A trucker waits for a traffic signal on Wyandotte Street East at Walker Road in front of a controversial billboard Friday
.Photograph by: Nick Brancaccio, The Windsor Star,

Featuring naked men with coconuts over their genitals and a naked woman with a guitar between her spread legs -- do new billboards advertising a local rock radio station go too far?

Some irate residents say yes.

"It's disgraceful," said 63-year-old Frank Michaluk. "I think it's disgusting. I really do."

Lilla Assiff, a 39-year-old mother of four, said she's already written a complaint to Advertising Standards Canada. "I feel my kids should not be exposed to that kind of thing," she said.

Rod Martens, programming director for The Rock 100.7 FM, said the billboards went up about two weeks ago, and the station knew they would be conversation-starters.

One billboard, at Wyandotte Street East and Walker Road, promotes the Craig & Matt morning show by having the two on-air personalities pose nude and ham for the camera, coconut shells barely concealing their private parts.

The billboard's slogan reads: "See they're nuts!"

"It's a double entendre, for sure," admitted Martens.

"We were trying to show the light-hearted nature of our morning show, that they're crazy, they're wacky," he explained. "It's been done before in other markets to great success."

Another billboard, on northbound Dougall Avenue between Tecumseh Road West and Eugenie Street, shows an attractive blond woman -- again nude -- with a strategically placed Fender Stratocaster guitar shielding her breasts and crotch.

The slogan reads: "Now turn US on!"

Assiff said she has to drive by the billboard regularly to take her eight-year-old daughter and six-year-old son to school. She said she's dreading the day when one of her children turns to her and asks about the image.

"It's not light-hearted humour. It's shock factor... Sex sells. This is in the public eye. The kids are seeing this. I can't shelter my kids from a billboard."

Michaluk said he first noticed the Craig & Matt coconuts billboard when he was returning from a funeral home where he'd made arrangements for his recently deceased father-in-law.

"I had my mother-in-law in the car, and my wife. What an awful thing to look at, coming home from a funeral home," Michaluk said.

Told of the station's explanation regarding the light-hearted humour behind the image, Michaluk replied: "I knew that's what they would say. In their mind, it's light humour. In my mind, it's disgusting.

"We've got enough problems here in Windsor.... What kind of message does that send to our visitors, our tourists? It's just poor taste. We've got too much class for that, as far as I'm concerned."

Martens said The Rock has received a few calls and email messages complaining about the billboards, but the station has received much more positive feedback from people who enjoy them.

Martens added that the billboards do not contravene any standards. "The letter of the law says there's nothing wrong with them."

He also pointed out that the station's competitors are no strangers to envelope-pushing humour. For example, a billboard advertisting the rock radio station 89X includes the word "P&#!S."

"It's just rock and roll," Martens said.

"If you're looking to catch the eye of a male between 18 and 54, usually a pretty girl does it.... There's always going to be images, TV shows, commercials. There's always going to be something. No matter where you go, there's going to be something that's objectionable to certain people."

Martens said he has a six-year-old daughter, and she has asked him about the coconuts billboard. "I said, 'They're just being funny.' And she said, 'Oh. That is silly.'"

The billboards are scheduled to stay up until the end of March, but Martens said he'll be discussing the complaints with his managers and marketing department.

"We're looking at all our options right now," he said. "I don't want to tick off the entire Windsor populace."

Source:The Windsor Star

OTTAWA -- Near the end of February, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) proposed a fee increase that didn’t sit well with the Canadian Trucking Alliance.

PHMSA, a division of the U.S. Department of Transporation, wanted to increase the registration and fee assessment program for hazmat transporters by as much as $2,000. Carriers, including Canadian companies that haul certain categories and quantities of hazardous materials, could see the annual fee rise to $2,975 (plus a $25 administrative fee) from $975 for registration years beginning in 2010-2011.

The fee increase would go towards funding the national Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) grants program.

In a letter to the U.S. DOT, the Canadian Trucking Alliance urged the PHMSA to review the proposed increase. CTA reiterated the importance of funding safety and environmental initiatives such as the HMEP, but questioned the application and level of need for the proposed increase.

