Executive Briefing - May 9
- Waste Management Reports Earnings Jump
- Lufthansa Pilots to Go on One-Day Strike
- Economists See U.S. Averting Downturn
- CN-WCTC Rail Merger Classified As 'Minor'
- Mineta Lobbied on Transportation Projects
- One-Armed Trucker Files Suit
- Many U.S. Postal Rates to Rise July 1
- Mineta, Young Seek to Improve Infrastructure
- More Rolling Blackouts in Calif.
- ATA’s Whittinghill Picked As a Top Lobbyist
- Florida to Renumber Exits
- Morgan Group Progresses in Getting Credit Facility
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Waste Management Reports Earnings Jump
Waste Management (WMI) said its net income for the first quarter ended March 31 was $124 million or 20 cents per share, compared with $55 million or 9 cents per share last year.The Houston-based company is the No. 1 U.S. trash hauler, and said that it has the sixth-largest trucking fleet in North America.
Although revenues for the quarter fell 16%, Waste Management made up for it by focusing on cost-cutting measures. It also was helped by increases in landfill volumes and roll-off hauls.
(Click here for the full press release)
Lufthansa Pilots to Go on One-Day Strike
/h4>Lufthansa pilots said Wednesday that they will go ahead with a 24-hour strike starting at midnight after breaking off contract talks with Germany's biggest airline, news services reported.
Because nearly 60% of air cargo flies in the bellies of passenger planes, any disruption in air traffic could push more cargo to trucks or force shippers that use Lufthansa to seek alternate arrangements.
Between 300 and 500 flights could be grounded during Thursday's strike, according to Niels Stueben, spokesman for pilot union Vereinigung Cockpit.
Last week, a 12-hour work stoppage by the pilots grounded about 370 flights. Transport Topics
Economists See U.S. Averting Downturn
Economists at major U.S. corporations think that the U.S. economy will slow further in the second quarter and 2001 industrial output will be barely positive, but the nation will avoid an actual recession.Those were the results of a survey by the National Association of Business Economists, Reuters said, which was conducted in the last half of April. But news service noted the survey was taken before the weak April jobs report was released.
The NABE panel pegged the risk of a U.S. contraction at 35% this year and 25% in 2002, just slightly higher than when the group was surveyed three months ago.
Aggressive cuts in interest rates by the Federal Reserve will allow the economy to keep growing, they said. Transport Topics
CN-WCTC Rail Merger Classified As 'Minor'
A Surface Transportation Board decision to treat the proposed merger of the Canadian National Railway (CNI and the Wisconsin Central (WCLX) as a “minor” transaction was hailed by officials at both railroads.The ruling means the merger is more likely to be approved on Sept. 7, the date set for final determination.
The STB has recently developed tougher proposed rules for what “major” rail mergers and, in effect, turned back a CN plan to merge with Burlington Northern Santa Fe.
Railroads generally are highly competitive with trucks for freight business and any merger action is likely to have, as a goal, improved cost efficiency that could enable the merged company to win traffic away from the highway carriers. Transport Topics
(Click here for the full press release.)
Mineta Lobbied on Transportation Projects
Members of Congress from Georgia and Arkansas have called on Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta to direct federal funding for projects in their states, the Associated Press reported.Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., said his Atlanta constituents aren’t getting their fair share of transportation dollars because a formula used by the state to divide the money equally among districts ignores the fact that a city’s population doubles during the work week.
Lewis said Atlanta needs spending on mass transit, sidewalks and bike paths to help alleviate congestion on highways.
Meanwhile, Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., said he has urged the secretary to make the completion of Interstate 49 a priority.
Ross said the project, which would create an interstate from Shreveport, La., to Alma, in western Arkansas, would significantly boost the economy of the region. Transport Topics
One-Armed Trucker Files Suit
A one-armed truck driver who was forced to stop in January has filed a $5.5 million lawsuit against the Oregon Department of Transportation, the Oregonian reported.Cook, who lost his left arm below the elbow as a child, had driven a log truck in Alaska and Oregon for nearly 20 years without an accident. He did however, have citations for driving without insurance and speeding.
