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Sean Kilcarr, Fleet Owner / June 7, 2017 Export plan should pare down inventory of 7,000 trucks with MaxxForce 13-liter engines by end of 2018. An industry-wide surplus of used trucks in the U.S. is driving down the “price gap” between domestic and export valuations, which is spurring Navistar to shift sales of its bulging 7,000 unit inventory of trucks equipped with its discontinued MaxxForce 13-liter exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) only engine overseas. In a conference call to discuss the truck and engine maker’s second quarter earnings, Troy Clarke, Navistar chairman, president and CEO, said that “This is taking important step to put this legacy issue behind us … as legacy issues are masking our underlying improvement in results.” He added that if Navistar didn’t take advantage of the pricing equivalency now occurring in the export market – “and it is a hot market for us,” Clarke stressed – that 7,000 truck inventory would be with the company thru 2020 and beyond. “By this time next year, you’ll not hear us talking about this,” he stressed. “The pace of trade-ins [for legacy equipment] is exactly as anticipated. We’re past the 75% point and are now grinding through the balance. We’re going to take this drag on our earnings and put it behind us.” Walter Borst, executive vice president and CFO for Navistar, added that the $60 million charge the OEM took in the second quarter to beef up its “reserve” to cover those old MaxxForce trucks is action being taken “to eliminate the need to future reserve additions and to clear the way to eliminate the rest [of them] by end of 2018.” Borst added that if Navistar didn’t have to make that $60 million reserve allocation, its truck segment would have been profitable and the company’s overall results would have been closer to break even. “Values in export market are typically lower than what we achieve domestically, but in the past few years there’s been pressure on used truck prices for all brands, so that price gap narrowed,” he explained. “As result made decision to shift from domestic [used truck sales] to more aggressively pursue export opportunities,” Borst noted. “It will accelerate the velocity of [used truck] sales, drive [used truck] inventory lower, and make it easier for dealers and customers to sell their [used] MaxxForce trucks in the U.S. market. We believe our legacy EGR issues coming to an end.” .

Navistar Loses $80 Million in Second Quarter as Revenue Declines Transport Topics / June 7, 2017 Navistar International Corp. lost $80 million, or 86 cents a share, on revenue that declined to $2.1 billion during the fiscal quarter ended April 30, as the manufacturer also set aside an extra $60 million for its reserve fund to deal with used trucks with troubled engines that are largely exported. In a June 7 earnings call, Chairman and CEO Troy Clarke said the one-time charge is expected to be the last significant action needed to resolve issues related to the MaxxForce 13-liter engines that have enmeshed the Lisle, Ill., original equipment manufacturer since 2012, leading to net losses in 18 of the past 19 fiscal quarters. “Warranty and used truck issues from the MaxxForce 13 [exhaust gas recirculation] products continued to diminish, and now is the time for us to take steps to put these issues behind us faster,” Clarke said. Other executives on the call estimated it would take until the end of next year to wind down the MaxxForce issue completely. Navistar has met with increasing success in finding export homes for the used vehicles. Mexico was mentioned as a destination for the heavy-duty trucks in the earnings call, and a company spokesman said afterward that South and Central America and Southeast Asia are also important markets. “The trucks stay intact when they leave here,” said Navistar spokesman James Spangler. “But in the receiving countries, some of the components are de-contented to meet local emissions and fuel standards,” he said. Spangler would not specify which components are removed abroad, but the OEM’s domestic troubles were related to its choice of third-generation EGR to meet 2010 federal emissions standards. All North American heavy-duty truck makers now use selective catalytic reduction. A year ago, Navistar earned $4 million, or 5 cents, on quarterly sales of $2.2 billion. Quarterly truck sales were led by Classes 6 and 7 medium-duty vehicles, which rose to 7,000 units from 6,200 in last year’s quarter. Heavy-duty sales dropped to 5,300 for the quarter from 6,800. For the quarter, the company’s truck division lost $56 million on sales of $1.39 billion. In the comparable 2016 quarter, the loss was $23 million on revenue of $1.46 billion. Chief Financial Officer Walter Borst observed that without the $60 million reserve fund charge, the truck division would have posted a profit. Clarke and Bill Kozek, president of the truck and parts businesses, said they are “bullish” on the rest of this year, especially on heavy-duty sales. Clarke said that while medium-duty truck sales are front-loaded during a typical year, “Class 8 demand builds through the year.” He cited projections from market research firms forecasting better heavy-duty sales during the second half of this year, compared with the first six months. “We’re participating in the increase in the order intake as well. Our medium growth is significantly higher than the Class 8, but the Class 8 is holding its own,” Kozek said of the company’s trend on orders. “Our backlog is as far out as it’s been since [2013], so that’s a positive trend for us in the second half. But the other piece of that is customers are having pretty good years in general. And now they’re looking at vehicles for now and then into 2018,” Kozek said. In addition to his efforts at fixing Navistar’s previous problems, Clarke has emphasized the need to introduce new products to generate future sales. For on-highway Class 8 equipment, Navistar launched the LT tractor last year, the RH model in April and the 12.4-liter A26 engine in February. Clarke said his Class 8 backlog includes 1,500 trucks with A26 engines. . .

