P.M. Executive Briefing - Mar. 22
This Afternoon's Headlines:
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Most New I-70 Overpasses Here Will Fall Below Height Standards
Only five of the 13 overpasses being replaced along Interstate 70 from downtown St. Louis to St. Charles County, Mo., will have a clearance of at least 16 feet, the interstate standard, and only two will come up to the state standard of 16.5 feet. Taking overheight shipments to and from the city's downtown will be "a whole lot more difficult" as a result, said Darren Reichmann of Granite City-based Reichmann Transport.Oversized loads in Missouri have long been increasing and continue to do so. Although St. Louis attempted to get the state to replace the current bridges with taller ones, in an effort to bring companies to North County and the north side of the city, the state said such a plan would be too expensive and would take too long. In addition, the portion of highway affected is not a defense route and thus the Federal Highway Administration does not enforce the 16-foot standard there.
Meritor Sets Web Exchange for Truck Aftermarket
Meritor Automotive announced the creation of an online commercial-truck aftermarket parts exchange, FleetWorks.com, which will begin by serving the U.S. market, with plans to grow into Mexico and Canada as well as Asia and Europe.Targeting dealers, manufacturers, service providers, and parts distributors, the site will go online in the summer, starting with an online catalog and around-the-clock customer service. The site will make money through transaction fees and, eventually, by selling training, diagnostics, and other services.
NorthMeritor will be majority shareholder, with Accel Partners and Gen3 Partners holding minority shares, and a future IPO is likely. Reuters (03/21/00)
Bakery Drivers Strike Shuts Plants
A Teamsters strike of Interstate Bakeries that began in Maine stretched down to Philadelphia Monday, as a bakery there shut down due to picketing outside.Drivers from New England, upset that the company has not gone along with arbitration rulings regarding a Biddeford, Maine, plant or rehired a driver that was fired, began taking their pickets to other states, where drivers honored the picket lines. A Wayne, N.J., plant shut down Friday, and a New York City plant was closed the following day; the union on Monday was planning to go to Buffalo, N.Y., as well, and the union's Richard Volpe said the wave will "go right across the country."
Competing bread producers have stepped up their output, and a New England supermarket chain's shelves now carry greater quantities of baked-goods brands other than the Hostess and Drake's Cakes made by Interstate. CS First Boston analyst David Nelson lowered earnings projections on Interstate due to the strike as well as increased fuel costs. Hackensack Record (03/21/00) P. A-4; Sharp, David
Internet Startup Seen as 'eBay of Shipping World'
Quoteship.com CEO Gregg Borgeson says the factor that sets his Internet startup apart from competing online transportation marketplaces is an auction-style setup that makes Quoteship.com, in the words of one expert, the "eBay of the shipping world."Customers provide the details of a shipment and choose any three freight forwarders, which then bid on the shipment via "spot quotes," which are sent back to the customer, which saves time by not having to call around for quotes on the telephone each day. The site handles air transportation at present, with plans to expand to marine this spring and trucking in the summer.
Paul Page, editor of the magazine Air Cargo World, says companies like Quoteship.com have to face several problems. First, freight forwarders may not want to have prices posted online; second, freight forwarders have contracts with some companies now; and third, carriers and freight forwarders could create their own online sites to reach customers directly and cut out the middleman.
Borgeson said the fact that Quoteship.com offers customers to pick among several bidders will allow it to overcome competition from freight forwarders creating their own sites. Boston Business Journal Online (03/20/00); Connolly, Allison
Weight Is the Key to Success With Bulk Haulers
Each pound of equipment that tanker and bulk operations can eliminate allows them to accommodate extra payload and raise revenue.By spec'ing light, a fleet hauling cryogenic products raised its trailer capacity from 42,000 pounds to 50,000 pounds. The three biggest changes this fleet made was to redesign tankers to cut their weight by 3,900 pounds, switch to wide-base single tires, and alter the subframe to handle a new suspension.
One of the fleet managers spec'ed a trailer length of 42 feet, enabling the tractor/trailer combination to meet federal bridge limits while grossing the maximum 80,000-pound. GVW. He also spec'ed an adjustable upper coupler, so the trailers can also be adjusted to correspond to the characteristics of different tractors and comply with federal bridge requirements.
A switch from 14-liter engines to 10-liter engines helped one manager reduce his tractor weight some 2,500 pounds in a three-year span. Wide-base single tires can save weight, but for stability's sake a 77.5-inch wide-base axle should be spec'ed. Eliminating the landing gear saved the fleet 354 pounds on its tankers – technicians use a portable landing gear when repairs are needed – while 810 pounds were shed by using super insulation rather than Perlite/fiberglass insulation. Fleet Equipment (03/00) Vol. 26, No. 3; P. 52; Deierlein, Bob
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