http://www.aacb.com/Bringing Cross-Border Opportunities to You. Business Without Borders.en-usafan@aacb.com?2005 A & A Contract Customs Brokers Ltd.Sun, 21 Mar 2010 19:03:14 PDT5http://www.aacb.com/images/PoweredByAA.gif15546http://www.aacb.com/publications/cc/article.asp?id=1125http://www.aacb.com/publications/cc/article.asp?id=1125
The states conducted more than 698 truck safety inspections as part of the operation. During the event, 145 drivers, or 19 percent, were placed out of service for safety violations. The national driver out of service rate is about seven percent.

"One of the reasons that our out of service rate is so high is because these inspections are not random," said Corey Turner, Washington State Patrol officer. "We used a variety sorting tools including weigh station records to select vehicles and drivers for inspections."

Selected drivers were interviewed, logbooks and documentation were reviewed and vehicles were checked for safety violations. The most common violations were drivers driving too many hours and inaccurate logbooks.

"The purpose of this effort was to prevent crashes and to help drivers ensure they are getting enough rest to safely operate their vehicles," said Howard Russell, ODOT Motor Carrier safety compliance field manager.

In Oregon, the Oregon Department of Transportation Motor Carrier Division has primary responsibility for regulating the trucking industry. In Washington, it’s the Washington State Patrol. Both agencies follow the same federal regulations and guidelines for inspecting commercial drivers and their vehicles.

More info: www.oregon.gov/ODOT

Source: Truckinginfo.com]]>Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:28:00 -0800http://www.aacb.com/publications/cc/article.asp?id=1124http://www.aacb.com/publications/cc/article.asp?id=1124
According to the DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the value of land trade among the three NAFTA countries was down 31.1 percent in the first six months of 2009.

In the second half of eh year, the value fell 14.9 percent. However, there was a 10.5 percent gain December from December 2008.

U.S.-Canada surface transportation trade landed at $386 billion in 2009, down a whopping 28.1 percent compared to 2008. The value of imports carried by truck was 25.7 percent lower in 2009 than 2008, while the value of exports carried by truck was 20.2 percent lower.

Land transportation trade between the U.S. and Mexico faired better. It was down 251 billion in 2009, 14.4 percent lower than the year before.

Comparing 2009 to 2008, total North American surface transportation imports were down 26.5 percent, while exports dropped 19.2 percent during the same period.

Source: Today’sTrucking.com]]>Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:12:00 -0800http://www.aacb.com/publications/cc/article.asp?id=1123http://www.aacb.com/publications/cc/article.asp?id=1123
The construction of scaffolding and other preparatory work related to Phase 2 of the rehabilitation project has started.

The 53-year-old bridge is currently open to traffic, but the scope of the work will require it to be closed from June 19 to Aug. 8.

"This closure will have a major impact on traffic patterns in and around Fredericton," said Transportation Minister Denis Landry.

The bridge has been cited for repairs several times over the last few years and officials routinely place weight restrictions on trucks.

In the past, when the bridge has been off limits enforcement officers opened weigh scales alongside the old Trans-Canada Highway and trucks diverted to alternate routes via Hanwell Road and Route 7.

Coun. Tony Whalen, chair of the city’s transportation committee said that to avoid lengthy traffic delays motorists, goods transporters and residents should seriously consider changing their driving schedules.

"There is no doubt that closing such a major linkage is going to be disruptive, but this rehabilitation work will ensure that the Princess Margaret Bridge continues to serve motorists for many decades to come," said Landry.

Source: Today’sTrucking.com ]]>Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:08:00 -0800http://www.aacb.com/publications/cc/article.asp?id=1122http://www.aacb.com/publications/cc/article.asp?id=1122
It was Thursday, March 5, 2009. Jason had pulled into an abandoned gas station in South Carolina for the night, out of hours and, one must presume, fatigued.

His next delivery wasn?t until morning and when his wife called dispatch and asked to talk to him, they informed her that the delivery didn?t take place and they couldn’t get a hold of him.

On Saturday morning, the body of her 35-year-old husband was found in the cab of his truck. He had been shot and killed. The motive: robbery. His killer made off with a measly $7.

Hope is now a widow with three small children, living in a tiny rural town in New York.

Still -- her full plate notwithstanding -- she’s determined to make sure the same fate doesn?t happen to anybody else.

This week, to mark the anniversary of Jason’s death, Rivenburg and her family went to Washington to press legislators to give truck drivers more safe options to park or rest overnight.

After a whirlwind introduction into the world of bureaucracies, federal politics and lawmaking, Rivenburg finally engaged the help of Reps. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., and Erik Paulsen, R-Minn, with whom she had ?Jason?s Law? introduced into Congress on April 29, 2009.

