P.M. Executive Briefing - Jan. 9
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UPS Places $6 Billion Order for 60 Airbus Jets
United Parcel Service (UPS) Tuesday announced a firm order for an additional 60 A300-600 freighters from French aircraft maker Airbus Industrie for $6 billion. UPS says it is making the acquisition to handle long-term growth in its air business and provide increased flexibility in managing its air operations on a global basis.
The new order for 60 of the A300-600's supersedes a 1998 order for 30 planes and also includes options for an additional 50 aircraft, making it the largest single aircraft deal in UPS's history.
With a maximum structural payload of 109,600 pounds and a range of 2,500 nautical miles, the Airbus A300-600 also meets the strictest U.S. and European noise and emission reduction standards, UPS said. Transport Topics
DOT Demonstrates New Bottleneck Forecasting Tool
The U.S. Department of Transportation's Office of Intermodalism and Bureau of Transportation Statistics Tuesday demonstrated new software designed to assist public sector freight planners in identifying and assessing current and future freight bottlenecks in the national transportation systems.The Intermodal Bottleneck Evaluation Tool was created to address five categories of bottlenecks: highway seaport access, seaport congestion, highway/airport access, airport congestion, and highway/rail terminal access, DOT said.
IBET can quickly combine geographic information systems and large informational data bases developed through the Federal Highway Administration's Freight Analysis Framework to analyze where freight is flowing in the nation and where bottlenecks are or can be expected, according to DOT.
It combines data on freight volumes with measures of available infrastructure, intensity of infrastructure use, observed traffic delays, and significance of facilities to domestic and international trade to show the existence of bottlenecks. It then distributes the freight flow information over the national transportation networks and, using geographic information systems, assigns this freight over the nation's highway, rail, maritime, and aviation networks, the agency said.
IBET is aimed at public sector planners like state transportation departments and agencies that do a lot of shipping, such as the Department of Defense, Bill Mosley, a DOT spokesman, told Transport Topics. However, it is not yet available for distribution, he said.
Availability to the private sector is a question that will be answered "down the road," he said. When asked about the possibility that this public product could compete with the work of private sector logistics firms, Mosley noted that IBET presents a "big picture," not a route from "point A to point B." Nancy Nickell, Transport Topics
Mercury Air Cargo Names New COO
Mercury Air Group announced Monday that its Mercury Air Cargo subsidiary has named Mark J. Coleman chief operating officer.Coleman, a 30-year veteran of the aviation industry, will continue to serve as president of Mercury's wholly owned subsidiary, RPA Airline Automation Services. He has held that position since January 2000.
Coleman replaces J. R. (Butch) Bouchard, who retired in September. Bouchard continues on as a consultant for Mercury Air Cargo.
In his new position, Coleman will be responsible for overseeing Mercury Air Cargo's policies, operations and sales, which include cargo handling, space logistics and – through its Hermes Aviation division – representation of carriers around the world as their general cargo sales agent.
The company also has cargo-handling operations in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Montreal and Toronto. Transport Topics
Truck Accident Victims Get $4 Million Settlement
Two New York boys who lost their parents in a Pennsylvania truck accident received a $4 million settlement Tuesday from the truck driver involved in the crash and the trucking company, the Morning Call of Allentown, Pa., reported.The boys' parents, grandfather and a younger brother were killed on Sept. 22, 1999 on Interstate 78 when their car collided with a truck owned by Garfield Container Transport Inc. of Montreal, Quebec. The truck crossed the median and skidded into the family's minivan.
The boys' attorney argued that the truck driver, Gulvinder Singh Sandhu, was speeding and had been behind-the-wheel for more than 14 hours without stopping, the paper reported. The truck was also overloaded with rock salt and had two bald tires.
Sandhu was originally charged with homicide but the charge was thrown out. He was later convicted of several traffic offenses and fined $1,525.
The accident drew attention to the safetly problems caused by trucks using Pennsylvania's I-78, where the accident had occurred, the article said. Following this, the state increased the enforcement of highway trucking laws and kept many trucks off the road. Transport Topics
USDOT Issues Ratings for SUV Rollover Resistance
The U.S. Department of Transportation instituted a new rating system Tuesday that helps determine the potential of a vehicle to flip over in an accident.A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study showed that more than 10,000 people die in rollover crashes every year. The study also found 60% of fatalities in SUVs were in rollovers.
The five-point rating system gives the most stars for vehicles with lowest risk of rolling over. The Chevrolet Silverado, a common vehicle in municipal and utility fleets, received four stars, while the smaller Chevrolet S-10 received three stars. The Jeep Grand Cherokee received only two stars. Transport Topics
Nevada Lawmaker Eyes Split Speed Limit for Trucks
A Nevada state legislator wants to create a split speed limit to slow down trucks traveling in the state, the Las Vegas Sun reported recently.Assemblyman John Carpenter enjoyed driving through Idaho, finding fewer heavy trucks flying past him at 75 miles per hour or even faster, the paper said. Carpenter believed Idaho's 65 mph speed limit for trucks was the reason, and proposed a bill that would do the same for large trucks in Nevada.
Under his legislation, the 75 mph speed limit for other vehicles would remain.
A traffic engineer from Washington state - which has a split speed limit - told the paper that different speed limits for different vehicles can be disruptive to traffic flow. Transport Topics
Spartan Founder to Step Down From Board
Heavy-duty specialty vehicle maker Spartan Motors announced Tuesday that founder and chairman George Sztykiel will not run for re-election to his board seat in 2002.The board of directors for the Charlotte, Mich.-based manufacturer of custom chassis and emergency vehicles said it has begun development of a long-range operating plan, which would include growth strategies as well as recommendations for a successor to the 71-year-old Sztykiel. In October 2000, the company announced it would stop funding a school bus subsidiary, Carpenter Industries.
Spartan also owns fire and rescue vehicle manufacturers Luverne Fire Apparatus, Quality Manufacturing and Road Rescue, Inc. Transport Topics
Headlines From Today's A.M. Briefing
- Crude Oil Prices Rise With Definite OPEC Cut
- Florida East Coast Industries Names New CFO
- Dorsey Trailers Gets Requested Financing
- GM To Produce Hybrid Commercial-Truck Engines
- Ford: Hybrid Engine Will Boost Explorer's Fuel Efficiency 42%
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