News Briefs - April 8
The Latest Headlines:
- Mineta Highlights Work Zone Awareness
- USF Issues First-Quarter Warning
- European Air Carriers Cut Cargo Surcharges
- USPS May Delay Rate Hike Request, Paper Says
- Possible OPEC Production Cut Holds Crude Prices Steady
- IEA Says World Oil Supplies Sufficient
- USF Issues First-Quarter Warning
Mineta Highlights Work Zone Awareness
Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta marked National Work Zone Awareness Week Tuesday by urging drivers to drive with caution through highway work zones.A release by the Department of Transportation said that work zone fatalities increased by 55% between 1997 and 2001. In 2001, which is the last year where information is available, 1,079 people died in work zone-related crashes – 80% of those fatalities were motorists, DOT said.
“The Bush administration is committed to improving safety on our nation’s highways, and this campaign helps alert motorists to drive carefully through highway construction zones,” Secretary Mineta said. “We can improve safety for motorists, pedestrians and construction workers by exercising caution and following good safety practices in highway work zones.”
National Work Zone Awareness Week runs from April 6-12, DOT said. Transport Topics
USF Issues First-Quarter Warning
USFreightways Corp. said that for the first quarter ended April 5, it expects to earn between 10 cents and 16 cents a share. The company had previously said it expected earnings to be in a range from the 20 cents to 30 cents a share. The company said that three “significant and unusual events” hurt earnings during the first quarter. According to the company severe weather hurt operating earnings at USF Red Star and USF Dugan. USF Red Star is also making changes that are reducing costs, with a temporary reduction in revenue. Finally, the company expects to take a charge of up to 4 cents a share from “the write-down of accounts receivable from Fleming Cos. Inc., which recently filed for bankruptcy.
In the same quarter in 2002, the company logged a loss of $2.84 a share.
USF joins Swift Transportation Co., as well as several other trucking companies in issuing warnings about their quarterly results for the first part of 2003.
USF is ranked No. 8 on the 2002 Transport Topics 100 listing of the largest trucking companies in the United States and Canada. Transport Topics
(Click here for the full press release.)
European Air Carriers Cut Cargo Surcharges
European airlines Lufthansa Cargo and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines NV both said this week that they would be trimming their cargo surcharges because of falling fuel prices, Bloomberg reported.KLM said that it was dropping its 10-cent-per-kilogram surcharge it put in place because of the war in Iraq. The Dutch airline also said it would resume some flights to the Middle East, but did not specify which ones, Bloomberg said.
Lufthansa Cargo, the world’s largest cargo airline according to Bloomberg, said it would cut its surcharge to 16 cents a kilogram from 21 cents. The subsidiary of Deutsche Lufthansa AG said it believes that the price of jet fuel have been falling since the start of the war in Iraq and may continue to fall as the war progresses.
A kilogram is roughly 2.2 pounds.
Airfreight is often transported to and from airports on trucks. Transport Topics
USPS May Delay Rate Hike Request, Paper Says
The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Postal Service will likely not seek an immediate increase in postage rates after the House passes legislation allowing the agency to cut payments to pensions.The Postal Service, according to the Journal, won’t seek a rate hike until 2006 if the measure passes the House, which it is expected to do Tuesday.
The bill would allow the service to avoid paying billions to its pension fund, the Journal said. The proposal was made after it was discovered that the agency’s payments to its pension fund and its expected future payments were a combined $27 billion less than previous estimated, the paper reported.
The Postal Service has been struggling in recent years to remain profitable and has sought to cut costs or raise rates to help the bottom line. Transport Topics
Possible OPEC Production Cut Holds Crude Prices Steady
Expectations that Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries would cut its output of oil to prevent a possible surplus ended a two-day drop in the price of crude oil, Bloomberg reported.In electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the price of crude oil for May delivery rose 4 cents a barrel to $28, Bloomberg said Tuesday.
OPEC planned to meet April 24, Bloomberg said. At that meeting, the cartel is expected to discuss trimming back output, OPEC President Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah said.
Analysts said that as the United States takes control of more Iraq and its oil infrastructure, the possibility of a glut on the oil market becomes more real and that OPEC will likely cut production to avoid this, Bloomberg reported. Transport Topic
IEA Says World Oil Supplies Sufficient
The International Energy Agency said Tuesday that despite a three-week freeze in oil shipments from Iraq and a dip in production from Nigeria, oil supplies are not yet running short, Bloomberg reported.IEA, which advised 26 oil-importing countries, said that it is clear that the oil market is “adequately supplied” despite geopolitical events that raised concerns about a supply crunch, Bloomberg reported.
A report by Platts, an oil industry research and consulting firm, said that OPEC pumped 27.78 million barrels of oil per day during March, up 750,000 barrels per day from February. Transport Topics
(Click here for the full press release.)
