EnRoute
Headlines From The Vehicle Renting and Leasing Industry
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Top Stories
Legislation that would exempt Canadian cross-border trucking companies and auto parts manufacturers that do not have permanent establishment in the state of Michigan from having the pay the Michigan Business Tax (MBT) has been signed into law by Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm. FULL STORY
-
The Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration’s proposed EOBR rule was sent to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget for final review in November 2008 and it now appears that it has failed to make it to the table during the last working days of the Bush Administration. The rule will now be decided by the Obama administration. FULL STORY
-
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has been cleared the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to begin enforcing on July 17, 2009 its regulations to reduce particulate matter in transport refrigeration units (TRUs). FULL STORY
Technology Trends
-
The ParaLift PST lift axle is Hendrickson’s newest lift axle with improved driveline clearance and wheel cut. FULL STORY
Volvo Powertrain North America intends to meet the deadline for installing OBD systems on “one family” in their heavy-duty engine lineup starting in 2010 by installing the full OBD system in its 13 L Mack MP8 and Volvo D13. FULL STORY
-
Xatanet 4.3 is the next version of XATA Corp.’s on-demand fleet operations software with new features and enhanced tools that will give fleet managers a clearer view of the day-to-day operations of their fleets in order to improve vehicle utilization and performance. FULL STORY
Briefly
Comdata Corp. has been selected by Donlen Corporation as its preferred fleet card provider. . .Volvo Trucks North America has announced it will award $25,000 each to two truck fleets with the best driving records in 2008 and the money will be awarded to help fund additional safety activities at the winning fleets. Complete rules and entry forms are at http://www.volvotruckssafetyaward.com/. . .Double Coin tires has added Idealease to its National Account Fleet Program and also extended the relationship between Double Coin and Navistar. . .Thermo King Corp. announced that its dealerships in Springfield, MO and Tulsa, OK, were sold on Dec. 31 to John T. Cooper and R. Wayne Smith III. The names of these dealerships have changed to Thermo King of Springfield and Thermo King of Tulsa, but the operations will remain in the same locations. . .Donaldson Co. recently recognized a 15-year milestone for the introduction of its Ultra-Web nanofiber filtration technology into its engine products. . .J. J. Keller & Associates has named Harrold Black of Trex Co. Inc. as the 2008 KellerOnline Safety Professional of the Year (SPOTY). . .PACCAR Leasing Company continues its expansion with the announcement of 13 new locations throughout Canada and the U.S.. . .PeopleNet has formed a partnership with Iridium to offer satellite communications as an option alongside its wireless network, allowing the company to offer universal coverage to its fleet customers across the continent. . .Daimler Trucks AG has agreed to make trucks and engines in China with that country’s largest truckmaker, Beiqi Fonton Motor Co.
People on the Move
Dean Vicha has been promoted to vice president of member services for NationaLease. . .Karmak has named Lloyd Healy as the new director of customer support. . .Brian McVeigh, general manager of GM Fleet & Commercial Operations will be retiring effective March 1. Jim Campbell, director of retail incentives has been named to replace McVeigh. . .Fleet One has hired Brian McLarty as the newest member of the Fleet One Local sales team and trick Eakins and Ashli Leonardo are the newest members of the Fleet One Factoring sales team.
Taking $tock
A look at truck transportation-industry Fortune 500 public companies:
| Company | Symbol (Click for Chart) |
01/21 Close | Two Week Performance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ArvinMeritor | ARM | $2.23 | $0.03 | 1.36% |
| Avis Budget Group Inc. | CAR | $0.82 | $0.16 | 24.24 |
| Caterpillar Inc. | CAT | $39.54 | $1.23 | 3.18% |
| Cummins Inc. | CMI | $26.14 | $2.09 | 8.69% |
| Dana | DAN | $0.60 | $0.05 | 9.09% |
| Eaton | ETN | $47.20 | $0.20 | 0.43% |
| General Electric | GE | $13.03 | $0.10 | 0.77% |
| Goodyear Tire & Rubber | GT | $6.03 | $0.30 | 5.24% |
| PACCAR Inc. | PCAR | $27.23 | $1.08 | 4.13% |
| Ryder | R | $33.98 | $1.72 | 5.36% |
SOURCE: Yahoo! Finance and bigcharts.com
Money Matters
Nassau Asset Management has reported that truck repossessions for trucks and tractor trailers declined by 25 percent in 2008 compared to the previous year. FULL STORY
Trucking analysts are reporting that a total of 785 trucking companies with a combined fleet of about 39,000 trucks went out of business in the third quarter of 2008, bringing the number of company trucks idled in the first nine months of 2008 to more than 127,000, or 6.5 percent of the industry. FULL STORY
News From TRALA
Promote Your Company through TRALA's 2009 Driver of the Year Award
For over 23 years, TRALA has recognized men and women who achieve the highest level of excellence in professional truck driving and demonstrate our industry’s continuing commitment to highway safety and security. We invite you to continue this tradition and nominate your best driver as a candidate for TRALA’s 2009 Driver of the Year Award. To download an application, please click here. Deadline for nominations is January 23, 2009. For more information, contact TRALA’s Shannon Murray at smurray@trala.org or (703) 299-9120.