trucks world news: January 2006

TRUCKING WORLD NEWS

* Taft's 'Perfect' Volvos
UK -TNN -30 Jan 2006: Taft International Transport of Canterbury, Kent, have replaced their entire fleet of mixed vehicles with 14 new Volvo FH12 tractor units on a three-year contract hire deal... They have been specified with Globetrotter XL cabs in 'Prestige' trim with electronic climate control, radio/CD players and 14-speed splitter gearboxes, Volvo Engine Brakes, Air Flow system and sliding fifth wheels...

* Schneider National introduces new tractor leasing program for owner-operators
Green Bay, Wis,USA -Transportation & Logistics, by Julia Kuzeljevich -26 Jan 2006: The new Owner-Operator Success Lease Program is offered by Schneider Finance, Inc., a truck financing subsidiary of Schneider National. Through the program, all new units leased or sold by Schneider Finance will include Thermo King TriPac heating and cooling units in aerodynamic Freightliner Century, Kenworth T2000, Volvo 780, and Peterbilt 386 and 387 tractors...

* DWP employees relate grievances
Los Angeles,CA,USA -Los Angeles Daily News, by Dan Laidman -28 Jan 2005: The Department of Water and Power Commission launched an investigation Friday into allegations of workplace discrimination as a steady stream of workers at the nation's largest municipal utility told of alleged harassment, retaliation and misspent taxpayer dollars... Commissioners decided to hold the hearing after receiving an anonymous letter charging that harassment and retaliation are rampant in the department and several speakers made similar statements during public comment periods at board meetings...

* Trucking firm shares secrets of its success
New Brunswick,Canada -Canada East Telegraph-Journal, by Nina Chiarelli -28 Jan 2006: Armour Transportation Systems among companies featured in new book on lessons from Canada's best-managed firms... Started by his father Gordon in the 1930s, Armour Transportation Systems began humbly as a small company that trucked hay and gravel to Moncton from tiny Taylor Village southwest of Memramcook... It has parlayed itself from a tiny family business operating out of southeastern New Brunswick's countryside to a diversified company with 1,500 employees that's now a major player in Atlantic Canada's transportation industry...

* Wattie’s off the road
Norfolk,England,UK -Norfolk Eastern Daily Press, by ED NASH -28 Jan 2006: Walter Claxton, who turned 79 today, will have to retire from haulage after thousands of miles of trucking... With nearly 400,000 miles on the clock Wattie's lorry could have been round the earth 16 times... But in fact the trusty red Bedford truck has spent the past 14 years zipping...

Corruption - Mexico - Probe May Delay Customs Facility in Mo.

USA -Associated Press/Forbes, by GARANCE BURKE -29 Jan 2006: -- A corruption investigation into the Mexican president's stepsons could slow plans to open a high-tech customs facility that would clear trucks for export to Mexico in the heart of the Midwest... The Mexican customs facility, which U.S. and Mexican officials are planning to open in Kansas City in May, would be the first customs house run by a foreign country inside the United States... The proposed inquiry, which will likely be voted on next week, links the Kansas City project to a larger corruption investigation involving first lady Marta Sahagun's eldest son...

Safely - Russia - Trucks reach Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky after 12 days en route

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY,Russia -Itar/Tass -Jan 29 2006: -- A truck convoy that was trapped in snow captivity near Gorelyi Volcano in Kamchatka for several days has safely arrived in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. All the 18 crewmen are alive and in good health... Mechanized vehicles cleaned the road to the Vilyuchinsky mountain pass on Saturday enabling the convoy to move forward... Prosecutors are looking into the incident. Managers who dispatched the trucks on a trip across impassable roads despite a storm warning may face responsibility for negligence and violation of labour protection rules...

Jobs - USA - Trucking Jobs in Idaho

Idaho,Usa -www.classadrivers.com -30 Jan 2006: One Application - Multiple Trucking Companies - Complete the Application ONCE, and you can apply over the Internet for Multiple Available Jobs with Better Trucking Companies Submit An Application and Find A Better Trucking Job Today...

Pollution - USA - Panel says Mexican trucks must meet pollution rules

SACRAMENTO,CAL,USA -modbee.com/AP -January 28, 2006— Foreign commercial trucks coming into California soon will have to meet U.S. air pollution standards, state air regulators ruled this week as they weighed in on an international fight that went to the U.S. Supreme Court... At least 4,000 trucks operate inCalifornia on any given day without meeting U.S. Environmental Protection Agency pollution standards, said California Air Resources Board spokesman Jerry Martin. Most are from Mexico, the air board found, since most Canadian vehicles are built to U.S. specifications... The debate over the use of Mexican trucks on U.S. highways culminated in 2004 with a U.S. Supreme Court decision supporting the Bush administration's decision to let trucks into the country beyond what had been a 20-mile commercial border zone...

AUTOS' WORLD NEWS

* Cummins records record profits
Indiana,USA -IndyStar -January 30, 2006: Southern Indiana's Cummins Inc. reported today that the fourth quarter was its most profitable ever... For all of 2005, Cummins reported profits as measured by earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of $907 million, a 67 percent increase from 2004. Sales increased 18 percent to $9.92 billion, from $8.44 billion in 2004, the company said in a news release...

* Study finds toxic threat in auto interiors
WASHINGTON,DC,USA -The Detroit News, by Jeff Plungis -Jan 30, 2006: Chemical industry disputes report on dangers; Volvo cited as leader in interior air quality.... A report by an Ann Arbor environmental group that says toxic chemicals are present in automobile interiors at levels five to 10 times higher than those found in homes and offices has sparked protests from the chemical industry and interest from automakers... The report, "Toxic at Any Speed," was released by the Ecology Center on Jan. 11, amid the din of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit...

* Changes in car rental industry benefit Enterprise
ST. LOUIS.Miss,USA -The Detroit News -Jan 30, 2006: Its nationwide fleet numbers more than 600,000; Company buys about 7% of all new cars sold annually in the U.S... Recent industry changes have put Enterprise in the driver's seat. The trade publication Auto Rental News reported this week that for the first time, off-airport auto rentals account for more revenue than airport rentals industrywide...

Study - USA - Boosts Ethanol As Fuel

USA -The Car Connection -30 Jan 2006: -- Carmakers interest in building vehicles that run on alcohol got an important boost last week when a new study published in the magazine Science indicated that making motor fuel from corn actually can save energy... For years, supporters of the ethanol-based fuel have been ensnared in a running debate over whether turning corn into alcohol really saves fuel. The essential argument against the wider use of ethanol as a motor fuel was that the process of corn into alcohol ultimately consumed more energy than it saved... The findings of Alexander Farrell of the University of California-Berkeley basically dismantles the arguments of ethanol critics, who had claimed that making ethanol was "negative" net energy - producing it took more energy than it created...

Oil - USA - Exxon Mobil profit rises 27% on energy prices

NEW YORK,NY,USA -MarketWatch, by Padraic Cassidy -30 Jan 2006: -- Exxon Mobil on Monday reported fourth quarter net income of $10.71 billion, or $1.71 a share, compared with $8.42 billion, or $1.30 a share, earned a year ago. Excluding special items, Exxon Mobil would have earned $10.32 billion, or $1.65 a share. High oil and gas prices boosted revenue to $99.66 billion from $83.37 billion in the fourth quarter of 2004...

TRUCKING WORLD NEWS

* Blizzard-stranded trucks in Kamchatka cannot drive over snowstorm
PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY,Eussia -Itar-Tass -Jan 26, 2006: A convoy of trucks, stranded by a blizzard near Gorely Volcano several days ago, cannot drive in the direction of the regional center Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky over a continued snowstorm... The convoy got stuck 20 kilometers from the nearest village of Nadezhda and 70 kilometers from the regional center...

* Bill to allow heavier trucks backed
Madison,WIS;USA -The Capital Times -26 Jan 2006: A state Assembly committee today unanimously approved a bill that would allow heavier logging trucks on some state roads... Assembly Bill 678 would expand the permit to allow trucks hauling logs and undefined "intermediary lumber" to carry 98,000 pounds year round...

* High-Tech announces truck maintenance tool
Las Vegas, Nev,USA -Transportation & Logistics (Canada), by Julia Kuzeljevich -Jan 25, 2006: Mitchell 1, provider of technical information for vehicle maintenance, service and repair, has announced the availability of its web-based heavy-duty vehicle service and repair information database, Tractor-Trailer.net... Tractor-Trailer.net is the trucking industry's first complete service and repair information source for all heavy-duty tractors, dry vans and reefers dating back to 1990...

* RUAN, Kings County Truck Lines finalize agreement
Lenexa, KS,USA -Ag Professional -Jan. 27, 2006: RUAN Transportation Management Systems, Inc., announced today the completion of the due diligence process and acquisition of Kings County Truck Lines, of Tulare, Calif... RUAN has purchased 100 percent of the outstanding stock of Kings County and other related entities. The Kings County assets will retain their current names at this time and operate as a part of RUAN's nationwide network...

