The Trucker Newspaper - December 15-31, 2015

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26 • December 15-31, 2015 Perspective b Letters from page 23 b group, play golf, fish or become a member of ROMEO (retired old men eating out). I decided to drive for $$$ instead of an RV, lol. Never had a ticket, Never a DUI. No drugs. Never robbed a bank or been an ax murderer (no felonies), embezzler or smuggler! Have common sense and understand P&L, customer relationships and working from the bottom up. Would gladly treat any trucking company’s truck as if it were my own. I wash and wax my own cars and maintain them. After four months of detailed research, interviews with over 72 drivers, 41 recruiters and countless e-mails unanswered by trucking company owners, this is what I’ve learned: • No one is interested in men or women with similar situations, or experience to mine, as drivers. • They want to pay me almost nothing, or have me run as a team for 3-6 months • They’ll excuse felons, DUIs and accident candidates (no problem with that policy) but don’t consider responsible, professional men and woman looking for that “encore career” who could represent them to their clients when delivering or picking up a load. I also get a kick out of the pay policy: Giving senior drivers more cpm than rookies. How’s that working out? They may generate more gross profit on runs with “newbies,” and it helps offset the expense to senior drivers, but they end up with $150,000 rigs sitting in yards. Take the average pay of a rookie at 30 cpm vs. 45 cpm for a senior. Take the 15 cents difference x 120,000 miles and you get $18,000. The question is how much did it cost to have a $150,000 (tractor AND trailer) rig sitting in a yard when they could have run it and generated revenue for the last 52 weeks? — Larry Stocker 8 thetrucker.com Fourth annual Infrastructure Week to be nationwide May 16-23, 2016 THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES WASHINGTON —The nation’s largest organizations representing American business, labor and policy announced the fourth annual Infrastructure Week to be held the week of May 16-23, 2016. Infrastructure Week is a non-partisan, coordinated week of events and programming across the country designed to elevate Americans’ understanding of the role infrastructure — from passenger and freight transportation to water, electricity and broadband networks — plays in their lives. Infrastructure Week 2016 is led by a steering committee consisting of the AFL-CIO, the American Society of Civil Engineers, Building America’s Future, Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program, the National Association of Manufacturers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Value of Water Coalition. In addition to these organizations, Infrastructure Week has drawn nearly 100 national and local affiliate organizations from diverse sectors of the economy and communities across the U.S. to create an unprecedented and united coalition. Building America’s Future President Marcia Hale said Infrastructure Week 2015, held from May 11-15, was a huge success with more than 50 events convened by nearly 100 affiliates from Maine to Alaska, drawing dozens of major metropolitan mayors from around the country to Washington to urge Congress to act on infrastructure needs. Advocacy efforts delivered the week’s message of investing in America’s economy to more than 300 Congressional offices and Americans across the country sent more than 11,000 letters to Congress demanding action. Online, the conversation about Infrastructure Week established 41 million social media impressions and major news outlets and programs including The New York Times, Time magazine, New York Daily News, NPR, Bloomberg New Yorker, and “60 Minutes” featured infrastructure stories that week. Hale said that in 2016, Infrastructure Week will continue to highlight the lack of investment in America’s surface and aviation transportation, water and wastewater systems, and energy and broadband networks. Chronic underfunding has left the United States less globally competitive and weakened by potholes, corroded water mains and broken sewers, outdated transit systems and travel delays, she said, adding that Infrastructure Week 2016 will also tell the stories of successes from around the country and innovative solutions put forth by the public sector. Over the last several years, facing a widening investment gap and a lack of reliable federal support, some local and state leaders are finding innovative ways to develop their own infrastructure solutions. 8
