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Ricardo, GTI to bring natural gas to heavy truck engines Fleet Owner / January 22, 2016 Ricardo announced it will partner with Gas Technology Institute (GTI) on two major contracts to enable natural gas engines to provide an alternative to diesel power for medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles on the highways of California. Despite California’s substantial progress in reducing emissions from heavy-duty trucks and other mobile sources, diesel trucks remain major contributors to statewide emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx), greenhouse gases (GHG), and diesel particulate matter (PM). By 2031, the South Coast Basin will exceed mandatory air quality standards unless NOx emissions are reduced 90% compared with today. The Ricardo-GTI projects, co-funded by Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), are intended to develop natural gas technologies that will reduce NOx emissions from heavy-duty truck engines, helping California achieve attainment of NOx emission levels that surpass the California Air Resources Board’s goals, consume less fuel than current diesels, and provide truck operators with higher engine performance with the same reliability. On the first project, Ricardo mentioned it will support development and testing of advanced natural gas ignition systems, as part of GTI’s collaboration with the California Energy Commission. Ricardo’s role in this project will be to conduct testing of two different advanced ignition systems – High Frequency Discharge (HFD) and Pulsed Nano Plasma (C2) – so their effect on engine performance can be measured and evaluated. In addition to Ricardo and SoCalGas, GTI’s other partners on this project include Power Solutions International and EnerPulse Technologies, the company said. The second project, also co-funded by SoCalGas, will see Ricardo support GTI in the development of an ultra-low emission natural gas engine for on-road class 4-7 medium and heavy-duty trucks, sponsored by the South Coast Air Quality Management District. These classes of diesel vehicles are currently among the top ten sources of NOx emissions in California’s South Coast Air Basin, and are projected to remain one of the largest, even as the legacy fleet of older and higher polluting vehicles are replaced by vehicles meeting 2010 emissions standards. The development of ultra-low emission natural gas engines could significantly reduce emissions from this on-road source category and assist the region in meeting Federal ambient air quality standards in the coming years. Such ultra-low emission natural gas engines, capable of emitting 90 percent lower NOx emissions relative to current standards for heavy-duty vehicles, would approach the regional NOx emissions associated with operating an equivalent all-electric heavy-duty vehicle, when the emissions associated with the electricity production are taken into account. In addition to Ricardo, GTI’s other partners on this project include Power Solutions International. “Medium and heavy-duty trucks are an essential part of the transportation mix in California,” Ricardo president Clive Wotton said. “But they are also significant contributors to total NOx emissions. Trucks such as these are not as amenable to the type of electrification and hybridization approaches that have been applied very successfully in the passenger car and SUV sector. However, the substitution of diesel with natural gas as a transportation fuel for these classes of vehicle offers some attractive potential benefits in reducing NOx emissions. We at Ricardo look forward to working with GTI and its other partners on these two exciting projects, in which we aim to address some of the key technical and engineering development challenges to bringing natural gas forward as an attractive alternative to diesel fuel for the medium and heavy-duty trucks on California’s highways.” “SoCalGas is proud to be the only natural gas utility in America that helps fund breakthrough technologies crucial to meeting Southern California’s air quality and climate change goals,” said Rodger Schwecke, vice president of customer solutions for SoCalGas. “We are pleased to be a part of the research to develop new ultra-low emission natural gas engines for the medium and heavy-duty truck market. With this additional engine, we can advance our common goal to reduce emissions and improve air quality and leverage the benefits of low-cost natural gas for transportation applications.”

Friend, many BMT members refrain from posting their thoughts...........when they observe one or more members using a great deal of colorful metaphors (otherwise known as vulgar language and gutter talk). It lowers the quality of the discussion here on BMT (my humble opinion). Differing thoughts from BMT members worldwide make it the world's leading website of its kind. However, profanity brings it down. If you were to say, for example, "the man utterly disgusts me", the BMT membership would be "crystal clear" about your thought process.

The MATS organizer Toby Young is clueless about how a professional truck show is orchestrated. He would do better managing flea markets. The IAA show in Hanover, Germany, the largest commercial truck event in the world, is a first class event. It's troubling that the U.S. market to date has never had a professional truck event like IAA.

