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Automotive News / November 9, 2015 The EPA has certified the diesel-powered versions of the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon at 31 mpg highway -- the highest rating of any truck, big or small, gasoline or diesel -- sold in the U.S. The two midsize GM pickups edge past the Ram EcoDiesel, which is EPA-rated at 29 mpg on the highway. Ford’s most fuel-efficient F-150 is powered by a 2.7-liter gasoline V-6 and carries an EPA rating of 26 mpg highway. The 31 mpg puts the GM twins well ahead of the midsize Toyota Tacoma and Nissan Frontier, which are not available with diesel engines. GM is pressing on with its plan to add diesel engines to its lineup, despite the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal, which has caused regulators all over the world to give diesel-powered vehicles extra scrutiny. Earlier today, GM's product development chief, Mark Reuss, said Chevrolet will launch the next version of the Chevrolet Cruze diesel on schedule for the 2017 model year. GM said that the EPA issued not only the fuel economy ratings but a certificate of conformity stating the agency has no issues or concerns about the emissions systems in both trucks. The Colorado and Canyon are powered by a 2.8-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine. They go on sale before the end of the year with prices for diesel models adding about $3,700 over V-6, gasoline-powered trucks. The official EPA rating for Colorado and Canyon is 22 city/31 highway and 25 combined.

Louisiana police murder 6-year-old child Associated Press / November 9, 2015 A Louisiana man had his hands up and posed no threat to the police who shot him and killed his six-year-old son last week, according to a judge’s description of body camera footage. Two Louisiana police officers are charged with second-degree murder of the boy, Jeremy Mardis, and second-degree attempted murder of the father, Chris Few. Louisiana state police head Colonel Mike Edmonson described the body camera footage as “the most disturbing thing I’ve seen”. The officers, 32-year-old Derrick Stafford and 23-year-old Norris Greenhouse Jr, remained jailed on Monday with a $1 million bond. State police say Stafford is a full-time lieutenant with the Marksville police department; Greenhouse is a full-time city marshal. Both were working part-time as deputy marshals in Marksville’s Ward 2 when Tuesday’s shooting broke out, state police said. Chris Few remains hospitalized with bullet fragments lodged in his brain and lung. He has not yet been told his son is dead. Greenhouse is the son of Norris Greenhouse Sr, an assistant district attorney in Avoyelles Parish. The district attorney, Charles Riddle, says the state attorney general will take over prosecution of the case. The possibility that the officers could post bond and be released Monday, despite the murder charges, and the same day the boy is being buried, has shocked the country. Jeremy Mardis, who was autistic, was buried Monday in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He had recently moved from Mississippi to Louisiana. The boy’s death came in the midst of local infighting among various Marksville authorities with overlapping jurisdictions. Stafford, for instance, was a Marksville police officer who was moonlighting for the city marshal’s office, an agency that serves court papers in the area. Marksville mayor John Lemoine said Stafford “apparently worked a full shift for us that day, and then that night went to work for the marshal’s office”. Lemoine questioned the legality of the marshal and his officers enforcing laws – and firing their weapons – in Marksville city limits. Marysville city attorney Derrick Whittington says Stafford had faced multiple lawsuits in his role as a Marksville police officer, and that in neighboring Rapides Parish he had been indicted on rape charges that were later dropped. Update: Police investigating the fatal shooting of a six-year-old autistic boy by two Louisiana state marshals are looking into whether one of the police officers had a grudge with the child's father. Jeremy Mardis was shot five times in the head and chest as he sat in the passenger seat of his father Chris Few's car last week by police officers Derrick Stafford, 32, and Norris Greenhouse. Investigators are exploring the possibility that Greenhouse had a personal issue with Few, after Few's fiancée Megan Dixon said Greenhouse had been messaging her on Facebook and coming to their home. Ms Dixon has previously said she 'was the reason this all started', adding that she knew what happened in the moments leading up to the shooting. Update: A Louisiana grand jury indicted two deputy marshals on charges of second-degree murder on Thursday after a 6-year-old boy was killed last month during a volley of gunfire as the officers chased his father's car. The officers, Derrick Stafford, 32, and Norris Greenhouse Jr., 23, also face charges of second-degree attempted murder in the wounding of the boy's father under the indictment returned by a grand jury in central Louisiana's Avoyelles Parish. The two deputy marshals fired at least 18 times at the car during the Nov. 3 incident, wounding 25-year-old Chris Few and killing his son, Jeremy Mardis, who was buckled into the front passenger seat. While local authorities initially said the deputy marshals were trying to arrest Few on a warrant when he fled by car, state police later said there was no record of a warrant. State police found no evidence that Few was armed. Footage of the shooting was captured on a body camera by a third officer at the scene. The video was described by the superintendent of the Louisiana State Police, Colonel Mike Edmonson, as "the most disturbing thing I've seen." Greenhouse was released from jail after posting $1 million bail. Stafford remains in jail because he cannot afford the $1 million bail. He has asked a judge to lower the amount. .

Automotive Business / November 6, 2015 Rumors that Navistar intends to close its truck and engine assembly plant in Canoas, Brazil by early 2016 received a further boost this week. Metalworkers union president Paul Chintolina has told the media that 600 employees are being dismissed. In a statement, Navistar confirms they have "temporarily suspended production of International trucks as a way of adjusting the high inventories," but it hopes to continue engine production. Navistar said its MWM engine subsidiary has a supply contract for GM until February 2016. The contract for the production of 2.8 turbodiesel GM engine produced by MWM was signed in July 2008, with initial deliveries starting in November 2011. The engine is offered in the Brazilian market S10 pickup (new U.S. market Colorado/Canyon) and S-10 based Trailblazer SUV. Last August, GM stated it would terminate this agreement at the beginning of 2016 and intended to switch production to one of its own Brazilian plants. However, GM so far has shown no sign of making an investment to produce the engines. If the decision is back on the table, the decision by GM and Navistar to jointly produce medium truck may have some bearing. With the end of engine production scheduled for February 2016, the Canoas plant will depend exclusively on truck assembly to survive, because all other lines of engine assembly plus the parts distribution center function have already been transferred to the MWM plant in São Paulo. Given Brazil’s severely depressed truck market, it will be difficult for Navistar to continue producing just two models, the 9800i heavy COE tractor and Durastar medium truck, at a time when demand is at record lows. From January to October, only 58 new International trucks were registered in Brazil, down 93.8% from the same period last year when Navistar’s Canoas plant was being sustained by a large 2013 year Durastar order from the Ministry of Agrarian Development (MDA) for 898 trucks. Since production for the contract concluded in June last year, production at Canoas has come to a near standstill and Navistar has now decided to suspend operations indefinitely. Accordingly, truck assembly employees are being let go. Navistar says truck assembly will resume if there is demand. Over the last five years, Navistar has tried to forge a partnership with incoming Chinese truckmakers who needed a production facility in Brazil, including Foton, JAC and Sinotruk, Foton and JAC. All had plans to build truck plants in Brazil until the countries economic slow down. Navistar acquired the Canoas plant from engine maker Maxion in the early 2000s. Navistar acquired Brazilian engine maker MWM in 2005. Navistar has produced International trucks in Brazil since 1998, initially in a rented plant belonging to Agrale in Caxias do Sul. In 2002, Navistar terminated Brazilian production and began building global market 9800i heavy COE tractors in Minnesota, only for export. In 2010, the International brand returned to Brazil, and added the Durastar medium truck series to its small portfolio. Related reading: http://brazil.internationaltrucks.com/trucks/9800i.html http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/38944-is-the-end-near-again-for-navistar-in-brazil/?hl=9800i http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/41271-navistar-struggles-to-continue-manufacturing-in-brazil/?hl=9800i http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/41822-road-test-international-9800i-the-cabover-in-brazil/?hl=9800i .