* Patriot Transportation Holding, Inc. Announces Results for the First Quarter 2006
JACKSONVILLE, Fla.,USA -PRNewswire -Jan. 27, 2006: Patriot Transportation Holding, Inc., reported net income of $1,898,000 or $0.62 per diluted share in the first quarter of fiscal 2006, an increase of $214,000 or 12.7% compared to $1,684,000 and $0.56 per diluted share in the same period last year...

* USA Truck sees earnings jump to $4.3 million
Van Buren,ARK,USA -Arkansas Democrat Gazzette, by LAURIE WHALEN -Jan 27, 2006: USA Truck Inc. announced strong fourth-quarter results in the wake of a spike in workers ’ compensation claims... The Van Buren-based medium-haul carrier reported Thursday that it had net income of $ 4. 3 million, or 37 cents per share, a 43 percent increase compared with $ 3 million, or 32 cents per share, in the same year-ago period...

* Quarterly profit jumps 24% at Arkansas Best
Fort Smith,ARK,USA -Arkansas Democrat Gazzette, by LAURIE WHALEN -Jan 27, 2006: Decreased tonnage and increased prices marked the end of Arkansas Best Corp. ’s fourth quarter... The Fort Smith-based carrier reported Thursday that it had $ 30. 2 million, or $ 1. 18 per share, in net income for the quarter ending Dec. 31. That’s a 24 percent increase compared with $ 24. 4 million, or 95 cents per share, in 2004 ’s fourth quarter...

* YRC Worldwide has another record year
Overland Park,Kansas City,Miss,USA - The Kansas City Star -Jan. 26, 2006: YRC Worldwide Inc. of Overland Park posted sharply higher revenue and earnings last quarter, while revenue and operating income for all of 2005 set records for the third consecutive year... Changing its name from Yellow Roadway Corp. earlier this month, YRC last quarter earned $79.78 million, or $1.34 a share, on $2.48 billion in sales. During the same period in 2004, the company earned $63.35 million, or $1.24 a share, on $1.77 billion in revenue...

Regulations - USA - Trucking Safety

JACKSONVILLE,FL,USA -First Coast News, by Ken Amaro -26 Jan 2006: -- When you travel the interstate highways often, the 80,000 lb. truck in your rear view mirror becomes a symbol of fear and respect... The trucks are closely regulated by the state of Florida... "When we started inspection on these trucks 70% of them did not belong on the road, today the national average is about 20% and in Florida we are lower than that." says Captain Dave Fachko with the Florida Deaprtment for safety and compliance... "The drivers are trained, but the drivers make mistakes." he adds...

EcoNews - USA - EPA website shows diesel truck, bus fleets run cleaner

USA - EPA WebReport -Originally published: Dec. 15, 2000: -- A new EPA web site provides information on retrofitting diesel vehicles to help fleets run more cleanly... Nationwide, heavy duty diesel vehicles contribute 15 percent of the nation’s emissions of smog-causing nitrogen oxides and 22 percent of particulate matter (soot) emissions. In urban areas the contribution to air pollution can be even greater. An older, dirtier diesel truck or bus can emit almost 8 tons of pollution in a year which amounts to 160 to 240 tons of pollution over the life of an engine... To address the need for cleaner diesel vehicles on the road today, EPA created the Voluntary Diesel Retrofit Program to match fleet operators, engine manufacturers, local governments with those who can provide the appropriate technology and resources in cleaning up dirty trucks, buses and construction equipment...

EcoNews - USA - Soy biodiesel gives bigger energy bang than ethanol

USA - Agriculture Online, by Gene Johnston -27 Jan 2006: -- Ethanol from corn may get more headlines, but biodiesel from soybean oil may actually give more bang for the buck... Speaking before a group of Iowa business leaders, the CEO of West Central Cooperative in Ralston, Iowa, told of the value-added benefits of the soybean processing plant his co-op operates. Jeff Stroburg quoted USDA statistics that say biodiesel has a stronger energy balance than either ethanol or straight petroleum fuel...

Production - USA - Tenneco plant in Seward wins new exhaust treatment business

Lincoln,NE,USA -Lincoln Journal Star, by RICHARD PIERSOL -26 Jan 2006: -- Tenneco will be adding employees at its plant in Seward to make exhaust “aftertreatment systems” for International Truck and Engine Corporation to supply its entire line of medium-duty diesel vehicles beginning in 2007, the company said... The plant likely will add 40 to 50 jobs late this year... The diesel exhaust aftertreatment contract is Tenneco's first in North America for diesel emission control in the medium-duty commercial vehicle segment...

Shows - Canada - Today's Trucking publisher buys ExpoCam and CamExpo truck

TORONTO,ONT,CAN -Today's Trucking -26 Jan 2006: -- Newcom Business Media, producer of business-to-business magazines, websites and trade shows, has announced that it has acquired the two most popular truck shows in Quebec... Under the Newcom umbrella, future ExpoCam and CamExpo shows promise to be best ever... Newcom -- which produces Today's Trucking, highwaySTAR, Transport Routier, Truck & Trailer, and Truck & Trailer West, as well as Canada's online trucking resource, TodaysTrucking.com -- has completed a deal for both the ExpoCam and CamExpo trucking industry trade shows from dmg world media (Canada) inc....

Jobs - Canada - Truck drivers targeted for Sask

There is an "enormous" driver shortage in Saskatchewan

Regina,Sask,Canada -Regina Leader-Post, by Veronica Rhodes -Jan 28, 2006: -- A Winnipeg immigration lawyer is training truck drivers abroad in the hopes of getting them hired by Saskatchewan transport companies... This week, Teruel Carrasco placed an advertisement in the Leader-Post's classified section stating, "I have a pool of qualified truck drivers willing to immigrate to Canada and to settle in the province of Saskatchewan"... In a telephone interview, Carrasco explained he decided to begin training drivers in other countries after researching the driver shortage in the industry. He has about 200 long haul truck drivers willing to come to Canada... Since 2003, the Saskatchewan Trucking Association (STA) has been in partnership with the provincial and federal governments to run the Immigrant Worker Nominee Program. Approximately 250 families have come to Saskatchewan to work in the industry but all have been from the United Kingdom...

Appreciation - USA - Trucking Industry Under Review

JACKSONVILLE, FL,USA -First Coast News, by Roger Weeder -27 Jan 2005: -- The Department of Transportation is taking notice of the truck accident that happened Wednesday in Lake Butler, killing seven children... Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, who took part in truck appreciation events at Landstar, says in recent days there have been four major truck accidents across country killing 18 people... In Washington, the transportation department is the in the process of seeing how it can better prioritize "compliance reviews."... Mineta says the challenge here is that there are more than 700,000 trucking companies. Another 8,000 new companies he says are in the pipeline for review...

AUTOS' WORLD NEWS

* U.S. automakers search for the road to recovery
PROVIDENCE,RI,USA -The Providence Journal-Jan 27, 2006: Is the future of Ford Motor Co. small, inexpensive and green? That's one possible direction for the automaker... The possibility is embodied in the Ford Reflex, a one-of-a-kind prototype concept car... Something of a cross between an economy car and the Batmobile, the Reflex is powered by a diesel-electric hybrid engine, aided by camouflaged solar panels that help recharge the battery. The gas mileage should be around 65 miles per gallon. The interior is insulated with material recycled from ground-up Nike tennis shoes. The cost? Hard to say, since the car is just a prototype, but the plan would be to make it affordable for young professionals...

* Rides rack up more lifetime miles
WASHINGTON,DC,USA -The Detroit News, by Ken Thomas -Jan 28, 2006: A new government report says that cars and light trucks are racking up more miles than ever during the vehicle's lifetime... "We consistently, on any given day, usually have multiple cars with 150,000 to 250,000 miles and quite frequently cars well over that," said Pat Goss, the owner of Goss' Garage in Seabrook, Md., and the host of a radio and television show with the same name...

* Ford ordered to pay $29 million in rollover crash
CORPUS CHRISTI, TX, USA -The Detroit News/AP -Jan 28, 2006: It's the first Ford-Firestone case to go to a verdict since Firestone tire recalls started in 1999... Ford Motor Co. was ordered to pay $29 million Friday in the case of a 22-year-old woman who was partially paralyzed after the Firestone tire on her Explorer failed and the vehicle rolled over....Firestone previously paid an undisclosed settlement in the case...

* Porsche says net profit up 13 percent in fiscal first half
BERLIN,Germany -The Detroit News/AP -Jan 28, 2006: Luxury automaker Porsche AG estimated Friday that net profit rose by 13 percent in the first half of its fiscal year as revamped versions of its Boxster and 911 models sold strongly...

* Kia Motors says 2005 profit gained 2.9 percent as overseas sales rose
SEOUL, South Korea -The Detroit News -Jan 28, 2006: Kia Motors Corp., South Korea's second-largest automaker, on Friday said net profit rose 2.9 percent in 2005 as the export-dependent company saw overseas sales increase...

