News Briefs - Jan. 17
The Latest Headlines:
- Caterpillar Announces EPA Certification of ACERT Engine
- U.S. Refiners Face Output Cuts From Venezuela
- CSXT Inks Deal with Spanish Company
- Consumer Confidence Declines to Start '03
- Intermodal Traffic Up Last Week
- Delphi Boosts 4Q Profit on Increased Auto Sales
- N.Y. Fed Chief Leaving, WSJ Says
- U.S. Refiners Face Output Cuts From Venezuela
Caterpillar Announces EPA Certification of ACERT Engine
Caterpillar Inc. said Friday that it has received certification from the Environmental Protection Agency for an engine equipped with the company’s advanced combustion emission reduction technology.Caterpillar said the ACERT system, as the company refers to it, reduces emissions at the point of combustion.
The engine is the Peoria, Ill.-based company’s response to new EPA emissions rules that went into effect in October 2002.
(Click here for the full press release.)
U.S. Refiners Face Output Cuts From Venezuela
Oil refiners in the United States could face more production problems because of prolonged supply disruptions resulting from strikes in Venezuela, an industry analyst told Bloomberg.The strike has cut 2.5 million barrels of day from Venezuela’s oil production, Steve Strongin, head of commodity research at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. told Bloomberg, and there is “no end in sight.”
Some refineries have already begun paring back production because of reduced output from Venezuela, the fourth-largest supplier of oil to the United States, Bloomberg reported. TransportTopics
CSXT Inks Deal with Spanish Company
CSX Transportation, the intermodal unit of CSX Corp., said it has entered into an agreement with Spanish transportation company Naviera del Odiel S.A. to offer CSXT's services in North America to shippers, forwarders and logistics companies located in Spain and Portugal.Under the arrangement, Naviera will represent and actively promote CSXT across the Atlantic. The companies did not disclose financial terms of the deal.
CSXT said it provides intermodal services in 23 states, the District of Columbia and two Canadian provinces. Transport Topics
(Click here for the full press release.)
Consumer Confidence Declines to Start '03
U.S. consumer confidence fell for the first time three mnoths, the University of Michigan said Friday.The university said in a preliminary release of its consumer sentiment index showed a decline to 83.7 from 86.7 in December.
The report said that U.S. consumers are not convinced President Bush’s plan to stimulate the economy will work.
Consumer confidence is important to consumer spending, which provides the trucking industry a good deal of business. Transport Topics
Intermodal Traffic Up Last Week
The number of intermodal loadings on America’s rail lines rose 9.4% in the second week of 2003, the Association of American Railroads said Thursday.Intermodal is the segment of the rail industry that competes most directly with long-haul trucking.
The number of container loadings rose 13.5% versus the same week last year to 186,604. Trailer loadings dipped slightly, 1.7%, to 44,874, AAR said.
Overall, through two weeks, intermodal traffic is 9.6% ahead of the record pace it set last year, AAR reported. Transport Topics
Delphi Boosts 4Q Profit on Increased Auto Sales
Parts manufacturer Delphi Corp. said Friday that it had a profit of $120 million in the final quarter of 2003.The profit translated to about 21 cents per share in the fourth quarter, the company said. In 2001, the Troy, Mich.-based company said it had a loss of $131 million or about 23 cents per share.
Delphi reported that it had a 9.3% increase in sales to $6.97 billion in the fourth quarter, due mostly to increased automobile production by its largest customer, General Motors.
Delphi was spun off from GM in 1999. Transport Topics
(Click here for the full press release.)
N.Y. Fed Chief Leaving, WSJ Says
Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William McDonough is retiring, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.McDonough, 68, said in a press release that he wouldn’t discuss his plans for the future, other than to say he planned to stay active with several non-for-profit groups, the Journal reported.
Peter G. Peterson, chairman of the New York Fed’s board, will head the search committee, but the Journal said that former Fed officials indicated that Peter Fisher is the likely top choice to succeed McDonough. Fisher is currently the undersecretary of domestic finance at the Treasury Department and is seen as a key member of the Bush economic team.
The Journal said that the New York Fed post is one of the Fed’s most important jobs because it has a permanent vote on the central bank’s policymaking body, the Federal Open Market Committee. The FOMC is responsible for setting interest rates. Transport Topics
