A.M. Executive Briefing - May 2
This Morning's Headlines:
ul>
Customer's Expansion May Help Sterling
After Con-Way Canada Express was officially given its new name and said it was expanding to five additional Canadian provinces, Sterling Truck could enjoy higher orders from the carrier, which is among the truckmaker's top customers. This would mean higher sales for the Sterling plant in St. Thomas, Ontario, which last month marked 1,500 trucks delivered to Con-Way in a mere two years.Con-Way spokesman Doug Dawson said the Sterling truck is "an excellent product" which can stand up to long-haul use in all sorts of weather conditions.
East Coast Thefts of Heavy Equipment Tied to Ring
Authorities have arrested a Staten Island, N.Y., man and plan up to 11 more arrests, saying they have broken a tractor-trailer and heavy-equipment theft ring that operated in several East Coast states.Officials recovered roughly $1.5 million in stolen vehicles, trailers, and equipment after the owner of a bulldozer that was stolen spotted his equipment at a construction site.
After police had a middleman claim that someone was looking to buy a 53-foot trailer, authorities say, 36-year-old Staten Island resident Joseph Kauffman showed up at a Delaware site with a stolen tractor and trailer. Authorities think Kauffman was the head of the theft ring. Associated Press (05/02/00)
Maine Fuel Rebate Bill Dies
A Maine bill to spend $3.6 million to pay back truck drivers 23 cents for each gallon of diesel purchased from Feb. 1 to March 15 has been killed in the Appropriations Committee. The measure would have effectively paid back the Maine diesel excise tax for the time when per-gallon prices were above $2. Heavy Duty Trucking Online (05/02/00)Bidding War for KLLM Driving Up Share Price, Interest
KLLM Transport Services stock rose 7.7% on the Nasdaq Monday during a battle of takeover bids between Prime Inc. owner Robert Low and KLLM chief Jack Liles, who is backed up by Bernie Ebbers, president and CEO of WorldCom.Since a takeover offer would break KLLM's change-of-control clause with its present lender, Liles and Ebbers have gotten Bank of America to agree to refinance the company's credit line, should they win the bidding.
If the Bank of America deal is approved, Ebbers will pay the purchase price – he and Liles are offering $8.25 a share, which comes out to $35 million – while Liles would have a majority stake.
Low, who currently has 13.7% of KLLM shares, extended his tender offer of $32.9 million, or $7.75 a share, until May 30. Associated Press (05/01/00) ; Moore, Matt
FedEx Ground Gets a Hand
This spring, FedEx Ground will be issuing proprietary Symbol Technologies Star II handheld computer devices to 8,500 independent-contractor drivers, who can scan bar codes with the device's built-in scanner and enter other vital data using its keypad.The devices have 16 MB of RAM and another 16 MB of Flash memory and operate on 486 processors; for an operating system, FedEx Ground picked MS-DOS over Windows CE for its stability. Drivers use their trucks' onboard computers to move data from the handheld devices into the main database, and it is sent on to customer-service centers by WAN radio.
The company decided to use the onboard computers rather than putting WAN radio in the handheld devices in part because new data can be sent to many drivers' onboard computers at once, and the driver can download data from the onboard computer into the handheld whenever it is convenient.
Sorting-facility personnel use custom-built Symbol wearable computers with ring scanners; these are linked with local Unix servers by wireless LAN. The company's aim is to cut out paperwork entirely. Internet Week (05/01/00) No. 811; P. 50; Ehrenmann, Gayle
New Tools Tested in Battle Against Sleepy Truckers
Sixteen Pitt Ohio Express trucks have been outfitted with fatigue-alert devices for an 18-month study by the National Robotics Engineering Consortium at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.The five devices, which include a camera that measures eye-blinking rate and a wristwatch that monitors the movement of the wrist, will help researchers identify drivers' reactions to visual fatigue warnings. Of the five, the camera, designed by researcher Richard Grace, has the lowest production cost – between $300 and $400.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association's Todd Spencer said driving schedules are the true culprit for fatigue and called the plan "outrageous on its face." Associated Press (04/28/00)
Correction
In yesterday's A.M. briefing, Cricket Campbell was erroneously paraphrased in an Associated Press article titled "Trucking Company Prefers Women Drivers," which was summarized by Information Inc. Here's is Campbell's response:"We appeal to all qualified drivers who can meet the PRIDE standards regardless of the sex. It is true that the females get fewer citations and are involved in fewer accidents however, if you apply the ratio of men to women there are fewer women drivers than men so there would be fewer.
"As for the pay, PRIDE's pay scale is set up to offer all qualified drivers regardless of the sex an opportunity to make the best possible living they can.
"As far as women being superior I feel that there are no superior people in this business. At no time have I ever said that women are superior to men or men superior to women. We either have those drivers who are professionals and get the job done or the others. In any case if the drivers are not qualified they do not represent PRIDE."
© copyright 2000 INFORMATION, INC. Terms of Service