* Volkswagen recalling 47,000 Passats
WASHINGTON,DC,USA -The Detroit News/AP -Jan 27, 2006: Faulty fuel pumps could lead to stalling engines... Volkswagen of America Inc. said Friday that it was recalling about 47,000 Passat sedans and wagons from the 2003 model year because of potentially faulty fuel pumps that could lead to stalling engines...

MADD - USA - Dry Up Alcohol Ads

Mothers Against Drunk Driving aims to prevent underage drinking
USA - MADD WebReport -27 Jan 2006: -- A new study by Dr. Leslie Snyder and four colleagues from the University of Connecticut and Colorado State University indicates that alcohol ads are linked to increase drinking among youth... MADD is not against alcohol advertising, but believes it is imperative that stricter standards be put in place to protect our children from constant exposure to alcohol messages... Alcohol is the No. 1 drug choice of American’s youth. Underage drinkers are responsible for between 10 and 20 percent of all alcohol consumed in the United States...

TRUCKING WORLD NEWS - Condenseds -

* Appeals Court Denies Request to Revisit Insurance Ruling
USA -TTNews, by Thelma Guerrero -25 Jan 2006: A federal appeals court last week denied a request to rehear its recent decision that the federal government can require only common carriers — not contract carriers — to obtain cargo liability insurance, often referred to as BMC-32 coverage after the relevant endorsement form.The appeals court had overturned a U.S. District Court decision favoring a shipper’s loss-and-damage claims and sent the case back to the lower court, but an attorney for the shipper said he eventually would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

* Private Motor Truck Council of Canada won't support speed limiter policy
TORONTO, Ont.,Can -Truck News, by James Menzies -25 Jan 2006 -- The Private Motor Truck Council of Canada (PMTC) has decided against endorsing the Ontario Trucking Association's (OTA) proposal to mandate speed limiters... The Ontario Ministry of Transportation called upon the PMTC for its views of the proposal in December and according to the council it decided "not to support it without further information."...

* CTA encouraged by Tory promises
OTTAWA, Ont.,Can -Truck News, by James Menzies -25 Jan 2006: The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) is urging Canada's new government to stay true to its word and deliver on its campaign promises surrounding funding for highways and border infrastructure... The new Conservative government promised to negotiate a new infrastructure agreement with the provinces. They said they'd invest $2 billion over the next five years into the federal Highways and Border Infrastructure Fund with the Trans-Canada Highway being the centerpiece of the program...

* Former pollie elected ATA boss
Australia -Supply Chain Review -23 Jan 2006: Former National Party MP and transport advisor to then transport minister John Anderson, Stuart St Clair, has been appointed CEO of the Australian Trucking Association (ATA)... St Clair went into federal parliament with the support of the trucking industry after running as a sawmiller at Guyra in the New England district...

* Officials Expect FMCSA to Issue New Regulations in 2006
USA -TTNews, by Sean McNally -25 Jan 2006: The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is expected to issue several important new regulations this year, including an intermodal chassis maintenance rule and guidance on the use of electronic onboard recorders, agency sources and industry executives told last week...

* West Europe commercial vehicles sales hit 5-yr high
FRANKFURT,Germany -Reuters -Jan 26, 2006: New registrations in western Europe of medium and heavy commercial vehicles that weigh more than 3.5 tonnes rose 6.4 percent in 2005 to 360,699 units, the best performance since 2000, official data showed on Thursday... Registrations of trucks and buses are a surrogate economic indicator and usually reflect overall business activity to be expected in around half a year...

* Daimler Restructuring to Include Renamed Truck Group Unit
USA -TTNews -24 Jan 2006: DaimlerChrysler, parent of leading U.S. truck maker Freightliner LLC, said Tuesday it will restructure its management and will rename its commercial vehicles division under the name Truck Group... The Truck Group will include units Trucks NAFTA, which includes Freightliner, Sterling and Thomas Built Buses; Trucks Europe/Latin America, which includes Mercedes-Benz trucks; Mitsubishi Fuso Bus and Truck Corp.; and Truck Product Creation...

* FedEx Will Pay $400 Million to Buy Out Chinese Partner
USA -TTNews -24 Jan 2006: FedEx Corp. has signed an agreement to buy out a joint-venture partner in China for $400 million, the company said Tuesday... FedEx will pay Tianjin Datian W. Group Co. Ltd. for the 50% of the companies' joint venture it does not already own, the company said in a statement. The move will help FedEx expand its domestic delivery business in that country...

* Werner's Fourth-Quarter, Year-End Earnings, Revenue Rise
USA -TTNews -24 Jan 2006: Company Cautions on Continued High Fuel Prices... Truckload carrier Werner Enterprises said late Monday it earned $28.8 million or 36 cents a share in the fourth quarter, up from $25.8 million or 32 cents a year earlier...

* Cummins Extends Engine Agreement With Volvo
USA -TTNews -24 Jan 2006: Diesel engine manufacturer Cummins Inc. and Volvo Trucks North America said Wednesday they have extended the agreement for the availability of Cummins’ ISX engine with Volvo Trucks North America’s VN and VT trucks...

* Navteq Expands to Mexico With Map Firm
USA -TTNews -24 Jan 2006: Navteq, a maker of digital maps for vehicle navigation systems, said it will acquire Gedas MapIT, a company that specializes in providing virtual maps of Mexico, for an undisclosed sum... Gedas is a subsidiary of information technology firm Gedas AG, which is part of Volkswagen AG...

* Performance Transportation Services Files Chapter 11
USA -TTNews -24 Jan 2006: Automobile transporter Performance Transportation Services said Wednesday it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy “in order to re-align its capital structure [and] resolve its operational issues... ”Wayne, Mich.-based PTS, the No. 2 auto hauler behind Allied Industries, said it has received a commitment from a group of lenders led by Credit Suisse’s Cayman Islands Branch for up to $10 million in debtor-in-possession financing... Performance Transportation Services — owned by Onex Corp., Norwest Equity Partners and Penske Truck Leasing Co. — is ranked No. 65 in the 2005 Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers...

* SCS Reports Record Earnings Per Share for 2005
USA -TTNews -24 Jan 2006: Company Still Concerned Over Jevic Unit's Performance... SCS Transportation late Tuesday reported record earnings per share for 2005 and said it earned $10.7 million or 73 cents in the fourth quarter, up from $4.6 million or 30 cents a year earlier...

* Covenant Transport's Fourth-Quarter Income Rises
USA -TTNews -24 Jan 2006: Covenant Transport said late Tuesday reported its net income for the fourth quarter rose to $4.4 million or 32 cents a share, from a loss of $6.5 million or 32 cents a year earlier...

* CNF Reports Record Fourth-Quarter Earnings
USA -TTNews -24 Jan 2006: Transportation firm CNF Inc. reported record fourth-quarter 2005 net income late Tuesday, as its profit rose to $51.2 million or 92 cents a share, compared with $32.2 million or 58 cents a year earlier...

* Port of Houston Authority Commission Considers Bayport, Security, Capital Improvement Matters and Partnership Service Agreement
HOUSTON,TX,USA -PRIMEZONE -Jan. 23, 2006: The Port of Houston Authority (PHA) commission will consider several recommendations involving contract awards, bids and proposals, professional services and general administrative and operational matters during its public meeting at 2 p.m. on Monday, January 23, 2006 in the board room at the PHA Executive Building...

* Tenneco wins International Truck supplier deal
USA -ETrucker -24 Jan 2006: Emission control manufacturer Tenneco has signed a contract to provide International Truck and Engine Corp.’s exhaust aftertreatment systems for its entire line of medium-duty diesel vehicles with International engines...

* Vandermarel Trucking and BSM complete deal
MISSISSAUGA, Ont.,Can -Truck News, by Steven Macleod -25 Jan 2006: BSM Technologies has completed an agreement with Vandermarel Trucking to outfit its trucks with 50 SentinelFM units, to allow for enhanced vehicle tracking, surveillance and improved fleet management...

* Eaton Corp. profit up; dividend to rise by 13%
NEW YORK,NY,USA -MarketWatch, by Padraic Cassidy -23 Jan 2006: Eaton Corp. reported Monday that fourth-quarter profit rose a stronger-than-expected 15% and lifted its quarterly dividend 13%...

* Truckers fight charges hike
Australia -ABC Online -Jan 25, 2006: The rural sector is being urged to signed a petition against higher charges for the trucking industry or face higher transport costs... The National Transport Commission has proposed increased registration and fuel charges for heavy vehicles like B doubles and road trains to try to cover road maintenance and construction costs...

* Nissan creates U.S. division to sell commercial trucks
DETROIT,Mich,USA -Automotive News, by Dale Jewett -Jan 25, 2006: Nissan North America Inc. is creating a division to sell light commercial vehicles in North America, a market segment where it is not present... The automaker has not determined the number of vehicle lines, types of vehicles or the distribution network, spokesman Fred Standish said...