The Financial Times / January 23, 2016 Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, is exploring an independent run for president, a move that would further complicate a White House race that has been completely upended by insurgent, anti-establishment candidates. The founder of the eponymous financial information group who has considered running for president in previous elections is willing to spend $1bn to finance a run as an independent, according to people familiar with the matter. His decision to explore a White House bid comes as anti-establishment candidates — Donald Trump and Ted Cruz for the Republicans and Bernie Sanders for the Democrats — have taken the 2016 race on an unexpected course. Mr Trump has dominated the GOP field for months, leaving centrist candidates such as Jeb Bush scrambling to stay relevant and sparking panic in the party, which believes that his anti-immigrant rhetoric would make it hard to win the White House. Mr Bloomberg has commissioned polls to assess his presidential chances in the past, but concluded that he would face insurmountable challenges as an independent because most Democratic and Republican voters rarely switch sides. But with the race for Democratic and Republican nominations upended by the populist campaigns of Mr Sanders and Mr Trump, respectively, the billionaire is more hopeful that an independent campaign could succeed. It remains unclear how Mr Bloomberg would impact the race. But many of his positions on issues such as the environment to gun control are closely aligned with the Democrats, leading some experts to believe that he would simply hurt the chances of Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state who is facing an unexpectedly strong challenge from Mr Sanders. The Clinton campaign said it had no comment on the possibility of Mr Bloomberg running. Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia politics professor, said Bloomberg had no chance of winning regardless of how much he spent, and said he was "indulging a fantasy" by believing that there were millions of liberal Republicans and moderate Democrats who would support a campaign. "The former mayor is very liberal on all the social issues, [a] kind of a carbon copy of the Democrats. Whatever percentage he gets will be taken disproportionately from the Democratic nominee," said Mr Sabato. "Believe me, the RNC hopes he makes a bid. Bloomberg could make the eventual Republican nominee, even Trump, competitive in places where he'd otherwise be shut out.” Some Democrats blame Ralph Nader, the consumer rights advocate who ran for president as an independent in 2000, for helping George W Bush defeat Al Gore. The news about Mr Bloomberg's possible interest, which was first reported in the New York Times, comes days before Iowa kicks off the first votes of the primary season with its February 1 caucuses. Mr Trump and Mr Cruz, the firebrand Texas senator, are neck and neck in the agricultural state, far ahead of Marco Rubio, the Florida senator and closest centrist to the frontrunners. In the Democratic race, Mrs Clinton leads Mr Sanders in Iowa but only by a few points, and she is trailing the self-declared socialist in New Hampshire, which will hold its primary on February 9. Mr Bloomberg, with a fortune estimated by Forbes at $38.6bn, won admirers for his achievements as mayor of New York, winning three terms. From his first victory in 2001 to the end of his final term in December 2013, he loomed large on the New York landscape. He helped revive the city in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks of 2001, oversaw a steep fall in recorded crime and passed a landmark smoking ban — something that once seemed impossible. He also pushed to improve public health, trying — but failing — to limit soft drink consumption. He had more success with efforts to curb carbon emissions and used his own money to start a national movement for gun control, which won him enemies from the right of the Republican party. The Cruz campaign said it would welcome his entry into the race. "I don’t want to get my hopes up that the 2016 campaign could be about gun control, cap and trade and big gulps [sodas]," said Rick Tyler, spokesman for Mr Cruz. "Please please run!" Mr Bloomberg left the mayor's office at the beginning of 2014, returning to the financial information group he founded and taking a more active role in running it, restructuring the company's editorial operation and replacing Matt Winkler, his right-hand man of 25 years with the editor of the Economist, John Micklethwait.

CNN / January 23, 2016 Donald Trump boasted Saturday that support for his presidential campaign would not decline even if he shot someone in the middle of a crowded street. "I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters," Trump said at a campaign rally here. Trump has repeatedly touted his strong support for the Second Amendment and slammed President Barack Obama's recent use of executive orders to expand the reach of background checks needed to purchase a gun. Asked about Trump's comment after a campaign event in Iowa, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Trump's top rival for the GOP nomination, shook his head. "I will let Donald speak for himself," Cruz said. "I can say I have no intention of shooting anybody in this campaign."

