Trucks Unplugged Michelin Vision Remote diagnostics PG.46 The tires of the future? PG. 58 The Business Magazine of Canada’s Trucking Industry to, ON M9W 5C4. August 2017 www.todaystrucking.com Canadian Mail Sales Product Agreement #40063170. Return postage guaranteed. NEWCOM Business Media Inc., 451 Attwell Dr., Toron The corner offi ce redefi ned. Competitive financing available through Daimler Truck Financial. For the Freightliner Trucks dealer nearest you, call 1-800-FTL-HELP. FTL/MC-A-1459. Specifications are subject to change without notice. Copyright © 2017 Daimler Trucks North America LLC. All rights reserved. Freightliner Trucks is a division of Daimler Trucks North America LLC, a Daimler company. Have a seat behind the wheel of the new Cascadia® and take it all in. The sleek design of the ergonomic dash. Large LCD display. Controls at your fi ngertips. All housed in Freightliner’s quietest cab for maximized driver comfort. You’ve worked hard to get here. Take a look outside your offi ce window and enjoy the ride. Experience it for yourself by taking a virtual tour at freightliner.com/corneroffi ce. TOTAL RUBIA OPTIMA CK-4 & FA-4 HEAVY-DUTY ENGINE OILS TO TAKE YOU FURTHER. EVERY DAY TOTAL RUBIA OPTIMA TOTAL RUBIA 1100 15W-40 LD EXTRA 10W-30 TOTAL RUBIA OPTIMA 1100 FE 10W-30 Follow us on Total Canada www.total-canada.ca Energizing performance. Every day Contents August 2017 | VOLUME 31, NO.8 7 Letters 9 John G Smith 12 11 Rolf Lockwood 29 Heather Ness 33 Mike McCarron page 34 NEWS & NOTES Dispatches 18 Jobs for Life? Court ruling among top legal issues 20 Stat Pack 22 Truck Sales 38 46 23 Pulse Survey 24 Logbook 25 Trending 26 Heard on the Street 27 Truck of the Month Features In Gear 12 Driver in Waiting Ahmad Al Rasoul escaped Syria. Now he wants to get back behind the wheel. By Peter Carter 34 Cheers to Yearsrs Today’s Trucking has reflected a changing industry ByBy Rolf Lockwood 42 Rent a Wrench 38 Log Jam Understand your true Owner-operators face some hard maintenance costs when questions about Electronic Logging Devices By Jim Park deciding what to outsource By Eric Berard 46 Trucks Unplugged 51 Cummins Connects Diagnostic data is on the air, 53 Product Watch and there is more to come By John G. Smith 56 Guess the location, win a hat For more visit www.todaystrucking.com AUGUST 2017 5 MERITOR® RPL DRIVELINES Reduce maintenance costs and save on your bottom line with Meritor® Permalube™ RPL drivelines. The first permanently lubricated driveline in the North American market, RPL drivelines eliminate lubrication meritor.com/ truckdrivelines costs and offer the lowest lifecycle costs, extended U-joint life (1.5 million miles and counting) and easy serviceability. Good for your wallet. Good for the environment. Run With The Bull. ©2017 Meritor,Meritor Inc.Inc. Letters The Business Magazine of Canada’s Trucking Industry PUBLISHER Joe Glionna Email: [email protected] • 416/614-5805 [email protected] VICE PRESIDENT, EDITORIAL Rolf Lockwood, MCILT [email protected] • 416/614-5825 EDITOR John G. Smith [email protected] • 416/614-5812 SEND YOUR CONTRIBUTORS: LETTERS TO: Eric Berard, Steve Bouchard, Peter Carter, Mike McCarron, Jim Park, Nicolas Trépanier Thanks for CVSA videos Newcom Business Media, DESIGN / LAYOUT Re: CVSA Inspection video series (todaystrucking.com) Tim Norton, Frank Scatozza 451 Attwell Dr., [email protected] • 416/614-5818 Please let me start by thanking you for posting this video series. Toronto, ON SALES AND MARKETING CONSULTANT I was talking with our operations manager yesterday, and Anthony Buttino M9W 5C4 [email protected] • 416/458-0103 mentioned to him that some of the training videos that I had SALES AND MARKETING CONSULTANT seen were not as good as this series. If we publish Nickisha Rashid Thank you again for posting the videos, publishing a great your letter, we’ll [email protected] • 416/614-5824 magazine, and website that I visit at least once a day. even send you a QUÉBEC ACCOUNTS MANAGER Denis Arsenault — Brad Gable Today’s Trucking [email protected] • 514/947-7228 McClay’s Transportation, Oxford Enterprises hat as our thanks. CIRCULATION MANAGER Pat Glionna Ingersoll, Ontario 416/614-2200 • 416/614-8861 (fax) PRODUCTION MANAGER Lilianna Kantor [email protected] • 416/614-5815 The noise is exhausting Editorial Re: Fight the Good Fight (June 2017) By John G. Smith Kenneth R. Wilson Maybe it would help if we eliminate straight pipe Award Winner Fight the Good Fight exhaust systems and noisy tires. I have trucks passing me Recent debates about truck restrictions and can’t even hear my own radio. prove you can (and should) fight city hall f the signs are any indication, municipalities would rather find a way to live without trucks. No parking. No idling. No I Jake brakes. No