USA: Testing the aluminium truck Ford F-150

* Michigan - Mixed crash-test results for aluminum Ford F-150s

-- A tough, independent crash test shows aluminum can be a safe material for pickup bodies. But two Ford F-150 models with different configurations — one a crew cab and the other an extended cab — scored far differently in safety tests... The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety on Thursday awarded Ford’s 2015 F-150 four-door crew cab its coveted Top Safety Pick. Its sister version, the two-door extended cab, got only a marginal rating in a test that measures what happens when the front corner of a vehicle hits a utility pole at 40 mph... F-150s are the only aluminum-bodied trucks on the market, and were the first full-size pickups to undergo IIHS testing of the so-called small overlap crash test...

... The test is more difficult than the head-on crashes conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It poses a challenge for the vehicle to manage crash energy... In the IIHS F-150 crew cab test, the occupant compartment remained intact. “The front-end structure crumpled in a way that spared the occupant compartment significant intrusion and preserved survival space for the driver,” IIHS said... In the IIHS test for the extended cab, the intruding structure after the crash “seriously compromised a driver’s survival space, resulting in a poor structural rating,” IIHS said... The toe pan, parking brake and brake pedal were pushed back about a foot toward the dummy, and the dashboard was jammed against the dummy’s lower legs... Tests suggested there would be a moderate risk of injuries to the right thigh, lower left leg and left foot in a real-world crash of this severity. The steering column was pushed back nearly 8 inches and came dangerously close to the dummy’s chest. The dummy’s head barely contacted the front air bag before sliding to the left and hitting the instrument panel...
(Photos by Insurance Institute for Highway Safety - 2015 Ford F-150 crew cab. This crash test duplicates what happens when the front corner of the vehicle hits a utility pole at 40 mph. In the crew cab, the dummy's position in relation to the door frame, steering wheel, and instrument panel after the crash test indicates that the driver's survival space was maintained well. But in the extended cab, the truck’s structure fared poorly) -- Auburn Hill, MICH, USA - The Detroit News, by David Shepardson and Michael Martinez - 30 July 2015

Truckmaker News USA: * Paccar's - * Caterpillar's

* Washington - Paccar rides strong truck sales to record second-quarter profit



-- Bellevue-based truck maker Paccar reported a record profit in the second quarter of this year, reflecting increased truck sales, especially in North America and Europe... The company’s quarterly financial report also showed record profit from Paccar parts division and robust results in the company’s financial-services division... Paccar delivered 41,600 trucks from April to June, a 23.4 percent increase compared with the second quarter of 2014. Deliveries in North America for the quarter were up 30.7 percent to 26,800. European deliveries were up almost 26 percent to 11,200 trucks, and other countries, including Mexico, South America and Australia, delivered 3,600 trucks, down 16 percent... Paccar shares were down 12 cents in afternoon trading Tuesday to $64.54, a decline of 0.18 percent...

(Photo: A Peterbilt truck by Paccar) -- Bellevue, WASH, USA - The Seattle Times, by Coral Garnick - July 28, 2015

* Texas - Caterpillar splits with Navistar, will design and build its own vocational trucks in



--The CT680 is Caterpillar’s latest vocational truck model, launched earlier this year in May... Caterpillar has announced a parting of ways with truck maker Navistar, ending a six-year partnership between the two companies that launched the Cat brand into the vocational truck market... Cat has worked with Navistar to design and build its line of vocational trucks, launching the CT660 in 2011, followed by the CT680 and CT681 since then... Beyond more control over the process, Cat customers will likely also appreciate that the move means its trucks will now be manufactured in the U.S.A. ... The CT lineup is currently built in Escobedo, Mexico, but manufacturing will be moved to Cat’s plant in Victoria, Texas... The Victoria plant currently manufactures the company’s excavators. Truck manufacturing is expected to add 200 jobs at the facility... Cat says the transition to Victoria will begin immediately with plans to begin production there in the first half of 2016...
(Photo: The CT680 is Caterpillar's latest vocational truck model, launched earlier this year in May) -- Vicgtoria, TXS, USA - Aggregates Manager, by Bobby Atkinson . July 28, 2015

