pretty much everything I had. I ended up marrying the female singer in that band, had two kids together, and the music career went on hold for 25 years. Two years ago I got back at it, on a part time basis and I’m having a hoot at it.

That decision to go east instead of west, almost 3 decades ago, certainly impacted my life in a big way. I have made hundreds of life shaping decisions since then...we all have. It does make me think sometimes, that the deck of cards we are given are full of “wild cards” that we can choose to play or not. Maybe, the more wild cards we play, the more interesting our journey becomes.

Lee’s Quote for the Day

“When you’re at a fork in the road and deciding whether to go left or right, every now and then, choose the direction that scares you the most, hang on tight and enjoy the ride.” J

Lee Palmer is the President and Creative Director at Palmer Marketing, a company that specializes in creative marketing and advertising solutions for the transportation industry.

Recently I tried to explain this to an executive of a major TRANSPORTATION Company in Ontario. I may as well have knocked my head against the wall. They kept stating they have to give us notice, before they come in! They have to give us alist of the drivers, they want to look at before they come in! They want records: Subponea them! OKAY TARZAN thump your chest, beat the drums, prove your point, but at the end of the day, YOU WILL MOST CERTAINLY LOOSE THE ARGUMENT. THE MTO and the U.S.A. DOT do not have to provide notice, they do so out of courtesy. It is up to the company to provide a clean clear workspace for them to carry out the audit, and do their work.

Make no mistake about it folks, if the MTO OR THE U.S.A. DOT are coming to see you,it is not because they like you, or the suspect that you are well run company. It is due to the fact that something has told them, you are not operating the way THE AUTHORITIES WANT YOU TO. Don't fool yourself, we have rules and we have to play by them. You go to the U.S.A. you adopt and adapt to their rules. The drivers, who continually say I didn't know, well too bad. The Inspectors, get tired of hearing all of the excuses.

However it is just as important to understand that what the Inspector who is at the weigh scale on the road, is looking for, is not what the AUDITOR is looking for. The auditor is the Accountant and wants every I dotted, and every T crossed. Logs at best there are 15 DATA ITEMS that have to be clearly marked on every log. If not it is an infraction. The Roadside Inspector, is pretty lenient and lets, some things go. However MR. KNOW IT ALL (CHEST THUMPING TARZAN ), I DO WHAT I WANT, HOW I WANT, ITS MY COMPANY!), MEDIUM SIZED COMPANY OR LARGE SIZE COMPANY OR FOR THAT MATTER SMALL SIZED COMPANY, if you do your DUE DILIGENCE and train, retrain, retrain some more, and have clear proof that you have done so, then expect the COMPANY TO BE AT FAULT, unless you have clear proof you have done more than the MINIMUM required to operate..

The U.S.A. does not accept DUE DILIGENCE, as a defense, the way Canada does, in a Court of Law. especially when it comes to Transportation. We are in an industry where we are all visible, everything we do impacts JOHN Q PUBLIC, on the road. THE Railways have a huge $$$$$ Budget set aside for lobbying against Road Transportation in the U.S.A.

As I was told recently by a U.S. DOT auditor YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. Act accordingly.

P.S. The MTO law is very clear if they come knocking give them everything and treat every day as if they are coming to visit, then you may not have any problems. I know I keep going over the same thing, but in our FLEET SAFETY COUNCIL MEETINGS, and the people I meet everyday, the company's I try to assist, it is the same concerns day in and day out.

As was pointed out at a seminar I attended at the recent Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) convention, a staggering 86% of truck drivers in the US are overweight or obese, which is considerably higher than the national average of 66% (a shocking statistics in itself). I don’t have Canadian statistics to share with you but I doubt our stats would be significantly better.

I debated whether to write this column. The rules I was brought up under basically said a person’s weight was nobody’s business but his own. And in these days of “political correctness” we are, and should be, sensitive to how our words affect others in the workplace.

But does it make sense to continue keeping quiet when the numbers being revealed point to such a colossal issue? Did you know that being overweight and obese is linked to more than 60 medical disorders, including 12 types of cancer? For example, more than 90% of the obese have Type 2 diabetes.

As Linda Moran, director of business development at the Lindora Clinic pointed out at the TCA convention: “We have all been asleep at the wheel to allow this to happen.”

