Safer Car Transport Industry with CSA 2010?

Auto transport professionals operating on the car transport routes of the United States and North America that have been growing more and more concerned about the growing problem with unsafe car hauling professionals on the roads will be glad to hear that CSA 2010 is going to target unsafe operators in the years ahead in the century of the environment. The American Trucking Association (ATA) has commented recently that it fully supports CSA 2010's objective of targeting unsafe transport vehicles operating on the roads of America. They also think that there are a few problems with the current proposals included with CSA 2010 and that the agency should maybe take a look at making a few changes to the current proposals.

What kind of problems does the American Trucking Association see with the implementation of CSA 2010? Professionals in the business of transport in America have recently commented that they applaud the CSA's focus on safety performance, rather than compliance and paperwork requirements. The association still thinks that work needs to be done on recognizing the difference between at-fault accidents on the roads of America and non-fault crashes in its performance measurement system. The association has called for crash accountability or causation determinations in transport truck involved accidents, before entering them into a car movers driving record, so that hopefully drivers and companies are only held accountable for crashes they actually cause.

This news will certainly make car shipping professionals operating on the roads of North America concerned about unsafe drivers on the roads feel a lot better when they're on the road. This news is only one step in a long process to try to improve the safety level of the transport drivers operating on the roads of America though and a lot of work is still left to be done. Still, one good step down the road to safer transport of cars is America, is still one good step.

Transport Vehicle Sales up 84 percent in May

Automobile transport professionals that like to use the most recent sales numbers of heavy-duty transport vehicles as a indicator of the current and future health of the auto transport industry will probably smile when they hear the news? The number of heavy-duty Class 8 transport vehicles sold in May increased by 84 percent in May 2010, when compared to the numbers of trucks sold last year, according to sources in the transport industry. This is the third straight month that heavy-duty truck sales have increased when compared to the same months in 2009 and this news is making some car transporters think that maybe the car shipping business could be about to make a rebound. Car transport services purchasing new trucks for their fleets is great news for the car hauling industry in general and it could just be a matter of timing, but hopefully the belief that the business of car movers is about to increase is correct and this news means that firms believe that business is about to improve.

The 'move car' to destination industry of the United States still has quite a few hurdles before it, but hopefully this news is just what the business of vehicle transportation in American needs to get it going down the road to increased volumes and revenues  The pendulum in the business of shipping cars for auto shipping firms appears to be trying to swing in the other direction and demand for new transport vehicles to do the job is one sign that business could be about to improve significantly in the months ahead in the century of the environment. Hopefully, this is the case and in a few months time were looking back and smiling.

Car Transporters Will Need Hands-Free Device Soon

Car hauling drivers that plan to be on the roads of Manitoba in July and the years ahead that need to use a cell phone while operating an automobile transport should probably start thinking about using a hands-free device to talk on their cell phone while working in Manitoba. Starting around the middle of July car transport drivers will be required to be using a hands-free device in order to talk on their cell phone while conducting car shipping duties in Manitoba, so you might as well get a head start and get use to using a hands-free device early. Car movers that fail to do so could be fined as much as $200, which is no small sum in today's auto transport industry.

This news might surprise some transport professionals as it was previously reported by some sources that the new requirements would start on June 11. The amendment in question, which banned using handheld electronic devices while driving a transport vehicle, was first passed on June 11, 2009 and was scheduled to become law exactly one year later. The real date of implementation of the amendment to the rules to begin is July 15, according to the latest sources, which gives drivers a little more time to prepare for the changes. This is probably good news for some drivers, while it certainly won't hurt others if the rules take a little longer than they thought, before implementation.

The one good news in this announcement, other than the change of date of implementation, is that CB radios will be exempt from the ban on handheld electronic devices. Still, the change to the rule is on the way and drivers should probably start thinking about making the change that will be required in the future to allow them to keep using their cell phones while operating a transport vehicle on the roads of Manitoba.

King New UAW President

Kings aren’t usually elected, but the UAW just elected a King; one-time electrician Bob King is the new UAW president, and his acceptance speech at the UAW’s convention may signal changes in the auto industry and the auto transport industry. Seeing non-unionized companies in the US as a large threat to their wages, the UAW will be looking to unionize currently non-union plants, with Tesla’s NUMMI plant being target one on the list; NUMMI was a Toyota-GM plant until recently and was unionized, but Tesla is not unionized as of yet.

Tesla’s sporty electric cars carry a green-with-style vibe that will likely be popular with affluent progressive buyers, but a UAW PR-campaign to unionize Tesla might put a damper on Tesla’s marketing, as Tesla will be likely be cast as a union-busting meanie that only cares about the green that comes in twenties and fifties. Poor economic conditions might make workers hesitant to unionize, but a bad economy can also lead to more populism and more support for unions.

