News Briefs - March 4
- BNSF to Run Oakland Terminal; Reduce I-80 Truck Runs
- Senators Push Labor on Ergonomics Data
- FedEx Asks for Variance on Flight Rules
- Bush Mulling Increase in Steel Tariff
- Budget Problems Force States to Renege on Tax Cuts
- Gasoline Prices Poised For Spring Jump
- TCA Backs Bid to Eliminate Revenue Filings
- Morgan Narrows Loss for 4Q, 2001
- Arkansas Best to Take 1Q Charge of 23.9 Million
- ATA, Freight Brokers Ask TCA for Help
- OPEC Chief Jawbones Russia on Oil Output
- Deadly Snowstorm Strikes Midwest
- Senators Push Labor on Ergonomics Data
BNSF to Run Oakland Terminal; Reduce I-80 Truck Runs
Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co. said Monday it had reached agreement to operate the Port of Oakland's new Joint Intermodal Terminal, and the two parties said that should eliminate more than 20,000 drayage truck trips a year on California's nearby east-west Interstate 80.The 85-acre facility, to be known as the Oakland International Gateway, will allow intermodal cargo to move directly from train to ship and is slated to being operations in mid-March. The parties said the facility will initially handle 250,000 containers a year, but can expand.
The port, near San Francisco, covers 19 miles and includes 10 ocean container terminals. Of the $38 million cost of the new intermodal terminal, the parties said $22.1 million came from federal programs to boost intermodal use and transportation efficiency.
A BNSF official said the terminal will give customers a direct link to BNSF facilities instead of a 12-mile truck drayage run over the highways to a BNSF terminal in Richmond, Calif. The terminal will also serve other third parties at the port's terminal.Transport Topics
Senators Push Labor on Ergonomics Data
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) chairman of the Senate Labor Committee, and two other Senate Democrats sent a letter to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao Thursday asking for all relevant memorandums and letters dealing with a plan to reduce workplace injuries, the New York Times reported.The trucking industry has a strong interest in ergonomics policy, since truckers are among the most prone to suffer workplace-related problems.
Kennedy, along with Sens. Tom Harkin of Iowa and Paul Wellstone of Minnesota are trying to get the information ahead of a March 14 hearing in which Chao is to be asked about the administration's promise for a new ergonomics policy, the Times said.
The Labor Department said it is still reviewing the request. Transport Topics
FedEx Asks for Variance on Flight Rules
Package delivery company FedEx Corp.’s air cargo unit, FedEx Express, has petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration to allow its flight crews to fly past the government’s eight hour flight limit to finish the final leg of a flight, the Associated Press reported Monday.The variance would allow FedEx to deliver its cargo on time and land where new flight crews are based, the company said.
The pilots’ union is opposed to the move, but competitor Airborne Express has operated under a similar exemption since 1990, the AP said.
Currently the FAA is looking at new pilot-hour regulations. The examination comes after a 1999 crash in Little Rock, Ark., in which fatigue was identified as one of the causes by the National Transportation Safety Board, the AP reported.
A FedEx spokesperson said the exemption is needed because sometimes weather or other problems hold a flight up and it cannot reach its schedule destination in eight hours – where often times a new crew is waiting to takeover the plane for the next leg of its journey. Transport Topics
Bush Mulling Increase in Steel Tariff
President Bush, at the behest of the steel industry in the United States, is considering a limited increase in the tax placed on imported steel, the New York Times reported Monday.Tariffs might discourage steel imports, helping truckers who carry domestic steel, but hurting truckers who pick up steel at ports.
The limited tariff increases would include steel from major, developed countries, like Japan, Germany and China. However, it would not be enforced on developing countries, or partners in the North American Free Trade Agreement – Canada and Mexico.
The increase in taxes could be as much as 40%, the Times reported. Transport Topics
Budget Problems Force States to Renege on Tax Cuts
Tax cuts voted on before the current recession are being pulled back as states face widening budget shortfalls, the Washington Post reported Monday.Lower taxes reduce the amount of revenue state and local governments pull in each year, limiting programs, such as highway construction, that might benefit trucking.
During the economic boom of the late 1990s, governments voted for phased in tax cuts, but now that the economy has soured, those cuts are being rolled back because spending is now outpacing revenue, the Post said.
State spending has jumped 34% since 1997, but taxes have not kept pace, a report from the National Association of State Budget Officers said. Transport Topics
Gasoline Prices Poised For Spring Jump
Industry analysts are projecting an increase in the price of gasoline and a possible shortage as winter turns into spring and the economy comes out of its recession, USA Today reported Monday.Fuels, such as gasoline and diesel, are subject to seasonal price swings, as consumers tend to limit their travel during the winter months and travel considerably more during the spring and summer.
Several analysts with the Oil Price Information Service said that the forced, seasonal changeover to reformulated gas, along with the potential for increased travel by Americans as the recession breaks, could lead to price spikes in the spring and summer months, USA Today said.