Moran said it’s estimated that 70% of all health care costs are caused by unhealthy behaviors. Eating right is a particularly challenging task for drivers, thanks to the many fast food outlets available along the major highways and the huge portions being served at many truckstops.

Many of the overweight and obese are embarrassed about their condition and have no clear understanding about how to change, according to Moran’s colleague, Ann Marie Coppen, PhD.

But they have a desire to change and that’s a perfect starting point.

Lindora has worked with carriers such as Celadon, Knight Transportation and most recently Bison Transport and Brian Kurtz Trucking in Canada to help their employees manage their weight and employ healthy eating and exercise practices into their life over the long term. Lindora is also working with the TCA in its Weight Loss Showdown, which has 11 carriers across North America competing with each other to improve the health of their employees.

Reducing body weight by just 10% can yield significant health benefits and lead to people no longer needing to be on blood pressure or cholesterol medication.

Does it make sense to continue ignoring this issue when the answer is so simple?

I recently spent a few days in one of my favorite towns attending the Truckload Carriers Association’s annual Recruitment and Retention seminars in Nashville Tennessee. I have had the opportunity as past Co Chairman of the Re and Re division of TCA along with my then Co Chair counterpart and good buddy Kevin Burch President of Jet Express out of Dayton OH to have attended many of these events over the years, they are always in Nashville at the first of the year and they are always great fun and the host city cant be beat. Although the event always seems to find a way to reinvent itself it is a little disheartening that we still spend so much time on this retention issue. Having been one of the people who were responsible for content for this division in the past I can tell you that it can be pretty difficult to bring new ideas to this issue. I know haven’t help the situation by breaking it down to its simplest element as you might have read in past articles when I state the obvious, to me anyway, “People stay in situations they are comfortable in and leave situations that they are not”

My daughter Vanessa works for one of the best airlines in Canada she is a flight attendant for WestJet based out of Calgary, she is very good at what she does and works very hard to be the best she can be at her job. If you cant tell by now I am very proud of her and what she has accomplished. I tell you this because the lifestyle Vanessa leads in this job, in my opinion parallels in many ways that of a long haul truck driver, long days combined with an irregular work schedule that takes her away from home for extended periods. She is not always sure if she will get home on time, her work schedule is controlled by the feds, she is only allowed to be in the air for a certain amount of time in a given period, weather delays and mechanical issues are always a concern. Dealing with the public can be an issues etc. She tells me that her company, she is proud a stockholder of course, suffers from many of the same issues that trucking does, they have very high turnover during new flight attendants first year and then it settles down as time goes by. I am not sure why I chose to share this but to suggest that we are not alone in this problem of lifestyle associated retention. My daughter was raised in a trucking family so it might not seem as foreign to her to live this type of lifestyle compared to someone who was brought up in a 9 – 5 type of environment. I guess my other motivation for sharing this is that misery loves company, WestJet is one of the best in their field and they fight the same issues we do.

Recruitment is a totally different animal of course and with the advent of social media, twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn all these new technologies have all changed the game. If your into recruiting and are not involved with these recruiting strategies then here’s a little information for you, the bus has left the station and you better find a way to get on board, Fast! Many of you have also heard about the new products related to behavioral modeling, my favorite of course can be found at www.jobehaviors.com I don’t understand why fleets aren’t flocking to theses new tools, I am convinced that they will be the new norm within the next couple years.

To offer an insight as to how quickly things are changing, one of the many great speakers at the Re and Re event I attended was a professor of social media from Rutgers University Mr. Mark Schaefer. During Mr. Schaefer’s session he revealed that email activity over the net dropped last year by 25%, so what does this mean, it sure doesn’t mean that less people are using the net, it means that they are using other platforms of social media other than email on the net, this is a dramatic change. Again if you’re a recruiter you need to be on top of this because the future is here and if your not involved you will be left behind. You can see what were doing at Transrep on the social media front by visiting www.transrep.ca

Ms. Debbie Sparks who is a VP of Development for TCA hosted one of the most enjoyable sessions I attended, where she and a panel of carriers explained how they have leveraged one or more of TCA’s many image efforts developed for the benefit of the industry and their own companies. There are many of them and they can all be found at www.truckload.org they include one of my favorites, the “Highway Angels” program along with National Fleet Safety Awards, The Best Fleets to Drive For, Driver of the Year, Owner Operator of the Year to name a few. TCA works very hard to try and raise the image of the industry both externally to the public and internally within trucking companies walls and Debbie along with all the members of the Communication and Image Committee all TCA staff should be congratulated for the outstanding programs that they currently manage and promote for the trucking industry in North America.

