A.M. Executive Briefing - Sept. 7
ul>
Teamsters Poised to Endorse Gore for President, Reports Say
The Teamsters union is expected today to endorse Vice President Al Gore to be the next president of the United States, various news services reported, ending its flirtation with both Gore and Republican nominee George W. Bush.This key transportation workers union had been wooed by both major parties and some minor ones under Teamster President James Hoffa Jr., who had long said he would wait to endorse a candidate around Labor Day.
Traditionally, union backing has been solidly behind Democrats, although the Teamsters endorsed Republicans Ronald Reagan and George Bush during the 1980s. The union switched again to back Bill Clinton in 1992, the Associated Press notes, but endorsed no candidate in 1996.
Viking Freight to Raise Rates in October
FedEx Corp.'s Western less-than-truckload carrier, Viking Freight, announced late Wednesday it will implement a general rate increase of 5.9% effective Oct. 2.The increase will apply to intra- and interstate traffic, as well as to Canadian and Mexican shipping, the company said.
Viking's rate increase is in line with several others major carriers such as Yellow, Overnite and CF have put into effect during August and September.
FedEx Corp., parent company of Viking, was No. 2 on the 1999 Transport Topics 100, with an annual revenue of more than $18 billion. Transport Topics
DaimlerChrysler Pushes for Bigger Chunk of Mitsubishi
DaimlerChrysler is renegotiating its alliance with Japan's Mitsubishi Motors Corp. as that company deals with a scandal regarding recall cover-ups, Bloomberg reported Thursday. Some other reports said DaimlerChrysler will up its stake to 40% from its current 34%, and that the two companies will announce the deal on Friday.The scandal has prompted Mitsubishi president Katsuhiko Kawasoe to resign his post; he will be replaced by current vice president Takashi Sonobe, a company official – who asked not to be identified – said in the Bloomberg story.
Mitsubishi is Japan's No. 4 automaker and makes commercial trucks as well. Besides wanting more than the 34% share it took in March, DaimlerChrysler wants a fourth seat on Mitsubishi's 10-member board and wants one of its executives to be named Mitsubishi Motors chief operating officer, Bloomberg reported. Transport Topics
U.S. House GOP to Try Overriding Estate Tax Veto
House Republicans will vote Thursday afternoon to try to override President Clinton's Aug. 31 veto of a bill to kill the estate tax, but the effort is not expected to succeed.he legislation would exempt heirs of small family owned businesses, such as trucking companies or farms, from having to sell any business assets to pay the estate tax.
rospects are slim that enough Democrats will side with Republicans to help in today's override vote. The administration said the legislation drains money away from the Treasury and does not benefit working families. And congressional Democrats have complained that the GOP leadership would not allow a vote on a less costly alternative to scale back the estate tax.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert offered, UPI notes, in an Aug. 28 letter to Clinton before he vetoed the estate tax repeal, to drop GOP demands for that repeal and said he would also deliver a minimum wage hike, if Clinton would agree to various tax changes aimed at boosting small business.
A spokesman for the estate tax repeal's sponsor told Transport Topics that if the override fails, legislation to end the so-called death tax will be offered again during the new Congress that convenes in January. Transport Topics
USPS May Take FedEx Deliveries to Homes
The U.S. Postal Service may start delivering FedEx packages to homes next month, according to Thursday's Washington Post. The "strategic alliance" still being negotiated would use FedEx's air transportation network; in turn, FedEx packages could be dropped off at post offices.
The alliance would allow the now-fierce competitors to play on their strengths. For USPS that is its focus on going "the last mile" to homes; FedEx contributes its extensive overnight air resources. It seems to contrast with a recent FedEx trend, hiring independent contractors to deliver packages to homes, the Post said.
USPS recently lost a major contact with Emery Worldwide. The Post quoted an official with the American Postal Workers Union saying that such an alliance as that considered with Fedex would not hurt its members. Transport Topics
Citigroup's Associates Buy Brings Big Truck Portfolio
The planned acquisition by Citigroup of Associates First Capital Corp. will give the New York-based financial giant a major truck-related portfolio of loans and leases.The Associates has $13 billion in trucking assets outstanding, a company official said, and claims to provide financing to a third of U.S. owner-operators. The company lends on rigs and trailers.