* Delhi stops registration of diesel mini-trucks
India -AWKnowledge -25 Jan 2006: The Delhi government has put a halt to the registration of diesel-powered mini-trucks in the city in a bid to control pollution, reports Newsline... The entire fleet will now run on compressed natural gas (CNG) engines...

AUTOS' WORLD NEWS

* U.S. Automakers Continue To Lose Market Share
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Cal,USA -KCCI Des Moines 8 -Jan 26, 2006: Power Information Network, a division of J.D. Power, said that sales are down and the car companies are losing market share to Asian manufacturers... Toyota had the highest retail share in the industry at 18.8 percent. That's up more than three points from a year ago, follow Toyota, General Motors at 17.5 percent, down more than four points from a year ago; Ford at 14.7 percent, a loss of almost three points; and DaimlerChrysler, with a 12.8 percent share, down a fraction from a year ago...

* Report: U.S. auto sales up a tad in Jan.
DETROIT,Mich,USA -UPI -Jan. 26, 2006: U.S. auto sales this month are expected to hit 1.07 million vehicles, up 1.6 percent from January 2005... Edmunds.com says the increase will come entirely from non-U.S. companies: Sales by General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and the Chrysler Group of Germany's DaimlerChrysler AG will be less than year-earlier levels... Meanwhile, Honda and Toyota sales will be higher, with Honda sales in January up 18 percent to 96,000 vehicles and Toyota sales up 16 percent to 164,000 vehicles; predicts...

* The Japan's top auto manufacturer Toyota Motor Corp. leading the way
Tokyo,Japan -The Mainichi Daily News -26 Jan 2006: -- Toyota, the world's second biggest automaker after General Motors Corp., reported global production of 596,481 vehicles in December, up 17.8 percent from a year ago... Its domestic production rose 15.7 percent while overseas output jumped 20.2 percent... For all of 2005, Toyota produced 7.360 million vehicles, up 9.5 percent from 2004...

* Hyundai 4Q Earnings Jump on Strong Sales
SEOUL, South Korea -AP, by KELLY OLSEN -26 Jan 2006: Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's largest automaker, said Thursday its fourth-quarter profits rose 71 percent from the same period a year ago, mostly on strong sales of vehicles made at its overseas plants...

GM News - USA - Full-year loss totals $8.6 billion

Quarterly net loss mushrooms to $4.8 billion

DETROIT,Mich,USA -Reuters/Automotive News -Jan 26, 2006: -- General Motors posted a fourth-quarter net loss of $4.8 billion on Thursday, much worse than Wall Street had expected, amid high costs, shrinking market share and sluggish sales of SUVs... It was the fifth straight quarterly loss for the world's largest automaker and brought its losses for all of 2005 to $8.6 billion...

Kerkorian to buy back 12 million GM shares
DETROIT,Mich,USA -Automotive News -Jan 26, 2006: -- Investor Kirk Kerkorian is buying an additional 12 million shares of General Motors, upping his stake in the automaker to about 9.9 percent... The move restores Kerkorian's GM holdings to 56 million shares - the level he had last year before selling shares for tax purposes...

Invention - South Africa - Designer bins Cape baboon littering

Cape Town,South Africa -Independent Online, by Murray Williams -Jan 24 2006: -- Across the Cape residents are terrorised by gangs of brazen baboon raiders. But now a local company has devised a cunning lock for wheelie bins to thwart the scavengers... Meet industrial designer Retief Krige, from Stellenbosch... His invention is called the "binguard" and he calls it "bin access control" - because it is far more than just a simple lock... Baboons have become adept at overturning bins and spreading their contents far and wide in their search for food. So Krige set out to create a safe and practical locking mechanism...

Comments - USA - Fleets positive about ’06, but fear ’07 technology

USA -eTrucker, by Linda Longton -24 Jan: -- This year will be a “continuation of the hot market we’ve enjoyed for several years,” Jim McReynolds, Caterpillar general manager, on-highway engines, told attendees Jan. 23 at Heavy Duty Dialogue in Las Vegas... Continued economic growth, low interest and inflation rates and strong carrier profits all contribute to the rosy outlook, he said... Estimates are that truck prices could go up another $10,000 in 2007, McReynolds said... Looking toward the introduction of new low-emissions engines in 2007, many fleets responding to the survey said they will deal with higher truck prices and operational costs by extending trade cycles...

Safety Program - USA - Michelin sponsors Share the Road

USA -eTrucker, by Lance Orr -23 Jan 2006: -- Michelin Americas Truck Tires has joined Mack Trucks and Chevron Delo as a sponsor of the American Trucking Associations' Share the Road highway safety program... Share the Road has been delivering the trucking industry’s safety message to major traffic-choked cities and media markets across the U.S. since 2000. At each event, million-mile, accident-free professional truck drivers simulate real life highway situations to illustrate their car-truck safety lessons...

Competition - USA - Mexican truckers drive down wages

Lower costs for regulations and drivers hurt competition

S.California, USA -The Business Press, by CAROL PARK -Jan 23, 2006: -- Competition from Mexican truckers has the potential to drive the Complete Logistics Co. out of business... Mexican trucking firms pay their workers half of what American truckers make, said Ronald Ryan, Complete Logistics vice president of national accounts... Low wages and the low cost of doing business in Mexico could force Complete Logistics out of business some day unless something is done, Ryan said... Wages for truck drivers in the United States could eventually drop to Mexican wages. But then drivers will find other jobs that pay better... Highway taxes, workers' compensation, permits and license fees drive up costs for U.S. businesses. Competing with lower-wage labor sources is difficult... Foreign truck drivers jeopardize the safety of American roads, claims Stephanie Williams, senior vice president of the California Trucking Association in Sacramento. ... "The Department of Motor Vehicles can't control the foreign driver, creating a safety issue," Ryan said... Mexican trucks are regulated like any hauler once they cross the border, California Highway Patrol Officer Jaime Nuñez said...

TRUCKING WORLD NEWS - Condenseds

* DaimlerChrysler plans big-ticket launches
BANGALORE, India --The India Economic Times -Jan 19, 2006: Bouyed by record sales in 2005, DaimlerChrysler India (DCI) is all set to make some big-ticket launches in the country this year. It plans to finally foray into the commercial vehicles market with a heavy duty tipper truck for mining sector applications in the first half of this calendar...

* International revives PayStar brand
USA -eTrucker, by Lance Orr -Jan 20, 2006: All International Truck and Engine’s 5000 Series trucks will now go by the name PayStar, the company announced... International introduced its trucks and tractors under the PayStar name in the late 1970s to fit in with the company’s Transtar, Fleetstar, Loadstar and Cargostar truck lines...

Sales - USA - Heavy-duty trucks posted heavy-duty sales gain in 2005

USA -Automotive News, by Greg Migliore -Jan 23, 2006: -- Class 8 trucks posted sales gains for the second straight year in 2005... Class 8 trucks, the best-selling segment, surged 24.4 percent last year compared with 2004. The overall truck market dipped 0.5 percent last year, dragged down by flagging sales of light trucks in Classes 1-3. It was the first annual dip for the overall truck market since 2002...

Big Three - USA - Tout fuel efficiency in D.C.

Ford will unveil a concept ethanol-electric SUV as GM shows off diesel-electric buses at auto show
Washington,DC,USA -The Detroit News, by Jeff Plungis -25 Jan 2006: -- Detroit's automakers kicked off a charm offensive in the nation's capital Tuesday, showing off their latest fuel-saving technologies to U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman at the Washington Auto Show... Bodman was given a tour of vehicles by officials from DaimlerChrysler AG, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp... All three companies touted their improvements in fuel economy. DaimlerChrysler highlighted its new diesels. Ford showed off a flex-fuel F-150 truck, a hybrid Escape and its Reflex small-car concept...

Production - Russia - Cummins and KAMAZ in Russian JV for Mid-Range Diesel Engines

USA -Gree Car Congress-24 Jan 2006: -- Cummins Inc. and KAMAZ Inc., the largest vehicle manufacturer in Russia, signed a joint venture agreement to produce Cummins B Series engines (120–275 horsepower) in Russia under the name ZAO Cummins Kama... The engines will be produced in two stages to comply with Euro 2 and Euro 3 standards for diesel emissions. The EU is currently adhering to Euro 4 standards, and planning for Euro 5. Assembly of the engines begins in early 2006...

Class-action - USA - Freightliner, Lawsuit filed against union

North Caroline, USA -WCNC/Associated Press, by PAUL NOWELL -24 Jan 2006: -- Five North Carolina employees of commercial truckmaker Freightliner LLC filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday accusing the United Auto Workers of trading wage and benefit concessions for the company's assistance in organizing workers... The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, charges both the UAW and Portland, Ore.-based Freightliner with four violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Practice Act. The law bars employers from delivering "things of value" to unions, according to the National Right to Work Foundation...