While you’re on the site check out the many other image efforts that TCA has developed or put significant effort behind, including Ms. Lindsay Lawler who is a Nashville resident and has been recently adopted by not only TCA but all truckers for her amazing voice and outstanding music that celebrates all professional drivers in North America, www.lindsaylawler.com . Wrap all this up in a town that host the most amazing musical venues in the world and you have yourself a recipe for a good few days that I highly recommend.

Take Good Care & Safe Trucking

Rjh
Transrep Inc.

I hopped in a cab and headed over to see him and ended up spending the better part of the afternoon with Steve discussing a wide range of topics. It was a visit that both inspired and energized me, and provided me with plenty of fodder for future blogs.

One of the things that’s been on my mind lately, as we have mourned the passing of trucking pioneers such as Don Schneider and Pat Quinn, is the fact there seem to be very few opportunities for ambitious entrepreneurs to build a trucking company in this current regulatory environment. If you look at the major players today, few were created in the last decade or two and many pre-date deregulation. Opportunities still exist, particularly in underserved niche markets, but the odds are stacked against anyone launching a start-up trucking firm.

It’s often been said that the barriers to entry have become more substantial in recent years. I tend to disagree with that. While the OEMs aren’t giving away new trucks on a promise, as they once were, it’s still easy enough to buy a used truck and find some freight to haul. The barriers to entry haven’t changed substantially, but in my view, what has changed is the barriers to success have gotten far more difficult to overcome.

Trucking companies today face an overwhelming list of societal, human and compliance requirements that didn’t exist in the past. At the same time, costs have risen and as a result, trucking operators no longer have any margin for error. None whatsoever. Think about this for a second: a small fleet or one-truck operator that’s involved in an accident will need to generate $200,000 in revenue to cover the $10,000 insurance deductible, assuming they’re running a margin of 5%. Good luck with that. And that’s not to mention CSA implications and all that other stuff. One mistake can put you out of business.

Another limiting factor when it comes to growth for a small company is the cost of new equipment. Steve grabbed a pen and paper and scribbled out for me the new trade-in formula: In 2006, he pointed out, a new truck cost $95,000 and a three-year-old truck was worth $50,000, so a company looking to upgrade would require a loan of $45,000, which was easy to get. Today, a new truck costs $125,000 and a three-year-old truck is worth $50,000, so the company requires a $75,000 loan and nobody will write it.

Because of this, fleets are hanging onto trucks longer. They then find themselves with a seven-year-old truck worth $20,000 and need a $100,000 mortgage to upgrade to a new truck. Meanwhile, the maintenance costs on a seven-year-old truck are 18 cents a mile compared to five cents a mile on a two-year-old truck, Steve pointed out. The only option for many smaller companies is to start trading in two or three older trucks for one new truck and suddenly a 180-truck company becomes a 150-truck company and so on. How do you grow a fleet under those conditions? It’s nearly impossible, which is why we’re seeing so many acquisitions, where trucks come packaged with drivers to operate them and customers to serve with them.

Steve expects to see the truckload industry undergo significant consolidation in the years ahead. There are currently thousands of truckload providers. Steve thinks there could eventually be only dozens, pointing to the rail and LTL industries of examples of where capacity is controlled by only a handful of providers.

Last month, I asked Dan Einwecther, founder CEO of Challenger Motor Freight if he would be able to replicate his own success if starting out in today’s environment. While he didn’t rule it out entirely, he admitted it would be much more difficult.

“Back then we had a much freer reign in many ways as an industry – whether from a regulatory perspective or compliance – we’d just go. It was definitely a different time,” he told me. “We have more responsibilities placed on our shoulders today, both financial and safety, employment regulations, how we treat our employees, our obligations to society – it’s dramatically more complex.”

When I asked Steve the same question, he was even more cynical. Steve started Celadon in 1985 by leasing 50 trucks at a cost of about $30,000, which by today’s standards would equate to maybe $200,000. Today, he said, to start a trucking company with 50 units, you’d need at least $3-$4 million just to get started. Who, in their right mind, would make such a significant investment for such meager returns?