Pentagon chief says some coalition partners in fight against Isis 'do nothing' The Guardian / January 22, 2016 Ash Carter suggests there are cracks in the unity of the US-led coalition against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria Several members of the US-led coalition attacking the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria are doing “nothing at all” to help destroy the jihadists, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has said. His comments mark a departure from the Pentagon’s typical depiction of the 65-member coalition, which carries the slogan “One mission, many nations,” and is frequently touted to highlight global resolve in the predominantly US effort to defeat the Isis group. “Many of them are not doing enough, or are doing nothing at all,” Carter said in an interview with CNBC on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “We can do a lot ourselves ... (but) we are looking for other people to play their part,” he added, without singling any country out. In a separate interview with Bloomberg TV, Carter called the anti-Isis alliance a “so-called” coalition, highlighting frustrations the Pentagon has with some partners – particularly Sunni Arab nations – not doing enough. “We need others to carry their weight, there should be no free riders,” he said. Carter has spent the past week in Europe, primarily in Paris, where he sought to persuade allies to step up their efforts against Isis. He is meeting with representatives from another 26 allied nations next month to make the same appeal. Carter reiterated calls for one such partner, Turkey, to bolster its fight against the jihadists. Turkey is allowing the United States to use Incirlik, a geographically vital air base in the south, to strike Isis targets in Iraq and Syria, but Carter said Ankara needs to do more to secure its lengthy border with Syria. “Turkey is a long-time friend of ours,” he said during a Davos question-and-answer session. But “the reality is” that it [Turkey] has a border that “has been porous to foreign fighters.” “They’re on the list ... it’s not a small list, of countries that I think could make contributions that are distinctive, unique and necessary to the defeat of ISIL,” he added, using an alternative acronym for Isis. Some Arab and Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia are nominally part of the coalition, but are now more focused on fighting Iran-backed forces in Yemen. The United States has carried out the bulk of the nearly 9,800 air strikes launched in Iraq and Syria since the summer of 2014. But despite calls for additional help, Carter insists the coalition has the jihadists on a back foot, especially since the recapture of the Iraqi city of Ramadi and the targeting of their financial and illicit oil-selling capabilities. In the wake of the terror attacks in Paris in November that left 130 dead, France and Britain joined efforts in Syria. Some of the other nations to have conducted strikes in Iraq or Syria include Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates [Russia's significant efforts not mentioned.........what a way to forge a better relationship]. Dozens more countries, including Iceland, Italy and Panama, have pledged varying degrees of support, for instance through the training of local security forces.

