News Briefs - March 13
The Latest Headlines:
- IEA Doubts OPEC’s Capacity to Fill Oil Gap
- Intermodal Traffic Up 10.5% Last Week
- Tyco Says It Will Close 300 Plants
- Diesel Prices Fall in Britain After U.S. Supply Report
- Mexico Seeks Truck Resolution with United States
- Supply Concerns Keeping Crude Prices High
- Intermodal Traffic Up 10.5% Last Week
IEA Doubts OPEC’s Capacity to Fill Oil Gap
The International Energy Agency said that if a war disrupts oil shipments from Iraq and Kuwait, the world’s leading oil producers lack the capacity to fill the void, the Associated Press reported.AP said that IEA said in its monthly report that the global oil system was “running on empty” and further supply disruptions would likely push it to the breaking point.
IEA said it believes OPEC cannot adequately supply the world with oil in the case of another severe disruption and the only hope might be the 4 billion barrels of oil IEA member nations have stored away for emergencies, AP reported.
Intermodal Traffic Up 10.5% Last Week
The number intermodal rail loadings on America’s railroads rose 10.5% to 180,359 overall in the week ended March 8, the Association of American Railroads said Thursday.Intermodal is the segment of the railroad industry that competes most directly with long-haul trucking.
Container loadings rose 14.9% to 131,518, AAR said. Statistically, trailer loadings were nearly flat, rising slightly to 48,841 from 48,828.
So far in 2003, overall intermodal loadings are up 8.6% to 1.78 million, AAR said. Transport Topics
Tyco Says It Will Close 300 Plants
Tyco International Ltd. said Thursday that it would close 300 plants over three years in an effort to cut costs by $1 billion by 2006, Reuters reported.A diversified manufacturer, Tyco has been troubled by accounting scandals and other troubles, Reuters said.
Reuters reported that job cut estimates were not immediately available, but that it expects the cuts to save the company about $1 billion over the next three years.
Job cuts and plant closures, particularly at a large manufacturer like Tyco, can hurt the trucking industry because it could reduce freight shipments. Transport Topics
Diesel Prices Fall in Britain After U.S. Supply Report
The price of diesel fuel in Great Britain fell Thursday, after a report on supplies in the United States showed an unexpected rise, Bloomberg reported.The Department of Energy reported that inventories of distillates, including diesel and heating oil, rose 1.9% to 98.3 million barrels last week. The news, Bloomberg said, forced a decline in the price of diesel fuel in Britain down 7.5% to $394 a metric ton.
Concern over supplies has been one of the major forces pushing diesel fuel prices higher in the United States in recent weeks. On Monday, the DOE said that diesel prices rose 1.8 cents to $1.771 a gallon. Transport Topics
Mexico Seeks Truck Resolution with United States
Mexico’s Economy Minister Fernando Canales said his country would enact trade sanctions against the United States if a dispute about truck access is not resolved soon, Bloomberg reported.Mexico is seeking wide access to U.S. highways as laid out in the North American Free Trade Agreement. Labor and environmental groups have worked to delay the border opening (Click here for related coverage.).
Canales sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick calling for a meeting of transportation officials from both countries, the Ministry of the Economy said in a statement, Bloomberg reported.
The letter said that there were actions Mexico could take under Nafta to resolve the dispute, but did not specify what they were, Bloomberg said. Transport Topics
Supply Concerns Keeping Crude Prices High
The price of crude oil rose in early morning trading Thursday after a Department of Energy report that showed more declines in U.S. crude oil inventory, Bloomberg reported.Crude supplies in the United States fell 1.4% to 269.8 million barrels, the report said.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the price of crude oil rose 25 cents a barrel to $38.08. On Wednesday, the price rose $1.11 a barrel to $37.83 – its highest close since Oct. 16, 1990 when Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait shut off oil supplies from that region, Bloomberg said. Transport Topics
