News Briefs - Aug. 20
The Latest Headlines:
- USF’s DiStasio Gives Bergmann Added Duties
- Jufors to Become Volvo Trucks President in November
- Truckers Say Long Delays Remain at Port of Miami
- Heritage Buys R.R. Donnelley Unit
- Intermodal Gains 8.5%, for 9th Quarter of Growth
- Jufors to Become Volvo Trucks President in November
USF’s DiStasio Gives Bergmann Added Duties
Transportation firm USF Corp. said Aug. 19 that Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Richard DiStasio had passed along some of his duties to Chief Financial Officer Thomas Bergmann.Bergmann, who was given the added title of executive vice president, “will be responsible for the internal management of USF Corp.,” the company said.
SF is ranked No. 12 on the Transport Topics 100 list of largest U.S. and Canadian trucking companies.
Bergmann, who USF said joined the company in February, would assume responsibility for human resources and administration, procurement, legal and best practices initiatives, the company said. As CFO, he also retains supervision of the information technology, yield management and financial operations, the firm said. Transport Topics
Jufors to Become Volvo Trucks President in November
Volvo Group, a manufacturer of trucks, buses and construction equipment, said Friday that Staffan Jufors would become the new president of Volvo Trucks on Nov. 1.He would replace Jorma Halonen, scheduled to become executive vice president and deputy chief executive officer of the Volvo Group on that same date.
Volvo said Halonen will work parallel with Lennart Jeansson, who currently holds the positions, until Jeansson retires next year. Transport Topics
Truckers Say Long Delays Remain at Port of Miami
Nearly six weeks after independent truckers returned to work at the Port of Miami, the delays that prompted the two-week walkout are still hurting the port, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Friday.Some independent truckers have questioned whether the new delays are an effort by Miami-Dade officials and terminal operators to provoke them to strike again or push them into mediation before a Sept. 3 hearing in court, the article said.
Port users complain of delays of two weeks and more to gain access to their shipping containers, compared with as little as several days before the strike. In addition, truckers claim waiting times have grown to three or four hours for pickups, up from about 90 minutes when procedures were expedited right after the strike, the article said.
U.S. District Court Judge Patricia Seitz on July 9 ordered the roughly 700 striking truckers back to their jobs, claiming their two-week walkout caused major harm to the port, business and the public. (Click here for previous coverage.) Transport Topics
Heritage Buys R.R. Donnelley Unit
Investment firm Heritage Partners Inc. said it would acquire the package logistics business of R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. for an undisclosed sum.Donnelley said it would receive cash in exchange for the assets and liabilities of its package logistics business that would include its CTC Direct Inc. subsidiary. Donnelley also said it would retain its print logistics, fulfillment and distribution businesses and continue third-party logistics services.
Boston-based equity firm Heritage said it planned to combine the business with American Package Express, also known as APX Logistics, a parcel-delivery company.
The two said they would create an integrated nationwide delivery network to serve catalog businesses, electronic retailers, direct marketers, publishers and other shippers.
R.R. Donnelley said it was the largest printing company in North America, with customers in publishing, health care, advertising, retail and other industries. Michael G. Malloy
Intermodal Gains 8.5%, for 9th Quarter of Growth
Led by domestic trailers, growth of truck-rail intermodal traffic increased 8.5% in the second quarter, up from 7.1% in the first three months of 2004, the Intermodal Association of North America reported.That marked the ninth continuous quarter of intermodal growth by volume, Iana said.
The group also said that average growth of 8.1% for that type of freight move in the past three quarters made for the strongest nine-month period of intermodal growth since the group began collecting data in 1996.
“It’s a good time to be in this business,” said Tom Malloy, Iana’s vice president of business development.
“What’s interesting is that private-trailer volumes in particular have been inching up,” Malloy told Transport Topics. Private trailers — which, unlike containers, are attached to chassis — are trailers that are not owned by railroads and are often owned by trucking companies, he said.
With the peak shipping season for intermodal containers out of ocean ports now under way, railroads had scheduled intermodal price hikes to take effect Aug. 17.
Iana said international containers posted the largest gain.
The group said total domestic intermodal volume posted a record overall gain for the second consecutive quarter at 8.8%. But domestic container volume slowed slightly, rising by 6.2% after a 7% gain in the first quarter. Domestic volume has grown in eight of the last nine quarters, Iana said. Michael G. Malloy
