News Briefs - March 3
The Latest Headlines:
- USF Sells Reverse Logistics Unit
- EGL's Profits Rise, Company Gains $6 Mln. in EEOC Settlement
- Vitran Approved to Trade on Nasdaq
- Jobless Claims Drop for Fourth Time in Five Weeks
- GM to Invest $2 Bln. in Ontario Auto Plant
- FedEx Sets Europe-to-China Direct Air Connection
- EGL's Profits Rise, Company Gains $6 Mln. in EEOC Settlement
USF Sells Reverse Logistics Unit
USF Logistics Services said late Wednesday it sold its reverse logistics unit, USF Processors Inc., to Carolina Logistics Services Inc.Although terms of the deal were not disclosed, USF estimates it will report a pre-tax loss of $8 million in the first quarter.
Reverse logistics is the process in which products that can't be sold are returned to their point of origin to recapture their value and to properly dispose of them.
USF Corp. said Sunday it had agreed to be acquired by Yellow Roadway Corp., No. 3 in the TT 100, for $1.37 billion. Transport Topics
EGL's Profits Rise, Company Gains $6 Mln. in EEOC Settlement
EGL Eagle Global Logistics, which arranges freight shipments, said Thursday its net income for the fourth quarter was $12.9 million or 26 cents, compared with $9.1 million or 19 cents a year earlier.The company also said it would restate earnings by $6.5 million as of Jan. 1, 2002, for tax adjustments and write-offs related to its operations in Mexico.
EGL announced separately Thursday that $6 million had been returned to the company as the result of a settlement with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
In 2001, a U.S. District Court judge had ordered EGL to establish a fund of $8.5 million to settle potential EEOC claims. The court agreed to return the funds to EGL as payments for claims were only expected to be $1 million, the company said.
Fourth-quarter net revenue rose 16% to $230 million. For the full year, EGL earned $50.9 million or $1.05 a share, up from $23.9 million or 50 cents a year earlier. Transport Topics
Vitran Approved to Trade on Nasdaq
Transportation firm Vitran Corp., Toronto, said Thursday it had been approved for listing on the Nasdaq National Market.Vitran, which has truckload and less-than-truckload operations in the United States and Canada, said it will continue trade on the American Stock Exchange through Friday and begin trading on the Nasdaq market Monday.
“We are very pleased to join the majority of our trucking industry peers on Nasdaq, and believe this is a logical next step in supporting Vitran’s growth while offering our U.S. shareholders enhanced liquidity,” said Chief Executive Officer Rick Gaetz.
Vitran is ranked No. 57 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers. Transport Topics
Jobless Claims Drop for Fourth Time in Five Weeks
The number of Americans filing initial applications for unemployment insurance declined by 1,000 to 311,000 for the week ended Feb. 26, the Labor Department reported Thursday.It was the fourth drop in five weeks. A poll of chief executive officers released this week foresaw a decline in hiring, Bloomberg reported.
The four-week moving average of claims, a less volatile measure, dropped to 307,000, the lowest since October 2000.
The number of people continuing to collect state jobless benefits rose to 2.672 million the week ended Feb. 19, from 2.66 million a week earlier. The four-week average of continuing claims fell to 2.694 million, the lowest since April 2001, from 2.699 million. Transport Topics
GM to Invest $2 Bln. in Ontario Auto Plant
A day after saying it would cut North American production in response to lagging sales, General Motors Corp. said it would invest more than $2 billion into a production plant in Ontario, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.Automobile production is served by trucking and logistics firms that move parts and inventory to plants.
In addition to building automobiles and sport utility vehicles, the investment will be for engineering on fuel cells and other initiatives, the Journal said.
The Ontario and Canadian governments will contribute about $350 million to the project, the paper reported.
The plan is expected to add about 500 jobs at Ingersoll, Ontario, plant. GM employs about 22,00 people in Canada. Transport Topics
FedEx Sets Europe-to-China Direct Air Connection
FedEx Corp. unit FedEx Express said it launched the air cargo industry's first direct flight from mainland China to Europe.The company said the flights will provide daily service from Shanghai, China, to Frankfurt, Germany, using MD-11 aircraft.
It said the flights are part of a new westbound around-the-world air network that starts and ends in Memphis, Tenn., FedEx Corp.’s headquarters.
FedEx Corp. is No. 2 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers. Transport Topics