Industry fury over lack of action on overcharging Australasian Transport / November 9, 2015 Heavy vehicle overcharging to continue for at least two more years. The transport and logistics sector has reacted with anger at state and federal governments on the heavy vehicle charging issue following last week’s Transport and Infrastructure Council meeting. While criticism by industry representative bodies of the heavy vehicle charging regime has been muted in recent years, the tone heated up in the lead-up to the meeting and criticism was strong after the council’s communique was released. Australian Livestock and Rural Transporters Association national president Kevin Keenan, who joined the Australian Trucking Association (ATA) chair Noelene Watson and CEO Christopher Melham to observe the meeting, is "bitterly disappointed" in the decision to leave the situation unchanged. Transport ministers "had a chance to return to fair cost recovery principles but have instead ignored the advice of their own statutory authority and opted to continue the blatant opportunistic tax grab", Keenan says. "Not one of the Ministers present was prepared to do the right thing by industry." The federal government froze the road user charge in its 2014-15 and 2015-16 budgets, in recognition of the problems with the National Transport Commission (NTC) charging model. Over the next two years, truck and bus operators will face $515 million in charges above the revised NTC rate due to an under-estimation of vehicle numbers, the industry charges The communique says registration and fuel fees "will be adjusted appropriately during this period". Keenan’s exasperation is unconcealed. "Ministers have pitched this decision as a step towards implementing the new charging methodology, but this is not the case," he says. "Revenue is being frozen at a level calculated under a flawed model. "Governments will now collect $3.2 billion no matter how much they spend on roads. "Given that government expenditure on road infrastructure actually decreased during the past two years of over-charging, we can now expect to see further deferment of road spending. "I have lost confidence that Governments will ever fix this problem. "We have already had a two year delay and that has just been followed by yet another two year delay. "It is no secret that Governments are actively working on a mass-distance-location charging system and moving to a forward looking cost base. "The persistent over-charging will just be used as leverage to push us into a more complex charging scheme. "How can we trust them to get that right and charge us fairly if they can’t, or more correctly won’t, fix the agreed PAYGO model." The Australian Trucking Association’s (ATA) response focused on the burden and where it lands. "As a result of this decision, truck and bus operators will be overtaxed by $250.2 million in 2016-17 and $264.8 million in 2017-18 – in total, a $515 million hit on an industry filled with small businesses working on wafer thin margins," ATA CEO Chris Melham says. The NTC told ministers in 2014 that overcharging was going on and reforms to the system were needed. However, ministers have merely asked it to complete further work on the issue, thereby delaying any move at a time when government budgets are under pressure. "Ministers requested the National Transport Commission investigate and report back to it with options to advance the methodology to better balance heavy vehicle charges and government revenues," the communique says. "This decision will ensure that governments can maintain the quality of roads and services that support the heavy vehicle industry." Melham says the ATA argued strongly against a freeze to government revenue. The ATA has also taken issue with a government plan for trucking operators to fund the future activities of the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) through registration and fuel charges. "I also told ministers that any future increases in the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator’s budget should be paid for by governments, not industry, given this half billion dollar hit to road transport," Melham says. During the meeting, transport ministers also discussed changes to chain of responsibility contained within the Heavy Vehicle National Law, such as adding primary duty of care provisions covering operators, prime contractors and employers. "The HVNL needs to be streamlined and safety prioritised through the introduction of a general duty that applies to trucking operators, consignors and all other chain parties," Melham says. "By doing this, governments could remove large numbers of prescriptive rules that impose high compliance costs and prevent businesses from innovating. "I’m very pleased that ministers have agreed to a series of changes along these lines, including major improvements to the way roadworthiness is handled. "The ATA looks forward to working closely with the National Transport Commission to develop the fine detail of the reforms." Ministers also agreed to continue work on a harmonised risk-based heavy vehicle inspection regime and to release expenditure plans to show how revenue from registration and fuel charges is being invested. "These measures provide transparency around the costs of services being delivered to heavy vehicle operators and are a key achievement along the path to reforming heavy vehicle investment and charging arrangements," the communique says. Ministers discussed advances in transport technology systems and South Australia’s decision to conduct the country’s first on-road trials of driverless vehicles. "The council agreed it was important to share learnings across jurisdictions; have a view on future challenges; and work towards harmonised standards and regulation to ensure that Australia is well positioned to adopt new technologies," the communique says.

