I-35 border checkpoint closed when semi truck hits cement post

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Truck stop paying for additional traffic lights as part of development approval

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NYC congestion pricing program halted following trucking group’s lawsuit

Trucking news and briefs for Thursday, June 6, 2024:

New York governor halts congestion pricing program

Following a lawsuit filed last week by the Trucking Association of New York (TANY) against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) over its congestion pricing framework in New York City, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has directed the MTA to halt the program’s implementation.

The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York on May 30, argues that the congestion pricing policy unfairly targets trucking and logistics companies, which are charged far higher rates than passenger vehicles.

According to local reports Wednesday morning, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is working to indefinitely postpone the implementation of the tolling plan, which was set to take effect June 30, citing “unintended consequences for New Yorkers at this time.”

A court document addressing U.S. District Court Judge Lewis J. Liman filed on behalf of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority informed the court that Hochul directed MTA to pause implementation of the program.

“As a result, at this time, we no longer anticipate implementation of the Program on the prior expected implementation date of June 30, 2024.”

If the plan were to effect, vehicles would be charged a toll to enter the Congestion Relief Zone (formally referred to as the Manhattan Central Business District) — the area of Manhattan south of and including 60th Street, excluding the FDR Drive, West Side Highway/Route 9A, and the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel connections to West Street.

Large trucks (tractor-trailers) using E-ZPass will be charged $36 to enter the area during the peak period, which is defined as 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends. Trucks will be charged $9 to enter the zone during the overnight periods. Single-unit box trucks will be charged $24 during peak hours and $6 overnight.

Through its lawsuit, TANY was seeking a declaratory judgment that the tolling program is unconstitutional and a preliminary injunction preventing the implementation of the toll.

[Related: NY trucking group files lawsuit over ‘unfair’ congestion tolls on trucks]

42-year Atlas Van Lines exec announces retirement

Following a dedicated 42-year career at Atlas Van Lines (CCJ Top 250, No. 67), Mary Beth Johnson, Vice President, Business Development, announced her retirement, effective June 7.

She will be succeeded in the role by the newly hired Lauren Piekos, who brings a wealth of experience from the consumer packaging goods industry to Atlas, the company said.

“It has been my privilege to work beside Mary Beth throughout my entire career at Atlas. On behalf of the Atlas team, we wish her happiness and joy during her retirement,” said Ryan McConnell, President and COO of Atlas Van Lines. “We look forward to Lauren joining the team to complete a seamless knowledge transfer and transition of leadership from Mary Beth and look forward to the new places she will help guide us.”

During her tenure, Johnson led Atlas through multiple industry-changing initiatives to ensure the organization remained a leading van line. Her leadership has been felt in departments from Revenue Management to Business Development to Marketing, and always made a difference.

To ensure a smooth transition for the Atlas team, agents, and customers, Piekos has worked closely with Johnson while moving into her new role. Piekos spent more than a decade in the consumer packaging goods industry and has extensive franchise market lending skills. Her knowledge in the national franchise and consumer packaging markets and her experience through multiple global assignments provide direct customer relocation knowledge for Atlas’ services.

Jetco exec named TCA’s Safety Professional of the Year

The Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) has awarded Jetco Delivery’s Vice President of Safey, Jeff McKinney, as its 2024 TCA Safety Professional of the Year Award winner. The announcement was made during TCA’s 43rd Annual Safety & Security Meeting in Indianapolis.

The award is presented to a trucking industry professional whose actions and achievements have made a profound contribution to enhancing safety on North America’s highways, TCA said.

McKinney brings more than 25 years of experience in the trucking industry, starting as a driver and night warehouse manager. He joined Werner Enterprises in 1994, rising from company driver to Safety Supervisor, where he managed DOT compliance and safety meetings. From 2001 to 2002, he worked as a lead trainer at United Driver Services, providing CDL training and defensive driving courses. As Director of Safety and Operations Manager at General Logistics from 2002 to 2007, he significantly reduced accidents and costs.

At Jetco Delivery since 2007, McKinney’s initiatives, including early adoption of ELDs, cut accident frequency by 50%. He earned his Certified Director of Safety designation from the North American Transportation Management Institute in 2007. He has led Jetco to numerous safety awards and is an active participant and presenter at industry conferences. His leadership has also improved regional road safety, significantly reducing distracted driving, commercial vehicle, and intersection crashes.

Through his leadership and commitment to safety, McKinney has left a lasting impact on the transportation industry, ensuring the well-being of drivers and promoting a culture of safety within organizations, TCA added.

