Quebec tire distributor Groupe Touchette has taken a majority stake in Pneus Belisle.
Touchette is Canada’s largest privately owned tire distributor, and says the merger makes it even better positioned to execute on its strategy.
(Photo: Michelin)
The deal gives it a stronger relationship with Michelin, as Pneus Belisle brings to the table a network of 14 branches in Quebec and a Michelin franchise truck tire retreading plant.
“We are very pleased to collaborate with Pneus Belisle, a renowned Quebec company. This is a great opportunity to optimize processes through Pneus Belisle’s commercial expertise and entrepreneurial business model,” said Mikael Desmarais, vice-president of retail at Groupe Touchette.
“This majority investment strengthens our national presence and offers new opportunities for synergies and growth. We are confident that this partnership reinforces our market leadership and will enable us to continue providing our customers with innovative and high-quality solutions.”
‘National Secure Your Load Day’ falls on Thursday of this week and aims to educate motorists on the importance of a properly secured load.
The official ‘Secure Your Load Day’ falls on Thursday, June 6th, but states such as Washington have already launched a campaign this week reminding motorists of its importance. The day is also intended to remember and honor those who have lost their lives due to unsecured loads.
“We all have a responsibility to protect one another and to protect our environment by securing cargo to prevent dangerous debris from falling on our roads,” said Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.
The ‘Secure Your Load’ movement began in 2004, after Washington resident Robin Abel’s daughter was nearly killed by an unsecured piece of particle board that flew through her windshield.
“By choosing to secure all of the items in your vehicle before hitting the road, you can contribute to safer travels for everyone,” said WSP Chief John R. Batiste
Three trucks operating from Ontario were named winners of the Mack calendar contest and will be featured in next year’s calendar.
Fans chose among 177 submissions in seven categories: Mack Anthem, Granite, Legacy, LR, Mack MD, Pinnacle, and TerraPro. The winning dozen will be professionally photographed to be featured for the calendar, each representing a month in the year.
A Mack Pinnacle owned by Marbert Transport of Lindsay, Ont., will be featured in the 2025 Mack calendar. (Photo: Supplied)
While Teeswater Concrete truck is one of the two winners in the Mack Anthem category, both Packers Logistics Solutions and Marbert Transport’s trucks won in the Pinnacle category.
“It was exciting to see how involved everyone was in this year’s contest,” said David Galbraith, Mack Trucks vice-president of global brand and marketing, in a news release. “We received a record 432,000 votes this year, which is particularly special to us considering the 125th anniversary of Mack in 2025. The strength of the Mack community, even after all these years, shows an affinity for the brand that is unmatched in virtually any industry.”
The full list of the contest winners includes:
Oldest Truck (1966 R Model –delivered July 11, 1966)
Knobeloch Trucking, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Anthem
Teeswater Concrete, Teeswater, Ontario
Pitt Ohio, Allentown, Pennsylvania
Granite
Macmillan Oil Co. of Allentown, Allentown, Pennsylvania
GFP Mobile Mix Supply, Wilmington, Delaware
LR
Waste Management, Cranston, Rhode Island
MD
EMI Landscape, Macungie, Pennsylvania
Willingham & Sons, Newberry, South Carolina
Pinnacle
Packers Logistics Solutions, Stoney Creek, Ontario
Marbert Transport, Lindsay, Ontario
TerraPro
Brundage Bone, Thornton, Colorado
Legacy
R Model – Sweeney Enterprises, Suffield, Connecticut
A New Jersey man has been charged with insurance fraud for allegedly lying about the location where his trucks were garaged in order to get a cheaper premium.
On May 9, 2024, Warren Township resident Rajinder S. Randhawa, 36, was arrested for 3rd Degree Insurance Fraud, according to a news release from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office.
An investigation was launched after New Jersey Attorney General’s Office reported a fuel delivery trucking company that was misrepresenting their garaging location on a commercial auto policy application.
Investigators claimed that the eight trucks belonging to the trucking company were listed as being garaged in Bridgewater according to the company’s July 2023 commercial auto insurance policy application, when the trucks were actually being stored in Linden, New Jersey.
“By stating the trucks were being garaged in Bridgewater instead of Linden on the insurance application, Rajinder Randhawa, the purchaser of the insurance policy, paid a much lower premium on the policy. The difference in the premium between what was paid and what would have been owed to the insurance company in a six-month time frame was approximately $231,431.00,” the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office said.
The case remains under investigation.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Special Investigations office at (908) 231-7100 or the Warren Township Police Department at (908) 753-1000.
