Bulk Freight News & Industry Updates - Stay Ahead in Trucking

A new report from the USDA found that the animal feed produced by U.S. ethanol plants (known as dried distillers' grains or DDGs) is replacing even more corn and soybean meal in livestock and poultry feed rations than previously thought. The report's findings have important implications for discussions regarding ethanol's impact on feed grains availability, feed prices, land use effects and the greenhouse gas (GHG) impacts of producing corn ethanol. According to the report by USDA's Economic

SUGAR LAND, TX, Oct 25, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas) -- Leading agri-business and food company Bunge Limited /quotes/zigman/288539/quotes/nls/bg BG +1.32% (White Plains, New York), through several of its operating businesses, has plans to invest more than $330 million in capital expenditures at several locations in the U.S. and Canada. Bunge has several projects that are in various stages of development or construction that are sched

Viterra Inc., the largest grainhandler in Canada, says it plans to make some acquisitions following the removal of the Canadian Wheat Board's single desk. But Regina MP Ralph Goodale is afraid Viterra could be the one that gets acquired as large U.S. grain companies, like ADM, Cargill and Con Agra, move to expand operations in the wake of the CWB's demise. Viterra said recently it's looking for acquisitions in North America and will benefit from the government's plan to dismantle the Can

Last month, Manhattan Associates hosted the Inaugural "Shipper/Carrier" Exchange event in Atlanta. Attendees included an array of large shippers, 3PLs and carriers including GENCO ATC, HEB Grocery, Publix Super Markets, Celadon Trucking and Knight Transportation. The event focused on the importance and benefit of strengthening relationships between shippers and their transportation service providers. While there were occasional areas of disagreement, there was consensus in one critical area:

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon said Monday the state has reached an agreement to sell $4.4 billion worth of products to China for the next three years starting in 2012. Nixon said the deal between the state Department of Economic Development and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade emphasizes agricultural products and would boost Missouri exports to China by more than $1 billion over three years. The Democratic governor said international trade is important for improving Missou

truck carrying corn grain flipped on Route 209 in Carbon County on Monday morning, spilling its large cargo of yellow kernels on the roadside, authorities said. The truck crashed at 6:45 a.m. as it drove south on Route 209 in Towamensing Township. The truck apparently was drifting to the northbound lanes when the driver over-reacted, steering right and laying ski marks before the truck rolled on its roof. The driver was not injured. The highway near Beltzville State Park was closed whil

Viterra Inc., Canada's largest grain handler, said it's looking for acquisitions in North America and will benefit from the government's plan to dismantle the Canadian Wheat Board's monopoly. Viterra will consider opportunities "in grain handling, processing and agri products such as fertilizer and retail agri products," Mayo Schmidt, chief executive officer, said Oct. 21 in a telephone interview from Calgary. The company, which is based in Regina, Saskatchewan, is looking to increase it

EUGENE, Ore. (KMTR) -- One of the most popular displays at the Eugene Race for a Cure event Sunday will continue to spread the word and promote breast cancer awareness up and down Interstate 5 long after the event. Stidham Trucking Inc. of Yreka, California, has splashed breast cancer awareness all over one of its semi trucks through a fresh coat of pink and white paint and Susan G Komen Race for the Cure logos. The truck made a stop at the Race event in Eugene on Sunday, October 23rd, 2011.

MONTPELIER, Vt. -- Vermont officials are disputing the findings of a federally sponsored study showing that fatal accidents involving big trucks tripled when weight limits were raised from 80,000 to 99,000 pounds on Vermont's interstates, saying the figures are too small to be meaningful. The tripling was from one death in 2009 to three in 2010, when weight limits were increased in a pilot study to see what the effect would be. Two of the three deaths stemmed from one crash in January of 2

Gavilon, LLC today announced the official opening of a grain origination office in Kiev and commencement of commercial activity in Ukraine. Customers, suppliers and industry groups were among the guests invited to the new Gavilon Ukraine office, located at Business Centre Illinsky, 8 Illinska Street, in Kiev, to meet Gavilon executives and the local management team. General Manager Victor Khimchenko welcomed more than 100 guests at the event and spoke to them about the local team's capabilit

