Truck missing from Adesa Ocala Auction

when I saw this on Ocala.com I thought it was a bit unusual to be relaying 11 vehicles one of which is a f-250. I’m thinking it may have been more than one ruck that dropped them and more than one truck picking them up or the load has 10 very small cars so that the 11th vehicle could be an f-250. I titled my post with the word missing instead of stolen because one of my trucks left a car at a transport lot because he couldn’t fit them all on and left the key in the “secret” tailpipe location. In our case it appears that it was mistakenly transported by another auto transporter because about 2 weeks later it showed up in the same spot with the keys back in the tail-pipe. It had normal road grime but no extra miles.

Truck stolen from Adesa Auction

Is the teamsters future at stake?

On TEAMSTERSONLINE.COM 2chained SAYS:

Could be the start of the end of Union Carhaul, lets just hope not

While we can debate whether or not this contract vote will determine the future of the teamsters union, I think most will agree that it is at least a very important vote. There is a post on The Carhauler titled:

“Ballot count may decide our Future or Failure!“.

The truth is both those voting NO and those voting YES believe that they are doing what is best for their union and for their jobs!

Does the union need to adapt to this new era?

Here is a recent pro union comment:

P. Wazluski Says:

I am Union and glad to be for over 20 years, I dont Always agree with the front office but I agree with the sharing the wealth and making me and my family’s life a little nicer. If it wasn’t for the teamsters everybody would br running for .10 cents a mile and/or $8.00 an hour! Now you can believe that or not, but teamsters keeping the rates up has helped EVERYBODY!!!. I’m sure there will be some say “I wouldn’t run for less than BLAH BLAH BLAH” I heard it a thousand times, from all types of truck drivers, but without teamsters you couldn’t refuse a load for better pay!!.. the beginning scenes from “Hoffa” sure do tell alot, where Danny Devito (without the union) has to take a load and drive all nite to deliver and back with little or no sleep or he was FIRED!!!! C’mon, that was for real not just movie hype!!!!! are you kidding me, thats ridiculous, but true!!!! My grandfather drove when there were no interstates and no union, my uncle was with Yellow Freight(ret.) and my dads with UPS(retiring soon) and now me with 20 yrs. in.. Im sorry but I like the union and what stands for, besides my Granpa said it Best 60 yrs ago,
“There are lot of guys driving trucks out there, But very few Truckers !!!! now that was 60 yrs ago, imagine what we are dealing with today!!!! I dont like what the world is looking like right now, but I dont want to be insanely rich, I just want to go fishin with my kids and not have to take out a loan to do it!!!!!! Im sorry so long winded…..

I drove carhaulers for years but always non-union and it has been my observation that the union trucks haul more one-way freight than the non-union guys. I always thought that it was because they were less likely to let a guy sit around waiting for a load when he was on the clock. I was paid on commission so I was willing to sit tight and hope that we could secure a load back home that might almost double my pay for the trip. I think that in this era of expensive fuel everybody needs to be as efficient as possible and running 50% empty miles is not good!

CentralDispatch™ gets a new feature!

Not many people will argue the point that CentralDispatch™ has changed the auto transport industry. This is especially true in the POV market that is typically dominated by brokers. I applaud this new feature and the efforts that CentralDispatch™ has put forth to modernize our industry. I do however take issue with this part of their press release that was posted on PRWeb Press Release Newswire:

“CentralDispatch strives to continually improve the speed and ease of managing vehicle transportation…”

I do sales and training for carriers that use EZDispatch software to manage their loads, drivers pay, invoicing, etc. CentralDispatch™ has refused to allow an electronic transfer of data in any form from the assignment page to the dispatch program. So in our case the true statement would be that CentralDispatch™ strives to impede the speed and ease of managing vehicle transportation if someone else’s software is involved!

NYPD confirms the Transportfool’s theory of the Bogus Bandits!