AUTOS' WORLD NEWS

* Ford posts 19 percent rise in 4th-quarter profit
DETROIT,Mich,USA -The AutoNews -23 Jan 2006: Ford Motor Co. on Monday posted a higher-than-expected 19 percent increase in earnings for the fourth quarter of 2005, boosted by strength in its finance arm and the sale of its Hertz Corp. rental car unit, even as its core automotive division lost money...

* Ford introduces hybrid research vehicle that can run on ethanol
WASHINGTON,DC,USA -AP -Jan 25, 2006: Ford Motor Co., extending its push into hybrid technology, said Wednesday it was the first automaker to develop a hybrid research vehicle capable of running on ethanol-based fuels... Ford was unveiling the Escape Hybrid E85 before journalists at the Washington Auto Show on Wednesday. The vehicle combines hybrid-electric power with the capability of operating on a mixture of 15 per cent gasoline and 85 per cent ethanol, a corn-based additive.

* Volvo Car profits fell 55 percent in 2005
STOCKHOLM,Sweden -Reuters/daily Dagens Industri -Jan 24, 2006: Volvo Car Corp.'s operating earnings fell 55 percent last year, but it was still the most profitable auto unit of Ford Motor Co....

* Ex-cop, lawyer to handle tips on corruption at VW
FRANKFURT,Germany -Reuters -Jan 23, 2006: Volkswagen has put a former senior police officer and a labor law expert in charge of handling tips from whistle-blowers on potential corruption at Europe's biggest carmaker, it said on Monday... Rainer Buchert, a former German federal criminal investigator as well as police commissioner in Offenbach near Frankfurt, was chosen as VW's ombudsman along with Thomas Rohrbach, who previously worked for the company during its efforts to compensate victims of Nazi-era forced labor...

* Renault plans global organization overhaul
PARIS,France -Reuters/La Tribune newspaper -Jan 23, 2006: French carmaker Renault SA, due to make a 3-year strategy announcement on Feb. 9, plans to restructure its organization by geographical zones to cater better to local markets...

* DaimlerChrysler to cut 6,000 jobs globally
Germany -AutoNews -24 Jan 2006: Zetsche: Automaker will ramp up Mercedes, Chrysler collaboration... DaimlerChrysler on Tuesday announced a new "efficiency program" that will reduce its worldwide work force by about 6,000 in the next three years. Additionally, the Mercedes Car Group and the Chrysler group will work more closely, CEO Dieter Zetsche said in a prepared statement...

* Mitsubishi Motors is open to alliance with Proton
TOKYO,Japan -Reuters -Jan 24, 2006: The head of Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said on Tuesday the Japanese automaker was open to forming a technology alliance with Malaysia's Proton... Mitsubishi Motors was one of the founding members of Proton and a major shareholder until its own financial difficulties forced it to sell off its 8 percent stake in early 2004. Mitsubishi Motors still supplies auto parts to Proton...

* BMW sales exceed forecasts
BERLIN,Germany -ASSOCIATED PRESS -Jan. 25, 2006: German automaker BMW AG reported a 5.2 per cent rise in 2005 net sales to 46.66 billion euros ($57.28 billion (U.S.)), exceeding analysts' expectations...

Ford's News - USA - Francisco Codina to take top sales job

DETROIT,Mich,USA -AutoNews -24 Jan 2006: -- Automaker cuts three officer positions; more cuts to be made later... Steve Lyons, Ford Motor Co.'s top sales and marketing executive, is leaving the company on March 1 and will be replaced by Francisco Codina, 54, has been head of the automaker's customer service division... The move had been anticipated for several weeks and was part of a number of executive changes expected as part of the Way Forward plan the automaker unveiled on Monday, Jan. 23...

Opinion - USA - Private Ford?

NEW YORK,NY,USA -Forbes, by Joann Muller 24 Jan 2006: -- William Clay Ford Jr. seems to think that's enough to inspire confidence among investors that he's finally got the right strategy to stop the erosion of Ford Motor's, market share and profits in its core North American business... At last, after more than four years with his hands on the wheel at Ford Motor, the great-grandson of Henry Ford was beginning to talk like a man with a vision. Yet, when Bill Ford and his minions had the chance to spell out the specifics of their recovery plan, they were remarkably thin on details... The long-term view is better suited to a family-run company, where the interest is in preserving company assets for future generations as much as it is receiving quarterly dividends. Maybe Bill Ford, whose extended family owns 5% of the company stock, but enjoys 40% voting control, should take the company private and fix it on his own clock, sparing investors from this guessing game... It's not so far-fetched. At a Ford gathering a couple of years ago, Bill Ford hinted that he'd actually considered the possibility back in March 2003, when Ford shares were trading around $6.50 a share. Today, at $8.33 a share, Ford’s market capitalization is around $15 billion. Maybe Bill Ford ought to give the idea a second look...

Comments on Ford - USA - Overhaul Time--Again

NEW YORK ,NY,USA -Forbes, by Jerry Flint -23 Jan 2006: -- Ford Motor will shut 14 plants and cut factory employment by 25,000 to 30,000 in an effort to return North American operations to profitability by 2008. "That's not a prediction, it's a promise," says Mark Fields, who heads Ford's North American operations... Last year, Ford lost $1.6 billion (pretax) in North America... The emphasis in Ford's announcement today, called "The Way Forward Plan," is that the company would change. Ford is to be less conservative in design, and costs are to be cut by billions of dollars. But "you can't cut your way to success," says Bill Ford, company chairman... Ford may need a strongman. That has been a Ford characteristic--the "prime minister" who actually runs the company under the "constitutional monarch," a member of the Ford family. It is common throughout Ford's history for Ford's prime minister and the monarch to eventually have a falling-out, which is what happened in 1978 when Henry II forced out Lee Iacocca... One more thing: Never forget the dedication of the Ford family to the company. Any bankruptcy would mean a loss of control for the family. The Fords would fight to the death to prevent the company's downfall. Think Valley Forge, Stalingrad, Verdun. Their name is on the building, and they intend for both the company and the family to survive...

Ford News - USA - To close 7 assembly plants, cut up to 30,000 jobs

DETROIT,Mich,USA -The AutoNews, by Dale Jewett -23 Jan 2006: -- Ford Motor Co. said Monday that it would close assembly plants in St. Louis, Atlanta and Wixom, Mich., as part of a sweeping restructuring plan... The automaker also is closing a transmission plant in Batavia, Ohio, and a casting plant in Windsor, Ontario... It also will close two additional assembly plants, which will be named later... In total, Ford will close 14 manufacturing plants by 2012 -- seven of them vehicle assembly plants. The closings will cut Ford's assembly capacity by 1.2 million units, or 26 percent, by 2008, the automaker said... The moves will cut North American jobs by 25,000 to 30,000 positions by 2012, the automaker said.The plant closings and job cuts are part of the Way Forward plan, designed to help Ford stabilize its North American market share... Work on the various speeches given on Monday continued almost to the moment before senior Ford managers, led by CEO Bill Ford, took to the stage. That reflected, in part, an ongoing debate over just how much information to reveal to the world. In the end, a number of key details were omitted, in part for the sake of time, in part to maintain certain proprietary decisions... But "a lot will be coming out over the coming weeks and months," confided one high-level source, immediately after the announcement was completed. Others confirmed that comment... Ford officials will soon reveal plans to also close one of their Mexican assembly lines, and another in St. Paul, Minn... Look for Ford to build its Fairlane "people-mover," an interesting alternative to the traditional minivan. It will also bring over a version of the European Ford Focus, a much more modern and well-equipped vehicle than the American subcompact sharing that name. Even more new products will start appearing in the months to come...

TRUCKING WORLD NEWS - Condenseds

* Trucking a “best job” for 2006
Boston,Mass,USA -Logistics Management -Jan 18, 2006: Heavy-duty truck driving made No.18 on Careerbuilder.com’s list of the top 25 jobs for 2006 which ranked industries of all kinds based on their need for skilled professionals... Careerbuilder.com’s survey represented eight million new jobs and 40 percent of total job growth over the next decade...

* Port of Los Angeles Sets Container Volume Record
Los Angeles,CAL,USA -PR/TTNews -20 Jan,2006: The Port of Los Angeles said that for the fourth year in a row it set a nationwide container volume record by handling nearly 7.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units in 2005, a 2.2% increase over 2004... The port said it anticipates growth in container volume to continue this year...

* Hub Group to Acquire Memphis Trucking Firm Comtrak
Memphis, Tenn.,USA -TTNews -20 Jan 2006: Third-party logistics provider Hub Group said late Thursday it would buy Comtrak Inc., a trucking and drayage firm, for $38 million... Comtrak's services include rail and drayage for the intermodal sector, full truckload transportation, container storage, yard management, truck brokerage and other logistics services. It utilizes company drivers and third-party owner operators to serve its customers... Comtrak’s revenue is expected to be about $85 million for 2005, Hub Group said...

