P.M. Executive Briefing - Nov. 29
This Afternoon's Headlines:
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Hazmat Routes to Change in Laredo
When the new bridge between Laredo, Texas, and Mexico makes its debut in April, hazmat traffic will be forbidden on the new span as well as the three current Laredo bridges. This is due to the 1994 presidential permit for the new span. Such shipments will have to use the Colombia Solidarity International Bridge, which is about 18 miles from the Texas city.Currently, hazmat shipments from Mexico cannot enter the United States through Laredo. The change will touch the Mexican maquiladora industry by adding miles to routes, affecting consolidation of hazmat and non-hazmat shipments, and forcing maquiladoras to find out whether their customs brokers can cover the Colombia bridge.
Seeing the Light
Jeff Hymer, owner of Juno Beach, Fla.-based Hi-Lite Safety Systems and a Northwest Airlines pilot, has patented a system of large orange and red LED lights that can be installed on all trucks and trailers as well as other large vehicles.The bright high-mounted brake and tail lights are intended to reduce the problem of trucks being rear-ended by other vehicles. The system can also fight side impacts through the use of six lights on the sides of the trailer that flash along with the turn signals. If the vehicle overturns, jackknifes, or is rear-ended, or if it is otherwise disabled, another feature, the Mayday Flasher, engages and flashes every light.
Current customers are big self-insured firms, said Hymer, but the system is being studied to decide whether it should earn truckers lower insurance costs. Great Dane Trailers recently agreed to make Hi-Lite products an option for its customers. Hymer said a single-truck light kit costs roughly $279 and can be set up in under two hours. South Florida Business Journal Online (11/29/99) ; Hubbard, Rich
E-Commerce Firms To Use UPS For Logistics
UPS Worldwide Logistics has struck deals the British online clothing store boo.com, which has hired UPS WWL for North American logistics, and the German online software retailer First Online-Shopping, for which UPS WWL will provide delivery in 24 hours or less on business days from the Cologne distribution facility. Journal of Commerce (11/29/99) P. 20ILWU Protest Will Idle Shipping
In solidarity with protesters at the World Trade Organization's Seattle meeting, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union will conduct work stoppages at ports up and down the West Coast. Some ports, including Seattle's, are set to be shut down up to eight hours, but the terms of the different shutdowns will be set by union locals.Union President Brian McWilliams said in a press release that the ILWU does not oppose trade but wants "policies that share the benefits of trade with the workers ... protect the environment and promote democracy."
University of Washington in Seattle professor David Olson added that while the ILWU workers make money from trade, the open way the ILWU is run and the closed nature of the WTO makes the WTO's aims oppose those of the union. The union sees the WTO as helping shift capital to nations that do not place an emphasis on living wages, workers' issues such as child labor, and the environment. Olson reports that this is not the first time the ILWU has had a job action regarding something not directly affecting the union.
Meanwhile, if the work stoppages take place, the employers' Pacific Maritime Association intends to ask arbitrators to decide whether they are legal. In Seattle, the port shutdown and the protests in the nearby downtown area will likely clog traffic at the port. Journal of Commerce (11/29/99) P. 1; Mongelluzzo, Bill
Port Royal Officials Say Synergy With Port Solid
According to officials, the relationship between Port Royal, S.C., and the port there is amiable even though a judge scuttled a 1987 Memorandum of Understanding between the two entities on Aug. 31. The town had sued the State Ports Authority claiming that the port was generating dust and noise at night, violating the 1987 agreement, which stipulated that the port would seldom operate beyond 10 p.m. and would not expand.Beaufort County Judge Thomas Kemmerlin dismissed the suit, saying the lack of a time limit meant either party could end the agreement, with notice, and definitions or decibel levels were not specified in the Port Royal noise ordinance.
Some town residents still complain of the truck traffic due to the port; although truck volume has not gone up since the judge's decision, they feel that the town is too small for trucks.
Port Royal Mayor Sam Murray said the port is striving to cut noise levels and is mulling a switch to electric-powered generators from the noisier diesel-powered ones. The number of noise complaints have not gone up significantly even though the port has been able to operate later, said Town Manager John Perry. Beaufort (S.C.) Gazette Online (11/29/99) ; VanEgeren, Jessica
Area Cargo Shipping Down; Greater Use of Trucking Cuts Volume
Toledo Express Airport, where BAX Global has its only air hub, saw an 11% drop in cargo shipments through October. BAX Global is now trying to up efficiency and shift some shipments to highway or commercial-aircraft transport. The carrier has lost business both to trucking and to such competitors as Federal Express.A slowdown in the nation's economy has halted growth in air shipping all over the country, said Cargo Airline Association President Steve Alterman. But in 1998 Toledo Express Airport saw a record year for freight volume, which is still much higher than the 1990 figure. It also intends to construct a perishable-goods hub in 2000.
The Port of Toledo and other Great Lakes ports are also suffering from low water levels and low steel production. Toledo Blade Online (11/28/99) ; McKinnon, Julie M.
LTLs Losing Share To Competitors, Study Says
A study by the Colography Group found that LTL movements and tonnage dropped between 1997 and 1998, even as revenue increased, because shippers were increasingly turning to air and time-definite parcel carriers. The study also found a great deal of market fragmentation in the LTL business, as Roadway Express topped out the industry with only 9.3% of 1998 shipments.It can not yet be determined whether the big LTL companies can reclaim the ground they have lost in the transportation market via their new guaranteed and time-definite offerings, said Colography Group President Ted Scherck. Logistics Management & Distribution Report (11/30/99) P. 22
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