P.M. Executive Briefing - July 21
This Afternoon's Headlines:
- Paint Spill from Truck Ties Up Traffic on I-95
- Officer: Caltrans OKd Route in Crash
- Second-Quarter Earnings Drop 37 Percent for Caterpillar
- Cross-Border Delay
- Navistar Hits Rough Patch
- "Only" Trailers???
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Paint Spill from Truck Ties Up Traffic on I-95
After a truck carrying 55-gallon drums of blue paint came to an abrupt stop at a traffic light by an Inter-state 95 on-ramp in Bristol Township, N.J., 110 gallons of the paint spilled out and tied up a mile of the highway.
hil Devlin of the Philadelphia Highway Patrol gave a $168 citation to the truck line, Prime Inc., for not securing the drums correctly, and transportation workers poured Rhoplex sand on the paint in their cleanup effort.
No injuries resulted from the spill.
It was the third truck accident last week to snarl northbound I-95 traffic in the area. Two days before the paint spill, a truck loaded with tomatoes overturned on an off-ramp. The next day a broken kingpin led to a one-hour shutdown. Philadelphia Inquirer Online (07/21/99); Downs, Jere
Officer: Caltrans OKd Route in Crash
Officer J. Dunn of the California Highway Patrol has confirmed that the state transportation department approved the route taken by the truck involved in a July 16 accident wherein a 7,000-pound tank on the truck hit an overpass and fell on a car, killing its driver.Dunn says the trucker, who was not injured, properly applied for and received a state permit to travel the route, even though the overpass was marked with a clearance 2 inches lower than the 15-foot height of the truck.
California Trucking Association Vice President Walter Hoemann faults the transportation department for improperly granting a permit.
However, family members of the killed motorist, Tam Trong Tran, pin the blame on the trucker. Los Angeles Times Online (07/20/99); Mehta, Seema; Kandel, Jason
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Second-Quarter Earnings Drop 37 Percent for Caterpillar
As sales of both large engines and machines fell, Caterpillar saw a 37% drop in second-quarter earnings to $283 million.That works out to 78 cents a share, 4 cents a share below a First Call analysts’ poll estimate. The second half of 1998 also showed poor returns for the company.
Caterpillar Chief Executive Officer Glen Barton anticipates lower-than-expected profits for 1999, pre-dicting a yearly earnings drop between 20% and 25%.
Healthy sales of small truck engines could not overcome the slump in large engines and machines. Maryland Record (07/19/99) P. 2A
Cross-Border Delay
Truckers entering Mexico from the United States face backups due to searches for mechanical prob-lems, illegal aliens and drug smuggling at the 22 border inspection stations.A report from the General Accounting Office, available online at www.gao.gov, finds that the delays are hurting businesses with just-in-time supply chains. Entire trucks are sometimes X-rayed by Customs officials, who look over the papers of all truckers.
Official ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexican border number 45, with two more being built, and the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century will provide $700 million for border infrastructure and improvements over the next four years, 20% of which will come from state and local governments.
One problem in getting funding is that those states that are reliant on Rio Grande bridge tolls for reve-nue want to fund crossings in their states rather than all along the border. However, the GAO report says cooperation between governments is improving as joint organizations are formed.
Government studies say safety inspections of trucks from Mexico is poor, and the Clinton administra-tion has -- contrary to guarantees in the North American Free Trade Agreement -- placed restrictions on the amount of loads Mexican trucks could deliver in border states. Traffic World (07/19/99) Vol. 259, No. 3, P. 14; Wilner, Frank N.
Navistar Hits Rough Patch
After third-quarter earnings were found to be dropping, Navistar International’s stock price began to dip for the first time since rumors of a takeover bid from Volvo surfaced nine months ago.The company blames the earnings squeeze on downsizing costs at its factory in Springfield, Ohio, due to an lack of available transmissions.
Sources say the June departure of the truck group president, Dom DeFosset, was due to his learning that he was not in line to become chief executive officer of Navistar.
Industry observers have anticipated that the current chief executive, John Horne, may be retiring within three years, but the 61-year-old executive has denied such speculation.
On the record, the company has ignored the rumors regarding DeFosset and Horne.
Analysts expected per-share earnings to be about $1.28, but the company now expects per-share earn-ings of between $1.10 and $1.15. The stock has recovered somewhat after hitting a recent low of $43.25 on July 6 and 7. Journal of Commerce (07/21/99) P. 1; Atkinson, Helen
"Only" Trailers???"
Although fleets usually have more trailers than tractors, inventory difficulties and other factors make companies less likely to keep up with trailer preventative maintenance.About 33% of fleets do monthly maintenance, while 10% do it once a year.
Typical preventive maintenance schedules are: "A," every two months or 25,000 miles; "B,"every six months or 50,000 miles; and Annual Federal Inspection-qualifying "C," every year or 100,000
iles.
The following is a possible inspection routine: first, walk around the trailer looking for stress and dam-age; second, check doors and bumpers and thoroughly inspect the undercarriage; and third, drain and inspect the air tanks, then look over the wheels and landing gear. Finally, inspect the kingpin, lights and reflectors, and interior.
The trailer leasing company XTRA Lease has drawn up complete checklists and rigid schedules for thorough trailer inspections.
Ruan Transportation Management Systems makes sure its trailers meet Federal Annual Inspection
tandards at every "B" schedule maintenance.
Ruan maintenance director Jerry Anderson says doing preventive maintenance less often can cause important problems to be missed, or, conversely, may make inspectors overcautious enough to replace parts that are still usable. Fleet Equipment (07/99) Vol. 25, No. 7, P. 32; Deierlein, Bob
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