Blog

We’ve all seen them chugging slowly down the highway. You can’t miss the big yellow banners that say “OVERSIZE LOAD” or the four red flags blowing in the wind. You might’ve even seen a few blinking lights. There you have the handiwork of heavy haul truckers, hard working men and women who transport items that are classified as heavy haul loads. Heavy haul truckers can move just about anything, from a wind turbine blade to a small house. Let’s look at what you do need to keep your heavy haul trucking career on steady lanes.

Are you ready to take that new career leap of faith? Doing that always comes with trial and error, not to mention plenty of time consuming and costly mistakes along the way. When you are starting your new trucking company, avoiding costly and timely mistakes can not only speed up the process so you can get out there and start hauling, but it can also set up your company for success. Five experts from our Apex Startup Program team talk about the most common, surprising, and costliest mistakes they have seen and how future trucking company owners can avoid making them.

Top Apex Blogs of 2021 Call 2021 the Year of Getting Back to Basics After the COVID-19 pandemic that defined 2020, we all did our best to move forward in 2021. In other words, we got back to basics. The…

After more than 25 years as a freight factoring leader, Apex Capital continues to revolutionize the industry. As the trucking industry continues to leverage technology to accelerate change, freight factors are being challenged to do the same. Apex, at the forefront of innovation, already created its own proprietary digital payment system with blynk™. Now comes 24/7 Factoring, which allows Apex clients to factor freight invoices after hours – nights, weekends, and bank holidays. Hauling loads for a living isn’t a 9-5 job, so factoring shouldn’t be.

Amy and Johnny Papenfuss, owners of Minnesota-based Papenfuss Trucking Inc, thought the visual presence of a pretty truck with pretty mountains would make a wonderful photo to enter in the 2022 Apex Capital Client Calendar contest. This, however, isn’t the first time for the husband-and-wife team. Papenfuss scored its first cover win for the 2019 installment of the Apex Client Calendar with a stunning shot of their blue truck surrounded by a beautiful lake and lush greenery.

Trucking companies, drivers, and owner-operators must comply with a variety of safety regulations to stay on the road hauling the goods all of us need to live every day. Part of that compliance is a series of inspections conducted annually on vehicles and drivers. In fact, there are approximately 4 million commercial motor vehicle inspections conducted every year by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). The Level 1 North American Standard Inspection is usually conducted as part of the annual Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) International Roadcheck. Here, we look at the next five DOT inspections, levels 2-6. We explain each inspection and offer a checklist so you can prepare yourself and your vehicle.

President Biden recently revealed his $2.3 trillion infrastructure proposal, named the American Jobs Plan, which includes proposed fixes on roads and bridges. There are other details about the plan that could affect the trucking and freight industries. Let’s take a look at what’s in the proposal.

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) is ready for its 2021 International Roadcheck, which takes place May 4-6. The event, an annual 72-hour road check inspection spree, covers the United States, Canada, and Mexico. It is designed to remind drivers of the importance vehicle maintenance and driver readiness play in the overall safety of our roadways.

Hot shot trucking, like expedited trucking, is all about getting a load delivered in a hurry. There are no hard and fast rules on how far a hot shot trucker goes to deliver a load, as hauls can be anywhere from 50 miles away to across the country. But when you factor in the time constraints and the hot shot trucking requirements, hot shot loads are most often local hauls.

2020 is a year we will all remember. Before we move into 2021 let’s look at what shaped the year for the trucking industry. We talk about COVID-19, major trucking regulation changes, and our new digital payment system for our clients.