“That’s why there are very few start-ups,” he said. “What start-up company can you name that has started in the last five years?” I certainly couldn’t name one.

I think of all the great trucking companies today, and how most were built upon a similar foundation: one guy with a truck, a vision and a truckload of ambition. I admitted to Steve I found it somewhat sad that the same opportunities don’t exist today and may never exist again. The glory days of trucking seem to have passed, which to me, as an observer with a passion for the industry, was a melancholic realization. Steve was less sentimental, more philosophical in his response. Look at Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, he said. He started from scratch and is worth $20 billion. Same with the founders of Groupon and other tech firms. There are still opportunities to build something substantial from nothing and to become incredibly wealthy, he said.

“But as an asset-based trucking company? Not a prayer.”

So I throw it over to you, folks. As the title suggests, have we seen the end of the trucking tycoon?

Indisputably what was Canada's largest and most recognizable trucking firm was also once the biggest in the British Commonwealth. In its heyday in the 1950s, the distinctive blue Smith transports would pass points on Highwy 2 between Toronto and Montreal every 10 minutes. Long before Environment Canada was providing hourly regional weather reports, morning man Wally Crouter, on CFRB radio in Toronto would rely on Smith drivers across the province for up-to-date weather conditions and traffic reports during the 50s and 60s.

Facts are getting thin on Smith operations as the waves of history disappear into the ocean behind us. Few of the original drivers are around anymore, and finding out more about the company requires some digging and archive-hunting. Here's what I do know (although I'd love to have confirmation or any more info). Smith Transport was started in Montreal in the 1920s by the original patriarch Sam who had a scrap metal business. By 1926 it was hauling general freight as a full-fledged motor carrier. The jury is our whether he had three or four sons, but the main trucking brains were Harry's, who evidently ran the operation out of Buffalo, New York, while a couple of other brothers (Bruce, Phillip?) ran the operations in Toronto and Montreal respectively. Ross Mackie, who, incidently owns a 1948 GMC that was made for Smith Tspt. (still got the original Diamond Goodyear tires on it, rotten but still holding air), assures me that Smith had a terminal in Oshawa long before they moved to Commissioners Street in Toronto.

Smith's tendrils extended as far as they could in those days. They ran Toronto to Winnipeg and couldn't really go any farther west--the TranCanada wasn't completed until the mid-60s and truck traffic to the west coast went through the States. The main corridor was Toronto-Montreal, but its US division supplied NewYork State and NYC. Smith's eastern subsidiary, Fletcher Tspt. covered the Maritimes.

Former Truck News contributor Ken Hellawell (and the man who taught me to double clutch about 40 years ago) used to work for Smith Transport on the highway spare board out of Toronto 1953-57. They had 40 dedicated Toronto-Montreal drivers, with the same number in Montreal heading the other way. In those days they were given 11 hours to get to Montreal on the “Old Road” (Hwy 2 in the days before the 401. Those drivers did the trip in B 61 Macks, and the quickest ones could make it in 9 hours. “Sure it was only two lanes but they were paved and the towns and suburbs weren't built up. Once you got out of the city it was farms and mostly open road,” says Ken.

The terminal on Commissioners Street had a lunch room and some cots upstairs where drivers could sleep. This was the same case in other terminals like Belleville and Kingston. Smith drivers were thought of as highliners but they weren't necessarily the spiffiest. Ken tells me dress was pretty casual. On the other hand, Kingsway drivers were always immaculate, expected to have clean uniforms and polished shoes when they reported for work.

As as boy, Ross Mackie lived in a house on King Street in Oshawa. “All the trucks went by the house on the Old Road. I'd get so excited that my mother couldn't hold me down. I remember Smith, and Motorways, they used to run Ottawa, and Direct Winters. And when my dad took me with him to Toronto I couldn't believe the trucks. Our company was just small and it was great to see all that equipment.” Even legendary trucker Highway Hank Stroud, deceased several years now, got tired of gypsying and went to work for Smith for awhile.

Mackie recalls the Gardiner diesels that Smith installed in its Internationals, probably KB8s and 10s. Diesels were rare in those days and he doesn't think they worked out that well. It's parcel of Canadians' trust of anything from the home country as the Gardiners were made in England. Later on other companies embraced Leyland Trucks and still later Rolls Royce engines with mixed results.

