The Trucker Newspaper - December 15-31, 2015

thetrucker.com
Business December 15-31, 2015 • 29
Minimizer continues growth, adds 4
territories to distribution network
THE TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
BLOOMING PRAIRIE, Minn. — Minimizer,
a provider of heavy truck products, continues
to grow more than three decades after its
inception.
Since the beginning of 2015, the company
has added four new territories to its distribution
map, bringing the total number to 16.
“We train our distributors to sell Minimizer
products, but we’ve got so many distributors
now that we need more territory managers to
make it manageable. So we broke up our map
into smaller territories,” Minimizer CEO Craig
Kruckeberg said. “We’ve also brought on board
two regional managers. It’s exciting, because
our team is growing all the time.”
Minimizer started in 1984 with Dick Kruckeberg
selling the company’s now well-known
poly fender out of the back of his truck.
Today, the Minnesota-based business offers
numerous heavy truck products, and is once
again on pace to break its own sales records.
“We’re proud to be an American familyowned
company for more than three decades,
but we’re even more proud to hire American
workers, which are the backbone of our country,”
Kruckeberg said.
Minimizer provides aftermarket solutions
for truck parts, including poly truck fenders,
toolboxes, custom floor mats, mud flaps, truck
maintenance products and other truck accessories.
Kruckeberg said Minimizer uses durable
materials and robotic production technology to
create an industry standard that allows them to
offer the longest guarantee in the industry.
For more information visit Minimizer.com
or e-mail info@minimizer.com.
FMCSA allowing German driver
on U.S. roads for Daimler testing
WASHINGTON — Concluding that the
process for obtaining a German CDL is “comparable
to or as effective as the U.S. CDL requirements,”
the Department of Transportation
December 4 granted a German truck driver permission
to drive on U.S. roads without a stateissued
U.S. CDL.
Michael Seitter, a German citizen who
holds a German CDL, will be able to operate
commercial motor vehicles for Daimler Trucks
North America. Seitter, who must be accompanied
by a U.S. CDL holder familiar with the
routes driven, will “support Daimler field tests
to meet future vehicle safety and environmental
requirements and to promote the development
of technology and advancements in vehicle
safety systems and emissions reductions,” according
to a Federal Register notice published
by DOT’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
Seitter is the sixth German CDL
holder to be granted a waiver to test drive for
Daimler since 2012.
Daimler told the FMCSA in its petition that
Seitter will “typically” drive only about six
hours per day for two consecutive days and no
more than 200 miles per day “for a total of 400
miles during a two-day period on a quarterly
Business Briefs
basis.” Daimler plans call for 90 percent of the
tests to be driven on interstate highways, with
the rest occurring on two-lane state highways.
Seitter is not eligible to obtain a state-issued
U.S. CDL because only residents of a state can
apply for the license, the notice stated. Daimler
included documentation showing that Seitter
possesses a safe German driving record.
When driving, Seitter must be in possession
of his German CDL and the federal exemption
document, the Federal Register notice stated.
The exemption is valid for two years.
NASTC recognizes Wisconsin’s Kretz
Truck Brokerage as broker of the year
NASHVILLE, Tenn. —The National
Association of Small Trucking Companies
(NASTC) named Kretz Truck Brokerage of
Antigo, Wisconsin, broker of the year October
29. The designation, called the NASTC Best of
the Best Brokers Award, was presented here at
NASTC’s 25th annual conference, said Buster
Anderson, executive vice president of the organization.
“As a recipient of this prestigious award,
Kretz Truck Brokerage has distinguished themselves
as the best of our broker group that includes
over 250 of the best brokers in the country,”
Anderson said. Kretz has been in business
since 1989 and moves in excess of 200
loads per week all over the country, he added.
They have been a NASTC member for over 14
years and have always been a big supporter of
NASTC’s efforts to improve broker-carrier relations,
Anderson said.
NASTC represents more than 6,000 trucking
companies in the U.S. and Canada that
employ over 75,000 drivers collectively. For
the benefit of their trucking company members
NASTC publishes a “Best Brokers” directory
annually to assist their members in locating
quality freight brokers to help them keep their
trucks loaded, the organization said.
FTR Shippers Conditions Index near
neutral for September at -0.5 reading
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Transportation
analyst firm FTR’s Shippers Conditions Index
for September registered a near neutral reading
of -0.5, reflecting benign conditions for shippers,
the company stated November 24.
The index is expected to start a steady downward
trajectory during the fourth quarter of 2015
and through 2016, reflecting the current expectations
for freight haulers to institute increased
pricing toward the end of next year, said Jonathan
Starks, director of transportation analysis at
FTR, adding that a portion of the index is based
on forward-looking expectations, so it will rise
or fall based on future probabilities.
See Briefs on p30 m