The United States has one of the strongest economies in the world and much of its rigor is powered by its incredible logistical network that allows goods to be transported across the nation rapidly and efficiently. After the creation of the interstate system in the 40s and 50s, the trucking industry took hold on the nation by creating thousands of jobs and providing the means for reliable transportation. The United States economy depends on the stability and dependability of its transportation system.
Money Talk
Money is on everyone’s mind. It is even more salient to economists who have analyzed the United States economy. With a quick look at the statistics, one can see that trucking is big. It takes up over 70% of the transportation industry, and recently, yearly revenue has exceeded $800 billion through completed deliveries. That’s over 11.5 billion tons of cargo each year, according to TheTrucker.com. Beyond the direct economic impact lies the impact of stores and distributors selling the goods that were transported. CFS reports that as of 2017, 71.6% of goods in the United States were transported on a truck before reaching their points of civilian distribution.
Impactful Industry
The trucking industry touches many different aspects of American life, from groceries, pharmaceuticals, household goods, to cars and building materials. America truly runs on trucking. The economic impacts of trucking are also able to be quantified in terms of employment. Trucking is a great career for many people, and there are drivers on the road today from nearly every walk of life. Trucking used to be a career predominately reserved for men, but now anybody can have a successful career driving!
In fact, there are around 3.36 million drivers on the road in the United States today, of this number, about 6% are female drivers, but this number is increasing yearly! Additionally, nearly 10% of drivers are veterans who have found fulfilling careers after serving the United States in the Military. Professional drivers make on average over $60,000 per year, which is nearly twice the national average income according to Census estimates. This access to a lucrative career is great for the economy because it means drivers are self-sufficient and able to purchase and invest in what they need.
Run the World
The transportation industry is one of the driving forces of the global economy. The presence of an interconnected network of supply, demand, and transit allows a free flow of capital that can instill economic growth. Trucking is a major part of this network, especially in larger nations like the United States. As we continue in time, it is expected there will be more need for drivers as the trucking industry is expected to grow. The zenith of the economic impact of trucking is yet to be seen.
Final Thoughts
Drivers are the lifeblood of the United States and its economic power. The incredible logistical system that allows goods to be transported from pickup to drop-off is part of what makes the United States such a wonderful place to live, and drivers are the most important piece of the economic puzzle. The economy is still recovering after the pandemic, but it is already looking like it will reach even greater heights than before and drivers will be crucial in building it up!
On May 31, 2024, the Iowa State Patrol took to social media to share an example of how badly a house move can go if you don’t have the right tools and truck for the job.
“Here we have another house move gone wrong. This one, as seen in the photos, was attempted to be moved with a tractor. The moral of the story here is to ensure you have proper, and well maintained, equipment for the task at hand…especially when moving an entire house. Unfortunately, this rural road remains blocked until the house can be safely removed,” Iowa State Patrol said.
Check out some photos from the failed house move below.
Dan Priestley, manager of Tesla’s Semi program, began his keynote remarks at ACT Expo with a self-directed quip: “Tesla has a specialty of turning the impossible, into merely late.”
However, he added bringing the Class 8 electric Tesla Semi to market is “absolutely worth doing, and we do not enter this industry lightly.”
(Photo: PepsiCo)
Tesla is currently running two versions of its Semi, a standard truck with 300 mile (480 km) range and another with up to 500 miles (800 km) range. These trucks, Priestly noted, are not only hauling potato chips, either. PepsiCo is putting them to work hauling heavy beverage loads, and Tesla uses them to haul battery packs from its Nevada Gigafactory to its car plant in Fremont, Calif.
“We see a lot of mountains and a huge variety of climates and conditions,” Priestley said of those runs. They require chaining up in the winter when tackling the Donner Pass, and taking advantage of 70 mph speed limits in the Nevada desert.
Semi weight
Priestley noted these trucks can be put into a typical fleet operation on a 1:1 basis, replacing a diesel-powered truck. The weight of the Semi has been tightly guarded by Tesla, but Preistley revealed the longer range version weighs “more than 23,000 lb.”
But he said engineers have consistently improved the truck’s efficiency; the Semi consumes 1.7 kWh per mile on average and as little as 1.5 kWh in lighter weight applications with an uptime of greater than 95%.
“Now it’s time for scaling,” Priestley said, noting Tesla targets building 50,000 such trucks a year which will bring down acquisition costs.
Tesla is also looking to roll out more charging stations for the Semi and sees a path to do so at a cost of $500/kW fully installed compared to an industry average of $1,000/kW.
