P.M. Executive Briefing - Jan. 18
This Afternoon's Headlines:
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UPS in China Package Venture
The United Parcel Service division UPS Customshouse Brokerage has organized a venture for handling less-than-containerload shipments and department store merchandise between China and the United States. The venture includes the shipping lines Trans Pacific Lines and P&O Nedloyd Ships as well as the Gemini Shippers Association.Shippers must be Gemini members to take part in the service, which offers consolidation and deconsolidation, customs brokerage, and other features at $60 per cubic meter for Los Angeles-bound shipments and $90 per cubic meter for New York-bound shipments. The New York shipments are hauled from Southern California by stacktrain.
Insulin-Using Truckers Fight to Stay on the Road
A movement to reconsider the federal ban on insulin use by commercial drivers is gathering steam as the deadline nears for a report requested by Congress in 1998.In the next few months, the report will be due on the feasibility study, which is considering the possibility of a "screening, operating, and monitoring protocol" for would-be commercial vehicle drivers who use insulin to treat diabetes. Since the Americans with Disabilities Act, case law has consistently said disability-based disqualification should be individually decided.
Intrastate commercial-vehicle drivers are allowed to use insulin in 26 states. But experts in law and medicine have not decided whether insulin use by commercial drivers threatens public safety. Dr. Natalie Hartenbaum, a top expert on commercial drivers' medical qualifications, said the difficult lifestyle of long-distance truckers makes insulin use problematic. Diabetes can harm concentration and vision, which are important for drivers, in addition to causing lost consciousness.
The American Diabetes Association and Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association have long advocated the federal government look into individually allowing diabetics to become commercial drivers. It should be easier to identify diabetics who can be safe drivers thanks to fast-acting insulin, smaller monitors, and other improvements, said Joslin Diabetes Center President Dr. Kenneth Quickel.
Carnegie Mellon University and University of Pittsburgh researchers found that the only diabetic truckers who are higher risks are those who have a difficult time realizing when a hypoglycemic episode is beginning. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Online (01/18/00); Twedt, Steve
Three Trucking Companies Merge as The Expediting Co.
The Ohio trucking companies The Expediting Co., TNT Cartage, and WW Freight recently merged under the name The Expediting Co. Former TNT and WW Freight owner Robert Netzley has been named president of the company, which focuses on air freight and linehaul operations. Business News of Dayton Online (01/17/00)Greyhound Hopes To Team With Package Delivery Company
Greyhound Lines President and CEO Craig Lentzsch says the bus company is looking into a partnership with United Parcel Service or Federal Express as the bus company continues to grow its package delivery service. Already, the service's growth rate is in the triple digits, he said. Greyhound Package Express's business segment revenue in 1999 is about 7% of total Greyhound revenue.In the last five years, the number of cities served by GPX boomed to 450, from 150. Also changing at the company is its past focus on station-to-station, rather than door-to-door, delivery. Because of trucking deregulation, Greyhound is no longer the leader in carrying packages to remote U.S. points, Lentzsch says. Dallas Business Journal Online (01/17/00); Allen, Margaret
Institute Aims to Boost Louisville's Logistics, Distribution Industries
The University of Louisville Logistics and Distribution Institute has been established to train students and professionals in organizing just-in-time delivery and to support university and secondary-school education in logistics and distribution.A $1.5-million, five-year United Parcel Service Foundation grant is helping to support the institute, along with matching funds planned from Kentucky's "Bucks for Brains" initiative. University officials plan to endow the second of four planned endowed chairs, a chair in supply-chain management; the first was in engineering logistics.
Lured to Louisville by the presence of UPS, the clothing manufacturer Guess promised $412,000 for logistics and distribution training at the institute and at Jefferson County Public Schools. Educational outreach programs for local businesses are currently the main focus of the institute. Business First of Louisville Online (01/17/00); Morris, Ellen Birkett
Study: Feeder Freight Hub Best Bet for Rochelle
A federally- and state-funded feasibility study says the best plan for a proposed intermodal site in Rochelle, Ill., would be feeder service for cargo coming from, or bound for, southern California.Supporters of the intermodal plan believe that Rochelle's location near a junction of major rail lines as well as Interstates 88 and 39 would make a Rochelle site competitive with Chicago intermodal facilities. However, the study says most upper Midwestern cargo moves only by truck, while the big railroads are not interested in another Chicago-area hub.
According to the study, a better idea would be a smaller, less expensive "satellite" facility providing rail service between Rochelle and Kansas City. There, cargo could be transferred to or from trains serving southern California. Associated Press (01/17/00); Webb, James
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