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Online Registration, Hotel Room Block Available for TMHA Annual Meeting in Chicago April 2-3 

 

The 2014 TMHA Annual Meeting will be here before you know it. This year's meeting will take place at the O'Hare Courtyard Marriott in the Chicago suburb of Des Plaines, Ill., on Wednesday, April 2, and Thursday, April 3.

 

While a complete schedule and line-up of speakers are still being confirmed, we are pleased to announce that Dan Gunderson, of the American Petroleum Institute, and Rick Flaaen, of Relevant Business Solutions, are slated to speak about energy and independent contractors, respectively. As the meeting draws closer, a full schedule of events and description of confirmed speakers will be made available.

 

Online registration is available and currently open for the meeting by utilizing the Web link provided below.

 

2014 TMHA Annual Meeting Registration Link 

 

Additionally, when making your plans to attend, please don't forget hotel accommodations have been arranged at the O'Hare Courtyard Marriott for the evening of Wednesday, April 2. A special room block rate of $129.00 (subject to state and local taxes) is available until Wednesday, March 12, and can be reserved by calling (800) 321-2211 and referencing The Machinery Haulers Association.

 

Contact the TMHA office at (515) 244-5193 or tmha@iowamotortruck.com with questions.

 

 

2014 TMHA Annual Meeting Sponsors

 
TMHA Board
of Directors
  
President
 
Jon Coca
Diamond Transportation System, Inc.
 
First Vice President
 
Aaron Tennant
Tennant Truck Lines
  
Second Vice President
 
Mike Connell
Bennett Motor Express
  
Past President
 
Jim Towery
Steelman Transportation
  
  
Clayton Fisk
Warren Transport

Dave Gallano
Gallano Trucking, Inc.
  
Jeremy Ihle
Ihle Transport, Inc.
  
  
TMHA Mission Statement  
  
To provide an ongoing forum for education, networking and advocacy for flatbed, step-deck and lowboy (RGN) carriers that specialize in the transportation of machinery and machinery-related commodities throughout the United States and Canada.
  
FMCSA Stands Behind CSA Scoring with Study Countering GAO

Coming on the heels of a government-issued report saying the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's CSA system's scoring method is faulty and unfair for smaller carriers, the agency itself has released a study on CSA and its Safety Measurement System, concluding the system does work to identify carriers who pose the greatest crash risk.

 

One of the agency's key conclusions in its effectiveness test report signals SMS scores and their intervention thresholds identify carriers with crash rates 79 percent higher than those not identified for agency intervention.

 

The Government Accountability Office, the non-partisan government watchdog, released a report February 3 that concluded CSA and its SMS scoring were based on a bad or incomplete data set, which yielded flawed and unfair scoring, particularly for smaller carriers for whom data is limited.

 

Though the agency's report isn't a direct rebuttal to the GAO report and its findings, it does attempt to make a case that its scoring system is effective in targeting carriers at a higher risk for crash involvement -- something the GAO report said CSA was not doing.
 
Read more about this story at www.ccjdigital.com and review the FMCSA's effectiveness test at www.fmcsa.dot.gov.
 

Field Study Proving Benefit of HOS Restart Rule Draws Criticism

A field test on the 34-hour restart provision of the new Hours of Service rule showed that the restrictions improve safety. The test found that the provision, which requires drivers to take two successive periods off between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. during their once-a-week restart, is more effective at combating fatigue than the earlier rule, said the FMCSA.

 

The restart is the most controversial part of the new hours of service rule the agency implemented last July, and early reaction to the study was negative. Both American Trucking Associations and New York Rep. Richard Hanna, who authored a House bill that would suspend the restart provision, were critical of the report's findings and felt is was lacking several important factors that impact trucking day-to-day.

 

Read more about this article at www.truckinginfo.com.

FMCSA Assumes More Power to Shutter Unsafe Carriers

The FMCSA recently announced new steps it has taken to obtain regulatory and investigative power more quickly to shut down unsafe motor carriers.

 
One action is a final rule on "patterns of safety violations" that will enable the FMCSA to shut down a for-hire carrier or remove a company officer with a history of purposely violating safety regulations. Another action is to train all FMCSA investigators to apply the same investigative methods used last year during a targeted motor coach investigative effort -- Operation Quick Strike. The eight-month program resulted in 52 bus companies and 340 vehicles being removed from the roads.
 

The additional training was announced less than three months after a National Transportation Safety Board report raised questions about FMCSA's oversight. The NTSB said it was concerned the FMCSA missed "red flags" before four fatal collisions -- two involving trucks and two involving buses -- that resulted in 25 deaths and 83 injuries.

Landstar Promotes Seaton to VP of Loss Prevention

 

TMHA member Landstar Transportation announced in January the promotion of Shelly Seaton to vice president of loss prevention. Seaton had previously served as the company's director of safety and loss prevention.

 

Working out of the Rockford, Ill. office, Seaton is in her 20th year with Landstar. She started with the company in September 1994.

Truck Tonnage Rises in December

Truck tonnage rose 8.2 percent in December to cap the strongest year in more than a decade, propelled by continued growth in heavyweight freight and newly resurgent van shipments. Among the recent indicators of an improving economy are stronger industrial production and manufacturing reports from the government, as well as a report from purchasing managers indicating increased activity.

 

Dry-van loads rose 3.8 percent in October and November, compared with the same months of 2012 (ATA has not yet compiled load data for December). Refrigerated freight rose even faster at 4.0 percent in those two months. Both showings are a sharp improvement from the first half of 2013 when there was no load growth in those sectors.

 

ATA projects tonnage growth to continue in 2014 at a pace of between four to five percent.

Fleet Failures Increase in Q4 2013

A new report said fleet failures rose to the highest level in more than three years during fourth quarter 2013, even though freight demand improved, reversing a long-standing trend.

 

Ongoing cost and regulatory pressures weighed on companies in the final three months of year, causing a total of 335 fleets with 7,775 trucks to go out of business. This is the highest number of failures for a quarter since Q3 2010 and it doubles the number of carriers that went out of business in final quarter of 2012 -- 150 companies that represented 2,515 trucks.

 

The pace of failures increased sequentially in each quarter of 2013, pulling a total of 21,775 trucks off the road -- topping the combined total for 2011 and 2012.

 

The Machinery Haulers Association

717 E. Court Avenue
Des Moines, Iowa
Phone: (515) 244-5193
Fax: (515) 244-2204

Your Professional Staff

Brenda Neville, Director
Don Egli, Safety
Phillip Nicolino, Marketing