Engine Maker News * USA: Cummins'

* Indiana - Diesel engine maker Cummins 2nd-qtr profit, revenue rise



-- Diesel engine maker Cummins Inc reported a 4 percent rise in quarterly revenue, boosted by distributor acquisitions in North America and stronger demand in truck and bus markets... Total revenue increased to $5.02 billion in the second quarter from $4.84 billion in the same period last year... Cummins' revenue from North America jumped 12 percent in the quarter, while international sales fell by 6 percent, dragged lower by a weak economy in Brazil... Net income attributable to Cummins rose to $471 million, or $2.62 per share, from $446 million, or $2.43 per share, a year earlier... Cummins expects full-year 2015 revenues to grow between 2 percent and 4 percent... Shares of Cummins rose nearly 4 percent to $128.55 in premarket trade...
Columbus, IN, USA - Reuters, by Meredith Davis and Jeffrey Benkoe - Jul 28, 2015

Trucks Efficiency * USA: Corporate leaderships for green trucks

* DC - PepsiCo and FedEx among leading brands calling for truck efficiency



-- Freight is the work horse of the global economy, ensuring that the products consumers want land on shelves or doorsteps any time they wish... With 70 percent of goods in the United States being moved by truck, freight is a key source of our fuel consumption and corporate greenhouse gas emissions. Today, freight also offers companies a key opportunity to show leadership on climate... In recent weeks, Ben &Jerry’s, Cummins Inc., Eaton Corp., FedEx, IKEA, PepsiCo and Waste Management have voiced strong support for the new fuel efficiency and emissions standards for medium and heavy-duty trucks... PepsiCo Chief Executive Indra Nooyi summed it up like this in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed post she co-authored with Environmental Defense Fund President Fred Krupp: “Less money spent on fuel means more to invest in our products, processes, people and communities” ... That kind of thinking is what we refer to as the business-policy nexus. It’s driving innovative companies to take the next step in corporate leadership, aligning corporate sustainability operations, strategy and policy... The next wave of business leadership must include helping to shape and support the regulatory and policy changes required to preserve the natural systems that people, communities and companies need to thrive...
(Photo by Eric Aldrich) -- Washington, DC, USA - Enviromental Defense Fund, by Tom Murray - July 22, 2015

Truckmaker News * India: Tata's

* India - Tata Motors to grow exports of trucks to offset slow India sales



-- Tata Motors Ltd, India's biggest automaker by revenue, plans to triple exports of its trucks and buses to countries in Asia and beyond to counter slow sales growth in India, it said on Wednesday... "This (exports) is something we are stressing heavily," said Ravi Pisharody, executive director of Tata's commercial vehicles business, who plans to grow exports to 150,000 vehicles in 3 to 4 years from 45,000 vehicles in the year that ended on March 31... The company, which mainly exports to neighboring nations Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, will look at increasing shipments to countries in the Middle East and Southeast Asia... Tata's exports of trucks and buses grew 39 percent in the April-June quarter to nearly 13,000 vehicles from a year ago, while domestic sales fell 1 percent over the same period to about 66,000 vehicles, industry data showed... Growth in sales of large trucks in India is largely linked to the economy and reflects a pick-up in industrial activities like mining and construction... While sales of medium and heavy commercial vehicles at Tata Motors grew 15 percent to more than 127,000 units in the fiscal year ended March 31, according to industry data, Pisharody said this was largely due to replacement of an ageing fleet of trucks by owners...

