P.M. Executive Briefing - Nov. 17
This Afternoon's Headlines:
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Alien-Smuggling Suspect May Stay Jailed Until Trial
Prosecutors and the Immigration and Naturalization Service both want Australian Peter Ruston, who was indicted on charges related to the unlawful smuggling of truckers from other countries for U.S. jobs, to be held in jail until his trial. The Dec. 6 date for the trial will likely be held off due to the process of extraditing others from New Zealand and Australia; of the ten people indicted in October, Ruston and Lyndel Evans are the only two living in the United States.Ruston and the INS are at odds over whether he is lawfully in the United States, and Ruston's lawyer disputes prosecutors' claims that Ruston is a flight risk, saying the defendant has "always obeyed the court's orders."
Traffic Snarled Throughout U.S., Study Says
The Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University has released a study finding that in the last half-decade the amount of time spent motionless in traffic congestion has gone up 30% for average motorists.The five cities with the most hours spent in congestion, in order, were Los Angeles, metropolitan Washington, D.C., Seattle, Atlanta, and Boston. Tim Lomax, one of the report's authors, said cities with rising economies are the ones that end up with the worst increases in congestion.
Different groups had different takes on the findings. American Road and Transportation Builders Association said there needs to be more road construction. On the other hand, the Surface Transportation Policy Project, a group that backs ways of getting around other than by car, said building more roads increases urban sprawl; the problem was attributed to "the fact that people are driving more" by the group's Gloria Ohland. The study's Web site is mobility.tamu.edu. CNN Online (11/17/99)
Berkeley Offers Way to Build New Port, Minus Extra Trucks
While backing the idea of a Global Gateway Terminal on Daniel Island, S.C., Berkeley County officials will suggest that an intermodal facility be built along I-26, close to I-95, said John Scarborough, county economic development director.A rail-to-truck transfer facility would eliminate the extra truck traffic predicted by the environmental study of the State Port Authority's proposed terminal. According to Scarborough, no extra rail lines would need to be built other than the 13 miles that has been proposed as a means of connecting current railroads to the terminal.
In addition, County Supervisor Jim Rozier said the money otherwise slated for widening the Mark Clark Expressway over the Cooper River could be used for the distribution center instead. SPA President and CEO Bernard S. Groseclose Jr. could not comment on the plan, to be put forth Wednesday night at a Charleston public meeting, because the SPA had not yet heard about it. Charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier Online (11/17/99) ; Wise, Warren
UPS Logistics Group to Build Distribution and Technology Center at Alliance in Fort Worth
UPS Logistics Group intends to create a facility in Fort Worth, Texas, that will include various services such as warehousing and cross-docking.UPS Worldwide Logistics will run the center and have its Latin American headquarters there, while Worldwide Dedicated Services and the parent United Parcel Service will also use the site. The facility is to be located at the Alliance campus, along I-35W, which has an intermodal yard; the part of the campus where the center is to be located is also near UPS Air Cargo's DFW Airport operation.
UPS Worldwide Logistics will handle various kinds of shipments including truckload and LTL at the new site, which is set to open in the middle part of next year. PR Newswire (11/17/99)
Emery Worldwide Opens New Guadalajara Facility in Mexico
The CNF Transportation air-freight subsidiary Emery Worldwide has opened a bigger facility for its Guadalajara, Mexico, business and will move its Central America division office there in January.Ronald Young, the company's vice president, Latin America, said, "Guadalajara is one of our fastest-growing markets in Latin America, as well as one of our key global market links to major cities in North America and the Asia/Pacific Rim area." Emery has also added to its Guadalajara air capacity. Business Wire (11/17/99)
IDOT Casting Nets at Crossing Issue
The Illinois Department of Transportation has been testing steel nets, made by Energy Absorption Systems, that drop to block railroad crossings when a train is coming. The nets aim to stop crashes caused when drivers try to get through the crossing before the train gets there.According to University of Illinois civil engineers, it has been rare to see a motorist try to get past the net as it descended. At Texas A&M University in 1997, a prototype version was capable of bringing a 80,000-pound semi to a halt from 45 mph "in 100 feet 6 inches," according to Merrill Traves of IDOT.
Nets have been installed in three locations in Illinois – placed 125 feet before railroad tracks – since March. Traves said the department wants to avoid hurting vehicles, or the people in them, when the nets stop the vehicles. Chicago Tribune (11/17/99) P. 5, Metro Northwest Section; Worthington, Rogers
Yes, We Have No Illegals
American Science & Engineering has developed a new type of X-ray called back scatter that is now being used by U.S. Customs agents on the Mexican border to catch smugglers of contraband and illegal aliens.Back scatter reflects X-rays off objects instead of allowing them to pass through or be absorbed, creating an image comparable to a photographic negative, according to AS&E chief technology officer Joseph Callerame.
The initial AS&E back-scatter product was CargoSearch, used since 1994 in Otay Mesa, Calif., where a 40-foot container can be inspected by four people in under 10 minutes. The new technology has allowed the number of containers inspected at California crossings to rise from 15% to 55% due to the shorter inspection time.
The federal government, now using three mobile scanners and eight CargoSearch scanners for Customs, intends further purchases. However, AS&E's CEO Ralph Sheridan hopes that private businesses and ports will buy the new technology, as Kansas City Southern Industries did recently. Forbes (11/29/99) Vol. 164, No. 12; P. 144; Hawn, Carleen
FEA: How Accurate, How to Do It?
Atlhough finite element analysis is useful to engineers designing tanker trucks, authorities might not be getting the accurate results when using FEA to ensure that tanks are up to federal Transportation Department standards.In a recent speech to government and manufacturing representatives, TTMA Tank Conference Engineering Committee vice-chairman Ed Mansell, who is also Polar Tank's director of engineering, talked about modeling gasoline tankers, with an emphasis on overturn protection devices. There can be differences in results obtained through classical and finite element methods, he said.
Mansell also talked about a study in which three trailer manufacturers performed FEA in order to check results obtained by an engineering firm commissioned by the government. The manufacturers, which used three different software packages, obtained similar results, but the government contractor's numbers, obtained using the same software that one of the manufacturers used, were significantly different.
This research brought up a number of issues about what procedures should be used and how accuracy can be guaranteed when using FEA for tanks. Mansell questioned how regulators can be certain that engineering contractors' FEA is correct. Modern Bulk Transporter (10/99) Vol. 62, No. 4; P. 64; Sauer, Bruce
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