Arkansas Trucking Association

The consumer price index rose 8.6% in May from a year ago, the highest increase since December 1981. Surging food, gas and energy prices all contributed to the gain, with fuel oil up 106.7% over the past year.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that energy prices broadly rose 3.9% from a month ago, bringing the annual gain to 34.6%; shelter costs rose 0.6% for the month, the fastest one-month gain since March 2004; and finally, food costs climbed another 1.2% in May, bringing the year-over-year gain to 10.1%.

On June 7, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo admitted that there is not much more the White House can do to lower record high gas prices for Americans, casting blame on Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration has proposed minimum standards and requirements for projects funded under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program, which provides nearly $5 billion over the next five years.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said these ground rules will help create a network of EV chargers that are convenient, affordable, reliable and accessible, saying, "to support the transition to electric vehicles, we must build a national charging network that makes finding a charge as easy as filling up at a gas station."

The American Transportation Research Institute Board of Directors has approved the 2022 Top Research Priorities, as identified by ATRI’s Research Advisory Committee. ATRI’s RAC developed the list of recommended research topics at its meeting held in Dallas, March 15-16, and the ATRI Board reviewed and approved a list of recommended topics at its recent meeting.

In a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and Sam Graves (R-Mo.), the chairman and ranking member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, respectively, called for an expansion of parking facilities for truck drivers.

“We believe that focusing funding on truck parking will improve highway safety for all road users and help to alleviate longstanding supply chain inefficiencies,” the letter stated.

Dallas-based Pallet Logistics of America announced it has acquired the logistics firm Propak Corp. of Fort Smith, Ark. Founded in 1999, Propak has 60 locations across the U.S. and employs more than 1,700 people.

The acquisition of Propak brings warehousing, transportation and freight brokerage services to Pallet, the largest pallet management services provider in the West.

Walmart announced it is testing three different kinds of renewable energy to power its fleet, setting the stage to transition its trucking fleet to 100% renewable energy by 2040. Test projects include using electric, hydrogen and natural gas in the place of diesel for long haul and other Class 8 deliveries within Walmart’s supply chain.

Electric vehicles registered in Arkansas are up 43% in the first five months of 2022 from the end of 2021, according to the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. And if supply could match demand, that number would likely be even higher, according to DFA spokesman Scott Hardin.

While ‘freight broker’ is currently defined on the FMCSA website as “a person or an entity which arranges for the transportation of property by a motor carrier for compensation; a broker does not transport the property and does not assume responsibility for the property,” the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, passed late last year requires the FMCSA to issue new guidance on the definition of by Nov. 15, 2022.

FMCSA’s chief technology officer, Pavan Pidugu, is on a mission to revamp the agency’s outdated legacy systems by 2028. Pidugu, who joined FMCSA in 2020 after stints at Walmart and Target, candidly said the system is cumbersome, not user friendly, invites processing errors and is decades behind the fast-moving world of technology.

He has already successfully implemented new user-friendly IT systems to streamline roadside inspections, the motor carrier registration process and the agency’s medical examiners registration website.

Twelve Arkansas Trucking Association member companies, including five companies headquartered in Arkansas, are among the Top 100 freight carriers in North America according to the annual ranking compiled by Transport Topics, an industry trade newspaper. Companies on the Top 100 For-Hire Carriers list are ranked based on overall revenue generated for the most recent 12-month period.

A collaboration between the Arkansas State Police and Arkansas trucking industry is helping address a backlog of trained, professional truck drivers that are urgently needed to fill a deficit of some 80,000 truck driving jobs nationwide.