A.M. Executive Briefing - Aug. 23
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Con-Way Southern Building New Center In Texas
Con-Way Southern Express will break ground Thursday on a new service center in Garland, Texas that will have a weekly total freight handling capacity of 10 million pounds.The more than 37,000-square-foot facility will sit on a 20-acre site accessible to major highways in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. It will open with 80 dock doors with the room to add 20 more. The center, which will employ 50 people at its start, should be completed by February, company officials said. Transport Topics
Expenses Outpace Revenue For Truck Dealer RDO Equipment Co.
A 3.5% revenue increase in this fiscal year's second quarter versus last year's was not enough to offset higher-than-expected expenses for the RDO Equipment Co., which reported a net loss of $1.3 million for the quarter.
"Like the rest of the equipment and truck dealership industries, we have continued to see our margins experience considerable pressure," said Ronald D. Offutt, company founder and chairman of the board. "Additionally, our expenses have been at higher-than-normal levels related to the consolidation and integration of the company's acquired truck dealerships. We do not expect to see expenses remain at current levels going forward."
The Fargo, N.D.-based company has 54 retail stores in nine states, including a large network of John Deere construction and agricultural stores, as well as Volvo and Mack truck centers. Transport Topics
Intrenet Narrows Its Losses
High fuel costs and a driver shortage, all-too-familiar ailments to today's trucking industry, contributed heavily to Intrenet Inc. having a net loss of $983,000 for the second quarter, the company said.Although the Milford, Ohio-based trucking company reported a loss for the second quarter, officials said it was an improvement over the same period last year. With last year's second-quarter revenue slightly higher than this year's $71.9 million, Intrenet reported a $2.7-million loss a year ago.
"In such a difficult environment, it is gratifying to see that we have significantly narrowed the gap between our operating ratio and that of our key competitors," said Intrenet President John P. Chandler. "I believe that this is a result of our aggressive program to improve driver recruitment and retention while reducing operating costs and obtaining rate increases. As an example of cost control, in comparing the second quarter of 2000 vs. the second quarter of 1999, we have reduced our combined wages, benefits, insurance and claims expense by approximately $1 million." Transport Topics
Dana Corp. To Close Reading, Pa. Plant
Vehicle frame manufacturer Dana Corp. will shut down its structural products plant in Reading, Pa., affecting 682 workers, the company said late Tuesday. That plant makes frames, cradles and cross-members, a spokeswoman said.The closure date for the 75-year-old facility will be determined after company officials meet with leaders of the United Steelworkers of America, which represents most of the Dana Corp. employees there.
"The closing of the Reading manufacturing plant is a direct result of changes in automo-tive supplier logistics requirements," said Mike Greene, president of Dana's Structural Products Group. "Manufacturing efficiency now requires that our facilities be located closer to our customers' operations." Transport Topics
