News Briefs - April 29
The Latest Headlines:
- Bridgestone Announces Tire Price Hike
- ATA Says Truck Tonnage Tops 9 Billion in '03
- Frozen Food Express Reports 1Q Gains
- TransForce Acquires Canadian TL Carrier
- CTA Drafts Letter to Governor on Diesel Prices
- ATA Says Truck Tonnage Tops 9 Billion in '03
Bridgestone Announces Tire Price Hike
Tire manufacturers Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire LLC and Bridgestone/Firestone Canada Inc. said Thursday they would jointly institute an “across the board” price increase of up to 5% on tire products sold in the U.S. and Canada.“We continue to be faced with a continuing escalation of raw material costs,” said BFNT President Yuri Tomiyasu in a statement. “While we have taken many affirmative steps in our plants and in our processes to address and attempt to minimize the impact of these rising costs, we have been unable to offset them entirely, even with our increases in efficiencies and productivity. Therefore, we must take the action we have announced today.”
Both companies are subsidiaries of Bridgestone Americas Holding Inc., whose parent Bridgestone Corp., is the world’s largest tire and rubber company. Both firms supply tires for aftermarket sales and for origi-nal equipment makers. Transport Topics
ATA Says Truck Tonnage Tops 9 Billion in '03
The U.S. trucking industry hauled 9.06 billion tons of freight in 2003, the American Trucking Associations said in a report released Wednesday.ATA said the industry carried for 68.9% of all freight last year. The report said 12.9% of all freight traveled by rail, 9.4% went by pipeline and ships carried 7.7%. Airfreight and rail intermodal traffic totaled just 1% of all freight movements, ATA said.
The association said the industry had total revenues of $610 billion. Transport Topics
Frozen Food Express Reports 1Q Gains
Refrigerated carrier Frozen Food Express Industries Inc. said Wednesday it logged the highest first-quarter net income in its history -- $1.94 million or 11 cents per share.The record profit is an improvement on 2003’s loss of $668,000 or 4 cents per share, the company said.
The company said that it had revenues of $103.4 million in the first three months of the year, up from 2003’s first-quarter revenue of $91.5 million.
Based in Dallas, Frozen Food Express is ranked No. 46 on the 2003 Transport Topics 100 listing of the largest trucking companies in the United States and Canada. Transport Topics
TransForce Acquires Canadian TL Carrier
TransForce Income Fund, a Canadian trucking and logistics firm, said Wednesday it had signed an agreement to acquire all the outstanding shares of specialized truckload carrier Transport N.J.N. Inc.Transport N.J.N. had been conducting business under the name Transpel. Based in Boucherville, Quebec, Canada, the company had revenues of $24 million in its last fiscal year, TransForce said.
TransForce Chief Executive Officer Alain Bedard said the move helped the Montreal-based company “pursue our long-term growth strategy.”
TransForce is ranked No. 55 on the 2003 Transport Topics 100 listing of the largest for-hire carriers in the United States and Canada. Transport Topics
CTA Drafts Letter to Governor on Diesel Prices
The California Trucking Association sent a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Wednesday seeking temporary relief from the state’s strict diesel fuel regulations.The letter said that because of the state’s diesel rules that require fuel sold in the state meet special emissions standards, in-state truckers “operate at a disadvantage with companies fueling from outside the state and coming in hauling freight with federally approved diesel fuel.”
In a release, association Senior Vice President Stephanie Williams said that the state-mandated diesel “is a lose-lose situation that takes freight revenue and high paid jobs out of California. Environmental targets were not met and out of state trucks are driving more miles in the state and paying less taxes for our roads.”
CTA said that the average diesel price in California was about $2.10 a gallon and in some areas it was close to $2.50, forcing some carriers to park their fleets. Transport Topics
