Peregrine Trucking Company

As the prices of fuel increase nationwide, it isn’t only the local residents that feel the pinch of higher fuel prices. Those responsible for fueling ambulances, fire engines, and police cars are also battling the soaring transportation costs.

Ranch Hand is pleased to welcome Joe Condit to the team. Condit recently accepted the position of Director of Business Development for Ranch Hand Truck Accessories. He previously worked for the Kaspar Companies during the development stages of ‘The Landing’, a residential section on the west side of Shiner.

The company that we will be covering is J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. JB Hunt is a transportation company, primarily trucking, that is based in Lowell, Arkansas and was founded in 1961. The company has 16,000 employees, with 12,000 trucks, and 47,000 trailers in operation; they offer their transportation services to Canada, Mexico, and the continental United States. We chose J.B. Hunt because they are leading innovators in green transportation by using environmentally friendly fuel, reducing empty miles, training drivers to drive in a fuel-efficient manner, and a myriad of other green innovations (J.B. Hunt, 2015). J.B. Hunt’s innovations have made them one of the most competitive transportation companies in the nation (J.B. Hunt, 2015). Compared to their competitors, they have the same amount of drivers, but bring in double the profit margins. Among their extensive list of awards and honorable recognitions are included the Most Innovative Third Party Service Provider from Voluntary Interindustry Commerce Solutions, one of America’s Most Admired Companies from Fortune Magazine, Top 500 Greenest Big Companies in America from Newsweek Magazine, and Top 100 Companies for Employee Training from Training Magazine. They have been leaders in developing environmentally friendly forms of product transportation and many companies have adopted their progressive methods (J.B. Hunt, 2015).

The combination of all these things compiled the cost of diesel, spells out higher overall costs for every single trucking company in the industry.  The growth of the freight industry and superior efficiency of railroads will lead to an even slower growth rate for the trucking industry and could be a cause for more concern as the trend continues.

These waiting times severely delay trucks and thus increase the cost of transportation and extend the lead times. Moreover, the trucks inefficient utilization have negative affects on the fixed cost of owned vehicles.

If the company manages to eliminate or minimize the bobtail operation, it will free up more tractors and drivers to pull the trailers for the pickup and delivery operation, which is where they get their revenue.

The United States is one of the large fossil fuel consuming country. Most of the automobile vehicle in the country run on the fuels like gasoline and diesel. These fuels are responsible for the increase in pollution. The demand for this fuel is increasing day by day. It is necessary to find alternative fuels because at some point these fuels are going to end. To encourage users to use cleaner vehicles to avoid pollution federal and state governments provide users significant incentives.

In the first two decades of the 20th century, America contained three-fourths of the worlds cars. Aiding to that statistics is the fact that the U.S. was also home to Henry Ford, creator of the Ford Motor company. Ford was a smart man and through specialization, the latest machinery, and the assembly line, he cut the cost to produce a car. This not only increased his profits, but it also made the vehicle more affordable to the everyday citizen. The car was an epic creation, yet, its dependence on a depleting resource made it, and those who depended upon it services, vulnerable. Facing the prospect of an oil shortage, the Federal government stepped in.

The intent of this analysis is to compare and contrast the cost structures for rail, motor carriers and air modes of transportation. Implicit in this analysis is the rapid adoption of intermodal transportation which is often optimized to specific logistics and supply chain objectives (Jennings, Holcomb, 1996).

The goal of automated systems is to improve fuel efficiency in tractor trailers by 20 percent in real-world driving conditions through the use of platooning. (2) Platooning is the use of computers to allow tractor trailers to electronically follow each other closely creating a draft and saving on fuel costs. Which in the long haul will save companies money on shipping and the shipping costs for customers should decrease. Also “Medium- and heavy-duty trucks generate 23% of the US transportation sector's overall greenhouse gas emissions” (3) These emissions will be cut down with more effective computor controled trucks.

An even more hurtful aspect of the fuel price increase is the relationship between the economy and air travel. The link between fuel prices and the health of the economy is clear. Three of the major recessions of the past thirty years can, in large measure, be attributed to the steep increases in fuel prices that accompanied the 1973 Middle East oil embargo, the 1980 Iran Crisis, and the1990-91 Gulf War.

The market index in fuel prices is a challenge for carriers in terms of their costs and profits. Especially, in the air carrier, the airline 's uses high prices for the major quantity of volume in fuel.

Hybrid systems can increase fuel economy and reduce CO2 emissions by 35%. The precise reduction varies with the technology and capability of the system. The reduction can be hard to quantify as there is no direct comparable non-hybrid vehicle. A study done by Vincentric on October 2014 which compared 31 hybrids to the closest non-hybrids provides a direct comparison of the efficiency benefits and cost of hybrid systems.

The Automobile Industry, aside from the World Wide Web has spurred more economic growth in the past century than any other invention in our history. From coal fueled steam driven power plants to internal combustion engines, modern transportation methods have closed the distance gap globally, allowing for rapid movement of goods throughout all economies. While the aviation industry has increased the overall scale and speed of transportation, the automotive industry

Around the world, it is a common tendency of the transport sector to be a critical contributor to greenhouse emissions. It is about 23% of CO2 global emissions and about 30% for OECD nations in 2007. The CO2 emissions from transportation increased by 45% from 1990 to 2007. Estimates of the increase for 2030 says that a continuing grow is waiting, up to 40%, even with the actual planning to reduce fuel consumption.