The Guardian / January 22, 2016 Documents seen by the Guardian reveal questionable practices that mean people’s drinking water is at risk in ‘every major city east of the Mississippi’ Water authorities across the US are systematically distorting water tests to downplay the amount of lead in samples, risking a dangerous spread of the toxic water crisis that has gripped Flint, documents seen by the Guardian show. The controversial approach to water testing is so widespread that it occurs in “every major US city east of the Mississippi” according to an anonymous source with extensive knowledge of the lead and copper regulations. “By word of mouth, this has become the thing to do in the water industry. The logical conclusion is that millions of people’s drinking water is potentially unsafe,” he said. Documents seen by the Guardian show that water boards in cities including Detroit and Philadelphia, as well as the state of Rhode Island, have distorted tests by using methods deemed misleading by the Environment Protection Agency (EPA). There is no suggestion that EPA regulations have been broken, but the agency’s guidelines have been systematically ignored. The revelation comes as the growing crisis in Flint, Michigan, has prompted an emergency EPA order, the condemnation of Barack Obama and the resignation of a top agency official. The documents show a pattern of behaviour in addressing public health concerns about water across the US where “gamed” tests help ensure that water utilities don’t breach federal lead and copper rules. Dr Yanna Lambrinidou, a Virginia Tech academic, has disclosed what she considers to be evidence of deceptive practices by city water authorities after she sat on an EPA taskforce that reviewed federal rules on lead and copper poisoning that have been in place since 1991. The taskforce ended its work last year, shortly before the full extent of the city of Flint’s problems with smelly, brown water hit the headlines, with Lambrinidou criticising the final report for failing to step up protections to prevent the corrosion of pipes, which leads to lead leaching into water supplies. The documents were obtained by Lambrinidou under freedom of information laws and direct requests to water authorities. They show that several cities have advised residents to use questionable methods when conducting official tests for lead content. These include encouraging testers to run taps for several minutes to flush out lead from the pipes or even removing the filter from taps. Such methods have been criticized by the EPA for not providing accurate results, with the agency telling authorities not to use them. The Philadelphia water department’s instructions to residents in November last year were to “remove the aerator from the faucet. Leave the aerator off until sampling is completed”. This practice was deemed “against the intent of the monitoring protocol” in 2008 by the EPA, which advised against in 2006. In an email to Lambrinidou in November 2015, a senior official at Philadelphia Water said: “We are trying to stay up on the latest science as best we can. We get confused by it and wish that a national forum of experts could get together and agree. But it’s often left to us to try and make sense out of everything that is published and talked about.” Philadelphia also asks testers to “run only the cold water for two minutes” before taking a water sample. This practice of “pre-flushing” the pipes before testing water is repeated in instructions given to Michigan residents, between 2007 and 2015, by cities including Detroit, which requires water to be run for five minutes before testing, Grand Rapids, Andover, Muskegon, Holland and Jackson. Rhode Island department of health documents ask testing residents to run their water “until cold” before sampling. In an email to Lambrinidou, a senior environmental scientist at the department said: “I know that the idea of flushing six hours prior is controversial but, as of now, within the regulations.” Many of these cities also advise residents who conduct tests to put test water into a container in a slow and steady stream from the tap. Containers with small openings are provided to ensure this. Again, this tactic is thought to influence the amount of lead found in a typical sample. Lambrinidou warned that the issue of misleading test results was widespread. “There is no way that Flint is a one-off,” she said.“There are many ways to game the system. In Flint, they went to test neighbourhoods where they knew didn’t have a problem. You can also flush the water to get rid of the lead. If you flush it before sampling, the problem will go away. “The EPA has completely turned its gaze away from this. There is no robust oversight here, the only oversight is from the people getting hurt. Families who get hurt, such as in Flint, are the overseers. It’s an horrendous situation. The system is absolutely failing.” The Centers for Disease Control is very clear about lead’s impacts on children. The agency emphasises that lead has no biological function in humans, and even the smallest exposure can developmentally impair children. Multiple studies over decades have shown wide-ranging and serious health consequences, including death in cases of acute poisoning. One of the most insidious characteristics of lead exposure is the heavy metal’s accumulation in the body: over years lead is stored in kidneys, the liver, teeth and bones, and can be released during times of stress, when bones are broken and during pregnancy. In children, acute lead exposure can be lethal, sending them into a coma, causing loss of motor control or causing “stupor” and hyper-irritability. Lambrinidou’s Virginia Tech colleague Marc Edwards was one of the first scientists to highlight the risks posed to Flint residents by their drinking water. The duo have previously helped illuminate suspect lead testing procedures in Washington DC and produced evidence that the disturbance of pipes in Chicago was causing lead to seep into water flows. In 2008, Cynthia Doughtery, director of the EPA’s office of ground water and drinking water, wrote to Alliance for Healthy Homes, which raised concerns about water in DC. Doughtery stated: “We do not understand why DC Water and Sewer Authority believes it should be necessary to request flushing only in households participating in the sampling. “While this may fall within a strict legal interpretation of the regulations, we believe that it goes against the intent of the monitoring protocol.” Federal regulations set a lead content limit of 15 parts per billion in drinking water. If more than 10% of “high risk” households are found to be above this limit, various procedures such as public information and water treatment are supposed to kick in. The water is tested from the tap by residents who follow instructions from water departments. A report published last year, commissioned by the American Water Works Association, found that if the water was tested directly from lead pipes, up to 96 million Americans could be found to be drinking water with unsafe levels of lead. The EPA has yet to decide whether to implement the recommendations of the lead and copper rule working group that Lambrinidou sat on. Paul Schwartz, national policy coordinator of Water Alliance, who assisted Lambrinidou during the taskforce, said the regulatory regime was inadequate. “The industry’s own reports show that if large water utilities followed the EPA standard for sampling, they would routinely exceed the lead limit,” he said. “The EPA has been in a very cosy relationship with the state regulators and the water utilities. They’ve allowed themselves to be captured and they haven’t followed the science. “What we have is a recipe for a public health disaster that is much larger than what we’ve seen so far. It will take us years to get out of this situation.” The EPA was given a day to respond to the revelations but has not yet responded. The revelations come after Susan Hedman, a regional EPA director for Michigan, resigned on Thursday. The head of the EPA, Gina McCarthy, also issued an emergency order requiring Michigan and the city of Flint to take immediate steps after determining that the response by the local governments has been “inadequate to protect human health”.