“One of the things that makes Jeff shine is his ability to make safety approachable and accessible to all,” said Jetco’s Strategic Maintenance Director, Amanda Schuier, who nominated Jeff for the award. “Jeff maintains a ‘see, say, do’ mentality. I frequently spot him out with our professional drivers, diesel technicians, office staff, and more. His example helps us all live and breathe safety every single day, across all departments of the company.”

Jetco Delivery President Kyle Kristynik agreed.

“Accountability is critical to any organization and one of our core values at Jetco,” he said. “I appreciate how Jeff incorporates accountability into Jetco’s safety culture. He partners well with our Operations team, encouraging a culture in which everyone – not just a single department – owns safety. Jeff also recognizes that for everyone to be successful at their jobs, they must have the training and tools to execute.”

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GreenPower launches new electric refrigerated box truck

GreenPower Motor Company today revealed a new electric medium-duty truck with temperature-controlled box and a payload capacity of up to 5,500 lb.

The EV Star ReeferX was introduced at the Home Delivery World trade show and is available for order now. It has a range of up to 150 miles (240 km) and the body features multi-temperature zones. It can be fitted with low- or high-voltage refrigeration units, and its one-piece box design provides easy repairs, quick assembly and consistent insulation for a longer life, the company claims.

The box comes with three-inch thick polyethylene terephthalate foam for insulation, which is made from recycled materials and mitigates temperature variations.

The truck is built on GreenPower’s EV Star Cab and Chassis platform and the truck is aimed at mid- to final-mile refrigerated delivery and catering fleets. It can haul fresh and frozen foods, flowers and pharmaceuticals and other temperature-sensitive goods.

“The EV Star ReeferX offers customers a unique, modern and versatile all-electric commercial vehicle that boasts a higher payload capacity,” said Brendan Riley, president of GreenPower.

“Through this offering, we are able to provide fleet owners a reliable way to deliver refrigerated and frozen goods on daily routes. Combining exceptional performance and efficiency, the EV Star ReeferX is purpose-built to be an electric refrigerated vehicle, making it a superior product for a wide use of applications requiring multi-temperature zones, without the sticker shock.”

The body can be spec’d with an optional rear roll-up door as well as a side door. GP Truck Body is the body supplier, but GreenPower says it has streamlined warranty claims and service offerings, giving customers a “one-stop shop” for their purchasing, manufacturing and service needs.

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Worth relishes ice road trucking adventure

Very few people can say they’ve driven on Canadian ice roads and hauled road trains in the Australian Outback. Andrew Worth has done both, and has been trucking half his life. And he’s just 34 years old.

Ice road trucking is not for the faint of heart. Worth has experienced some scary situations – from encountering multiple blizzards and driving in zero visibility to being stuck in ditches with snow piling around the truck.

Strong winds and blizzards above the Arctic Circle can be deadly. It is also brutally cold with windchills dropping temperatures to a mind-numbing -70 C. “If you need to go to the toilet and must get out of the truck, you have to keep your hands on the truck. If you take two steps away, you turn around and the truck’s gone. You can’t see it. You’d be dead within the hour. You gotta be real careful,” Worth said.

Worth, born in England, moved to New Zealand with his family when he was a teenager. He began trucking at 17, hauling carcasses out of a slaughterhouse in a little truck. He worked his way up through the graduated system to a full trucking licence by age 19 and then drove milk and fuel tankers and logging trucks.

Looking for adventure, he headed to Australia to drive the famed road trains. “I was 26 years old, the youngest guy in the company.”

Fully loaded with iron ore, a road train with four Super-B trailers weighs 210 tonnes. It takes eight minutes to get from zero to a top speed of 90 km/h. And from that speed, it takes 1.8 km to come to a stop.

He’d do 16-hour runs for eight weeks at a time with two weeks off. Worth hauled iron ore from a mine to the port and would then take the empty trailers back. Half the trip was on paved roads and the other was on red dirt.

After getting his fill of driving in 45C heat and changing up to five tires a day on the 100-tire rig he operated, Worth set his sights on North America.

Winnipeg-based Jade Transport sponsored him, and he’s been hauling its tankers in Canada and the U.S. for the past six years.

It was the lure of the ice roads that drew him here, and he got his first taste in 2023, hauling propane well north of the Arctic Circle for five months.

He’d head out from Whitehorse to Dawson City, Yukon, a 570-km trip through mountains that takes about seven hours. Then, he’d hop on to the Dempster Highway for a 740-km run into Inuvik, N.W.T.

