UPS Inc. and FedEx Corp. are coping with the aftermath of the deadly highway crash that killed two drivers on a Pennsylvania highway on Saturday, scattering cardboard boxes onto the asphalt.
In all, the crash left five people dead and more than 60 injured, after a tour bus hit an embankment and rolled over at about 3:30am on Saturday while traveling westbound on Interstate 76, also known as the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The bus was then struck by three tractor-trailers following behind it near Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, some 30 miles east of Pittsburgh, according to published reports.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are now at the scene, examining factors such as roadway design, driver performance, motor carrier compliance, mechanical aspects of the vehicle, survival factors, and accident reconstruction, an NTSB member said in a news conference.
In the meantime, both parcel carriers involved in the wreck are coping with the impacts, including both the loss of employees' lives and delays in package delivery.
"Sadly, UPS confirms the identities of two of our drivers who are victims of this tragic incident," UPS spokesman Matthew O'Connor said in an email. "Daniel Kepner, age 53, had 5 years of service, and, Dennis Kehler, age 48, had 28 years of service. Both were driving together in a tractor trailer vehicle out of our Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, operating center. Our drivers will be missed and our thoughts and prayers go out to their families."
FedEx issued a similar statement through a spokesperson, saying: "First and foremost we extend our deepest condolences to the families of the individuals involved in this accident. There is no higher priority for FedEx Ground than safety, and we are cooperating fully with investigating authorities at this time."
According to UPS, the truck in the crash was carrying cargo on a "feeder" route between two regional package centers, meaning that most of the freight consisted of ground parcels, the company said. In these situations, police and other authorities typically impound the vehicle and its cargo for the duration of the investigation. That means UPS has contacted both shippers and receivers of each package to inform them of a delay in delivery, the company said.
Truck drivers nationwide have a mixed outlook on the future of the trucking industry, according to a survey by freight marketplace Truckstop, released this week in conjunction with National Truck Driver Appreciation Week (NTDAW), which runs through Saturday, September 21.
Truckstop surveyed 850 of its carrier customers to gain insight into their lives and experiences on the road. A third of those surveyed said they have a positive outlook on the future of trucking while 40% said they are “more pessimistic,” according to Truckstop. The remainder said they are uncertain, “highlighting both the challenges and opportunities facing the industry,” Truckstop said in a statement announcing the survey results Monday.
The survey also found that nearly 60% of Truckstop carriers have driven one million miles or more, with more than a third of respondents surpassing two million miles driven. Of those who have reached the one-million-mile mark, more than 60% report having a current streak of driving a million miles without a single accident, “highlighting their unwavering dedication to safety,” according to Truckstop.
Another survey highlight: 72% of truckers surveyed say they pass the time by listening to music on the road, with a third saying they prefer country music and 20% citing rock and roll as their genre of choice.
“In celebrating National Truck Driver Appreciation Week, we honor the resilience and dedication of truck drivers, not just this week but every day,” Kendra Tucker, Truckstop’s chief executive officer, said in the statement. “This year’s survey underscores the strong focus drivers place on safety, while also revealing how music helps keep these rockstars of the road alert and energized behind the wheel.”
Truckstop also celebrated NTDAW with a donation to the St. Christopher Truckers Development and Relief Fund (SCF). SCF’s mission is to help over-the-road and semi-truck drivers and their families when they are out of work due to illness or injury.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) says the bipartisan legislation—called the Household Goods Shipping Consumer Protection Act—is needed because motor carriers are victimized through unpaid claims, unpaid loads, double brokered loads, or load phishing schemes on a daily basis.
The proposed act, which was introduced by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and Congressman Mike Ezell (R-MS), offers a solution, OOIDA says. If passed, the bill would restore and codify FMCSA’s authority to issue civil penalties against bad actors. The legislation also requires that brokers, freight forwarders, and carriers provide a valid business address to FMCSA in order to register for authority.
