News Briefs - Dec. 27
The Latest Headlines:
- Rail Intermodal Volume Remains Strong, AAR Says
- Comair Catches Up After Canceling 1,100 Flights
- North Dakota Potato Growers Facing Shortage of Trucks
- Former Fed Governor Says Rates Will Rise to 3.5%
- Saudi Arabia Says It’s Maintaining Spare Oil Capacity
- Comair Catches Up After Canceling 1,100 Flights
Rail Intermodal Volume Remains Strong, AAR Says
The Association of American Railroads said intermodal volume totaled 228,729 trailers or containers in the week ended Dec. 18, up 14.2% from the same week a year earlier.Railroad volume is considered an important economic indicator. Intermodal traffic, which tends to be higher-valued merchandise than bulk commodities, uses trains for the long haul and trucks for the shorter distance at either end of the trip.
For the first 50 weeks the year, intermodal volume was 10.7 million trailers or containers, up 10.1% from the same period a year earlier, AAR said. Transport Topics
Comair Catches Up After Canceling 1,100 Flights
Regional airline Comair needs several more days to resume a full schedule of flights that were grounded over the holiday weekend due to a computer failure, news services reported.The airline was forced to cancel all of its 1,100 flights on Saturday.
Comair said on its Web site it carries "tons" of U.S. mail and freight between 89 cities in 32 states and Canada. Air cargo shipments always have a trucking component, since air carriers use trucks for the local and regional ground transportation.
Besides Comair, US Airways also canceled hundreds of flights during the holiday weekend due to severe weather and a large number of workers calling in sick. Transport Topics
North Dakota Potato Growers Facing Shortage of Trucks
Figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture show that a shortage of trucks has resulted in a 50% increase in the number of table stock potatoes being shipped by railroads out of North Dakota, the Grand Forks Herald reported.Ted Kreis, Northern Plains Potato Growers Association marketing director, said the rail shipments account for about 30% of all the fresh potatoes shipped out of North Dakota this season.
Although some potatoes have always moved out of North Dakota by rail, the amount had decreased because trucks are a quicker and more convenient mode of transportation, the article said.
NPPGA said potato growers in the state could use 100 more trucks a week to ship their potatoes. However, the association also said more trucks should be available in January because there is not as much competition for refrigerated trucks then, the Herald reported. Transport Topics
Former Fed Governor Says Rates Will Rise to 3.5%
The Federal Reserve will raise the benchmark interest rate to 3.5% by the end of 2005, former Fed governor Laurence Meyer said in an interview with Bloomberg News.The Fed's policy making Open Market Committee raised the federal funds rate five times this year to 2.25%, from a four-decade low of 1%.
Meyer said additional rate increases would be necessary to curb inflation, Bloomberg reported. He predicted core inflation, excluding food and energy, would increase about 2.25% in the year ahead. Transport Topics
Saudi Arabia Says It’s Maintaining Spare Oil Capacity
Saudi Arabia’s oil minister said this weekend the nation was maintaining spare oil production capacity of about 2 million barrels a day to help avert shortages, Bloomberg reported.Saudi Arabia is the world's largest oil exporter. Its oil minister, Ali al-Naimi, previously said the country planned to increase capacity to 12.5 million barrels a day from 11 million barrels, Bloomberg reported.
The price of crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed at $44.18 a barrel on Thursday, well below its record of $55.67 set on Oct. 25. OPEC oil ministers are scheduled to meet in January to assess world demand and possibly decide on cuts in production, according to Bloomberg. Transport Topics
