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Scania Group Press Release / November 21, 2018 Gas-fuelled and electric trucks will be exempt from all MAUT road toll charges in Germany during 2019 and 2020. Additionally, some truck buyers can benefit from a subsidy of up to EUR 12,000 for LNG trucks and up to EUR 8,000 for CNG trucks. Scania has already experienced greater interest in CNG and LNG trucks among German customers. “Significant CO2 reductions in combination with better economics drive the shift to sustainable transportation solutions,” says Christian Hottgenroth, Sales Director for Trucks at Scania Deutschland Österreich. “We welcome the toll exemption since it gives our customers an additional incentive to invest in gas vehicles.” Gas-fuelled vehicles have so far failed to make significant inroads in the German market. One reason is that the country has been ill-served by filling stations. In fact, the country’s very first permanent public LNG filling station was only opened last month in Hamburg. In addition, there are three mobile LNG filling stations in use and the next permanent public LNG filling station will open in Berlin later this month. There are now plans for a rapid expansion of filling stations with 10–12 facilities being established. However, these will take at least eight months before they are up and running and the MAUT exemption goes into force from January 2019. The legislation encompasses vehicles that operate on CNG (Compressed Natural Gas), LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) as well as battery electric vehicles. Considering distances on toll roads, the MAUT exemption will be most favourable for long-distance transport hauliers. For heavy 5-axle Euro 6 trucks the coming MAUT rates will be raised from 13.5 eurocents per kilometre to 18.7 eurocents, which gas and electric vehicles can avoid altogether. For a long-distance truck with an annual mileage of 100,000 kilometres on toll roads, the annual savings amount to EUR 18,700 per year if the gas truck is taken into operation from January 2019. With these savings, the customer can look forward to a positive business case. .

Ted, did the kings and queens of old ever care what the masses thought? No. Do today's politicians, in any country, actually care what the masses think? No.

Two nice conventional cab (bonneted) Scania trucks.

Scania Group Press Release / November 20, 2018 Erling Rolstad started to drive trucks at the age of 19. The fact that both his parents were truck drivers – the profession even reaches back as far as his great-grandfather – influenced his interest in vehicles. When he won the Scania Driver Competitions national final in Norway in 2015, it felt like a great achievement that the skills he gained as a truck driver could take him to the big final. .

Volvo Trucks Press Release / November 20, 2018 In a landmark agreement between Volvo Trucks and Norwegian mining company Brønnøy Kalk AS, six autonomous Volvo FH trucks will transport limestone over a five-kilometre stretch in a mine. Tests of this solution have been carried out successfully and will continue throughout 2018 to become fully operational by the end of 2019. The deal represents Volvo Trucks’ first commercial autonomous transport solution that will run in a real operation. It is a new solution whereby the customer buys a transport service where Volvo Trucks takes full responsibility for the delivery of the limestone to the crusher. . .

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Paul, Ted and Timmy.....need to watch your back. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-46269876