Navistar takes $60 million used truck charge Fleet Owner / June 7, 2017 OEM plans to export more of its “legacy” MaxxForce-equipped vehicles to help reduce its used truck inventory. Truck and engine maker Navistar posted an $80 million net loss for the second quarter on revenues of $2.1 billion, with higher losses in its used truck business the main culprit. The company said in its earnings release that it took a $60 million charge in the second quarter to beef up the “reserve” for used trucks equipped with the OEM’s “legacy” MaxxForce 13-liter engines – wiping out the $47 million in earnings before interest, taxes, and amortization (EBITA) it booked for the quarter. Navistar stressed that the used truck situation “was the largest contributor to the year-over-year decline in profits” in its release. The company pointed out, though, that it is “changing its sales strategy” for MaxxForce 13-liter equipped used trucks to “take advantage of additional opportunities to sell more units into export markets,” a move it expects will accelerate efforts to reduce its inventories of those vehicles. "We are on track to improve on last year's results, but still have quite a bit of work to do in the second half," noted Troy Clarke, Navistar’s chairman, president and CEO, in a statement. "However, the work we've done in the first six months growing share, building our backlog, and managing costs, combined with improving industry conditions, positions us to deliver a stronger second half," he added. Other items Navistar noted in its second quarter earnings release include: Revenues of $2.1 billion in the second quarter were down 5% compared to $2.2 billion in the same period last year, a decrease that primarily reflects lower volumes in the company's “core market” of Class 6-8 trucks and buses in the U.S. and Canada. Navistar’s truck segment net sales declined 6% to $1.4 billion in second quarter compared to second quarter of 2016, due to lower core volumes, the impact of a shift in product mix in the company's core markets, and the cessation of sales of CAT-branded trucks units sold to Caterpillar. This was partially offset by an increase in Mexico truck volumes. Overall, Navistar said its truck segment loss increased to $56 million in second quarter versus a loss of $23 million in the same period a year ago, again driven by the higher used truck losses, market pressures, and the impact of lower core market volumes. Parts segment second quarter net sales dipped 6% or $37 million to $610 million, driven by lower sales from Blue Diamond Parts (BDP), the company's parts joint venture with Ford, as well as by lower U.S. and export volumes, partially offset by higher U.S. and Canada parts sales related to Fleetrite brand and remanufactured parts sales. Yet Navistar noted its parts business made a profit of $153 million in second quarter, though that’s down 13% versus the same period last, primarily due to margin declines in BDP and the company's North American markets. The company’s global operations segment witnessed a 9% dip in net sales to $70 million in the second quarter compared to same period in 2016, losing $7 million versus a loss of $1 million last year. Navistar cited lower volumes in the company's South America engine operation due to the continued economic weakness in the Brazil economy for those declines. Outside of those results, Navistar noted that ended the second quarter 2017 with $949 million in consolidated cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities on hand, with two “significant” wins for its defense division bolstering its bottom line: two foreign military contracts to reset, upgrade and support 1,085 long wheel base MaxxPro mine resistant ambush protected (MRAP) vehicles and to produce and support 40 MaxxPro Dash DXM MRAP vehicles for foreign military sales. The company is also expecting full “run-rate” production of General cutaway G van for General Motors at Navistar's Springfield, OH factory, to help generate more revenues as well. Lastly, Navistar reiterated that it expects retail deliveries of Class 6-8 trucks and buses in the U.S. and Canada to be in the range of 305,000 units to 335,000 units for fiscal year 2017. .

Heavy Duty Trucking / June 7, 2017 Navistar International Corp. (NYSE: NAV) reported a second quarter 2017 net loss of $80 million on revenues of $2.1 billion. The truck and engine maker attributed those results to lower U.S. and Canada sales of its trucks and buses and to heightened used-truck losses. Revenues in the quarter were down 5% (compared to $2.2 billion in Q2 2016), according to the company’s June 7 earnings release. Navistar said that decrease “primarily reflects lower volumes in the company’s core (Class 6-8 trucks and buses in the United States and Canada) market, where chargeouts were down 5%, but [were] higher than industry core market volumes, which were down 13% year-over-year.” Navistar also reported that higher used truck losses led it to take a $60 million charge in the second quarter, pointing out that its inventory of “legacy” MaxxForce-13-powered used trucks was the largest contributor to the year-over-year decline. As a result, the company stated it is changing its sales strategy for these units, trying to sell more units into export markets, "a move it expects will accelerate efforts to reduce its inventories of these trucks.” The Q2 results also included $18 million in adjustments, primarily from pre-existing warranties, asset impairment charges, restructuring of manufacturing operations, and debt financing charges. “We are on track to improve on last year’s results, but still have quite a bit of work to do in the second half,” said Troy A. Clarke, Navistar chairman, president and CEO. “However, the work we’ve done in the first six months growing share, building our backlog, and managing costs, combined with improving industry conditions, positions us to deliver a stronger second half.” Navistar reported that Q2 EBITDA was $47 million, compared to $135 million a year earlier. It also said that it ended Q2 with $949 million in consolidated cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities. Manufacturing cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities were $918 million at the end of the quarter. Other highlights of the earnings release, as stated by Navistar, include: Improving core market share, with additions to the company’s production schedule and extensions of the company’s backlog into the fourth quarter. Strengthening competitive presence in the Class 8 market, including ramped-up deliveries of the new International LT Series with the Cummins ISX 15L engine; introduction of the new RH Series of Class 8 regional haul tractors; and unveiling of the new International A26 12.4L engine, which launches in the LT and RH Series in the coming weeks. Significant defense wins, including two foreign military contracts to reset, upgrade and support 1,085 long wheel base MaxxPro Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles; and to produce and support 40 MaxxPro Dash DXM MRAP vehicles for foreign military sales. Progress on new sources of revenue, including full-run-rate production of General Motors’ cutaway G van at Navistar’s Springfield, Ohio, plant; expansion of Navistar’s connected vehicle services under the OnCommand Connection brand, which now includes more than 300,000 subscribers; announcing its Electronic Driver Log app, which will assist smaller fleets and owner-operators in complying with new federal regulations; and the unveiling of OnCommand Connection Marketplace, a new, open-architecture, cloud-based technology platform for a broad range of driver support tools and applications. Closing its wide-ranging strategic alliance with Volkswagen Truck & Bus, under which the two companies are already collaborating on a number of potential technology projects, and in a procurement joint venture, which is identifying cost-saving opportunities and is expected to be accretive year one. Naming Persio V. Lisboa as executive vice president and chief operating officer. “Persio played a key role in creating our alliance with Volkswagen Truck & Bus, and led many of the initiatives to improve our operations during the turnaround,” Clarke said. “His focus in this new role will be to build on the progress we’ve made over the last four years.” Navistar also reiterated its 2017 guidance, including its forecast that retail deliveries of Class 6-8 trucks and buses in the U.S. and Canada will be in the range of 305,000 to 335,000 units for fiscal year 2017. The company added that full-year 2017 revenues are expected to be similar to 2016; full-year 2017 adjusted EBITDA is expected to be higher than 2016, and fiscal year end 2017 manufacturing cash is expected to be about $1 billion. .

