Michael Lemecs is a former truck driver and is now an assistant professor at the University of Houston-Downtown. He's spent a good part of his career studying drivers from the perspective of the forces that shape their careers and their perspective on the world.Given that, host John Kingston wanted to sit down with him and get his views on what happened with the Canadian truck blockade of several crossings with the U.S. as well as downtown Ottawa, and with the forces that led drivers in a country known for being "nice" to take such extreme action.  Also on the podcast, the demand numbers that are helping to drive oil prices higher. Follow Drilling Deep on Apple PodcastsFollow Drilling Deep on SpotifyMore FreightWaves Podcasts

Drilling Deep with John Kingston

What's motivating the Canadian drivers?

Amit Mehrotra, head of the transportation research team at Deutsche Bank, joins host John Kingston to review the numbers that poured out of public companies in the recent round of earnings reports for the fourth quarter of 2021.Also on podcast: Kingston talks about the troubling drop in global refinery throughput last year. Those refineries are needed to make diesel. Why didn't they turn out more?Follow Drilling Deep on Apple PodcastsFollow Drilling Deep on SpotifyMore FreightWaves Podcasts

Mehrotra looks at a very profitable trucking fourth quarter

WorkHound is a company designed to bring in feedback from drivers using nothing more than a text message, and it brings in more than 60,000 comments per year. Not all of them are complaining; there was a lot of praise last year too.WorkHound CEO and founder Max Farrell joins host John Kingston to discuss what he heard in 2021 and why the feedback points to the utter importance of training as leading to a much happier workforce.Also on the podcast, Kingston talks about the red hot diesel market and how the outright prices aren't revealing just how hot that market is. Follow Drilling Deep on Apple PodcastsFollow Drilling Deep on SpotifyMore FreightWaves Podcasts

The feedback coming from drivers

Making the final mile more efficient is a challenge with hundreds of moving parts. It is particularly challenging in an urban setting with clogged streets and limited parking.Host John Kingston caught up with Penn State's Andisheh Ranjbari after hearing her presentation at the urban freight session at the Transportation Research Board's annual meeting in Washington earlier this month. She was recently on a team that dealt with a uniquely last-mile type issue: should a multi-unit dwelling use a locker system as a place to take in packages? It's a quirky question but one that has significant impact on fuel consumption and driver time on the road.Also on the podcast, Kingston talks about a recent report that says renewable diesel might not be the bonanza that some forecasts say it is going to be.Follow Drilling Deep on Apple PodcastsFollow Drilling Deep on SpotifyMore FreightWaves Podcasts

Where do you want me to put your package, sir?

In an interview done from the Transportation Research Board annual meeting, Barb Rhode of the Mileage Based Users Fee Alliance talks about continuing progress in the drive to replace gasoline taxes with mileage fees. She joins podcast host John Kingston following a presentation she made at the conference to bring us up to date on where that push stands.Also on the podcast, Kingston talks about the renewed surge in natural gas prices and how that can impact the price of diesel.Follow Drilling Deep on Apple PodcastsFollow Drilling Deep on SpotifyMore FreightWaves Podcasts

Switching from gas taxes to mileage fees

Driver recruitement and retention were a big issue in 2021. It is likely to be no different in 2022.Dan Johnston, co-founder and CEO of WorkStep, joins host John Kingston on the Drilling Deep podcast to discuss his company's software-based approach to recruitment and retention. He has pretty blunt words for the efforts that have gone on otherwise in that field; his argument is that they all pretty much failed in 2021.Also on the podcast, Kingston talks about how the current price increase is in defiance of what all the supply/demand models said should occur at the start of 2022. Even if there's an imbalance, the market isn't accepting it.Follow Drilling Deep on Apple PodcastsFollow Drilling Deep on SpotifyMore FreightWaves Podcasts

A recruitment/retention CEO on his company's approach

Sean Garney of Scopelitis Transportation Consulting joins host John Kingston on this week's Drilling Deep to review some of what happened during this past crazy year in trucking and look ahead to some of the biggest policies that might come out of Washington in the coming year.In his end-of-year oil recap, Kingston has some of the numbers on where the diesel market has taken the trucking industry in the last 12 months, and what might be holding back U.S. investment in more drilling.Follow Drilling Deep on Apple PodcastsFollow Drilling Deep on SpotifyMore FreightWaves Podcasts

Wrapping up the year in oil and trucking

With the infrastructure spending bill now on the verge of sending billions of dollars to various local governments, the question will arise: how should we spend it?One person they may turn to is Kyle Schneweis, the CEO of High Street Consulting. His firm advises governments on setting priorities in their infrastructure needs and spending. He speaks with host John Kingston about the types of spending he thinks should be a priority and how he would advise his clients.Kingston also looks at the troubling decline in U.S. refining capacity and whether it has had any impact on diesel prices.Follow Drilling Deep on Apple PodcastsFollow Drilling Deep on SpotifyMore FreightWaves Podcasts

Lots of infrastructure money; how should it be spent?

