ATA completes another successful

Truck Driving/SuperTech

Championship

 

 

On April 13, 2013, the Arizona Trucking Association held its annual Truck Driving Championship (TDC) and SuperTech Competition at Tempe Diablo Stadium. Over 170 drivers participated in this year‘s event. Many of which have millions of miles of accident free driving.

 

Mohammad Kahn (FedEx Freight) was awarded “Grand Champion” of the annual safe driving competition. Additional high honors included:

* Best Skills/Driving Course Score – Galen Spangler (Shamrock Foods Co.)

* Best Pre-Trip Inspection – Jose Orozco (Con-way Freight)

* Rookie of the Year - Albert Ochoa (FedEx Freight)

 

Eight other TDC class winners will join Mr. Kahn to represent Arizona at the National Truck Driving Championship in Salt Lake City, UT on August 20-24, 2013. (http://www.trucking.org/Federation/Councils/slpmc/NTDC/Pages/Default.aspx) Team Arizona will compete against 450 other professional drivers vying for selection as the nation’s top professional truck drivers.

 

Click here to read the official press release and list of first, second, and third place winners in each class.

 

Click here to view the results in their entirety.

 

Thank you to everyone who helped make this year’s TDC great!

 

ATA Featured Member: Bulk or Liquid Transport (BOLT)

 

Passion and persistence are key to success in this and any industry. But you can’t do it alone.

 

That’s one of the biggest lessons Tracy Thomas has learned in her career in transportation. As someone who grew up in the trucking industry, she saw how the relationships built with partners, vendors, customers, employees and peers moved businesses forward and bettered the industry overall.

 

When Thomas founded Bulk or Liquid Transport (BOLT) in 2006, she put that lesson into practice. She immediately put her team together, including drivers, customer service staff, and her husband Mike Thomas who acts as BOLT’s COO. From its Arroyo Grande, California headquarters, the BOLT team established terminals in Ogden, Utah and Phoenix, Arizona to serve the food-grade liquid sweeteners market throughout the Western United States for some of the world’s biggest brands.

Click here to read more…

 

Commercial Drivers Asked to Weigh in on CSA (Survey closes May 17)

 

The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) today launched its third annual commercial driver survey to identify CSA impacts on trucking operations, as well as driver perceptions and attitudes toward FMCSA’s maturing regulatory program. This survey, which specifically seeks commercial driver input, will be compared and contrasted with data collected in 2011 and 2012 – where ATRI received responses from a representative sample of nearly 6,000 drivers (report available online at atri-online.org

 

Click here to read more.

 

Click here to complete the ATRI survey.

 

ATA Looking for Carrier Feedback on DataQs Process

 

American Trucking Associations is calling on FMCSA to make fundamental improvements to the CSA data correction program – DataQs. To support their efforts, we are asking carriers to provide information on your experiences and problems with the system. Specifically, they are asking carriers to rate each state’s data correction performance (e.g., turn-around time for requests) as well as disparities in how states treat various data correction requests/challenges. To do so, ATA needs data from a large, broad cross-section of the industry. Please have the appropriate person at your company complete the survey by clicking here. Any questions or concerns can be addressed to Rob Abbott (rabbott@trucking.org or Boyd Stevenson (bstevenson@trucking.org). Thanks for your assistance!

 

 

ATA is Signing Up Participants for 2013 “Call on Washington”

With the many challenges facing us in Congress, there is no better time to visit our nation’s capital, participate in arranged visits with Arizona’s Congressional delegation and members of the Administration, and express your views on the issues that affect your business.

 

Set for May 20-23, 2013, the schedule also allows time to enjoy the sights on your own or with other members. If you are interested in participating in this event and would like more information, or contact Rhonda Merkel at 602.850.6001

 

California Enforcing Aerodynamic Skirt Rules

 

Truckers who cross into California after January 1, 2013 without SmartWay verified aerodynamic devices such as side skirts or boat tail fairings can be cited $1000 per day per truck, the California Air Resources Board says.

 

CARB says that unless carriers registered with the agency for a phase-in option (which provides an alternate compliance schedule), they will be subject to enforcement and fines. According to CARB’s Randy Rhondeau, the agency will allow a one-time per fleet per year (one tractor) exemption into the state for a trucking company or owner-operator, but the request must be to the CARB via an email or written request and approved before entering California. American Trucking Associations has provided a helpful one-page summary of the CARB tractor-trailer rules.

 

 

2013 ATA Conference - Mark your calendars: Next year, we will return to the Ritz Carlton Dove Mountain near Tucson Oct. 3-5, 2013.