Executive Briefing - Aug. 27
- More Companies Accounce Job Cuts
- Speed Limit May Be Raised in Tucson
- Driving School Operator Sentenced for Passing Bribes
- July Home Resales Fall 3% for Month
- Emery Launches U.S-Mexico Customs Service
- Trial of Ex-Teamsters President to Begin
- Lundberg: Gasoline Prices Rise After 3 Months
- ExxonMobil Sets $3 Billion West African Project
- Speed Limit May Be Raised in Tucson
More Companies Cut Jobs
Several more companies announced new job cuts on Monday. Job cuts in the manufacturing sector are important for the trucking industry because it usually means a decline in the volume of truck shipments in the next few months.Among those companies making cuts were:
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li> Defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. said it would cut about 4.5% of its California-based workforce of 11,000. The cuts are part of a consolidation stemming from its purchase of Litton Industries Inc.
li> Japan’s largest maker of computer chips, Toshiba Corp., said it would cut 18,800 jobs by 2004. About 17,000 of those positions would be eliminated in Japan.
li> Israeli-U.S. telecommunications equipment maker Comverse Technology plans to lay off 500 workers in October. The move follows layoffs of 400 employees earlier in the year. Transport Topics
Speed Limit May Be Raised in Tucson
Arizona transportation officials have proposed raising the speed limit to 65 miles-per-hour on the most of the highways in the Tuscon area because so many motorists continually exceed the existing 55-mph limit, the Arizona Daily Star reported.Two important highways, interstates 10 and 19, cross in Tuscon. While I-10 is a major route for trucks carrying goods cross-country, I-19 provides a straight ride to and from Mexico. Both highways are very important to truckers and they would be affected if the speed limit is raised.
A final decision on moving could come in three to four weeks, three years after traffic engineers began working on the idea, the article said. Transport Topics
Driving School Operator Sentenced for Passing Bribes
Peco "Peter" Sherovski, a former Chicago driving school operator who passed a bribe to help a truck driver later linked to a fatal crash, was sentenced to 12 months in prison, the Chicago Tribune reported on Monday.The article said that Sherovski received a lighter sentence because he helped investigators capture bribe-taking by eight employees at the Illinois secretary of state's licensing facility.
He previously admitted to passing bribes to a former manager of a licensing facility so that about 30 unqualified applicants obtained permits to drive trucks.
U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel said that although foggy weather played a major part in the crash in California that killed two people and injured 51 others, if Sherovski had not passed the bribe, that truck driver would not have been on the road. Transport Topics
July Home Resales Fall 3% for Month
Sales of previously owned homes tumbled more than expected in July, an indication that the weak economy may be undercutting buyer demand.Home resales account for 85% of all houses sold in the U.S. They can stimulate spending at furniture, appliance and home-improvement stores. As a result, the increase in activity can spread back through the economy, creating new demand for trucking.
Home resales fell 3% for the month, according to a report by the National Association of Realtors, to an annual rate of 5.17 million units. This was a drop off from June’s revised figure of 5.33 million units. Analysts had expected the drop to a rate of 5.3 million, Bloomberg reported. Transport Topics
Emery Launches U.S-Mexico Customs Service
Freight airline Emery Worldwide, a subsidiary of CNF Inc., said it will launch an expansion project in September to provide full customs brokerage services along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The project will begin with an office in San Diego. Other cities slated to have offices to help speed the customs clearance process are Brownsville and McAllen, Texas, and Tucson and Nogales, Ariz.
“The North American Free Trade Agreement has opened tremendous business opportunities along the U.S.-Mexico border,” said Jeff Hammond, senior director of the customs brokerage unit. “Our customs brokerage unit is a reflection of the positive growth that the unit, as well as the region, have been experiencing.”
Currently, Emery’s customs brokerage unit has two central offices -- in Middleburg Heights, Ohio, and Toronto -- as well as a network of 39 offices in the United States and Canada. Transport Topics
(Click here for the full press release.)
Trial of Ex-Teamsters President to Begin
Former Teamsters President Ronald Carey goes on trial Monday for allegedly lying about his role in a scheme that funneled union dues into his 1996 re-election campaign, news services reported.The seven-count indictment alleges Carey lied to a federal grand jury and to federal investigators. He faces 35 years in prison if convicted.
Prosecutors allege that Carey lied during a probe into whether $885,000 in International Brotherhood of Teamsters money was donated to certain groups with the understanding that the funds would be given to Carey's campaign.
Federal law prohibits the use of union funds to promote individual candidates.
The conspiracy led to an invalidation of the vote in which Carey narrowly defeated James P. Hoffa, who is now the Teamsters president. Transport Topics
Lundberg: Gasoline Prices Rise After 3 Months
The average price of gasoline rose 6.25 cents per gallon nationwide in the past two weeks, according to the Lundberg Survey of 8,000 stations nationwide.Including all grades and taxes, the survey found the average price to be $1.51 per gallon.
Although the biggest over-the-road trucks use diesel fuel, a significant portion of the commercial trucking business is conducted by trucks that burn gasoline.
The increase -- the first in three months -- was attributed to the shutdown of several refineries for repairs and maintenance, as well as a dwindling inventory of U.S. gasoline stocks, according to analyst Trilby Lundberg.
The greatest increases were in the Midwest, where prices rose 21 cents a gallon overall and as much as 29 cents in some cities such as Milwaukee. Transport Topics
ExxonMobil Sets $3 Billion West African Project
ExxonMobil Corp., the world's largest publicly traded oil company, said Friday that it was starting a $3 billion project to drill for oil off the coast of West Africa.The project, to be undertaken by subsidiary Esso Exploration Angola Ltd., is expected to yield 250,000 barrels of crude oil per day, beginning in late 2004. The first oil should come from the Hungo and Chocalho areas of the project, from depths of 3,300 to 4,200 feet.
ExxonMobil said it will also include the world's largest vessel for floating oil production, storage and offloading, with a capacity for 2.2 million barrels of oil in the project. Transport Topics
(Click here for the full press release.)
