The Official Blog of Penske Transportation Solutions

Logistics

Penske wants you to share the road safely with trucks and other large vehicles. Passenger vehicles such as cars and SUVs should know that much like their own vehicles, large trucks have blind spots. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has dubbed blind spots on large vehicles as the ”No-Zones” and every passenger driver should know them.

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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued its final hours-of-service (HOS) rule, decreasing a driver’s allowable work week and altering the restart provision.

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Jurisdictions nationwide are continuing to add idling regulations, and in an effort to create greater uniformity for drivers, several states are considering statewide regulations versus individual county or city regulations.

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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced last month that it is retaining the 11-hour driving time limit. However, the agency imposed restrictions on the use of the 34-hour restart – to include two consecutive nighttime periods from 1 to 5 a.m. - and restricted consecutive hours of driving by including a required rest break. The FMCSA has provided a lengthy transition period until July 13, 2013 for most but not all of its changes.

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As winter weather comes calling, drivers in certain regions of the country are bound to have snow and ice buildup on their vehicles. Not only can that snow and ice dislodge during transit, damaging vehicles or injuring drivers, it could also mean drivers can face state fines.

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For Penske’s senior vice president and general counsel Mike Duff, and his wife Diane, serving as this year’s co-chairs of theUnited Way of Berks County’s fundraising campaign in the greater Reading, Pa., area was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

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Penske Logistics has renewed and expanded its sponsorship commitments with the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) through 2014.

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Compliance Safety Accountability (CSA), the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) program that calculates fleets’ safety scores and determines which fleets warrant intervention, was introduced nationwide earlier this year, and carriers are continuing to review their safety data and determine what inspectors are focusing on at roadside inspections.

Since February, FMCSA has sent more than 40,000 warning letters to carriers. The warning letters alert carriers to safety compliance problems in one of the Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICS) that CSA tracks.

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Cargo theft has been steadily increasing since 2008 and is on track to rise again in 2011. Thieves are becoming more selective and organized, which is adding to the increase.

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Over the last few years, the combined forces of rising energy, equipment and commodity prices have created a strain on transportation budgets. Simply put, the costs of acquiring, fueling and operating a fleet continues to rise. Logistics managers face competing pressures to reduce internal costs, without sacrificing service levels required by value-conscious customers.

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Natura, a leading Brazilian manufacturer of skin care, cosmetics, perfume, hair care and other beauty products, recently announced the opening of its first distribution center in Parana, Brazil, withPenske Logistics South America selected to manage the operation.

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Penske has been named to G.I. Jobs magazine’s Top 100 Military Friendly Employers® list.

The magazine recognizes military friendly companies that demonstrate commitment to recruiting America’s veterans.

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APenske Logistics Europe associate is among a top group of industry experts that collaboratively helped draft new pharmaceutical supply chain management guidelines designed to strengthen cold chain safety practices in Europe.

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APenske Logistics executive will serve as guest speaker at a regional Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals event in Pennsylvania. Joe Gallick, Penske senior vice president of sales, will be speaking on the topic of “3PL and Value to Customer” at a CSCMP Lehigh Valley Roundtable event on Nov. 15, at the Best Western Hotel in Bethlehem, Pa. For more information, contact Tom Fiorini at 610-866-8001.

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A growing number of fleets are turning to electronic on-board recorders (EOBR) to increase driver safety, and earlier this year the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) proposed a rule that would require nearly all interstate carriers to use EOBRs—electronic devices that attach to a vehicle and record the amount of time a vehicle is being driven.

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The availability of qualified truck drivers is always a long-term industry concern, but rebounding freight volumes in 2010 have brought the driver shortage issue back to the forefront and numbers continue to rise.

The American Trucking Associations (ATA) reported that the turnover rate for over-the-road truck drivers rose to 79 percent in the second quarter of 2011, the latest period for which figures are available. That figure marks a four-point increase over the first quarter and a three-year high. It is also the third consecutive quarter of increased churn in the driver market.

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Penske Logistics has a long history of collaboration with Whirlpool Corporation, stretching across much of the company’s history. Another chapter was recently added, as Whirlpool awarded Penske with its 2010 Supplier of the Year Award forwarehousing and third-party logistics services performed throughout North America.

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Consumers are not leading the charge as they have in other recoveries, because of the fragile state of the economy and their personal wealth.

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While Facebook and logistics are not two words often used in the same sentence, many third-party logistics companies are beginning to explore the use of social media tools for their companies, according to the 18th Annual Survey of Third-Party Logistics Providers. The survey was presented October 4 by its author Dr. Robert Lieb, professor of supply chain management at Northeastern University. The report was underwritten by Penske Logistics.

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