Business

It seems that lately every issue of Transport Topics contains an article about yet another trucking company raising driver pay and/or sign-on bonuses. For truck drivers, the grass is greener on the other side.

The trucking industry is responsible for transporting more than 67% of the nation’s freight (by weight). Whether the freight is fresh produce, lifesaving medicines, auto parts, farm machinery or the latest tech gadget, nearly everything we buy has been hauled on a truck.   Additionally, almost 7 million people across the United States are employed in jobs that are directly or indirectly involved with trucking.

Being held responsible for one’s actions is often not pleasant or convenient, but as any reasonable adult should admit, there is logic to that rule and following it usually makes the world a better place.

Registrations of new Class 8 trucks climbed 16.7% in the first half of 2014 from a year earlier as strong freight demand and tight capacity spurred large fleets to boost equipment purchases, IHS Automotive reported.

The long, slow trajectory of pay raises for truckload drivers picked up in recent weeks, including a 13% increase at U.S. Xpress Enterprises that appears to be the industry’s largest since the 1990s.

The retail diesel price in the United States fell 1.4 cents to $3.821 a gallon, the lowest level during the final week of August in three years, the Department of Energy reported.

Labor talks at West Coast ports moved closer to a contract resolution as the parties last week announced a tentative agreement on health-care costs.

An 80% jump in orders for refrigerated trailer units helped fuel a 36.7% gain in industrywide orders in July from the same month a year earlier, ACT Research reported.