William Diesel Gypsy Weatherstone (check out his website, an impressive compendium of stories and photos from back in the day) learned how to drive truck underage from him step-father Roy Sr., also a driver for Smith Transport. In the early 60s, Roy Sr, was one of the first Highland Tspt drivers, a new division that had been just started at CP Express, along with three other brokers.

Evidently, in stories I've heard, old Harry Smith was a wheeler and dealer, bringing up a lot of old equipment from the US and playing permit tag with some of the units. CP had its eye on Smith for sometime. They were miles ahead of CN getting into the trucking business and into piggy backs, and by 1957 they had closed a deal to buy Smith, including 2,500 pieces of rolling stock. But the deal didn't include a bunch of new Mack tractors that they thought the were getting. The number varies in different accounts, but several dozen new trucks went instead to Montreal were they were registered to one of the brothers, leaving CP executives with their mouths hanging open.

All that's left of Smith are the modellers, I suppose. Particularly Wayne Marshall of Guelph, Ont., who got into model trucks when he was recreating the mid-1950s with his HO-scale railroading buddies. “The more you study that era, the more you wish you had of been around in that time. I know the seats were hard and conditions were tough, but they sure had some interesting equipment.”

Marshall is what you call a prototype modeller. He'll buy an HO scale trailer, for instance, and modify it to meet Canadian standards adding components or slight subtleties. Did you know that both Fruehauf and Trailmobile both had Canadian and American companies that competed against each other?

Wayne does his modelling mostly from photos so he's particularly interested in finding a 32 foot trailer with the Smith logo on the side from 1958-63. Wayne had modelled other trucking companies from that era, Husband, Hoar, Direct Winters, the old InterCity trucks. The process involves making decals from the logos and printing them up on decal paper. He's still looking for the Overland logo with the big flying “O” and some other trucking logos. Me, I'd like to collect a few stories from some of the Smith people. Anybody still out there?

Model by Wayne Marshall.

From the Bill Weatherstone Collection
"The 2 drivers on the Right Photo are with Smith Transport in Northern Ontario, Canada. The standard process of changing a flat tire when you carried spares. Any other driver passing by always stopped and helped. If you had used up any spares, the procedure then was to carry a couple broken spring leaves to use as tire irons. You would have to break down the flat, remove the tire and tube, and then remount the rim back on the wheel and carry on to the next town or terminal singled out. That was part of the drivers job.

Social media is this generation’s cocktail party. Networking sites are a place where like-minded people meet and share ideas.

The day I began adding “friends” on Facebook was the day I thought I was on my way to joining the social media party. Fast-forward 12 months and my efforts produced a Facebook page that I look at less than once a month, 490 LinkedIn contacts I still don’t know, I follow Bob McKenzie on Twitter, and zero new business. I would have been better off printing brochures and cold calling. It seemed like such a waste of time.

Looking back, I realized that I was the guy at the party in the corner waiting for the world to come to him. I never worked the room.

Converting LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, and other relationships into business is a lot more complex than I anticipated. Here are some thoughts and a few things I’m going to try to improve my results this year.

1. Getting to the Party
My limited tech skills consist of hitting “on” and “accept” buttons, but my instincts about what makes people tick are pretty sharp. As I was eating my Corn Flakes one morning, watching my kids thumb away at their fancy smart phones, I saw that social media works best when you can access it anywhere.

Nearly 45% of active Facebook users currently access the site through their mobile device. It’s close to 55% for Twitter users. I’m not among them. By the time I find a Wifi connection and boot up my laptop, I’m busy doing something else.

So I’m upgrading my Fred Flintstone-age Blackberry to something that runs the mobile apps I need, and I’ve enlisted three consultants to help their Dumb Dad get in the game.

2. Find the Right Party
LinkedIn has hundreds of transportation and logistics-related discussion groups and blogs. Joining them was easy. Getting benefits from these groups was not. Everyone who posted either was tooting their own horn, looking for a job, or trying to sell me a something. It was like entering a room with 100 noisy Liberals. I tuned out.

I have cut back to two discussion groups: one personal and one professional. Starting small will give me a better chance to follow and join conversations. Experimenting in a subject I’m passionate about—yep, hockey—adds a fun factor while I learn the ins and outs of working the room. This year, if the party isn’t any fun, I won’t be hanging around very long.

