A.M. Executive Briefing - July 22
This Morning's Headlines:
ul>
A NAME="story1">
Ryder Reports Slump, Plan to Sell Bus Unit
The sale of Ryder System's school bus business, Ryder Public Transportation, was announced on Wednesday, along with the confirmation of the firm's grim second-quarter results.
Amid Many Sea Changes, IKEA Seeks Consistency from Carriers
The import furniture company IKEA plans to take advantage of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act's legalization of confidential contracts between shippers and carriers. In addition, it hopes to use more ocean shipping than trucking around Europe now that the Trans-Atlantic Conference Agreement has less power.IKEA made some of its ocean shipping contracts confidential when the act took effect on May 1. The company now wants contracts that last at least two years with expiration dates at the end and not the middle of the calendar year. IKEA desires contracts that last more than a year -- preferring five years -- so it can stave off yearly rate changes and additional charges. However, company official Tom DeMarino does not expect shippers to be too eager to sign long contracts.
The company's trans-Atlantic contracts used to pay extra for TACA-monopolized European trucking, since that was still cheaper than ocean shipping around that continent. DeMarino says the reform act may change that. He adds that IKEA also wants to avoid cash-on-delivery contracts with trans-Pacific carriers. Journal of Commerce Online (07/22/99); Brennan, Terry
Last of Big Dig Wage Cases Settled as Law is Under Study
Suffolk Superior Court in Massachusetts ordered the last two Big Dig trucking companies charged with breaking state law on prevailing wages to make payments totaling $72,000. The owners of O'Donnell Sand and Gravel and R.W. James Heavy Equipment have each been given pretrial probation but must pay back wages and benefits to their drivers.Drivers complained that the judgments did not match the amounts of money and benefits they are owed. Several companies were given similar charges since it was revealed three years ago that they underpaid drivers working on the Central Artery/Ted Williams Tunnel. Before the last case was completed, the office of Attorney General Thomas Reilly said it will temporarily stop prosecuting violations of the prevailing-wages law, although companies that break the law may still be held accountable in the future.
Only one company, Commonwealth Trucking, actually went to trial. Company owner Matthew Connolly was convicted. Fines, jail time, probation, and bars from state contracts were among the punishments meted out to other Big Dig contractors and their owners. Boston Globe Online (07/22/99); Palmer Jr., Thomas C.
Steinway Fine-Tunes Scheduling With Logistics Software
Scheduling software developed in tandem by Intergis Corp. and MapInfo Corp. can save time and increase both the number of jobs per unit as well as savings for the company using it. In addition, the system does more than just calculate the shortest distance between two points. Visual Control Room can also factor in characteristics of the truck, qualifications of the driver, and the priority of the customer. The technology helped a piano tuner cut the amount of time a customer took to make an appointment in half.Wendy Hunt, a dispatch trainer of a Lucent spinoff firm, says the software helped her increase the number of engineers on duty from 16 to 26. Hunt adds that the Visual Control Room saves her firm $68,000 annually, while making everything easier and more precise. Other vendors of dispatching software include Smallworldwide PLC in Britain and the Environmental Systems Research Institute of California. Journal of Commerce Online (07/22/99); Atkinson, Helen
Eagle Pass Option Takes Flight as Shippers' US-Mexico Border Alternative
/h4>Although Laredo, Texas, is the main crossing for long-haul trucks between the United States and Mexico, shippers including Sara Lee Corp. are finding lower traffic volumes and better service at the smaller Texas town of Eagle Pass.
Although most trucks were accustomed to using the Pan-American Highway, a new divided highway to Saltillo, Mexico, is making Eagle Pass more and more popular with route planners. Up until now, most shippers using Eagle Pass have owned maquiladoras in the area, but the volume increase due to just-in-time shipping demands is among the factors leading to a new Eagle Pass customs facility, dubbed Bridge Two, set to open next month.
Customs port director John Salazar predicts that 150 more trucks could be handled daily after the opening of Bridge Two, which will include several government agencies and has space nearby for industrial construction. Journal of Commerce Online (07/22/99); Hall, Kevin G.
Caltrans Scraps Plan for Trucks on I-580
Due to community outcry, the California transportation department will leave in place the ban on trucks over 4.5 tons on a portion of I-580 in Oakland. The department had considered studying a lifting of the ban after a recommendation from the California Trucking Association. Association spokesman Warren Hoemann said the group will cooperate with the government but will continue to press for redress of truckers' concerns. Dick Spees, a member of the Oakland City Council, has proposed using the money for the study to alleviate truckers' concerns about I-880 instead. The stretch of I-580 in question was built three decades ago and has only allowed large trucks in situations when I-880 was completely tied up, since truckers going to the Port of Oakland use that highway. San Francisco Chronicle Online (07/21/99); Bowman, CatherineProgress Depends on Truckers
In a letter to the editor of the Charlotte Observer, North Carolina Trucking Association President Elbert L. Peters responded to the editorial "Big Trucks," saying the story lacked an adequate justification for North Carolina's statistics on truck accidents.Peters noted that exposure -- the number of trucks exposed to other motorists over a span a certain number of miles -- is the biggest contributing factor for truck crashes in the state and perhaps nationwide.
Population growth leads to more vehicles and a larger span of miles driven, increasing congestion and the risk of potential truck crashes. Peters added that from 1985 to 1995, the number of automobiles on the road went up by 20%. Over that same time span, fatal crashes involving trucks decreased from 13.1 percent to 11.7 percent, reports the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Charlotte Observer Online (07/21/99) P. 14A; Peters, Elbert L.
© copyright 1999 INFORMATION, INC. Terms of Service