(REUTERS, by Vivek Prakash - Tata Motors logos are pictured outside their flagship showroom in Mumbai, India) -- Mumbai, India - Reuters, by AMAN SHAH - Jul 22, 2015

Truckers' Life * Australia: some of the places you go in the bush are just spectacular

* New South Wales - Throwing away long haul for a truck with a view


(Photo: Tumut, Australia)

-- Burnt out from years of driving interstate up the east coast, Robbie Caldwell headed for the forests... He has spent more years than he cares to remember driving up and down the east coast... More to the point, most of the 22 years of his married life were spent out on the highway... He drove for Iannelli Transport for 16 of those years, including a stint behind the wheel of a gold Kenworth T604 hauling a fridge van... Things went slowly downhill for Robbie, and he ended up in hospital. Once out of hospital he decided it was time for a change, so he went for his B-double licence... He scored a job with Monaro Logging, which harvests and hauls timber for the Forestry Corporation of New South Wales (FCNSW) in Bombala, as well as harvesting for PF Olsen in Tumut... Robbie has been with Monaro Logging for six years now. His current steed is a new Kenworth T909, one of six in the Monaro Logging fleet... Robbie says when he first started with Monaro Logging, he wasn’t sure if the job would suit him... "But I do like a bit of a challenge," he says...



(Photography by Peter Schlenk: The Monaro trucks are kept in tip-top condition)
... "Anyone can drive around with a single freezer van. It was good, but some of the places you go in the bush are just spectacular. When you are out near Tumut, you can look out and see forever" ...
Bombala, NSW, Australia - Owner Driver, by Peter Schlenk - 23 July 2015

The Canadian Trucking Show * In Winnipeg from July 18-19

* Manitoba - Canadian Trucking Show to be held July 18-19 at Winnipeg truck stop



-- The Canadian Trucking Show will be held July 18-19 at the Husky Travel Centre in Winnipeg with more than 40 vendors, live music, special guests, DJs, truck judging and light show, a fireworks display and a church service by Chaplain Len Reimer of Transport for Christ... The event will be a family affair and in addition to the shiny trucks on display, fireworks and vendors a play area will be available for children... Cars and motorcycles also will be on display as “toys transportation enjoys” ... Truck parking staging will take place all day Friday, July 17 with the show opening at 10 a.m. Saturday, July 18... Special guests on site during the show will be Ice Road Truckers...

(Photo: A real trucker on the Ice Road) -- Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN - The Trucker News Services - 13 July 2015

Thanks Trucking Industry * USA: If Trucks Stopped...

(Vi

deo by CDLLife - Oct 22, 2014)
-- How fast would the well-oiled machine known as America sputter and stall if truck drivers weren’t bringing us everything we need? The ATA says, “Pretty quick" ... In less than a week, hospitals will run out of basic medical supplies like insulin, bandages and blood. Runs on food and supply markets will eradicate any surplus of food, fuel and essentials... In less than a month, the entire healthcare system will grind to a halt for anything but the most vital of surgeries or the simplest of treatments. Every factory in North America will be offline and no one will be paid. Cities will become cesspools as garbage trucks cease to haul waste, and sewer trucks no longer bust the bilge-clogged water and sewer lines... Only the most politically connected rich and powerful will be able to locate and afford anything. Within a month, America transforms into a third world country, drowning under the weight of its crumbling infrastructure and waste... So the next time you see a truck driver, shake their hand and tell them “Thank you” ... They work hard so your family gets what they need, every day of the year...

The women behind the big rigs * New Zealand: .... 'I really don't like working with women. They shouldn't be in transport. They should be at home' ....

* Auckland - Four percent of all truck drivers in New Zealand are women

(Photo by ROBYN EDIE - Marilyn de Thierry finds driving her tanker on the open road liberating)
 ... Today, roughly four percent of all truck drivers in New Zealand are women, says Jackie Carroll, chair of the Women in Road Transport group. The licence statistics suggest it could be even lower: there are 3513 women with a class five licence, meaning they can drive vehicles weighing more than 25,000kg. Compare that to the 126,340 men who hold the same licence and you get a sense of the industry's gender weighting. At the first three companies de Thierry worked for, she was the first female driver they had ever hired... Those figures prompted Carroll, and others in the industry, to start Women in Road Transport two years ago. In July, then women's affairs minister Jo Goodhew launched the group's action plan, with the goals of increasing diversity, and making truck driving an appealing career for young women...