3. Shake Some Hands
Extending your hand used to be the best way to greet new people. Today, shaking someone’s hand means posting a compelling article, commenting on someone’s blog, or asking a group for advice. There is no way you’ll meet anyone at a party unless you reach out and say hi.

The goal is not to sell, it’s to attract. It’s more important to be a trusted and reliable source of information than a pushy freight pimp. Don’t be an online Herb Tarlek and run around the party flogging brochures that no one is interested in. Business will come over time as you learn to convert friends to followers to customers.

4. Build Relationships
The end game is all about shekels and learning how social media can improve my company’s bottom line. Following customers, competitors, and suppliers can deliver loads of critical and timely information you can use daily to improve your business. Before any meeting I’m using social media to learn as much as I can about the company and the person I’m about to do business with. You can never have enough current information on existing customers, employees, or the dog trying to steal your bone.

5. Talk to Me
As a columnist I get truckloads of requests from companies asking me to write about their $29.99 gadget that guarantees 35% fuel savings. Since I’ve been putting pen to paper professionally, it’s been a policy of mine never to overtly promote anything including my company or me.

But I will say this: I’m officially on Twitter at @AceMcC (I signed up on my own, without help from kids). I invite you to follow me, check out who I follow, and ask questions about trucking. Or hockey. Either way, I look forward to working the room and getting to know you.

Mike McCarron is the managing partner at MSM Transportation (www.shipmsm.com) in Bolton, Ont., which specializes in moving products between Canada and the rest of the world. He can be reached at mmccarron@shipmsm.com or @AceMcC on Twitter.

The Future of the Professional Driver

“I was looking up the top 50 trucking companies and reviewed a few of the well-known companies CSA scores from the FMCSA website. I was surprised and disappointed with what I saw. Many of these carriers advertise on the backs of their trailers, “We hire only safe and professional drivers.” If you saw their CSA scores I would think that the owners would be embarrassed to display those signs. Perhaps the owners are not aware of their scores.

The first thing I noticed was that many were near the 60% intervention score. The other common factor involved “Subject to Placardable HM Threshold.“ I found some violations that were commonly high among most of the carriers.

Driver Fitness:

 383.23(a)(2) Operating a CMV without a CDL
 383.51(a) Driving a CMV (CDL) while disqualified
 391.11(b)(4) Driver lacking physical qualification(s)
 391.41(a) Driver not in possession of medical certificate
 391.45(b) Expired medical examiner's certificate

Fatigued Driving:

 395.3(a)(2) Requiring or permitting driver to drive after 14 hours on duty
 395.3(a)(1) Requiring or permitting driver to drive more than 11 hours
 395.3(b) 60/70- hour rule violation
 395.8 Log violation (general/form and manner)
 395.15(b) Onboard recording device information requirements not met
 395.15(c) Onboard recording device improper form and manner
 395.15(f) Onboard recording device failure and driver failure to reconstruct duty status
 395.15(g) On-board recording device information not available

Unsafe Driving:

 392.16 Failing to use seat belt while operating CMV
 392.2C Failure to obey traffic control device
 392.2FC Following too close
 392.2LC Improper lane change
 392.2T Improper turns
 392.2-SLLS2 State/Local Laws - Speeding 6-10 miles per hour over the speed limit
 392.2Y Failure to yield right of way
 392.6 Scheduling run to necessitate speeding
 392.60(a) Unauthorized passenger on board CMV
 392.71(a) Using or equipping a CMV with radar detector
 397.13 Smoking within 25 feet of HM vehicle

Vehicle Maintenance:

 392.22(b) Failing/improper placement of warning devices
 392.7(a) Driver failing to conduct pre-trip inspection
 393.11 No/defective lighting devices/reflective devices/projected
 393.19 Inoperative/defective hazard warning lamp
 393.207(b) Adjustable axle locking pin missing/disengaged
 393.25(e) Lamp not steady burning
 393.25(f) Stop lamp violations
 393.45 Brake tubing and hose adequacy
 393.45(a)(4) Failing to secure brake hose/tubing against mechanical damage
 393.47(e) Clamp/Roto-Chamber type brake(s) out of adjustment
 393.53(b) Automatic brake adjuster CMV manufactured on or after 10/20/1994— air brake

These are only a few of the 670 violations that can be given to a carrier through CSA. All of these violations can be avoided with a proper pre-trip inspection and driving skills training.

