P.M. Executive Briefing - June 15
This Afternoon's Headlines:
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Mattel Cracks Down on Drug Smugglers Using Their Trucks
Mattel's Fermin Cuza helped form the Business Anti-Smuggling Coalition after asking his employees and Mattel's plant manager in Tijuana how the company could prevent drug smuggling into the United States from Mexico aboard Mattel trucks. Roughly 50% of the $10 billion worth of drugs that enter the United States from Mexico every year are hidden in truck shipments.Among the points in the plan Cuza developed: screening employees to find criminal records, keeping loading docks securely separated from the remainder of the company's maquiladora a half-hour south of the U.S. border, and adding video cameras. The company also requires trucks leaving the maquiladora to get to border within a half-hour.
Cuza was later selected to head the U.S. Council for International Business's Customs Committee; he is now chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce's Customs Committee.
Cuza, who worked for U.S. Customs for a decade and a half before joining Mattel, also supports electronic customs documentation in order to speed up customs and shipment. Although he was considered for the post of Customs commissioner two years ago, Cuza decided to stick with Mattel; he says he can improve the customs process more by "working within the business community." Journal of Commerce (06/12/00); Capsis, George
W.Va. State Police Target Speeding Truckers on Sandstone Mountain
West Virginia State Police spent Wednesday morning handing out more than 30 speeding tickets to truckers, and over 70 to motorists, along five miles of Interstate 64 on Sandstone Mountain, where there is a curving, 7% grade.State Police 1st Sgt. R.L. Seacrist says some truckers were going between "the high 60s and low 70s," some with their brakes smoking, despite the 45 mph limit for trucks.
The speed limits – including a 70 mph limit for passenger cars – are posted on traditional signs and an electronic sign at the top of the grade; the electronic sign also displays the speeds of trucks driving past.
The state Department of Transportation's Patrick Gregg says the amount of trucks disobeying the speed limit demonstrates why the mandatory brake-check pull-off now being built atop the grade is needed. Associated Press (06/15/00)
Automated Terminal Systems Mean Faster Intermodal Service
Automated container-terminal management software has brought about vast increases in efficiency over the old system of using stickers on a board, and has become a necessary ingredient in just-in-time intermodal movement.The top supplier of management systems is Oakland, Calif.-based Navis, while MTC and Maher Terminals are marketing their own systems via their subsidiaries, and Americas Systems has made management technology accessible on the Internet.
The systems frequently need to be customized for different terminals' needs, and the tall stacks of containers at busy ports have made it necessary for the systems to find the best ways to stack and store containers.
At Hanjin's Long Beach, Calif., terminal, cameras pick up the container and chassis numbers on trucks driving into the terminal, which are used by terminal employees to get more information about the truck; then, the truck driver is given information about where to go to get the right container. Transport Express' Patty Senecal says, "the newer terminals keep the drivers in the truck." The systems also find the best ways to stow containers on ships and move them around the terminals.
Longshore unions have fought automation at some ports, fearing that they will take away jobs, but Maher Terminals' Roger Nortillo says the systems just make the employees more efficient – and dockworkers at the Hanjin terminal agreed. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union's Southern California contract includes higher pay for people who work with computers. Journal of Commerce (06/12/00); Mongelluzzo, Bill
Canadian National Upgrades Intermodal Schedules
In an effort to lure time-sensitive shippers away from expedited trucking, Canadian National Railway has introduced new intermodal schedules that reduce transit times from Toronto to Vancouver and other western cities by nearly a day. There will be quicker transit times for most eastbound intermodal freight as well, CN says.On weekdays, three westbound trains will leave Toronto each day, two will leave Saturdays, and one will leave Sundays; there will also be trains heading east from Vancouver and Calgary each day. Journal of Commerce (06/12/00); Tower, Courtney
Kansas Highway Patrol Suffering From Lack of Troopers
Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper Mark Engholm says the patrol has no troopers assigned to the roads in 22 of the state's 105 counties, and 24 of the counties have just one trooper; this can cause accident response times between 45 and 60 minutes. In addition, over the next three years a third of the 300-trooper force will be up for retirement. Land Line Magazine Online (06/15/00)Compiled by Transport Topics staff and INFORMATION, INC. © 2000