“CTA finds it troubling that in the face of federal budget constraints, U.S. agencies are developing a propensity for significant fee hikes to maintain programs on a status quo basis, rather than taking a hard look at programs and determining where cuts to non-essential components can be made,” said CTA president David Bradley.

CTA has further concerns that the fee assigned to large carriers ($25.5 million in gross revenue) is partially based on revenues that are derived from domestic business in Canada that should be completely beyond the reach of the U.S. government.

“This is patently unfair in CTA’s view, and it is our position that the determination of large carrier status should be based solely on revenue earned in the United States to haul hazardous materials,” explained Bradley.

While the public comment period on the proposed fee hike was closed yesterday, CTA continues to monitor this issue as PHMSA works toward a final decision.

Source: Today's Trucking

NEWARK — A former employee of a northern New Jersey trucking firm has admitted his role in a scheme that defrauded the company of more than $900,000.

Herbert Rodriguez, 44, of Woodbridge, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Newark to conspiracy to commit mail fraud.

Rodriguez admitted he conspired with a second worker to submit fake vendor invoices to his employer, Kearny-based J.F. Lomma Inc.

Rodriguez obtained hundreds of checks from the company, which he cashed.

Rodriguez faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine at sentencing on June 7.

Source: New Jersey

PHOENIX — The people of Arizona kept their upper lips stiff when officials mortgaged off the state’s executive office tower and a “Daily Show” crew rolled into town to chronicle the transaction in mocking tones. They remained calm as lawmakers pondered privatizing death row.

But then the state took away their toilets, and residents began to revolt.

“Why don’t they charge a quarter or something?’” said Connie Lucas, who lives in Pine, Ariz., about a two-and-a-half-hour drive from here. “There was one rest stop between here and Phoenix, and we really needed it.”

Arizona has the largest budget gap in the country when measured as a percentage of its overall budget, and the state Department of Transportation was $100 million in the red last fall when it decided to close 13 of the state’s 18 highway rest stops.

But the move has unleashed a torrent of telephone calls and e-mail messages to state lawmakers, newspapers and the Department of Transportation deploring the lost toilets — one of the scores of small indignities among larger hardships that residents of embattled states face as governments scramble to shore up their finances.

“People in this state are mad about this,” said State Representative Daniel Patterson, a Democrat from Tucson who has sponsored a bill that would allow other entities to reopen and maintain the rest stops. “This bill may have the broadest support among members of any bill this year.”>>>>>>>>>.............

Vancouver ended its time hosting the 2010 Olympic games on a light-hearted note, with a closing ceremony that featured floating moose, dancing Mounties and gigantic cut-out hockey players wearing the gold medals Team Canada had won hours before.

Photos: Closing Ceremony

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Royal Canadian Mounted Police raise the Canadian flag during the closing ceremony.

• Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony Diary: Journal reporters analyze the ceremony

The upbeat ending was in stark contrast to the grim beginning of these games, which were marred by protests, the death of a Georgian luger, and then by unseasonably warm weather that left organizers postponing events and trucking in snow on Cypress Mountain.

``You took on a stubborn mountain with all your might,'' said Vancouver Organizing Committee CEO John Furlong, lauding the games' blue-garbed staff in a speech during the ceremony. ``The final result: Blue Jackets 1; Cypress Mountain weather zero.''

During the closing ceremony, Vancouver passed the baton to Sochi, Russia, which will host the 2014 winter games.

Source: The Wallstreet Journal

RCMP have laid charges against the drivers of both vehicles involved in a highway collision Friday night.

Early indications are that the driver of a Dodge Stealth failed to stop for a red light while travelling southbound on Highway 59 and collided with an eastbound semi-trailer truck on Highway 101 through the intersection. The truck driver, a 55-year-old man from Mississauga, Ont., stopped a short distance from the accident but left without providing particulars.

The three occupants of the Stealth received aid at the scene by an off-duty nurse and paramedic and were taken to hospital.

The 20-year-old driver of the Stealth suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was arrested for impaired driving. She will appear in court on April 9.