It didn’t take their best detective skills I’m sure but the NYPD has apparently cracked the case of the Bogus Bandits!

Here is a quote from the NYPD daily blotter on the New York Post:

A car-carrier truck driver was busted when he reported a bogus carjacking in Graniteville, sources said yesterday.

Bhandath Seelal, 53, allegedly reported the holdup July 31 at 10 p.m. just off the West Shore Expressway near Forest Avenue.

Sources said he told investigators that four men approached him at gunpoint after they boxed him in. He then told them that the men demanded a 2006 Mercedes R350 and a 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse before driving off in the stolen autos, sources said.

SI live also has a follow up story with some more details.

Cottrell forbids conversion of chain-down equipment to straps.

I know the legal liabilities in equipment manufacturing are huge. It makes me wonder if that is what is driving Cottrell’s position here or if there really are insurmountable engineering problems that prohibit the conversion of the chain units.

Here is a copy of their official letter.

cottrell-strap-modifications
July 28,2008
Customer Letter Regarding Modification of
Chain Units into Strap Units
(Web version. Letter also sent to all customers via certified
mail, return receipt requested.)
Dear Valued Customer:
We at Cottrell have recently become aware of a desire by some
of our customers to modify/convert their Cottrell chain units into strap
units. Please be advised that as the manufacturer of both chain and
strap units, we have not validated or otherwise approved any such
modification or conversion of Cottrell equipment.
Our engineers designed our chain trailers to serve as chain
trailers, and our strap trailers to serve as strap trailers. Each design has
features that lend to the desired purpose for which it was intended.
Any modification or conversion from one design into the other will be
considered an unapproved post-sale modification which may void any
and all warranties on the subject unit. In addition, Cottrell will not be
liable for equipment problems, property damage or personal injuries
resulting from such unapproved modifications.
This letter is provided to reinforce and reiterate Cottrell’s position
on equipment modifications, as set forth in Cottrell’s “OPERATOR’S
MANUAL FOR CAR-HAULING EQUIPMENT”:
DANGER!
Failure to follow these warnings and instructions may cause
serious personal injury or death.
1. Do not modify or alter your Equipment without the prior written
consent of Cottrell, Inc. Modifications or alterations may
compromise the structural integrity or safety aspects that exist in
the original design of the Equipment. Such modifications or
alterations may also cause property damage and void the
Warranty.
2125 Candler Road
Gainesville,GA 30507
(77O) 532-7251 Ext.278
(77O) 532-2851 Facsimile
www.cottrelltrailers.com

Brazen — or Bogus? ……………………………… HERE’S YOUR SIGN!!!

This report is from the Staten Island Advance:

The driver of a big rig told police four bandits stuck a gun in his face in Graniteville last night and made off with two of the five cars he was transporting.

But elements of the account were puzzling: The driver claimed the robbers had tailed him in two cars all the way from Georgia. And his co-worker claimed to have slumbered through last night’s half-hour ordeal.

“It’s quite a story,” said one law enforcement source.

See-Bee Super Express truck driver Mike Seelal said his car-carrier was boxed in by the bandits on Willow Road West at about 9:30 p.m. At gunpoint, they ordered him to remove a Mercedes-Benz R350 luxury sedan and a Mitsubishi Eclipse, which they stole.

Seelal said he’d picked up the vehicles from an Atlanta-area dealer.

“We make our regular deliveries, not really thinking anything, and they just stop us right here,” said Seelal, 53, of Brentwood, L.I. “They say, ‘We need these two vehicles, just take the cars off.’”

It took about a half-hour to unload the cars from the bottom level of the double-decker trailer, he said.

The thieves reportedly drove the spiffy vehicles onto the nearby Dr. Martin Luther King Expressway and disappeared.

Police were investigating last night and weren’t officially saying whether they credited Seelal’s account. They were looking for nearby surveillance cameras that might have captured the action.