Scania Group Press Release / November 19, 2018 Finnish forester’s dedication to continuous improvement sees it using Scania Suomi’s driver training coaches. Finnish forestry transporter Puukuljetus Vesala’s drivers are well known in the province of Ostrobothnia for their excellent fuel-saving efforts behind the wheel. Despite those good reputations, the company decided to use Scania Suomi’s driver training coaches. “I wanted to see if we could save fuel,” explains Managing Director Jarkko Vesala. “Our drivers’ fuel consumption performances varied and we wanted to identify individual strengths and weaknesses. The training allowed each driver to identify which aspects of their driving habits they needed to improve.” You never stop learning Of course, Vesala was aware that professional drivers might be sceptical about the need for further training. “One might think that after 20 years of driving a driver knows just about everything. I am no exception myself; I used to think that way. However, over the years the vehicle technology has developed enormously, and I need to know more to get the full benefit of all these new features.” After consulting with his drivers, Vesala found that most welcomed the chance for some coaching. So they and the company’s entire fleet of five four-axle timber trucks arrived at Scania in Kokkola to take Scania Driver Training. First they drove their trucks, then they studied driving theory and then they went on a test drive, making use of their newly-acquired skills. How to achieve a lasting improvement However, the training did not end there. Over the next year, each driver received a bi-monthly report outlining their driving habits, along with suggestions for improvements. Each driver was assigned a personal trainer who discussed the results with them. “Everyone can drive well for one day, but a good driver performs at a consistently high level, month after month. That’s why a full year’s training is important to achieve a lasting improvement,” says Vesala. All five of Puukuljetus Vesala’s trucks are made by Scania. That means they are similarly equipped to enable drivers to easily switch from one truck to another. Jarkko Vesala is the third-generation owner of the family business. With more than a quarter of a century of experience, he was loading timber trucks when some of his colleagues were riding mopeds. Did driver training help him? “Absolutely. The biggest surprise was how much of the time we spent idling. Before training, idling was at between 15 and 18 percent and now it’s down to between five and seven percent. Today, it feels bad if someone leaves the ignition on at a petrol station. That’s equal to a very expensive cup of coffee!” Making a safe and sustainable difference Before training, the company lacked guidelines for driving speeds. Since the training these have been set at 80–82 km/h. Previously, speed was unnecessarily high when driving without loads. The company’s drivers are also planning ahead more often now, and according to the Scania Fleet Management system hard braking has significantly declined. “When driving a 76 metric tonne (167,551 pound) tractor and trailer combination, which is permitted in Finland, it’s important to know when to start coasting. Anticipation also increases safety,” says Vesala. Overall, the training scheme has evened out the drivers’ fuel-saving performance, which Vesala appreciates. “Traditionally, continuing education isn’t common in the transport industry, but those that invest in coaching tend to be more successful, with greater employee commitment as well.” .

Aaron Marsh, Fleet Owner / November 19, 2018 After a six-month trial using renewable diesel in heavy trucks this past summer, the New York City Dept. of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) is planning a long-term purchasing contract for much more of the fuel as the city moves to phase out petroleum-based diesel in its fleet vehicles. Renewable diesel—often confused with biodiesel—is made from organic waste materials such as animal fats and vegetable oils, similar to biodiesel. But renewable diesel is refined differently and delivers the chemical equivalent of traditional crude oil-based diesel, so it can be used in blends or as a complete replacement fuel in any diesel engine without modifications. While biodiesel contains oxygen and can potentially have contaminants and problems when used in cold temperatures, renewable diesel avoids those issues and burns much cleaner than regular diesel. DCAS estimated it can reduce CO2 emissions from diesel engines by 65% using renewable diesel and noted its fleet burns up to 17 million gallons of diesel a year that could be switched out for the more sustainable fuel. DCAS has long used biodiesel in blends of 5-20% at all NYC agencies and for all diesel-powered equipment. DCAS Deputy Commissioner and NYC Chief Fleet Officer Keith Kerman has told Fleet Owner on several occasions there have been no cold-weather problems with biodiesel even at 20% blends used during the winter. NYC's move to expand renewable diesel comes in the wake of California's deadliest wildfires in history, which have rekindled the climate change debate; on one side of that argument, some do not believe mankind has any effect on Earth's climate. New York City fleet officials have a different view. "The climate crisis is real and it's urgent," said Lisette Camilo, Commissioner of DCAS. "Renewable diesel is 99% petroleum-free and helps keep fossil fuels in the ground and emissions out of our air." "Every time we choose to reinforce our reliance on fossil fuels for transportation, we choose to pollute our air and accelerate the current climate crisis," contended Mark Chambers, director of NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio's Office of Sustainability. DCAS used a million gallons of renewable diesel as it tested out the fuel. It powered garbage trucks, Parks Dept. equipment, Dept. of Correction buses, police emergency service vehicles, and other heavy and specialized fleet units, according to the city. NYC's fleet includes 13,000 diesel trucks and off-road equipment, many of which will be transitioning to renewable diesel going forward. NYC now operates 1,700 on-road electric vehicles and nearly 6,000 hybrid, solar-powered, and natural gas-powered fleet units. All told among its light-duty vehicles purchased this year, DCAS recently announced it had achieved staggering average fuel economy of 100 mpg, more than twice the light-duty fleet's average three years ago. Phasing out petroleum-based diesel is part of Mayor de Blasio's "80 x 50" initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in New York City by at least 80% by 2050. The mayor's NYC Clean Fleet initiative announced in 2015 calls for the city to cut municipal vehicle emissions in half by 2025 and 80% by 2035.

