News Briefs - Sept. 1
The Latest Headlines:
- Florida Prepares for Hurricane Frances
- Con-Way Truckload Places Order With Volvo
- WTO Approves U.S. Sanctions Over Dumping Rules
- Mitsubishi Motors, Executives Deny Covering Up Truck Defects
- Speed Limit on Part of I-40 in N.C. to Rise
- Con-Way Truckload Places Order With Volvo
Florida Prepares for Hurricane Frances
Hundreds of thousands of people were told on Wednesday to get ready to evacuate as powerful Hurricane Frances crept closer to Florida two weeks after Hurricane Charley's rampage, news services reported.About 300,000 residents in coastal areas of Palm Beach County were told to evacuate starting 2 p.m. Thursday. Forecasters warned the core of the Category 4 storm with 140-mph top sustained winds was due along Florida's Atlantic coast late Friday or early Saturday.
As preparations begin for another storm, a Home Depot in Florida City said it ran out of generators and plywood and pushed $50,000 worth of lumber out the doors on Tuesday, AP said. Transport Topics
Con-Way Truckload Places Order With Volvo
Volvo Trucks North America said Wednesday the Volvo VN was chosen by Con-Way Transportation Services Inc. as the exclusive truck for its new Con-Way Truckload operation.Volvo said in a statement that Con-Way Truckload ordered 46 Volvo VN670s, which were scheduled to be delivered by the end of this year. Con-Way previously said the truckload unit would begin operations in the first quarter of 2005.
on-Way is a subsidiary of CNF Inc., ranked No. 4 on the Transport Topics 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian trucking companies. Transport Topics
WTO Approves U.S. Sanctions Over Dumping Rules
The World Trade Organization authorized the European Union and seven other nation to impose more than $150 million worth of sanctions against the United States for failing to repeal anti-dumping rules deemed illegal by the WTO, news services reported.However, the EU, Japan, Brazil, Canada, Chile, India, South Korea and Mexico said they would likely hold off from imposing sanctions, the Associated Press reported. Instead, they would use the threat of retaliation to press Congress for an early repeal of the Byrd Amendment.
Changes in tariffs and sanctions could affect the flow of goods to and from ports and impact truckers who work those routes.
The Byrd Amendment empowered the U.S. government to hand over to domestic companies the duties imposed on foreign firms judged to be unfairly dumping cheap goods on the U.S. market. It primarily benefited American steel manufacturers, AP said.
The ruling by WTO would allow the complainants to fine the United States up to 72% of money collected from foreign exporters. Transport Topics
Mitsubishi Motors, Executives Deny Covering Up Truck Defects
Mitsubishi Motors and two former executives entered not guilty pleas in Japan on Wednesday after being charged they falsified an official report on truck defects that resulted in a fatal accident in 2002, Agence France Presse reported Wednesday.Mitsubishi Motors spun off its truck and bus-making division -- Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corp. -- in 2003.
Prosecutors said the Japanese transport ministry asked Mitsubishi to file reports on the cause of and safety actions on a fatal accident in January 2002, AFP said.
However, the former executives knew faulty wheel hubs on Mitsubishi trucks might have caused the accident but they and the company decided to hide the fact in their report to the government, the prosecutors said. Transport Topics
Speed Limit on Part of I-40 in N.C. to Rise
Transportation officials said the speed limit on Interstate 40 in North Carlina through Guilford County and Greensboro would be raised along 13 miles of newly widened highway, the Associated Press reported.The limit from the Forsyth-Guilford County line to just east of Greensboro would go to 65 mph from 55 mph, and to 55 mph from 50 mph from around the Greensboro city limit.
Mark Aldridge, an assistant division traffic engineer with the North Carolina Department of Transportation, said the road road was designed for higher speeds than 55 mph, AP reported.
The I-40 widening project, completed at the end of May, widened the highway from Chimney Rock Road to Sandy Ridge Road near Greensboro. Transport Topics