Business December 15-31, 2015 • 27 ATA’s Truck Tonnage Index (Seasonally Adjusted; 2000=100) 135.0 130.0 125.0 120.0 115.0 110.0 107.5 OCT - 10 JAN - 11 APR - 11 JUL - 11 OCT - 11 JAN - 12 APR - 12 JUL - 12 OCT - 12 JAN - 13 Volvo Trucks layoff, weakening sales signal possible weak time for Class 8 Jack Whitsett jack.whitsett@thetrucker.com DUBLIN, Va. — Industry analysts pointed to a mass layoff at Volvo Trucks’ New River Valley Assembly Plant as a sign that Class 8 truck sales, already sliding, may be in free fall as an uncertain new year looms. Volvo said December 2 it will lay off 734 production workers in February due to a slowdown in demand. “This was the weakest November order activity since 2009 and was a major disappointment,” said Don Ake, FTR vice president of Commercial Vehicles, “coming in significantly below expectations. Orders are expected to be APR - 13 JUL - 13 OCT - 13 JAN - 14 APR - 14 JUL - 14 OCT - 14 JAN - 15 APR - 15 JUL - 15 OCT - 15 better, but not necessarily good, the next two months.” November Class 8 orders are expected to be 60 percent below the same period last year, ACT Research of Columbus, Indiana, reported. “The November orders are very concerning,” Ake said. “People were optimistic when orders held up well during the summer. Now we get into the peak order season and have the lowest orders of the year. The weak orders are the reason for the recent OEM announcements regarding production cutbacks and layoffs. Truck inventories are high and See Volvo on p33 m Tonnage up 0.7 percent; year-to-date numbers up 3.3 percent over last year THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES ARLINGTON, Va. — The American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index increased 0.7 percent in September, following a decrease of 0.9 percent during August. In September, the index equaled 135.1 (2000=100), up from 134.1 in August. The all-time high of 135.8 was reached in January 2015. Compared with September 2014, the seasonally-adjusted index increased 3.1 percent, which was above the year-over-year increase of 2.1 percent in August. Year-to-date through September, compared with the same period last year, tonnage was up 3.3 percent. The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 138.9 in September, which was 1.4 percent above the previous month (136.9). “The see-saw pattern in truck freight tonnage continued again in September, except that the gain didn’t fully wipe out August’s decline,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “However, over the last few months tonnage See Tonnage on p36 m Courtesy: VOLVO TRUCKS Volvo still intends to move forward with its plan to spend $38.1 million in upgrades at its New River Valley production plant. Courtesy: ARCBEST JUDY McREYNOLDS ArcBest, CEO honored by Women’s Forum of New York THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES FORT SMITH, Ark. — ArcBest Corporation and President and CEO Judy R. McReynolds were honored November 19 by the Women’s Forum of New York at the third biennial Breakfast of Corporate Champions for achieving at least 20 percent female representation on their board. ArcBest, which has a representation of 27.3 percent women on the board, was applauded as a corporate game changer for making special efforts to advance women in the boardroom. “I’m pleased that ArcBest is being recognized for its strides toward a more diverse board,” McReynolds said. “We believe in appointing the best people to the board and at the executive level. We’ve been fortunate to have strong women candidates fill these positions. As long as companies focus on putting the best people in leadership, we’ll see more women occupying those roles.” ArcBest board members include McReynolds, Janice E. Stipp and Kathy D. McElligott. Stipp, who serves on the board’s Audit Committee, is chief financial officer of Rogers Corporation, an engineered materials firm that enables clean energy, Internet connectivity and protection applications. McElligott is executive vice president and chief information and technology officer of McKesson Corp., the largest pharmaceutical distributor in North America, according to a news release. “We commend ArcBest Corporation and their work toward achieving a greater gender balance in their boardroom,” said Janice Ellig, co CEO of Chadick Ellig and chair of the event. “ArcBest knows that more women on boards is smart business and their success is an inspiration to others.” The event brought together an audience of more than 500, including CEOs and directors along with business leaders, government officials and media leaders. Following the awards presentation, Judy Woodruff of “PBS News Hour” moderated a CEO panel discussion on why and how top U.S. companies should strive for gender parity. Additionally, this year’s breakfast expanded to include a follow-up symposium which included moderated sessions by Moira Forbes of ForbesWomen, Cyrus Sanati of Fortune.com and Susanna Schrobsdorff of TIME magazine. The symposium closed with a luncheon keynote speech by Securities and Exchange Commission Chair, Mary Jo White, who was introduced by Michael Fucci, Chairman of the Board, Deloitte LLP. ArcBest Corporation is a logistics and transportation firm and parent company to ABF Freight, ABF Logistics, Panther Premium Logistics, FleetNet America, U-Pack and ArcBest Technologies. 8
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