The year 2001 has already been characterized as a time when
everything that could go wrong in the twin fields of truck making and operation
did.
Since that observation was first made, it has been difficult
to find anyone willing to disagree with it. To some extent, it makes the task
of preparing our annual review of what happened to trucks and trucking in 2001
a lot easier.
We have to agree that 2001 hasn’t been a winner for
the truck field.
Booming sales of new trucks in the late 1990s filled or
overfilled truckers’ needs for the early period of this century. This
resulted in an excess of sound, late-model used trucks in the market. A bloated
used-truck market seldom helps new truck sales.
Then trouble started breaking out all over the place.
Soaring truck fuel prices climbing to record levels made a
lot of headlines. There was talk of reduced imports of fuel. But, as usual, it
was difficult to determine how much was talk and how much was action. There was
no doubt that some refinery fires and shutdowns of some refineries for
maintenance reduced the amount of available fuel, intensifying the swing to
higher fuel prices.
Truckers also faced rising insurance costs, and a dip in the
overall economy reduced the call for truck deliveries of the goods of affected
manufacturers.
All was not well on the manufacturing scene as Freightliner,
which moved ahead to pace heavy-truck production, was announcing layoffs and
Jim Hebe, who was president through the gains, was replaced.
Bering, which was to be the first new maker of big trucks in
the U.S. in decades, was involved in bankruptcy proceedings—and much of
the trucking and component news told the story of the big getting bigger and
the small disappearing.
In addition, the debacle over what’s to be done about
regulation of diesel engine exhausts nagged on as did discussions about several
other proposed sets of truck rules. Many inside the truck world were indicating
they have all the regulation they need at this time.
Let’s be positive
Not all forms of business were suffering through some type
of recession this year. Food producers were calling for more truck help as 2001
moved to a close and both new home building and home improvements were doing
well.
Several truck makers have unveiled new specialized models
that the readers of Roads & Bridges should find useful on the job.
Mack Trucks, with a century of experience in the business,
added both the Granite conventional models and the Freedom cab-overs. GMC
brought back medium-duty conventional work trucks. And Volvo started moving the
brand new VHD line to, among other things, replace venerable Auto- car models.
Because new models have a way of boosting truck sales, these
moves should brighten the truck outlook for 2002.
In something very different for 2001 truck news, Peterbilt
and the International truck operation in Canada both expanded production late
last summer. Peterbilt boosted output of Class 6 and 7 trucks by 22% at its
factory in Quebec, Canada, in August. Meanwhile, the International factory in Ontario
upped production of heavy-duty trucks from 43 to 60 a day on Sept. 4,
specifying this did not reflect an increase in orders but an adjustment of
output up to the current sales level.
At the same time the increases in production were making
news, Paccar, Peterbilt’s parent firm, as well as two Swedish truck
makers, Volvo and Scania, were reporting sharply lower profits for the second
quarter of this year. Scania is not currently active in the U.S. truck market.
The new truck components introduced in 2001 also brighten
prospects for more good truck news in the year ahead.
The volume of highway traffic is clearly on the rise, and
new braking systems may be just what the truck industry needs to avoid black
eyes in reports of traffic accidents.
It takes a long time for improvements in efficiency of truck
engines to prove themselves on the road. Advances made in 2001 look like they
will start bettering truckers’ bottom-line results in the year ahead.
In one other bit of upbeat truck news, dump-body producer Heil and Arrow Truck Sales, the nationwide marketer of pre-owned trucks, announced an exclusive agreement for Heil to provide dump bodies for Arrow’s trucks.