Currently, ODOT is enforcing a federal law that requires drivers without limbs to wear a prosthesis, which Cook refused.
He claims his civil rights were violated, and although he has quit the trucking business, he plans on going forward with the suit. Transport Topics
Many U.S. Postal Rates to Rise July 1
With a big projected deficit and fuel costs soaring, the U.S. Postal Service’s board decided Tuesday to hike rates on July 1 for most services other than the basic letter.The hikes, which follow even broader increases at the beginning of the year, will hit magazines, express package shipments, postcards and even the current fee on letters weighing more than what is covered by the basic 34-cent rate.
News services said factors behind the sudden postal rate increases include growing competition for the lucrative package delivery business, widening use of e-mail and online bill paying to replace mailed-in payments, and rising costs of motor fuels for all those postal service vans.
Reports also said the new hikes triggered a flurry of criticism from newspaper and magazine publishers, nonprofit mailers and small advertisers. Transport Topics
Mineta, Young Seek to Improve Infrastructure
In Wednesday’s The Hill newspaper that covers the U.S. Capitol, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta and Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, discuss the importance of improving the country’s transportation infrastructure and addressing the issue of worsening congestion.Mineta wrote that he is studying how to close the gap between the demand for transportation services and the capacity of the nation’s infrastructure to meet that demand.
He said projects to improve roads and build more airports would cut down delays and traffic jams.
Meanwhile, Young said in an interview that the nation’s infrastructure must be improved to meet the growing population. He specifically mentioned the Alameda, Calif., Intermodal freight corridor as an area that needs special attention.
Earlier this week, a study found that the average person spends 36 hours per year sitting in traffic, which of course means that trucks hauling freight as well as commuters are also increasingly bogged down in traffic jams. (See Executive Briefing, May 7). Transport Topics
More Rolling Blackouts in Calif.
Hot weather, high demand and short supplies forced rolling blackouts in California for the second straight day, wire services reported.In all, about 300,000 customers lost power from San Diego to Sacramento for about two hours on Tuesday.
Rolling blackouts can disrupt traffic signals and cause major congestion, but more significantly can cut into general business activity and curb freight shipments in the affected areas.
It was the sixth day of rolling blackouts this year, and more are predicted for the remainder of the week. Transport Topics
ATA’s Whittinghill Picked As a Top Lobbyist
Jim Whittinghill, American Trucking Associations’ senior vice president for Legislative Affairs and Intergovernmental Operations, was named one of the three top lobbyists shaping transportation policy by The Hill newspaper that covers the U.S. Capitol.Most recently, the newspaper said, Whittinghill and the ATA were strong proponents of eliminating ergonomic standards proposed by President Clinton. The rules were overturned by Congress in March.
The other transportation lobbyists spotlighted by the newspaper were Dr. T. Peter Ruane, president and chief executive officer of American Road and Transportation Builders Association, and John W. Douglass, president and chief executive officer of the Aerospace Industries Association of America. Transport Topics
Florida to Renumber Exits
The Florida Department of Transportation said it will renumber interstate exits to correspond with their closest mile marker, the Associated Press reported.The project, which will cost the state $5 million and is scheduled to begin in July, will last until June 2005. It will give Florida the same numbering system used in almost every other state.
Signs will be changed through next year along Interstates 4, 10, 75, 95 and 275. Some smaller highways that feed to major cities will also be changed. Transport Topics
Morgan Group Progresses in Getting Credit Facility
The Morgan Group (MG) said Tuesday that it is making progress in obtaining a new credit facility to replace the company's facility that expired in January.Chief Executive Officer Anthony Castor said he has received commitment letters from several institutions to provide a replacement credit facility, to provide revolving credit services.
In addition, a tentative agreement has been reached with the company's major shareholder, Lynch Interactive, to invest an additional $2.0 million. If approved, it would increase Lynch's ownership from 55.6% to 68.5%.
The Elkhart, Ind.-based company is the nation's largest managing the delivery of manufactured homes, commercial vehicles and specialized equipment in the United States. Transport Topics
(Click here for the full press release.)
