The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance reported at the end of July that its May International Roadcheck found 81% of commercial motor vehicles and 94.5% of professional drivers inspected did not have any out-of-service violations and were allowed to safely complete their runs.
This compares to the 2022 Roadcheck event where 77.2% of the vehicles and 93.6% of the drivers inspected were found not to have out-of-service violations.
The 72-hour roadside truck and bus vehicle and driver inspection and enforcement initiative takes place each year in Mexico, Canada and the United States and includes detailed reviews of adherence to the three nations’ federal equipment and driving regulations.
Commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) without any critical vehicle inspection violations are eligible to receive a CVSA decal. During this year’s Roadcheck, decals were applied to 14,032 power units, 5,814 trailers and 305 buses, for a total of 20,151 decals throughout North America.
Conversely, CVSA inspectors discovered at least one out-of-service violation on 19% of the vehicles inspected and, in turn, removed those 11,270 CMVs from roadways until the out-of-service (OOS) violations were corrected. There were 17,479 vehicle out-of-service violations in total.
In the U.S., inspectors also restricted 5.5% (3,256) of the commercial motor vehicle drivers inspected from operating their vehicles who were found to have at least one out-of-service driver violation, as identified under the CVSA’s North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria.
Those drivers were restricted from commercial travel until their out-of-service violations were addressed. There were 5,280 driver out-of-service violations handed out.
The industrial real estate market appears to be showing real evidence that it is finally weakening after a long, torrid run, according to a report from the commercial real estate giant Colliers.
“Amid the economy’s ongoing flirtation with recession, the U.S. industrial market experienced signs of weakening in the second quarter (Q2) of 2023,” the company explained.
New deliveries amounted to nearly 150 million square feet, significantly surpassing the space absorbed at a ratio of almost 3:1.
As a result, the overall vacancy rate increased by 50 basis points during the quarter, reaching 4.5% of existing space. Despite the rise in vacancies, asking rents continued their upward trajectory and crossed the $10 per square foot mark for the first time.
In 2021 and 2022, the market demonstrated remarkable consistency, absorbing more than 100 million square feet every quarter during that period. However, in 2023 – despite a surge of new deliveries – the market has yet to achieve that milestone this year, Colliers noted.
In Q1, net absorption decreased to 73.8 million square feet; and in Q2 it declined even further to 50.7 million square feet. As a result of the more than 280 million square feet delivered this year, the overall vacancy rate has risen to 4.5%, marking an 80-basis point increase from Q4 2022.
During the second quarter, the market experienced unprecedented new project deliveries. At the same time, the total projects under construction dropped by 3.4% as an elevated interest rate environment prompted certain developers to halt their groundbreakings temporarily.
“While some economists believe the economy may skirt a recession, the majority feel the U.S. will enter and experience a mild recession starting later this year,” Colliers forecast. “Despite economic and market fundamental softening, the industrial sector remains well positioned heading into the back half of 2003 and into 2024.”