King’s rhetoric at the convention may be more red-meat for the union activists there than real-world policy, but after a period of making “give-back” concessions to auto-makers during the recent economic downturn and bankruptcies to GM and Chrysler, unions are now looking to get back to their traditional rallying cry of “More!” While the effect of UAW activity in unionizing plants may not directly impact car hauling, some haulers are UAW-organized rather than Teamster-organized, and joint Teamster-UAW campaigns against union-unfriendly companies might be in the offing, looking to organize both their factory workers and car transporters.

Car Transport Driver Can Now Scan and Send

Owner operator trucking professionals that have been worrying about upcoming requirements for drivers logs to be submitted to car transport firms and thinking about how this process might be simplified can stop worrying. The Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration (FMCSA) recently announced that it would allow drivers to scan an image of their original driver log and send it to the carrier, which they probably hope will simplify the process a bit and maybe take some of the worry out of the upcoming requirements for some owner operators.

The Federal Motor Carriers Safety Association didn't change everything, you still need to keep the original record for the current and previous seven days when conducting car delivery services and the carrier needs to retain the electronic copies for an additional six months. Apparently, these changes become effective immediately for all car shipping firms that are required to submit the documents in question.

This news doesn't mean that transport professionals can't use the tried-and-true methods for submitting the required driver log to the auto transport firm in question, such as mailing the required documents to the company or even stopping by the company offices to deliver them in person and have a coffee and talk a bit. The FMCSA has also indicated that it doesn't really matter where you stop to scan the image of the driver log for subsequent electronic storage, retrieval and transportation.

This is great news for owner operators that haven't exactly been looking forward to making sure the required driver log reaches the right person. This will mean that drivers can stop at an appropriate location when required and scan the driver logs and send them to the right people. A much simpler solution to something that has probably been on the mind of many car transport professionals?

Future Car Transport of Renault Vehicles

Car haulers that have experience moving cars manufactured by Renault will be glad to know that Renault has been at work on a generation of environmentally-friendly vehicles through the Renault Eco program. Renault held a 2010 Environmental Workshop last week to let the world and auto transport industry see the progress it has made on this next generation of green Renault vehicles. The reports from those that attended the workshop was mixed, but for the most part those that attended were surprised by the technological wonders that they got to take a look at, and many commented that they couldn't wait to see what Renault was planning next?

What kind of technologies was Renault showcasing at its 2010 Environmental Workshop? Renault must have seen the numbers that indicated that Americans would prefer to see vehicles that implement technologies that increase the efficiency of traditional internal combustion engines and conventional transmissions because the technologies they showed off at the workshop were apparently based on this idea. The most recent estimates by the vehicle manufacturers and other experts indicates that they feel electric vehicles will only represent around 10 percent of the vehicles sold by the time the calendar comes around to the year 2020. This means that the majority of cars being transported on auto transport carriers in the future will still be vehicles with an internal combustion engine.

This probably isn't a surprise to many car shipping professionals that most of the cars that will be transported to market in the years ahead will continue to operate on internal combustion engines. After all, the evolution of cars into the zero-emissions space-age vehicles all the experts talk and dream about is certainly going to take longer than the experts estimate.

Car Transport on DRIC Still in Future, DRIC good for business

Car transport professionals that have been watching the growing clouds of doubt around the completion of the proposed Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) with a growing sense of disbelief will be glad to hear support for this project still appears to be strong. Privately-operated Ambassador Bridge recently launched a law suit against the DRIC, stating that construction of the DRIC would bankrupt the Ambassador Bridge, the Blue Water Bridge and Detroit-Windsor Tunnel. The latest report that will interest car shipping professionals is that the President of the Blue Water Bridge recently announced that the building of the Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) wouldn't change business for the Blue Water Bridge and that he supports the completion of the DRIC. The Blue Water Bridge (BWB) is a vital transport route for car transportation services and links Sarnia, Ontario and Port Huron, Michigan. In fact, the President of the Blue Water Bridge believes that the construction of the DRIC is vital to the continued support of the growth of trade and social interaction between Canada and the United States as we head further into the century of the environment.

The Blue Water Bridge is a crown corporation jointly controlled by the government of Canada and the Michigan Department of Transport, so the statements by their president falling in line with the comments and beliefs of the government of Canada at a time when the legal eagles are about to be put to work on this affair, is probably not a surprise to many in the vehicle transport industry. The comments by the President of the Blue Water Bridge might put a little doubt in the minds of many legal eagles about the possibility that the construction of the DRIC could have an effect on the future of the Ambassador Bridge, the Blue Water Bridge and Detroit-Windsor Tunnel though and this could be exactly what the statements were designed to accomplish?