Exhibitors Offer Solutions to Regulatory and Marketplace Challenges
LAS VEGAS — American Trucking Associations' Management Conference & Exhibition exhibit hall, which opened Oct. 2, drew 170 exhibitors, of whom 45, or 26%, were at the event for the first time. That compared with 179 exhibitors, and 40 for the first time, in 2015.
A range of products and services were arrayed to illustrate the industry’s ability to meet a host of challenges, including tougher greenhouse-gas regulations, concerns over driver health and increasing the competitiveness of small fleets, according to exhibitors.
“I am exited by the way we can move trucking forward with technology. Most engaged fleets today are using insights and data from telematics to drive their business,” said Jarred Clayton, chief operating officer of ERoad, which sponsored the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
ERoad is a transport technology and services company that provides automated solutions to manage and pay road user charges in California and Oregon. Its North American base is in Tualatin, Oregon, while it is headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand.
Truck manufacturers — long a staple of MCE expos — displayed new Class 8 over-the-road trucks with new engines that meet the second half of federal greenhouse gas and fuel-efficiency Phase 1 standards due to take effect Jan. 1, 2017.
The GHG Phase 1 rule called for an initial reduction of carbon dioxide emissions and improvement in mileage standards by 3%, from a 2010 baseline, by January 2014. The upcoming second step moves that another 3%.
International LT by John Sommers II for Transport Topics Lisle, Illinois-based Navistar Inc. presented its brand new International LT model.
Portland, Oregon-based Daimler Trucks North America showed its redefined, best-selling Cascadia model.
Greensboro, North Carolina-based Volvo Trucks North America displayed its sleek black and white, more fuel-efficient SuperTruck prototype of what tomorrow’s tractors and trailers could look like.
On hand as a first-time exhibitor was DriveABLE from Edmonton, Alberta.
It provides services, software and hardware to identify whether medications or medical conditions have affected a person’s ability to drive.
“We want to find those [medical] conditions that haven’t been diagnosed and make sure [drivers] don’t have a high crash rate from the beginning,” said John Brown, vice president of business development at DriveABLE.
It came to MCE to launch its new fleet management product, ExceleRATE, a driver risk management program, Brown said.
John Sommers II for Transport Topics Quality Companies was there to meet with its customers in one place at one time and unveil new products and services, said Danny Williams, Quality’s president.
“What we want to do is target mainly the small carriers and offer an array of services — truck sales, trailer sales and insurance. So we can provide small fleets a turnkey solution as well as put together all of our buying power to save them money and help them be able to compete,” Williams said.
And later at the end of the expo, two entrants in a raffle will win handmade rifles from the Henry Repeating Arms Co. in Bayonne, New Jersey.
The weapons will be shipped to a gun shop near each winner and the formal transfer processed there, including appropriate background checks, a representative at the booth said.
Both weapons — one a .44 magnum Big Boy and the other a .22 Golden Boy — come with a metal engraving of a convoy of Class 8 trucks and the phrase ‘Bound for Glory.’
