Shippers and Carriers Blog

When researching for a flatbed trucking career a common question is, “What will my training be like?” This is a tough question to answer because of the different perceptions and experiences of a variety of students. Many companies have different guidelines when it comes to training. Requirements are met differently from company to company and may be fulfilled faster by some students than others. Some drivers will take as much as a month or two longer than other students to fulfill all the guidelines and requirements to become solo.

Each student reacts differently to the written testing versus the hands-on simulator testing. These both need passing grades before an official CDL instructor can be assigned to the student. Then it becomes a necessity to complete 30,000 team miles before graduation to solo. This requirement can differ company to company.

Continue reading “Training for Flatbed Shipping Careers”

These are some of the best times to be in the flatbed open deck market. With the new generation of flatbed truckers embracing the latest technologies that are unfolding in the flatbed heavy haul transporting industry we are seeing drivers that are a new breed.

In the past drivers were more hands on able to fix their trucks, secure cargo, working hands on. Their fathers and grandfathers were also truckers. The new breed brings the technology expertise that is evolving at a rapid pace in the flatbed trucking industry. This is a good thing, but they are less hands on and need to be mentored by older drivers to learn the hands-on details of maintaining their equipment and loads that they carry.

Continue reading “Shifting Dynamics in Flatbed Shipping”

 

There are many reasons why the demand for Flatbed Shipping has surged in 2018.

Fracking companies in the Permian Basin, construction companies in the heartland, and oversize shipping requirements for heavy equipment and products are all experiencing shipping delays and can only exercise patience as demand increases. There are many reasons why the level of freight requests and available trucks is so far out of sync.

Continue reading “Flatbed Shipping Demand Surges in 2018”

Uber’s foray into developing self-driving trucks appears to have come to an end for the time being. The head of Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group, Eric Meyhofer, stated that Uber has decided to stop its operations in developing self-driving trucks to focus exclusively on developing self-driving car technology. Meyhofer went on to say that because the company’s self-driving cars have recently returned to the roads for testing purposes on public roads in Pittsburg that the company will shift to focusing exclusively on devoting their energy to their autonomous cars operation. The return to public roads for Uber’s self-driving trucks comes after a few months off the road following an incident where a woman was hit and killed in Tempe, Arizona by one of the company’s test vehicles. Uber has made it a point since then to test their automobiles by having humans behind the wheel rather than being completely autonomous. Continue reading “Uber Abandons its Self-Driving Truck Efforts to Focus Exclusively on Self-Driving Car Division”

Technological improvement is necessary to continue to develop, this is true whether we are discussing the survival of our species or the survival of businesses. Businesses are demanded to change with the times and adopt new technologies within their respected industry to stay competitive within the market. Consider it a Darwinian survival of the fittest type of dynamic. In the current day and age, we live in, businesses have become increasingly more reliant on technology to operate, whether that be through email communication, software, or their website. Continue reading “Transportation Companies Face New Threats to their Business Operations due to Ransomware Technology”

June was a challenging month for flatbed truck companies as we reported last month. Flatbed trucking companies had to sift through a market where spot truckload rates hit all-time highs and capacity struggled to meet flatbed shipping company demands. Continue reading “Spot Market Rates and Shipping Demand Decreases in July as the Market Corrects Itself”

American automobile manufacturer Ford Motors is the latest company to throw its hat into the fold in the race to build autonomous vehicles. This announcement comes as a surprise as it shows the company’s undoubted commitment to developing autonomous vehicle technology and a business around it. The subsidiary of Ford Motors will be known as Ford Autonomous Vehicles LLC.  Ford has been interested in developing autonomous vehicle technology, so this consolidation of its departments into a new company was a logical decision. Continue reading “American Car Manufacturer Ford Motors Throws its Hat into the Autonomous Vehicle Ring”

At the recent 2018 Code Conference in California, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced that Uber is in discussions with Waymo, an autonomous car company and subsidiary of Google’s parent company, Alphabet. This news comes roughly four months after the two companies settled a major lawsuit between each other. Continue reading “Uber Announces Potential Partnership with Google’s Self-Driving Car Company Waymo to Disrupt the Ride Hailing Industry”

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s annual Operation Safe Driver Week has commenced as of July 16^th, 2018 and will persist throughout the week. During this week law enforcement will be monitoring for commercial motor vehicles practicing unsafe driving behaviors. The types of practices that qualify as unsafe driving behavior that law enforcement will be looking out for throughout Safe Driver Week are acts such as; speeding, failure to use a seat belt, distracted driving, failure to obey traffic control devices, improper lane changes, and more. The purpose of this operation is to try to promote attention to the primary causes of crashes. The operation’s goal is to combat these unsafe practices through stricter enforcement of these rules on the road. Continue reading “Rates Rise and Capacity Struggles During Operation Safe Driver Week 2018”