Transport Engineer / June 6, 2017 Buxton-based concrete supplier R T Mycock & Sons has taken delivery of its first three Renault Trucks Range C 8x4s, citing durability, off-road performance and weight handling as key factors in its decision. Supplied by dealer JDS Truck and Van, of Manchester, the 32-tonne Range C430, C480 and C460 with high bumper all have aluminium Bay-lynx Newman volumetric mixer bodies and join RT Mycock’s 17-strong mixed fleet. The operator has ten volumetric trucks and, says managing director Kevin Mycock, “the Range Cs are out-performing the rest”. He adds: “They’re durable, the high bumper gives excellent ground clearance, they can handle the weight and the automatic gearbox is great – the drivers love them. A further Range C430 6x4 has also gone on the road alongside a ’64-plate’ Range K460 8 wheeler.” Supplying up to 10 cubic metres of concrete mixed freshly on site, with the ability to change the mix at any time during delivery, the lightweight aluminium Bay-lynx volumetric mixer gives R T Mycock a one-tonne advantage over a standard steel body. RT Mycock’s service manager Michael Barr says: “The vast majority of our volumetric mixers are on Renault Trucks chassis, the mounting brackets are all in the right places and the chassis plugs straight into our body.” R T Mycock financed the purchase of the trucks and maintains the fleet in house. .

Big Rigs / June 7, 2017 RAAF Base Curtin sits 30 odd clicks out of Derby in the Kimberley. At times it has been a public airport when commercial flights serviced Derby and a refugee processing facility at other times. The purpose of the base was none of these things, it is regarded by ADF as a 'bare base' and up on Australia's north-west shoulder it is a nuclear-proof war facility built for the possibility of a dystopian future. The air strip itself has incredible logistics built to withstand all but a direct nuclear hit: grade the debris off and long range intercontinental bombers can land to refuel and rearm from underground storages. Look at a map of South East Asia including Australia and the strategic importance of Curtin is obvious. I was there in the mid-80s when the air strip was being built. At the time, the biggest highway-legal road trains were being used to haul the construction materiel. In 1986, I found myself in Derby in a four wheel drive hire car heading out along the narrow Great North Western Highway in search of the truck camps. Bellways had the contract to haul the huge quantity of crushed limestone for the airstrip. The haulage contract included half a million tonnes of aggregate from the Oscar Range to the site, a round trip of 340 kilometres. Leighton Engineering won the overall contract for the job - prime contractors. Readymix got the job of supplying the concrete and Bellways the contract to haul the massive quantity of aggregate for Readymix. It was a big job that had to be finished on deadline - the right machinery had to be chosen. Bellways in those days ran the full spectrum of trucks. Kenworths predominated on the long hauls. Some Macks were also used. Mercedes Benz and Scanias were used on shorter hauls. Mack Trucks were called on to supply six Ultra-Liner eight wheelers equipped to pull sets of triple tippers. Overall length was within the Western Australian regulation 44m (145ft). A permit was given for a 142 tonne GVM, and with the Ultra-Liner/tipper combinations with tare weights at just over 40 tonnes, this gave each outfit a payload of a neat 100 tonnes. In April 1985 work began. Mack R Model prime movers were used for a short time until the Ultra-Liners arrived. As the big cabovers were delivered, they were put straight into work, and the great four-tipper road trains became a common sight on the road between Derby and Fitzroy Crossing. I found the Bellways camp carved out of a bit of scrub on a ridge 150km from Derby and 100km from Fitzroy Crossing. Probably about as isolated a place as you can get and still be on a national highway, the camp is a small group of demountable units and one drive-through shed where trucks are serviced. Wayne 'Wally' Gater was the driver, and the bloke I was to spend much of the next day with. He's been driving for Bellways for six years. "Don't look in the mirrors, it will only make you worry,” Wally grinned as I watched the string of trailers snake out behind the prime mover and straighten up as he went through the gears. It took a couple of kilometres before top gear was reached, but once there the high torque of the V8 churned the 140 odd tonnes along. It was not labouring, but it certainly was working. A seemingly flat landscape became one of hills and valleys because of the high sensitivity to gravity of the mass of the big roadtrain. Wally let the engine lug back to 1400 rpm on pulls. The shuddering torque pulled the outfit over the rise and was soon up in the horsepower bracket again, getting along at 80 km/h. Occasionally he would split and on one or two occasions go down a whole gear. But for the most part the Ultra-Liner did the Bellways camp to construction site run in top gear. Each truck has two drivers, one for the day shift, one for the night shift. Drivers change shifts weekly, so that while Wally was on day shifts this week, he would be on nights the next. Two round trips are done in each 12 hour shift. The day shift has an extra leg over the night shift. The Oscar Ranges are a jumble of weirdly formed rocks and hills, apparently part of a prehistoric reef, once under the sea. Among these rocks, we drove through a pocket of boab trees, and ahead the dense cloud of the quarry lifted into the late evening sky. Bellways brought a loader for the job, and the usual yellow of the Caterpillar had been changed to the Bellways light blue. Like the trucks, the loader has two operators, one day shift, one night. We pulled in beside the stock piles, and the Readymix crusher rumbled, as it turned ancient reef into aggregate for a modern air strip. Val, the loader driver, loaded the truck and trailers in about 20 minutes, signaling Wally when to pull forward. The loader is fitted with a payloader system so that each bucket load is weighed accurately, and loads are all legal. "Yes, we've had a few run-ins with the law up here, and we try to do everything right,” Wally told me. Pulling away from the quarry the Ultra-Liner worked hard to negotiate the heavy pull from the crusher site up through the gap in the Oscars leading back to the Great North Western Highway. Wally changed down by a full gear, as there is not enough rev range differential to split down with this sort of payload at low speed. We did not get past third gear in the pull to the highway. Through the night, the truck ground up hills on the bitumen. The loader driver was with us now, going back to the camp at the end of his shift. I sat in the sleeper with my feet on the engine tunnel looking out along the Halogen-illuminated black top. The lights of a truck came out of the darkness far ahead, the bull lights died , and the orange glows of the clearance lights appeared above the white of the driving lights. "Are you a Bellways?” the CB came to life. "Yeah, mate, that's right, " Wally answered. "Stay up on the bitumen, mate, I'll run off.” The conversation continued, and the truck ran off onto the shoulder. He was only pulling two trailers! This is the respect given to the Bellways' tippers. As we snaked off the road back into the Bellways' camp, the night shift drivers were already travelling towards us. The night shift had eaten their evening meal, and the drivers were ready to go. As the new driver put his gear in the truck, Wally cleaned the windscreen, and the truck rumbled out again without even shutting down - it is a real 24 hour operation. Ian is the camp cook and he runs a clean, neat outfit. After a shower and an ale, we sat down to spaghetti bolognaise in the air- conditioned dining room. Afterwards we sat outside and yarned. After a few beers to settle the day's dust, the drivers began to wander off to their rooms, to sleep and be ready to go again before daylight. The long hours exacted a toll on man and machine, but the Derby contract was finished on time. A mountain was shifted and buried in the ground at Derby to make an almost hidden, nuclear proof front-line defence base. .