The New York Times / November 8, 2015 On the Dalton Highway, most conversations concern the Dalton Highway. Although there aren’t many people on the road, they inevitably talk about the road. My first conversation, during a three-day drive along the isolated freeway in Alaska, was with a man named Steven Duffy who was working as a waiter at the Yukon River Camp, a lonesome rest stop marooned among the fir trees four hours north of Fairbanks. I had stopped for lunch and encountered Duffy -- the first fellow human I had seen all day -- while still becoming accustomed to the highway’s various perils. Those, I had found, included fog, fatigue, flat tires, facing traffic, passing traffic, potholes, gravel, grizzly bears, rain, snow, sleep-inducing silence, sudden engine failure, an abruptly shattered windshield and running out of gas. “So how’s the road?” Duffy asked as I walked in, getting, in the spirit of the Dalton, straight to the heart of things. He was a big man with a beard and burly shoulders, and as he handed me a menu, it came with some advice. I should probably take it easy on the hills, he said, and be sure to clear my wheel wells out from time to time. It was also important to pay scrupulous attention to my mirrors and to always -- always -- drive slowly through the mud. “This isn’t Anchorage,” he warned. “It’s the middle of freaking nowhere.” After he took my order -- grilled cheese and a coffee -- Duffy added, although it hardly needed saying, “It’s remote out here.” The James W. Dalton Highway, which slices through the wildest and northernmost portions of Alaska, is nothing if not remote. Chiefly made of loose-packed dirt and gravel, it shudders over 414 miles from the flyspeck town of Livengood (population 13) to the grim industrial oil fields that mar the frigid shores of Prudhoe Bay. Along its length, its spine-snapping roadbed cuts through boreal forests, across the Arctic Circle, up and down the passes of the Brooks Range and deep into the reaches of a misty coastal plain. The highway boasts, if that is actually the word, the longest stretch of unserviced road on the North American continent. For 240 miles, from Coldfoot to Deadhorse, there are no gas stations, no flush toilets, no auto body shops, no restaurants, no medical facilities, no hotels, no motels, no state police posts, no cellphone service, no Internet connections, no radio reception -- nothing at all, for a seven-hour span, if you are lucky, but the thoroughfare itself. In addition to these numerous privations, there is also no good reason for a nonprofessional driver to drive the Dalton Highway. Hewed from the permafrost over five brief months in 1974, it originally served as an access road for construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, which itself was built from 1975 to 1977, after oil was discovered on Alaska’s North Slope. Today the Dalton is primarily a haul road for the speeding eighteen-wheelers transporting everything from apple sauce to Therma-steel panels to the oil-field workers living in the scarcities of Deadhorse. In winter, the climate can be brutal: The coldest temperature ever measured in the United States -- minus 82 degrees -- was said to have been recorded on the highway in 1971. And even in the clemency of summer, when temperatures can rise to 65 degrees, the casual traveler is confronted by refrigerated trucks hauling frozen food, by tanker trucks hauling heating oil and water, and by huge tractor-trailers hauling huge modular housing units, all of which have a tendency to fling stones at your windows and, with the right of way, aggressively threaten to run you off the road. My personal not-good reason for driving the Dalton was the TV show “The Wire.” In early June, my girlfriend, Cheyne, left for her own adventure traveling in Europe for the summer, and in her absence, I decided I would catch up on what Netflix had to offer. But when I sat down to watch the show, something went wrong. I was badly distracted; I couldn’t even make it through the credit sequence. So I reached for a book: same thing -- I found I couldn’t read. My brain, it seemed, was congested with a thought-dispersing ooze that stymied every effort at attention. When I tried to diagnose my condition, it suddenly occurred to me that I was very much alone. Although I had been married and was now in a relationship -- albeit at a distance for a season -- it came to me with a nauseating thump that, aside from a few weeks here and there, I had not been on my own in nearly 20 years. This was an unsettling epiphany. But as it passed, I realized that, much as with vaccines, sometimes the poison in one’s life can also be the cure. So at home in Brooklyn I sat at my laptop and Googled the words “loneliest road in America.” After finding several links for U.S. 50 in Nevada, which I had already driven, I saw one for the Dalton. I clicked the link and found a passage reading: “There are only three very sparsely populated towns along the entire route -- Coldfoot, Wiseman and Deadhorse. So it’s probably wise to stock up on food and gas.” Two months later I landed in Alaska. I rented a custom-rigged RAV 4 with triple-tread tires and a CB radio, filled the tank to capacity, checked the brakes and oil, and then the next morning drove due north from Fairbanks toward the Dalton. All that I had with me was a bag of clothes, some water, cheese and trail mix, and a vague belief that if I was alone, it might as well be very alone, and on the road. After lunch in Yukon River I turned on my radio. The experiment failed. The little digital numbers churned four times through the FM dial then finally caught on 88.3, a contemporary Christian station out of Fairbanks. For half-a-minute, I was treated to a tune called “Trust in Jesus” (“Blessed redeemer/My Lord forever”), then all trace of human voice was gone. The Dalton’s emptiness is practically a mandate to merge with the landscape, and the landscape I was passing through was striking. Fields of fireweed burned near the shoulder, an incendiary carpeting of lavender. Amid the purple, red and yellow wildflowers popped like flaming sparklers, and hovering above them was the white wisp of cirrus cloud fallen from the sky. In the distance there were hills, the near hills green and vibrant, the far hills gray and faded, like memories of themselves. And through these hills went the road: a long, brown, dull, unfurling tongue. Whenever you get romantic about the beauty of the Dalton, the highway has a habit of kicking you in the back. Lost in a reverie about how Tolkienesque it seems, you might pass through a valley choked with blinding fog or skid across a sudden patch of washboard, that angry rutted surface that -- chukka-chukka-chukka -- buckets you up and down. In summer, the road is often treated with calcium chloride, a chemical compound that helps to keep the dust down, but that quickly turns into a greasy gruel when wet. Especially south of Coldfoot, there are several daunting hills with grades of up to 9 percent and unnerving names like the Roller Coaster. While not as perilous as the winding mountain route through Atigun Pass, two hours north of Coldfoot, they tend to slow you down -- sometimes to 20 mph or less. It was not far from the Arctic Circle, while descending one of these hills, that I finally made peace with the oddest aspect of the Dalton’s scenic backdrop: the pipeline. For mile after mile, it had blandly snaked beside me, following the highway like an endless ugly suture made of steel. Beyond the road itself, the pipeline is the Dalton’s most intrusive man-made structure -- both its bane and raison d'être. There is something profoundly unnatural about the way its metal segments march across the countryside. And something mocking, too: Even though hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil a day pass through the pipeline, the tube itself passes through a wilderness with only three places to fill your car with gas. The town of Coldfoot is not in fact a town. Technically, it is a “census-designated place” in what is known as the Yukon-Koyukuk area. But really, it is no more than a truck stop with a post office. All of Coldfoot could likely be contained within a football field: the Old West-looking restaurant, the pair of busy gas pumps, the sprawling muddy parking lot and the odoriferous rooms at Coldfoot Camp, which rent -- for $200 a night -- inside a trailer. I got to Coldfoot seven hours after setting out from Fairbanks, blissfully on one of the highway’s rare paved sections. It was 3 p.m. and after checking in I took a nap. When I woke up, I found a dead mouse in a trap outside my door and a shirtless man in the common room talking to a television set. By now it was six but still as bright as noon outside. In Coldfoot, in August, the sun barely sets. Crossing the lot, I made my way past a fleet of filthy pickups toward the bar. If Coldfoot has a claim to fame, aside from being the world’s most northern truck stop, it may be that it’s the only place on the Dalton where you can legally buy a drink. Founded in the 19th century as the Slate Creek mining camp, Coldfoot got its present name in 1900 when travelers on a nearby river got cold feet as winter came on and wisely turned around. These days the rest stop, which is midway on the highway, serves as a fuel depot for the truckers making barrel runs to Deadhorse. When I was there, it was also a base for hunters and a small brigade of construction workers working on the pipeline. The only person at the bar when I arrived was a hulking man in a T-shirt reading, “The Plural of Moose Is Moose,” who was demolishing some chili from the all-you-can-eat buffet ($21.95). But by the time I loaded up on the hotline’s green beans, cabbage and chicken puttanesca, the place was filled with pipeline workers, including one named Mark. Mark, who kept his last name to himself so as not to annoy his employer, had for years been a medic in Portland, Oregon. But recently he burned out on the job and found his way to the Dalton in the desperate hopeful manner of a Jack London character. In my three days on the highway, I never met an actual Alaskan: I met Floridians, Virginians, a woman from Connecticut and a guy from British Columbia traveling on a Harley with his dog riding shotgun in a sidecar. In the Dalton’s nagging solitude, human bonds form quickly. And soon enough Mark and I were discussing our jobs, our loves, our politics and, naturally, the road. The washboard was the worst, he said -- “It’ll run you into a ditch” -- although he granted that the potholes weren’t much better. It was around that point that one of Mark’s colleagues leaned in with a comment. “Oh, hell no!” he exclaimed, having heard that I was headed up to Deadhorse. “You do not want to be on that part of the road.” Then, sipping his drink, he seemed to soften. “I guess you’ll be all right,” he said. “Probably.” I woke the next morning at 5 a.m. Since I was traveling to Deadhorse and rain was in the forecast, I wanted to start early. It was 44 degrees outside, but at least for now the sun was throwing shredded orange daylight over the mountains. As I set out, the road got bad, then better, then bad again, until I came to Atigun Pass, where it began to rain and the highway turned into Campbell’s Chunky soup. Climbing to 4,739 feet on slimy switchbacks with semis both in front of and behind me was a far more potent stimulant than Coldfoot’s tepid coffee. But descending from the pass I reached a vacant plain, the jaundiced sun obscured behind a leaden bank of fog, and in all that emptiness, with the highway jostling hypnotically beneath me, I suddenly forgot that I was on my own. If loneliness is the state of being aware of your aloneness, then solitude is different: To be solitary is to be inside yourself with no need for escape -- a separateness without the human ache of isolation. It was with these thoughts that I finally got to Deadhorse, which may rank as the most horrific place on planet Earth. The town, if you can call it that, is the apotheosis of petrochemical dismalness: a wasteland of oil tanks, acetylene fires, heavy-machine repair shops and spill-abatement companies that is drenched in freezing rain and pocked with muddy puddles, and where everyone I encountered wondered what in the world I was doing there at all. In between arriving and filling my car with gas, I had seen enough of Deadhorse. I had planned to spend the night there, but after getting in at noon, and with 10 more hours of sunless daylight pending, I ate a hasty lunch, turned around and drove another six hours back to Coldfoot. The following day, as I returned to Fairbanks, I passed the Yukon River Camp. Feeling solitarily sociable, I stopped in on a whim to see if Steven Duffy was around. He was not. He had apparently gone to Fairbanks himself to use the Internet for his fantasy football draft, but the waitress who took care of me amply filled his shoes. I bought some coffee and she handed me my change. Then she asked, “So how’s the road?”

Owner/Driver / November 6, 2015 Australia's transport ministers ignore calls to stop overtaxing trucking operators. The nation’s transport ministers have delivered a slap in the face to the trucking industry by agreeing to overcharge operators by more than $500 million in registration and fuel fees. Transport ministers met today as part of the Transport and Infrastructure Council to discuss heavy vehicle charges and decided to stick with the existing system despite knowing it has led to trucking operators paying too much. The trucking industry urged ministers to reduce fees to make up for years of overcharging, but they decided instead to freeze the revenue from charges at 2015-16 levels for the next two years. A communique from the meeting says registration and fuel fees "will be adjusted appropriately during this period". Trucking operators will be overcharged by about $200 million in 2015-16, meaning the decision to freeze revenue at current levels will ensure overcharging keeps occurring. "As a result of this decision, truck and bus operators will be overtaxed by $250.2 million in 2016-17 and $264.8 million in 2017-18 – in total, a $515 million hit on an industry filled with small businesses working on wafer thin margins," Australian Trucking Association (ATA) CEO Chris Melham says. The National Transport Commission (NTC) told ministers back in 2014 that overcharging was going on and reforms to the system were needed. However, ministers are clearly not satisfied with the NTC’s recommendations and have asked it to complete further work on the issue. "Ministers requested the National Transport Commission investigate and report back to it with options to advance the methodology to better balance heavy vehicle charges and government revenues," the communique from the ministerial meeting says. "This decision will ensure that governments can maintain the quality of roads and services that support the heavy vehicle industry." Melham, who was an observer at the ministerial meeting, says the ATA argued strongly against a freeze to government revenue. The ATA has also taken issue with a government plan for trucking operators to fund the future activities of the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) through registration and fuel charges. "I also told ministers that any future increases in the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator’s budget should be paid for by governments, not industry, given this half billion dollar hit to road transport," Melham says. During the meeting, transport ministers also discussed changes to chain of responsibility contained within the Heavy Vehicle National Law, such as adding primary duty of care provisions covering operators, prime contractors and employers. "The HVNL needs to be streamlined and safety prioritised through the introduction of a general duty that applies to trucking operators, consignors and all other chain parties. By doing this, governments could remove large numbers of prescriptive rules that impose high compliance costs and prevent businesses from innovating," Melham says. "I’m very pleased that ministers have agreed to a series of changes along these lines, including major improvements to the way roadworthiness is handled. The ATA looks forward to working closely with the National Transport Commission to develop the fine detail of the reforms." Ministers also agreed to continue work on a harmonised risk-based heavy vehicle inspection regime and to release expenditure plans to show how revenue from registration and fuel charges is being invested. "These measures provide transparency around the costs of services being delivered to heavy vehicle operators and are a key achievement along the path to reforming heavy vehicle investment and charging arrangements," the communique says. The council discussed the implementation of an online map of national key freight routes, a process that started two years ago. "The council agreed to Australia’s first ever national key freight routes map in November 2014 and the new online version brings transport mapping into the digital age," the communique says. Ministers discussed advances in transport technology systems and South Australia’s decision to conduct the country’s first on-road trials of driverless vehicles. "The council agreed it was important to share learnings across jurisdictions; have a view on future challenges; and work towards harmonised standards and regulation to ensure that Australia is well positioned to adopt new technologies," the communique says.