Before prices do go up however, some at OPIS are projecting further price drops as refineries and gasoline retailers try to reduce their stockpiles of winter-blend gasoline. The blends of fuel cannot be sold past March 31, the paper said.
Also working to push prices higher are the production cuts by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which have reduced oil supply.
Each summer for the past decade has faced the potential for gasoline shortages, USA Today said. Transport Topics
TCA Backs Bid to Eliminate Revenue Filings
LAS VEGAS - The Truckload Carriers Association agreed Sunday afternoon to support a move by some of its members to ask the Department of Transportation to eliminate the requirement for trucking companies to file financial and operating results with the federal government.TCA's board of directors approved the recommendation.
ttorney Kenneth E. Siegel told TCA's Regulatory Policy Committee he is representing about six trucking companies that would like the trade association to take the lead in making the request of Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta. The annual and quarterly reports are filed with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
Siegel told the committee members - who met here as part of the association's annual meeting - that his clients do not want to be named publicly for fear of retribution by the department. He said they object to the filing requirement because it is costly, time consuming and it turns confidential business records into public information.
He also described the requirement as outdated and pointless. "It used to serve a purpose when the old Interstate Commerce Commission set rates," he said.
However, now that rates are set by a competitive market, he said, the holdover from regulation is but a relic. Jonathan S. Reiskin, Staff Reporter
Morgan Narrows Loss for 4Q, 2001
The Morgan Group Inc., one of the largest companies managing the delivery of manufactured homes and specialized equipment in the U.S., said Friday that its net loss for the fourth quarter was $1.8 million, or 53 per share, compared with a loss of $4.3 million, or $1.75 per share, last year.For the full 2001 fiscal year, net loss was $1.99 million, or 68 cents per share, compared with $4.8 million, or $1.96 per share, in the year-earlier period.
The company said in a release that it was able to narrow its loss despite insurance premium increases and the recession by streamlining operations and cuttings costs across the company.
(Click here for the full press release.)
Arkansas Best to Take 1Q Charge of 23.9 Million
Arkansas Best Corp., the holding company of less-than-truckload firm ABF Freight Systems, said Monday that it will take a charge of $23.9 million during the first quarter of 2002.The loss results from a required change in the method of determining recoverable good will associated with its freight-forwarding unit, Clipper Group. The transaction eliminates all of the $37.5 million of Clipper goodwill from Arkansas Best's balance sheet, the company said in a press release.
Good will is an accounting concept that places a dollar figure on the intangible asset of a company's reputation and standing in the business community.
Based in Fort Smith, Ark., Arkansas Best is ranked No. 15 in the 2000-2001 Transport Topics 100 list. Transport Topics
(Click here for the full press release.)
ATA, Freight Brokers Ask TCA for Help
LAS VEGAS - Two transportation trade associations told truckload carriers meeting here of their plans for issues of common interest Sunday and asked for their assistance.Robert A. Voltmann, executive director of the Transportation Intermediaries Association, wants the truckers to participate in his group's Platinum Performance Program, or P3. It is designed to smooth out differences between freight brokers and motor carriers.
Voltmann made his presentation Sunday afternoon to a committee of the Truckload Carriers Association. He wants a TCA member to sit on the board of governors of his new P3 partnership.
The same day, American Trucking Associations gave TCA members an update of its plans for the Single State Registration System. The TCA board of directors agreed to endorse an ATA proposal for modifying SSRS, which is how 38-of-50 states register the insurance coverage of trucking companies.
ATA wants Congress to pass a law that would treat all trucks in the same fashion, whether they are owned by a for-hire motor carrier or are part of a private fleet. Jonathan S. Reiskin, Staff Reporter
OPEC Chief Jawbones Russia on Oil Output
Ali Rodriguez, secretary general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, led a delegation to Moscow Sunday in the attempt to persuade Russia to maintain a cap on its oil production, the Associated Press reported.Fluctuations in the price of oil translate to fluctuations in the prices of diesel fuel and gasoline, two major cost items for the trucking industry.
OPEC trimmed its production by 1.5 million barrels a day and pressured Russia to cut exports by 150,000 barrels a day in the first quarter of 2002.
However, Russia has been evasive about whether it will maintain the cuts into the second quarter, AP said.
In the past, AP said, OPEC has accused Russia of using the cartel's production cuts to increase its own market share. Transport Topics
Deadly Snowstorm Strikes Midwest
Twenty-three people died over the weekend during a major March snowstorm that blanketed the Midwest with up to 17 inches of snow in some areas, the Associated Press reported.The severe weather shuttered airports and made highway travel treacherous, both of which delayed air and ground shipments of cargo.
An arctic front brought below-freezing temperatures as far south as Georgia and Louisiana and covered some parts of Michigan with about 18 inches of snow in just over 24 hours, AP said. Transport Topics
