News Briefs - Oct. 23
The Latest Headlines:
- Western Star Trucks Roll Off Portland Line
- Analysts See Bush Rhetoric Pushing Oil Price Up
- U.S. Xpress Improves 3Q Results
- USF Sees Weaker 3Q on Freight Unit Loss
- Canadian Trucking Cos. Report 3Q Results
- Ryder Earnings Rise to $33.8 Million in 3Q
- MFCA Receives $400,000 Contract to Study Fatigue Management
- One in Five R.I. Roads Need Repair
- NTSB Recommends Better Data Collection
- Analysts See Bush Rhetoric Pushing Oil Price Up
Western Star Trucks Roll Off Portland Line
The first Western Star truck built in the Portland (Ore.) Truck Manufacturing Plant was delivered to a Canadian owner-operator in a ceremony Wednesday.Rainer Schmueckle, president of Freightliner LLC, parent company of Western Star Trucks, hailed the start of production in a release.
"In our new manufacturing and operations location, we are committed to maintaining Western Star's quality and unique character while fulfilling the promise of this great heavy-duty truck brand," he said.
Headquartered in Willoughby, Ohio, Western Star makes a wide range of custom trucks for commercial and military use. Transport Topics
Analysts See Bush Rhetoric Pushing Oil Price Up
Statements by President Bush that indicate the United States may act against Iraq without the United Nations helped drive oil prices higher in early morning trading, analysts told Bloomberg.Crude oil is distilled down into motor fuels like diesel and gasoline - both important to the trucking industry.
Bush told a Republican campaign rally in Downingtown, Pa. that the U.N. "must resolve itself to be something other than just a debating society," Bloomberg reported.
He said if the UN cannot make its mind up, the U.S. will lead a coalition to disarm Saddam Hussein for the sake of peace, Bloomberg said.
In trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude prices rose 0.6%, or 16 cents to $28.33 a barrel, Bloomberg reported. Transport Topics
U.S. Xpress Improves 3Q Results
Truckload carrier U.S. Xpress Enterprises Inc. said Tuesday that its net income rose to $1.1 million, or 8 cents per share in the third quarter from $304,000, or 2 cents per share in the same timeframe last year.The Chattanooga, Tenn.-based company posted its quarterly earnings on operating revenues of $220.1 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30. up 6.1% from the $207.5 million the company reported last year.
U.S. Xpress is ranked No. 25 on the 2002 Transport Topics 100 listing of the largest trucking companies in the United States and Canada. Transport Topics
(Click here for the full press release.)
USF Sees Weaker 3Q on Freight Unit Loss
USFreightways Corp. said Wednesday that its third-quarter earnings fell 45%, due mainly to a loss at the freight forwarding unit it agreed to sell last week.The Chicago-based company had its net income fall to $5.32 million, or 19 cents per share from $9.73 million, or 36 cents per share in the same period last year.
USF agreed last week to sell its freight forwarding unit, USF Worldwide, which contributed a $10 million loss during the quarter, to GPS Logistics Inc. and Seko Worldwide Acquisition LLC for an undisclosed sum (Click here for related coverage.).
Sales at the nation's second-largest regional trucking company rose 2.6% to $634.5 million from $618.6 million in the same period in 2001.
USFreightways is ranked No. 8 on the 2002 Transport Topics 100 listing of the largest trucking companies in the United States and Canada. Transport Topics
(Click here for the full press release.)
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Canadian Trucking Cos. Report 3Q Results
img src="/sites/default/files/images/articles/canadaflag.gif" width=70 align=right>Canadian trucking companies TransForce Inc. and Vitran Corp. Inc. both announced improvement in their third-quarter earnings.
TransForce said that in the 10-week quarter ended Sept. 30, its net income rose to $3.2 million, or 10 cents per share as compared with the $2.6 million, or 10 cents per share during the same quarter last year.
Vitran claimed an increase in net income of 80% in the third quarter to $2.3 million, or 24 cents per share from the $1.9 million or 13 cents per share the company earned in the same period last year.
TransForce is ranked No. 58 and Vitran is ranked No. 52 on the 2002 Transport Topics 100 list of the largest trucking companies in the United States and Canada. Transport Topics
(Click here for the full press release.)
Ryder Earnings Rise to $33.8 Million in 3Q
yder System Inc., Wednesday reported third quarter net earnings of $33.8 million, or 54 cents compared with a net loss of $5.5 million, or 9 cents a share for the same period in 2001.
Through four subsidiaries, Ryder offers customers truck and trailer leasing and rental, contract maintenance, used truck maintenance, supply chain management and third-party transportation management, as well as other services.
The company's press release said revenue was impacted by the continuing slow economic conditions in the U.S. and other parts of the world. The downturn caused volume reductions in the dedicated contract carriage business segment, within some industry sectors of the supply chain solutions business segment and in certain international areas.
These conditions led to reduced transportation miles run and continued weak leasing demand, the release said. Rental utilization, however, showed improvement for the third consecutive quarter and automotive volumes within the supply chain business solidified.
Ryder is ranked No. 3 in the Transport Topics listing of the 100 largest trucking companies in the United States and Canada. Transport Topics
(Click here for the press release.)
MFCA Receives $400,000 Contract to Study Fatigue Management
The Motor Freight Carriers Association said Tuesday that it has won a $400,000 contract from the Department of Transportation to study driver fatigue management.Under the contract, the MFCA will survey Teamsters union drivers who have driven at least one million accident-free miles to identify what strategies and techniques they used to fight fatigue – especially at night.
The MFCA is the national trade association that represents unionized less-than-truckload general freight carriers. Transport Topics
One in Five R.I. Roads Need Repair
One out of every five major roads and one-quarter of all bridges in Rhode Island are in need of repair or improvement and are in poor condition, according to a study release Monday.Poor bridge and road conditions can unnecessarily stress vehicles and hasten fleet turnover.
The Associated Press said that the study, by The Road Information Program, ranked only behind Oklahoma and Missouri in the percentage of bridges rated structurally wanting.
The study lists 25 bridges that are most in need of repair, including the Providence River bridge that carries Interstate 195, AP said. Transport Topics
NTSB Recommends Better Data Collection
The National Transportation Safety Board recommended Oct. 11 that the Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics collect more data to help study the risk of potential accidents.Although broad indicators of transportation activity such as vehicle miles driven and hours of operation are used to calculate accident and injury rates, there was not enough accurate information on weather conditions and driver characteristics, the NTSB stated in a safety recommendation letter.
This prevents safety comparisons between groups, such as different vehicle models and drivers with different levels of training, NTSB stated, thus lessening the data's usefulness for improving transportation safety. A spokeswoman said more complex comparisons could be done with specialized data collection.
American Trucking Associations spokesman Mike Russell said of the recommendation that "on the surface it sounds like a good idea, but it might make more sense to focus on doing a better job with the information we already have."
The NTSB letter stated that the U.S. Census Bureau, for example, conducts a vehicle inventory and use survey that estimates miles traveled, but it cannot support comparisons with certain types of interstate commerce and intrastate operations that could be useful in safety studies. Neil Abt
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