The growth of Tesla’s car business since the Semi was launched in 2017 better positions the company to bring the truck to market, Priestley added.
“When we first unveiled this product in 2017, Tesla was a fraction of the company it is today,” he said.
Winter and desert tested
He noted Tesla has winter tested the Semi in Alaska at -35 F and in Death Valley at temps up to 120 F. “It sweated, but did really well,” he said of the desert testing.
Testing has been conducted in a variety of duty cycles from truckload, LTL, drayage and food services. “We’ll work with anybody,” Priestley said, although he acknowledged private fleets are easier as they have greater control of their cargo and facilities.
Tesla plans to maintain a direct to customer sales model. “We believe having that relationship directly with us puts us in a better position to make the customers’ operations successful,” he said.
Maintenance
PepsiCo is planning to take another 50 units and Tesla will put more on the road to support its own operations, with plans for a broader rollout now pushed to 2026. When it comes to service, Priestley said Tesla doesn’t look at maintenance and repairs as a profit center, but instead an obligation.
“We will ensure the service is there when you need it and it’s not our goal to it to be a major profit center for the company,” he said. “Anybody can do wheels and tires, take that,” he added of simple maintenance, while promising Tesla will have people available to address more complex issues related to powertrain performance.
Before you continue reading, ask yourself, “Do I really know what a freeway is?” Many people use the terms interstate, highway, and freeway interchangeably. However, there are subtle differences between them. The interstate refers to the Interstate Highway System, which connects states together with a series of highways. The interstate is made up of highways, but not all highways are a part of the interstate. A highway is merely a public road that might have restricted access and could have tolls. Restricted access is where cars and similar motor vehicles only are allowed on the road, as well as the only way a car or similar motor vehicle can access or exit the road by an on or off ramp. A freeway, also known as an express highway, is a restricted-access highway that does not include toll booths. Freeways are a part of the Interstate Highway System, but like highways, not all freeways are a part of that system. Freeways also tend to connect big cities to one another. Furthermore, freeways are created specifically for high-speed vehicular traffic and do not have traffic signals, intersections, railways, or pedestrian paths.
Now that we have distinguished the difference between an interstate, highway, and freeway, let’s move our focus onto freeways and their layout.
How Are Freeways Laid Out?
If you have ever investigated how freeways are designed, you may have realized it is simpler than you thought. Considering some freeways are a part of the Interstate Highway System, then it only makes sense that they are identified using the same route marker. A red, white, and blue shield including the word “Interstate” with the state name and route number.
Freeways were designed to serve many purposes including:
Eliminate traffic congestion
Replace “undesirable slum areas” with immaculate strips of concrete
Make coast-to-coast transportation more well-organized
Make it easy to get out of big cities in the incident of an atomic attack
The most important characteristic of freeways is that they have at least four lanes, two lanes in each direction of travel. Many freeways have more than four lanes, some having as many as 10, especially near cities. Other characteristics include:
Lanes must be 11-12 feet wide
Shoulder lanes are usually 8-10 feet wide, allowing vehicles to safely exit traffic in the event of an emergency
A median separates the opposite side to improve safety, by avoiding head-on collisions of vehicles traveling towards each other. Medians range from 16-60 feet wide.
Major freeways are labeled by one- or two-digit numbers. Freeways that run north and south are odd numbers and end in the number 0 or 5. For north to south routes, the lowest numbers begin in the west. Freeways that run east and west are even numbered and end in the number 0. For these routes, the lowest numbers are in the south. For instance, I-5 runs north to south along the west coast, while I-10 runs east to west along the south.
Another fact to keep in mind is that freeways with three digits are considered local freeways and the last two digits tell which major freeway they stem from or connect to.
Final Thoughts
Freeways were first thought of as a way to reduce the impact of traffic within cities, as well as a way to link cities together. For professional truck drivers, freeways can have a major influence on their daily travels and making sure their freight gets to its destination on time. Without freeways, and the benefits they provide, it’s a wonder how the trucking industry would survive.
It’s a windy road out there! As a driver, you’ve likely experienced crazy wind situations and if you haven’t, you certainly will. Wind and other weather conditions are some of the most dangerous hazards a driver can face on their routes, regardless of the location. Wind advisories can happen anywhere, so it’s important to have a game plan for whenever the wind decides to blow in your direction.
The Windy Road
You’ve likely heard a rundown of the most dangerous highways in the United States for drivers including Minnesota Highway 2, Colorado Highway 550, Connecticut I-95, and Interstate 10 in Arizona. Each of these highways is dangerous in part due to wind and often winter wind is what causes the most difficulties. Typically, the windiest spots on the road are those with large mountains or valleys nearby as there are extreme temperature differences in a small area which causes a swift movement of air.
