News Briefs - March 15
The Latest Headlines:
- Lundberg: Gasoline Rises to New Record
- N.Y. Fed's Factory Index Falls to 25.3
- Kenworth Says Swift to Lease 3,000 of Its Trucks
- US 1 Industries' 4Q Profits Decline
- Oshkosh Receives $44.3 Million Order From Navy Seabees
- N.Y. Fed's Factory Index Falls to 25.3
Lundberg: Gasoline Rises to New Record
Prices for all grades of gasoline rose 1.34 cents in the last two weeks to a record average of $1.77 a gallon, according to the Lundberg survey of 8,000 stations nationwide.About one-third of commercial trucking uses gasoline. The previous combined average record high was $1.76 in May 2001.
Analyst Trilby Lundberg said the latest spike reflects the rise in crude oil prices and an increase in refinery work to prepare for greater spring and summer gasoline demand, the Associated Press reported.
Prices have jumped by nearly 26 cents so far this year, but they aren't expected to rise much higher, Lundberg said.
The national weighted average price of gasoline, including taxes, at self-serve pumps Friday was about $1.74 for regular, $1.84 for midgrade and $1.92 for premium. Transport Topics
N.Y. Fed's Factory Index Falls to 25.3
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Monday its factory index declined to 25.3 in March from a record 42.1 the month before, Bloomberg reported.The index is compiled by the Buffalo Branch of the N.Y. Fed. A number greater than zero shows that a majority of manufacturers said business improved.
March's reading was the lowest since September, Bloomberg said. About 43% of the companies surveyed said business improved from February, while 17% saw deterioration.
The report found the index of new orders fell to 23.5 this month from 34.9 in February, while a gauge of the number of employees fell this month to 9.7 from 16.5 in February.
The index of inventories dropped to 3.9 this month, from 8.6 in February. Transport Topics
Kenworth Says Swift to Lease 3,000 of Its Trucks
Kenworth Truck Co. said Friday Interstate Equipment Leasing would supply 3,000 new Kenworth trucks to Swift Transportation Co.'s owner-operators over the next three years.Kenworth, a division of Paccar Inc., said in a release the trucks would be specified with options desired by the owner-operators.
The trucks generally sell for $100,000 to $120,000 each, depending on options, the Associated Press reported.
Truckload carrier Swift is ranked No. 13 on the Transport Topics 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian trucking companies. Transport Topics
US 1 Industries' 4Q Profits Decline
US 1 Industries Inc., which provides financial resources, insurance and information technology to the trucking and logistics industries, said Friday its net income for the fourth quarter was $127,365 or 1 cent per share, compared with $574,841 or 5 cents a year earlier.Revenues were $30.6 million, an increase of 9.5%, the company said in a release.
For the full year, profits were $1.4 million or 12 cents per share, compared with $2.2 million or 20 cents in 2002. Transport Topics
Oshkosh Receives $44.3 Million Order From Navy Seabees
Oshkosh Truck Corp., a manufacturer of specialty trucks and truck bodies, said Friday it had received a $44.3 million order to build 210 Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement trucks for the U.S. Navy Seabees.The order includes 174 MTVR dump trucks, 28 MTVR wreckers, and eight cargo vehicle configurations.
Deliveries are scheduled to begin in April 2004 and conclude in the middle of 2005, Oshkosh said in a release.
The cargo vehicle configuration is used for transportation and logistics, while the wrecker is a high-performance recovery vehicle used for towing and battlefield maintenance, Oshkosh said. Transport Topics