Commercial Motor / June 6, 2017 Test driving the new Ford Cargo 1848T in Romania .

But what goes untold is the quality problems that those mass-produced Ford B-24s had. Whereas the quality of the B17 was quite good, the B24 made few friends with the men who crewed them. And that's in addition to the fact that the design of Consolidated B-24 "Liberator" was less than stellar. This is all one reason why the Air Force chose the B-29 over the B-32. The only thing about the B-24 is it had a larger bomb load capacity then the B-17. The B-17 was actually based on the XB-15, which was a significantly larger aircraft.

Why don't you call the Mack brand's customer satisfaction department toll-free at +1 (866) 298-6586 and share your thoughts with them? I'm sure they are anxious to assist you.

Big Rigs / June 5, 2017 When most people hit the highways of Australia during the "grey nomad" phase of their lives, they usually invest in a Toyota LandCruiser or Nissan Patrol to tow their caravan. But Bob Irwin is a little different, using an International ACCO 3070 to tow his Coromal caravan around the country. Big Rigs caught up with Bob at the Lockhart National Historic Truck and Commercial Vehicle Show earlier this year, one stop on a month-long trip attending historic truck shows around southern New South Wales, with the customised ACCO drawing a steady crowd of onlookers at Lockhart. Hailing from Tahmoor in the New South Wales highlands, 71-year-old Bob has spent his working life in transport, operating Internationals as an owner-driver, firstly with an old "Butterbox" model before moving on to a 555 Cummins-powered ACCO and finally a Cummins 903-powered unit. "I have always been an International man, and never owned anything else," Bob said. He hauled coal and fertiliser between Newcastle, Wollongong and all throughout New South Wales before making a change and taking on coach and bus driving for a number of years. Heading towards retirement and looking about for a project truck, Bob purchased the ACCO and took to progressively restoring and overhauling it, with the refurbished truck first hitting the highway again just prior to the 2015 Haulin' the Hume event. Bob's 1977 ACCO 3070-A was initially built as a single drive unit, with a Cummins 903 under the cab paired up with a 15-speed overdrive gearbox. Over its working life the ACCO was turbocharged and fitted with a lazy axle, clocking up over 2.5 million kilometres transporting Dulux Paint five times a fortnight between Adelaide and Sydney. Upon purchasing the ACCO, which had already been customised with its Aerodyne-style roof and larger sleeper cab, Bob undertook further work to make it stand out from the crowd. "I stripped it down and put new chassis rails through it and tidied it up a lot; I repainted it light blue - it was originally maroon in colour. "I just picked that colour out of a magazine and everyone loves it! I chucked on a lot of chrome and lights on it...and threw on the towbar," he said with a grin. On the side of the truck cleverly designed to make it look like a standard fuel tank is a slide out frame for his truck fridge, "That was a spur-of-the-moment thing to design and put that on, it gets a lot of people in," he commented. With the Cummins 903 originally rated at 350 horsepower, the addition of a turbocharger certainly made a difference to the power getting sent through to the back end. Bob continued, "It's got 525 horses under the cab, the previous owner loved his power! "He also put tall diff in it to get a bit of speed out of it, so she gets up and goes pretty well, she heads up Mt Ousley in top gear." With its custom straight-through exhaust pipes adorning the back to the cab, the engine notes of the Cummins are quite noticeable, especially when the Jacobs engine brake is activated. Breaking out into a smile again, Bob continued, "The pipes come straight out of the turbo and exhaust is straight through, there's no mufflers - when I go down Mt Victoria they can hear me half way down when I am at the top." "They are deadly, when I put them on it just about stands her on her nose!" His tour around southern New South Wales with the 3070 was also seeing him take in shows and events at Griffith, Junee and Harden, and as a member of the Western Sydney Historical Truck Club, he enjoys getting out and about with like-minded enthusiasts. "I follow the shows around a bit and have been helping out this weekend as there's a few of us here - I'm off to Junee next and then Harden and then home. I go to a lot of the local ones and the mateship in the club is good," he said. With the imminent re-launch of the International nameplate onto Australian highways, there will be plenty of people who have a link to the marque going back many decades who will be watching with interest. Bob Irwin is one who has had a connection to the International brand for a number of years and reckons his 40-year old ACCO is hard to beat, concluding our chat by saying, "I'm really happy this is what I do now I'm retired and I just love this thing, and I'm doing something that I have always wanted to do." .

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Owner-Driver / June 6, 2017 Owner//Driver spotted one very unique old banger recently, and caught up with the owner to find out more about it. At the Rocklea Heritage Truck Show this year we came across Rodney Sims and his beautifully restored Mack H67 COE, a model commonly known as a ‘Cherry Picker’ due to its 2.7 metre cab height. This also happens to be one of the two first H67’s brought to Australia and the last remaining right-hand-drive – although there are a few recently imported left-hand-drive models in Rockhampton. Rodney purchased the truck with his wife Janette back in 2015 off Frank Fleming & Sons Pty Ltd, who had painstakingly restored the old Mack. The truck was originally brought to Australia by Anthill Roger & Co in 1962, and these were the first ever cab-over Mack trucks in Australia. Another first was the Mack Thermodyne ENDT-673 engine, which was the first turbo-charged variant made by the manufacturer. After changing hands a couple of times, the truck was purchased by Frank Fleming & Sons Pty Ltd in 1966 with a modest 700,000 miles on the clock. The Flemings owned the truck from then until when Rodney purchased it, which was in part thanks to his fond memories driving it for Frank Fleming & Sons decades ago. "I’d driven this truck and so had my brother, pulling a low loader, about 20 years ago," Rodney explains. "We knew the history of it, we knew the family," When it was converted to right hand drive, the Flemings did the conversion themselves and it wasn’t free of design obstacles. The turbocharger had to be relocated, an air-operated clutch had to be retrofitted, the cooling system modified and the steering box turned upside down. Despite this, the truck hasn’t missed a beat and it served Frank Fleming & Sons as a reliable workhorse until it was retired in the mid 1980’s. Rodney gets this truck out and about as much as he can and while it might not be the quickest banger on the road, he couldn’t be happier with it. "It’s a slow old truck, but I enjoy driving it," he says proudly. .

