News Briefs - Nov. 7
The Latest Headlines:
- September Wholesale Inventories Increase 0.4%
- Covenant Shares Priced at $19.50
- Man Charged With Murder After Shooting at Trucking Facility
- Anthrax Scare Closes 11 D.C. Mail Centers
- U-Haul Adds Trucks to Meet Growing Demand
- Overnite Cuts Transit Times in Midwest
- G.I. Trucking Touts Its Driving-Training Program
- AAR: Intermodal Rail Loadings Complete Best-Ever Month
- Covenant Shares Priced at $19.50
September Wholesale Inventories Increase 0.4%
U.S. wholesale inventories rose in September for the first time in six months as companies replenished depleted supplies, the Commerce Department reported Friday.The 0.4% increase to $289.8 billion followed a revised 0.1% decrease in August. Sales jumped 0.5% after rising 0.2% in August.
If inventories increased, it likely means trucking companies saw more demand for its services.
Covenant Shares Priced at $19.50
Truckload carrier Covenant Transport Inc. said Friday its public offering of 2 million shares of its Class A common stock was priced at $19.50 per share.The company said in a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission that 1 million shares would be offered by David and Jacqueline Parker and another million would be offered by the estate of Clyde Fuller.
David Parker is Covenant's chairman and chief executive officer.
An additional 300,000 are subject to an over-allotment option, the company said.
Covenant is ranked No. 31 on the 2003 Transport Topics 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian trucking companies. Transport Topics
Man Charged With Murder After Shooting at Trucking Facility
Tom West, a former employee of less-than-truckload carrier Watkins Motor Lines, was charged with two counts of aggravated murder and three counts of attempted murder after he allegedly opened fire at the company's dispatch office in the Cincinnati suburb of West Chester, the Associated Press reported.Watkins Motor Lines issued a statement saying West had worked out of the company's Atlanta office as a trucker from 1998 until he resigned in 2001. The company did not say why he left, according to AP.
Prosecutors said they expected to seek the death penalty for West, also known as Joseph John Eschenbrenner III, AP reported. Transport Topics
Anthrax Scare Closes 11 D.C. Mail Centers
The Postal Service closed 11 post offices on Thursday while authorities ran tests to determine whether anthrax was detected at the Naval Automated Processing Facility in Washington, D.C., the Associated Press reported.The facility handles mail for federal agencies. All mail destined for Congress and federal agencies is irradiated before being delivered to the postal facilities.
Jaffer said authorities decided "out of an abundance of caution" to close the facilities. Customers who are serviced by the post offices should expect minimal delays in mail delivery, the Postal Service said. Transport Topics
U-Haul Adds Trucks to Meet Growing Demand
U-Haul International Inc. said Friday that it is adding 3,000 10-foot moving trucks to its existing rental fleet to keep pace with growing demand.The new trucks, based upon a GMC chassis, will be available starting in December. The company said the new trucks represent a second installment that completes a $90 million truck purchase.
Also Friday, Bloomberg reported Amerco Inc., the bankrupt owner of the U-Haul, reached an agreement on $550 million in loans from a unit of Wells Fargo & Co. to support its emergence from Chapter 11 proceedings. Transport Topics
Overnite Cuts Transit Times in Midwest
Less-than-truckload carrier Overnite Transportation Co. said Thursday it had converted its service center in Detroit into a minihub, thus cutting transit times to several other regional service centers.The company said in a release the minihub, which consolidates and distributes freight, would improve service for the five Overnite service centers in the Michigan cities of Battle Creek, Cadillac, Detroit, Grand Rapids and Saginaw.
In addition, a total of seven centers in Indiana and Ohio will benefit from the change, Overnite said.
Overnite Transportation is a subsidiary of Overnite Corp., which is ranked No. 18 on the 2003 Transport Topics 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian trucking companies. Transport Topics
G.I. Trucking Touts Its Driving-Training Program
Less-than-truckload carrier G.I. Trucking Co. said Thursday 65 driver-trainees have successfully completed its driver-training program.The year-round training program started in July 2000 and is open to internal candidates from transportation backgrounds, the company said in a release. Candidates must get the recommendation of their terminal manager to qualify for the program.
The company, which currently has about 600 drivers, said more drivers are needed because its operations are growing and there is a wave of pending driver retirements.
G.I. Trucking is ranked No. 89 on the 2003 Transport Topics 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian trucking companies. Transport Topics
AAR: Intermodal Rail Loadings Complete Best-Ever Month
Intermodal traffic on the nation's railroads rose 18.1% to 161,011 trailers and containers last month, compared with October 2002, the Association of American Railroads said late Thursday."Although year-over-year intermodal traffic comparisons were significantly influenced by the 10-day West Coast port shutdown in October 2002, October 2003 was, in fact, by far the top month in history for U.S. intermodal rail traffic," AAR Vice President Craig Rockey said in a statement.
Intermodal rail service is the segment of the industry that competes most directly with long-haul trucking.
Through the first 10 months of the 2003, intermodal traffic totaled 8.4 million trailers or containers, up 6.5% from a year earlier, AAR said.
AAR also said intermodal loads were up 3.3% for the week ended Nov. 1. Transport Topics
