Technology Briefs - Jan. 31 - Feb. 6
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The Latest Headlines:
- Port of Seattle, SSA Marine Using Biodiesel
- TMW Adds 26 New Customers In 4th Quarter
- Guided-Snowplow Research May Bring No-Driver Trucks
- TMW Adds 26 New Customers In 4th Quarter
Port of Seattle, SSA Marine Using Biodiesel
The Port of Seattle and SSA Marine, its largest maritime customer, said they have started operating their container-handling equipment and maintenance vehicles on biodiesel, a vegetable-based fuel.The port said it and SSA combined use about 1 million gallons of diesel fuel each year.
TMW Adds 26 New Customers In 4th Quarter
Software firm TMW Systems said it added 26 customers during the fourth quarter, bringing its total number of customers to 550.The carriers that added TMW’s suite to their computer systems in the quarter included bulk carrier Jack B. Kelley Inc., Amarillo, Texas; truckload carrier System Freight Inc., Janesboro, N.J.; bulk carrier Northwest Tank Lines, Langley, British Columbia; and hazardous materials carrier H&M Trucking Inc., Omaha, Neb., TMW said in a statement.
Cindy Nelson, director of marketing for TMW, said the firm added 83 customers in 2005. Transport Topics
Guided-Snowplow Research May Bring No-Driver Trucks
WASHINGTON — Technology being tested for snowplows could someday guide platoons of driverless trucks on truck-only highways, increasing freight hauling productivity and helping the industry cope with the growing shortage of drivers, an industry official said.Mark Berndt, a senior freight planner with Wilbur Smith Associates said at Transportation Research Board’s annual meeting last month that researchers at three universities are testing commercial vehicle applications for systems in which electronic controls can keep several trucks following a lead vehicle on a fixed route.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota are testing the idea to keep manned snowplows on the road during conditions of low visibility, he said.
Additional research is under way at the University of California-Berkeley and Virginia Polytechnic Institute to test the concept in commercial trucks using radio frequency identification devices and receivers embedded in pavement to keep as many as three trucks moving in formation, Berndt said.
The platoon concept, which also has been studied in Europe, Berndt said, would allow for a dramatic expansion of freight hauling capacity without increasing the size or weight of trucks. Daniel P. Bearth
