P.M. Executive Briefing - Aug. 15
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Diesel Prices Take A 3.7-Cent Leap; Oil Rises Over $32 A Barrel
The national average price for diesel fuel shot up 3.7 cents per gallon last week settling in at $1.447, the U.S. Department of Energy reported.The future price trend for trucking's lifeblood did not receive encouraging news from traders on Tuesday. Crude oil prices went over $32 a barrel, the highest price in nearly 10 years, Bloomberg reported. Growing concern about declining inventories of heating oil in the United States is one of the reasons cited for oil prices climbing.
In the Department of Energy's report on diesel prices, last week's increase was led by California where the cost went up 6.4 cents a gallon. According to Fuel Line, the American Trucking Associations' weekly publication, the only thing that might prevent a heavy price hike in diesel prices is a mild winter. Transport Topics
FedEx Corp. To Eliminate 200 IT Jobs
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The jobs are housed at FedEx's Corporate Services unit. Employees will be notified by Sept. 11 as to whether or not their jobs have been eliminated, and they will be allowed to apply for other openings at Corporate Services or other FedEx divisions, the article said. Transport Topics
Invitations Out For Hours Of Service Roundtable Discussions
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration sent out invitations this week to 50 representatives from areas including trucking, labor and safety for three roundtable discus-sions on the hours of service rule.Invitations also went out to representatives from the utilities, motor coach and railroad industries in hopes of gaining a wide perspective from those concerned about the HOS rule and how it will affect safety on the nation's highways.
FMCSA has yet to appoint facilitators or chairpersons for each roundtable. Each of the two-day roundtables will begin at 8:30 a.m. and end at 5 p.m.
The three roundtables will occur in late September and early October, and will be held in the Washington, D.C. area. John Wislocki, Transport Topics
TruckCenter.com One-Day Online Auction Sells $2.2 Million In Used Trucks
TruckCenter.com, an e-marketplace for truck sales and related services, said Tuesday it facilitated the sale of $2.2 million in used medium- and heavy-duty trucks via its first online auction.By using the Internet as the auction forum, TruckCenter.com streamlined the transactions and gave dealers immediate access to the inventory, the company said.
TruckCenter.com is powered by software from Entrade Inc., which owns 80% of the company. Transport Topics
China Southern Airlines Building New Cargo Center For U.S. Freight
China's largest airline, China Southern, will build a new cargo center at Shenzhen International Airport to handle its increasing freight to the United States, the airline announced.The 25,000-square-meter facility should be completed in 2001. China Southern has a direct cargo line between Shenzhen and Chicago and plans to introduce new lines in the next two years, the company said. China Southern also has service to Los Angeles, a major U.S. container port. Transport Topics
Chancellor Exceeds Second-Quarter Expectations Despite Slow Market
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Chancellor's revenues were more than $12.2 million and net income $221,000. Revenues were lower than 1999 - due to the weaker transportation market - but profit margins increased, the company said. Transport Topics
Kentucky's Interstate 65 Construction Experiment Deemed A Success
Kentucky's experiment with shutting down part of Interstate 65 near Louisville for a round-the-clock weekend construction job has been deemed successful, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported Tuesday.Due to the success of the Interstate 65 project, state transportation officials said im-provements to Interstate 64 in that area will be conducted in similar fashion next summer, the article said.
The northbound lanes of I-65 were shut down at 9 p.m. Friday, and crews from Gohman Asphalt & Construction Inc. worked 12-hour shifts around the clock, finishing at 2 a.m. Monday. That was four hours ahead of schedule, which allowed the road to open at 5 a.m., an hour ahead of schedule, the newspaper said. The construction company earned a $20,000 bo-nus for finishing at that time, but would have been fined $10,000 for every hour past 6 a.m. that it took to finish.
An Associated Press story said the repairs would have taken three months in a normal time frame. Transport Topics
Getloaded.com Moves To Baymountain
Getloaded.com, which provides real-time access between truck drivers and available loads, has successfully completed a move to Baymountain Inc., the company said.In addition to various facets of IT support, Baymountain will host Getloaded's servers and applications in Baymountain's own data center.
Baymountain is a Linux-based applications service provider. Getloaded.com serves over 13,000 companies and depends on reliable hosting to keep its business going, Baymountain CEO Mark Wensell said. Transport Topics
CIO Magazine Recognizes Several Trucking Companies In Its CIO-100 Awards
CIO Magazine has recognized four transportation-related companies in its 2000 CIO-100 Awards, which will be featured in its Aug. 15 issue.FedEx Corp., Roadway Express, Schneider National Inc. and Yellow Freight Systems were among the recipients of the award, which recognizes organizations for operational and strategic excellence. This year, the program focused on the use of customer-oriented practices. Transport Topics
N.Y. City Buses Will Use New Ultra Low-Sulfur Diesel From RAD Energy, Tosco
Commercial motor fuel provider RAD Energy Corp. and refiner Tosco Corp. announced Tuesday they will provide ultra low-sulfur diesel fuel to New York City's Metropolitan Transit Authority for its bus fleet.The fuel for the city's 4,000 diesel-powered buses will have a maximum sulfur content of no more than 30 parts per million, more than 90% less than the current EPA maximum of 500 ppm.
The Environmental Protection Agency is mandating tougher emissions standards for all diesel engines by 2007. An ultra low-sulfur standard of 15 ppm will apply to diesel fuel sold on and after June 1, 2006. Transport Topics
