A.M. Executive Briefing - Dec. 29
This Morning's Headlines:
ul>
Automated Export System: Information Center to Offer Assistance
An information center has been set up by the Customs Service and Census Bureau to assist exporters with questions about the new Automated Export System, which goes online Saturday.The original Automated Export Reporting Program will be turned off, due to its lack of Y2K compliance, at midnight as the new year begins. Exporters will have to use the new system for documentation filing after that.
C.R. England Starts 2000 With Lower Payments for Drivers
C.R. England has added the "S" type lease program, which will give independents new trucks, training, and experience with payments of less than $500 a week. Drivers with an "O" type lease can change to this new program. The carrier has also created the "Premier Lease" for three-year drivers. Heavy Duty Trucking Online (12/29/99)Short-Haul Trucking Trend Keeps Truckers Close to Home
More and more truck drivers are shunning the long haul so they can get more home time and see their families. The issue is exacerbating the driver shortage, which according to Texas Motor Transportation Association spokesman Bill Webb says is hitting long- and short-haul trucking as well as buses.Carriers are fighting the problem with higher salaries, such as J.B. Hunt Transport Services' hike of pay for truckers with the least experience to $40,000 from $27,000, and more homey equipment in sleeper cabs. Drivers can also stay in touch with their families via Internet connections.
Companies are also changing schedules by allowing truckers to meet each other halfway and trade off their loads – a "meet and turn." Convoys have been abandoned due to the changed scheduling. Dallas Morning News (12/29/99); Fairbank, Katie
Black Drivers Allege Discrimination
Some 60 truck drivers in the Nashville, Tenn., area have started the Coalition of African-American Truckers, claiming that some area carriers engage in racial discrimination in hiring and threaten to fire black employees who report verbal abuse. They have gone to the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chapter with their complaints, citing such carriers as Yellow Freight System, USF Holland, Roadway, and C.B. Ragland. ABC NewsWire (12/28/99)Asheboro Truck-Driving School Trains People Shifting Careers
Started two years ago, the Future Truckers of America Training program in Asheboro, N.C., has graduated 385 students this year, most of them wanting to earn more than they do in their current jobs. While the school's oldest student was 64, most are between the ages of 24 and 34. One student "had 28 job offers before he got out," says 30-year-old student William Rollins.The school grew faster than expected, with 285 students in its first year, outstripping the founders' goal of 250 students annually by the end of its third year. Co-founder Jeff Cook says the school is "the only school south of Virginia near the east coast that is certified by the Professional Truck Drivers Institute." The school screens prospective students carefully and emphasizes safety as the trucker's top priority.
Most truckers are good people who are more likely than anyone else to help stranded motorists, says Cook, who like co-founder Randy Batts is a former trucker.
Demand is high, with the amount of trucks and miles traveled in the United States having risen substantially in recent years. The school had a 97% placement rate at the close of 1998, with 85% continuing to work in transportation after six months, according to Cook. Greensboro (N.C.) News & Record (12/28/99) P. B1; Becker, Denise
I-81 Weekend Patrol Serves Up Safety, With a Smile
A new Virginia Department of Transportation safety patrol began operating on Interstate 81 between Buchanan and Christiansburg over the weekend, helping anyone who could use a hand. The eight-person patrol will operate every weekend on that stretch of I-81, where heavy traffic has led to much driver consternation. VDOT also has services in other high-traffic regions, including Northern Virginia and the Fredericksburg area. Roanoke Times (12/28/99) P. C1; Walker, Childs© copyright 1999 INFORMATION, INC. Terms of Service
