Executive Briefing - Oct 15
- Earnings Down 50% at J.B. Hunt
- Copp Trucking Shuts Down
- Xata Receives $4.1 Million Contract
- Gasoline Prices Under $1 a Gallon in Some Areas
- Mack Says Union Ratifies New Contract
- Eaton's 3Q Earnings Down 39%
- Experts Offer Tips for Handling Suspicious Mail
- Leedham Expects Close Teamsters’ Race
- Bethlehem Steel Prepares for Chapter 11
- Allied Automotive Implements New Fee
- Oil Prices Fall; Low Demand Seen Into 2002
- Ford, EPA in Deal for New Hybrid Engine Design
- Copp Trucking Shuts Down
Earnings Down 50% at J.B. Hunt
Transportation and logistics firm J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. (JBHT) said Monday that its third-quarter earnings declined 50% due to higher costs and lower demand.
Hunt, which Reuters said was expected to earn 4 cents per share, reported a net income of $4.5 million, or 12 cents per share, compared with $9.1 million, or 26 cents a year ago.
The company said its truckload unit saw revenues grow 1%, while revenues for its intermodal segment increased 9%.
The Lowell, Ark.-based company, ranked No. 13 on the 2000-2001 Transport Topics 100 list, blamed much of the earnings shortfall on in its dedicated contract services unit, which was hit hard with reduced freight volumes and high start-up costs. Transport Topics
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Copp Trucking Shuts Down
Copp Trucking Co. has shut its doors after 23 years, due to high fuel prices, recent labor troubles and costs related to an accident in Iowa two years ago, the Business Journal of Kansas City reported.Copp Trucking had about 300 employees and $25 million in revenue in 2000, according to owner Cliff Copp.
Copp, located in Kansas City, Kan., is not the first trucking company in the state to go under recently. In May, OTR Express Inc. shut down, and Transfinancial Holdings Inc. closed its Crouse Cartage Co. and Standardized Transportation Inc. subsidiaries last year. Transport Topics
Xata Receives $4.1 Million Contract
Xata Corp. (XATA), a supplier of onboard-vehicle technology for transportation companies, said Monday it has been awarded a $4.1 million contract by a major company in the grocery distribution business.
The deal covers installation of Xata's onboard computers equipped with global positioning and satellite communications capabilities in the customer's fleet of more than 1,000 trucks.
The Minneapolis-based company said hardware and software installation should take no more than nine months to complete. Transport Topics
(Click here for the full press release.)
Gasoline Prices Under $1 a Gallon in Some Areas
As consumers in the United States travel less and crude oil prices continue to fall, the price of gasoline has fallen below $1 per gallon in some areas, USA Today reported.While the largest trucks run on diesel fuel, a significant portion of commercial trucking is carried out in smaller, gas-powered trucks.
The national average price of gasoline has fallen nearly 20 cents a gallon since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, after immediate fears of price spikes and gouging, according to the Oil Price Information Service.
In Atlanta, some station owners and consumer watch groups are reporting prices as low as 99.9 cents per gallon. The owner of a chain of stations in the middle Atlantic states of New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and Virginia said that his company’s prices are also slightly less than a dollar, the paper said.
Some experts believe continued weak demand and low wholesale gas prices may lead to even lower retail gas prices. Transport Topics
Mack Says Union Ratifies New Contract
Mack Trucks Inc. said that employees represented by the United Auto Workers have ratified a new three-year contract, covering about 3,700 people at facilities in four states.The Allentown, Pa.-based heavy-duty truck company and the union had reached a tentative agreement last Sunday, but the union needed to vote on it before it went into effect.
Earlier, the union walked out of negotiations after Mack, a Volvo AB subsidiary, announced the pending closure of a plant in Winnsboro, S.C., involving 700 jobs.
The contract covers union members in Allentown, Macungie, and Middletown, Pa.; Hagerstown and Elkridge, Md.; Morrow, Ga. and Winnsboro. Transport Topics
Eaton’s 3Q Earnings Down 39%
The largest U.S. maker of truck transmissions, Eaton Corp. (ETN), said Monday that its profits for the third quarter declined 39%, as the U.S. economy struggled following last month's terrorist attacks.
Based in Cleveland, the company did report a net income of $47 million, or 66 cents a share, compared with $77 million, or $1.07 a year earlier. According to Reuters, the consensus estimate from analysts was 63 cents.