Owner-Driver / June 6, 2017 Retired truckie Les Henderson, 84, reflects on the Tarcutta bog, his reliable Macks, and his enduring love for his wife Bonnie. Les and Bonnie Henderson of Ballarat, Victoria, were newlyweds when they bought their first truck, a KBS7 International, in 1955. Later that year they bought a new Ford V8. Les was driving it interstate in the winter of 1956 when he became stranded at Tarcutta, New South Wales, with hundreds of other truck drivers as they waited for the boggy Hume Highway to be repaired. Les was keen to get home to Ballarat to see Bonnie and their first baby, but police told him he would be stuck at Tarcutta for a day or two. "I was there for eight days," Les recalls. He replaced the Ford with a second-hand Diamond T the following year. His twin brother Graham Henderson also bought a Diamond T, so for a while the twins had a Diamond T each. (Graham founded Henderson Haulage.) In 1960 Les began his long association with the Mack brand, purchasing a 1957 Model B61. There was plenty of interstate work for subcontractors in the 1960s. Bonnie was busy too. By 1967 the couple had four children – Susan, Paul, Judith and Leslie. Luckily the Mack didn’t let the family down. Les was equally impressed with its replacement, a 1966 B61, and their third Mack, a 1979 R Model. All of the Macks were second-hand but they were reliable thanks to Les’ regular maintenance. Inspired by their love of Mack trucks, the Hendersons named their Ballarat home ‘Macksville’. Today their son Leslie (Junior) continues the family’s sand and soil cartage business. Les (Senior) worked until 2010 when Bonnie was diagnosed with dementia. The couple still lives at ‘Macksville’. Les, 84, points out Bonnie looked after their children all those years he was on the road. "And so I’m happy to look after her. Even now, she still says, ‘I love you’." .

DAF launches new lift-up axle model at Brisbane Truck Show Prime Mover Magazine / June 6, 2017 PACCAR Australia has used the Brisbane Truck Show to give industry a sneak peek at the new DAF FAP LF 280 model, touted for release later in 2017. Showcased alongside the newly launched 510hp version of the DAF CF85, the new LF variant comes with a lift-up axle to ensure it can handle heavier loads while still providing fuel and tyre wear benefits when running with lesser loads. The ‘pusher’ design is said to be especially useful when negotiating uneven surfaces, such as spoon drains. Also on the technology front, the 280HP PACCAR engine is backed by a ZF nine-speed manual transmission. The LF also has a comprehensive suite of braking and stability controls on board, including EBS, ABS and ASR. With its modern European styling and “optimal manoeuvrability”, PACCAR Australia said the new model was ideal for regional and city distribution work. The unit’s low chassis weight is meant to provide additional payloads, while DAF also placed value on easy cab access and car-like driving characteristics in a move to align the LF 280 with the current e-commerce and parcel delivery boom. .

Jack Roberts, Heavy Duty Trucking / June 6, 2017 The long-haul model has been the dominant model for moving freight in North America for decades, but there are signs that could be changing, according to Magnus Koeck, vice president, marketing, and brand management for Volvo Trucks North America. The long-haul model for freight distribution developed organically after the Second World War in an age of cheap diesel fuel, a large driver pool, and infrastructure limitations at the time: The Panama Canal was not able to accommodate larger freighters and a new class of container ships. This placed an emphasis on East and West Coast ports, with corresponding long-haul truck routes becoming the norm. A lot of the pieces that set the long-haul freight model in place have changed dramatically over the past several years, however. The size of the driver pool has not kept pace with the rise in freight volumes. Moreover, a new generation of potential drivers sees the isolation and long periods away from home associated with long-haul routes as a distinct negative. At the same time, the widening of the Panama Canal (with a new, Chinese-funded canal across Nicaragua under construction now) has made it easier for larger container vessels to reach Gulf Coast ports. Industry experts tracking these trends have predicted they could lead many truck fleets to adopt short-haul, regional, or super-regional routes, leveraging port expansions on the Gulf Coast to get drivers home sooner, while still maintaining increasingly important efficient freight deliveries. While there is still some ways to go before trucking sees a full-blown shift away from long-haul routes, Koeck sees signs the shift is underway. “We actually don’t see that happening yet in a larger scale as there are still some work to do (renovations, dredging, blasting and bridge raising) in some of the Eastern seaboard ports to be able to accommodate the largest container ships,” Koeck said. “The Panama Canal is ready, but some of the ports are not. The Panama Canal did open up in the end of June last year for larger ships. We’re monitoring the development closely and we’re confident that there eventually will be changes in the freight patterns because of this.” Volvo reported last week at a press event unveiling its new VNR tractor that its Class 8 build number for 2017 is beginning to indicate a move toward more regional delivery routes by fleets, with production of long-haul spec’d trucks falling off by 5%, compared to 2016, while regional-spec’d truck production has remained steady. “It’s hard to tell if this is a long-term trend or simply a market correction,” Koeck said. “We do see a declining trend for long haul and a steady, slight upward trend for regional haul, although we’re also positive that the long-haul segment will recover in the years to come and the construction segment will decline sometime after 2019. "The regional haul segment stands for close to 30% today of the total market and that’s a strong number," he continued. "We truly believe that we are extremely competitive now with our new lineup of VNR tractors, reflecting that we have seen a higher demand for daycabs and smaller sleepers in the last few years.” Another driver that could push growth in regional and super-regional markets is the increasing pressure for faster delivery times, including a new emphasis on efficient “last mile” delivery, although Koeck said it is again too soon to say for sure if those forces are fueling a significant shift in freight delivery patterns. “The future will tell if this is happening now,” he said. “But our customers certainly have demands on them for quicker, on-time deliveries, and that trend will continue. We will see different business models for the future. Just see what has happened thanks to companies like Uber and Airbnb. Connectivity and digitalization are enablers for all this. Nevertheless, I believe that we will see long-haul trucks also in the future and it will be the dominant segment in the foreseeable future, but maybe in the context of different business models among our customers.” For the time being, Koeck said the driver shortage, in his opinion, remains the main driver for shorter transport distances. “Younger drivers also have somewhat different values than older drivers,” he noted. “And they highly value time off with family and friends, meaning it will be harder and harder to recruit drivers just for long-haul operations. That’s also why we at Volvo put a lot of effort into making the best possible driving and living environments in our trucks, both for our long-haul and regional-haul products. We truly believe that our customers have a competitive advantage when they have Volvos in their fleets when it comes to recruiting drivers.”