Infoobras / January 15, 2016 Navistar will invest US$15 million to construct a new 4,000,800 square meter parts logistics warehouse adjacent to its plant in Escobedo, Mexico. Completion is planned for July 2016. The truckmaker plans for the new facility, in the Vymnsa Industrial Park, to house 10 to 15 of its main suppliers within two years. The goal of the “One Roof” program is to reduce the plant’s lead time for parts as well as reduce logistics costs. Around 300 new jobs are expected to be created at Navistar, and up to 500 jobs at related suppliers. The production model envisioned by Navistar will allow the truckmaker to offer lower pricing, resulting in stronger heavy truck sales in Mexico. Since last summer, Navistar’s Escobedo plant has been producing all versions of its International brand class 8 trucks.

Scania Group Press Release / January 20, 2016 Today, Scania’s global online presence undergoes a major transformation and development. The new Scania Group web site will have a clear focus on news, images and videos about Scania’s operations, businesses and transport solutions from around the world. “We continue to strengthen our online channels,” says Staffan Ekengren, Head of Scania Newsdesk. “As a global company, we know the importance of a strong digital presence to reach our customers and other stakeholders.” “Over the past year, it became increasingly evident that our Newsroom has increasingly become the primary focal point for stories and the gateway to social media,” says Erica Zandelin, Head of Online Governance & Solutions at Scania. “We have now adapted to that development and combined our corporate and current information.” Scania’s new web site is a comprehensive arena for information not just about Scania, but also about developments within the transport and logistics fields – with a significant focus on sustainability. “Much of the long-lasting information on the new corporate site will be perceived as more dynamic since we link information on, for example, sustainability to current and previous stories that exemplify different aspects of the transport and logistics industry,” says Erica Zandelin. As Scania in 2016 celebrates its 125th year anniversary, the new web site also provides comprehensive historical content. For readers more interested in future transport solutions the innovation section will be a treat. The new Scania Group web site can be found at http://www.scania.com/group. For deeper and more detailed insight into Scania’s products and transport solutions, please see Direct link to Scania Trucks page - http://www.scania.com/group/en/section/solutions/trucks/ Direct link to Scania V-8 page - http://www.scania.com/group/en/section/solutions/trucks/v8/

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MAN Truck & Bus Press Release / January 21, 2016

Indianapolis Business Journal / January 18-26, 2016 edition An excerpt from Cummins Chairman and CEO Tom Linebarger’s 2015 year-end letter to all employees, highlighting Cummins’ commitment to its core values such as integrity, diversity and global-involvement. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At Cummins, we believe that when we see discrimination and intolerance toward our colleagues, friends and neighbors, we owe it to ourselves, our communities and each other to stand up and say something. Discrimination and intolerance have no place in our company, in our communities or in our country. Today, divisive rhetoric that isolates minority groups is undermining our ability to see the commonalities we share and inhibiting our efforts to improve our communities. It is wrong to use fear of those who are different to further enshrine discrimination against individuals for political purposes. For example, incendiary and discriminatory language is being aimed at those who are Muslim. Just securing basic human rights for our LGBT citizens has become a major culture war in several states. For African-Americans this is a particularly troubling time. While racism still exists in America today, what has happened in Ferguson, MO., Chicago, IL, and a number of other cities feels different. The level of mistrust between those who are charged to protect and serve and African-Americans has created a toxic environment. People are making incorrect assumptions about individuals because of the color of their skin or the fact they hold a badge. And we will not stop this cycle of fear and mistrust without everyone working together to put their assumptions aside and tackle the real issues of poverty, opportunity and education that are facing us as a country. Cummins has for decades advocated for those who have been marginalized or oppressed. We supported Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in the organization of the March on Washington in 1963. We stood up against apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s by withdrawing our business from the country. We opposed measures to ban gay marriage in several states, and we are currently working to advocate for a comprehensive non-discrimination statute in Indiana. Why? Because at Cummins we believe that no company can be successful over the long run unless the communities in which we operate are also strong and successful. As we celebrate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I am asking all of you who share our values to speak up when you see or hear discrimination and intolerance. We must be clear that we are not okay with discrimination against our friends, neighbors and colleagues. They are contrary to our values and contrary to the ideals that built this country of immigrants. For those of us who are committed to the principles of diversity and social justice, it is our duty to stand up and be heard. Let’s speak up for those who need a voice and make our communities stronger and more inclusive. – Tom Linebarger, Chairman and CEO, Cummins Inc.