Wind may also be caused by weather emergencies such as tornadoes in the Midwest, hurricanes in the Southeast, and blizzard conditions in Northern and especially high altitude parts of the United States. When driving through any of these regions or the highways mentioned, make sure to monitor weather conditions especially closely.
Gusts and Gales
Wind is unpredictable, especially in locations with sporadic weather conditions. While you will see notifications of wind advisories on your weather app or hear it on the radio, it can be hard to determine whether the winds are too strong for your load, making it difficult to decide whether or not to proceed or stop to wait for the winds to slow down. One important thing to remember while driving is that it never hurts to stop safely and review your plan and options for going forward.
Stay Safe
When the wind blows at over 35-40 miles per hour, you should begin planning for if the wind speed increases as gusts between 40-60 mph can be enough to topple your truck. Remember to stay alert and listen for radio announcements of strong winds if you begin to feel gusts hit your truck. If you are hauling a lighter load, you should be extra vigilant about wind gusts as lighter loads are more likely to be blown over in high-wind conditions.
If you decide the winds are too swift to continue, the best thing you can do is park your truck facing the wind so there is less surface area directly in the wind. This will help keep your truck on its wheels. After that, the best thing you can do is monitor the situation and wait for the winds to calm down. As you are waiting, try to listen to a podcast, watch a movie, or plan out the next steps of your route.
Final Thoughts
Driving in high wind conditions can be scary, especially if you have a lighter load. Having a plan for high winds is important, and so is having a plan for any other adverse weather conditions or road hazards you may face. When you’re in doubt about what you should do, there is no harm in pulling over and taking a moment to rationally consider your next steps. As always, your life and license are not worth the risk of driving in highly dangerous conditions.
Since the semi-truck was invented in 1898 by Alexander Winton, the American Trucking Industry has rolled on and been driven to incredible heights becoming one of the largest and most important industries in the United States. American Trucking has survived dark times, always lighting the way to a better and brighter future for the industry and for America as a whole. The story of the trucking industry is one of perseverance, triumph, and improvement, and this spirit persists to the present.
Trucking Through Time
The Beginning
We have already discussed the history of the semi-truck in a previous post that you can check out here, but the story of the industry built around the machine is equally as interesting. The first commercial semi-truck was built as an answer to the increased need for the transportation of goods across the country. The first major use of trucks was by the military in World War 1, though after the war, the increase of paved roads across the country made it possible for the industry to take hold for civilian purposes in the 1930s. Once the industry was well established, it became subject to regulations as it and other occupations began to grow and expand.
Growth and Expansion
20 years later the interstate system in the United States was created, allowing for easier and faster national transport of goods. This allowed for major expansion and improvement of the trucking industry, making it more reliable and efficient. The advancement of temperature-controlled trucking, first invented in 1925, but improved upon greatly in the 40s and 50s allowed for the safe delivery of pharmaceuticals and food products as well.
Music and Protest
In the 1960s and 1970s the American Trucking industry became more prevalent in the public eye with many songs being written about it while gaining incredible popularity. There was something about the subject matter of trucking songs, the long coast to coast drives, traveling through wide open spaces, and the struggles that drivers faced that greatly touched the American public. During the early 70s, the trucking industry took a major hit when the energy crises of 1973 and 1979 incited protests and strikes by many drivers who were upset by rising fuel prices.
Dysregulation and Further Growth
In 1980 the Motor Carrier Act was passed by President Carter. The Act decreased the governmental regulations on the industry which allowed owners of fleets and individual drivers more liberty in the management of their business. President Carter said this about the act: “This is historic legislation. It will remove 45 years of excessive and inflationary Government restrictions and red tape. It will have a powerful anti-inflationary effect, reducing consumer costs by as much as $8 billion each year. And by ending wasteful practices, it will conserve annually hundreds of millions of gallons of precious fuel. All the citizens of our Nation will benefit from this legislation.”
Now and the Future
The trucking industry has come to dominate the United States transportation industry, replacing the horses and carriages of the previous centuries, long lines of trains, and even exceeding air transport in volume and efficiency. Now the trucking industry is entering a new era with the rest of the digital age. There are now online blogs about trucking, websites and magazines that allow drivers to communicate with their peers across the world (like you’re doing right now), and the rise of electric trucks and self-driving vehicles. The trucking industry is still growing and changing, and its future is incredibly bright!