The truck driver was charged with leaving the scene of an accident. He was later located at Deacon’s Corner on the Trans-Canada Highway.

The front female passenger of the Dodge remains in hospital in critical condition while the backseat passenger was treated and released.

The investigation continues.

WINNIPEG -- Imagine a truck smart enough to tell you that up the road, about 500 feet, another vehicle is approaching the intersection, on your right, and not slowing down fast enough to come to a complete stop in time.

So, you take your foot off the accelerator, cruise up to the intersection a little slower and a few seconds later than you would have, and sure enough that vehicle you were warned about obliviously blows through their stop sign.

How far off in the future is technology like that, 10, 20, 30 years?

Implementation of these Intelligent Transportation Systems in the trucking industry may be years away, but that kind of technology has been developed.

That was just one of the insights discussed during the Future of Trucking Symposium in Winnipeg last week. The University of Manitoba Transport Institute hosted the event and brought together a number of speakers who provided a glimpse of what the future has in store for trucking.

As well as technology advancements, economic conditions and environmental concerns will play a big role in changing the landscape trucking operates in.

According to Antonio Benecchi, partner with Roland Berger Strategic Consultants, there will be five million more people in Canada by 2030. More people means more people using goods, which means more freight needs to be moved.

“Energy consumption is going up and will continue to grow,” says Benecchi. We’ll see more and stronger policies to reduce CO2 emissions. There is no expectation of further emission standards in the U.S. after EPA 2010. “The technology will be used to reduce fuel consumption and there are many ways to do this. Right now people are focused on the powertrain.”

Representatives from Cummins, Detroit Diesel, Mack, Navistar, PACCAR, and Volvo, all took a turn to speak during the symposium and the general consensus was that Benecchi was right, fuel efficiency would be a top priority.

OEMs in North America have spent billions of dollars in research and development to prepare for U.S. Environmental Protection Agency emission standards and the engines they’ve developed will likely be around for years to come.

“We don’t foresee an engine platform change for many years,” says Steven de Sousa, manager of powertrain sales with Mack. “The platform we retired had been around for 30 years.”

“In the future there will be no great revolutions, just small changes that continue to evolve that make the process more efficient,” says Tim Tindall, director of sales with Detroit Diesel/Daimler Trucks. “Trucks will be around for a long time and powered by diesel engines for a long time.”

While there’s potential to burn different fuels – like natural gas, biodiesel, or one of seven combinations of fuel that Volvo has developed engines for – the primary focus in increasing fuel efficiency among engine makers seems to lie in hybrid technology.

The focus of hybrid technology has mainly been in the vocational market, but further developing hybrid engines for launch assist in the long-haul sector is expected to improve fuel economy by using smaller engines, reducing idling, utilizing electric power takeoffs, quieter engines, and essentially using less fuel.

As well as improving fuel efficiency in truck engines, further efficiencies are expected to be gained by continued advancements in operational technology.

Claudia Milicevic, senior director and general manager of TransCore Link Logistics, says advancements are continuing to be made in dispatch, operations and in-cab technology to better maximize productivity, which in turn will help improve fuel efficiency of a fleet’s trucks.

Truckstop electrification could also play a role in the future of trucking, and Alan Bates of Shorepower Technologies notes his company recently received a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to expand their network to 50 locations across the States. And Canada is a good market for possible future expansion.

But as many presenters pointed out, there is no silver bullet. As Bill Van Amburg, senior vice-president of CALSTART, put it, “there needs to be a silver buckshot.”

Dr. Paul Larsen, director of the Transport Institute, summed it up by noting, “we need a melding of public policy and innovation to move things.”

Perhaps the biggest wildcard in how the future of trucking will look might not have anything to do with the physicality of trucks at all.

“More importantly, what is the future of our lives going to look like? What is this life going to look like for people? As we contemplate this future of trucking it behoves us to think about what lifestyles will be?” asks Don Streuber, president and CEO of Bison Transport.

“Our lifestyle changes and the number of trucks changes. We’ll look for ways to change the way everything is packaged because we want less waste,” he adds. “We have to be adaptable to what we haul. We don’t know what the future will be but our lifestyles will mandate it.”