Eaton's truck segment sales of $253 million were 24% below last year's third quarter, as heavy-duty truck production was down throughout the majority of the world. Total revenues for Eaton declined 13% to $1.75 billion for the quarter.
The company said despite the attacks, it still expects to meet its earnings targets for the fourth quarter and full fiscal year. Transport Topics
(Click here for the full press release.)
Experts Offer Tips for Handling Suspicious Mail
The rash of possible anthrax attacks via the U.S. mail has many people on edge, and experts say there are several warning signs to watching for, the New York Times reported.So far, news organizations and Microsoft have both been targeted with suspicious mail, but many companies are beginning to look more carefully at mail before opening it.
The FBI has offered some of the following tips on what to look for in mail that may contain biological agents.
- The letter has no return address.
- There are restrictive markings like “Personal” or “Confidential.”
- Misspelled words, addressed to a position rather than a person or to a person that no longer works for a company.
- Excessive postage on the letter.
- The package is lopsided or uneven, rigid or excessively bulky.
- Extra string or tape on the package.
- Wire protruding from the envelope or package.
- Oily stains or discoloration on the package, even some crystallization and a strange odor.
Leedham Expects Close Teamsters’ Race
As the Teamsters union mailed ballots to its members last week for its presidential election, challenger Tom Leedham of Oregon believes that he has a good chance to defeat President James P. Hoffa, the New York Times reported.The ballots will be counted next month, and Leedham told the paper that Hoffa has not done enough to improve wages and benefits.
Although he only received 39% of the vote to Hoffa’s 57% in 1998, Leedham’s campaign said he has been focusing on winning votes from United Parcel Service drivers and long-haul truck drivers across the country.
There are several differences between the two, including their view on drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Hoffa is in favor of the idea, but Leedham questions whether it would add as many new jobs for union members as predicted. Transport Topics
Bethlehem Steel Prepares for Chapter 11
Increasing labor expenses, tough competition from foreign imports, and the cost of retiree benefits have forced Bethlehem Steel Corp. (BS) to make plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.The nation’s No. 3 steel maker is expected to use the protection to stabilize its finances and seek out a merger or a buyer, the Wall Street Journal said.
If this large company engages in job cuts or trims production, it could mean fewer shipments for flatbed trucking companies in the months ahead.
The move comes just weeks after the company replaced its chairman and chief executive officer with Robert Miller, the executive who guided the bailout of Chrysler Corp. in the 1980s, according to the Journal. Transport Topics
Allied Automotive Implements New Fee
Allied Holdings Inc. (AHI) said Monday that its car hauling subsidiary, Allied Automotive Group, has agreed to implement a previously announced administrative processing fee with its manufacturers.The company has instituted a fee of 8.5% on transporting vehicles in the United States and Canada. The fee was announced on Aug. 6 and applies to about 85% of the company’s business.
"We are delighted that our clients have elected to support our turnaround plan by accepting our new administrative processing fee,” said Hugh Sawyer, president and chief executive officer of Allied Holdings. Transport Topics
(Click here for the full press release.)
Oil Prices Fall; Low Demand Seen Into 2002
The price of crude oil fell more than 1% in international trading Monday on the expectation that low consumer confidence will reduce travel and oil demand.The price of Brent crude oil, the benchmark oil price for much of the world, has fallen 22% since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Bloomberg reported.
Also Monday, the International Energy Agency said that oil demand is likely to fall by 600,000 barrels a day during the fourth quarter, according to the Wall Street Journal. Previously, the IEA had forecast a 500,000-barrel a day increase in oil demand.
The sharp downturn is likely to compel the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut production for the fourth time in 2001 to attempt to keep prices up, the Journal said. The IEA expects demand to continue contracting for the first two quarters of 2002. Transport Topics
Ford, EPA in Deal for New Hybrid Engine Design
Ford Motor Co. (F) said late Friday it signed an exclusive agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to develop a new high-mileage hybrid engine for light trucks and sport utility vehicles, Reuters reported.
These vehicles are used in a wide variety of trucking applications, especially among utility fleets and other service-oriented businesses.
This system is different from other ones because it uses a pressurized liquid to store energy. Hydraulic motors and pumps recover energy from the engine and brakes and then use the pressure from the tanks to help power the vehicle.
Ford said the tanks needed to store pressurized liquid may be lighter and cheaper than hybrid batteries and possibly more efficient. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Ford has an exclusive right to the technology and said it hopes to put a pilot fleet of vehicles with the system on the road by the end of the decade. Transport Topics
