International Truck and Engine Corp. has donated a one-of-a-kind towing tractor to Meenakshi Mission Hospital & Research Centre in Tamil Nadu, India, for transporting a mobile Cat Scan (CT) machine formerly owned by Chicago resident Joel Willard.
The truck OEM noted the tractor will tow the medical device from northern Tamil Nadu to the southern tip of the state, traveling more than 300 miles yearly to provide testing for persons in remote coastal areas.
“We live in a global community, so it's important that we support efforts to improve the lives of people around the world,” says Dee Kapur, president of International's truck group.
“We continue to see no signs of fundamental improvement in driver or independent contractor availability for the foreseeable future.”
— Kirk Thompson, president & CEO, J.B. Hunt Transport Services
People count “People, people, people. It's proven time and time again that the people aspect is the most critical by far [to motor carrier management]. Not just to survive but to succeed. The people must be passionate about trucks and truck equipment and trucking… when you have the right people, everything else is easy because the right people have the passion to win, the personal integrity, and they fight the fight.”
— Tom Gosnell, president, Commercial Vehicle Systems, ArvinMeritor Inc.
FLEET NAMES WE LOVE: - Crum Trucking, Batesville IN
- Tandem Transport, Harrison, MI
- Packer Transport, Pahrump, NV
Hammer down Western Star Trucks is co-sponsoring the current tour of the Road Hammers, the Canadian Country Music Awards' 2005 “Group of the Year.” While making some 30 concert dates across Canada, the group will meet and sign autographs for select Western Star dealers and invited guests.
“The Western Star brand is close to the hearts of many truckers in North America,” notes Ann Demitruk, the OEM's director of marketing. “The Road Hammers are a talented group that pays a great tribute to today's truckers and we are very excited to welcome them to our dealerships and co-sponsor their tour.”
The Road Hammers are described as a five-piece mix of country, southern rock and blues that recorded a “charged mix of trucking classics and new originals.” For more info, go to www.theroadham mers.com.
Tunnel of love Back on November 3, 1930, President Herbert Hoover officially opened the mile-long Detroit Windsor Tunnel. At the time, Detroit Mayor Frank Murphy declared: “It is almost incredible that we will be able to pass from the one great country to the other in the short space of three minutes.”
Talk about progress: 75 years later, people and freight still pass from the land of the Maple Leaf to the land of E Pluribus Unum in just minutes. But now the traffic passing both ways through the tunnel exceeds six million vehicles a year, including over 850 trucks hauling everything from auto parts to road salt.