Driving the 2017 ISX15 with SmartAdvantage powertrain Truck News / November 6, 2015 Having recently completed a coast-to-coast tour in the US and Canada showcasing its prototype 2017 ISX15, Cummins joined Eaton this week in Michigan to allow the first editor test drives and to announce the launch of a new SmartAdvantage powertrain. Michael Taylor, general manager, global powertrain with Cummins, said the 2017 engine has already been well tested, even though it won’t launch until late next year. He said it has already accumulated more than nine million miles in real-world customer applications, which is equal to 4,000 trips from coast to coast. Early indications are that the engine will excel in the four key areas customers care about: uptime, fuel economy, driveability and maintenance. Taylor vowed the 2017 ISX15 will deliver the best fuel economy and lowest overall total cost of ownership in the industry, even when compared to 13L engines. Asked how a larger, heavier engine can compete with a more compact 13-litre in terms of fuel economy, Taylor said, “With a big bore engine like the 15-litre ISX, you are able to take advantage of the low-end torque and you’re able to lug the engine down to a lower speed. As you go lower in speed, you reduce frictional losses and improve your overall parasitics, so you’re actually operating in a more efficient range of the engine. With a big bore engine you have the opportunity to utilize that low-end torque and therefore get higher efficiency compared to a smaller engine, where you’re not capable of lugging down as far and therefore have to run at higher speeds, which generates higher friction.” Taylor also noted 15-litre engines tend to last longer and maintain a higher residual value than 13-litre engines. The truck I drove on some Interstate highway and secondary roads near Marshall was equipped with the 2017 ISX15 and SmartAdvantage powertrain. The SmartAdvantage combines the ISX with the Fuller Advantage Series automated manual transmission. The overdrive transmission features a small, 26% step between ninth and tenth gears, allowing for quick shifts and the ability to easily and efficiently pop back and forth between the top two gears so the transmission is always in its most efficient gear. “The small step between ninth and tenth gives us the opportunity to switch between ninth and tenth and keep the engine right in the sweet spot,” Taylor explained. “It’s okay to downshift. It’s switching gears fast enough and selects the most efficient gear based on all the data exchanged between the engine and the transmission.” Taylor said this is an ideal line-haul spec’, where engine cruise speeds would average 62 mph or higher. During my drive the transmission did change frequently between ninth and tenth gears. We were loaded to about 65,000 lbs and cruised at about 1,150-1,200 rpm. All SmartAdvantage powertrains are limited to gross combination weights of 80,000 lbs, making it an ideal spec’ for north-south runs into the US but posing some limitations for higher-payload domestic routes within Canada. The SmartAdvantage powertrain with small step technology can now be ordered with 400- and 420-hp ratings, in addition to the 450-hp initial offering. The 2017 ISX15 carries over all the latest features Cummins offers on its current product. These include: vehicle acceleration management, which limits power on acceleration to save fuel; SmartTorque2, which senses vehicle weight, grade and operating gear to slect the appropriate torque output; and SmartCoast, which disengages the driveline when coasting downhill to save fuel. Cummins officials were reluctant to divulge specific changes that have been built into the 2017 product, but those details will be available closer to the official launch date. The engines available to drive this week were prototypes, but fairly advanced in the development cycle. During their joint press event here this week, Cummins and Eaton also announced availability of a new SmartAdvantage powertrain featuring a 10-speed direct drive transmission. The new offering, intended for regional haul and LTL applications with average road speeds of less than 62 mph, gives the SmartAdvantage broader coverage of the industry. While the small-step overdrive SmartAdvantage readily jumps between the two top gears to ensure maximum efficiency, the 10-speed direct drive is inclined to grab and hold tenth gear to maximize the time spent in more efficient direct drive. The direct drive SmartAdvantage features faster rear axle ratios (2.26, 2.28 and 2.39 ratios are available, while the small step overdrive version offers rear axle ratios of 2.64 and 2.78). “One of the key enablers of this technology is the release of 2.26 and 2.28 axles, which gives us the opportunity to downspeed our direct drive transmission,” explained Ryan Trzybinski, product strategy manager, commercial powertrain, Eaton. “With those axle ratios, we can run our direct drive as low as 1,240 rpm at 65 mph – not quite to the overdrive level, but running in direct drive brings new features and opportunities to us…In regional haul applications with slower speeds and where you’re able to maintain and hold top gear, direct drive can give you an advantage over our SmartAdvantage small step.” Generally speaking, direct drive transmissions, with their ability to transmit power directly through the main shaft without parasitic losses, are more efficient than overdrive transmissions. But throw in some hills and higher average road speeds and an overdrive transmission could provide better performance, which is why Cummins and Eaton are now pleased to be able to offer both solutions. The two companies first announced their SmartAdvantage integrated powertrain in 2014, touting a 3-6% fuel economy advantage compared to their existing products at that time, which weren’t yet fully integrated. The addition this year of SmartCoast has added another 2% in fuel savings, the companies say. Having expanded the SmartAdvantage options available, Cummins and Eaton have also revamped their joint Web site. Customers can now access more tools and information at www.SmartAdvantagePowertrain.com to determine which configuration is best for their application.

Heavy Duty Trucking / November 6, 2015 Oakley Transport is adding Bendix collision-mitigation, full-stability, and side-object detection systems on around 300 new Volvo tractors, the carrier has announced. Specifically, the carrier will equip the new trucks with the Bendix Wingman Advanced collision-mitigation system along with the Bendix Electronic Stability Program system and the Bendix BlindSpotter Side Object Detection system. Around 250 of these trucks are already on the road with the majority being deployed by the end of the year. “Oakley Transport places a premium on safety,” said Peter Nativo, Oakley’s maintenance director. “Safety is the most important of the four service standards that guide our company, and it’s ingrained in everyone here. The Bendix technologies are another integral part of our safety offerings and they’ve already proven to be a wise investment.” Of the 250 trucks already equipped with Bendix Wingman Advanced, only one has been involved in a rear-end collision since late 2013 while 250 trucks without the system recorded eight such collisions. “In one example of how well Wingman Advanced works, the system helped one of our drivers avoid running into a set of tandems that were sitting on the highway in a low-light situation,” said Nativo. “Before our driver saw the wheels ahead, the system detected the hazard and gave the driver a three-second visual and audible stationary object warning, allowing him to take evasive action.” Based out of Lake Wales, Fla., Oakley is a liquid bulk food-grade carrier with 500 trucks and 770 trailers in its fleet. It serves the U.S., Canada and Mexico. To find out more about Bendix’s safety systems, click here.

Taking Cummins' 2017 ISX15 diesel for a drive Fleet Owner / November 6, 2015 Fleets and trucking companies have more options for integrated Cummins-Eaton ISX15 SmartAdvantage Powertrains, including a new direct drive ratio. To highlight that, the companies let reporters drive some tractor-trailers sporting different SmartAdvantage configurations Wednesday, Nov. 4 — two of them, for the first time, with Cummins' 2017 ISX15 diesel being readied for the market to meet new emissions standards. Some of the trucks came from Cummins' Redefining Tour fleet showcasing the capabilities of the current and upcoming ISX15 engines. The tour trucks together logged nearly 77,000 miles in the United States and Canada. Mario Sanchez-Lara, director of on-highway communications and technical sales at Cummins, said the tour made believers of the drivers involved — including one who he said found the new trucks' fuel economy, ease of operation and comfort so convincing it opened up the possibility of returning to a former career as an owner-operator. While the companies wouldn't yet talk specifics about fuel economy of the 2017 engine, Mike Taylor, Cummins' general manager of global powertrains, said Cummins expects the new ISX15 will provide "best-in-class uptime with best-in-class fuel economy." Also, "with maintenance — and I can't say a whole lot more about this — it's going to be game-changing," he said. SmartAdvantage portfolio expanded New SmartAdvantage Powertrain options include direct drive transmissions that optimize performance and fuel economy for regional and less-than-truckload carriers whose trucks cruise at speeds below 62 mph, according to Cummins and Eaton. SmartAdvantage small-step overdrive powertrains, which are aimed at line-haul applications with cruising speeds above 62 mph, are now available with additional horsepower ratings. When the SmartAdvantage Powertrains were released for 2014, the companies claimed they provided fuel economy gains of 3-5%, noted Ryan Trzybinski, Eaton's global product strategy manager for line haul commercial powertrains. "We keep saying how we're not done — this is a collaboration," he said. "Since then, we've added SmartCoast, which is a neutral-coasting feature, and we're up another 2% in fuel economy. We have done testing, and we're up to 7% [fuel economy advantage] over competitive integrated powertrains," Trzybinski contended. Cummins and Eaton have continued to refine the SmartAdvantage integrated powertrains by sharing more data between the engine and transmission, he explained, adding, "That's part of what enables us to increase fuel economy and give the performance we can; we're optimizing our shifting for each environment." The direct drive transmission options include 2.26 and 2.28 axle ratios with ISX15 engines rated at 400 and 450 HP and use engine down-speeding to maximize fuel efficiency. The original small-step overdrive powertrain also employs down-speeding technology and has a 2.64 axle ratio and ISX15 with a 450 HP rating; the small-step tranny configuration is now available with ISX15s with 400 and 420 HP ratings. With the small-step powertrain's 2.64 axle ratio, "that's going to cruise in the 1,140 [RPM] range," Trzybinski said. "And now with the direct drive with those axle ratios we mentioned, we can run a direct drive as low as about 1,240 RPM at 65 mph. So we're getting down not quite to the overdrive level in terms of down-speeding, but you're also running it in direct, which brings in some new opportunities. "We're the only integrated powertrain to offer both" the direct drive and small-step overdrive transmission options, he added. "If you're going to go faster, like your typical line haul, and spend more time in top gear, the small-step SmartAdvantage product that we've had available since 2014 is still going to be your best fuel economy option," Trzybinski said. "But if you're going to go a little slower, maybe with a cruise speed of 62 mph and below, our options with the SmartAdvantage direct drive transmission perform better from a fuel economy standpoint."