“The best way to describe it is a black hole into the Arctic. It’s very intimidating on the Dempster to get to the Arctic Ocean. It’s thick mountain terrain, ice road crossings, 13% grades for 14 km at a time. You cross the Arctic Circle and drive hundreds of kilometers north. There’s no phone service, no GPS, no nothing. You’re by yourself,” Worth said.

Besides a couple of small road crews with minimal equipment, there is no help at hand. Road closures are common due to snowstorms, blizzards and sometimes crashes when trucks hit snowdrifts. Drivers must also keep their eyes peeled for wildlife.

He was once stuck for seven-and-a-half days in his truck during a blizzard. His truck also broke down a few times and he’s managed to fix it on the go.

“You can hear the ice crack, it’s scary. You can’t call a mechanic out there. It’s mentally challenging.”

Andrew Worth, Jade Transport driver

Worth recalls his air lines snapped on a frozen lake whilst hauling a loaded trailer. “I had to get out and fix it all by myself sitting on a frozen lake underneath the trailer. You can hear the ice crack, it’s scary. You can’t call a mechanic out there. It’s mentally challenging.”

You’d think it would be dangerous to drive at night, but he said sometimes it is easier to do so to break the contrast. The treeline disappears once past the Arctic Circle.

“The sky is white, mountains white, road white, everything’s white. It’s hard to see where you are. Sometimes it’s just easier to travel at night.”

This year, he hauled fuel from Yellowknife, N.W.T. into diamond mines situated about 400 km to the north on ice roads for two months. “That’s 400 km of ice and frozen lakes,” Worth said.

The trucks run in convoys at 25 km/h and 300 meters apart. “When you’re moving, you’re pushing a wave underneath you. You break that wave and pressure ridges will rise and impact the ice you are driving on.”

He worked long days the whole time he was there with little rest. Drivers are paid by the load, which incentivizes the work and managing fatigue is key.

Worth does these jobs because he enjoys the adventure. When he is in a sticky situation, he sometimes wonders why he’s doing it. “You do it, it feels good because not many people do it.”

He also likes the old school truckers and their values up on the ice roads. “There’s good guys out there, and I learned a lot.”

And he’s passing on that information to the next generation of drivers. He’s a driver-trainer at Jade Transport, mentoring new truckers.

The world is this adventurer’s playground and he’s presently happy with the freedom trucking delivers, enjoying a different journey daily and seeing new places. Down the road, he may even dabble with heavy haulage work and oversize loads.

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Kentucky company slapped with $1.25 million fine for selling ‘defeat devices’

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Men caught stealing diesel at a Love’s by purchasing “not ordinary” amount

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Saskatchewan Class 1 driver exemption raises safety concerns, STA says

The Saskatchewan Trucking Association (STA) said it is “deeply concerned about the potential safety implications” of the newly announced exemption for Class 1 drivers in the province, effective May 21.

The exemption allows temporary foreign workers from jurisdictions with reciprocal agreements with the Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI), employed in the agricultural sector, to operate Class 1 vehicles in the province for a period of 12 months using their home jurisdiction’s Class 1-equivalent licence.

While the STA acknowledges the importance of facilitating the labor needs of the agricultural industry, it expressed its reservations. “The absence of competency-based testing or experience requirements from the reciprocity jurisdiction raises significant safety concerns for all road users in Saskatchewan,” an STA news release said.

“Safety on our roads is paramount, and ensuring that all drivers, regardless of their origin, meet rigorous competency standards is essential for protecting lives and preventing accidents. The temporary nature of this exemption does not alleviate our concerns, as even a short-term compromise on safety standards can have long-lasting repercussions,” the release added.

“The safety of our roads and highways is non-negotiable,” said Susan Ewart, STA president. “While we understand the need to address labor shortages in the agricultural sector, we cannot compromise on safety. All drivers must demonstrate their ability to operate Class 1 vehicles safely through comprehensive testing and experience requirements.”

Agriculture industry’s labor requirements

Documents obtained by CBC News revealed the province is allowing foreign agriculture workers from 40 countries to drive on their home country’s licence for up to a year, until May 21, 2025, according to a news report.

Those countries include several European countries, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Portugal and Taiwan.

The STA urged the provincial government to reconsider the exemption and implement measures that prioritize safety without hindering the agricultural industry’s ability to access necessary labor.

“We remain committed to working collaboratively with all stakeholders to find solutions that balance the needs of the economy with the safety of our communities,” the STA said.

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