International Truck offers new heavy-duty axle Fleet Owner / June 6, 2017 First OEM to market with the Fabco Automotive FSD-20K on severe service line-up. International Truck announced today the availability of the heavy-duty Fabco FSD-20K axle option on the International WorkStar models. The International WorkStar 7400 and 7500 models will feature the Fabco FSD-20K right-hand offset axle as a new option. “As we focus on growing our market share in the vocational segment and catering to the needs of our customers, we’re excited to offer this new axle in partnership with Fabco Automotive,” said Mark Stasell, vice president, vocational truck business, International Trucks. “This is just one example of our plans to continue to invest in our vocational truck line this year. Listening to TEMs and providing the specific features they need for their applications is a key part of our strategy to be the ‘chassis of choice’ in this market.” The new offset bowl axle offering gives TEMs the flexibility to increase load capacity to 20,000 lbs. without sacrificing ground clearance or cab height. The Fabco front driving axle reduces ride height compared to center bowl drive axles by greater than four inches.

Heavy Duty Trucking / June 6, 2017 International Truck announced the availability of the heavy-duty Fabco FSD-20K axle option on its WorkStar truck models. The International WorkStar 7400 and 7500 models will now optionally offer the Fabco FSD-20K right-hand offset axle. The offset bowl axle offers the flexibility to increase load capacity to 20,000 pounds without sacrificing ground clearance or cab height. The Fabco front driving axle reduces ride height compared to center bowl drive axles by more than four inches, according to International. “As we focus on growing our market share in the vocational segment and catering to the needs of our customers, we’re excited to offer this new axle in partnership with Fabco Automotive,” said Mark Stasell, vice president, Vocational Truck Business, International Trucks. “This is just one example of our plans to continue to invest in our vocational truck line this year. Listening to TEMs [Truck Equipment Manufacturers] and providing the specific features they need for their applications is a key part of our strategy to be the ‘chassis of choice’ in this market.” Fabco Automotive Corp., designs, manufactures and distributes drivetrain systems, power transmission gearboxes and related commercial, industrial, agricultural and military components. .

"None of them came back": Remembering the unsung heroes of the Battle of Midway The Washington Post / June 5, 2017 In December, the United States observed the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, which brought America into World War II. In the coming months, we will remember battles great and small and the sacrifices of hundreds of thousands of service members in that tremendous struggle. This week marks the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Midway, a U.S. victory that deserves to be better remembered -- not just for its impact on the war, but also for the sacrifice that made victory possible. The school-textbook version of the battle goes like this: Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese admirals planned to attack the U.S. outpost on Midway Island, about 1,300 miles west of Hawaii. When the U.S. forces came to defend the island, they would be ambushed and destroyed. But having broken Japanese codes in early 1942, the U.S. Navy knew of the attack in advance and sent the bulk of its fleet to surprise the Japanese. On the morning of June 4, by sheer coincidence, American dive bombers encountered the Japanese fleet as its planes were being refueled and rearmed. The resulting attack sank three of the four Japanese aircraft carriers, with the fourth caught and destroyed later that day as well. (The United States lost one carrier.) It was one of the greatest victories in the history of naval warfare, and it ended the Japanese offensive in the Pacific for good. What's often left out of this story is why the Japanese were refueling and rearming at that moment. An hour earlier, three U.S. squadrons of torpedo bombers had attacked the Japanese carriers. Flying Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo bombers, they were picked apart by the much faster Japanese Zero fighters; of the 41 Devastators that took off that morning, only six survived. But their attack forced the Japanese to delay refueling and rearming -- without the torpedo bombers' doomed sortie, the dive bombers would almost certainly have been less successful, and the course of the war in the Pacific might have been very different. What makes the sacrifice even more noble is that the Devastator -- slow, not very maneuverable and only lightly armored -- was known to be obsolete. The torpedo pilots and gunners knew they were sitting ducks. And yet they took off that June morning, unfazed. The night before the battle, a small group of men of the carrier Yorktown's torpedo bomber squadron passed the time together. "They talked about the weather, dinner - how the food was - nothing about the battle," said a junior deck officer who was in the room: my grandfather John W. Crawford. "None of them came back." On the 75th anniversary of the battle, we should pause and remember not just one of the great victories in U.S. history, but the brave aircrews who gave their lives for it. .