If the U.S. Navy wanted to conduct top secret operations allegedly involving the test firing of a Trident II missile from the ballistic missile submarine USS Kentucky, given they have the entire Pacific Ocean to work with, or the Indian Ocean (the secretive Diego Garcia) for that matter, why would they instead force commercial aircraft flying in and out of LAX (one of the country’s busiest airports) to take alternative routes for a week and send the alleged missile over Orange County, California? What were they really doing? Was the object actually a U.S. missile? In a convoluted way, the event reminds one of when the government authorized the military to use the population of San Francisco as unsuspecting human guinea pigs for germ warfare experimentation in 1950 (and other US cities, from the 1940s thru the 1960s), a direct violation of the Nuremberg Code which stipulates that “voluntary, informed consent” is required for research participants, and that experiments which might lead to death or disabling injury are unacceptable. Of course, what they admitted to, and what they were actually doing, are quite possibly two different things. http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1003703226697496080 http://www.businessinsider.sg/the-military-tested-bacterial-weapons-in-san-francisco-2015-7/ .

Meanwhile, Germany has come to its senses about the nightmare that Merkel has created. Berlin has announced that the hundreds of thousands of Syrians entering Germany will NOT be granted asylum or refugee status. Syrians will only be allowed to enter Germany for ONE YEAR, are barred from having family members join them, and will only enjoy “subsidiary protection” which limits their rights as refugees. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/06/germany-imposes-surprise-curbs-on-syrian-refugees --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- New Year resolutions of the United States. 1. No to Middle Eastern refugees freely entering the US......they can apply to immigrate thru the normal process (they're actually from all over the place.......over half are not "refugees" at all) 2. All illegal aliens in the US must be immediately deported, and black-listed from legally immigrating to the US in the future, the penalty for their crime. Intentionally entering the U.S. illegally shows a character flaw that we don't need more of. 3. The U.S. citizenship of all birth tourism babies over the last 10 years must be revoked. The founding fathers did not intend for foreigners to fly to the US (and even US territories like Saipan) to give birth, so the child's family could use this means (loophole) to immigrate later.

John Q. Public, are your tax dollars being spent by your Washington employees as you intended? “Really ambitious goals” about increasing the number of U.S.-bound refugees??? I don’t recall discussing or approving any “really ambitious goals”. It's not up to the White House to decide how many, if any, Middle Eastern refugees may come to the US. The decision is up to the American people. You have to hand it to the State Department though. They are brilliant at keeping 90 percent of their work off the radar of their boss, the American people. They generally are clueless about the antics of the State Dept around the world, which have caused America's reputation to sink to an all-time low. One can't lead without being respected, and respect is earned by demonstrating a wide range of admired traits. --------------------------------------------------------------------- U.S. to open new screening centers for Syrian refugees - State Department Reuters / November 6, 2015 The Obama administration is moving to increase and accelerate the number of Syrian refugees who might be admitted into the United States by opening new screening outposts in Iraq and Lebanon, administration officials told Reuters on Friday. The move comes after President Barack Obama pledged in September to admit an additional 10,000 refugees in 2016 from Syria, torn by four years of civil war and disorder. The U.S. State Department confirmed the plans to open a refugee settlement processing center in Erbil, Iraq, before the end of 2015, and to resume refugee processing in Lebanon in early 2016, said spokeswoman Danna Van Brandt. The White House would not say how many additional refugees it may take in beyond the 10,000, but two senior administration officials said they are seeking ways to increase the number. "We want to be in a place where we can push out really ambitious goals," said one of the officials, who spoke to Reuters on the condition of anonymity. The State Department runs nine screening centers worldwide that serve as meeting points for refugees and U.S. Department of Homeland Security employees who have to decide who is suitable for resettlement in the United States. The additional centers will double the number available to refugees in the Middle East. Most Syrians are now screened for potential U.S. resettlement at centers in Istanbul and Amman, Jordan. The new centers are designed to "increase the channels" the United States has for reaching Syrian refugees, the official said. Homeland Security workers stopped traveling to Lebanon to meet with refugees when the facility there closed over a year ago due to security concerns. That closure sparked outrage among refugee advocates who say Lebanon holds the largest number of Syrian refugees, most of whom live in poverty because it is illegal for them to work. Lebanon announced last month, however, that it would no longer accept Syrian refugees except in special cases. Amid a tide of refugees in Europe, some congressional Democrats and refugee advocates say the United States should do more for Syrians who often make dangerous journeys to lands where they have no home or means of employment. Some Republicans have raised concerns that allowing more Syrians into the United States jeopardizes national security. "We have little or no information about who these people are ... no ability to determine whether they are radicalized," Republican Senator Jeff Sessions said at a hearing on Oct. 2. Another senior administration official told Reuters that the United States is also encouraging other countries to contribute more money to the United Nations' effort to help refugees. The administration is also looking to increase aid to Syria's border countries of Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey as they take in millions fleeing the war, the official said.

I apologize for making BC homesick but this is a smashing program. Hopefully those pills can help him through it. If he leaves a note under his wife's pillow this week and reappears at Maritime, I'm not responsible.

Eaton showcases low-speed tech, offers advanced service tool to more facilities Fleet Owner / Novermber 5, 2015 Eaton showed off new low-speed technologies and announced broader availability for its advanced-function service and diagnostics tool yesterday at its proving grounds facility in Marshall, Michigan. The low-speed maneuverability features — which allow for more precise, controlled incremental movements of heavy trucks — are optional on the power management company's UltraShift PLUS and Fuller Advantage automated manual transmissions. They're available at no additional charge and are "easily configurable" with Eaton's ServiceRanger 4 PC-based diagnostic and service tool, according to the company, and will be accessible in the Standard and Professional ServiceRanger packages by the end of the year. The new low-speed features are called Urge to Move and Blended Pedal. "This year, we really made push to enhance our low-speed performance," said Ryan Vigithakumara, product strategy manager for Eaton's heavy duty/vocational lineup. He added that the two features are "fundamentally different than what we've offered in the past targeted at low-speed maneuverability." Urge to Move This Eaton feature essentially can make a heavy truck with one of the applicable automated transmissions creep forward like a passenger car with automatic transmission would when the driver takes his or her foot off the brake pedal. It can make for better ease of use for the advanced driver, according to the company, but can be a particular help for less-experienced drivers and those "really anchored in that passenger car-style feel" — potentially a boon for fleets struggling with driver turnover and a limited pool of driver applicants. "In Urge to Move, when you release the brake pedal, the transmission will — as quickly as it can, safely — ramp the clutch to a lock position. So it's automatically entering what we would call 'creep mode' in the past," said Vigithakumara. "But there's a technical advantage," he added. "Because we are only starting to ramp that clutch when you release the service brake, there's no fighting the truck when you're on the brake pedal. When you're on that brake pedal, you can be assured that you're holding the truck and you're not having any untoward motion." Blended Pedal Vigithakumara contended that Blended Pedal allows a driver to manipulate the clutch in the automated manuals by positioning the accelerator. It may be a welcome addition especially for "that two-pedal driver who's moved to automation, but misses that clutch pedal and wants that manual-style control," he said. "The way it works is while you're going through the first portion of the pedal, we're able to hold the engine at idle and allow you to manipulate clutch slip. That allows you to move at speeds well below full lockup and gives you the ability to position [the truck] a half-inch, one inch, two inches at a time in forward and reverse, when enabled," he told reporters. With Blended Pedal enabled, drivers can accelerate out of that super-slow maneuverability mode because Eaton added a "dead pedal" band: the driver simply throttles the engine speed above idle to return to a normal drive mode. The feature comes in handy, according to Vigithakumara, in situations such as trying to precisely control the discharge rate out of a mixer chute without increasing the rotation of the truck's drum. "We can do that with clutch slip. It's something that manual drivers have always enjoyed, but you lose when you start moving to automation; that's what we've been able to change with the introduction of this feature," he said. ServiceRanger 4 expansion The Blended Pedal and Urge to Move features can be "unlocked," so to speak, using Eaton's proprietary service and maintenance tool, ServiceRanger 4. The company is deploying advanced functionality of the tool to fleets and aftermarket repair facilities that have the ServiceRanger 4 Standard and Professional packages, whereas previously this capability was available only to OEM dealerships and fleets. "Within the ServiceRanger packages, we have a transmission shift mode configuration that allows you to set any one of these features [blended Pedal and Urge to Move] in the drive modes you're comfortable selecting. You can choose to turn on a blended and manual or urging manual, for example," said Vigithakumara. The additional capability is available at no charge for ServiceRanger 4 users, but customers that have only the tool's Basic package or don't use it will need to go to a dealership location, which may charge a fee to update trucks' transmission configurations. "It really allows fleets to tailor their trucks individually, if they'd like to," pointed out Tony Truelove, global marketing communications manager at Eaton. Features of ServiceRanger 4 include the abilities to: ● View active and inactive fault codes; ● Create and review service activity reports; ● Run specialized tests for difficult-to-determine issues; ● View "real-time" vehicle data parameter values; ● Update vehicle product software; ● View service info for Eaton products; and ● Check for automatic updates on products and service information.