A mandate to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by requiring 53-foot trailers pulled by truckers to enhance gas mileage may backfire. Three Manteca-Lathrop trucking firms contacted by the Bulletin are critical of the requirement for trailer skirting noting among other things: •There is no proven scientific study that shows retrofitting the trailers with the plastic skirting that typically costs $1,500 per truck is effective under driving restrictions imposed by the state. •Manufacturers of

It isn't new, but this program is one we applaud. The Mid-Shore's deer hunters can donate now through Oct. 29 as part of the 2011 Doe Harvest Challenge. The donated venison goes to the area's hungry. The challenge runs again from Dec. 10 through 31. View Original Post

SAN DIEGO -- The settlement allowing Mexican trucks to drive to any US city means retaliatory Mexican tariffs on agricultural goods are going away. The California Farm Bureau says that's a boost to the state's famers. Growers have been losing money because the taxes make California goods too expensive south of the Border. "The heftiest tariff that was first introduced in the first year was any of our grapes going into Mexico were charged a 45 percent tariff and then the rest of the tariffs ra

MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Cargill has launched a new website www.cargill.com/feed, specifically designed to serve current and prospective customers in the feed and animal nutrition industries globally. The feed and animal nutrition website will serve as a central source of information about the vast array of nutrition products, services and software Cargill offers the global animal feed and production supply chain. "We've focused on providing relevant information to feed man

The 14 hulking grain elevators along the Buffalo River are the largest concentration of such structures in one place in the world, but they're normally off limits to the public. That changed for several hours Friday, when visitors were allowed into three of the colossal fortresses -- the Marine A, American and Perot elevators and the connecting Perot Malt House, once used to manufacture Genesee beer. The visitors looked up at the 120-foot-high silos, stood around cone-shaped hoppers and

Most truck shippers know they've had it good for a long time. Will their attitudes change as the pendulum starts swinging the other way? He didn't ask for the mantle, but a case can be made that Tom Carpenter, director of North American logistics for giant International Paper Co. (IP), has become the conscience of the nation's shippers. At the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals' 2010 Global Conference in San Diego, Carpenter was asked if shippers should be taken to task for

Welcome to "The most powerful companies you've never heard of" – an ongoing series from The Conversation that sheds light on big companies with low profiles. Today, The University of Queensland's Clive Phillips examines global agricultural firm Cargill and its place in the looming global food crisis. Cargill Inc was established almost 150 years ago when a young American, William W Cargill, bought a grain store in Iowa. The company has since expanded to include a wide range of food enterpri

Fuel theft is on the rise all across the country, but perhaps for the first time locally, suspects were caught with a pump-hacking device at a fueling station in Visalia. Employees of the Bhatti Trucking Company of Fresno were arrested over the alleged incident. Officials with the company couldn't be reached for comment. "This is probably a huge deal all over the country," said Rocky Pipkin with the Pipkin Detective Agency. "We are working with the fuel delivery company, which wants to f

Two of the nation's leading trucking industry trade groups-- American Trucking Associations (ATA) and the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA)--came together at the conclusion of ATA's 2011 Management Conference & Exhibition to call on policy makers to allow for increased truck productivity. The ATA Board of Directors voted to add 88,000-pound, five-axle combinations with enhanced braking capability, to its list of preferred productivity improvements. This new component joins 97,000-pound, s

The Kansas City area, once a national center for grinding wheat into flour and home to dozens of mills, has but two left. Three, if you count Excelsior Springs. The recent shuttering of the Archer Daniels Midland mill in North Kansas City marked another milestone in a generations-long trend. It has been sped by changing rules for railroads and ever more sophisticated logistics for transforming wheat into flour into food. Those changes have gradually but steadily shifted much of America's