If I was the driver and the train started rolling, I would have pulled myself onto the nearest car and headed forward back to the engine double-time.

Seth Clevenger, Transport Topics / November 19, 2018 DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The perpetual drive toward improved fuel economy and tighter emission controls for diesel engines will push the trucking industry toward increasingly efficient, low-viscosity engine oils, technology experts at Shell Lubricants said. While engine oil might not be the first place fleets look to cut fuel costs, Shell made its case that many heavy-duty operations are leaving significant savings on the table. In the United States, even transitioning from a standard 15W-40 oil to a 10W-30 grade can unlock greater fuel economy, the company said. “There is still so much to gain by convincing customers to move to lower viscosity lubricants,” said Jason Brown, global technology manager for diesel engine oils at Shell. To validate its argument that lubricant selection can have an important effect on fuel efficiency, Shell conducted extensive testing of eight of its engine oils in 18 different diesel engines across three major markets — the United States, Germany and China. The company revealed the results of this global fuel-economy program here Nov. 16 at the Shell Rimula Ultimate Stopover event for global customers and trade press. In the United States, Shell tested various engine oils in six different trucks meeting 2010 emission standards that were equipped with diesel engines from Cummins, Detroit, Paccar, Navistar, Mack and Ford. The fuel-economy field trials, conducted at a test site in Texas, were designed to mirror real-world highway and urban driving conditions, Brown said. After 24 days of testing, including two tests on each truck-oil combination, Shell’s 10W-30 CK-4 engine oil demonstrated a 2.3% average fuel-economy benefit compared with its standard 15W-40 oil and a 1.4% gain compared with a 10W-40 grade. Meanwhile, Shell’s 10W-30 FA-4 oil showed a 2.6% fuel-efficiency improvement compared with the 15W-40 and a gain of more than 1.7% from the 10W-40. A prototype 0W-20 oil showed even stronger fuel-economy benefits: a gain of more than 3.7% versus the 15W-40 and a nearly 2.9% gain from the 10W-40. Although that 0W-20 grade won’t be viable until manufacturers begin designing their engines for such a low-viscosity oil, it does illustrate that significant opportunities remain to enhance the efficiency of lubricant, Brown said. However, the push to boost fuel efficiency must be tempered by the need to maintain engine protection in a range of applications and operating conditions, from heavy mining to high altitudes and extreme heat. “Designing ultra-thin, low-viscosity engine oils does open the world to you in fuel economy, but you have to balance that with the needs of the engine,” Brown said. “Thinner oils are definitely going to have to work harder and last longer. That’s the opportunity.” Shell said its fuel-efficiency tests in the United States and around the globe have given it more specific data to share with fleet customers and will allow the company to collaborate more closely with engine makers on future development. “If you really want to deliver fuel economy with true integrity and accuracy, you need to run it where the customers are, in their equipment,” Brown said. “You can’t just choose one engine and decide that’s applicable to the entire world.” Shell executives also reflected on the North American market’s recent transition to the American Petroleum Institute’s CK-4 and FA-4 engine oil categories, which became industry standards in December 2016. Chris Guerrero, global brand director for Shell Diesel Engine Oils, cited a “huge level of adoption” for CK-4, which replaced the CJ-4 category. “Largely, it is a CK-4 market in North America,” he said. However, adoption has been much slower for FA-4, which is designed specifically for newer engines and has limited backward compatibility. One barrier has been fleets’ preference to minimize complexity in their maintenance shops by carrying one engine oil instead of two, Guerrero said. Nonetheless, the longer term trend is moving toward higher efficiency, he said, and Shell’s work on FA-4 also will prepare the company for changes in other parts of the world. Shell markets its engine oils under the Shell Rotella brand in North America, while Shell Rimula is the company’s primary brand in much of the rest of the world. While 15W-40 remains the dominant engine oil viscosity in the North American market, there is a growing acceptance of lighter grades, said Dan Arcy, Shell’s global OEM technical manager and industry trade association liaison. Truck manufacturers are now factory-filling their vehicles with 10W-30 oils, he said. Looking further into the future, the industry may very well move to 0W-20 lubricants in heavy-duty diesels. “I think it will happen,” Arcy said. “How well and how fast that’ll be accepted is yet to be determined.”

