Executive Briefing - March 7
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TRW to Fire 1,000 Workers
Vehicle-parts maker TRW said Wednesday that it would fire 1,000 workers in its automotive unit, Bloomberg reported.The company said the layoffs would be made to reduce costs as production slows for car and light trucks that use TRW products.
Besides what the cut says about the market for light trucks, it also reduces potential freight shipments by TRW of materials into its plants and of finished parts back out.
(Click here for the latest edition of Light & Medium Truck magazine.)
Northwest, Mechanics' Union Mediation Starts
Negotiators for Northwest Airlines and its mechanics union met with federal mediators Wednesday, in an effort to head off a strike that could start Monday at the nation's fourth-largest airline, the Washington Post Online reported.Representatives of Northwest and the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association were being conducted in Washington under a news blackout, according to the Post.
Northwest has an air cargo division, and also carries freight in the bellies of its passenger planes, so any strike could affect significant amounts of air freight that is normally carried to and from airports by truck. When airline strikes occur, that can also throw more air parcels onto expedited truck services.
Separately, the Air Line Pilots Association opened a second strike center for pilots of regional carrier Comair, owned by Delta, and voted to expedite benefits for a strike that could also begin Monday.Transport Topics
(Click here for the ALPA press release.)
Daimler to Fire 2,715 Chrysler Workers
DaimlerChrysler (DCX) said Wednesday that it would fire 2,715 workers from its North American Chrysler unit, Bloomberg reported.
The firings are part of an overall plan to eliminate 5,000 workers by March 31. Of these workers, 2,285 took an early retirement. Therefore, the rest would be fired, Chrysler spokesperson Jodi Tinson told Bloomberg.
The job cuts follow Chrysler's $1.75 billion loss in the second half of 2000 as the U.S. economy slowed. The unit is expected to lose another $2.4 billion in sales this year.Transport Topics
Truck Drags Del. Toll Collector to Death
A tractor-trailer caught a toll collector and dragged him to his death Monday at a toll plaza on Interstate 95 south of Newark, Del., the News Journal of Wilmington, Del. reported in its online edition.The truck had stopped to pay its toll, the paper said, and the toll collector had just stepped outside his booth when the truck apparently caught him as it pulled away.
The report said that and another recent accident in which a toll collector there was hit by a car had left toll plaza workers shaken.
Although the truck in Monday's fatal accident had stopped, the newspaper quoted another toll collector saying that the risks to toll employees were heightened by the electronic EZPass system, which allows drivers to go through without stopping. She said EZPass drivers go through the plaza so quickly that the booths shake.Transport Topics
Texas Senate Passes Truck Safety Bill
The Texas Senate passed a commercial truck safety bill on Tuesday that would give law enforcement officials along the Texas-Mexico border more authority to take unsafe trucks off the road, the Dallas Morning News reported.Under the bill, state troopers would have an easier time enforcing truck weight regulations, and it would bar trucks from crossing bridges with weight limits below the truck's weight. It would also allow sheriff's departments along the border to inspect trucks for safety violations.
Texas State Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, said the bill was prompted in part by Nafta rules that will soon allow Mexican trucks to travel throughout Texas.
The Texas House has not yet voted on a similar bill. Transport Topics
Trucks Face Construction Ban in Columbus, Ohio
Trucks that normally use a 15-mile stretch of Interstate 70 in the southeast quadrant of Columbus, Ohio, are now subject to a construction ban on vehicles at least 7.5 feet wide, which began Wednesday and runs through November.The restriction should not hamper cross-country trucking that uses this key east-west route, since that traffic usually uses routes around the affected zone on beltway. Trucks making downtown deliveries will be affected.
The state's transportation department estimates 14,000 trucks travel that stretch of I-70 daily, and will need to drive five extra miles to detour.
The trucking restriction applies to a stretch of I-70 between Columbus' James Road and the I-70/I-71 split, both the eastbound and westbound lanes. Transport Topics
Xata to Supply Eby-Brown Fleet
Xata Corp. (XATA), a provider of onboard information systems for the fleet trucking industry, announced Wednesday it has signed a deal with distributor Eby-Brown Co. to install Xata's onboard computers and related gear in trucks, starting with 408 vehicles over the next three months.Eby-Brown is one of the largest wholesale distributors of convenience store products in the United States.
It will install Xata's system at eight distribution centers.Transport Topics
(Click here for the full press release.)
Airlines, Aerospace Firms Form B2B Exchange
Nine global airlines including United Parcel Service (UPS), and three aerospace manufacturers said Wednesday they have formed the aviation industry's first business-to-business exchange and application services provider, called Cordiem LLC.They said Cordiem is jointly owned by buyers and sellers, and builds on earlier efforts of separate exchanges for airlines and manufacturers.
Based in Washington, D.C., Cordiem's founding members also include Air France, American Airlines, BFGoodrich, British Airways, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Honeywell International, Iberia Airlines, SAirGroup, United Airlines, and United Technologies Corp.
Cordiem has an advisory council as well that includes other companies. This group of charter, cargo and commercial airlines has annual revenues of more than $25 billion.Transport Topics
UPS is No. 1 on the Transport Topics 100 list of largest U.S. trucking companies, based on 1999 data.
(Click here for the full press release.)
Crude Oil Rises With Low U.S. Inventories
Crude oil prices rose almost 1% Wednesday, after a report that U.S. inventories of oil supplies on hand fell to a 27-year low and as fog prevented normal crude deliveries from the Gulf of Mexico region, Bloomberg reported.Last week, crude oil inventories fell to a total of 275.8 million barrels, the lowest level since January 1974.
As a result, Brent crude oil rose 24 cents Wednesday to $26.72 in London. In New York, light sweet crude rose 32 cents to $28.64 per barrel, the wire service reported.
Next week, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which pumps 40% of the world's oil supply, is expected to cut oil production by 500,000 to 1 million barrels per day. Transport Topics
Air France, Delta Logistics to Partner
The U.S. Justice Department has approved an application from Air France (3112-PAR) and Delta Air Logistics to establish a joint export marketing organization in the United States, the Journal of Commerce Online reported late Tuesday.Air cargo always has a large trucking component for local and regional ground deliveries and pickups.
The deal allows Delta Air Logistics, the cargo division of Delta Airlines, to market its cargo space to Air France and vice-versa.
Both airlines in a similar partnership with the Skyteam alliance established last year, along with Korean Air and Aeromexpress, JOC Online noted.
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