A.M. Executive Briefing - April 26
This Morning's Headlines:
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ILWU Locals Seek to Curb Delays
Saying the union has changed and feels a responsibility to the industry and the country, International Longshore and Warehouse Union locals have put forth a proposal for reducing port congestion at Los Angeles-Long Beach.While the new leadership of local 63 and 13 has made maritime companies hopeful, and there have been no work stoppages since the leaders took over in March, employers are unsure whether the leaders can rein in the traditionally aggressive locals.
The proposal from the locals would have many containers put on chassis right away and taken off the dock by ILWU truckers, who would receive a $26.68 per hour base wage and move four or five containers per shift. Terminals, steamship lines, cities, and port authorities would create off-dock facilities with round-the-clock security to hold the containers, so the terminals could operate all day.
Because warehouses are mostly open during the day only and truckers do not want to be responsible for containers full of valuable goods overnight, late gates do not get much truck traffic now.
Charles Wallace of the employers' Pacific Maritime Association said talks between employers and the union could start with the proposal, but there are potential problems. One is that there is already too little available labor in Southern California, and another is that terminal operators do not want to pay for trucks, drivers, and insurance, which is why they hire drayage trucking companies. Journal of Commerce (04/26/00) P. 1; Mongelluzzo, Bill
Amendment Would Aid Truck Industry
The Colorado Senate has given preliminary approval to a House-passed bill that would cut the state sales tax, adding an amendment that would temporarily cut the sales tax on trucks over 26,000 pounds, as well as parts, to 0.01% from 3%.The Senate's version of the bill would cut the sales tax somewhat less than the version that passed the House, while the Senate version of another bill cutting the income tax contains a larger reduction than the House-approved version.
State legislators now have the option of even deeper cuts due to news that the state's budget surplus is now $70 million higher than projected last month; the surplus must be given back to taxpayers under the law. Denver Rocky Mountain News Online (04/26/00); Bartels, Lynn; Sanko, John
Paccar Examines Buying Options
Paccar Chairman Mark Pigott said Tuesday that the truckmaker feels a "sense of urgency" due to industry consolidation and that it is looking into possible purchases as well, although he said it does not yet have any specifics.In addition, he said that the merger of Renault and Volvo's truck operations will inevitably create "a degree of turmoil," which will give other truckmakers a brief marketing opportunity.
The company also announced that while production could drop 20% to 25% this year in North America, Europe may set a record this year.
Paccar's $1.98 per share first-quarter net profit, up from $1.52 in the year-earlier quarter, beat projections by about 12 cents, and it said the strong European market was boosting production of Daf trucks roughly 15%. Daf production could go up as much as 25% by year's end, Paccar said. Financial Times (04/26/00) P. 27; Tait, Nikki
Many Trucks Get to Skip Weigh-In
Since the 35-year-old truck scales at the weigh station along Interstate 10 in Banning, Calif., were removed in January, many trucks have gone through the area without being weighed due to delays in installation of the replacement scales. The new scales will probably not be ready for another month; in the interim, Highway Patrol has occasionally been picking out suspect trucks and weighing them with portable scales.Neil McLean, of a company in Banning that stores and shifts shipments for trucks that weigh too much, says that for safety's sake the old scales should have stayed in place until the new ones were ready – which is what is usually done.
State Department of Transportation public affairs officer Jeanne M. Garcia denied McLean's accusation that the agency messed up the project, saying the delay was the fault of the manufacturer, Weigh-Tronix. However, Weigh-Tronix says the March 31 shipment of the scales was just one week late, but that Caltrans requested drawings and specifications several times prior to the Feb. 11 order. Riverside Press-Enterprise (04/25/00) P. B1; Moore, Steve
Drowsy Driving Tracked
As evidence mounts that fatigue is a key cause of traffic accidents, Michigan State Police have begun noting on accident reports whether crashes were related to drowsiness. After a year of collecting information, the state will create an educational campaign using information on when the majority of fatigue-related crashes take place.The state is to test a device known as Eye-Check in an attempt to detect fatigue in commercial drivers, but in most cases troopers will interview the drivers involved in accidents to assess whether fatigue played a part.
Another tack Michigan is taking in fighting the problem of driver fatigue is installing rumble strips along newly paved portions of interstate highways.
But statistics show that only a third of U.S. residents get eight hours of sleep every night, and experts generally believe that improving data collection on driver fatigue will cause statistics to reflect more crashes caused by fatigue.
According to Dr. Thomas Roth, who heads the Sleep Disorders and Research Center at Henry Ford Hospital, Michigan residents eat too much and get too little sleep, and the effect of alcohol on driving is magnified by insufficient sleep. Detroit News (04/25/00) P. 1, Metro Section; Heinlein, Gary
Border Ruling a Threat to Town
Truck traffic crossing the Blue Water Ferry from Sombra, Ontario, to Marine City, Mich., has fallen to roughly three trucks a day – down from 20 – after the U.S. Customs Service began enforcing a rule mandating the purchase of yearly permits.In addition, the permits are only being given to drivers who are bound for Detroit, not those who are going north in the direction of Saginaw and Bay City. Truck traffic headed toward Ontario has stayed the same, since the Canadian customs rules are unchanged.
The family that owns the ferry says it may now have to shut down in the winter, when there is not enough tourist traffic and it relies on trucks to stay open. If that happens, the family fears, U.S. Customs may shut down its office there, which would close down the ferry completely and devastate businesses on both sides of the border. Toronto Star (04/25/00); Harries, Kate
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