News Briefs - Feb. 25
The Latest Headlines:
- CSX Moves Corporate Headquarters to Florida
- Texas Snow, Ice Snarls Transport
- Secretary Abraham Says U.S. Ready to Tap SPR
- Truckers Protest Delays at Ga. Port
- Swift Settles Injury Litigation
- Crude Prices Rise After New Resolution Presented to UN
- MAN's CFO Says Cost Cuts Will Lead to '03 Profit
- Texas Snow, Ice Snarls Transport
CSX Moves Corporate Headquarters to Florida
Rail and intermodal company CSX Corp. said it has officially moved its corporate headquarters to Jacksonville, Fla., from Richmond, Va.Its operating units, including eastern-U.S. rail giant CSX Transportation and the CSX Intermodal system, were already based in Jacksonville, a company official noted. And Florida was also home to the corporation’s new chairman and chief executive, Michael Ward.
Ward took over after former Richmond-based Chairman John Snow left to become Treasury secretary in the Bush administration.
Texas Snow, Ice Snarls Transport
“Black ice” and packed snow snarled major highways in Texas and disrupted air travel Tuesday as yet another winter storm socked part of the United States.Days after the Midwest and East Coast dug out from a fierce snowstorm over the Presidents’ Day weekend, reports showed traffic halted at midday on Interstate 35 in Dallas after up to 13 inches of snow hit the southern Plains and parts of the South.
I-35 is a major north-south route also known as the Nafta Highway, since it runs south to the busiest Mexico truck crossing at Laredo, and north into the central U.S.
The Associated Press said American Airlines canceled hundreds of flights at Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport. AP said the winter storm also closed stretches of I-10 near San Antonio, and caused highways problems in Oklahoma and Arkansas.
Secretary Abraham Says U.S. Ready to Tap SPR
Appearing before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham said that the United States was ready to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, but would not do so unless there are “severe disruptions" in oil supplies, the Associated Press reported.Abraham, under questioning from the committee, said that the U.S. would not tap the SPR to ease rising prices, but would only release any of the more than 600 million barrels of oil if there are severe shortages of oil, AP reported.
Citing the end of the crisis in Venezuela, Abraham said that it was his belief that oil supplies from that country could return to normal in 60 to 90 days, AP reported.
Crude oil prices have been forced higher on tightening supplies as a result of the strike in Venezuela and fears of potential disruptions of Middle East oil supplies if there is a war in Iraq. Transport Topics
Truckers Protest Delays at Ga. Port
Truckers in Savannah, Ga. picketed Monday outside a terminal at that city’s port to protest traffic problems, long waits at check-ins and delays in loading cargo, the Savannah Morning News reported.Drivers argued that these hold ups, combined with the rising cost of fuel are hurting their livelihood and they blame the Georgia Ports Authority for the problems, the paper said.
GPA officials said that $1.5 million in improvements at the port should ease many of the problems, the Morning News reported.
Doug Marchand, executive director of the Georgia Ports Authority, told the paper that the GPA is trying reduce truck turnaround times and fix the problems it can control. Marchand said that low rates paid by steamship lines and rising fuel prices are out of the authority’s hands. Transport Topics
Swift Settles Injury Litigation
Truckload carrier Swift Transportation Co. Inc. said Monday that it settled a personal injury suit against it on Feb. 21.The injury occurred in a motor vehicle accident during "brief period when Swift was in a dispute with its excess carrier and its policy limits were lower than historical and current levels," the company said in a release.
The settlement exceeds the company's coverage during this limited period by $6.25 million, Swift said in a statement. The company added that it has asked its insurance broker to contribute to the shortfall in coverage.
Based in Phoenix, Swift is ranked No. 13 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.)
Crude Prices Rise After New Resolution Presented to UN
The price of crude oil rose to a new 27-month high after the United States, United Kingdom and Spain presented a resolution to the United Nations Security Council that would back an attack on Iraq, Bloomberg said.The price of crude oil, which is distilled down to gasoline and diesel fuel, rose 51 cents a barrel to $36.99 in early morning electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The U.S. benchmark price is 79% higher than it was at the same point last year, Bloomberg said.
The coalition of countries asked the security council to vote within two weeks on the resolution which says that Iraq has lost its “final opportunity” to cooperate in the disarming process, Bloomberg reported.
Analysts fear that a war would drive up oil prices even further, Bloomberg said, because U.S. oil inventories are already at historic lows. Transport Topics
MAN’s CFO Says Cost Cuts Will Lead to ’03 Profit
MAN AG, the No. 3 truck maker in Europe, is expecting to increase its profits this year as it cuts costs, Chief Financial Officer Ferdinand von Ballestrem told Bloomberg News.At a conference in Frankfurt, Germany, von Ballestrem said that MAN’s prospects for improved profits were “good even without higher volumes,” Bloomberg reported.
Despite his confidence in MAN’s expected profits von Ballestrem declined to provide specific goals because of what he called political and economic “uncertainties,” Bloomberg said. Transport Topics