"No stock available", and "No longer available" (NLA), are two different meanings. Does the Mack (brand) remanufacturing center in Middletown, Pennsylvania still offer the 4103-5000338059X ? Ask your Mack brand dealer to call its district parts representative (DPR) for assistance. Let us know the result.

So Renault Trucks owner, The Volvo Group, through its US arm Volvo Trucks North America (VTNA), refuses to provide water pumps for Mack MS200P and MS250P/T trucks, rebadged Renault Midlums, when the "group" through its Renault network in Europe still offers these service parts???

How does a train engineer live down getting out of a locomotive without engaging the brakes?

GM on pickup mpg: 'Don't look at the label' Michael Wayland, Automotive News / November 19, 2018 PHOENIX — When you make big investments in a pickup to improve fuel economy — think Ford's aluminum-body F-150 or the mild-hybrid system on Ram's 1500 — you expect significant results. So how does General Motors explain shifting to a four-cylinder turbo for its redesigned full-size pickups and getting little gain in combined EPA fuel economy ratings over the previous generation's V-6? As a work in progress. "I don't think we're done with the fuel economy piece yet," said Tim Herrick, executive chief engineer of GM's full-size trucks, during a Silverado media drive here. "We learn more and more every day." Squeezing fuel economy gains out of pickups is never easy. Ford's 2015 aluminum F-150 with a then-new 2.7-liter V-6 initially gained up to 4 mpg combined, while Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' 2019 Ram 1500 with eTorque gained up to 2 mpg overall. Those gains don't sound big, given the billions of dollars invested, but in percentage terms, they are huge, and their environmental impact — as measured by federal regulators — is magnified by the trucks' enormous sales volumes. Small improvement The EPA rated GM's 2.7-liter engine at 20 mpg city/23 highway/21 combined. While the city rating is up 13 percent, the combined rating is just 1 mpg more than for the 4.3-liter V-6 that the four-cylinder replaces as the standard volume engine. The 4x4 models get 1 mpg less. That puts GM's four-cylinder in line with comparable truck engines from Ford (3.3-liter V-6) and FCA (3.6-liter V-6 with a light hybrid system) that are rated at 22 mpg combined. Ford's 2.7-liter V-6 is rated at 22 combined mpg. Those engines, however, offer up to 25 or 26 mpg on the highway. "If you're delivering on everything, and you're getting the same fuel economy, the question is, 'Why?' " said Stephanie Brinley, principal automotive analyst at IHS Markit. GM officials argue the EPA ratings don't tell the whole story. As with diesel engines, they say, fuel economy will be better in the real world than its predecessor and will at least match comparable V-6 models from competitors. "Don't look at the label," said Herrick. "We're as good or better than them in every step." EPA testing methods as well as a larger design footprint also may have played a role in the lower-than-expected ratings, which GM may look to address soon. GM said the four-cylinder engine still delivers in other ways. It's rated at 310 hp and 348 pound-feet of torque, vs. 285 hp and 305 pound-feet of torque for the 4.3-liter V-6. It's paired with an eight-speed transmission and will be standard on the new Silverado RST and popular Silverado LT trims. "Whatever they've done to create this engine now, they'll be able to improve it going forward," said Brinley, adding that automakers routinely improve fuel efficiency on new engines. GM said the new engine package goes from 0 to 60 mph in less than 7 seconds and weighs 380 pounds less than the previous model. GM also made changes to reduce turbo lag. "We wanted it to exceed our customers' expectations, all while delivering requirements that the government has set," said Kevin Luchansky, engine architect and assistant chief engineer of the 2.7-liter turbo. "The fact that it doesn't have two more cylinders on it doesn't hurt our customers at all." Racing fuel Getting the engine from lines on paper to production in four years didn't come without challenges. An early iteration of the engine would hit GM's desired targets only if it ran on racing fuel, Luchansky said. "You can't sell a pickup truck and need it to run on race gas," he said. "So we had a lot of work to do." Some of that work included contracting a third party — a common practice — to help with combustion development to deliver low-end torque comparable to a diesel. The focus on low-end torque was crucial, Luchansky said, because it provides better acceleration where drivers spend most of their time and helps with fuel economy in those settings. Chevrolet expects about 10 percent of Silverado sales to be the 2.7-liter engine, said Sandor Piszar, Chevrolet truck marketing director. Brinley said that despite the EPA's fuel economy numbers, if the four-cylinder trucks indeed perform better in real-world driving, that's "more important" to consumers than a number on the sticker. .

