trucking

15 Stories

Bidder Emerges to Save Yellow, but She Needs Uncle Sam

Industry exec Sarah Riggs Amico has a plan to resurrect a leaner version of bankrupt trucking firm

(Newser) - Pressure from Congress has been increasingly directed toward the US Treasury in recent weeks to help rescue trucking giant Yellow Corp. after the firm filed for bankruptcy over the summer and shuttered operations. Now, as Yellow's assets are prepped for sale and its former drivers struggle to find work...

'Profound Disappointment:' Yellow Trucking Won't Make It

Longstanding firm files bankruptcy, will liquidate

(Newser) - There will be no miracle recovery for the venerable Yellow trucking company. The 99-year-old firm filed for bankruptcy late Sunday, reports the Wall Street Journal . "It is with profound disappointment that Yellow announces that it is closing after nearly 100 years in business," said Chief Executive Darren Hawkins....

Walmart's Supply Chain Plan: Pay Its Truck Drivers $110K

Retailer also will train current employees for the job

(Newser) - Long before the supply chain problems began, Walmart executives thought having their own fleet of trucks was the best way to keep inventory moving to stores. To that end, the retailer is raising salaries for its drivers and investing in a program to turn more of its other employers into...

The Average Truck Driver Is 54. Enter the Teens

California high school training program among the first of its kind

(Newser) - They have fewer years of experience on this planet than the number of wheels on the truck. But that's not stopping California high school students from learning how to drive an 18-wheeler—an opportunity that might help resolve a purported shortage of truck drivers . Patterson High School is one...

Musk on New Tesla Trucks: 'Better in Every Way'

CEO lauds electric big rigs unveiled Thursday

(Newser) - After more than a decade of making cars and SUVs—and, more recently, solar panels—Tesla Inc. wants to electrify a new type of vehicle: big trucks. The company unveiled its new electric semitractor-trailer Thursday night near its design center in Hawthorne, Calif. CEO Elon Musk said the semi is...

Trucker Charged in Human Trafficking Deaths Has Criminal History

James Bradley has arrests and charges across multiple states

(Newser) - The truck driver facing human trafficking charges in the deaths of 10 undocumented immigrants being transported in the back of a sweltering tractor-trailer in Texas had his commercial driving privileges suspended three months ago, the AP reports. The state of Florida suspended 60-year-old James Bradley Jr.'s privileges after...

For a Female Trucker, Life on Road Can Be 'Poisonous'
For a Female Trucker, Life on Road Can Be 'Poisonous'
in case you missed it
Jul 17, 2016 6:33 AM CDT

For a Female Trucker, Life on Road Can Be 'Poisonous'

The biggest problem: male truckers. The 'Mary Review' investigates

(Newser) - Being a trucker is by all accounts a tough job. Among other things, it comes with all kinds of related health risks, from heart disease to depression, which is why turnover is an astronomical 90% in the first year. Tougher still is being a female trucker: As an investigative story...

Self-Driving Big Rigs Are Here
 Self-Driving Big Rigs Are Here 
May 17, 2016 12:17 AM CDT

Self-Driving Big Rigs Are Here

Google engineer is looking for volunteer truckers

(Newser) - Picture an 18-wheel truck barreling down the highway with 80,000 pounds of cargo and no one but a robot at the wheel. To many, that might seem a frightening idea, even at a time when a few dozen of Google's driverless cars are cruising city streets in California,...

Natural Gas Has Potential to Doom Diesel

Some fleets switching to the cheaper alternative

(Newser) - No more diesel-powered trucks on the road? The day is a long way off, but the Wall Street Journal says the surge in natural gas exploration is already prompting some fleets to switch to the cheaper alternative. In the past year, natural gas has become abundant and cheap—the price...

Theft Spree Hits Tractor Trailers

Number of rigs that went missing spikes 67%

(Newser) - Police around the country are reporting big spikes in thefts of cargo-laden tractor trailers along the nation’s highways. Last year some 859 rigs went missing, loaded with $487 million worth of goods—a 67% increase from 2008. “In the past two months, we’ve just seen such an...

Feds Ban Texting by Truck, Bus Drivers

Under rules, effective immediately, fines run as high as $2,750

(Newser) - Drivers of trucks and buses who text behind the wheel will be subject to thousands of dollars in fines, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced today. The federal prohibition, which takes effect immediately, applies only to commercial vehicles. But distracted driving is one of LaHood's top issues, CNN reports. "This...

Truckers Fight to Keep Computers in Cabs

As ban on texting while driving gains grounds, drivers want an exception

(Newser) - With Congress considering legislation to ban text messaging while driving, the trucking industry is fighting to keep its in-cab computers. Truckers use the machines to get directions and talk to dispatchers without having to pull over, saving them precious time on long hauls. The industry says the devices are less...

Recession Drives Workers to Trucking

Surging unemployment solves industry's chronic struggle to haul in drivers

(Newser) - Hard times have reversed the trucking industry's trouble finding recruits, the Wall Street Journal reports. Applications have surged as workers who once shunned the industry's demanding conditions can no longer afford to be choosy. At the same time the number of trucks on the road has dropped. Firms that once...

Slowdown Stalls Nation's Freight Carriers

Haulers are hunkering down for a 'nuclear winter' in 2009

(Newser) - With freight carriers predicting 2009 could be the worst year in three decades, some haulers  say they’re “settling in for nuclear winter,” holding off on making capital expenditures, mothballing equipment and laying off employees, reports the Wall Street Journal. From truckers to railroads to ocean shipping, companies...

Fuel Prices Drive Spanish Truckers to Protest

Strike idles tens of thousands of vehicles

(Newser) - Spanish truck drivers went on strike at midnight to protest skyrocketing fuel prices, erecting blockades across the country and snarling traffic on the border with France, the EiTB network reports. Drivers who attempted to continue operating found their tires slashed, windshields smashed and headlights destroyed. Fuel prices in Spain have...

15 Stories