News Briefs - Aug. 20
The Latest Headlines:
- Freightliner Motor-Home Chassis Sales Increase
- Crude Oil Price Hits $30 Per Barrel on NYMEX
- AAA Expects Holiday Travel to Decrease Slightly
- Limit Idling, Truck Stop Ordered
- June Trade Gap Narrows to $37.2 Billion
- FedEx CEO Gets Stock Option Deal
- Optimism on Global Recovery Fades, Journal Says
- CF Can't Certify Financials Yet
- Continental Recalls Light Truck Tires
- Crude Oil Price Hits $30 Per Barrel on NYMEX
Freightliner Motor-Home Chassis Sales Increase
Freightliner, the U.S. truck unit of DaimlerChrysler AG, said Tuesday its bottom line may be helped by an increase of sales in its motor-home unit, Bloomberg reported.With sales up 15%, the unit is expected to break even on the year, after losing money last year. Sales of motor-home chassis should help offset a decline in heavy-duty truck sales expected after the Environmental Protection Agency’s Oct. 1 deadline for a new, lower-emissions engine, Bloomberg said.
The production boost by the largest U.S. heavy-duty truck maker came without adding workers, Bloomberg said. In 2001, motor-home chassis sales accounted for 6% of Freightliner’s total sales. Transport Topics
Crude Oil Price Tops $30 Per Barrel on NYMEX
Crude oil futures rose to an 18-month high of $30.11 a barrel Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg reported.The price of crude oil affects the prices of diesel fuel and gasoline and, in turn, the cost of providing trucking services.
On Monday, the Department of Energy said the average price of diesel fuel rose 3 cents per gallon to $1.333, which was the biggest jump in the diesel price in 10 months. (Click here for the full story.)
Part of the reason for Tuesday morning's 16-cent increase was the expectation that an American Petroleum Institute report to be released Tuesday evening will show a third straight week of decline in U.S. inventories, Bloomberg said. Transport Topics
AAA Expects Holiday Travel to Decrease Slightly
An estimated 27.5. million people will take trips in highway vehicles during the Labor Day weekend, down slightly from 27.6 last year, AAA said Tuesday.Truckers usually have to deal with more traffic during holiday weekends.
Currently, AAA said, the average price for self-serve regular unleaded gasoline is $1.40 per gallon, down 2.6 cents from last year.
Concerns about the economy and early school starts are main reasons for the expected decrease in highway travel, AAA said. Transport Topics
(Click here for the full press release.)
Limit Idling, Truck Stop Ordered
The Plainville, Mass., Board of Health has ordered Domenic Georgio, the owner of Plainville Truck Stop, to offer a plan by Sept. 4 to reduce diesel fumes from idling trucks, the Boston Globe reported.Complaints about pollution have grown in recent years from local residents as more trucks idle at the stop, the Globe said.
Georgio's plan, which will have to include input from neighbors, could involve limiting the number of trucks, moving them away from the area closest to residences and increasing signs that warn against idling, the story said.
Georgio said he had hoped to install alternative devices to limit idling, but some anticipated grant money has not come through, the Globe said. Transport Topics
June Trade Gap Narrows to $37.2 Billion
The trade deficit narrowed to $37.2 billion in June from a record $37.8 billion as U.S. companies shipped more products abroad, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.A trade deficit occurs when the dollar value of imports exceeds that of exports. While trucks are used in both import and export activities, a trade deficit means trucks are missing out on the kind of business involved in strong manufacturing activities.
Imports rose 0.5% as an increase in shipments of consumer goods was tempered by a drop in oil imports.
Commerce also noted exports rose 1.7% in June to $82 billion, led by shipments of aircraft, semiconductors and other capital goods. Transport Topics
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FedEx CEO Gets Stock Option Deal
FedEx Corp.'s Chief Executive Officer Frederick Smith got stock options worth as much as $28 million this year, Bloomberg reported.In addition, Bloomberg said, the boss of the package carrier saw his annual bonus rise by 40%, to $1.3 million from $940,827 the year before.
The stock options received will be worth $28.2 million if the shares rise 10% or more a year over the 10-year life of the grant, Bloomberg said.
Stock options as a form of executive compensation have attracted attention because of their use by the managements of some high-profile corporate collapses. Transport Topics
Optimism on Global Recovery Fades, Journal Says
Recent sluggish economic data from around the world have caused a deterioration of optimism that the second half of 2002 will feature a strong rebound, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.A global rebound would benefit trucking in the United States by providing loads moving in import trade.
Specifically, economists said the expected pickup in global manufacturing has not developed. The manufacturing sector is one of the largest and most important to the trucking industry.
Even former Federal Reserve Governor Laurence Meyer told the Journal there is a wide sense of disappointment the global economy has not improved more. The only bright spot at this time, he said, is non-Japan Asia. Transport Topics
CF Can't Certify Financials Yet
Less-than-truckload carrier Consolidated Freightways Corp. said Monday that neither Chief Executive Officer John Brincko nor Chief Financial Officer Stephen Sokol has had enough time to review and certify the company's finances.The SEC has required that companies provided sworn statements about their recent SEC filings in the wake of this summer’s rash of corporate accounting scandals. The deadline for such certification had been Aug. 14, but many companies have obtained extensions.
he Vancouver, Wash.-based company said in a release that Brincko joined the company on May 28 and Sokol was appointed on July 1. They hope to have a full review - along with CF's second-quarter earnings report -- completed within approximately two weeks.
Consolidated Freightways is ranked No. 12 on the 2002 Transport Topics 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian trucking companies. Transport Topics
(>Click here for the full press release.)
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Continental Recalls Light Truck Tires
Continental Tire North America is recalling more than half a million tires after some were shown to have lost tread, the Associated Press reported Monday.The tires were primarily installed as original equipment on two-wheel drive Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator sport utility vehicles, but about 60,000 were sold as replacements for light trucks, AP said.
The recall involves the P275/60R17 size of the ContiTrac AW and General Grabber AW tires made at the company's plant in Mayfield, Ky.
The company also announced a recall Monday of 3,505 tires used on commercial buses. Those tires were said to be wearing down quickly with heavy use, AP said. Transport Topics
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