Facing a lack of skilled technicians, UK to recall BC Mack........details at 11.

Trailer/Body Builders / January 22, 2016 UK truckmakers are gaining confidence for 2016 after registrations increased 27% in 2015 to 44,063 units, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). Senior industry executives remain confident that demand is now at a healthy and sustainable level after a disappointing 2014 in which registrations were depressed by the impacts of Euro-VI introduction and European Community Whole Vehicle Type Approval. Stuart Webster, Iveco Managing Director, said, “Inflation is low and under control, the deficit continues to fall, growth is going generally in the right direction, unemployment is at its lowest level for almost a decade and oil prices are low and likely to go even lower. Interest rates remain low and look set to remain that way well into 2016.” Webster predicts that between 42,000 and 43,000 trucks will be registered this year. Although that would be below 2015’s total, Webster describes it as “the real market norm.” Ian Mitchell, MAN Sales Director, is more optimistic than Webster. He said, “We see the market for 2016 being broadly in line with 2015 at around 44,000 units.” Ray Ashworth, DAF Managing Director, is bullish too. He said, “With the single exception of the Euro-VI ‘pull-through’ year of 2013, not since 1988 has the heavy end of the market been in such rude health. We’re certainly looking good for 2016.” DAF was overall CV market leader once again in 2015, with a 26% market share, ahead of Mercedes-Benz and Scania. Scania’s result was a 48.9% increase on its 2014 performance, and it is off to a flying start in 2016. It has won an order for more than 2,000 trucks from Eddie Stobart and its associated companies; the manufacturer’s largest ever European order. Martin Hay, Scania UK Sales Director, said, “We expect the confidence in the industry to continue, and do not expect to see any significant changes in the size of the market from 2015.” The tractor unit market soared ahead by nearly 36% in 2015, with Mercedes-Benz finishing on top ahead of Scania. A record number of 6x2s made up the vast majority of registrations in the sector. The buoyant tractor unit market results contrasted with far more muted growth for 7.5-tonners, which increased by only 2.9% last year. Keith Child, Isuzu Managing Director, thinks that the market for 7.5-tonners will increase during 2016. He said, “We may see demand for 7.5-tonners grow as some major fleets turn over existing vehicles as part of their scheduled replacement cycle.” A vigorous construction industry helped push sales of multi-axle rigids upwards by over 20% in 2015, to 8,522 units. DAF led the way overall, although Scania registered more four-axle trucks. Whilst the strength of the construction industry has been a boon, manufacturers are wary of any slowing in the marketplace. Ian Mitchell said, “It will be interesting to see if demand for four-axle rigids continues at the same level this year.” One factor that might affect rigid registrations in coming months is a bottleneck in getting chassis bodied. “Body builders have been hit by the double whammy of recession – when they lost people and skills – and the advent of European Community Whole Vehicle Type Approval,” said Stuart Webster. “They’re short of resources and finding it difficult to respond, which means restricted capacity and lengthened delivery times, particularly for tippers and other construction industry trucks.” Manufacturers are also concerned that a lack of drivers will limit sales, as operators won’t buy trucks if they have nobody to drive them. Webster said, “The industry is getting desperately short of drivers, and too little is being done to encourage new and younger drivers in. The working conditions put many of them off, and the legislation that rules their lives is deterring them from entering the sector. “This is a crisis waiting to happen; and the time has come for the powers that be to take action at all levels.”