Source: Today's Trucking

MONTGOMERY, AL . One person is in custody and $6.7 million in powder cocaine has been seized after a drug bust in Montgomery.

Montgomery police confiscated the drugs after pulling over an 18-wheeler Wednesday for a traffic citation.

Officers found 67,000 grams of cocaine after a search of the big rig.

Federal charges are pending in this case according to Montgomery Police.

Source: WAFF48NEWS

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. -- Walmart Canada has rewarded TransX for its 99.6 percent on-time record, delivering 89,000 shipments.

As a result, the retail giant has named the Mississauga-based LTL fleet carrier of the year.

Andy Ellis, senior vice president of supply chain and logistics for Walmart Canada presented the award to TransX president Louie Tolaini at a gala dinner in late February.

Ellis recognized the TransX Group of Companies for being an outstanding partner, and for leading by example in efforts to train other Walmart carriers on LCV (Long Combination Vehicle) program in Ontario and Quebec.

Meanwhile, the company recently announced the restructuring and renaming of its Big Horn Transport operating division. Effective April 1, 2010, Big Horn Transport will become part of TransX's DeckX Transport.

DeckX plans to actively grow the new operating center based in Alberta and this week rolled out a new fleet of 53 foot tridem axle flat decks.

The consolidation of Big Horn into DeckX will bring synergies for the entire operating group in western Canada and the western U.S., says TransX, which purchased Big Horn Transport two years ago.

The TransX Group of Companies is one of Canada's top five largest for-hire carriers, with a tractor-trailer fleet of over 6,000 units and revenues in excess of $500 million. 

Source: Today's Trucking

Quick! Somebody throw Matty Moroun a life preserver. His plan to twin the Ambassador Bridge appears to have gotten stuck in a current of red tape along the shores of the Detroit River.

The U.S. Coast Guard lowered the boom this week on Moroun’s plans to expand operations at the border bridge that connects Detroit with Windsor, Ontario. The privately owned Ambassador Bridge, with 10,000 commercial trucks crossing each day, is the busiest border point in North America.

Coast Guard officials wrote to inform the billionaire’s Detroit International Bridge Co. that unresolved land issues with the city of Detroit have worn out his welcome.

“The Coast Guard has determined that the (Ambassador Bridge Enhancement Project) permit application remains incomplete, after 3.5 years, and is returning it to DIBC,” Coast Guard Administrator of Bridge Programs Hala Elgaaly wrote in the letter dated Tuesday, March 2.

Courts recently ordered Moroun to tear down a gas station and other structures that he built on property owned by the city of Detroit.

The Coast Guard has a say in building permits that involve navigable waters. Officials said they see no reason to approve Moroun’s application.

“The Coast Guard has received no credible indication that the property rights issue is any closer to being resolved now, than it was over three years ago,” Elgaaly wrote. “Moreover, the results of recent cases in Michigan courts, coupled with Detroit City Council declarations, underscore the Coast Guard’s conclusion that DIBC is not likely to obtain the necessary property rights in the near future.”

According to the law, Moroun is allowed to keep trying and can resubmit his application for a Coast Guard bridge permit at any time.

Meanwhile, government officials in both the U.S. and Canada are in the planning stages to build a new Detroit River bridge about two miles away.

HALIFAX -- The Halifax Gateway Council released its new five-year strategic plan focused on realizing the plan to make Halifax the preferred eastern trade gateway for North America.

The 2010-2015 Strategic Plan: Building the Halifax Gateway highlights the gateway's role as a key hub for the movement of goods to and from the east coast of North America and the world.

"As a key component of Canada's greater transportation system and network, improving the efficiency and competiveness of the Halifax Gateway will produce economic and social benefits for all of Canada," said Joyce Carter, Chair of the Halifax Gateway Council. "A more efficient gateway reduces costs and increases the competiveness of Canada's exported goods, while an increase in imports creates jobs and business opportunities for Canadians.

The Port of Halifax, notes the report, creates over 11,000 jobs and $1.5 billion in economic impact, including $170 million in rail economic output, and $160 million from long-haul and regional trucking.