LANGDON, Mo. (DTN) -- It never fails. Whenever I conduct interviews with farmers for DTN's View From the Cab, I learn something. Take last year for instance. Early in 2010, while interviewing View From the Cab farmer Frank Zweber of Hoven, S.D., he asked me where I live. "Near Langdon in extreme northwest Missouri," I told him. Frank zeroed in on the problem: "Near the river?" "Within about 2 miles," I said. That's when Frank passed along this bit of wisdom: "You're going to have

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate is expected to vote soon on a controversial proposal that would allow the heaviest trucks now on the roads to drive on Maine's interstate highways. If the provision, which is included in the Senate transportation appropriations bill for the 2012 fiscal year, passes, it would permanently implement a pilot program that lasted from December 2009 to December 2010 allowing trucks weighing between 80,000 and 100,000 pounds on the Maine interstates. The four members

Kansas City, MO - infoZine - A Gallatin, Mo., grain company pleaded guilty in federal court today to a scheme that stole over $3 million from 100 northwest Missouri farmers. Daniel F. Froman, 66, of Gallatin, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner to the mail fraud charge contained in an April 21, 2011, federal indictment. Froman operated Gallatin Grain Company, 107 State Highway 6, Gallatin, which stored and bought grain from farmers in northwest Missouri. Froman admit

COLUMBUS - Columbus firefighters worked a fire at the Archer Daniels Midland plant on the east edge of Columbus for about eight hours overnight and were standing by this morning in the event of flare-ups. ADM officials reported the fire just southwest of the Eighth Street plant's main entrance about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Columbus Fire Lt. Dan Janicek said this morning. About 20 city firefighters responded to the blaze, which was extinguished about 2 a.m. today. There were no injuries. "

Is our economy racing toward a double-dip recession ? Last week, Citigroup (NYSE: C ) CEO Vikram Pandit argued that the U.S. will not slip back into recession. And yesterday, the banker matched actions to words, boasting of how Citi grew net earnings 73% in its fiscal third quarter. So far, it looks like Citi has sidestepped the recession risk. But the rest of us may not be so lucky. In recent weeks, you see, a disturbing number of reports from the U.S. transportation sector have begun filt

SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- Guillermo Pérez knows all eyes will be on his trucks, but he says he's up to the challenge. He's a manager at Transportes Olympic, the first Mexican trucking company to receive U.S. approval for direct, long-haul trips north of the border. The first truck is expected to arrive in the U.S. sometime this week. "We're really, really happy with this news," Pérez said by phone from his office in Monterrey, Mexico. "We can actually give door-to-door service to our clients.

An algae strain grown by BioProcess Algae LLC at Green Plains Renewable Energy Inc.'s 65 MMgy ethanol plant in Shenandoah, Iowa, is one step closer to entering the poultry feed market. First-round feed trials recently conducted in conjunction with the University of Illinois, led by poultry science expert Carl Parsons, concluded that the algae feed has high energy and protein contents relative to comparable poultry feed products. The original goal of the trial was to determine the actual digestib

H.J. Baker & Bro., Inc. a producer of high-quality feed ingredients for the poultry industry, announced the launch of their Triple-A Formulation Program. This proprietary Amino Acid Availability program has been designed with input from leading researchers at major universities to give nutritionists quantifiable nutrient digestibility coefficients: the ultimate assurance they need in reliability, consistency, performance and safety of animal-protein concentrates. H.J. Baker accomplishe

(Updates with Wheat Board comment in sixth paragraph, analyst comment in 12th paragraph.) Oct. 18 (Bloomberg) -- The Canadian government has given the country's Wheat Board four years to come up with a plan to become a private company or cooperative under legislation that would end the board's monopoly on marketing wheat and barley. Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz introduced the bill in Canada's House of Commons today and said the government wants it passed by the end of the year. Since

Late last week, a Mexican trucking company achieved something that has been anticipated for about 20 years: A permit to operate on American highways. It appears that the two countries are that close to resolving the long-term stalemate regarding cross border trucking. But opponents of the plan do not appear that they're ready to given up the fight. Monterrey-based Transportes Olympic will be allowed to operate beyond the small border strip in the U.S. For years, Mexican carriers were restr