Seelal’s co-worker, who said he has been traveling around with Seelal picking up and delivering cars all over the country for the past month, insisted he was asleep and never stirred during the robbery.

“I was tired,” said the man, who wouldn’t give his name.

Phil Helsel is a news reporter for the Advance. He may be reached at helsel@siadvance.com.

The female answering the phone at See Bee Super Express hung up on the Transportfool when I mentioned this report!

As the Bill Engvall would say HERE’S YUR SIGN!!!

The co-driver won’t give his name and the company hangs up on reporters when you would expect them to be offering a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the purported thieves.

Here is the company on the federal web-site: Their cargo insurance is listed as Lloyds of London

BHANDATH SEELAL

SEE BEE SUPER EXPRESS

ROCHESTER

NY

Transport Services is holding a contest to design their new logo. $300 prize to the winner

If you are good at designing logos it might be some easy money. Check out the current entries here. They would like an open car carrier worked in somewhere.

8-19-08 THIS DOESN’T LOOK GOOD!!! NO WINNER CHOSEN AND THEY ARE NOT returning phone calls! Hey Cory it’s just $300!!

Is the Teamster Leadership whitewashing this contract?

Here is a copy of a letter posted on the teamster local 604 site:

July 23, 2008

James Hoffa
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
25 Louisiana Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20001

Dear President Hoffa,

My name is David Dawson and I am the Union Steward for Jack Cooper Transport in Kansas City, MO Local 41. As you know, the contract for Car haul is being voted on and aggressively being promoted by the Union. Our local president and business agent, Ralph Stubbs and Ken Booker presented the contract to us with poor results, consequently on July 14th Fred Zuckerman and Paul Hauck held a meeting to promote this tentative agreement. Unfortunately, this contract has numerous problems and there was active disagreement with a clear majority clearly against it. Later, it came to my attention from numerous phone calls that the Union website stated that after the contract presentation on the 14th, the men in Kansas City were going to approve this . Anyone at the meeting would have known that this contract was clearly going to be voted down by the reaction of the members at the meeting.

I called Paul Hauck on the 17th at the urging of many of my men to discuss this misleading posting on the web- site and voice my opinion of this misstatement. The conversation started out cordially for the first few sentences until I asked him if he remembered me and he replied that he did since I had asked some “ridiculous, asinine” questions. I asked him why the web site had the posting saying that the contract was going to pass in Kansas City ; he said he had talked to Ralph Stubbs, who assured him it would pass. Unfortunately, Stubbs never talked to any of the union stewards affected. After that our conversation turned into a tirade by Mr. Hauck where he called me an axxhole, a miserable fxxk, a fxxking axxhole so many times that I hung up the phone. I feel this kind of behavior is very unprofessional and beneath the Teamster organization.

I feel Mr. Hauck is paid by my union dues and has no right to talk to me or anyone else this way. If this is the way this man negotiates, no wonder we have a tentative contract that has very little in it for the employees. I would hope, as our President, you would counsel this man about how to talk to another Teamster and reprimand him if you see fit.

Thank you for your attention of this very serious manner. I trust you will do what is right .

Sincerely

David N. Dawson

Cc. Fred Zuckerman, C Thomas Keegel

Pinned under his own car carrier!

This reported on the CourierNewsOnline. they even have a short video.

ELGIN — The broad smile across Eddie Silva’s face spoke volumes about his relief and good fortune after emergency workers freed the 39-year-old truck driver who was trapped under his rig Thursday afternoon.

“I was just tying to fix the trailer,” said Silva, who was transporting vehicles from Copart Auto Auction Inc., 1475 Bluff City Blvd., for his company, Rojo Used Auto Parts of Hidalgo, Texas. “So when I finished, I was trying to get out, and my head got stuck on a piece of pipe.”

Silva had just left Copart when he said he heard what he thought was an air leak. He pulled the truck over, and crawled underneath to investigate when the truck came down on him, trapping his neck under a metal bar located between two rear wheels for about an hour.