News Briefs - June 20
The Latest Headlines:
- Average Rush Hour Wait Up to 62 Hours Yearly
- CVSA Road Check Shows Vehicle Improvement
- OPEC Members Ponder Output Hike
- U.S. Trade Deficit Swelled in April
- Jobless Claims Fall in Latest Week
- Administration Reveals Plan for Amtrak
- Deutsche Post Preparing to Pay Damages
- CVSA Road Check Shows Vehicle Improvement
Average Rush Hour Wait Up to 62 Hours Yearly
The amount of time U.S. drivers sat in traffic during 2000 was nearly four times as long as it was in 1982, a study by the Texas Transportation Institute said Thursday.Since trucks are on the road nearly every hour, often times they get caught in traffic jams of workers commuting to and from work.
Annually, the U.S. loses $68 billion in wasted fuel and time sitting in traffic, the report said.
Since the long-running study began in 1982, the period known as “rush hour” has grown from four-and-a-half hours per day to seven hours a day in 2000.
The TTI study looks at 75 urban areas across the country for its data. Transport Topics
(Click here for the full press release.)
CVSA Road Check Shows Vehicle Improvement
The 14th annual 72-hour Roadcheck of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance turned up 6.3% more defect-free buses and trucks than in the preceding year, the CVSA reported Thursday.The annual event was completed June 6, inspecting 49,032 vehicles at 919 locations in Canada, the United States and Mexico. Personnel involved in the inspections totaled 8,190.
CVSA said the inspections found 25,204 vehicles free of defects, compared with 23,716 a year ago. However, the total number of inspections this year was 8.8% more than 2001, when 45,077 inspections were conducted.
For all of the inspections, 77.9% of the vehicles checked met the safety standards for mechanical fitness, an 8.3% improvement from 2001. At the same time, 94.3% of the drivers met the standards, which was identical to the previous two years.
Concerns about security in the truck and bus industries led to a 57.8% increase over the number of hazardous materials inspections – 6,091 vs. 3,861 in 2001. However, the inspections resulted in 17.1% of the vehicles and 2.6% of the drivers placed out of service, compared with 17.2% of the vehicles and 2.3% of the drivers in 2001. Transport Topics
OPEC Members Ponder Output Hike
World oil prices could be poised to slide as rival producers may force the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to increase its members production quotas, Bloomberg said.The price of diesel fuel and gasoline, which trucks use in great quantities, rises and falls with that of crude oil.
Norway and Russia, two large producers that are not members of OPEC, both plan to raise their export levels, Bloomberg said, ending their six-month efforts to cooperate with the organization’s attempts to maintain the price at $22 to $28 a barrel.
However, oil demand has risen at half the expected level during the summer, which may force cartel members to raise output or lose market share to non-OPEC producers – a result cartel spokesmen said could not be tolerated, Bloomberg said. Transport Topics
U.S. Trade Deficit Swelled in April
The United States trade deficit grew to a record $35.9 billion in April as U.S. consumers bought more foreign cars and other goods, the U.S. Department of Commerce said Thursday.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.
For example, trucks carry autos for import. But each auto carried for export represents trucking to move parts and raw materials to manufacture the vehicle.
The report said that the deficit was 10.7% higher than the $32.5 billion gap in trade during March.
Imports rose 4.7% to $116 billion while the number of exports grew at a slower pace of 2.2% to $80.1 billion for the month. Transport Topics
Jobless Claims Fall in Latest Week
The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell to 393,000 in the June 15 week, from a revised 395,000 for the prior week, the Labor Department reported Thursday.An analyst told Bloomberg that a better labor market means more people have jobs and are more likely to spend money. This increases the demand for trucking services.
Economists were expecting claims to fall to 386,000 last week from a previously reported 390,000 the week before, Reuters said.
The four-week moving average of claims, a less volatile indicator, fell to 396,250 from 403,500 the prior week, the lowest since the week ended March 16.
The level of new applications has been less than 400,000 for three straight weeks, the first time that's happened since March. This is seen as more proof the worst of the job cuts stemming from the recession is over, Reuters said. Transport Topics
Administration Reveals Plan for Amtrak
The Bush administration called for major changes in the nation’s passenger rail service, Amtrak, the Associated Press said Thursday.In addition to passenger service, Amtrak receives some revenue from handling time-sensitive freight in competition with trucks.
In a meeting with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta rejected an increase in federal spending on the railroad and emphasized the need for more participation by the states in managing the service, as well as an increased role in paying for Amtrak, AP reported.
Mineta said that the administration would do everything possible, however, to save the railroad -- including considering a $200 million loan, Bloomberg reported.
The suggestion is in step with Amtrak Reform Council recommendations released earlier this year that called for the national rail line to be broken up, allowing competition at the regional level, AP said.
Mineta emphasized this in talking about the railroad’s heavily used Northeast Corridor between Washington, New York and Boston. Transport Topics
Deutsche Post Preparing to Pay Damages
Germany's Deutsche Post AG is setting aside $811 million to cover aid and damages as ordered by the European Union and stemming from a complaint made by United Parcel Service, Bloomberg reported.EU antitrust regulators have ordered Deutsche Post, Europe's biggest postal service, to repay state aid and repair damage to its competitors.
The company gave discounts on commercial door-to-door parcels that generated losses between 1994 and 1998, Bloomberg said. The losses were covered by money it received to cover its public-service obligations.
UPS is ranked No. 1 on the 2000-2001 Transport Topics 100 list of the largest U.S. trucking companies. Transport Topics
