Executive Briefing - Nov. 26
- Snow Finally Reaches Plains States
- Air Cargo at LAX Declines in October
- Energy Industry on Alert for Attack
- Boeing, Isuzu Announce Job Cuts
- Washington Remains Deadlocked Over Stimulus
- Ground Zero Trucks Outfitted With Tracking Equipment
- MAN Expects Drop in Truck Sales in 2002
- Scania Workers in Brazil Threaten to Strike
- OPEC President Urges Further Cut
- Air Cargo at LAX Declines in October
Snow Finally Reaches Plains States
After a two-month stretch of warm weather, the first severe storm hit parts of Nebraska, South Dakota and Minnesota, forcing many schools and businesses to close on Monday, news services reported.Highways were slippery and high wind piled the snow into foot-high drifts along Interstate 90 in southeastern South Dakota, the Associated Press reported.
The National Weather Service said a foot of snow could fall on parts of the three states by late Monday. A foot of snow was also possible by late Tuesday in northern Wisconsin.
On Monday morning, the storm system moved through the Rockies, and northeastern Colorado had blizzard conditions with strong wind gusts. Transport Topics
Air Cargo at LAX Declines in October
Los Angeles International Airport experienced a a 28.8% drop in passengers and 18.2% drop in air cargo tonnage last month compared with October 2000, officials said Monday.Much of the decline in air cargo was attributed to a 55.9% drop in mail, to 9,031 tons from 20,478 tons. The airport said this is a sign that mail continues to be heavily transported by truck since Sept. 11. Air freight was down 14.06 % from 184,567 tons in October 2000 to 158,612 tons last month.
So far this year air cargo has dipped 12.4% to 1,636,598 tons. Total air cargo was already down just over 10% during the January through August period. A decline in air freight hurts the trucking companies that are used to transport goods to and from this airport. Other trucking companies, however, may benefit from the diversion to highway transport. Transport Topics
(Click here for the full press release.)
Energy Industry on Alert for Attack
The oil and gas industry is on high alert after a FBI warning that Osama bin Laden may have ordered retaliatory strikes against natural gas facilities in event of his capture or death, the Associated Press reported.Industry sources told AP that last week's warning was general and singled out no specific target, but referred to natural gas infrastructure, like pipelines, in general.
If there was an attack on a pipeline, it could send the price of diesel fuel or gasoline skyrocketing, which would hurt the profits of trucking companies.
There are thousands of miles of natural gas and petroleum pipelines crossing North America, making protection difficult. Aerial monitoring of pipelines has increased and security has been intensified at pipeline pumping stations, industry officials told AP. Transport Topics
Boeing, Isuzu Announce Job Cuts
Boeing Co. said Monday it would cut another 2,900 jobs, bringing its total number of announced job cuts since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to 14,900, Reuters reported.The 2,900 employees getting 60-day layoff notices on Monday included 2,100 in Boeing's commercial jet unit, where orders have shriveled as airlines cut deliveries of new jets to match shrinking travel demand.
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.
Earlier Monday, Isuzu Motors said it would cut 3,300 jobs, or 8.7% of its worldwide work force. The Japanese automaker, which is 48% owned by General Motors Corp., will trim the jobs by March 2004, and said it no longer expects to be profitable for the full year. Transport Topics
Washington Remains Deadlocked Over Stimulus
Despite the bipartisan cooperation in the days and weeks after Sept. 11, Congress has slipped back into a party-based stalemate over an economic stimulus package, news services reported.Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) said he and other Democrats were concerned about the insistence of Republican leaders to provide tax cuts for businesses, while many of those same companies are laying off workers, the Associated Press said.
White House economic adviser Larry Lindsey said that the Bush administration wants to create paychecks, not unemployment checks, and that a tax cut for businesses would encourage expansion and job creation. Lindsey also warned that Bush would veto any spending proposal that he viewed as excessive, the AP reported.
Both chambers of Congress will try to hammer out an acceptable stimulus package before the House and Senate adjourn for holiday recess at the end of December. Transport Topics
Ground Zero Trucks Outfitted With Tracking Equipment
Trucks carrying rubble from the clean up of the World Trade Center are being outfitted with global positioning equipment to prevent theft of the debris, the New York Post reported.The system is being put into place a month after more than 100 tons of scrap metal from the World Trade Center was found in unofficial dumps around New York City. Authorities believe that organized crime diverted the missing metal from its usual destination on Staten Island, the Post said.
The city will outfit more than 120 trucks with the equipment. The units cost $1,000 each and an additional $150 an hour to operate. The Post estimated that if all the trucks were monitored 24 hours a day for the nine months remaining in the clean up effort, it will cost the city $100 million.
In the event a truck is hijacked -- or diverted from its normal course -- its engine can be disabled by remote. Officials from the FBI, New York Police Department and the New York Port Authority will monitor the movements of the trucks. Transport Topics
MAN Expects Drop in Truck Sales in 2002
MAN AG, Germany’s No. 2 manufacturer of heavy trucks, expects a 10% drop in sales for 2002, the German newspaper Handelsblatt reported.Hakan Samuelsson, chief executive of MAN AG’s truck division, said that the company might only sell 55,000 trucks in 2002, down 10,000 from its all-time high of 65,000 in 2000, Bloomberg said.
Because of the continuing sales slump and a third-quarter loss, the company has announced plans to shed jobs. The company said it does not expect to see a significant recovery until 2003. Transport Topics
Scania Workers in Brazil Threaten to Strike
Workers at a Scania plant in Brazil said Friday they will strike if the Swedish truck maker implements layoffs, Reuters reported.The ABC Metalworkers Union said the 2,300 workers at Scania's plant rejected a plan by the company to cut salaries and working hours in order to avoid trimming 400 jobs. The union said it will only accept a reduced work week.
A Scania spokesman said weak demand for trucks and buses has forced it to reduce costs by about 20%. However, the company did not say what salary and schedule cuts it has proposed to its local employees. Transport Topics
OPEC President Urges Further Cut
Chakib Khelil, president of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, over the weekend urged countries outside the cartel to agree to more production cuts in a bid to stabilize oil prices, news services reported.OPEC agreed to reduce its output by 1.5 million barrels a day as of Jan. 1 on the condition that non-OPEC members, including Norway, Russia and Mexico, agree to take similar action.
Khelil said that he was still in talks with these and other nations and was hopeful an agreement would be reached by the end of the year.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Russia's biggest oil companies have delayed a decision on whether to cut exports next year.
The price of crude oil is vitally important to the trucking industry because of its impact on the price of diesel fuel and gasoline. Transport Topics
