Big trucks and big bucks — WHAT THE TRUCK?!? (with video)

Check out the Western Star 49x on todays WHAT THE TRUCK?!?

Dooner and The Dude talk today’s headlines and hear from an author who detailed the life of a railroad great


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This Episode is brought to you by Reliance Partners-the nation’s premier commercial insurance agency for the transportation and logistics industry. Focus on your destination. Let us watch your back. Learn more about Reliance Partners at reliancepartners.com

Headlines

The DHL Supply Chain Pricing Power Index is still in favor of the carriers at 80 after last week’s holiday and tender rejection rates have declined. 

A Missouri driver recruiter has been charged with embezzling $121,000 from two companies in St. Louis.

U.S. Xpress is partnering with MIT’s Center for Transportation and Logistics to study driver dwell and hopefully improve efficiency for drivers.

Dooner and The Dude check out a new vocational truck, the Western Star 49x, and the functionality it will bring to the market. 

CRST is a company of all trades

As the president and CEO of CRST International, Hugh Ekberg joins WHAT THE TRUCK?!? to discuss how his company is handling the massive jump in capacity expectations in today’s market. 

“The great thing is everything is under one roof at CRST … . Any piece of this market we can do it and we can do it well,” Ekberg says, highlighting how CRST handles brokerages, customer relations, acquisitions and more.

Howard Green highlights the career of Hunter Harrison

Dooner and The Dude talk with Green about his book “Railroader,” which details the business successes Harrison saw as CEO of CSX Corp.

Green calls Harrison a “never content, never satisfied character,” and his biography includes stories from colleagues and family of Harrison.

Green is releasing an audio version of the book Dec. 11, and it is available for purchase and for streaming on Audible or Kindle. 

Samantha Parlier talks value of vocational trucks

Dooner and The Dude aren’t the only ones excited about the debut of the 49X.

Parlier is the vice president of vocational market segment development for Daimler Trucks. She details her company’s progress in producing new vocational trucks. 

Parlier explains to the guys how shake tests on the trucks work, how Daimler forecasts what trucks will be needed in the future, and how they can marry innovation and trends to “get the best products for the customer.”

You can find more WHAT THE TRUCK?!? recaps and recaps for all our shows here.

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Kaylee Nix

Kaylee Nix is a meteorologist and reporter for FreightWaves. She joined the company in November of 2020 after spending two years as a broadcast meteorologist for a local television channel in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Kaylee graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2018 and immediately made the Tennessee Valley her home. Kaylee creates written summaries of FreightWaves live podcasts and cultivates the social media for FreightWaves TV.