Transport Topics- With some economists predicting around a 50-50 chance of the U.S. economy sliding into a recession in the first half of 2023, a panel of American Trucking Associations experts urged trucking companies to prepare now for a possible economic downturn by maintaining strong levels of cash flow and — above all — avoiding panic if a recession takes hold.
Freight Waves- The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has scheduled five significant proposed rules for 2023, with each summarized and listed in order of their projected publishing date — DOT emphasizes it is not committed to specific dates.
Freight Waves- Two groups representing small-business truckers should know by early next year whether federal regulators will grant their requests for more transparency in freight transactions involving brokers.
Petitions by the Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association and the Small Business in Trucking Coalition seeking more oversight of broker transaction records were published in August 2020.
Commercial Carriers Journal- The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has renewed an exemption from certain provisions of the electronic logging device mandate for UPS for another five years through Oct. 21, 2027.
FMCSA previously granted the exemption to allow UPS and all motor carriers and drivers using portable ELDs to manually record data that would otherwise be required to be automatically recorded when a driver indicates a change of duty status or logs in or out of an ELD.
Transport Topics- A plethora of upcoming environmental regulations further curbing engine emissions and pushing adoption of zero-emission trucks are poised to reshape the trucking industry’s equipment market by forcing significant changes to diesel engines.
Transport Topics-With continuing concerns about speeding on the nation’s highways, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration plans to conduct a survey-research effort to ask 1,500 drivers with one or more recent speeding tickets why they speed — and why others with no violations don’t speed.
FreightWaves- For the first time in its 100-year history, the less-than-truckload industry has a standard format for electronically transmitting bills of lading (BOL).
The new eBOL standard was announced by the National Motor Freight Traffic Association (NMFTA). The single standard will, over time, replace the multitude of digital platforms that shippers, carriers and 3PLs have used over the years.
The Trucker-Businesses across the U.S. are increasingly worried about the renewed threat of a railroad strike after two unions rejected their deals, and they want the Biden administration and Congress to be ready to intervene.
The trucking industry is freight rail’s largest customer, and in a letter sent to Capitol Hill, American Trucking Associations is warning of dire consequences for the U.S. supply chain if a strike were to go into effect.
Transport Topics-A trade group that advocates for family-owned businesses is seeking the support of trucking company owners as it lobbies for the launch of a Congressional initiative to help families plan for passing businesses down to the next generation.
Such an initiative is especially important for trucking as 65% of trucking companies are or were started as small, family-run businesses.