Fleet Owner / November 5, 2015 So Navistar announced this week that it’s rolling out a new “Diamond Edge” certification label for its dealership network – a network that encompasses 740 locations across the U.S. and Canada, according to Mark Reiter, the OEM’s VP of customer support. (News release: http://www.navistar.com/navistar/news/) The reason is pretty simple: much like every other truck maker out there, Navistar is turning over every rock it can to figure out ways to maximize vehicle uptime for its customers. And getting dealers to reconfigure their maintenance protocols in order to speed up repairs is critical to that uptime mantra. “The eyes of customer are on uptime; that’s where the rubber hits the road,” noted Michael Cancelliere, Navistar’s senior VP of global parts and customer service during a conference call with reporters. He said the rule of thumb among most customers is that it costs $1,000 a day to have a truck down in the shop and thus not running on the road. “And that’s on the low side,” Cancelliere stressed. “So while all our strategies are important – offering more fuel efficiency packages for our trucks, for example – uptime is the one we really need to be aligned around,” he added. Other OEMs are pursuing the very same goal: witness for example the efforts of Mack, Volvo, Peterbilt, and Kenworth in the uptime arena. Yet while Navistar’s uptime strategy is aimed at getting trucks serviced faster – aiming for a “virtual triage” on a vehicle to be completed no later than two hours after it enters the shop, noted Reiter, with an accurate diagnosis and estimated “fix time” provided to the customer – it’s also aimed at making dealerships truly “one stop shops.” Reiter pointed out, for example, that a key linchpin to the “Diamond Edge” certification program is that dealerships be linked into the OEM’s OnCommand Connection telematics system rolled out two years ago. “We’ve got 170,000 vehicles now linked to OnCommand, and more than half of them are our competitor’s trucks,” he said. “One critical point of this program is that we prevent customers from having to take their truck from shop to shop to shop to get repairs completed. So now if there is Cummins engine or an Eaton transmission issue, the diagnostic trees are available through OnCommand so our dealers can work on them.” Reiter also noted that all this focus on vehicle uptime applies equally to Navistar’s heavy- and medium-duty product portfolio alike. Interestingly, he added that the “Diamond Edge” effort isn’t really “new” either, as the OEM pilot tested the program among its Canadian dealerships two years ago and has, by now, put all of its 740 dealer locations through its training protocols. “By the end of the first quarter of next year we’ll be ready to publish the list of dealers certified under the program,” Reiter said. However, he stressed that such “certification” will only be granted to those dealerships that meet the programs service time metrics, not whether they’ve made all the required investments and procedural changes. “If it doesn’t all come together on the back end – if the repair isn’t performed according to the metrics we’ve established – then we’ve missed our customer expectations,” Reiter noted. “But so far the program is working; we’re seeing significant improvement in average dwell time and 24 hour repair cycles. We’re very pleased with collaboration we’ve received from dealers; it demonstrates that we’re all together in our commitment to uptime improvement.”

Owner/Driver / November 5, 2015 The R730 is given plenty of trailers and weight to handle in remote Western Australia. There are a few brands that come to mind when it comes to hauling road trains in some of the more far-flung corners of the Australian continent. However, the image of a bug-splattered, multi-trailer combination rumbling down an Aussie red dirt road typically features a square snouted prime mover and a North American badge on the radiator grille. So with the Western Australian (WA) harvest in full swing, we jumped behind the wheel of a Scania R730 recently to see how the most powerful on-highway truck on the Australian market performed with a king-sized load on its back. Are all those horses just pampered Euro ponies? And just how does a Euro prime mover handle dirt tracks, broken asphalt and country highways with three trailers behind it at a gross weight of over 115 tonnes (253,532 lb)? The answer was a surprise indeed. The R730 we drove belongs to Esperance Freight Lines (EFL) which is owned and operated by Michael Harding, who, having grown up around the business, is no stranger to trucking in southern WA. These days the EFL fleet numbers 73 prime movers and 300 trailers and half of those trucks wear the Scania chook on the front. The 8x4 Scania rides on airbags from front to back and this would also be the time that I’d driven a heavy duty truck with load sharing air-suspended steer axles. Behind the big Scania was a three trailer C-Train tipper combination, the WA interpretation of an AB-triple with the B-double set at the front and a tri-axle dolly and dog trailer at the back. With concessional loading for harvest this whole combination is good for an 80-tonne legal payload. This makes a gross weight of 121 tonnes which would no doubt would be a good test of the R730’s 16-litre V-8. This year’s harvest is a bumper one for the Esperance grain growing region with 3.3 million tonnes of grain expected to be stripped. EFL has 26 trucks dedicated to harvest work as well as using subbies over the season. Most of this grain will be trucked back to the CBH terminal at Esperance before being shipped from the port. We loaded on a property in the Wittenoom Hills area, 65km north east of Esperance. The truck and trailer combination was just two weeks old with the odometer showing just over 4,400km on the clock. With the load on board and the tarps rolled over I rumbled through the paddock toward the road to town. The C-train combination is relatively compact at 36.5m long and tracks very nicely. The 12-speed Opticruise AMT held the gear changes back as we rolled along the dirt tracks until we got some momentum up. But out on the country dirt road I gave it some more gas and let the big donk knuckle down and work. At this point I thought it might be interesting to play with the transmissions three different performance modes: standard, eco and power. The eco mode actually worked quite well even at this weight, jumping up a cog around 1,500rpm and dropping back to 1,050rpm. Even then the big bent eight had enough grunt to haul the tacho needle back up for the next gear change. Power mode held the gear changes for longer, giving about 1,900rpm before the next change. However, the middle of the road standard setting did the job just fine using rpm where needed but letting the momentum of the combination give it a helping hand where possible. The stability and handling of the air-suspended twin steer axles was superb, even on dirt and rough, broken blacktop. Where some twin steer set up can feel like you are hitting every bump twice, the Scania setup let larger bumps roll though the front end without a double impact. Given the short drawbar between the dog trailer and the rest of the combination I was expecting that rear trailer to be a little jittery at highway speeds. But, given the stability and ride provided by the front end, the dog trailer tracked along nicely with very little sway on the rough stuff. Getting up to speed brought out a hairy chested, if muted, exhaust note that I’d never heard from the big banger before. It really was hauling. However, the 3,500Nm of torque could be most felt once it was cruising on the highway at 95-100km/h. The Scania only gives you peak torque in the top two gears of the Opticruise gearbox. This meant the big V8 did a sensational job of highway hills, reducing transmission down changes. It simply rolled along, lugging down where needed but maintaining a good average speed. If the V8 was the star of the show, the Scania retarder wasn’t too far behind it. A bit of forethought on approaching an intersection meant I could pull up the rig, keep my foot off the brake pedal and keep the R730 rolling even at such a large weight. It really was impressive. I’ve been guilty in the past of saying the R730 is more an exercise in vanity rather than a serious heavy hauling contender. However, my drive in the big Swede really did open my eyes to the capabilities of the smooth performing Scania powerhouse. .

