News Briefs - Feb. 20
- NITL Approves Carrier Membership
- Bridge on I-75 to Close in Michigan
- ATA, Va. Truckers Fight I-81 Toll Plan
- CF Announces Loss of $33.5M in 4Q
- OPEC Can't Manage Oil Prices Alone, Member Says
- Daimler Reports Loss for 4Q and 2001
- Refinery Changes May Boost Gasoline Prices
- UPS Will Consolidate Sales Staff, Eliminate Overlap
- Bridge on I-75 to Close in Michigan
NITL Approves Carrier Membership
The National Industrial Transportation League, the 95-year-old shipper organization, approved the admission of carriers as full members for the first time in its history, JoC Online reported Wednesday.President Edward M. Emmett announced the move today, saying the so-called "Vision 2020" reorganization passed by a 3-1 margin among voting companies.
Emmett said that the lines between shippers and carriers had blurred to the point that it just made sense for the two groups to cooperate and work together, the JoC reported.
The group's executive committee first floated the idea at the NITL's annual meeting in November. In January, the League's board of directors approved the action. Final approval required a vote by member companies, the JoC reported. Transport Topics
Bridge on I-75 to Close in Michigan
Replacement of expansion joints will necessitate the closing of the eight-lane Zilwaukee Bridge on Interstate 75 at Zilwaukee, Mich., the Associated Press reported Tuesday.During the shutdown, which will begin March 1 and last a month or longer, traffic will be detoured to I-675, adding about eight miles to a trip between the Detroit area and northern Michigan.
The bridge spans the Saginaw River between Saginaw and Bay City. It handles about 51,000 vehicles a day. Currently, about 30,000 vehicles travel each day on the four lanes of I-675 each day in that area, the AP said. Transport Topics
ATA, Va. Truckers Fight I-81 Toll Plan
The American Trucking Associations and the Virginia Trucking Association voiced their opposition Wednesday to a plan to expand Interstate 81 in Virginia using truck-only toll lanes.In a press release, ATA called the proposal unsafe and financially unsound, saying that forcing trucks to cross several lanes of traffic to enter and exit the dedicated tolling lanes posed a danger to both truck and automobile traffic. The groups also decried the equity of the plan, saying that the trucking industry already pays for its highway usage through dedicated highway taxes.
In a letter dated Feb. 17, ATA President and Chief Executive Officer William Canary and VTA Executive Vice President Dale Bennett called on Gov. Mark Warner and other state lawmakers to oppose the planned expansion of I-81.
As proposed, the project calls for the reconstruction and widening of I-81 through a public-private financing plan.
"While we applaud Virginia for examining this unique approach, the trucks-only toll lanes plan is outright unsafe for motorists and fiscally unsound for Virginia,” Canary said. “The trucking industry already pays its fair share of highway taxes and it is unacceptable to ask this industry to pay twice for the use of this interstate.”
The proposed I-81 truck lanes and the issue of tolls in general were addressed at the 2002 ATA Leadership Meeting. House Transportation Committee Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska) said he supported the idea of truck lanes as a way to alleviate congestion and speed up deliveries, the Feb. 18 issue of TRANSPORT TOPICS reported.
However, Young said he is opposed to forcing trucks onto toll lanes in Virginia for the same reasons that the ATA put forward. Transport Topics
(Click here for the full press release.)
CF Announces Loss of $33.5M in 4Q
In the final three months of the year, Consolidated Freightways Corp. incurred a $37.5 million net loss, or $1.69 per share, the company said in a statement.CF said Wednesday that it posted a net loss of $104.3 million in 2001, or $4.74 per share.
During the quarter, the Vancouver, Wash.-based company had a base revenue of $500.8 million, down from the $579.7 million the company brought in during the same quarter of 2000. In that year, the company had a significantly smaller operating loss of $8.4 million.
Consolidated Freightways reported that its total tonnage fell 9.3% in the fourth quarter and 3.6% for the full year.
Consolidated Freightways is ranked No. 11 on the 2000-2001 Transport Topics 100 list. Transport Topics
(Click here for the full press release.)
OPEC Can't Manage Oil Prices Alone, Member Says
If Russia decides not to maintain its production cutbacks, it will be impossible to keep oil prices at current levels, Qatar's oil minister told Bloomberg News Wednesday.The prices of diesel fuel and gasoline, both used in large quantities by commercial trucking, tend to follow the movements of the price of crude oil.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries cannot manage the market alone, Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, said in Doha, Qatar.
Russia, the second-largest oil producer after Saudi Arabia, promised in December to reduce output by 150,000 barrels a day. However, Russian oil companies have complained about lower earnings from exports and analysts expect that Russia will end its export reductions after March, Bloomberg said.
The price of oil on the London and New York markets has fluctuated between $20 and $21 for weeks. Transport Topics
Daimler Reports Loss for 4Q and 2001
DaimlerChrysler AG, the world's largest automaker, said Wednesday that it lost $34 million, or about 3 cents per share, in the fourth quarter, down from net income of $1.2 billion or about $1.24 per share in 2000, Bloomberg reported.Along with its numerous consumer car and truck offerings, Daimler is also the parent company of Freightliner, the largest truck maker in North America.
For all of 2001, Daimler lost $578.7 million, or about 58 cents per share. In the previous year, the company earned 6.9 billion, or $6.88 a share. Sales fell 5.9% during the year.
The company had charges of $3.8 billion from its Chrysler, Freightliner and Mitsubishi subsidiaries, but offset those losses with the sale of $1.4 billion in assets, Bloomberg said.
Daimler claimed revenue of $25.4 billion on sales of 492,900 trucks. The company said that sales levels did not reach the previous year's level because of a drop off in the North American and Argentinean markets. The commercial truck division saw its profits drop to $45 million, mostly from a sustained loss by Freightliner.
Freightliner launched a comprehensive restructuring plan in October 2001. The company may need to spend even more on restructuring in 2002, Reuters reported. Transport Topics
(Click here for the full press release.)
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Refinery Changes May Boost Gasoline Prices
Analysts think that gasoline prices could start rising in mid-March, the Associated Press reported Wednesday, as refineries start producing summer-grade fuel.To produce the cleaner-burning summer gasoline required in some areas, refineries must take equipment apart, clean it and begin producing again. Those shutdowns will eat into the country's gasoline inventories, driving prices higher, the AP said.
Refiners can inject extra winter gasoline with additives for use during the summer, but that too will cause inventories to evaporate.
Analysts are also predicting cyclical price spikes in places like California, the Midwest and the Northeast as buyers purchase gasoline, bidding prices higher over fears of shortages of reformulated gasoline, the AP reported. Transport Topics
UPS Will Consolidate Sales Staff, Eliminate Overlap
United Parcel Service said that it will clean house and unify its sales force to get rid of overlap, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.UPS, the world's largest trucking company, has made 20 acquisitions since 1999 leading to some redundant staffing.
The move will create a single sales force for all of the Atlanta-based firm's services including mail pickups, package delivery and spare-parts distribution, the Journal said.
The company said that its non-package businesses, which total 8% of the company's total revenue, are growing faster than its delivery units, the Journal reported. Transport Topics
