A.M. Executive Briefing - Sept. 7
This Morning's Headlines:
ul>
Trucking Problems Bedevil Operators
Air Canada, recognizing the importance of trucking to air transport, picked a site near a highway for its new Boston cargo facility. Other air carriers are realizing that they must work hand-in-hand with trucking.Since Air Canada uses narrowbody planes in Boston, much palletized and containerized cargo must go by truck to Canadian sites where it is loaded onto airplanes. Many U.S. companies operate similarly, taking goods by truck to big hubs. Since 1998, United Airlines has been shipping freight on pallets by truck to Chicago from Charlotte, N.C. This year, a Dallas terminal was added, and another in the Midwest is to be operational before year's end.
It is common in Europe for much air cargo to travel by ground as well. Cargolux, of Luxembourg, has linked its EDI system with trucking companies to track shipments from air to ground transport. In North America, CRST operates its EDI similarly with its Air Cargo Expedited division. CRST President Dave Rush says his company can save money with trucking in some situations, but complains of the few drivers available. Journal of Commerce (09/07/99) P. 20; Putzger, Ian
Launching Barksdale, Version 4.0
Former Netscape Communications executive Jim Barksdale is about to go back to the board at FDX Corp., parent of FedEx, and is also looking to find a way to allow same-day delivery of items ordered via e-commerce.He and two other erstwhile Netscape officials have started a venture-capital company, Barksdale Group, which has poured $5 million into HomeGrocer.com Inc. Barksdale says current e-commerce freight handlers have difficulty moving perishable items "like ice cream and produce."
e says that when the grocery company has a distribution network set up, they can also add delivery services for "apparel, dry cleaning, services of every type." Barksdale says e-commerce can be helped along with the engineering and data-tracking he and others created at FedEx in the 1970s and 1980s.
Barksdale Group has also put money into Respond.com, which allows e-mail searches for shopping on the Internet, and the Internet startup TellMeNetworks. Wall Street Journal (09/07/99) P. B1; Blackmon, Douglas A.
Truckers May Pay More Than Cost of Tickets
Although police do not report truckers' traffic tickets to the trucking companies, drivers receiving traffic convictions in vehicles large enough to require a CDL have to tell their employers about the convictions in 30 days or less.Most companies require drivers to pay fines unless the violation has to do with equipment and not due to the driver's behavior. Also, truckers can face job problems if they get too many tickets.
ABF Freight System fires drivers who were driving their trucks drunk, and drivers are suspended for serious infractions. Certain multiple convictions keep truckers off the road for two to four months under federal law. Hit-and-runs and drunk driving keep them from trucking for a year, and drug felonies involving the driver's truck lead to a permanent CDL revocation. Roanoke Times Online (09/04/99) ; Sturgeon, Jeff
Business Objects and Penske Logistics win DCI Excellence in Business Information Award
DCI has given the Excellence in Business Information Award to Business Objects and Penske Logistics. Business Objects put its business intelligence system WebIntelligence in place at Penske Logistics, which has used the system to put its management and officials in touch with information on truck, driver, and shipment data. The system allows Penske to track its 2,600-plus trucks and streamline operations.DCI, along with DM Review, META Group, and the International Data Warehouse Association, have put together Excellence in Business Awards to recognize data-warehousing, data-access, and decision-support developments. Business Wire (09/03/99)
FBI Probes Firm Run by Wife of Major Trucking Contractor
The FBI is looking into whether Krystal Trucking is illegally getting minority-earmarked trucking contracts from San Francisco.he investigators are trying to determine whether Krystal, owned by Maryann Rogers and registered as Latino-owned, might be a "straw" business for Rogers Truck and Equipment. That company is co-owned by Rogers' husband Phillip, who is white.
When Krystal first made an affirmative-action application in 1996, the city's Human Rights Commission denied it because of what then-executive director Edwin Lee termed Maryann Rogers' "continued business dependency on Rogers." This changed after a meeting between the commission and Mayor Willie Brown.
Maryann Rogers' lawyer George Walker says his client's company is "independent ... separate and distinct from her husband's," adding that the FBI has not interviewed her and she has not been called before the grand jury in a current San Francisco minority-contracting investigation.
An unnamed source says Krystal was represented by Mayor Brown's ally Charlie Walker, a trucker whose city contracts are under federal investigation. San Francisco Chronicle Online (09/03/99); Wilson, Yumi
Professional Transportation Group Ltd. Inc. Agency Division signs Agreement with SKE Enterprises LLC
The agency division of Professional Transportation Group has added St. Louis-based SKE Enterprises to its agent-carrier roster. The agency division allows small time-definite and expedited TL carriers to save money by jointly purchasing fuel and other necessities. Professional Transportation Group handles billing and collection for the agent carriers.Chairman and CEO Dennis A. Bakal states, "SKE has a great reputation in their market, and while we expect them to start out slow, we expect them to grow to about $100,000 a month over the next year." PRNewswire (09/03/99)
Eaton Promotes Hartman to Vice President-Investor Relations
Eaton Corp., manufacturer of such products as hydraulic systems and truck drivetrains, has named William C. Hartman to vice president of investor relations. Hartman has spent the last 13 years as director of Investor Relations."As we have worked over the past several years to change analysts' views of Eaton, the investor relations role has also changed, says Chairman and CEO Stephen R. Hardis. "Bill has established himself as the key, primary contact for Wall Street analysts and large institutional investors." Business Wire (09/03/99)
WorldPoint Logistics Acquires Expedited, A Leading Time-Definite/Air-Ground Transportation Company
The Bellevue, Wash., holding company WorldPoint Logistics has taken over Corporate Express Delivery Systems-Expedited Inc. for an undisclosed sum. The company will be operated under the name, Expedited."We targeted Expedited because it serves a unique niche and network in the rapidly growing and expanding time-definite air-ground service segment," says WorldPoint President and CEO Jack Edwards. "The market for Expedited's services is very large, it is growing at a double-digit rate, and the segment is highly fragmented." Expedited's sales total some $75 million a year. PRNewswire (09/03/99)
© copyright 1999 INFORMATION, INC. Terms of Service