Note the American Coleman front drive axle on the B-75.

As the planetary population has grown to massive levels, there inherently are a massive number of vehicles and industries spewing pollution into the air. There is a very real global pollution problem. However having said that, I would be satisfied if every vehicle in the world today, actually and 100 percent of the time, met Euro-4 emissions (roughly EPA 2004), and all diesel fuel in the world didn't exceed 50 PPM sulfur content. It's impossible to describe how dirty India and Pakistan are......most of the trucks are Euro-1 or Euro-2, not to mention buses and cars. Countries in the Middle East including Saudi Arabia, plus the Philippines, Indonesia and South Africa, are still Euro-2. Some countries are still Euro-1. .

Los Angeles Times / November 5, 2015 At a laboratory in downtown Los Angeles, a big rig spins its wheels on massive rollers as a metal tube funnels its exhaust into an array of air quality sensors. Engineers track the roaring truck's emissions from a bank of computer screens. The brand-new diesel truck is among the cleanest on the road, the engineers at the California Air Resources Board testing lab say. Even so, its 550-horsepower engine spews out more than 20 times the smog-forming nitrogen oxides of a typical gasoline-powered car — and that won't be good enough for the state to meet stricter federal smog limits adopted this month. Cutting ozone, the lung-damaging gas in smog, to federal health standards while meeting state targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions will require a radical transformation of California's transportation sector over the next two decades, air quality officials and experts say. Millions of new electric cars must replace gasoline-powered models. Buses will have to run on hydrogen fuel cells. New technologies and cleaner fuels need to proliferate quickly to slash pollution from trucks, cargo ships and trains. "We have to go to zero tailpipe emissions," said Mark Z. Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University. "There's really no other solution." The changes will fall heavily on vehicles because they are the dominant source of air pollution in California. The largest reductions must come from the heavy-duty sector that transports goods through ports, freeways, rail yards and warehouses. The diesel-powered freight system emits 45% of the smog-forming pollution in the state and lags behind passenger vehicles, which have reduced tailpipe emissions dramatically over 50 years of smog-fighting regulations. The transition is beginning with automobiles. A 2012 Air Resources Board mandate aims to put 1.4 million zero-emissions vehicles on the road by 2025 and requires them to account for one in seven new car sales by that year. In one scenario under consideration by the agency, the number of electric, plug-in hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles would increase to 5 million and 40% of new car sales by 2030. About 160,000 zero-emissions vehicles are on the road today in California — just 0.5% of the passenger fleet. To reach air quality and climate change targets, technology being pioneered in cars must eventually be scaled up to trucks and other heavy vehicles. In July, Gov. Jerry Brown issued an executive order directing state agencies to establish "clear targets" to transition California's freight system to "zero-emission technologies." That won't be easy, state regulators say. But one advantage for California is that it can lean on many of the same efforts needed to meet its goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions 40% below 1990 levels by 2030. Those carbon-cutting policies should simultaneously reduce levels of ozone, fine-particle pollution and cancer-causing diesel soot. Some of those measures are outlined in a recent Air Resources Board report that projects California can reduce transportation-related pollution to meet air quality and climate change targets over the next 15 years with cleaner fuels, vehicles and energy sources. For heavy-duty vehicles, diesel engines will continue to dominate through 2030, the report says, but under even tougher emissions rules. "While today's trucks are significantly cleaner than their predecessors, we'll need new engine standards that are about 90% cleaner," said Karen Magliano, chief of the air quality planning and science division at the Air Resources Board. Chris Shimoda, policy director for the California Trucking Assn., acknowledged the industry "is way behind light-duty cars in terms of the introduction of zero-emissions technology." That's in part because the because the state Air Resources Board has not yet adopted zero-emissions requirements for freight, Shimoda said. But heavy-duty trucks also face higher technological hurdles and "the engineering challenges of trying to get a battery-electric or hydrogen fuel cell truck that can haul 80,000 pounds across the country." "It's going to take time to introduce that technology," Shimoda said. A key driver of the changes is the nation's worst ozone pollution in Southern California, which can reach over 100 parts per billion in inland valleys. Ozone, linked to asthma, heart disease and premature deaths, is formed when pollution from motor vehicles, power plants and other combustion sources cooks in the heat and sunlight. Though air quality has improved markedly in California, the smoggiest regions — the South Coast basin and the San Joaquin Valley — have so far failed to meet a series of federal ozone standards going back to 1979. Regional air quality regulators say they must cut smog-forming nitrogen oxides at least 75% beyond existing regulations to meet a 2037 deadline to clean the air to the new federal ozone limit of 70 parts per billion. Environmentalists say Southern California officials are not acting quickly enough. The obstacles are so great that air regulators and transportation planners "have to get a lot more aggressive," said Adrian Martinez, an attorney for the environmental nonprofit Earthjustice. Martinez wants to see zero-emissions lanes on freeways and electrified corridors for trucks hauling cargo in and out of the ports. "We need to get this stuff going now because these projects take decades," he said. Barry Wallerstein, executive officer of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, is optimistic that the region can meet ozone standards through improvements in diesel engines and new technology, such as hybrid trucks powered by overhead catenary wires. "We shouldn't underestimate ingenuity and ability to continue to further reduce emissions," Wallerstein said. When pressed on the Southland's failure to meet previous air quality standards, he said, "we need to pick up the pace." Wringing enough pollution out of trucks and other cargo-moving vehicles to get Southern California's ozone levels down to 70 ppb will require a "paradigm shift" to battery-electric and fuel cell technology, said Scott Samuelsen, an engineering professor who directs the Advanced Power and Energy Program at UC Irvine. The key question, he said, "is how to make an economically viable transition of a freight industry that's evolved with diesel engines." Some of those changes can be seen at the Port of Long Beach, where crews have finished building the first half of a $1.5-billion terminal that unloads, stacks and sorts shipping containers using electric cranes and driverless, battery-powered vehicles instead of diesel-burning yard tractors. "We're looking to expand use of electricity," said Art Wong, a spokesman for the port. "This terminal is going to be the first." Back in downtown L.A., where the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is testing heavy-duty trucks, lab manager Keshav Sahay put the difficult task ahead in simple terms: "We have to do more."

Commercial Motor TV - sponsored by DAF Trucks / November 2, 2015

Transport Engineer / November 5, 2015 Commercial vehicle recovery and heavy plant transport specialist CMG has taken delivery of three new Euro 6 DAF XF 460 FAS Super Space Cabs, the first of their kind in the UK, plated at 90-tonnes gtw. The Newport Pagnell-based firm’s new heavy recovery trucks have been supplied with Boniface Interstater Mark 6X under-lift recovery bodywork. DAF Trucks and Boniface pooled their engineering expertise to match what they describe as an exacting specification that included a 25-tonne rear bogie comprising two equal 12.5-tonne capacity axles (a hub-reduction drive axle and a rear lifting tag), and a fully-fitted, under-lift body equipped with high-pressure air-bags and all ancillaries. CMG operations director Mark Cowan explains that the new units – two replacements and one addition – join 20 existing Euro 5 DAF trucks in CMG’s 78 strong fleet, which also runs DAF Telematics fleet-wide. “We’ve always run DAFs,” he says. “Our past experience has instilled a high degree of trust in both the product and the aftersales support. “DAF’s premium-duty heavy chassis gives us the ‘big three’: durability, reliability and economy,” he adds. However, for Cowan, it’s the economy from the latest Euro 6 Paccar MX-13 engine that’s been outstanding: “8.5mpg, including an hour on tick-over with the PTO kicked-in, is phenomenal,” he says. The company, which also carries out plant and car transporter operations, has also ordered a new Euro 6 DAF XF 510 FT Low-Deck tractor unit and an accompanying Kässbohrer covered car-transporter trailer. “We’re very pleased indeed with the aftersales support from Brian Currie,” adds Cowan. “It’s a partnership we’ve nurtured together over many years, and it means we understand each other’s expectations.” The new trucks have been delivered with five-year DAF MultiSupport R&M contracts, managed through local DAF dealership Brian Currie, in Milton Keynes. .

