Selected COVID-19 and trucking industry news that may impact your business.
As of May 11, 2020:
CDC provides COVID-19 guidelines specifically designed for long haul truckers
CDL Life
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recently shared an article outlining best practices for over the road truck drivers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read More
Reefer capacity begins to tighten; could van follow?
FreightWaves
The freight market is still reeling from the economic mess created by the COVID-19 pandemic, but reefer tender rejection rates have been on the rise since bottoming in late April around 3.8%—now sitting around 5.56%. Dry van rejection rates have yet to make a meaningful movement since bottoming around 2.6% in mid to late April. Could the increase in reefer tender rejection rates indicate the market is about to shift? Read More
COVID-19 Pandemic Creates Spike in Part Thefts from Vocational Vehicles
Work Truck
Many fleet vehicle have been idled or parked in storage areas during the COVID-19 pandemic. One consequence has been an uptick in part thefts from these parked vocational vehicles. Read More
Cap those broker margins? Readers sound off, and one broker moves to do it himself
Overdrive
Judging by spot market volume, freight hit a trough last week and turned back up the hill, albeit not far up, as it were. Around the same time, I was emailed a shipper’s daily load sheet — it showed pricing on several step deck and flatbed loads headed out from a few different facilities in the East and bound for parts West and South. One step deck load in particular was moving in the neighborhood of 1,300 miles, no tarps, and paying $3,600, according to the sheet, almost $3/mile. Read More
More layoffs for freight and related industries in Texas
FreightWaves
Jet Specialty, a supply chain solutions provider for the oil and gas industry, announced it was laying off 75 employees in Corpus Christi, Texas. Cardone Industries, an auto parts manufacturer also announced it has laid off 183 employees at its plant along the U.S.-Mexico border in Brownsville, Texas. Read More
Florida Trucking, Government Leaders Provide 500 Free Meals for Truckers
Transport Topics
Florida transportation officials, police officers and trucking association representatives recently teamed to distribute free meals to truckers at a rest area on Interstate 75 as an act of appreciation during the coronavirus pandemic. Read More
More Industry Events Cancelled, Rescheduled & Reformatted Due to Pandemic
HDT Truckinginfo
Another round of cancellations has hit the trucking industry with associations announcing more events being either postponed, reformatted, or outright cancelled. Read More
The Way Forward
Trucking.org
As Congress returns to Washington this week, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are grappling with the same question on the minds of most Americans: Where do we go from here? Having already passed four rounds of COVID-19 relief legislation, they must now decide on our next course of action as the country looks to turn from crisis to recovery. Read More