Hammer Lane

Highway Trust Fund seen on very bumpy road

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 14:28:00 +0000

The latest take on the state of the federal Highway Trust Fund issued by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is brightly lit by a yellow caution light.

To avert a massive shortfall come 2015, CBO contends that Congress will have to sharply cut highway spending, transfer $14 billion from the Treasury’s general fund, pump up the federal fuel tax by some 10 cents a gallon, or deploy some combination of the three measures.

Hammer Lane

M&A File 1: A good year to sell

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 15:31:00 +0000

At first blush, a fleet owner might not think of selling off their business in the current business climate. But investment banker Mark Dyer (pictured), managing director of the Transportation Practice for Dallas-based Allegiance Capital Corp., tells me there are actually several reasons why 2013 is a good year to make that move.

Hammer Lane

ZF shows off "A transmission of contradictions"

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 14:27:00 +0000

I never know what I’ll come across in the blur of the busy-as-a-carnival-midway floor of the Mid-America Trucking Show, which concluded its annual run last weekend in Louisville, KY.

Hammer Lane

Manager as cheerleader

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 19:49:00 +0000

Managers may not think right off the bat that at least part of their role in the workplace is to cheer on their direct reports. But leadership expert Timothy F. Bednarz, Ph.D. , author of Great! What Makes Leaders Great (Majorium Business Press, Stevens Point, WI, 2011), argues persuasively in a recent post to his “Leaders to Leader” blog that cheerleading is a “critical aspect of leadership.”

Hammer Lane

Cliff notes

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 19:18:00 +0000

The political parlor game being played out in Washington over whether or not the economy “goes over” the political construction known as the fiscal cliff is one helluva cliffhanger.

Hammer Lane

Blue glow

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 19:18:00 +0000

There's a warm blue (for the color of the flame when natural gasis ignited) glow being cast over more and more truck fleets seeking to go green to demonstrate environmental sensibility and to gain green spending less on fuel by switching to trucks powered by either compressd natural gas (CNG) or liquified natural gas (LNG).

Hammer Lane

On the cliff

Fri, 26 Oct 2012 17:58:00 +0000

Awaiting the outcome of the November elections— less than two weeks away at this writing— at least one thing’s certain: Nothing will be done to prevent never-give-an-inch partisan politicians from driving the U.S. economy over the so-called “fiscal cliff” until after the voters have spoken.

Hammer Lane

Ford’s radical idea

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 14:41:00 +0000

New federal MPG rules for vehicle manufacturers are no doubt leading to much innovation in engineering and manufacturing across the GVW spectrum. Of course, most if not all the development work to produce new trucks that will emit fewer greenhouse gases while operating more fuel-efficiently now under way is occurring out of sight of future truck buyers.

Hammer Lane

Shedding light… on light

Fri, 04 May 2012 18:09:00 +0000

Tom Draper, manager of marketing for lighting supplier Grote Industries, believes fleet owners would be advised to learn a lot more about “lumens, light and lamps” if they want to ensure they get the most bang for their buck when spec’ing truck lighting products.

Hammer Lane

An unbridgeable divide?

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:19:00 +0000

The great partisan gulf that separates Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill is so yawning that Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood this week publicly stated that, in his opinion, it is "very unlikely" that passage of a highway reauthorization bill will occur during the current session of Congress.

Hammer Lane