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Turnover Rate for Truckload Drivers Rises for Fourth Straight Quarter

Arlington, Va. – American Trucking Associations Chief Economist Bob Costello said the turnover rate for truckload drivers at large fleets rose to 89% in the third quarter of 2011, the fourth straight quarterly increase.

The large fleet truckload turnover rate is an indication of increased demand and competition for drivers.

"Clearly, due to the economic recovery, as well as regulatory factors like CSA, we are seeing the market for good, quality drivers tighten," Costello said. "As our tonnage index has shown recently, demand for freight continues to rise, so we expect the need for quality drivers to become more acute going forward, particularly if regulations either force current drivers out of the industry or force fleets to put more trucks on the road."

The third-quarter increase follows a previously reported turnover rate of 79% in the second quarter of the year and sets the benchmark rate at its highest level since the first quarter of 2008.

Since bottoming out in the first quarter of 2010, the turnover rate has risen 50 percentage points and has averaged 81% so far this year.

Elsewhere in the trucking industry, the turnover rate at small truckload fleets jumped 10 points to 57%, the highest level since the third quarter of 2008, and less-than-truckload turnover remained extremely low at just 10%.

ATA



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Give your engine a second life!

Sergey Troyka is an owner-operator with Roadfast and a trucking-enthusiast. His passion is engine longevity. His experience might be of interest to DorogaRoad readers...

 

Sergey Troyka is an owner-operator with Roadfast and a trucking-enthusiast. His passion is engine longevity. His experience might be of interest to DorogaRoad readers.

Give your engine a second life!

Just like many other immigrants in Canada, my destiny brought me into the transport industry. I started as a dispatcher in 1999, and afterwards became a co-owner with Troyka Transport Corp. However, the "human factor" in the work relationships plays a significant role in Russian companies. The intensity and nervousness may negatively impact one's health or family relationships, so I decided to leave the business, and became an owner-operator in 2006.

Of course, I remembered the stories and "fairy-tales" from experienced drivers about the hardships of working on the road. But after a couple of months of beginner training I realized that all those stories don't have anything in common with the actual atmosphere on the road. A decent job, good highways, service stations, truck stops with showers and restaurants, excellent equipment. There is enough time on the road to think about home, family, plans for future. It all works under the condition: if you told yourself – yes, this is a difficult job, but it is my job for the time being, and it is a job that I can do well.

As an owner-operator, I have worked on Freightliner120, 2001, Detroit engine, 2,300,000 km. An experienced driver will understand everything. It is important for everyone to know: how long will my truck serve me? What mileage will it run?

As far as mileage is concerned, I haven't come across any case where an owner-operator would work on one truck from "zero" until complete engine wear. "Americans" are very good, reliable and high quality engines. It is known that when mileage reaches over a million km, owner operators try to exchange their truck for a new or "fresher" one, because they expect problems with the engine to kick in. But what is a truck with the mileage of 1,000,000 km? It is a 5-6 year old truck, usually with the lease paid out, and it would normally have just begun to yield good dividends. A 'paid out' truck – this is something even more important – means a calm, confident and reasonable owner, a careful driver. Experiencing this state of mind is great pleasure, and one wouldn't want to part with this feeling. That is why we have to ask ourselves the same old questions: how long will this truck run for? Should we prepare for a major repair, or is it better to sell it?

Surprisingly, no mechanic in the garages I visited could give me information about maxim mileage for engines. They would say: with such high mileage your truck should go to utility waste. However, mechanics in one garage (Brampton Truck Repair) recommend, without waiting until the engine breaks, to do a so called "in frame" major repair before the mileage reaches 1,500,000 km. After such a repair one can count on another 1,000,000 km in mileage. The repair will cost 15-17 thousand dollars. My friend Pavel Konovalov's experience (West Trans) can confirm the abovementioned. His truck's odometer shows 2,300,000 km. But it is likely good luck.

Still, what should we do with a truck with high mileage, over a million km? Maximum price for this truck is maximum 10,000 dollars. Should we sell it at this price, or buy a new truck and pay out 2,500 dollars every month? I won't put this yoke on my neck!

I think I can recommend a solution for high mileage truck owners. This solutions will give your engine a second life. But let's start from the very beginning.

First, I would like to share some facts about the use and the history of this product.

Year 1965. USSR auto race team won the Europe Cup and put an end to the longstanding triumph of the English wonder – Mini Cooper. The Russian team won on the Moskvitch 412. Member of the winning team, USSR Champion in car races Vyacheslav Guris told me that they added molybdenum powder to engine oil. Molybdenum in the engine oil covers all wear surfaces, significantly reduces friction, and consequently the degree of wear, so it adds up to reliability. Organizers of the rally were surprised by such a success on the part of the soviet equipment, and just in case, introduced changes to race rules. Since then participants were supposed to use engine oil and other liquids, so to say, from the same barrel. By the way, export of passenger cars from the USSR made up over half of total output.

