P.M. Executive Briefing - July 10
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Clinton's Planned Heating Oil Reserve Seen Too Small
A heating oil reserve of 2 million barrels, as offered today by President Clinton, is not enough, said Roger Simons, president of Simons Petroleum, an Oklahoma City-based marketing company.Clinton said the Energy Department will trade 2 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to create a separate reserve in the hope of heading off the kind of shortages that sent heating oil and diesel prices soaring in the Northeast last winter.
However, current law requires a "national supply emergency" before the reserve can be touched, and Clinton said he is asking Congress to provide the authority for a permanent heating oil reserve.
New ArvinMeritor Maker of Heavy Truck Parts Scores With Wall Street First Day Out
Shares of the newly combined ArvinMeritor Inc. – a merger completed late Friday of these producers of parts for heavy trucks and the automotive industry – scored about an 8% gain in late-morning trading, the Bloomberg news service reported, depending on which previous-company stock is looked at.When it was announced in early April, this was billed as a $7.5-billion merger of equals, and put Meritor's dominance in commercial vehicle markets such as truck axles and suspension parts together with Arvin's number-two ranking in the light-vehicle parts such as shock absorbers and exhaust systems. Bloomberg notes that Meritor shareholders own about 66% of the new company. Transport Topics
Florida Driver School Named in CDL Scandal Has Ties To Church
Research by the Associated Press into a Florida school allegedly involved in a commercial driver's license bribery scandal revealed a non-denominational Christian church in Tampa established the school.A federal grand jury in Chicago indicted 57-year-old Tony Puleo and 49-year-old Hilary Marek Winniczek, on June 20 on charges of fixing more than 1,000 truck-driver license tests. Both worked for REACT, which AP learned stands for Restoration & Evangelism Advanced Thru Community Training. The truck-driving school was started in 1996 by members of Without Walls International Church.
According to the indictment, Winniczek arranged for non-English-speaking applicants from Illinois to take their tests in Florida, where it is acceptable to use a translator. However, prosecutors said many drivers received licenses through Winniczek without ever getting behind the wheel of a truck. Drivers from Illinois and 18 other states paid up to $1,300 each to receive their licenses through REACT. Puleo was a member of the REACT board of directors until last month.
Puleo and Winniczek pleaded innocent to the charges, which stemmed from a two-year federal investigation into fixed truck-driver licenses in Illinois. So far 32 people have been charged with various crimes in the scandal and 28 have been convicted. Jennifer Botchie, Transport Topics
New Clues Sought In Trucker's Homicide
Prince William County (Va.) police are turning to the local community to help solve three 1999 homicides, one involving a Missouri trucker, the Washington Post reported Sunday.Vernon Nielson, 69, a driver for a Springfield, Mo. trucking company, was found dead in the sleeper berth of his truck in the afternoon of July 6, 1999, after company officials expressed concern over not hearing from him. The truck engine was still running and its panel lights were on. Nielson had pulled off to the side of the road, apparently to take a brief nap before making a delivery in Woodbridge, Va. Nielson was near retirement and substituted for a friend on the delivery that claimed his life.
Police think Nielson was killed during an attempted robbery, but did not know his assailant. Since little information has been found regarding this case, county police hope the local community can provide clues. Anyone with information about this case can call Prince William County CrimeSolvers at (703) 670-3700 or (800) 673-2777. Jennifer Botchie, Transport Topics
Truck Ban In Michigan Township Could Put Businesses Under
Several businesses in Green Oak Township, Mich., are concerned about a proposed ordinance that would ban trucks on township roads, the Detroit News reported Sunday.While the ordinance would not apply to intertownship deliveries, one business owner said forcing trucks to use only the proposed routes would increase shipping costs to the point of putting some companies out of business.
The board plans to have a public hearing on the ordinance, which was proposed after complaints about truck noise and road damage. A trustee expressed concern over additional stress on the roads designated as acceptable truck routes, and called for traffic and engineering studies to be done before adopting the ordinance. Jennifer Botchie, Transport Topics
Trimble Gets Large GPS System Order From South African Fleet Manager
The leading fleet management supplier in South Africa ordered 25,000 Global Positioning Systems from Trimble, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company.The order by Digicore Holdings Ltd. stems from a five-year, $22-million contraction the transportation products company recently signed with Telkom Ltd. That deal calls for the GPS-based C-track system to be installed in 19,000 Telcom vehicles. The contract is believed to be one of the largest fleet management outsourcing projects in the world.
Digicore received the contract from Debis Fleet Management, a company co-owned by Daimler-Chrysler and Kagiso Trust, who recently won the $750 million outsourcing contract to manage Telkom's vehicle fleet.
The contract is believed to be one of the largest fleet management outsourcing projects in the world. Transport Topics
Fritz Companies Wins Deconsolidator Of The Year Award
Fritz Companies Seattle, a Logistics Center located in Auburn, Wash., received Target Corporation's 1999 "Deconsolidator of the Year" award, Fritz Companies announced today.The award is part of Target's "Commitment to Quality" and was designed to access the performance of transportation carriers and importers who service Target's 21 distribution centers nationwide. The Fritz Logistics Center is a 700,000-square-foot operation that breaks down ocean shipments from the Pacific Rim into road shipments for Target's distribution centers. Fritz Companies is based out of San Francisco and is a global logistics company with more than 400 locations worldwide.
Fritz employees Ellen Williams, of Fritz Seattle, and Kathy Hamel, of Fritz Norfolk (Chesapeake, Va.) also received Target's "All Star" awards for excellence.
Target Corporation's "Commitment to Quality" program was designed to identify standards and to measure the performance of transportation carriers and importers who service the company's 21 distribution centers and 1,252 stores across the country. Jennifer Botchie, Transport Topics
Senate Could Repeal Death Tax by Thursday
If the U.S. Senate does not make changes to a House bill, by Thursday it could vote to repeal the estate tax or so-called death tax. A group of lawmakers from the House are rallying Tuesday morning to urge the Senate to do just that, on the same day the Senate takes up the legislation.Long a target of tax cutters and sought by small business owners from truck companies to farmers, the tax often forces companies whose assets are held by a family member to sell off assets like operating equipment in order to pay the taxes due on the estate of the family member who has died. The Clinton administration has signaled it looks favorably on repeal as well. John Wislocki, staff reporter