These avoidable violations, if left un-addressed can put a company into expensive fines, intervention and possibly suspension of their dot licensing. All of these can be avoided with proper driver training and updating. I would like to question the violators and verify if the drivers were reckless, or just unaware of how to prevent these violations.

As I continued looking through the CSA scores, I noticed a great number of small carriers (50 power units or less) were faring better than the carriers with more than 500 power units. This I believe is because the larger the carrier, the harder it is to monitor, educate and train drivers. Smaller carriers can better control the safety and compliance of their entire fleet.

These scores are showing me there is a great need for companies to restructure their safety policies and training. Corporate staff is going to require additional education to better train and educate drivers on a practical level. No longer will reciting the rules and regulations at drivers meetings (if the company has them at all), be sufficient to create safe and compliant drivers. Drivers I have talked to have said they asked their Safety Department for help and come away more confused about their issue.

Carrier Image

Customers can access a carrier’s CSA scores and violations history. If the CSA is a marketing tool like the CTPAT program, carriers are going to find it hard to get accounts. ABC carrier might be on the top 50 list but when the customer views their CSA and discovers they are flagged for interventions due to Driver Fatigue, they may reject the carrier’s bid. I believe many carriers are going to carry on until intervention strikes, and then they will cry the blues.

Prevention is the best medicine

Carriers should be on top of these scores and intervene with the drivers before the FMCSA intervenes with the company. Drivers CSA scores should be monitored regularly. Drivers should be made to explain themselves for each violation (re-trained if necessary) and reprimanded for each repeated violation.

Driver training should be implemented on a one to one basis if needed. If the driver is new to trucking, he may be uninformed and require further education. If he is a veteran driver, he may have to be reminded or shown how to break old unsafe habits.

In the end, it requires the carrier to step up and protect their scores and public image with training, internal monitoring and enforcement.

Fleet Driver Trainers

Fleet driver trainers can be a great advantage to carriers of 50 drivers or more. These are experienced drivers that have excelled in their driving skills. They are fully knowledgeable about both Federal regulations and company policies. Driver trainers are knowledgeable and practice defensive driving, possess full knowledge of log books, Fleet Smart practices, vehicle pre-trips and preventative vehicle maintenance.

From a trucking company’s perspective, these driver trainers will be fully trained on all company driver policies. They will be the eyes and ears of the company, and the resource for drivers to help them become productive and safe employees.

With a driver trainer as part of the driving fleet, drivers can access this resource on the road. As a driver trainer on the corporate site, the individual is available to drivers visiting the yard and free to do driver analyses and in-class instruction if required.

Out in the cold

Many drivers I have talked to feel left out in the cold when it comes to having access readily to available information or training. When and if they can contact the Safety Department, the personnel are too busy to sit with them and discuss their needs, because of their responsibility to corporate issues.

When they do get information, many drivers leave confused, or feeling they didn’t get the answers they were looking for. A driver trainer helps immensely in this area because he has been there, done that, and can better relate to the driver’s issues than someone who has been out of touch with the driving environment for a while. The driver trainer can help the driver with other issues such as Human Resources policy because he is a long term employee and can instruct the driver how to better comply with company policy.

Using your best resource for optimal results

If I were a company owner, it only makes sense to me to use every available resource to build a company that is professional in the eyes of the Federal regulators, customers, general public and of course my most profitable assets called drivers.

If you want professional drivers, does it not make sense to have them monitored and trained by professional drivers (Driver Trainers)? It costs less than insurance hikes, repeated fines, lost customers, and the expense of driver turnover in the end? The driver trainer can be the company’s link to driver problems and opinions. The drivers feel more at ease with one of their own kind, so to speak, and more openly provide feedback. This useful information, when given to the company, allows them to better analyze, restructure and adjust for optimum operation.

Conclusion

The CSA scores and Canadian CVORs tell a story. Apparently companies aren’t reading the book. If they are, perhaps they can’t see the plot. If they value their future, changes need to be made before they lose all their profits. I believe driver trainers, if used effectively, can improve the quality of life for their drivers and improve the bottom line for their owners.”