Ford aims to simplify – again Michael Martinez, Automotive News / November 19, 2018 Returning to a strategy that has worked before Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Hackett is channeling his inner Henry Ford to maximize profits on the next-generation Explorer: You can get any side-mirror color you'd like, as long as it's black. The automaker is slashing the number of different mirrors, from 139 today to 25 on the 2020 model, by including blind-spot monitoring on every vehicle and using only gloss-black mirror caps instead of matching them to the exterior paint. It's a small change but a telling example of how a rejuvenated Ford let itself fall out of shape after skirting bankruptcy — and the sort of bloat Hackett sees as a threat to Ford's "fitness." Joe Hinrichs, Ford's president of global operations, last week described Hackett's strategy as a "more fundamental redesign than any time I've been at the company." At the same time, such streamlining is by no means a new concept for Ford, which made similar cost-cutting pronouncements under Alan Mulally a decade ago. Mulally vowed to cut the number of ways vehicles could be configured by more than half on 2009 models to help turn inventory faster. The Lincoln LS sedan, available in 50,000 varieties, was replaced by the MKS, with just 300. But within a few years, Ford had reverted to old habits amid a product blitz and a desire to generate extra revenue from more optional equipment. Bottom line takes a hit "It's an age-old problem that never seems to get solved," said Michelle Krebs, senior analyst at Autotrader. "It appears they took their eyes off the ball when things got good." Ford launched a record 23 new or updated vehicles in 2014, including a redesigned F-150 and Mustang. Hinrichs said the added complexity that more options created didn't fatten Ford's profits as much as anticipated. Now those decisions are coming back to hurt the automaker's bottom line as the lineup has aged. "We're not assuming we're going to get revenue for all that complexity and just go back to being simple about that configuration set," Hinrichs said last week at the Barclays Global Automotive Conference in New York. "There's a lot of learnings, as there always are, and now we're taking those learnings from North America and bringing them to the rest of the world." Under Hackett's direction, Ford is using "yield management" techniques to closely monitor individual vehicle lines and adjust prices and inventory to certain markets to make more money. It's part of his global restructuring, which is expected to cost Ford $11 billion over the next three to five years. The automaker has focused those techniques on its North American business, where a small team of executives gathers every Wednesday to study each nameplate and decide how to maximize its profits. The meetings prompted Ford to stop making a version of the Expedition with a smaller touch screen because it wasn't selling as quickly as the SUV with a larger screen. 'Part by part' The automaker also has cut the orderable configurations of its Fusion sedan to about 30 instead of 2,000. Hinrichs said that has reduced the time it takes to deliver Fusions to 30 days from more than 80. Similarly, Hinrichs said Ford is reducing the number of orderable combinations on the next-generation Escape to about 25 from around 1,000 now. "We're going part by part and product by product to attack all this complexity in the business," Hinrichs said. The moves have yet to convince Wall Street. Ford shares have fallen 22 percent this year, and investors at the Barclays conference questioned why these fairly straightforward moves weren't made years ago. Hinrichs said it's all "part of manufacturing and auto 101" before admitting to mistakes made in the 2012-14 time frame. "But like any business, there's an opportunity to see over time where you haven't stayed as fit or competitive as you've wanted to be, and you re-evaluate," he said. "You have to evolve to that next level."

