Executive Briefing - Feb. 23
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Motorola To Record First Q/Loss in 15 Years
The already-slumping technology sector received a major hit Friday when wireless communications giant Motorola, Inc. (MOT) announced that it probably would suffer its first quarterly operating loss in 15 years, Reuters reported.
As a major manufacturer, Motorola's warnings about earnings or general conditions have implications both for truck freight shipments of its own goods and in the broader economy.
In an analyst conference call Friday morning, company president Robert Growney said the company will shortly also announce the sale or shutdown of four of its 55 plants and possibly three more, also unidentified, Reuters said.
The Schaumburg, Ill.-based company employed 147,000 people as the year started but has since cut almost 7,000 in various units, Reuters noted.Transport Topics
Delphi Idling 6,600 Workers for Week
Delphi Automotive Systems Corp. (DPH) plans to idle about 6,600 workers for a week, beginning Monday, due to production cuts by General Motors (GM) and other customers, Bloomberg News reported Friday.
About 2,100 workers will be temporarily idled in Ohio, 1,600 in Alabama and 1,500 in Michigan, according to Bloomberg.
The rest are scattered through New York, Indiana, Wisconsin, Kansas, Mississippi and New Jersey, the news service said.
In all, the numbers make up about 9.1% of Delphi's 72,300 employees in the United States, according to Bloomberg.
The furloughs follow 4,200 in the week that began Feb. 19, and 3,700 the previous week, Bloomberg said.Transport Topics
TruckersB2B Partners With TransTech
TruckersB2B and Pegasus TransTech have formed a partnership to provide full-service imaging and document management to fleets, the companies announced Friday.Transflo, a system that includes software, hardware and consulting services, is already being used by 25 of the Transport Topics 100 companies, according to the announcement.
TruckersB2B and Pegasus said the partnership should make the services more accessible to smaller carriers.
Driver logs, permits and billing are among the functions that can be automated, and Internet retrieval and remote imaging are among the services, they said.
TruckersB2B is a membership program that provides pre-negotiated savings to numerous trucking companies and is mostly owned by a subsidiary of the Celadon Group, which is No. 54 on the Transport Topics 100 list of largest U.S. trucking companies based on 1999 data.Transport Topics
(Click here for the full press release.)
Truck Stop Workstation Provider Files for Bankruptcy
DriverNet, the provider of driver workstation kiosks at 440 truck stops, has filed for bankruptcy and laid off most of its staff, the Kansas City Star reported Friday.The Star said the company laid off 55 employees Tuesday and filed for bankruptcy the following day.
The Kansas City-based company hopes, however, to find a buyer to continue maintaining the workstations at which drivers can do such things as check e-mail, seek loads and send faxes, the newspaper said.
An official said DriverNet has grown since its founding in 1996 to having some 350,000 users-too large for a small company like DriverNet to operate, according to the Star.Transport Topics
Samsonite to Cut Jobs, End U.S. Luggage Output
Rising labor costs and underutilized production have led Samsonite Corp. (SAMC) to cease manufacturing baggage in the U.S. after 91 years, Reuters reported late Thursday.Samsonite will lay off 340 employees and close its plant in Denver April 4, but maintain the location as a distribution point, Reuters said. The company said the demand for hard-cased luggage has fallen sharply over the past five years as consumers turned more to soft-sided bags.
As in all such plant closings, trucking is bound to suffer economic side effects from lost freight shipments.Transport Topics
California Capitol Repair: $16.5 Million
California authorities will need $16.5 million to repair the damage to the state capitol that occurred when a mentally ill trucker smashed his rig into the building, the Sacramento Bee reported Friday.The state expects to be reimbursed from an insurance policy held by the owner of the truck driven by Mike Bowers, who died in the Jan. 16 wreck, the paper reported.
Bowers was employed by Dick Simon Trucking, a truckload carrier based in Salt Lake City.Transport Topics
Web Services Ally to Offer New Transport Service
Two Internet-based service providers have announced an alliance they say will provide carriers and shippers "access to a world-class technology platform, dedicated logistics professionals and real-time information concerning their shipments."The companies are Transora and Transplace.com.
Rather than shippers having to deal with numerous carriers, by using their new Internet service "both shippers and carriers will benefit from improved technology, process standardization, reduced empty miles and a broad range of fleet services," the two companies said.
ransora says it is "the world's largest open, standards-based business-to-business e-marketplace for the global consumer products industry."
Transplace.com describes itself as "an Internet-based transportation logistics company."Transport Topics
(Click here for the full press release.)
Northwest Air Labor Talks to Continue
The National Mediation Board will resume meeting March 7 with Northwest Airlines (NWAC) and its Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association in hopes of averting a shutdown, the airline made known late Thursday.A board-imposed 30-day cooling off period expires two days later, and President Bush has said he would appoint a Presidential Emergency Board if the two sides have not reached agreement by March 9.
This means full and air cargo service will continue without interruption for the foreseeable future, Northwest's chief corporate officer Doug Steenland said in a statement.
Air freight operations, whether as a separate service or in the bellies of passenger planes, require considerable trucking support for regional and local ground transportation. Transport Topics
(Click here for the full press release.)
Fine Air Merges with Arrow
Freight carrier Fine Air Services said it has completed its merger with Arrow Air.Fine had said in 1999 that it would continue a separate identity for Arrow, but now plans to call the merged all-cargo carrier Fine Air.
The merger is part of a bankruptcy reorganization plan, and the company expects judicial approval by Memorial Day.Transport Topics
(Click here for the full press release.)
Polaroid Slashing Workforce by 11%
Faced with declining demand for its instant film, Polaroid Corp. (PRD) has announced that it will cut 950 employees over the next 12 months to realize an annual saving of $60 million, Financial Times reported Friday.Polaroid will drop 475 workers in Massachusetts, with the remainder in Great Britain, the Netherlands and the Asian Pacific region, the newspaper said.
Gary DiCamillo, chairman and chief executive officer, was quoted as saying the company would focus on such new areas as instant digital printing.Transport Topics
Coroner Calls for Canadian Trucker Drug/Alcohol Testing
A British Columbia coroner says Canada should consider adopting the U.S. program for mandatory drug and alcohol testing of truck drivers, the Vancouver Sun reported Friday.Coroner Maureen Wint was quoted as saying employers, employees, unions and Transport Canada should look into programs to keep intoxicated truckers off the road.
She spoke out in a report about the death last July of a truck driver who was found to have three and a half times the legal limit of alcohol in his system.
The only Canadian truckers required to participate in drug and alcohol testing are those who cross the border into the U.S., the article said.Transport Topics
Lufthansa Raising Rates to U.S.
Lufthansa Cargo (LHA-FRK) is raising rates by 5% on loads going from Germany to the United States, but not on loads going from the U.S. to Germany, the Journal of Commerce Online reported Thursday.The increase takes effect April 1, and matches a hike planned by Air France (3112-PAR).
The French boost takes effect March 1, however.
Lufthansa will be raising rates from Germany to Tokyo about 4% more and by about 7% from Germany to Osaka. Rates to Korea will get a 5% boost, according to the JOC.Transport Topics
