P.M. Executive Briefing - Sept. 8
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Union Pacific Will Hike Rail Rates in Fourth Quarter
Rising fuel costs, the bane of the trucking industry of late, are cited as the reason for a planned fourth-quarter round of freight rate hikes at Union Pacific Railroad, the company announced Friday. Since railroads both compete with truck lines for freight and interact with some as intermodal partners, rail rate increases can affect truck business conditions as well.
Union Pacific is the largest U.S. railroad and operates the largest fleet of diesel loco-motives in the United States, which consume about 1.3 billion gallons annually. UP President Ike Evans said fuel costs, which have doubled in the past year and continue to rise sharply, are part of the reason for the railroad's price hike.
Postal Service Violated Agreement With Emery, Judge Rules
A federal judge agrees with Emery Worldwide Airlines' interpretation of a deal to operate 10 priority mail processing centers for the U.S. Postal Service, an Emery official told Bloomberg Thursday.
A U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge in Washington found the USPS had violated an agreement with Emery and must now pay the money it owes the freight transportation company. The postal service has until Oct. 12 to comply with the agreement, Bloomberg said. Transport Topics
Florida East Coast Spin-off From St. Joe Co. Moves Forward
Florida East Coast Industries which operates the Florida East Coast Railway, International Transit truck line and other properties announced that The St. Joe Company has received a favorable Internal Revenue Service tax ruling. That Florida East Coast's proposed recapitalization to proceed along with a pro rata spin-off of St. Joe's approximate 54% equity interest in it to St. Joe shareholders.FECI's transport interests include a railroad that serves sevearl major Florida ports, truckload freight hauling and intermodal service, real estate and telecommunications. Transport Topics
San Diego County Turns to Cleaner-Burning Garbage Trucks
Waste Management Inc. will replace its 120-truck fleet of diesel-powered units in San Diego County with natural gas-burning rigs from Mack Trucks, as part of a program the refuse hauler joined in with the utility PG&E Corp. to build a new power plant in southern California.In Thursday's announcement, PG&E officials explained that the utility company needed to find ways to reduce overall area smog emissions from existing sources, in order to earn approval for its Otay Mesa Generating Project, a proposed 500-megawatt plant to be built outside San Diego.
Local air quality regulations call for proposed new sources of emissions to be offset by cuts from existing sources. This is the first time that reducing emissions from mobile sources such as truck fleet has been used to meet that offset requirement.
Going from the diesel-powered garbage trucks to those running on natural gas will reduce emissions by more than 50%, PG&E officials said. Transport Topics
Sniper Still on Loose in Arkansas; Suspect Arrested in D.C. Stabbing
One incident of violence on the roadways has come to some resolution with the arrest of a suspect, but another remains unsolved as a sniper remains on the loose, several news sources report.William H. Trotman Jr. of Raleigh, N.C., was arrested without incident in Virginia after allegedly stabbing a fellow truck driver on the D.C. Capital Beltway near Silver Spring, Md. earlier this week, the Washington Post reported.
He is being held at the Manassas (Va.) Regional Adult Detention Center, awaiting extradi-tion to Maryland on a charge of attempted first-degree murder, the Manassas Journal Messenger reported. His victim had been listed in fair condition as of Wednesday, the day of the attack, the Journal Messenger said.
No arrest has been made, however, in the case of a sniper who fired on five trucks on Interstate 40 near North Little Rock, Ark., earlier this week, the Associated Press reports.
State and local law enforcement officials have increased patrols in that area, as truckers fear for their safety with the sniper still on the loose, according to AP. A police spokeswoman told AP that the incident, in which a California man received minor wounds, may have been random. Transport Topics
Gas Trucks Idle After U.K. Protest; French Protest Will Continue
Sixty Shell tanker trucks sat idle in England Friday amid concerns for employees' safety, after a six-hour protest by truckers and farmers Thursday night, Bloomberg reports.The blockade, a protest over high fuel prices, is similar to the one in France that looks to continue for a seventh day, despite a call by trucking leaders to bring it to an end, Bloomberg also noted. Even if the truckers end their protest, French farmers will take up the effort and set up new roadblocks, the article said.
About 90% of French gas stations are running low on at least one type of fuel and airports are feeling a fuel crunch thanks to the blockades, according to Bloomberg.
Britain's Sky News said in the Bloomberg report that truck drivers and farmers also planned a brief blockade for Friday of the A1, a main highway linking northern and southern England.
The protests in the two countries are over the continually rising costs of fuel, costs that are eating into the profits of truckers' and farmers' profits, the articles said. Transport Topics
Headlines From Today's A.M. Briefing
- Volvo Recalls 18,000 Trucks for Brake Problems
- DaimlerChrysler Names Mitsubishi COO, Cuts Cost of Its Investment
- Clinton Warns of Recession Risk From High Oil Price
- U.K. Truckers Stage Blockade; French May Soon End Theirs
- UPS Issues Response to FedEx/USPS Alliance
- Teamsters Deliver Gore Endorsement, as Expected
- Intermodal Traffic Strong in August
- Internal Chart Should Have Warned Firestone, New York Times Says
- Senate Votes Against Curbing Mo. River Barging
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