Over the next five years, the Council will focus on achieving five overarching goals:

-- Ensuring the Halifax Gateway offers efficient transportation networks to meet shipping and travel needs; improving Gateway infrastructure; ensuring government policy helps minimize barriers to trade and travel; establishing the Halifax Gateway brand internationally; and coordinating with other gateway and business councils and organizations in supporting the enhancements.

Source: Today's Trucking

If declining demand and plummeting profits were not enough for the trucking industry to deal with, more expensive equipment and tightening credit conditions will continue to wreak havoc even after the economy turns around.

Those were some of the issues about 200 members of the Canadian trucking industry are discussing at the Future of Trucking Symposium that began Thursday and continues today in Winnipeg.

"The highway truckers have been ravaged," said Doug Harvey, CEO of Winnipeg truck dealership Maxim Truck & Trailer.

From an equipment sales point of view, he said 2009 was the worst year since 1962.

And for many firms, things might get worse before they get better.

Lou Smyrlis, editor of the trade publication Canadian Transportation & Logistics, who spoke at the conference, said Canadian trucking companies have lost 45 per cent of their value and the Canadian industry is operating the oldest fleet in 20 years.

Easy credit made it possible for the trucking fleet to grow by 25 per cent in the run-up to the recession, but Smyrlis said excess capacity and declining demand over the last 18 months has meant about 10 to 15 per cent has fallen by the wayside. Tightened credit markets will mean more bankruptcies when the banks believe valuations are strong enough to foreclose.

"Banks have not been too aggressive because there is no market for freight terminals and other assets (because of overcapacity in the market)," he said.

Bob Dolyniuk, general manager of the Manitoba Trucking Association, said so-called zombie fleets are operating at low or non-existent margins and if they fall into arrears in their loan payments, lenders are likely to pull the plug when the economy turns around.

He and others in the industry say they believe that kind of scenario will play a role in restoring the balance of supply and demand and allow carriers to start increasing freight rates, which have fallen because of the increased competition and lower demand.

And while truckers are struggling to survive, there is also pressure to purchase more expensive equipment that cuts greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and increases fuel efficiency.

Bill Van Amburg, senior vice-president of CALSTART, a California non-profit organization of more than 140 firms, fleets and agencies worldwide developing clean advanced transportation technologies, said four major truck manufacturers are now producing hybrid trucks.

But he said the higher cost of those models and the newness of the technology mean other fuel-efficiency technologies are more likely to be implemented first.

Dolyniuk said he wants to see more harmonization of regulations throughout North America so truckers can implement fuel-saving technologies like broad-base tires and boat-tails to reduce drag and burn less fuel.

New engine technology introduced in 2010 models reduces GHG emissions but adds weight, reducing fuel economy and the amount of cargo the trailers can carry.

Many at the conference concurred that jurisdictions need to align a broad swath of regulations affecting the industry.

Van Amburg said policies are jumping from one focus to the next. For instance, he said California has a policy that provides incentives to get older, dirtier trucks off the road in favour of newer and cleaner engines. But since the new ones are not fuel-efficient, the industry could be stuck with them for the next 15 years when fuel prices are expected to rise dramatically.

Source:Winnipeg Free Press

It consisted of a system, for small parts were made in your homes and a three-wheeled bicycle picked them up and delivered them to larger buildings a few blocks to a plant that finished the assembly. This system was designed to eliminate inventory.

Today, inventory is stored on a tractor-trailer traveling down the highway for on-time delivery. The people have no idea that if the truck drivers parked their big rigs for a week the USA would grind to a halt. The unemployment lines would be miles long, and people would be going hungry in three days. Grocery shelves would be empty. Crime would jump to proportions the American people have never seen before.

Truck drivers didn't change the system, American industry did. At our plant, we carried months of inventory that was shipped by rail. Now all this is on a tractor-trailer on the highways to be delivered on time so you can have milk and bread on the shelves because you don't have any inventory in your house to eat.

Give the truck driver a break. He is just trying to put food on the shelf. When you slow down in front of him with your cell phone stuck in your ear hope he doesn't run over you.