Sustainability The costs of going electric are too great, the benefits too few May 1, 2023 There are bandwagons I can happily jump aboard. The Toronto Blue Jays come playoff time, for example. And of course Game of Thrones, Daenerys Targaryen in particular. But I digress…
Business Management Driver Inc. is bad news for just about everyone April 11, 2023 For months now I’ve been trying not to write about this subject, but I’m giving up. Driver Inc., as it’s called, is a scourge on the freight-hauling industry and I…
Technology A view of future trucks, from a dozen years ago March 2, 2023 As we presently know it, autonomous trucking is not something I look forward to. Some folks seem pretty excited by the prospect, especially carrier accountants who write cheques to drivers,…
Equipment Ammonia will create the road to the hydrogen economy February 1, 2023 Everybody knows the acrid, distinctly unpleasant smell of ammonia. But I bet that not many of us understand that it could save our tiny planet from the environmental devastation we’re…
Business Management New emissions regs will arrive in 2027, and chaos may ensue January 3, 2023 Oh man, here we go again into the nightmare of emissions regulations, which now make earlier U.S. Environmental Protection Agency mandates seem mild in comparison. If you think trucks…
Equipment Woeful education system full of misguided thinking December 1, 2022 If there’s anybody out there who can say with confidence that our society at large is not comprehensively screwed up, please rise and state your case. Right, I see nobody…
Business Management ATRI survey highlights trucking concerns November 3, 2022 Sure, it’s a study looking at trucking in the U.S., but I think the American Transportation Research Institute’s latest Top Industry Issues survey has relevance here too. Not least because…
Equipment Diesel isn’t dead, and its future might surprise you October 3, 2022 Is the diesel engine on its deathbed? You might wonder after hearing Navistar say its new S13 is the last internal combustion engine it will ever…
Equipment Will wars be fought over rare minerals? September 1, 2022 There’s something missing in all the enthusiastic chatter about electric vehicles, and it’s a huge deal. Like monumental. With the potential to change the world order. I’ll get to that…
Business Management You really can read a book by its cover August 2, 2022 You really can read a book by its cover more often than you think. Might not get the whole story, but how often do you really need that right away?…
Human Resources Driver training and retention are connected July 4, 2022 There are a zillion reasons to improve trucking’s drive-training system, if it can actually be called a “system” at all. It can’t. One of those reasons may not be obvious,…
Transportation Farewell to Laurence Marshall, a trucking legend June 1, 2022 We lost a good guy in early May. If you live in Medicine Hat or Bella Coola or Sydney you’ll probably never have heard of Laurence Marshall, but he’s something…
Transportation Towns should think about how much they depend on trucks May 2, 2022 Lots of folks have been asking what sort of reaction I got to my recent column in which I ranted about the misguided siege of Ottawa by disgruntled protesters, some…
Equipment Did talk of autonomous trucks begin with cruise control? April 1, 2022 The buzz about autonomous trucks is slowly getting louder, but do we really want them? Or need them? I’m not a big fan but it doesn’t matter what I think…
Transportation Ottawa siege left trucking with a black eye March 1, 2022 Before I write anything else, let me start this way. While I’m passionately in favor of Covid-19 vaccines for all, I think it was a massive and unnecessary over-reach by…