TRUCKING INDUSTRY * USA - What can plastic do for you ?

* Georgia - UPS tests composite delivery truck that cut weight by 1,000 pounds

(Video from You Tube, by UPS 6 May 2011: Test drive of the new UPS Composite Car)
Sandy Springs,GA,USA -Jalopnik, by Mike Spinelli -May 31, 2011: -- UPS is known for its amazing level of efficiency, and that reputation could soon extend to fuel savings thanks to a prototype dubbed CV-23. The delivery company has ordered five of these prototypes to be tested through the end of 2011, but this is no ordinary next-generation package hauler... The CV-23 weighs about a thousand pounds less than the typical UPS truck, thanks to the fact that it is made with composite materials instead of metal. The lightweight materials could help UPS deliver up to 40 percent better fuel economy than the current UPS fleet truck. Those kinds of fuel economy gains can pay huge dividends in rural areas where trucks are required to drive large distances. And since the body panels are plastic, bumpers, panels and other parts can be replaced easily... If the company is sufficiently impressed, the guys and gals in brown could order more trucks, potentially saving 84 million gallons of fuel per year. We're guessing drivers will want to see some crash test data before seeing what brown plastic can do for them, but otherwise, this seems like a pretty good idea...


* Kansas - Roadrunner buys Bruenger Trucking

Cudahy,WI,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by William B. Cassidy -Jun 1, 2011: -- Roadrunner Transportation Systems acquired M. Bruenger Trucking, a truckload carrier with headquarters in Wichita, Kans., for approximately $10.6 million...  The transaction also includes an earn-out capped at $3 million, Roadrunner said. Bruenger’s former owner and management team will stay with the operation...  The earn-out will be paid if Bruenger hits certain performance targets...  The carrier’s Midwest coverage and its East-West traffic will the predominantly LTL carrier more effectively cross-sell its truckload services, DiBlasi said...  Acquisitions can help carriers expand capacity by buying existing operations and customer relations without adding new vehicles to their core fleets...

* Missouri - MoDOT converts aging rest areas into truck-only parking sites

Mineola,MO,USA -Land Line, by Clarissa Kell-Holland -31 May 2011: -- The Missouri Department of Transportation was scheduled to tear down two aging rest areas at mile marker 168 at Mineola on Interstate 70 on Tuesday, May 31...  However, instead of closing the sites completely, DeAnne Rickabaugh of MoDOT Motor Carrier Services, told that they recognize the importance of having safe spots for truckers to rest and will reopen them as truck-only lots...  “We are going to allow trucks to go ahead and park in the safe areas and that will be any night as long as it’s safe to do so and truckers respect the construction barriers,” Rickabaugh said... (Photo: Mineola Rest Area - Eastbound I-70, 6 Miles East of Route D/YY and I-70, Mile Marker 168)