Here is another example of using molybdenum powder as an additive to the engine oil. An acquaintance of mine, a reserve officer who used to serve in tank forces in Germany during the Soviet times, told me that a survival kit for each military vehicle, a tank or an armored vehicle, contained special black powder to be added to engine oil. As I understand, it was molybdenum powder. It was added to engine oil so that in case the engine got damaged and engine oil leaked, the engine would not die, and the vehicle would be able to leave the battlefield having saved the crew and equipment. An engine shouldn't fade even when it doesn't have oil, as it would keep working for some time due to the lubricating action of molybdenum powder.

The history of molybdenum, academically molybdenum disulphide MoS2, as a means of dry lubrication started in the beginning of the 40's of the 20th century. English chemist Ralph Beck discovered the sliding effect of metal surfaces. Widespread use of molybdenum began during World War II. Here is the story: English fighter jets' engines had some design deficiencies. Lubrication system didn't ensure sufficient oil delivery to engine parts during air fights, when the plane performed complicated maneuvers, and the motor experienced huge overloads. Engines would quickly go out of order. The deficiency was eliminated by adding molybdenum powder to engine oil. The effect if "oil hunger" was overcome, molybdenum particles stayed on wear surfaces and ensured the necessary lubrication. It is a known fact that when a shot down English plane successfully returned to the base in England, having crossed La Manche without a drop of oil in the engine. The engine didn't die only due to the molybdenum lubrication.

Another episode involving the use of molybdenum is the one I heard from my grandfather. He was part of the labour force front throughout the Great Patriotic War. He was not called to the army due to his disability he got during the Finnish War. He was sent to Siberia to participate in the construction of a tank plant. As my grandfather told me, the first tank engines were assembled under the open sky because plant units were being constructed around the equipment. The first assembled tanks didn't even reach the loading station, because engines went out of order in 100-200 km. Low quality of engine oil and the difficult assembly conditions did their part. Grandfather remembered how he witnessed a drastic change in the mood of engineers and plant management; they became much happier when they managed to solve the issue of engine reliability, which may have even saved them lives. One of my grandfather's friends worked as a mechanic at the engine assembly unit. They were assembled with the use of molybdenum as a 'fitting' lubrication. When oil was added to engines, molybdenum was already there. After introducing this innovation the tanks went to the West on their own for 500 km, then got loaded onto railroad platforms to be shipped to the front line.

So these are the facts I knew about molybdenum before I came across the English engine oil additive Molyslip, which includes disulphide MoS2.

I purchased my first car in 1980 during my student years. It was a Moskvitch 412. As Guris recommended, and considering the quality of engine oils in that time, I began adding molybdenum powder to the oil in all the cars in my family: my father's Moskvitch 408 (made in 1965), my father's-in-law GAS 24 (made in 1980) and my Moskvitch 412 (1970). I bought molybdenum powder through Khimposyltorg. It cost me about 25 Rubles for 100 ml. It was enough for one engine. I bought oil for the engine, added powder in there, mixed it all and poured it into the engine. Because particles of that powder were a bit too large for oil filters of the time, I took out the filter element, keeping the filter case in, and ran 500-1000 km so that molybdenum could get into all the spaces between friction surfaces of the engine, then inserted the filter element back in.

Of course it would be a stretch to talk about statistics here but here is my own experience results:

Moskvitch 408 (made in 1965), ran from "zero" to 450,000 km, was sold in 1985

Moskvitch 416 (made in 1970) ran 200,000 km, was sold in 1990 without repairs

Volga GAZ 24 (made in 1980) ran from "zero" to 600,000 km, was sold in 1996 without engine repairs. Whoever owned a Soviet-made car will appreciate the results. I came to my own conclusion: molybdenum prolongs the life of the engine.

I heard about the oil engine additive Molyslip in the USSR for the first time. I was convinced that it was only made in England. I was so surprised to find Molyslip cans at Canadian Tire stores in Toronto. And it was manufactured in Canada.

I would like to recommend this product as an effective tool for extending the engine life. Firstly, because it is manufactured with disulphide MoS2. Secondly, it is based on my experience.

My Freightliner FLD 120 ran 2,300,00 km on the original compressor. Turbo was replaced for the first time at the point of 2,200,00 km (mechanic Leonid Leonov, The Tire Domain). The reason is that both compressor and turbo are lubricated with the same 'molybdenum' oil, as the engine.

I have colleagues who have been adding Molyslip to engine oil for several years.

Sasha from SLH – Volvo 670 (made in 2005), engine Cummins, mileage 1,600,000 km.

Sergey from Green Logistics – Volvo 780 (made in 2005), engine Volvo, mileage 800,000 km.

Sergey from Roadfast – Freightliner Century (made in 2006), engine Detroit, mileage 1,100,00 km.

I hope our trucks won't let us down, and their engines will allow us to run at least three million kilometers. Everything is still before us. And to begin, give your engine a chance to live a second life.

Safe trip, everyone!

Sergey Troyka, 416 564 7784