trucks on this street or that. It’s like we’re living in the midst of a song by the Five Man Electrical Band. running counterparts. Leave a well-organized community Remember the lyrics? “Do this. Don’t do that. Can’t you read unchallenged, and any number of restrictions could emerge. the sign?” Consider just two truck-related fights that are ongoingactivist — W. Duyvestyn Like it or not, there will always be an uneasy truce between right now. municipal politicians and the trucks that travel through a com The municipal council in Thunder Bay, Ontario is return- munity. Our industry’s vehicles have to share their workplaces ing to its decades-old debate about restrictive truck routes, with the general public, and trucks will always appear big and and could ban heavy vehicles from thoroughfares including a loud when compared to the four wheelers around them. - section of Arthur Street. Do you know what else can be found Even longstanding corporate citizens can face the wrath of just a little further down the road? Santorelli’s Truck Stop and Brampton, Ontario angry neighbors. Truck yards, shops, warehouses and truck NEWCOM BUSINESS MEDIA INC. stops may initially be established on the outskirts of town, but “ Trucksbecome its related 35 employees. What poor zoning practices often allow subdivisions to sprawl up next about them? to them and leave little buffer in between. Once that happens, it’s convenient targets Travel southeast to Prescott, 451 Attwell Dr., Toronto, ON M9W 5C4 only a matter of time before politicians begin fielding calls about Ontario and you will find a com “those damn trucks”. during election munity mayor who wants to- It doesn’t take much to shatter the truce, either. The bark of ban all hazardous cargo from an engine brake in the middle of the night can lead to an angry campaigns.” Highway 401 during stormy 416/614-2200 • 416/614-8861 (fax) call about noise bylaws. A close call or collision in the wrong weather. It doesn’t seem to mat- area leads people to think of every truck as a rolling menace. require an extra layer of trainingter when that thecompared drivers toof theirsuch truckspeers, Scheduled courier deliveries are seen as barriers to smooth that the industry reports just one spill per 40,000 shipments, or traffic flows. They all become convenient targets during munic- that defining such “bad weather” would be virtually impossible. ipal election campaigns as would-be councillors look for the The general public has to be protected, but freight also so-called wedge issues that often define winning campaigns. has to move. It is possible to strike a reasonable balance CHAIRMAN AND FOUNDER between the two goals, but we all have a role to play in Do trucks provide a valuable service? “Sure,” most residents Anti-truck rhetoric should stop will respond. “Just not in my backyard.” ensuring that the trucking industry’s voice is always heard in As frustrating as such fights can be, they all need to be taken related discussions. Jim Glionna seriously. Businesses are undeniablyhts can be, an timportant source of tax Getet informed. Sign up. Get involved. And fight the good fight usinesses are Sign up. Get involved. An revenue and llocal jobs, butundeniably residents canan heybe blindall need to thatto be reality taken wherever it’s needed. ocal jobs, bu important source of tax needed. d fight the go – and will usually representt residents more votes can be than blind their to that business- realit Your industry is depending on you. is depending on you. od fight y TT John G. Smith PRESIDENT Re: Fight the Good Fight (June 2017) You can reach him at 416-614-5812is editor of or Today’s TruckiTrucking him at 416-614 ng. -5812 or [email protected]@newcom.ca a. Joe Glionna TT June 2017.indd 9 JUNE 2017 I just wish that the general public would understand how the supply chain works. The9 VICE PRESIDENT, OPERATIONS Melissa Summerfield whole rhetoric about closing off Highway 102 in Thunder Bay is pure bull manure. CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Restricting too many routes to trucks will cause a major hazard. I do understand Peter Fryters trucks must avoid residential areas due to the dangers of kids playing or adults getting DIRECTOR OF CIRCULATION Pat Glionna out of their driveways to go to work. What I don’t get is when a perfectly good route with lots of room gets closed off from semis. Today’s Trucking is published monthly by NEWCOM BUSINESS MEDIA INC., I regularly deliver beer to stores, and general freight, too. There are times where I 451 Attwell Dr., Toronto, ON M9W 5C4. It is produced expressly for owners and/or operators of one or more straight trucks or tractor-trailers with gross have to just ignore the “no truck” zones just to deliver from point A to point B safely.