Written by David Robson
Professional Driver and Certified Fleet Driver Trainer

So what’s the scoop? Advertising is still being sold aggressively and the book still appears to be pretty thick. I can understand bars, restaurants and the local payphone using them to a point but don’t most people have cell phones with internet access?

Yellow Pages can post big circulation numbers but actual usage? I still occasionally use the online version but I can’t remember the last time I cracked open the actual book. How about you? Is the horse dead or is it just not running at a full gallop? By the way, did you know the reason they are yellow?  A hundred years ago the printer ran out of white paper. How’s that for innovation?

As the internet and web continue to revolutionize how we communicate what lies ahead for the good old Yellow Pages. Does anybody out there use them as a reference? If you are still advertising in them can you trace business to it? Love to hear your thoughts.

Lee’s Quote for the Day

“Probably the biggest factor keeping the yellow pages alive is the fear of change and hanging on to the philosophy of “We’ve always done it that way”. It’s sad to see an icon disappear but I guess we will all share a time where we need to quietly ride off into the sunset.” J

Lee Palmer is the President and Creative Director at Palmer Marketing, a company that specializes in creative marketing and advertising solutions for the transportation industry.

That explosion may have happened over the past few weeks.

First there was Navistar International announcing a partnership with American gas supplier Clean Energy that effectively addresses the two primary barriers standing in the way of the widespread adoption of gas-powered trucks: the cost of the trucks (they're $30-$50K pricier) and availability of the fuel. In short, the two companies formed an alliance under which they’ll provide fleets with gas-powered International trucks at the same purchase price as their diesel equivalents, provided fleet owners agree to fuel up at Clean Energy fueling stations.

Clean Energy will essentially offset the incremental cost of the technology and then charge a premium on the gas for a period of five or six years, but all the while the fleet will still enjoy fuel prices significantly lower than diesel.

For its part, Clean Energy has committed to build hundreds of natural gas fueling stations on well-travelled highways throughout the US and eventually it vows to have a natural gas station every 250 miles. This program is feasible for Canadian carriers running south and at the announcement, I received assurance that Canadian fleets would not be excluded from the offer.

Jim Hebe, the outspoken sr. vp of North American sales operations with Navistar, told a group of us truck writers the night before the announcement that if the program doesn’t change the trucking industry, he’d “Pack my shit and go home.” I didn’t see him packing his bags after the program was launched. It could be a real winner. For one, Challenger CEO Dan Einwechter had this to say about the program in an exclusive interview with him you can read in the March issue:

“The International announcement last week with Clean Energy in the US, I found that very intriguing. They took a problem and found a different way to approach it and that will help, I believe, get that to the next level. Six months ago I would’ve still said I’m not really sure (about natural gas). Now I would tell you, boy that looks pretty intriguing.”

Just days after Navistar’s announcement, Shell revealed plans to build a natural gas corridor between Edmonton and Calgary, which will set the stage for the roll-out of a broader network of natural gas fueling stations across North America. Shell’s plan doesn’t offer a solution to the high cost of gas-powered trucks, but the company did promise to offer up gas trucks for one-week trials so fleets can gain some comfort with the technology.

It’s another forward-thinking initiative that should go a long way towards nudging natural gas closer to the mainstream. There’s good reason to consider natural gas as a potential fuel for the trucking industry.

For one, we’re sitting on vast quantities of the stuff - at least 100 years’ worth - and new fracking methods are making it possible and cost-effective to extract natural gas from previously untapped depths.

There’s no other way to look at it; we’re sitting on a goldmine and, as natural gas advocate T. Boone Pickens said at the Navistar announcement, we’d be foolish to let the opportunity unused.

Still, lest we get too enthusiastic, there is a potential fly in the ointment for natural gas. As Dan Einwechter pointed out to me in the same interview I previously referenced, gas is cheap in part because there’s no road tax on it. If the trucking industry suddenly transitioned to gas, you can bet the feds would move quickly to tax natural gas in much the same way that they do diesel today.

It’s a reasonable point. One we need to pause to consider before we go leaping headlong into natural gas. Still, the price gap between natural gas and diesel is significant and expected to remain that way for the foreseeable future.

It very well could be that we’ve reached the proverbial tipping point and that natural gas is ready to take off as the fuel of the future for the North American trucking industry. What do you think? Will gas-powered trucks be the norm in the next 5-10 years? Let's hear some prognostications, people.