According to Rep. Norton, the bill “would clarify that FMCSA has the authority to assess civil penalties for violations of commercial regulations, and crucially, to withhold registration from applicants failing to provide verification details demonstrating they intend to operate legitimate businesses. Americans moving across state lines need to be able to have confidence in FMCSA-licensed companies transporting their physical belongings. I'm thankful for Rep. Ezell’s partnership in co-leading this bill with me and look forward to the bill’s progress in the Senate.”
The bill has been endorsed by the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), American Trucking Associations’ Moving & Storage Conference (ATA-MSC), Owner-Operator Independent Driver Association (OOIDA), the National Association of Small Trucking Companies (NASTC), Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA), Institute for Safer Trucking (IST) and Road Safe America.
OOIDA is now calling for the bill to get a swift vote before the full U.S. House of Representatives.
"Freight fraud committed by criminals and scam artists has been devastating to many small business truckers simply trying to make a living in a tough freight market,” OOIDA President Todd Spencer said in a release. “OOIDA and the 150,000 small-business truckers we represent applaud the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee for its bipartisan approach in providing FMCSA better tools to root out fraudulent actors, which are also harmful to consumers and highway safety. Because of the broad industry support for these commonsense reforms, we hope this legislation will move to the full House of Representatives for a vote without delay.”
A coalition of freight transport and cargo handling organizations is calling on countries to honor their existing resolutions to report the results of national container inspection programs, and for the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to publish those results.
Those two steps would help improve safety in the carriage of goods by sea, according to the Cargo Integrity Group (CIG), which is a is a partnership of industry associations seeking to raise awareness and greater uptake of the IMO/ILO/UNECE Code of Practice for Packing of Cargo Transport Units (2014) – often referred to as CTU Code.
According to the Cargo Integrity Group, member governments of the IMO adopted resolutions more than 20 years ago agreeing to conduct routine inspections of freight containers and the cargoes packed in them. But less than 5% of 167 national administrations covered by the agreement are regularly submitting the results of their inspections to IMO in publicly available form.
The low numbers of reports means that insufficient data is available for IMO or industry to draw reliable conclusions, fundamentally undermining their efforts to improve the safety and sustainability of shipments by sea, CIG said.
Meanwhile, the dangers posed by poorly packed, mis-handled, or mis-declared containerized shipments has been demonstrated again recently in a series of fires and explosions aboard container ships. Whilst the precise circumstances of those incidents remain under investigation, the Cargo Integrity Group says it is concerned that measures already in place to help identify possible weaknesses are not being fully implemented and that opportunities for improving compliance standards are being missed.
Dexory’s robotic platform cruises warehouse aisles while scanning and counting the items stored inside, using a combination of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), a tall mast equipped with sensors, and artificial intelligence (AI).
Along with the opening of the office, Dexory also announced that tech executive Kristen Shannon has joined the Company’s executive team to become Chief Operating Officer (COO), and will work out of Dexory’s main HQ in the United Kingdom.
“Businesses across the globe are looking at extracting more insights from their warehousing operations and this is where Dexory can rapidly help businesses unlock actionable data insights from the warehouse that help boost efficiencies across the board,” Andrei Danescu, CEO and Co-Founder of Dexory, said in a release. “After entering the US market, we’re excited to open new offices in Nashville and appoint Kristen to accelerate our scale, drive new levels of efficiency and reimagine supply chain operations.”
The deal will create a combination of two labor management system providers, delivering visibility into network performance, labor productivity, and profitability management at every level of a company’s operations, from the warehouse floor to the executive suite, Bellevue, Washington-based Easy Metrics said.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Easy Metrics is backed by Nexa Equity, a San Francisco-based private equity firm. The combined company will serve over 550 facilities and provide its users with advanced strategic insights, such as facility benchmarking, forecasting, and cost-to-serve analysis by customer and process.
And more features are on the way. According to the firms, customers of both Easy Metrics and TZA will soon benefit from accelerated investments in product innovation. New functionalities set to roll out in 2025 and beyond will include advanced tools for managing customer profitability and AI-driven features to enhance operational decision-making, they said.