* Celadon Reports Record Income, Revenue; Sets Stock Split
USA -TTNews -19 Jan 2006: Truckload carrier Celadon Group said late Thursday it earned record income in its fiscal second quarter and set a 3-for-2 stock split, to take effect in February... Revenue rose 12.5% to $120.3 million, which was also a record... Freight revenue, excluding fuel surcharges, rose 5.9% to $102.9 million... Celadon Group is ranked No. 55 on the Transport Topics 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers...

* DOT Approves Move of Eight Indiana Counties to Central Time
USA -Associated Press/TTNews -19 Jan 2006: The U.S. Department of Transportation said it will allow eight Indiana counties to switch from the Eastern to the Central time zone, ending a long battle in the state over daylight-saving time... DOT said it bases its decisions on whether changes will benefit commerce, and also looks at factors such as transportation, commuter patterns, and where areas get their radio and television signals...

* Knight’s Fourth-Quarter Income, Revenue Reach Records
USA -TTNews -19 Jan 2006: Truckload carrier Knight Transportation said late Wednesday its net income and revenue for the fourth quarter reached record highs... Knight earned earned a record $18.5 million or 21 cents a share, up from $14.6 million or 17 cents a year earlier, in the quarter... Knight is ranked No. 49 on the Transport Topics 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian trucking companies...

* Dynamex Completes $10 Million Stock Repurchase
USA -TTNews -19 Jan 2006: Logistics and delivery firm Dynamex Inc. said it had completed a $10 million share repurchase it first announced in September... Dynamex, which provides same-day delivery services in the U.S. and Canada, is ranked No. 71 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers...

* Ont. company acquires Saint John trucking firm
Woodstock, Ont.,Canada - Canadian Press -Jan 18, 2006: Contrans Income Fund expanded its operations in New Brunswick this week by acquiring General Freight Carriers Inc. of Saint John... General Freight, located on Golden Grove Road, operates 47 highway tractors and 60 trailers with 10 owner-operators under contract... Contrans has 700 full-time employees and 830 owner operators - more than 1,300 tractors and 2,100 trailers - based in seven provinces, according to information on the company's website...

* Parker Hannifin earnings fall, sales rise
CLEVELAND,OH,USA -Associated Press -Jan. 18, 2006: Parker Hannifin Corp., a manufacturer of industrial motion control and transportation devices, said on Wednesday that its second-quarter earnings fell 25 percent from a year ago when it recorded a $61 million gain from the sale of a business...

* Michigan seeing many trucks with no DOT number
EAST LANSING, Mich.,USA -The Trucker -18 Jan 2006: Officials with the Michigan State Police Motor Carrier Division said, they were encountering a number of large trucks from other states that were not displaying a U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) number... USDOT defines a commercial motor vehicle (“large truck”) as any vehicle with a single or combination gross weight rating or actual gross weight of 10,000 pounds or more; a vehicle designed to transport more than eight passengers, including the driver; or a vehicle of any size that is required to display a hazardous materials placard. If any of these vehicles operate in interstate commerce...

* Ontario trucks could face 105 km/h speed limit
Ontario,Canada -Toronto Star/CBC News -17 Jan 2006: Tractor-trailers in Ontario could soon face a speed cap of 105 kilometres an hour... Ontario's Transportation Ministry is reviewing a proposal from the Ontario Trucking Association, which represents companies operating half of the 700,000 registered trucks in Ontario, says truckers should be forced to use a device that prevents them from going faster than 105 km/h. The device already exists in tractor-trailer engines less than 10 years old...

* Border-crossers get a PASS from passports
WASHINGTON,DC,USA -Today's Trucking -18 Jan 2006: The Bush Administration has scrapped a plan to require passports from any traveler entering the U.S. via land. However, it will instead mandate a new smaller, less expensive, biometric identity card in order to cross the border from Canada or Mexico... The new PASS card (People Access Security Service) -- part of the statutory Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative -- will be issued to registered American travellers starting in late 2006, and will be required for travel on Jan. 1, 2008...

* Story: We are Family
UK -TNN- 20 Jan 2006: In this age of corporate giants, large, successful, family run hauliers seem to be in decline. One company that's certainly bucking the trend is Prestons of Potto. TNN went to meet their Chairman, Anne Preston MBE to find out more...

* TRUCKING shouldn't bear Pacific toll alone
Australia -Australasian Transport News (subscription) -18 Jan 2006: ... should pay for upgrades to the Pacific Highway, including local residents, if governments push ahead a toll road plan, the New South Wales trucking lobby says...

* New Parcel Firm Will Fill Void From Closure
Bangkok,Thailand -Bangkok Post,By Yuthana Praiwan -Jan. 20, 2006: Thai Parcels Co, a newly established trucking company, will begin operations in April, with hopes of capitalising on the planned closure of the debt-ridden Express Transport Organisation (ETO)...

* Goods handled through SuperLink up 220%
Hong Kong,China -Infraestructure & Logistics -Jan 18, 2006: Cross-boundary cargo throughput handled through the SuperLink China Direct service rose 220% from 5,460 tonnes in 2003 to 17,500 tonnes last year, Secretary for Economic Development & Labour Stephen Ip says...

* Truck sales idle as industry cuts back
Beijing,China -Beijing Time, by Jin Jing -321 Jan 2006: SALES slowed in China's commercial vehicle sector last year as the nation throttled back investment in heavy industries... Chinese manufacturers sold 1.79 million commercial vehicles including buses, trucks and semi-tractors in 2005, down 0.75 percent from a year earlier, according to a report by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. Production decreased 0.6 percent to 1.77 million units... The slowdown resulted mainly from a sales drop in mid-size and heavy-duty trucks, the main transport vehicles for industrial material, after the Chinese government implemented measures to cool down the economy...

* ANNOUNCEMENT Press Release from Weichai Power
China -Yahoo! News (USA) -19 Jan 2006: This announcement is made by Weichai Power Co., Ltd.: Who has not received any order from the CHDTGL Group... The heavy-duty trucks market experienced a significant decline in 2005 (as compared with 2004) in China, and the Company's unit salesvolume of diesel engines for use in heavy-duty trucks during the same period was similarly affected. The Company's sales volume of diesel engines (for all product types in aggregate) exceeded 100,000 units(unaudited) in 2005. The Company has received aggregate indicative orders for diesel engines for 2006 in excess of the actual number ofthe diesel engines sold by the Company in 2005 (based on unaudited figures)...

* Shurepower, LLC announces an energy efficient alternative to truck and TRU idling
CONKLIN, NY,USA -SBWIRE, by Joe Licari -19 Jan 2006: The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority has recently awarded a cost-shared contract to Shurepower, LLC to enable the installation and operation of electrified loading docks and parking spaces for heavy-duty diesel trucks and refrigerated trailers...

* New 13-litre or old FH12? Volvo proves the case for its newcomer
UK -&TNN/Big Lorry Blogby Brian Weatherley -20 Jan 2006: "Results from realistic UK comparative fuel trials between a Euro-3 FM fitted with the outgoing D12 420hp engine and a Euro-3 new FM, equipped with the latest 440hp D13A power-plant have been announced." And guess what?... The latest 13 litre artic achieved "..a 4% improvement in overall fuel consumption over the 12 litre." Amazing!...

Comments - USA - Trucks, cars share road – and responsibility

Kansas, Missouri await federal guidelines but are eager to devote money to enforcing passenger traffic around 18-wheelers

Kansas City,MO,USA -The Kansas City Star, by BRAD COOPER -Jan. 19, 2006: -- "By and large, people realize that driving around a truck they need to drive differently. But it’s just not real high on their radar", said Jonna VanDyk, spokeswoman for the Washington Traffic Safety Commission... Truck driver Gordon Neal sometimes just doesn’t understand the erratic behavior of car drivers... From the perch in his cab, Neal has seen them follow too close. He’s seen them linger in the blind spot of his rear-view mirror. And he’s seen them whiz in and out of lanes, sometimes cutting him off with little room to spare... questioned whether many motorists knew how to drive around trucks safely. “Do you think people know the rules and regulations to drive around trucks?”...

Opinion - Canada - Trucks and safety

Toronto,Ont,Canada -Toronto Star -Jan. 19, 2006: -- One of the more terrifying spectres of highway driving is the image of a fully loaded 18-wheeler looming large in the rear-view mirror... So, it is not surprising that many Ontario motorists welcomed calls this week by the Ontario Trucking Association for mandatory "speed limiters." Such devices, installed in truck engines, would prevent truckers from driving at speeds higher than 105 km/h... All Ontario truckers agree that driving at lower speeds helps to cut fuel consumption and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, both worthy goals. But there is a simmering dispute within the industry over the need for mandatory speed limiters and the impact on road safety...