OMAHA, Neb., Oct 17, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Gavilon, LLC today announced it has completed the acquisition of Millard Grain located in Avalon, Wisconsin, through its wholly owned subsidiary DeBruce Grain, Inc. Gavilon will continue buying and storing grain from area producers and fulfill all existing forward purchase and sales contracts. "We are pleased to be expanding our presence in southern Wisconsin and looking forward to establishing and building relationships with area producers," said

SALISBURY -- Just a month after unveiling the Perdue School of Business at Salisbury University and a week after Gov. Martin O'Malley visited Perdue's corporate headquarters to applaud the company's solar farm, the poultry giant announced layoffs for two dozen employees. Citing an increase in grain prices and a decrease in the poultry industry, Perdue eliminated 24 positions at its corporate office in Salisbury. The company said the eliminated positions are restricted to the corporate office

A building that's been part of the Calgary landscape for nearly 100 years is no longer standing. Hundreds of Calgarians watched as explosives brought the Ogden grain elevator crumbling to the ground Sunday morning. The 98-year-old elevator, which was owned by Cargill, was too expensive to maintain and no longer made financial sense. "Well, generally, they don't tear down historic buildings, but in this instance I don't think they had a choice," says Fred Rakowski, the president

OMAHA, Neb., Oct 17, 2011 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- Green Plains Renewable Energy, Inc. /quotes/zigman/95339/quotes/nls/gpre GPRE -2.52% and BioProcess Algae, LLC announced today the successful completion of the first round of algae-based poultry feed trials. The algae strains produced for the feed trials demonstrated high energy and protein content that was readily available, similar to other high value feed products used in the feeding of poultry today. The algae strains used in the fe

HAWKEYE, Iowa --- An attempt to move a house trailer Wednesday ended with criminal charges in Fayette County. John Opperman, 37, of Hawkeye, was trying to take a 14-by-55-foot trailer out of town to a rural address, according to the sheriff's office. The tires apparently blew, however. Opperman continued to drag the trailer for two miles on Juniper Road, according to the sheriff's office. Authorities cited Opperman for second-degree criminal mischief for causing more than $1,000 in d

Cooperative Producers, Inc. and Lansing Trade Group, LLC , are planning a BNSF Railway grain-loop shuttle and elevator operation at Fairmont, their second in Nebraska. Each owns half of Red Cloud Grain, where they have another BNSF grain shuttle, and they are changing the name of their joint venture to CPI - Lansing, LLC. A loop track grain shuttle is a railroad loop and equipment that allows rapid unloading of grain trucks and continuous loading of train cars at a trackside grain sto

Society is dependent upon transportation of goods. As technology advanced so did the industry. Brandon Saulnier of Fawcett Hill in the Petitcodiac area is a transport truck driver operator employed by Terra Nova Transport Ltd. He drives what are called "short triangles" or "short long-haul" throughout the maritimes and eastern US. Typically he's delivering goods from a maritime manufacturer to a U.S. destination, picking up another load from wherever he's dispatched to there, and returning

Strong winds this summer bring a piece of Hazelton to the ground. Ag Reporter Sarah Gustin takes you to Hazelton where a structure that stood for more than 6 decades will soon be ashes. It's pretty quiet here for an busy time of year No trucks to dump No grain to load A piece of the Hazelton community is no longer open for business (Bill Schauer / South Central Grain General Manager) "We had a large wind storm go through here in June and it caused an awful lot of damage to our

It is harvest time and trucks are busy. We offer a variety of solutions to help you connect with carriers, brokers or shippers. If you are having a hard time finding a truck or finding a load, let us know and we'll be glad to help you in whatever ways we can. If you would like temporary access to our premium services just let us know. Email us anytime at [email protected] or call 800-518-9240 Happy Harvest, BulkLoadsNow Team