It has been in the truck-finance business since 1918, and it carved out a dedicated trucking financial section in 1974. The Associates even maintains a Web site just for trucking interests. Jonathan Reiskin, Transport Topics
French Truckers' Oil Blockade Moves Into Fifth Day as More Join Effort
France's truck drivers continued a blockade of oil depots for a fifth day, as taxi drivers and farmers joined the effort to protest high fuel prices, Bloomberg reported Thursday.Paris taxi drivers stopped work and made further plans to clog traffic in that city, while farmers blocked a rail line in southern France and threatened to do the same at the Channel Tunnel between France and England, the article said.
The French government has refused to negotiate further with the truckers over fuel taxes after France's largest trucking union rejected a proposal to reimburse truckers for fuel costs, the Associated Press reported Wednesday. Transport Topics
French Protest Brings Fear of Similar Action Elsewhere in Europe
As French truckers and farmers continue a blockade of oil refineries in protest of rising fuel costs, officials in other European countries fear similar action, Bloomberg reports.British and German officials expressed concern that any concessions by the French government might put pressure on their own countries to follow suit, the news service said. Meanwhile, truck drivers in Belgium and Spain plan protests similar to the one in France; a one-day protest planned for Sept. 15 will target Spain's largest oil company.
Separate from the fuel protests, Italy's public transportation was halted in several major cities as workers staged a strike as an effort to speed up labor contract renewals, Bloomberg also reported. Transport Topics
Roadside Project Completed, Lanes Reopen on I-70 in Maryland
Two weeks of roadside work tied to a fiber-optic cable project have wrapped up, so the related lane closures on westbound Interstate 70 near Hagerstown, Md., are no longer necessary, the Herald-Mail newspaper there reported Wednesday.
tretches of the interstate's lanes were closed periodically during the past two weeks as Philadelphia's Level 3 Communications laid fiber-optic cable and restored vegetation torn up by the project, the article said.
The road's shoulder will continue to be closed from Md. 68 west of Hagerstown to the Washington-Frederick county line, a state highway administration spokeswoman told the Herald-Mail, but that is not expected to cause any traffic delays. Transport Topics
Texas Intermodal Yard's Expansion to Continue
Transportacion Maritima Mexicana announced that TexMex Railway management has secured financing to continue expanding its big intermodal Mile Post Nine rail yard in Laredo, Texas.Transportacion Maritima Mexicana is Latin America's largest multi-modal transportation and logistics company, and holds a controlling interest in railways TFM and TexMex.
TexMex has invested $12 million in the past year to improve the Mile Post Nine facilities, the company said. Traffic has continued to grow to and from TexMex, as well as Burlington Northern/Santa Fe Railway and Kansas City Southern Railroad. The Mile Post Nine facility is one of TFM's key service points and the company said it expects the rail yard to support growing NAFTA traffic to and from Mexico. Transport Topics
Fiat Will Crack Down on Workers Found Making Faulty Products
Italian vehicle maker Fiat SpA has told unions it will suspend or terminate workers found responsible for faulty products, a union official told Bloomberg Wednesday.A Fiat official confirmed that letters had been sent to plant chiefs, reaffirming the company's emphasis on quality production, the article said.
The notification comes amid quality concerns over Bridgestone/Firestone and Ford Motor Co. products in the United States and Venezuela. Fiat recently had to recall 393 cars found to have faulty gear boxes, Bloomberg noted. Transport Topics
A NAME="previous">
Headlines From Yesterday's P.M. Briefing
- Mack Trucks Plans Second Week of Production Cuts
- Hayes Lemmerz Second Quarter Hit by Slow Truck Market
- Canada Plans to Update Security, Speed Traffic at U.S. Borders
- Neovation Develops Integrated Parts Management for Mack Trucks
- Two Truckers Wounded in Separate Incidents This Week
- Dateline "Killing Field" Suit Finally Dead; Settlement Reached
- Colorado's Eisenhower Tunnel Gets Dusted
| ||||