Yes. .

That looks like a 316GC1184BX (different from a 316GC184NX).

Mack remanufactured part number..........4103-5000338059X

Is it not a 316GC184NX? (Mack remanufactured part number)

Global truck design is converging.

When you inquired with Watt's Mack (provider of the BMT website) or at your Mack brand distributor's parts department, with your model and serial number, what did they say?

As Freight on Trucks Becomes More Valuable, Thieves Get Creative in Their Attempts to Steal It Gary Frantz, Transport Topics / November 15, 2018 Virtually every commercial big-rig truck rolling down the highway these days is carrying goods that can represent hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more than a million. For cargo thieves, those are inviting targets that are easy to attack, and in many cases the products can quickly be turned into cash on the black market. It’s an ever-evolving threat to motor carriers. Keeping cargo safe means defending against not only traditional methods but recognizing and overcoming emerging new tactics and techniques increasingly employed by the bad guys. These can include social engineering, “spoofing” technologies, identity theft, fictitious pickups using bogus shipping documents in which thieves impersonate legitimate drivers and companies, and criminals doing covert, organized site surveillance and intelligence gathering to plan a heist. “There are some things about cargo theft that haven’t changed that much over the years,” said Scott Cornell, who as crime and theft specialist at Travelers Insurance leads the company's transportation business and helped create its cargo theft investigation unit in 2005. Yet there have been significant changes, he said, including targeted commodities, technology-enabled cargo theft and criminals organizing into more sophisticated and dangerous groups. It’s enough to keep fleet safety and security managers up at night. However, the most effective defense against cargo theft is an educated, alert and aware driver. And that’s where fleets continue to spend time, effort and money to support drivers, keep them safe and their loads out of harm’s way. According to Sensitech’s second-quarter 2018 U.S. and Canada cargo theft analysis, 157 cargo thefts were reported in the period, slightly down from 2017. The average cargo value per theft event was $186,779 for a total of $29.3 million in losses. The thefts involved 342 stolen vehicles, including 120 semi-tractors and 155 semi-trailers. The most targeted goods: food, building supplies, household goods such as appliances, and electronics, including computers and televisions. Major over-the-road fleets engage drivers in formal training and education programs for safety, cargo security and theft prevention. Every driver with CFI undergoes orientation that stresses personal safety as well as cargo and equipment security, said Jeff Messer, security and safety analyst at the Joplin, Mo.-based truckload carrier, which has 2,000 drivers. The company communicates regular updates to drivers on cargo theft trends, prevention techniques, “hot spots” for theft to steer clear of or be extra vigilant about when dropping or picking up a load, as well as law enforcement bulletins and other safety-and-loss-prevention intelligence. Messer’s prevention tips for drivers: Always be aware and attentive to your surroundings. Be well rested. Use the restroom before departing. Have snacks already in the truck. Preplan your first stop. Do a thorough walk-around inspection of the truck — before and after any stop — and be fueled up prior to picking up a load. In a situation where a driver encounters a theft in progress, Messer says to call 911, then call the company security hotline. “A good witness is better than an endangered driver,” he said. CFI, similar to other carriers and security experts, recommends that upon departure, drivers travel without stopping for a minimum of 200 miles. A thief may trail a truck for an hour or so, but seldom will a thief go beyond that because most personal vehicles will need to stop and refuel. The company’s trucks also are equipped with GPS and devices that can be activated to render the truck inoperable. While the highest incidence of cargo theft tends to occur on the full-truckload side of the business, less-than-truckload carriers are not immune. In the LTL arena, the threat is mostly internal, where an employee may be approached by an outside perpetrator and encouraged to collude with the thief in a scheme involving a customer or goods at the trucking terminal. The key to prevention is regular, constant communication with all employees, ensuring they are aware of proper security and threat prevention procedures and protocols, said Geoff Stephany, director of cargo claims and security for Thomasville, N.C.