Unsealed after 75 years, court records show an alarming WWII press leak after the Battle of Midway The Washington Post / June 5, 2017 Six months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the June 7, 1942, edition of the Chicago Sunday Tribune trumpeted news of a stunning American victory over a Japanese armada at the Battle of Midway. "Jap Fleet Smashed by U.S.; 2 Carriers Sunk at Midway: 13 to 15 Nippon Ships Hit; Pacific Battle Rages," the front-page headlines read. And in the center of the page, an intriguing side story: "Navy Had Word of Jap Plan to Strike at Sea." It was a fascinating, and detailed, description of much of what American intelligence knew beforehand of the enemy's fleet and plans. Indeed, it was too detailed. The report - 14 paragraphs long - suggested a secret U.S. intelligence coup, and became one of the biggest and potentially damaging news leaks of World War II. The leak hinted that the United States had cracked a Japanese communications code, sparking fury in the Navy and the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It also led to a sensitive grand jury investigation whose testimony would be sealed for more than seven decades. In December, Elliott Carlson, a naval historian in Silver Spring, Md., along with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the Naval Institute Press and the Organization of American Historians, among others, won a court fight to unseal the old testimony in the case. "This is the only time in American history that the United States government has . . . taken steps toward prosecuting a member of the media under the Espionage Act," Katie Townsend, the Reporters Committee litigation director, said in an interview. This month, with leaks again making big news, the United States marks the 75th anniversary of Midway, the epic 1942 battle that raged from June 4 to June 7 and turned the tide in the Pacific theater. The American assault on the Japanese fleet was "the single most decisive aerial attack in naval history," according to historians Jonathan B. Parshall and Anthony P. Tully. The Japanese navy was crippled by the loss of four aircraft carriers - all used in the attack on Pearl Harbor - and hundreds of planes and sailors when it was ambushed by a smaller U.S. force that had been forewarned by good intelligence. American code breakers had figured out where and when the enemy planned to strike, and the military acted accordingly. But it was critical that the Japanese not learn of the breach, lest they change their codes and confound their U.S. foes. Yet, here, the day the battle ended, was an American newspaper suggesting such a breach to the world. "The strength of the Japanese forces with which the American Navy is battling . . . was well known in American naval circles several days before the battle began," the Tribune report began. "The advance information enabled the American Navy to make full use of air attacks on the approaching Japanese ships." The story went on to describe the three parts of the planned Japanese attack: a striking force, a support force and an occupation force. It detailed how many ships were involved, and named the ships and their types. "It was a huge scandal," Carlson, who is working on a book about the case, said in a telephone interview Thursday. "It enraged the Navy high command. It enraged the Roosevelt administration." The story did not explicitly say a code had been broken, Carlson said. But "any knowledgeable reader of that story would have known that [it] had to come from American cryptanalysis of the Japanese naval code," he said. "The Navy . . . thought any reasonably intelligent person reading that story would say, 'Hey, the American Navy has broken the Imperial Navy's operational code.' " The Navy's information on Japanese plans had been gleaned from weeks of scrutiny of enemy message traffic being conducted in the compromised code. U.S. intelligence officials were able to predict what direction the attack would come from and what time of day it would start, and experts were off by only 24 hours in forecasting the date the attack would begin, according to historian John Costello's study of the Pacific war. At first, the United States was unsure where the enemy planned to attack. Japanese communications kept referring to a location code-named "AF." The Navy guessed it was Midway, but it had to be sure. To find out, Navy Com. Joseph J. Rochefort, a code breaker, suggested a ruse. Midway was instructed to issue an emergency call in plain English saying that its water distillation plant had broken down. The report was duly picked up by enemy eavesdroppers, who radioed superiors that "AF" was running short of water, according to Costello. When the Japanese fleet approached Midway, the Americans were lying in wait. The Japanese force was virtually wiped out. The Tribune story ran in other papers, including the old Washington Times-Herald and the New York Daily News. It carried no byline and bore a Washington dateline, but it was the product of a Tribune war correspondent in the Pacific named Stanley Johnston. An Australian who had once mined for gold in New Guinea, Johnston had been aboard the aircraft carrier, USS Lexington, when it was sunk during the Battle of the Coral Sea in early May 1942, Carlson said. Johnston was a World War I veteran with a trim mustache who had fought at Gallipoli as a teenager. He had started as a war correspondent for the Tribune in Britain in 1940, according to a 1942 Tribune profile. Known as "Johnny," he had almost been killed when German planes bombed the Dover hotel where he and other reporters were staying. When the United States entered the war, the Tribune sent Johnston to the Pacific, where he asked to be assigned to the Lexington because there were no other reporters on board, the newspaper said later. "He's been a recurring puzzle and mystery all these years for the Navy," Carlson said. In the Coral Sea, the Lexington was crippled by enemy dive bombers and torpedo planes, and suffered a series of post-attack explosions so serious that it had to be abandoned. But most of the almost 3,000-man crew was rescued, including Johnston. The carrier was then sunk by an American destroyer. Johnston and other Lexington survivors were eventually put aboard the Navy transport, USS Barnett, and started for San Diego. While they were in route, Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, armed with the latest intelligence, "circulated a message to all of his commanders at sea giving them a little preview . . . about the battle of Midway that was going to occur in four or five days," Carlson said. Among other things, the crucial message - No. 311221 - laid out in detail the makeup of the enemy force. "That particular dispatch showed up on the Barnett," Carlson said. "It was not intended to go there, but it turned out the transport ship had the equipment to decode whatever it wanted to." The dispatch wound up in the hands of the Lexington's rescued executive officer, Cmdr. Morton T. Seligman, who happened to be bunking with Johnston. "So you put him in the same room with the dispatch, and the Navy and everybody else put two and two together. Much of the content of Nimitz's dispatch appeared in Johnston's story." Johnston landed in San Diego on June 2, and was in Chicago on June 4. When he heard about the unfolding battle, he told his editor he had some "dope" on the Japanese fleet, according to a 1942 report to the Navy and the Justice Department by former U.S. attorney general William D. Mitchell, who was handling the investigation. Johnston was told to write the story. "The description in the article of the Japanese Midway fleet is almost an exact duplication of the information contained in the Nimitz dispatch," Mitchell wrote, and Johnston later admitted copying a document with "some statement on it about the Japanese fleet." Johnston almost certainly saw and copied the dispatch, Mitchell believed. But there was no proof that he knew the dispatch was secret. "The fact that it was left lying around would indicate its lack of 'secrecy,' " Mitchell wrote. Plus, he feared a criminal prosecution could reveal further wartime secrets. The Roosevelt administration wanted to pursue it anyhow. In Chicago, in August 1942, federal prosecutors seated a grand jury, which heard testimony. In the end, no one was indicted. The testimony was sealed, and remained so until December. The Justice Department had argued against unsealing it, saying that such testimony should always remain sealed to protect witnesses and the innocent. But after more than seven decades, the courts ruled in favor of the historian. Carlson said Johnston's story did not help the Japanese. "They never heard of the article," he said. The Japanese did soon change their code, but not because of the leak. They changed it because it was due to be changed." Twenty years later, on Sept. 13, 1962, when Johnston died of an apparent heart attack at age 62, the Chicago Tribune ran his obituary on the front page.

