News Briefs - Nov. 13
The Latest Headlines:
- Arvin 'Optimistic' on Truck Production in 2004
- U.S. Trade Deficit Rises to $41.3 Billion
- Import Prices Rise 0.1% in October
- Allied Holdings Renews Delivery Contracts
- Poll: Midsize Manufacturers Mixed on U.S. Economy
- Fed's Poole Says Rates Could Stay Low
- Prosecutor: Man Admitted to Watkins Motor Lines Shootings
- FMCSA Proposes Fuel Tank Fill Requirements
- U.S. Trade Deficit Rises to $41.3 Billion
Arvin 'Optimistic' on Truck Production in 2004
Vehicle parts maker ArvinMeritor Inc. said Thursday its net income its fiscal fourth quarter ended Sept. 30 was $33 million or 48 cents per share, compared with $41 million or 61 cents a year earlier.Total sales in the fourth quarter increased 13% to $2 billion, the company said in a release. Sales declined in North America and Europe by 3%.
Arvin said sales at its commercial vehicle systems division rose 1% to $616 million, despite a decline in North American Class 8 truck production.
For the full fiscal year, the company reported a net income of $136 million or $2 per share, up from $107 million or $1.59 for fiscal 2002. Transport Topics
U.S. Trade Deficit Rises to $41.3 Billion
The Commerce Department said Thursday the U.S. trade deficit widened 4.4% to $41.3 billion in September as imports climbed to an all-time high.Imports of goods totaled a record $127.4 billion, a 3.3% increase from the previous month. As the U.S. economy has strengthened, so has Americans' demand for foreign-made goods.
Commerce also said exports totaled $86.2 billion in September, a 2.8% increase from August and the highest level since May 2001.
The trade deficit with China reached a record $12.7 billion in September as imports totaled $14.8 billion, an all-time monthly high. Transport Topics
Import Prices Rise 0.1% in October
U.S. import prices rose 0.1% in October following a revised 0.4% drop a month earlier, the Labor Department said Thursday.Higher prices for imports can hurt truckers who carry goods inland from ports to stores and warehouses.
Petroleum import prices climbed 2.3%, the fourth increase in the last five months. Excluding the latest oil price rise, import prices were down 0.1% last month.
Labor also said export prices rose 0.3% in October, led by a 2.5% increase in agricultural prices. Transport Topics
Allied Holdings Renews Delivery Contracts
Vehicle hauler Allied Holdings Inc. said Wednesday subsidiary Allied Systems Ltd. renewed its delivery agreement with Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc through Nov. 15, 2004.The company also said in its release that Allied Systems had renewed its contracts with Southeast Toyota Distributors LLC, Mazda North American Operations and Mitsubishi Motor Sales North America during the past several months.
The renewals include modest increases in the underlying base rates, Allied said.
Allied is ranked No. 22 on the 2003 Transport Topics 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian trucking companies. Transport Topics
Poll: Midsize Manufacturers Mixed on U.S. Economy
Executives at midsize manufacturers were mixed on the U.S. economy, according to a poll in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal.The poll of 601 chief financial officers at manufacturers with annual revenues between $25 million and $2 billion found that 53% expect the manufacturing sector to expand, while 16% thought the sector would contract.
That compares with 67% who saw expansion and 6% who predicted contraction in 2002.
As for the economy as a whole, 74% expected it to expand in 2004, up from 69% last year and the highest reading in the survey's six-year history.
Fleet Capital Corp conducted the survey in September. The manufacturing sector is one of trucking's largest and most important customers. Transport Topics
Fed's Poole Says Rates Could Stay Low
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President William Poole said little inflation and growth too slow to rapidly reduce the unemployment rate could give the central bank reason to keep interest rates low for an extended period, Bloomberg reported.At its last meeting on Oct. 28, the Fed's rate-setting Open Market Committee held the benchmark overnight bank lending rate at a 45-year low of 1%.
Poole, who will be a voting member of the committee next year, said in an interview the economy's potential growth rate has risen to about 4.5% from 3.5%. However, he said that likely will only translate into very slow gains in the job market.
Still, Poole said the economy could offer "a very pleasant upside surprise" in the year ahead, Bloomberg said. Transport Topics
Prosecutor: Man Admitted to Watkins Motor Lines Shootings
A prosecutor said the man accused of killing two people at less-than-truckload carrier Watkins Motor Lines Inc. outside Cincinnati last week admitted to the shootings in telephone calls to several people, the Associated Press reported.Craig Hedric, an assistant Butler County prosecutor, told the Cincinnati Enquirer that Tom West, who is also known as Joseph Eschenbrenner III, left recorded messages on answering machines saying he shot the people because he was taking revenge against employees he claimed had been harassing him, AP said.
Watkins officials have said that none of the victims in the company's Ohio office knew West.
West has been charged with two counts of aggravated murder and three counts of attempted murder. He was arrested about two hours after the attack and was being held without bond in the Butler County jail, AP said. Transport Topics
FMCSA Proposes Fuel Tank Fill Requirements
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has proposed harmonizing fuel tank fill requirements of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations and Environmental Protection Agency for gasoline and methanol-fueled vehicles up to 14,000 pounds in gross vehicle weight rating.The proposal was published in the Nov. 12 Federal Register.
The FMCSA wants gasoline- and methanol-fueled vehicles with a GVWR of 8,500 pounds or less to comply with EPA spitback and onboard refueling regulations. Fuel spitback is spillage that occurs when the design of the piping leading to a fuel tank is inadequate, FMCSA said.
The proposal also makes permanent some exemptions granted to carriers operating certain gasoline-fueled vehicles manufactured by Ford and General Motors. Transport Topics
