News Briefs - Sept. 13
The Latest Headlines:
- Maddocks Terminates DDS Deal
- Yellow Roadway Eliminates Secured Credit Facility
- Oil Prices Rise on Concern Ivan May Cut U.S. Production
- Lundberg: Gas Price Declined to $1.86 a Gallon
- NHTSA Examining Safer Power Windows
- US Airways Files for Chapter 11 Protection
- Yellow Roadway Eliminates Secured Credit Facility
Maddocks Terminates DDS Deal
Maddocks Systems Inc. has terminated its deal to be acquired by Digital Dispatch Systems Inc., Bob Maddocks, the company’s president, told Transport Topics Monday.Privately held Maddocks makes fleet-management software. DDS, a public company, was expected to put a notice on its Web site announcing the canceled deal early this week, Maddocks said, but had not done so earlier today.
Both companies are based near Vancouver, British Columbia.
Maddocks had earlier told Transport Topics for its Sept. 13 print edition that the deal, in which it was to be acquired by DDS for $C10 million, probably would not go through as planned. Transport Topics
Yellow Roadway Eliminates Secured Credit Facility
Yellow Roadway Corp. announced Sept. 10 it had entered into a new five-year $500 million credit facility and was closing its existing secured credit facility agreement.By closing the secured credit facility, the Overland Park, Kan., company said it should save about $4 million, or 8 cents per share, after taxes.
The new credit arrangement allows the company to increase its asset-backed securitization by 50%, the company said. Under the new agreement, Yellow Roadway increases its available credit to $950 million from $825 million.
Yellow Roadway is ranked No. 3 on the Transport Topics 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian trucking companies. The company was formed by Yellow Corp.'s purchase of Roadway Corp. last year. Transport Topics
Oil Prices Rise on Concern Ivan May Cut U.S. Production
The price of crude oil rose as much as 1.9% in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange to $43.63 a barrel as concern grew that Hurricane Ivan could disrupt U.S. production in the Gulf of Mexico, Bloomberg News reported.The Gulf of Mexico is responsible for about 25% of all oil and gas production in the United States, cable news channel CNBC reported.
Several major energy companies, including Royal Dutch/Shell Group, BP Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp. began evacuating non-essential workers from drilling platforms in the eastern Gulf of Mexico as the storm bore down on the region, Bloomberg said.
On Monday morning, Hurricane Ivan was packing winds as high as 160 miles per hour as it tracked north from the Caribbean, the National Hurricane Center said. The storm was projected to take a track past western Cuba before striking the U.S. mainland sometime Thursday. Transport Topics
Lundberg: Gas Price Declined to $1.86 a Gallon
The national average price of retail gasoline dipped slightly over the last two weeks to about $1.86 a gallon, according to a national survey of fuel prices.Survey editor Trilby Lundberg said that the average price of self-service regular gasoline fell about 2 cents from her last survey on Sept. 10, Reuters reported.
Gasoline, while not the primary fuel for the trucking industry, is an important cost for trucking companies.
Lundberg said prices should consider their slide in the next few weeks as oil supplies increase and push crude prices down, Reuters said. Transport Topics
NHTSA Examining Safer Power Windows
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was expected to mandate safety power window switches for all vehicles within the next four years, according to a report in USA Today.The switches, already on many vehicles, are tougher to activate, the paper said. The rule would ban rocker or toggle switches, which raise and lower the windows, if they are near armrests, USA Today reported.
At least 37 children have been killed when they pressed the switch while leaning out of the window, USA Today reported, cited Kids and Cars, a consumer group. Transport Topics
US Airways Files for Chapter 11 Protection
Commercial airline company, US Airways Group Inc. announced Sunday it had filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Eastern District of Virginia.The airline reemerged from a previous bankruptcy in March 2003, but faced a Sept. 30 deadline for covenant tests relative to a loan it received from the Air Transportation Stabilization Board, the company said.
In addition, the company said several financing agreements would expire on Sept. 30 if it did not meet the terms of several financing agreements by not lowering labor and other operating costs. Transport Topics