The Battle of Midway began 75 years ago this week in the Pacific. The Japanese navy was crippled by the loss of four aircraft carriers - all used in the attack on Pearl Harbor - and hundreds of planes and sailors when it was ambushed by a smaller U.S. force that had been forewarned by good intelligence.

Iepieleaks / June 6, 2017 We have heard rumours about a new Scania V8 engine for some time. The new V8 should be a non-EGR engine, following the trend that Scania has set in with the six-cylinder engines with 410, 450 and 500 Hp. The 8x4 truck we showed earlier had an S-730 badge, but when you check the Swedish licence plate registration something else is shown. This truck is officially registered with 637 kW and that is 854 horsepower! Now that would mean a really big step, from 730 to 854 horsepower, and it is more than 100 Hp above the strongest opponent in the market, the Volvo FH16 750. Another question is what gearbox is going to handle that torque! We have to wait and see if this is really what is cooking in Södertalje but this looks very serious! .

3 bidders emerge in battle to buy Renault Trucks Defense Defense News / June 2, 2017 PARIS – French-German joint venture KNDS, Belgian CMI and private equity firm Advent each filed offers to buy Renault Trucks Defense (RTD), two industry executives said Friday. A sale of RTD is part of the disposal by Volvo of its group government sales unit, which includes Acmat, Mack and Panhard. Rothschild acts as adviser to the Swedish truck maker on the divestment. Cinven had looked at making an offer and decided to pull out, an executive said. Perhaps the British venture capital firm had bid for another company, curbing its appetite for acquisitions for now. Bids on the table were non-binding preliminary offers, with a shortlist to be drawn up in three weeks, afternoon daily Le Monde reported. Those shortlisted would have access to detailed data, allowing a best and final offer to be made by the end of July. The French government will keep a close eye on the selection. Volvo and KMW Nexter Defense Systems, or KNDS, declined comment. KNDS has previously confirmed its intention to make an offer. “KNDS is an actor in the consolidation of European land defense,” a Nexter spokesperson told Defense News in February. “The sale of RTD by Volvo is an opportunity.” That approach is based on a “complementarity” as Nexter and RTD work as partners on the French Army’s Scorpion modernization program, the VBCI infantry fighting vehicle and Caesar cannon, a second executive said. RTD specializes in armored vehicles less than 14 tons, while Nexter supplies heavier platforms. If KNDS were to win the tender, RTD would join as a third partner to the French-German joint venture rather than face a shut down. “An acquisition would not lead to any closures,” Nexter chairman Stephane Mayer told business daily Les Echos May 16. RTD, which is cash rich, would need a new IT system, likely to cost €10 million to €15 million (US $11.3 million to $16.9 million) over five years and replace the present network which has servers in Sweden, the first executive said. The company makes double digit annual profit and has forecast 2017-18 sales of €700 million to €800 million (US $789 million to $902 million). The Direction Générale de l’Armement procurement office is not involved in the present stage of the tender and would only intervene if there was a foreign buyer, a spokesman said. “The DGA will seek assurance the key French requirements of our armed forces will be met over the long term, particularly in view of RTD’s role in the Scorpion program,” he said. The previous French defense minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, encouraged Nexter to bid for RTD, but there is now a new government formed, which may spark uncertainty over political support, the second executive said. General Dynamics is unlikely to be on the short list as it is “impossible” France would accept a bid by a U.S. company, the first executive said. He pointed to the lack of reciprocity due to the Buy America Act and the America First campaign as the reason. Cinven had considered a bid and had worked on a business plan, including an expansion by acquisition. Iveco of Italy and French privately owned Soframe were seen as potential targets. American Motors had also looked at RTD, Defense News was told. If CMI’s bid were accepted, that would add a new industrial actor to European industry, partnering a maker of guns and turrets with a vehicle builder. On brand names, Volvo uses the RTD and Mack company names by paying fees to Renault, the French car company which owns the names. Whichever bidder buys the Volvo unit will want to use the present brands, particularly Mack, a widely known American name. “It’s historic, it’s American,” an executive said. Nexter displayed at the IDEX trade show in Abu Dhabi an updated version of its Leclerc heavy tank, equipped with a KMW remote controlled turret, indicating close ties between the French and German firms. In the Scorpion program, Nexter, RTD and Thales are key partners on the Griffon multirole troop carrier and Jaguar combat vehicle. .

https://tlinetrucks.com/ .

Iveco builds construction fleet offer with Stralis X-Way Transport Engineer / June 6, 2017 Iveco is launching a new vehicle for the construction sector, promising best-in-class payload and “ultimate” fuel efficiency. The Stralis X-Way will be available from Iveco dealerships in September and is said to be ideal for on-road applications requiring light off-road capability. The vehicle was previewed on Friday 2 June at the manufacturer’s plant in Madrid, where it will be built. Pierre Lahutte, Iveco brand president, said the Stralis X-Way would deliver “high productivity, safety and excellent total cost of ownership”. He added: “Our new X-Way combines the legendary Trakker chassis strength with all the fuel saving and safety features of the New Stralis. It offers all the performance and comfort benefits of our most advanced long haul on-road trucks like the latest XP, together with the robustness of our toughest off-road vehicle.” The Stralis X-Way boasts a low kerb weight of 9 tonnes – the lowest in the industry, claims Iveco – for the Super Loader (SL) version on an 8x4 chassis. The vehicle is offered with 9-, 11- and 13-litre engine options, all with Iveco’s Hi-SCR technology. Fuel efficiency is boosted by systems such as Hi-Cruise and SMART auxiliaries, both of which have been validated to give an 11.2% fuel reduction by independent body TUV SUD on the New Stralis XP. The Stralis X-Way will have a choice of cabs: the AD (Active Day) short cab with low roof; the AT (Active Time) sleeper cab with low or medium roof; and the AS (Active Space) sleeper cab, promising “ultimate comfort” for drivers. Iveco is also promising maintenance and repair savings for the new truck, thanks to long service intervals and a range of technologies. The Stralis X-Way will be offered in artic or rigid versions, and with a range of features and components, giving operators a “vehicle than can be configured for an extensive variety of missions”.