A.M. Executive Briefing - Aug. 24

Oil Price Group Warns Trucking, Consumers To Suffer Most From Diesel Spike

OPIS, which analyzes transportation trends, reported that wholesale prices on some fuels have risen more than 20% since the beginning of August, with the price of diesel jumping 26 cents this month in southern California alone.

End-users will feel the effects by the end of the month, the report said. For example, a customer in the Northeast with a 275-gallon tank may expect to pay $75 more for a fill-up than at the end of July. An over-the-road truck may pay as much as $375 a month more for its diesel fuel.

President Bill Clinton continues to lobby OPEC to help drive prices down, saying an acceptable price level is the low-to-mid $20s per barrel, Bloomberg reported. Transport Topics

Economy: July Durable Goods Orders Nosedive

The 12.4% monthly decline was the largest on record, but followed a sharp 9.5% gain for June. A lot of the swing was due to new transportation equipment orders being placed, and most of that was for big aircraft.

With transportation-related orders removed, durables fell 4.8% last month after a scant 0.5% rise for June. Outside of defense orders, durables fell 6.8% in July.

With factories reporting weaker new orders for such goods, truck companies can expect some slowing in the pace of domestic shipments for those items. Already, shipments of new durable goods fell 1.9% for July, Commerce said. Transport Topics

Alberta Trucking Association Seeks Tax Break For Truckers

After an attempt to get the Canadian Trucking Alliance to handle the issue failed, ATA went to the commission, a group of non-government officials from business and academia that examines the Alberta tax system, the article said.

ATA has proposed a reduction in the corporate business tax and provincial fuel tax and for government programs that tax input components and input costs to business, as well as an off-road fuel tax rebate system, to be eliminated, an ATA official told the Sun.

The Business Tax Reform Commission can only make recommendations to the government regarding tax changes, the article said. Transport Topics

Truck Makers Spread Layoffs, Production Curbs

A Kenworth spokesman confirmed Wednesday afternoon that the Bellevue, Wash.-based Paccar subsidiary will lay off 500 of the 1,600 employees at its Chillicothe, Ohio plant starting Sept. 18. Reports had surfaced that the company might trim those jobs at the big-rig producer, but Kenworth has made no announcement of those plans.

Separate from the 8,000 layoffs in the industry, heavy truck maker Mack Trucks told Transport Topics Wednesday that it plans to briefly idle about 2,700 employees this fall, when it closes three plants for a week starting Oct. 2. Those plants are in Macungie, Pa., Winnsboro, S.C. and Hagerstown, Md.

Both actions were said to be the result of declining orders for the large class 8 trucks. The orders backlog for that category has fallen from 247,025 in June 1999 to just 96,675 in June 2000. Dan Lang, Transport Topics

Sales Up For Transforce, But Revenue Slowed By High Taxes

That helped the company, which has subsidiaries in both the less-than-truckload and truckload carrier industry, post earnings 27% higher than last year's first quarter posting. This year's first quarter earnings were more than $2.6 million. Company officials said the net earnings growth was slowed by a higher tax rate than last year. Transport Topics

Heart Attack Strikes Heartland Express Founder

The 58-year-old company chairman and president was hospitalized after complaining about chest pains. He was admitted and treated without losing consciousness, said company executive vice president John Cosaert, who added his boss suffered a "mild heart attack." Recuperating in an undisclosed Iowa hospital, Gerdin had a blockage removed from an artery that supplies blood to his heart.

Gerdin founded the Coralville, Iowa, regional truckload carrier in 1978. He is joined in the business by his son Michael, who is a Heartland director and the president of A&M Express of Kingsport, Tenn., a Heartland subsidiary. Jonathan Reiskin, Transport Topics

Daylight Opens New Lanes, Expands Regional Service

Service will be one-way only from the two northeastern states to the south. Daylight said it will provide three-day service between most metropolitan markets.

This is Daylight's third addition of expedited lanes in 2000, the company said. Transport Topics

USF Dugan Taps Ainsworth For Top Executive Post

Ainsworth last served as senior vice president of operations for USF Reddaway and has worked 24 years in the transportation industry. Wichita, Kan.-based USF Dugan operates a network of 59 terminals in 22 states. Transport Topics

Houston-Area Toll Authority Adopts Digital Camera Enforcement

ATTLAS is used to automate toll enforcement by imprinting invoices with the notice number; date of issue; date, time, and location of the violation; license number and state of issue; toll amount owed; and the fine for each offense, HCTRA said.

Digital cameras set up at toll plazas will photograph toll violaters' license plates and transfer that information to the Violation Processing Center, where invoicing takes place. Transport Topics