-based Old Dominion Freight Line. “If you see something suspicious, know who to call and what to do,” Stephany said. The fleet preaches “see something, say something,” he said, noting the company’s top deterrent is informed and educated employees. ODFL ranks No. 11 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America. Meanwhile, there are two common types of cargo theft, Travelers’ Cornell said. A “straight” theft is one in which the cargo is stolen from the location where it sits. These usually are crimes of opportunity, in which a thief is looking for whatever can be stolen easily and sold quickly. Crimes such as these usually occur at a truck stop, a drop lot or other area where cargo is left unattended. The most common: a store parking lot or unsecured empty lot where a trailer is parked for the weekend, awaiting a Monday delivery. Countermeasures include not leaving trailers unattended or unmarried to the tractor, especially in remote or unsecured areas, and using high-security rear door locks and air cuff locks, Cornell said. Also, if the trailer can’t be moved to a secured area, or to the consignee’s secured warehouse and lot, consider installing landing gear locks as well. The other category, Cornell said, is “strategic” cargo theft. This method continues to evolve rapidly and is one in which the perpetrator is using deception or unconventional methods to trick the shipper, broker or carrier into giving up the load. One of these emerging techniques involves “social engineering.” In this case, the thief scours the internet for specific products, companies and warehouse locations while looking at public load boards for specific loads that match the products they want to steal. Thieves may even post false loads to load boards and solicit bids to get the information on the carrier they need to steal an identity, according to Cornell. Cargo thieves often look for loads late in the afternoon or on a Friday, figuring that the traffic manager is under pressure to get the load off the dock and will be less diligent in checking the bona fides of the driver. In this case, the perpetrator is impersonating the legitimate carrier. The thief shows up at the shipper an hour or more before the scheduled pickup, saying he’s early and wants to get on the road. The thief then will present forged paperwork, and in some cases may have the truck logoed and painted in the livery of the true carrier to appear legitimate. The shipper, not knowing it’s a fictitious carrier, lets the shipment go. Double-brokering scams, identity theft, deception schemes and organized crews doing targeted surveillance, as well as hybrids and combinations of these, are examples of strategic cargo theft tactics being used by sophisticated perpetrators. Cornell suggests the following practices for shippers to protect against “strategic” cargo theft: • Research carrier information though legitimate sources including the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, third-party vetting companies and industry associations. • Work only with legitimate and licensed brokers that have strong controls in place for vetting carriers, ensuring their legitimacy and protecting cargo security. • Always check for positive driver and truck information at the pickup point. Verify the driver, truck and pickup confirmation numbers. If any suspicions arise, call the carrier or broker to verify and confirm the veracity of the driver. If the driver tries to give you a number, saying, “Here, call my dispatcher,” don’t use that number. Use the confirmed number and contact you already have for that carrier or broker. Nick Erdmann, business development manager for Transport Security Inc., has found that most thefts are planned. “Most thieves know what is coming out of a certain area, what’s being shipped,” he said. His company provides high-security trailer and container locks, truck locks and covert GPS tracking technologies. Often, a thief will scout a warehouse or trucking company terminal, watching and recording when trucks arrive and depart, and when cargoes would be most vulnerable. Sometimes thieves will even test a site’s security measures, purposely setting off a perimeter alarm and then seeing who reacts and how long it takes for law enforcement to arrive. That information is used to plan the heist. Another tactic: marking a trailer with a Sharpie pen or spray paint, essentially tagging the trailer, or attaching a portable GPS tracking device, hidden on the trailer. The thief then follows the trailer, and when parked, either breaks into it or steals the entire trailer. Erdmann’s advice to drivers: “Don’t talk about your loads to anyone, at a truck stop or on the CB. Report any suspicious activity.” As for ODFL’s drivers, Stephany coaches on the fundamentals. Never leave a truck’s cab unlocked — even when moving. Always lock the trailer after every stop. “If your gut tells you something is not right,” Stephany said, “it’s probably accurate.”

When you called the parts department at your Mack brand distributor to purchase a reman unit, what did they say?