News Briefs - Aug. 17
The Latest Headlines:
- DaimlerChrysler Sells Hyundai Stake
- Former Cummins Chairman, CEO Miller Dies
- Housing Starts Rebound in July
- Profits Fall at US 1 Industries
- Segmentz Reports Net Loss for 2Q
- Kentucky Gravel Hauler Sues Over State's Weight Laws
- Former Cummins Chairman, CEO Miller Dies
DaimlerChrysler Sells Hyundai Stake
DaimlerChrysler AG said Monday it has sold its 10.5% stake in South Korea's Hyundai Motors Co., the Associated Press reported.The two companies had previously agreed to build a joint venture engine plant and truck factory. However, the plans began to fall apart amid DaimlerChrysler's plans to build Mercedes-Benz cars in China in partnership with Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co., AP said.
DaimlerChrysler expects the sale to bring in more than $900 million, AP said. Transport Topics
Former Cummins Chairman, CEO Miller Dies
Diesel engine maker Cummins Inc. said that J. Irwin Miller, who led the company for more than 40 years, died Monday at the age of 95.Miller became Cummins' general manager in 1934 and remained with the company until his retirement as chairman and chief executive officer in 1977.
"J. Irwin Miller was not just a great Indiana business leader, but a great Hoosier who embodied all of our best intentions and hopes for a fair and just world," Indiana Gov. Joe Kernan said in a statement posted on his Web site. "His contributions to Columbus, our state, nation and truly our entire world have made lasting and real differences in the lives of millions of people."
Cummins said in a statement he advised several presidents, and his appointments included chairing the Special Committee on U.S. Trade with East European Countries and the Soviet Union in 1965. Transport Topics
Housing Starts Rebound in July
Housing starts rose 8.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.978 million units in July, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.Rising construction likely means more business for flatbed trucking companies that haul building materials. Also, in the case of home construction, dry van freight can see a increase in demand for the delivery of household appliances and furniture.
Commerce also said June’s starts were revised slightly higher, to a 1.826 million annual rate from the initially reported 1.802 million pace. Starts were off by 7.7% last month, instead of the previously reported 8.5% decline.
Building permits, an indicator of future building activity, were up 5.7% in July to a 2.055 million annual rate, Commerce said. July was the third time in 2004 permits have been above the two million annual level. Transport Topics
Profits Fall at US 1 Industries
US 1 Industries Inc. said Monday its net income for the first quarter was $99,883 or 1 cent per share, compared with $540,160 or 4 cents a year earlier.The company provides financial resources, insurance and information technology to the trucking and logistics industries,
evenues for the quarter rose 13.5% to $36 million, the company said in a statement. Operating expenses rose to $35,799 from $31,083. Transport Topics
Segmentz Reports Net Loss for 2Q
Segmentz Inc., a provider of transportation and logistics services said Monday its second-quarter net loss was $394,351 or 2 cents per share, compared with a net income of $142,827 or 2 cents a year earlier.The Company had about 24 million shares in the most recent quarter, compared with 8.1 million shares in the second quarter of 2003.
Revenues increased about 128% to $7.6 million, the company said in its release. However, costs of services, including purchased transportation, fuel and insurance, increased 161% to $6.2 million. Transport Topics
Kentucky Gravel Hauler Sues Over State's Weight Laws
Attorneys for gravel hauler D.R.T. Trucking Inc. and Charles Gillespie, a company operator, have filed a lawsuit challenging Kentucky laws that let coal companies haul more weight than other heavy trucks, the Lexington Herald Leader reported Tuesday.The lawsuit, filed Aug. 2 in Pike Circuit Court, challenges the constitutionality of a 1986 law that allows coal trucks to legally haul up to 126,000 pounds while haulers of other "natural resources" are restricted to 80,000 pounds.
The company wants state vehicle-enforcement officers to be prohibited from issuing tickets to overweight coal trucks until other carriers -- including asphalt, gravel and sand trucks -- can legally haul the same weights.
The plaintiffs are also seeking a temporary injunction that would halt a four-month crackdown on overweight trucks by the Kentucky Department of Vehicle Enforcement, the article said. Transport Topics