Commercial Carrier Journal (CCJ) / January 21, 2016 Cummins announced Jan. 21 it too will forgo exhibiting at the 2016 edition of the Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS), joining all major truck manufacturers in opting to skip the annual trucking trade event. It will, like the others have announced, return to the show in 2017, the diesel engine maker said in its announcement. Cummins and the other manufacturers have signaled they intend to participate in the show on a biennial basis from here on, exhibiting in odd-numbered years and skipping even-numbered ones. Daimler was the first to announce its intentions to skip, and Volvo, Mack, Peterbilt, Kenworth and International later announced the same. Some truck makers say they’d like to see the show itself move to a biennial format, as to avoid the conflicts of the biennial IAA commercial truck show that takes place every other year — even-numbered years — in Hanover, Germany. Mid-America organizers have maintained they intend to continue the show as an annual event.

Fleet Owner / January 21, 2016 Automatics and AMTs predicted to gain big ground in trucking Automated manual transmissions (AMTs) and their fully-automatic brethren are projected to gain significant ground in the North American truck market over the next decade, according to new research conducted by global consulting firm Frost & Sullivan. The firm predicts that AMTs and automatics will experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.9% and 2.9%, respectively, through 2025, while manual transmission demand will shrink by 2.7% over the same time period. By 2025, Frost & Sullivan expects the market share for manual transmissions among North American medium- and heavy-duty trucks will decline to 43.5%, while AMT market share will climb to 29.4%, with automatics at 27.1%. “The market is on fire,” Sandeep Kar, global VP of the firm’s automotive & transportation research practice, told Fleet Owner. “AMTs used to have less than 5% to 6% market share and they are now in the double digits. Economies of scale are shrinking the price difference [with manuals] and the benefit of higher efficiency is attracting more fleets.” Silpa Paul, the researcher in charge of the study, explained to Fleet Owner that fuel savings and driver recruitment/retention benefits are the two factors driving higher adoption of AMTs and automatics among trucking companies – with more demand for AMTs at the moment. “Fuel costs can account for 50% to 65% of a fleet’s operating costs, making it the highest cost component for fleets,” she said. “Studies show that adoption of AMTs and ATs can improve truck fuel efficiency in varying degrees depending on truck operating duty cycle [with] AMTs especially beneficial in drive cycles with high idling time in comparison to MTs [manuals transmissions and conventional ATs [automatic transmissions].” Paul added that as truck drivers from the baby-boomer generation retire and are replaced by millennials, training and retention costs are escalating because younger drivers lack basic familiarity with manuals, especially in North America, where passenger cars are now largely equipped with automatics. Fleets are also looking to leverage telematics to gain more benefits as well, she pointed out. “Manual transmissions are not ‘smart’ devices,” Paul said, noting that as AMTs and automatics are electronically controlled transmissions (ECTs), they can now be “integrated” with telematics to gain more performance data from the truck. “This is a great value-add for fleets,” Paul emphasized. Other data revealed by Frost & Sullivan’s global truck transmission study includes: - The medium-duty truck premium for AMTs averages $600-$3,000, increasing to $1,000-$5,000 for heavy-duty units. - The medium-duty truck premium for fully-automatic transmissions averages $3,000-$6,000, rising to $6,000-$10,000 for heavy-duty units. - Where newer dual clutch automated transmissions (DCTs) are concerned, the medium-duty premium averages $3,000-$5,000, while the heavy-duty premium averages $5,000-$10,000. - Those high incremental costs versus the potential fuel savings is the primary factor presently inhibiting mass adoption of ECTs as a group, the firm noted. - Globally, AMTs are expected to experience the highest rate of adoption over the next decade with a CAGR of 12.5%, while ATs will experience a CAGR of 7.7%. - Downspeeding, engine downsizing, and the increasingly “vertical integration” of truck transmissions in North America, Europe, and Asia is “catalyzing” the adoption of ECTs. Truck OEMs in particular are using ECTs to meet the higher torque requirements downspeeding places on powertrains. - European truck manufacturers already offer AMTs as “standard fitment” in both medium- and heavy-duty trucks; their market share topped 55.4% among European Union trucks last year. - However, the manual transmission will still dominate in trucks with gross vehicle weight ratings (GVWRs) exceeding 16 tons, Frost & Sullivan stressed as the fuel economy benefits of ECTs aren’t as yet conclusively proven. - That being said, manual transmissions will still experience a decline in global heavy-duty truck market share from 81.4% currently to 65.5% by 2025.

