P.M Executive Briefing - Sept. 15
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Crude Oil Price Up on Iraq, Kuwait and Possible Hurricane
Tensions between Iraq and Kuwait, as well as a possible hurricane in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, were responsible for an almost 2% rise in crude oil prices Friday, Bloomberg reported.Crude oil went up 1.6%, or 53 cents, to $34.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude rose 54 cents to $32.83 a barrel on London's International Petroleum Exchange, according to Bloomberg.
Iraq and Kuwait are again at odds as Iraq has accused its neighbor of pumping oil from a common border Iraq claims as its own, the article said. And U.S. oil production could be at risk should a developing tropical system in the Gulf of Mexico become a hurricane, Bloomberg added.
President Clinton said Friday he sees no threat of a near-term recession in the United States despite the current high oil prices, and vowed to do whatever he could to "minimize the adverse impact" on the country, the Associated Press reported. Transport Topics
Navistar May Move Headquarters from Chicago to Suburbs
Truck maker Navistar International may move its headquarters from Chicago to a nearby suburb, in an attempt to cut costs in the face of a declining market, the Chicago Tribune wrote Friday.An office building is under construction in suburban Warrenville, west of the city, and the 400 employees currently at the headquarters would move to that facility, the article said.
However, a city commissioner told the Tribune that Navistar officials had told Chicago officials they intended to stay in the city, continuing a 169-year relationship. A company official replied that the move was still under consideration and an official decision had been made by Sept. 30, the article said.
Navistar pays high rent at its headquarters in the 11-year-old NBC Tower, according to the Tribune. Any move to the suburbs would be to cut costs as truck sales decline, much like the layoffs of more than 1,000 workers announced last month, the article said. Transport Topics
Texas Forced to Divert Federal Highway Funds to Safety
A spokesman for the Texas Department of Transportation said the state will have to divert $96 million in federal money that was earmarked for highway construction for the next two years into traffic safety programs instead, the Dallas Morning News said this week. That is happening because the state has not complied with federal requirements to fight drunk driving, the report said.The spokesman explained that federal law requires the diversion of the funds from road building to safety efforts because Texas neither bans open containers of alcohol nor automatically jails repeat drunk drivers, the newspaper said.
It added that 15 other states also will lose a portion of their federal highway construction funds by Oct. 1 under a 1998 federal law. Transport Topics
Volkswagon Plans Stock Buyback, May Use Those Funds to Buy Truck Maker
Europe's largest auto maker, Volkswagon, said Friday it will buy back up to 10% of its shares worth approximately $1.7 billion U.S., and may be eyeing a Swedish truck maker, Bloomberg reported.Volkswagon said in a release to the German stock market newswire that it hoped to boost its stock through the buyback, which was authorized by shareholders at a May meeting, the article said.
One acquisition Volkswagon may use the revenue for is Volvo's 45.5% of Scania AB, a Swedish truck maker, according to Bloomberg. VW already owns 34% of Scania's voting stock, Bloomberg added. Transport Topics
GPS Data Used as Evidence in Canada Court Case
A Canadian court, for probably the first time, accepted data from a global positioning system unit as evidence about a speeding vehicle, The Ottawa Citizen reported Friday.The report said GPS information, from a unit inside a police car, helped convict a speeder in traffic court and the driver must pay a fine because of it.
GPS units there are assigned to officers who work with canine units, the newspaper noted. Transport Topics
Ga. Ports Authority Shows Off Speedier Processing
The Georgia Ports Authority demonstrated hand-held computers that its clerks and checkers will use, in a display at Savannah's Garden City Terminal to 90 trucking companies on Thursday, the Savannah Morning News wrote.The process is part of $4 million in improvements to the terminal, aimed at cutting turn-around times for drivers bringing in and taking out containers, the article said. Truckers had expressed their frustration that lengthy waits at the terminal cut into their profits, the Morning News, as they are paid by the trip or by miles driven.
Tractor-trailers haul 2,500 containers in and out of the port daily, the article noted. Transport Topics
Electric Fuel Corp. to Develop Electric Hybrid Vehicle for Germany
Electric Fuel Corp., which develops applications for zinc-air battery technology, announced Friday it will be part of a consortium spearheaded by the German government to create an all-electric hybrid vehicle program around cargo vans.Electric Fuel's Electrical Vehicle Division will team up with German industrial leaders such as DaimlerChrysler and Varta Batterie and several academic institutions to implement this program.
The consortium will develop and demonstrate a hybrid vehicle, using DaimlerChrysler's cargo vans, Electric Fuel's refuelable Zinc Air batteries, Varta high-power booster batteries and ultracapacitors being developed by Dornier GmbH (a division of DaimlerChrysler Aerospace) and EPOC AG (formally Siemens Matsushita Components). Transport Topics
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Headlines From Today's A.M. Briefing
- British Protests Slow; Other Countries Tackle Fuel Issue
- DaimlerChrysler Hit With Penalty From NHTSA
- International, DaimlerChrysler to Lay Off Workers
- U.S. August Inflation, Retail Sales Both Lower Than Expected
- GM Will Double Suzuki Holdings to 20%
- West Coast Port Drivers Back to Work After Winning Concessions
- Five More U.S. Deaths Linked to Firestone Tires
- Allied Holdings Issues 3Q Warning
- New E-Tool Added to American Freightways Web Site
- Information On Untethered Trailers Now Accessible via Internet, Through AirIQ
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