News Briefs - June 18
The Latest Headlines:
- Senate Confirms Greenspan to Fifth Term as Fed Chairman
- Volvo to Buy Back Stock for as Much as $564 Million
- Rail Intermodal Loadings Rise in Latest Week
- Clarke Inc. Finance Officer Leaves Firm
- Volvo to Buy Back Stock for as Much as $564 Million
Senate Confirms Greenspan to Fifth Term as Fed Chairman
The Senate on Thursday approved President Bush's nomination of Alan Greenspan to a fifth term as chairman of the Federal Reserve, news services reported.Greenspan has held the position since 1987, when he was chosen by President Reagan to succeed Paul Volcker.
Greenspan only plans to serve less than half of the new four-year term, choosing to retire on Jan. 31, 2006, when his separate 14-year term as a Fed board member is to end, the Associated Press reported.
Volvo to Buy Back Stock for as Much as $564 Million
Volvo AB said Thursday it had approved a program to buy back stock for as much as $564 million through April 2005, Bloomberg reported.The company said it could acquire a maximum of 22.1 million shares on the Stockholm stock exchange to pay for acquisitions or to return cash to investors. Transport Topics
Rail Intermodal Loadings Rise in Latest Week
The Association of American Railroads said Thursday the number of intermodal loadings on U.S. railroads totaled 218,456 trailers or containers in the week ended June 12, down 11.2% from the same week a year earlier.AAR said in a statement that trailer traffic was down 14.7%, while container volume fell 10.1%.
Railroading, like commercial trucking, is considered an important economic indicator. Intermodal traffic, which tends to be merchandise rather than bulk commodities, is more directly competitive with trucking and more reflective of the state of the economy.
So far this year, intermodal volume totaled 4.7 million trailers or containers, up 8.6% from last year, AAR said. Transport Topics
Clarke Inc. Finance Officer Leaves Firm
Freight services company Clarke Inc. said James Lawn, its chief financial officer, left the company on June 4.“The departure of Jim is as a result of the recent sale of Concord Transportation Inc., and the pending sale of the Clarke Logistics division,” the company said in a statement.
Clarke ranks No. 68 on the Transport Topics 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian trucking companies.
Clarke said it sold Concord Transportation — which provided expedited less-than-truckload, truckload and specialized logistics services across North America — to ATS Andlauer Transportation Services Inc. in December 2003 in return for a 30% ownership position in ATS.
Meanwhile, the company also said June 1 it had reached an agreement to sell its non-asset-based logistics division and U.S. subsidiary Clarke Logistics to PBB Global Logistics Income Fund.
Clarke said that sale was for $40 million “plus an amount for net working capital” it estimated to be about $7 million.
In the release announcing the sale to ATS, Clarke said it “was determined to focus on its asset-based core business in North America.”
After the sales of the logistics division, Clarke would be left with its truckload and LTL carriers, Road Transport and Clarke Transport, as well as its contract services division that specializes in passenger and car ferry services, according to the company’s Web site.
Clarke said Stephen Richards and Robert Mintzberg became acting vice president of finance and acting vice president and controller, respectively, effective June 7. Roger Gilroy
This story appeared in the June 20 print edition of Transport Topics.