Desiree Wood is an independent owner operator who has devoted much of her time educating those who need to know about the crisis in truck parking today. She speaks in public, she joins webcasts and on Drilling Deep this week, she joins host John Kingston to discuss her recent efforts to alert the world about the parking squeeze.Also on the podcast, Kingston talks about a diesel-related market: that of diesel exhaust fluid. Its price is rising sharply and Kingston reviews the supply chain to show why.Follow Drilling Deep on Apple PodcastsFollow Drilling Deep on SpotifyMore FreightWaves Podcasts

Driver Desiree fights for more truck parking

Don Newell and Scooter Sayers are long-time LTL industry experts and consultants. Although the stock prices of LTL companies have been soaring on Wall Street, Newell and Sayers join host John Kingston on Drilling Deep to talk about some underlying fundamental problems in the LTL sector that they want to see fixed.Also on the podcast, Kingston discusses the recent OPEC reaction to the release of oil out of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and the potential fall in demand coming from the Omicron variant emergence.Follow Drilling Deep on Apple PodcastsFollow Drilling Deep on SpotifyMore FreightWaves Podcasts

The Contrast Between Booming LTL Markets and the Issues on the Ground

Chris Visser of JD Power has been tracking used truck prices for a long time. And as he will tell you, he's never seen a used truck market quite like this one. He joins Drilling Deep co-host John Kingston to discuss the wild swings in prices and what needs to happen for them to slow their upward march.Also on the podcast, Kingston discusses the release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve announced earlier this week. The supply may not seem like much but inventories are key.Follow Drilling Deep on Apple PodcastsFollow Drilling Deep on SpotifyMore FreightWaves Podcasts

The eye-popping numbers coming out of the used truck market

Testing for drug use in drivers rests now primarily on urine testing. But it has drawbacks.Others argue that hair testing is preferable. But it has drawbacks too. Saliva testing? Easy to do, but it isn't perfect.On this week's Drilling Deep podcast, two academics who have studied the issue join host John Kingston to discuss recent research they've completed on the various methods now in use and under discussion for the future. Dr. Douglas Voss from the University of Central Arkansas and Dr. Ron Gordon from the University of Arkansas will discuss their findings and the state of the current debate in the industry.Also on the podcast, Kingston discusses the latest results from a key oil industry report and what it means for prices going forward.Follow Drilling Deep on Apple PodcastsFollow Drilling Deep on SpotifyMore FreightWaves Podcasts

Every method of testing drivers for drugs has its pros and cons

With the third quarter earnings season wrapped up, Todd Fowler of KeyBank joins Drilling Deep to answer the question: how did they do?He shares his views on several companies, including Knight Swift, Werner and Marten in his discussion with host John Kingston.Also on the podcast, the point of view that believes oil markets may ease up in the first quarter, as well as the controversial suggestion to ban crude exports from the U.S.Follow Drilling Deep on Apple PodcastsFollow Drilling Deep on SpotifyMore FreightWaves Podcasts

KeyBank's Fowler talks Marten, Werner and others in a review of the third quarter

Fleet AI is a new truckload carrier that is trying to distinguish itself in a field full of new and existing entrants where it's tough to stand out.Its founder and CEO is Marc El Khoury. He joins Drilling Deep host John Kingston to talk about how his company is trying to stand out and get that competitive edge by its use of AI and algorithms.  Also on the podcast, Kingston discusses the possibility of the U.S. and other western nations releasing oil from their strategic stockpiles to temper further increases in the price of oil.Follow Drilling Deep on Apple PodcastsFollow Drilling Deep on SpotifyMore FreightWaves Podcasts

Starting a truckload carrier with AI as its backbone

Dave Heller is the vice president for governmental affairs at the Truckload Carriers Association. In that role, he is deeply involved in the trucking industry's reaction to the looming vaccination mandate coming out of the Biden administration.At the recent annual meeting of the American Trucking Associations, Heller sat down with Drilling Deep host John Kingston to talk about that battle in Washington and how it might play out.Also on the podcast, Kingston discusses how the rising price of natural gas, particularly in other parts of the world, is impacting diesel prices.Follow Drilling Deep on Apple PodcastsFollow Drilling Deep on SpotifyMore FreightWaves Podcasts

Trucking begins to push back against the vaccine mandate

Trucks, oil, trains, and industry deep dives highlight this show, hosted by John Kingston. John Kingston is a business journalist of almost 40 years, covering everything from metals to financial markets, and now turning his focus to trucking and transport. He spent almost 30 years covering oil markets with S&P Global Platts, and his broadcast background includes many years as Platts’ “talking head” on CNBC, Fox Business, Canada’s BNN and other broadcast outlets. His activities at FreightWaves includes serving as the oil expert for FW’s SONAR database product, where he provides daily analysis.

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Drilling Deep with John Kingston

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