Flanked by the co-sponsors on Capital Hill, Rivenburg pressed for passage of the bill, which would create a $120 million pilot program to create new parking areas in highway corridors with a severe shortage. It would also enhance facilities near existing truck stops and travel plazas; open up of parking facilities at weigh stations and park-and-ride facilities; and improve to the design of interstate interchanges so parking facilities are easier to enter and exit.

Drivers, who sacrifice so much to do their jobs, "should not be asked to sacrifice their lives," she said.

"Jason’s Law" is also supported by the American Trucking Associations, OOIDA and the Teamsters. "For many of our members, the highway is their workplace and we want to make sure it’s safe," President Jim Hoffa said.

In a recent interview with Today’s Trucking, Tonko indicated that the only opposition he faces in the House is fiscally related. ?How do you put a pricetag on safety and prevention?? Tonko asks. ?It?s very difficult for some people to absorb the argument of prevention,? he says.

Since the introduction of the bill, Rivenburg has had messages of support from drivers around the world.

"We tried to not let the anger get to us and put [Jason?s death] into something positive,? she told Today’ s Trucking before visiting Washington. "We?re trying to protect other people so that nobody else -- even if we only help one person -- has to go through this.?

North of the 49th, the shortage of parking spaces for truckers is even worse.

Last fall, the Owner-Operator?s Business Asso­ciation of Canada (OBAC) surveyed drivers to get their views on the shortage of truckstops and she plans on presenting the results to Transport Canada in an effort to improve the situation.

However, says executive director Joanne Ritchie, because the provinces are responsible for most of their own transportation infrastructure, legislation like Jason?s Law could never work in Canada.

?[Canada] has a very fragmented approach when it comes to the provincial system,? Ritchie says. ?You have to work around it. It causes huge problems for something like trucking where a truck is a mobile unit that operates in every jurisdiction. That?s why it takes so long to get anything done.?

She says there are a few short-term fixes the government could look into to protect drivers while they rest. ?[The government] could take some existing municipal property and turn it into rest areas,? Ritchie says. Alternatives include transforming closed-down scales into safe parking areas.

Those properties are ideal, she says, as they have already been cleared and paved. But currently, they?re blocked off by barriers and ditches to prevent truckers from parking illegally.

Governments don?t want to open the gates haphazardly and accept the insurance and liability issues, she says.

Derek Hurst, of Utopia, Ont., makes daily runs between Toronto and Buffalo, but prior to that, he trucked through the U.S.

He says the Americans have done a better job of supplying rest areas on major highways than Canada, but he says many aren’t "adequate to meet the needs of all the trucks that are on the highway,? he says.

When the American and Canadian governments created the current hours-of-service (HOS) rules, nobody thought about where drivers would park when they ran out of hours, says Ritchie, who adds that the problem could be more pronounced when regulators mandate EOBRs.

Stateside, at least, there?s hope. If Jason?s Law is passed, the amount of safe and available parking in the U.S. will increase substantially over the next six years.

Here, a solution is only possible if the entire supply chain pitches in.

And, as Ritchie, notes, "I don?t know how we?re going to that, given the complexity of it all."

Learn more about Hope’s campaign at www.jhlrivenburg.com.

-- by Farrah Cole

Source: Today’sTrucking.com ]]>Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:46:00 -0800http://www.aacb.com/publications/cc/article.asp?id=1121http://www.aacb.com/publications/cc/article.asp?id=1121
The Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, the Blue Water Bridge in Sarnia and the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie all reported increases in truck crossings last month, according to the Public Border Operators Association.

Overall, truck traffic between Ontario, Michigan and New York increased by 12 percent from 907, 000 to just over a million crossings, while car traffic declined by 3 percent.

Although February is seasonally a very slow month for trucking and auto parts distribution is down, the numbers are another indication that freight economy is showing some improvement over rock bottom 2009 cross-border traffic rates.

The Ambassador, the busiest trade link between the two countries, saw the sharpest boost -- about 20 percent (66,383) more commercial truck trips than the same period last year. Car travel also increased substantially.

Sarnia?s Blue Water Bridge also had a 17 percent increase in truck traffic.

The Peace Bridge in Buffalo posted a small 5.5 percent increase in truck traffic from 2009, while the Queenston-Lewiston span further up the Niagara River remained relatively level with the first two months of 2009.

The Windsor Detroit Tunnel, less commonly used by trucks, was only a handful of crossings that is still experiencing declines, though. So far, it has had 113,728 fewer vehicles and 8 percent less trucks, than last year, year-to-date.

The Seaway International Bridge that links Cornwall and Massena, N.Y. was the site of a dispute between natives and Canada Customs last year. It also continues to post declines.

Source: Today’sTrucking.com]]>Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:06:00 -0800