(Photo by DAVID WHITE/Fairfax NZ - Carr and Haslam staff take a break at smoko time -See the poster of a bikini girl behind one driver)

... The rumble of idling engines drowns out the chirping birds early on a Monday morning at the Carr and Haslam depot in Auckland's Otahuhu. As the sun rises, a crumbling factory building casts long shadows over the stationary trucks and cars that fill the yard. Nailed to a wall in the yard is a sign: "ALL GOOD THINGS COME BY TRUCK" ... Maureen Paurini arrives for her 7.30am shift wearing steel-cap boots with clean white socks, tight bike shorts and a yellow high-vis vest. She heads towards her truck, climbs the two steps to the cabin and sets up a cushion for her sore back. She slipped and fell off the 15m-long trailer earlier this year... For the past nine years, Paurini has driven for Carr and Haslam. Five or six days a week, she heads downtown to the Auckland wharf, loads up her trailer with cars and drives them to their destinations, whether that's somewhere around the city or down to Wellington. She keeps a bag of clothes in her car, just in case...

(Photo by DAVID WHITE/Fairfaz NZ - Marissa Urquhart and Maureen Paurini) 
... Paurini grew up near Lake Waikaremoana, "in the middle of the frigging bush", one of six children to a power-station maintenance manager father and a hostel manager mother. After heading to Australia in her 20s, she joined a touring carnival, working at the canteen. There were always trucks around. "When I left the showgrounds, I had all those trucks in my memory, and I thought, I'm sure I can drive one" ... Paurini pulls up at the first dealership, climbs down from her steering wheel and begins to unload the cars. As she works, a car salesman says: "I've got to tell you, she's the friendliest driver we get. She really is" ... Even after two decades of driving trucks, de Thierry still spots the double-take... If the double-takes can be amusing, the overt sexism is what really jars... Marissa Urquhart doesn't recall how long she was on the dole before she became a truck driver. Two years ago, she was a jobless, diabetic, solo mum of four, weighing 136kgs. The 39-year-old can't explain what happened exactly, but something switched inside her. She had always liked trucks, and knew the only way to get her licence was to get healthy. So she underwent bariatric surgery, lost the weight quickly (60 kgs in five months), and did a six-month driving course paid for by WINZ – which she feels guilty about, since other drivers paid their own way, but knows that at least she's now doing something with her life. She has found her place in the world behind the wheel of a truck... Urquhart says the men treat her with respect, and she hasn't seen any sexism, only support. As Urquhart merges onto the Auckland motorway, a rubbish truck drives past and toots. "Look at that," she says, smiling. "Another chick" ...
Auckland, NZ - Stuff.co.nz - 21 Dec 2014

TRUCKING COSTS * Australia - Pay rates increase, too registration fees

* ACT - New financial year means more money for employee drivers and higher registration fees for operators

-- Employee truck drivers will begin to receive a pay increase from this week, while trucking owners will need to scrape around for extra cash to cover higher vehicle registration fees... The start of the new financial year means a 2.5 per cent wage increase for drivers employed under an Award such as the Road Transport and Distribution Award or the Road Transport (Long Distance Operations) Award... For employees not on an award or an enterprise agreement, the national minimum wage for a full-time adult employee is now $17.29 an hour, or $656.90 a week... Meanwhile, heavy vehicle registration fees throughout Australia have risen by 0.6 per cent... The Federal Government has not increased the fuel excise, recently announcing it would stay frozen at 26.14 cents per litre for the 2015-2016 financial year... The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) has reminded employers about the wage increases and says they need to check the rates applicable to their workplace... 
Canberra, ACT, Australia - Owner Driver - 2 July 2015