Markets - Hong Kong/China - Shares end morning higher led by China stocks

HONG KONG,China -Forbes/AFX -19 Jan 2006: -- Share prices finished the morning session higher on continued interest in China stocks, dealers said. They said speculation regarding a possible unification of China's A and B share markets and reports of PetroChina's plans to issue A shares, along with continuing fund inflows, are driving the sustained interest in China stocks... "Apart from the (lead on) unification of A shares and B shares, China stocks were also supported by rumours that the Chinese government will allow foreign investors to invest directly in A shares next month", said Jackson Wong, investment manager at Tanrich Securities...

Perfomance - Canada - OTA points across the border in biodiesel warning

TORONTO,Canada -Today's Trucking -01/19/2006: - Ontario regulators should look at recent problems with biodiesel in Minnesota before mandating the alternative fuel for truckers in this province, says the Ontario Trucking Association... OTA points to a neighbouring US state as proof that further examination is required to answer questions over operational and cost concerns, including the fuel's cold weather performance... Minnesota was the first jurisdiction in North America to mandate the use of biodiesel in September 2005. Since then, the state has frozen the regulation twice -- once because the supply of biodiesel did not meet proper state specifications, and more recently because truckers complained the fuel is clogging fuel filters in the winter...

"Forbes" - USA - Trucking firms make “America’s Best Big Companies” list

NEW YORK,NY,USA -Forbes/Staff Logistics Management -Jan 19, 2006: -- Seven trucking companies made the Forbes Platinum 400 list of Best Big Companies in the United States... The companies on the list were selected based on financial performance compared to their industry peers, and analysis of their accounting, governance, financial condition, and earnings quality... The trucking companies included are:
* Arkansas Best Corp: Arkansas Best, whose largest subsidiary is ABF Freight System Inc., makes the list at rank #207—its sixth year as a Forbes Platinum 400.
* C.H. Robinson: With sales of $5.3 million, C.H. Robison lands #142—its fourth appearance.
* The Hub Group: Rank #11 puts the Hub Group as the highest ranking trucking company on the list in their second year earning mention.
* J.B. Hunt Transport: JB Hunt pulls in at rank #25 in its fifth year as a member of the Platinum 400.
* Landstar System: At rank #31, Landstar makes its seventh consecutive appearance on the list.
* Pacer International: Ranked #234 on the list, this is the company’s second year on the list.
* Werner Enterprises: Werner earns #194 and makes the Platinum 400 for the seventh consecutive year.
To access the full list of Forbes Platinum 400 companies, click here.

Talks - USA - Got a trucker story to tell?

St. Louis,MO,USA -St. Louis Post-Dispatch, by Kurt Greenbaum -18 Jan 2006: -- Truckers do not escape our wrath as we speed anonymously down the highway. I’ve certainly cursed my share of 18-wheelers as they barrel through the left lane at speeds more suited for a NASCAR racer. And I’ve cursed the clueless sedan-jockeys who cut in front of truckers with no understanding of how Newton’s laws of motion could affect their personal safety... Today, we have a story about truckers and the law enforcement officials who watch them — commercial vehicle enforcement officers. They’re the ones who watch for overweight trucks, or truckers who have been driving too long at a stretch, truckers carrying loads for which they’re not authorized, and so far... Reporter Elisa Crouch shadowed officers. You’d be surprised at what she found. You’ll also learn about the myriad of regulations that truckers must abide by when they’re hauling their cargo. Elisa writes: Commercial vehicle enforcement officers like Stephens can pull over any truck they want, without probable cause, and inspect it. The reason: they’re enforcing state and federal transportation regulations that each year get stricter, as agencies work to reduce truck-related fatalities. Large trucks were involved in 4,440 fatal crashes in 2004, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Missouri had 132 fatal crashes involving trucks in that same year, while Illinois had 139...

Act - USA - Robinson-Patman Applied to Customer-Specific Bid Discounts

Volvo Trucks North America, Inc. v. Reeder-Simco GMC, Inc.
Reeder’s $4 million price discrimination claim: differing discounts in a competitive bidding market... The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the Robinson-Patman Act does not prohibit selling at different prices to purchasers that do not compete for the same customers...
USA -Mondaq News Alerts(London,UK), by G. Michael Halfenger and Jon P. Christiansen - 18 Jan 2006: -- The United States Supreme Court recently announced its decision in Volvo Trucks North America, Inc. v. Reeder-Simco GMC, Inc.... The Roberts’ Court’s first foray into antitrust law. Interpreting the Robinson-Patman Act’s prohibition on price discrimination, the decision provides helpful guidance to companies that sell through independent dealers, especially those companies that offer negotiated discounts to their dealers in an effort to aid those dealers in competing with rival manufacturers’ dealers. The decision emphasized the Court’s continuing commitment to interpreting the federal antitrust laws in a manner that promotes interbrand competition, rather than protects individual competitors. Foley attorneys G. Michael Halfenger and Jon P. Christiansen represented several manufacturing associations that filed amicus briefs supporting Volvo Truck’s request for Supreme Court review and for reversal of the lower court’s decision...

Thesis - Sweden - Shows Danger of Inattentive Drivers

Sweden -TNN (UK) -20 Jan 2006: -- Research has been carried out at Volvo into how drivers are affected by inattentiveness, and systems are being developed which actively cause drivers to keep their eyes on the road. A thesis on this subject has been prepared by Trent Victor, project manager at Volvo Technology and researcher at Uppsala University... Around 45,000 people die every year in accidents on European roads and a minority of the accidents involves heavy goods transport. A major new American study shows that inattentiveness is a much greater cause of accidents than had previously been thought; approximately 80% of accidents could be explained by the driver taking his eyes off the road at precisely the wrong moment just before the crash... "A tired and inattentive driver is just as dangerous as a driver who is under the influence of drink or drugs in traffic," says Trent Victor...

Survey - Belgium - Predicts Fall in Dangerous Vehicle Emissions

Belgium -TNN (UK) -20 Jan 2006: -- Emissions of dangerous nitrogen oxide gases and polluting particles from vehicles on Belgian roads could decline by 70 percent, by 2030, a study has claimed... The predicted decline comes despite the expected growth in traffic, rising from 80 billion kilometres per year in 2004 to 100 billion in 2030... Anticipated technological improvements in vehicle engines is cited as the main reason for a reduction in the emission of dangerous gases, except for carbon dioxide... The findings were presented by the Leuven-based research centre Transport & Mobility Leuven, a joint venture between the Leuven Catholic University and the Dutch research bureau TNO... In 1990, there were 60 billion kilometres driven each year, 80 billion in 2004 and an expected 100 billion in 2030. The survey also predicted that the percentage of diesel-fuelled cars would also increase... The study also took into account expected economic growth. Thee researchers also factored in the fact that truck-driven kilometres wiould increase from 5.6 billion in 1990 to 11.5 billion in 2030...

Surcharges - Europe - FTA says no to EC plan to adopt mandatory fuel ones

London,UK -Transport News Network -18 Jan 2006: -- ... The Freight Transport Association recently sent me its fulsome submission to the European Commission regarding the mid-term review of the White Paper on European Transport Policy... The best answer to the industry's ills, reckons Turner, is not more legislation but better enforcement to ensure we finally remove the enemy within. An enemy that uses illegal running to avoid the real cost of operations such as proper maintenance, speeding hours laws etc....that genuine operators have to absorb, thereby deflating prices for eveyone else. I agree. But frankly if I had to back VOSA's ability to get more money from the Department of Transport to finally finish the job, or the European Commission's ability to enshrine a mandatory fuel surcharge into haulage contracts I know which body I'd put my money on to bring about change.......

Opinion -USA - Trucking's Economic Year in Review

Trucking was no stranger to excitement in 2005 - By Bob Costello, American Trucking Associations' Vice President and Chief Economist
Alexandria, Va.,USA -Transport Topics -20 Jan 2006: -- Congress delivered a highway bill that was a mixed bag of results. Fuel prices surged to levels never before seen in the industry’s history. Driver turnover simmered just below its all-time high as motor carriers struggled with a driver shortage against increased freight demand. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued yet another round of changes to the driver hours-of-service rules. Not to mention the further strain put on the industry when a calamitous hurricane season ravaged the Gulf Coast region... Surprisingly, these insufferable and incongruous events failed to stymie one cohesive outcome: Because they came against the backdrop of a growing economy, the past 12 months ultimately marked continued growth and profitability for the nation’s motor carriers... For the less-than-truckload sector, the year-to-date increase in average revenue per shipment increased 8.8%... The average revenue per ton increased 6.9%... One certainty is that 2006 will provide a wealth of challenges to the industry... But ultimately, trucking relies upon the strength of the economy to function as well as being a large contributor to it... I am optimistic about both in 2006...

Production - USA - Tank-Trailer Makers Optimistic

’06 Orders Rise

USA -TTNews, by Roger Gilroy -19 Jan 2006: -- The strong pace of tank-trailer orders since December has some manufacturers optimistic that sales and production levels will improve in 2006, after a poor showing last year... Executives of two major tank-trailer manufacturers told they expect production and sales to be higher in 2006, as carriers replace aging equipment and add new capacity for hauling chemicals, dry bulk and petroleum products...

