Hey everyone! It’s time for your Tuesday Daily Trucker News Update!
We have a lot of news to cover today, including:
- Spot load truck rates are soaring
- scary… a man threatened a trucker with a gun then chokes a police K9
- and a little boy has a great Make-A-Wish granted
So, let’s get trucking!
Britnee: First, we start with spot truckload truck rates… they are soaring, according to a DAT Freight & Analytics report.
After a year of touching bottom right before the pandemic, spot truckload rates reached near all-time highs during the week ending May 3rd.
Compared to the same week last year: The seven-day average line-haul rate for dry vans was $2.27 a mile for the week, 95 cents higher.
Also, spot refer freight averaged $2.61 per mile, up 94 cents.
The average flatbed rate was $2.62 per mile, a 93-cent increase year over year.
Some trends to watch: dry vans volume increased by 5 percent, although van rates declined in large markets, refer load posts increased by 11 percent, and Mother’s Day shipments were in bloom.
US consumer spent around $28.1 billion dollars for Mother’s Day which equates for around 150 thousand truckloads.
Carlin: A Utah trucking company employee is in hot water for PPP load fraud.
Lisa Rowberry, from Provo, Utah, pleaded guilty to her role in a fraud scheme involving the Paycheck Protection Program.
According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah, Rowberry unlawfully obtained a federal PPP loan by falsifying a loan application.
Rowberry wasn’t in this alone either, her co-defendant, Hubert Ugarte, owned the Frisbu trucking company, where she worked.
Ugarte, pleaded guilty to PPP loan fraud, is also under federal bribery charges involving the Salt Lake City FedEx Ground Hub in federal court in April.
In that case, Ugarte was convicted of fraud and money laundering for his involvement in a pay-to-play trucking scheme.
It involved 10 defendants who paid around $1 million in bribes to a Utah FedEx Ground Hub manager in order to exploit the manager’s position with FedEx and make their trucking businesses as lucrative as possible.
On May 14, 2020, Ugarte received $210,000 from Transportation Alliance Bank under the PPP loan.
Ugarte used 60% of the loan to pay past due truck payments – leaving 40% for payroll costs, instead of the mandated 75 percent for payroll costs.
Britnee: Well here is a scary story for you – a man threatened a trucker with a pistol and then choked a police dog.
The incident happened near Blackfoot, Idaho.
Cory Cox got into a road rage altercation with a truck driver, then Cox pulled out a pistol and threatened to shoot out the tires of a driver’s semi-truck.
The driver explained to police officers that Cox had gotten him to pull over and immediately started yelling at him.
The trucker said Cox wasn’t making any sense when he pulled a black gun and began to make threats. The trucker says he feared for his life, and eventually, Cox got into his vehicle and drove away.
Cox then crashed into a farm field’s irrigation system where he fled the scene but deputies soon caught up to him.
During a struggle with the police dog, it is stated that Cox kicked the K9 before grabbing it around the throat to choke the animal.
The K9 dog bit Cox, and deputies placed him into custody into the Bingham County Jail. He remains behind bars on $35 thousand bail.
Carlin: Swedish-based autonomous trucking company, Einride, will set up headquarters in Austin, Texas after raising $110 million.
The autonomous electric freight vehicle company is planning to establish Austin as its U.S. headquarters later this year.
Einride’s primary offering is a futuristic Pod vehicle with no cab that can be deployed in fenced-in facilities using predetermined routes as well as on public roads.
The company offers its vehicles on a subscription basis, its customers include Coca-Cola, Oatly, Lidl and Electrolux.
Einride says it is the world’s first company to operate autonomous, all-electric freight vehicles on public roads.
The company has raised a total of $150 million for the new headquarters, with backers including Temasek, Soros Fund Management, Northzone, and more.
Einride also plans to open offices in New York and Silicon Valley, and has 50 job openings posted on its website.
The company is one of several autonomous vehicle companies hiring in Austin.
Britnee: According to U.S. Border Patrol, a trucker was attacked by three undocumented immigrants at a Texas truck stop.
people were apprehended after attacking a truck driver on Friday.
The incident occurred at a truck stop in Encinal, Texas, where authorities say the truck driver was resting in his vehicle, when he heard people try to climb into his windjammer.
As he stepped out of the truck to look, three individuals ran away. Then a second time the driver observed the same three subjects attempting to climb back into the windjammer.
The driver went to investigate again, with a flashlight that’s when he says the three individuals rushed him and he used the flashlight to defend himself.
The three subjects then ran towards I-35.
The authorities were able to locate three people hiding behind a store. Two of the people were bleeding from head injuries and admitted that they were struck by the truck driver during the altercation.
Police later confirmed that the three individuals were from Mexico and had entered the U.S. illegally.
Carlin: Make-a-wish partnered with Macy’s and UPS grated a wish for a little boy who’s dream was to be a delivery person.
Mateo’s dream came true when the foundation brought a functioning, custom-made UPS truck, he was able to make deliveries all over his hometown of Stockton, California.
Mateo practiced driving his own truck with personal driving lessons from his favorite UPS driver, Dave, with sign dubbed #MateoDeliversHope along his journey.
That does it for today’s update!
Tune in tomorrow for all the trucking news you need!
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