News Briefs - June 21
The Latest Headlines:
- United's Expanded Terminal Open in Chicago
- Canada Considers Electronic Log Books
- CPR to Expand 'Trailer on Train' Service
- Evans: Mexican Trucks to Cross Border Soon
- Gasoline Price Movement Mixed in Texas, Calif.
- Oil Prices Steady Amid Offsetting Influences
- Rail Intermodal Up 9.1% on Week
- Postal Overhaul Defeated by U.S. House Panel
- Canada Considers Electronic Log Books
United's Expanded Terminal Open in Chicago
United Airlines opened an expanded cargo terminal at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on Wednesday, the Journal of Commerce reported.Cargo shipped through the terminal will include electronic parts, machine parts, pharmaceuticals and computer equipment. Trucks are used to move these goods to and from the facility.
The company said the facility can handle 100,000 pounds of freight and 7,400 pieces of mail per hour. It also has a high-speed mail system that uses tilt-trays to deposit packages onto conveyors for further movement to specific flights. Transport Topics
Canada Considers Electronic Log Books
The Canadian federal transport committee is advocating a switch to electronic, on-board recording devices on long-haul trucks in order to more accurately enforce driving hour restrictions, the Ottawa Citizen reported Friday.Before mandating the devices, however, officials acknowledge the U.S. and Mexico must adopt similar legislation so Canadian truckers are not put at a competitive disadvantage, the paper said.
On-board recorders represent a controversial issue among U.S. truckers.
he paper did not say that the U.S. has given any consideration to the switch as of yet. Transport Topics
CPR to Expand 'Trailer on Train' Service
Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. plans to spend $3.5 million to expand its "trailer on train" fleet, the Toronto Star reported Friday.The railway will add 50 expressway-car platforms, which are specialized trains meant for quick loading and unloading of truck trailers for transport. It currently operates 260 platforms.
Twenty are expected to be ready by this fall for the Toronto-Detroit route, the story said.
Originally developed under the name Iron Highway, the CPR’s expressway trains are a form of intermodal services that partners with trucking companies and fleet owners to get their loaded trailers from one terminal to another.
CPR says the service saves on tractor investments, driver, fuel and maintenance expenses and reducestime spent waiting to cross the Canada-U.S. border. Transport Topics
Evans: Mexican Trucks to Cross Border Soon
U.S. Commerce Secretary Don Evans told reporters Thursday that Mexican trucks should be on U.S. highways by the end of the summer, the Associated Press reported.Under terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement, Mexican trucks were supposed to have free access to U.S. roads by Jan. 1, 2000, but Clinton-era rules restricted them to a small commercial zones just inside the border.
Evans said he expects President Bush to finalize safety regulations soon that would allow Mexican trucks to operate in the U.S., AP reported.
Growing impatient with the United States, Mexican President Vicente Fox said last week that if the border was not open soon, he would ban U.S. trucks entirely from Mexican roads, AP reported. Transport Topics
Gasoline Price Movement Mixed in Texas, Calif.
Weekend gasoline watches set up by auto clubs to monitor prices in Southern California and Texas showed conflicting trends as the Fourth of July holiday approaches.A large segment of commercial trucking uses gasoline.
In Texas, where the statewide average of $1.32 a gallon on Monday was 5.8 cents below the national average of $1.378 per gallon, the price dropped another penny per gallon by Friday.
The result, AAA Texas said, was a range of prices from $1.26 a gallon in San Antonio, to $1.35 a gallon in Dallas.
In California, where gasoline, like diesel fuel, is specially formulated by law, prices started higher and increased during the week.
The Automobile Club of Southern California blamed declining inventories and slim retail profits for a jump in prices that has placed the price in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area at $1.628 per gallon.
In San Diego, the price on Friday was was $1.636, while motorists along the central coast were paying $1.704. Transport Topics
(Click here for the California press release.)
(Click here for the Texas press release.)
Oil Prices Steady Amid Offsetting Influences
Slow economic growth in Europe offset increasing tension in the Middle East, leaving the price of crude oil little changed, Bloomberg reported Friday.The price of crude oil has a direct effect on the price of diesel fuel and gasoline, which trucks use.
Brent crude for August settlement rose 0.3%, to $25.15 a barrel, on the International Petroleum Exchange in London, Bloomberg said.
With 31 Israelis dead in terrorist attacks over the past three days, the Israeli army has entered Palestinian areas, and analysts told Bloomberg spreading military action could bring an embargo.
In an apparently unrelated event, a British employee of a Saudi bank was killed by a car bomb in Riyadh, capital of Saudi Arabia.
Bloomberg said Europe’s economy barely grew in the first quarter after shrinking in the final three months of 2001. The news service also said the jury is still out on what the U.S. economy will do in the second half of this year. Transport Topics
Rail Intermodal Up 9.1% on Week
Trailer and container loadings on the nation’s railroads totaled 188.993 for the week ended June 15, up 9.1% when compared with 173,220 in the corresponding week last year, the Association of American Railroads reported Friday.Intermodal is the segment of the railroad business most competitive with long-haul trucking.
For the first 24 weeks of the year, the increase was 3.7%, with 4,173,848 trailers and containers loaded in 2002 and 4023,823 at this point in 2001. Transport Topics
Postal Overhaul Defeated by U.S. House Panel
The House Government Reform Committee rejected a measure Thursday that would let the U.S. Postal Service operate more like a company, Bloomberg reported.United Parcel Service had lobbied against this legislation because it would allow the service to negotiate discounts with large-volume customers, Bloomberg said. The Atlanta-based company said there aren't enough protections in place to stop the U.S. Postal Service from subsidizing competitive products using first-class mail revenue.
The service's board of governors had asked Congress for legal changes to help it cope with an anticipated $1.3 billion deficit for 2002. On June 30, the price of a first-class stamp will increase by 3 cents by 37 cents to help bring in more revenue. Transport Topics