Renault Trucks Press Release / November 5, 2015 Renault Trucks has a specific solution for customers carrying hazardous materials, perishable goods and chemical products. The Renault Trucks T tanker has been configured to meet these activities’ stringent demands in terms of payload and safety. Transporting hazardous materials or perishable goods is subject to specific requirements. To satisfy its customers’ needs in these areas, Renault Trucks has developed a Tanker version of its Renault Trucks T vehicle (International Truck of the Year 2015). This has been specially configured for light weight and enhanced safety features benefitting both payload and driver. In order to make unladen weight as low as possible, thereby increasing payload, the Renault Trucks T Tanker is fitted with aluminium rims, air and fuel tanks as well as a lightweight fifth wheel. Furthermore, a number of non-essential elements such as door extensions have been eliminated. Overall, this enables the payload of a Sleeper Cab version to be reduced by as much as 270 kg compared with a standard T vehicle. It features an obstacle-free right hand side member allowing complementary specific equipment to be fitted, according to these activities’ rfequirements. As far as safety for the load and the driver are concerned, the T Tanker also features a new Tyre Pressure Monitoring System as standard. This allows the driver to constantly monitor tyre pressure from the dashboard, thereby avoiding any risk of under-inflation which could result in burst tyres. This system also makes it possible to optimise fuel consumption and tyre durability. The tyres fitted as standard to the T Tanker boast the highest performance on the market in terms of braking distance. The Renault Trucks T Tanker is also equipped with the Protect pack as standard combining the speed regulator with the Adaptive Cruise Control (AAC) which maintains a safe distance between vehicles, the turning lights, automatic light activation, xenon headlights, headlight washers and tyre pressure monitoring. Finally, the T Tanker has earned ADR* certification allowing it to carry all types of hazardous materials and is therefore equipped with a bumper protecting the exhaust line, a battery cutout and an orange torch inside the cab. * European Agreement concerning international haulage of Hazardous Materials (http://www.unece.org/trans/danger/publi/adr/adr_e.html). .

State wants to prevent closure of Lehigh Valley Kraft plant The Morning Call / November 5, 2015 The news out of Kraft — then called Kraft Foods Group Inc. — in August 2013 was very different than the blow delivered by the company Wednesday, when it announced it will shutter its Upper Macungie Township plant and put 415 people out of work. At the time, then-Gov. Tom Corbett heralded Kraft's announcement of a $35 million investment in its Upper Macungie Township facility to add four production lines pumping out products for single-serve coffee-making equipment, saying Kraft was "helping to put Pennsylvanians back to work." The expansion, aided by a $200,000 Pennsylvania First Program grant, was expected to add at least 45 jobs. Now, the state could claw back some or all of that grant if it can't reverse the company's decision to close the plant. Lyndsay Kensinger, spokeswoman for the state Department of Community and Economic Development, said the company, now called Kraft Heinz, will undergo final monitoring for the $200,000 grant in March 2016, at which time the specific potential clawback amount will be determined. But first, Pennsylvania is hoping it can change the company's mind — or at least reach a compromise. After learning of the closure, Kensinger said, Gov. Tom Wolf instructed his Action Team, a team of economic development professionals, to meet with Kraft Heinz officials to explore opportunities to prevent the closure of the plant or establish a plan to market the facility and secure a new employer at the site. State Rep. Gary Day, R-Lehigh, echoed that sentiment in one of his own, hoping Kraft Heinz will reconsider the closure and give state officials an opportunity to address their concerns. "To ensure efficient and effective operations, it is my hope that they realize the strategic geographic location of Upper Macungie Township, which is located within an eight-hour drive of one-third of the country's population," said Day. Kraft Heinz spokesman Michael Mullen said the company's goal is to identify a buyer for the facility over the next 12 to 24 months before the factory closes. According to Lehigh County property records, the roughly 1 million-square-foot facility on almost 92 acres at 7352 Industrial Blvd. in Upper Macungie has a total assessment of $12.8 million. The plant makes a variety of products, including condiments such as A.1. Steak Sauce and Grey Poupon mustard. It also makes on-demand coffee products for Keurig and Tassimo. Kraft Heinz brought bad news to more than just the Lehigh Valley community Wednesday. The Upper Macungie plant is one of seven manufacturing facilities in the United States and Canada that will close as part of a downsizing that will shed 2,600 jobs. The six other plants slated for closure are in Fullerton and San Leandro, Calif.; Federalsburg, Md.; Ontario, Canada; Campbell, N.Y.; and Madison, Wis. Production at those plants will shift to other factories in North America, Mullen said. Meanwhile, in New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Sen. Charles Schumer on Wednesday announced an agreement with Kraft Heinz to save three of its upstate plants. The deal includes a matching capital investment from the company and the state in the three plants. Still, Kraft Heinz decided to close its Campbell plant but, according to New York state, will "work with state, federal and local officials to help find a strategic buyer for the facility that would keep the plant open and retain the 393 jobs." Kraft completed its merger with H.J. Heinz in July, creating the third-largest food and beverage company in North America. Since the acquisition closed, the combined Kraft Heinz Co. — co-headquartered in the Chicago area and Pittsburgh — hasn't wasted time in eliminating costs. Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital, which engineered the deal with billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, has a reputation for deep cost-cutting measures, and executives have said they expect to save $1.5 billion in annual costs by 2017. In addition, shoppers are increasingly demanding fresher, less-processed food — putting additional financial pressure on food companies. In August, the cuts began with the company announcing it would eliminate about 2,500 salaried jobs, including 700 in Northfield, Ill. And on Wednesday, the cuts moved to manufacturing, chopping the Upper Macungie plant that benefited from $200,000 in state funds. Economic experts with Harrisburg think tanks such as the Commonwealth Foundation and the Keystone Research Center say subsidies to big companies like Kraft Heinz are wrong, especially when the business has no firm ties to the area. So when hearing that Kraft Heinz made the announcement to close a plant that had received state money just two years earlier, Bob Dick, policy analyst for the Commonwealth Foundation, wasn't surprised. "It's the risk that you run when you hand out these special subsidies," Dick said. Even if the state recovers some or all of the $200,000 grant it dispersed to Kraft Heinz, it is still using resources trying to get back money it handed out in the first place. Stephen Herzenberg, executive director of the Keystone Research Center, said giving out subsidies to individual businesses is the wrong approach to economic development. That money, he said, could instead be spent on improving employees' skills. "The bottom line is industrial recruitment, handing out a check to a company, might have been cutting edge in Mississippi in 1953, but it's old and bad practice in Pennsylvania in 2015," Herzenberg said.

Fleet Owner / November 5, 2015 When asking truckers why they do what they do, a common theme emerges With all the changes in trucking regulations and their impact on small and micro-trucking companies, there are many pundits in the industry who are saying owner-operators and micro- and small trucking companies are coming to the end of their days. That’s as far from happening as saying the squabbling and finger-pointing between political parties in Washington is going to come to an end. Both are solid American institutions from which the principles of this nation are derived. Any student of American history knows that it took the Founding Fathers nearly 10 years of arguing, pointing accusatory fingers, debate, discussion, and disagreement to reach a compromise we call our Constitution. Ironically, regardless of their political ideology, each of these founding individuals was the epitome of what America still stands for today: innovators, inventors, creative entrepreneurs in their given trades and professions. Now, let’s jump ahead to 2015. As proof that the American entrepreneurial spirit is still alive and well, we just need to look at the small independent trucking business person. For a series of articles in Fleet Owner’s sister publication American Trucker, we asked several small independent truckers what they liked best about trucking. Here are some of their responses: “I love this industry most because it’s an unspoken brother/sisterhood. The level of respect is at its highest OTR. I love the challenges this type of load presents, and there are always new challenges with just maneuvering roads and into job sites.” —Rebekah Meadows, O/O for JGR Inc “I enjoy meeting new customers, and being able to meet and exceed their expectations—and perform an excellent relocation for them.” —Roy Richards, Farley Brothers of Lancaster “It’s the freedom of hauling the loads I want, at the rate I need and the places I want to go.” —Randy Bellrose, BellaRosa Transport “It’s still about the people I meet. A lot of things have changed over the years; at one time, the camaraderie was disappearing, but it appears that it’s coming back. As with anything else, if you don’t have a solid foundation, you will not survive in my industry.” —Gilbert Archuleta, Archuleta Transport “I enjoy the customers and good old-school people with great values with which we deal.” —Jeremy Jansen, Triple C Express “The ability to get customers’ freight where and when they need it.” —Thomas J. Sisson, EAS Trucking “Household drivers deal with different customers every move, so it’s never the same job twice. Every move is unique in its own way, and you get to meet all kinds of wonderful people.” —Bob Hirchak, Nor-Cal Moving Services “I love the driving and being in a different place almost every day. Also, I enjoy meeting new people all the time.” —Keith “Palerider” Lawson, O/O Central Hauling “I feed America and keep her alive! There’s a sense of pride and accomplishment that goes along with that.” —Ben Lujin, O/O Ankle Pik Why do these people enjoy trucking? It’s about the people, the lifestyle and the service each of these professionals provide. It’s not about the money earned; it’s about providing a service that America needs. That’s never going away, as it is ingrained in the American Spirit that’s over 200 years old.