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http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/34624-mack-scania-cooperation/?hl=ds8

Mack had some large western bus operators, including San Francisco of course, and Portland. I always liked that Volkswagen advertisement. A lot to be said about flattery. .

Cummins Press Release / January 11, 2016

Mack Western Press Release Mack Trucks, Inc., Hayward, CA "The Truck Capital of the West" .

That is troubling. There's a time and place for everything, and school time is for learning. Western countries are going to regret not revising their thought processes on immigration. The situation of today is FAR different from when their policies were originally formed.

Owner/Driver / January 21, 2016 Todd Malycha is a big Mack fan, especially the 2005 Titan he drives for Corbet’s Timber Haulage around the pine plantations of Central Queensland. In 2014 Cyclone Marcia carved its way through the Queensland coast, laying acres and acres of pine plantations around Byfield, an hour or so up from Rockhampton. Today, there are around 40 trucks running 24 hours a day, five days a week, salvaging the pine before it rots. Andrew Corbet has nine trucks hauling pine, one of which is a 2005 Mack Titan with an enthusiastic Todd Malycha behind the wheel. The Titan has been recently rebuilt and refurbished in Corbet’s Timber Haulage own workshops. "They just don’t make trucks like this," Todd says. "The Cummins and its 600hp in this Titan are just awesome." Corbet’s trucks are doubled shifted, keeping them running around the clock from Monday to Friday with Todd sharing the Titan with another driver, Barry Merchant. The pine is hauled from Byfield down to the port of Gladstone where the majority is chipped for export. There is a regular "log jam" during school days however, with a curfew taking place around the Byfield School from 6am to 9am and again from 2pm to 4.30pm. "We’ve got two years of work here hauling out millions of tonnes of timber. Each shift you do a trip and a half, so you don’t get bored. It’s a pretty good job!" The fold-up B-double Kennedy trailers were built in 2002 and have since been refurbished. Although Todd is no stranger to hauling logs, he admits operating the Elphinstone fold-up B-double takes some getting used to. "I think I’m going to do some damage but no, they are great, well designed and easy to operate," he says. Todd has driven mainly Kenworths or Volvos over the past 20 years, apart from the occasional Mack, including a Super-Liner out of Mount Gambier. Todd later moved to South Australia’s Riverland district before relocating to Queensland, which is where he’s been for the past couple of years. His career has included road trains, hauling triples to Darwin for ABC Transport and over to Perth for HPS Transport. However, it’s the Titan that maintains Todd’s level of driving enjoyment, with its V8 underneath. "The rig looks great, a little bit of scroll work and a few stickers and it looks a million bucks," he says. "Why drive a new truck when you can drive one as good as this?" Photo gallery - http://www.ownerdriver.com.au/industry-news/1601/salvaging-pine-from-a-cyclones-carnage/

Burrumbuttock Hay Runners promise April convoy Australasian Transport News / January 20, 2016 Convoy founder says they will be finishing off the job they started earlier this month Just weeks after organising the transportation of over 5,000 bales of hay to struggling farmers in Queensland, Riverina-based farmer and Burrumbuttock Hay Runners founder Brendan Farrell has announced the job isn’t finished. In a post to the convoy’s Facebook page, Farrell says only half the farmers received hay in the first hay run to Ilfracombe, and another run will be taking place on April 1. "There's 120 truck drivers at the moment screaming ‘let's get this show on the road’," Farrell says. "So, let's do what we do and drop some more hay off." He is even promising a bigger convoy than the 125-truck convoy that travelled the 1,860km journey in January. "It's going to be huge – bigger than the last one, trust me," he says. "So April 1 we will be there and all we're doing is keeping the dream alive." Farrell’s hay convoy, which has run on ten occasions in the last two years, has received a surge of praise over the past fortnight from farmers and concerned members of the community, attention that the founder shrugged off. "People need to realise I’m just a bloke with a truck," Farrell says in an earlier video post. "You don’t have to be famous to help people. "You don’t need to have a million dollars to help people. "You put your hand up and you just get on and do it." While he is currently on a holiday in Fiji, Farrell says he will be organising the next run on his return, creating a committee and allocating area managers to drought-affected zones. For truck drivers, he says they should get in contact but stay patient. For those looking to donate, he says they can send funds to the Rotary Club of Sydney, details of which are on the Facebook page, or to Drought Angels.