News

California wildlife agencies are turning to trucks to move some 30 million young Chinook salmon hundreds of miles to the Pacific Ocean because record droughts have left California rivers too low for natural migration. Four climate-controlled trucks were the first convoy of the migration effort, each hauling 130,000 three-inch smolts from a federal hatchery 180…

The U.S. DOT’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) recently announced a proposal that would require interstate commercial truck and bus companies to use Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs) to record their Hours-of-Service (HOS). According to FMCSA, the proposed rulemaking would significantly reduce the paperwork burden associated with hours-of-service recordkeeping for interstate truck and bus drivers…

Appearing before the U.S. Ninth Circuit Appeals Court in early March, the U.S. DOT testified that federal preemption does not prevent California’s meal-and-rest regulations from applying to truck drivers. “The California law is squarely within the states’ traditional power to regulate the employment relationship and to protect worker health and safety. Moreover, it is a…

The U.S. and Canada recently launched a pilot program that allows American customs officers to inspect U.S.-bound cargo trucks still in Canada; a move both countries hope will smooth the flow of goods at the borders. The pilot, launched in late February at the Peace Bridge linking Buffalo, New York and Fort Erie, Ontario, is…

With the U.S. Highway Trust Fund heading toward insolvency, Congress and the trucking industry are lining up on opposite sides of a battle over tolls on American interstate highways. The Alliance for Toll-Free Interstates (AFTI) is an anti-tolling group that includes trucking industry members FedEx, UPS, Old Dominion, the American Trucking Associations, all 50 state…

President Barack Obama recently directed his administration to issue the next round of fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas standards for medium to heavy-duty vehicles by March 2016. Obama said the action would benefit the economy through lower consumer costs and the development of new technologies. The new standards will mean “thousands of dollars in savings…

A Mexican trucking trade association has filed for arbitration against the U.S. seeking $30 billion for non-compliance with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) by not fully opening its borders for truck trade. Mexico’s CANACAR transport association says 30,000 Mexican truckers have been affected by the closed border and have signed onto the group’s…

Still clawing its way of out of a recessionary period, the U.S. economy continues to make a slow climb back to health. Unemployment moved lower in January but job growth is weakening, according to new U.S. Labor Department figures. Payrolls increased by 113,000 jobs in January, better than a December gain of 75,000, but less…

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) recently announced a proposed rule to establish a drug and alcohol clearinghouse for all CDL holders. FMCSA says the clearinghouse would help improve roadway safety by making it easier to determine whether a truck or bus driver is prohibited from operating a commercial motor vehicle for failing to comply…

Two Midwestern congressmen have introduced legislation that would make it easier for long haul truckers to use natural gas as a fuel. Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO) and Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE) recently introduced a trio of bills they say will make long haul trucking safer, more convenient and more cost effective. The three bills would…