Fed Says - USA - Economy Holding Strong; Trucking Concerns Remain

Federal Reserve's latest “Beige Book” report

USA -TTNews -18 Jan 2006: -- The economy grew late last year... and trucking and shipping remained strong in many regions of the country, though the industry felt driver shortages and continued to be pinched by high fuel prices, the Federal Reserve said... The Fed’s latest “Beige Book” report, was prepared by Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and based on information collected in all Fed districts from Nov. 21 through Jan. 8... Trucking and shipping demand remained strong across the country, but companies were constrained by continuing driver shortages in the Atlanta, Cleveland, Chicago and Philadelphia districts, the Fed said... Despite fuel surcharges, industry officials in Cleveland, Dallas, and Atlanta noted that margins tightened because of fuel-price increases... Cleveland and Dallas reported plans for increased capital spending in the trucking industry... In the transportation equipment sector, reports that heavy truck production was characterized as improving in Chicago...

AUTOS' WORLD NEWS

* Ontario in crosshairs? Ford is in a delicate position when it comes to job cuts in Canada
Ontario,Canada -The Globe and Mail, by Greg Keenan -Jan 19, 2006: Canadian Auto Workers president Buzz Hargrove is worried about the future of a Ford Motor Co. engine plant in Windsor, Ont., and a car assembly plant in St. Thomas, Ont. that was identified by an analyst yesterday as being "vulnerable" to closing when the auto maker announces a restructuring plan next week... Ford is in a delicate position when it comes to job cuts in Canada... Agreements made with the Ontario and federal governments for $200-million in financial support for a redevelopment of its Oakville, Ont., factories required it maintain employment in Canada at roughly 12,000 people...

* Nigerian deals eyed in DaimlerChrysler bribery probe
FRANKFURT,Germany -Stern magazine/Reuters/Automotive News -Jan 18, 2006: DaimlerChrysler officials have told corruption investigators that the carmaker routinely paid kickbacks in order to sell vehicles to Nigeria at inflated prices for years... .It also said that two DaimlerChrysler managers said slush funds used for foreign bribes were kept off the books, which could imply underpayment of taxes, if untaxed income was channeled in this way...

* DaimlerChrysler supervisory board chief in insider trading probe
FRANKFURT,Germany -Stuttgarter Zeitung/AFP/Channel News Asia -19 Jan 2006: German prosecutors are investigating DaimlerChrysler supervisory board chief Hilmar Kopper on suspicion of possible insider trading. Prosecutors are trying to establish whether Kopper told Deutsche Bank chief Josef Ackermann of the resignation of DaimlerChrysler chief executive Juergen Schrempp before the move was officially made public... The probe was based on investigations by the financial sector watchdog BaFin surrounding the resignation of Schrempp last summer, which led to a sharp rise in DaimlerChrysler's share price...

* Japanese Auto Plants Run Closer to Capacity
L.Angeles,CAL,USA -LATimes -Jan 19, 2006: Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. trailed Japanese rivals in operating North American plants close to capacity in 2005 while giving up additional U.S. market share, an auto industry analyst said Wednesday... Ford, the No. 2 U.S. automaker, was ranked the lowest among six automakers, using 79% of its production capacity, said Ron Harbour, president of Harbour Consulting. GM, the world's largest automaker, was at 87% and DaimlerChrysler's Chrysler unit, 93%. Toyota Motor Corp., Japan's biggest automaker, ran its plants at a 111% rate, followed by Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. at 97% each...

* China's easy-money era is over, Magna exec warns
DETROIT,Mich,USA -Automotive News, by Bradford Wernle -Jan 18, 2006: Speaking in the 2006 Automotive News World Congress Keith Lomason, Magna International Inc.'s China's, Executive director said... China is a tough place to do business, and its cost advantage is fast eroding... "Low cost is not what it was, and margins on products are not what they were. Every year it's harder to be profitable"... Lomason has some advice for auto suppliers thinking about entering the Chinese market now: "The easy money is over"... He told that China beyond all the hype "is a difficult market to do business in"...

* Dispute with Israeli supplier could hurt Delphi
TROY,Mich,USA -Associated Press-Jan 18, 2006: A dispute with an Israeli maker of precision machine parts has threatened to hamper financially struggling Delphi Corp.'s ability to supply its No. 1 customer, General Motors Corp... Deutsch Dagan Ltd., a private Ashkelon, Israel-based company with 145 employees, has been in a dispute with Delphi over the suburban Detroit-based auto supplier's payment for components it ordered before filing for bankruptcy...

* Rear Crash Protection In SUVs & Pickups
ARLINGTON, VA,USA -admin -19 Jan 2006: Most Seat/Head Restraints Would Do A Poor Job Of Protecting People's Necks In Rear-End Crashes, According to IIHS -- Only 6 of the seat/head restraint combinations in 44 current model SUVs are rated good for protection against whiplash injuries in rear-end crashes. None of the seat/head restraint designs in 15 pickup truck models earns a good rating. Overall 4 out of 5 SUV and pickup seat/head restraints recently evaluated by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety are rated marginal or poor for whiplash protection. This is the first time the Institute has tested SUV and pickup seats using a dummy that can measure forces on the neck during a simulated rear-end crash...

* Who Dies When Teen Drivers Crash?
Washington, D.C.,USA -admin -19 Jan 2006: The majority of people killed in teen driver crashes are people other than the teen driver themselves, according to a recent analysis of ten years of crash data by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety... The new analysis shows that young novice drivers comprise slightly more than one-third of all the fatalities in crashes in which they are involved; whereas nearly two-thirds of those killed are other vehicle users and pedestrians. AAA says these statistics provide new urgency to its advocacy efforts to strengthen graduated licensing laws (GDL)...

* BMW Owners Allege Flaw in BMW Z8’s Aluminum Chassis
DETROIT.Mich,USA -Global Auto Systems -Jan 17, 2006: The Z8 Club in Europe reportedly has identified a flaw in the BMW Z8’s aluminum chassis that makes the car vulnerable to distortion and damage... A BMW owners’ group in Europe and now BMW owner Internet discussion boards are alleging that the BMW Z8 has a weakness in the aluminum chassis that leaves it vulnerable to damage... One U.S. blog even names a law firm for owners to contact if they are interested in exploring their ”legal rights.” BMW did not immediately respond to requests for comment...

* BMW AG sales in China more than doubled in 2005
FRANKFURT, Germany -Det News (USA) -Jan 18, 2006: The company sold 23,595 vehicles in China during 2005. That beat the company's estimates last year that sales would rise 40 percent from 2004. The figures include sales from BMW Brilliance Automobile Ltd., its joint-venture with Brilliance China Automotive Holding Ltd...

* Foreign car sales seen moving up a gear in Russia
MOSCOW,Russia -Reuters -19 Jan 2006: Foreign carmakers' sales of new cars will continue to boom in Russia in the next few years although the market share of used foreign models will decline steadily, research showed on Thursday...

* Isuzu Motors sees '06 global sales up 7 percent
TOKYO,Japan -Reuters -19 Jan 2006: Isuzu Motors Ltd. said on Thursday it expected its global vehicle sales to rise 7 percent this year to 672,500 units, supported by robust growth at home and overseas. That would follow a 12 percent climb in sales in 2005 to 629,540 units...

* Mazda seeks minimum 10 percent rise in '06 China sales
TOKYO,Japan -Reuters -19 Jan 2006: Mazda Motor Corp. said on Thursday it aimed to boost sales in China by at least 10 percent this year after an industry-beating 51 percent surge in 2005...

* DaimlerChrysler's Northeast Asia car sales rise 15 percent in 2005
SHANGHAI,China -Reuters -19 Jan 2006: DaimlerChrysler AG said on Thursday it had sold 15 percent more cars in Northeast Asia last year than in 2004, led by strong gains for its luxury Mercedes brand in China and South Korea...

* Audi sales up 18 percent so far in January,
MUNICH,Germany -Reuters 19 Jan 2006: Volkswagen's premium brand Audi has increased car sales by 18 percent so far in January from the same period last year, CEO Martin Winterkorn told Reuters on Thursday...

* Ford's China sales up 46 percent
BEIJING,China -AP -Jan 17. 2006: Carmaker expects more growth this year... Ford Motor Co. brand sales in China rose 46 percent last year to 82,225 vehicles, and the U.S. carmaker forecast further growth in the year ahead... That growth beat the local car industry, whose sales expanded about 14 percent last year, according to data provided by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers...

* Toyota and GM top annual customer loyalty survey
USA -Autoblog, by Stuart Waterman -Jan 19 2006: The results of the annual R.L. Polk & Co. Loyalty Excelerator Report are out, and Toyota scored highest in brand loyalty to an automotive division, knocking Ford out of the top spot for the first time in nine years. GM scored highest in manufacturer loyalty... Polk defines loyalty in terms of new car customer retention: a new car buyer returning to buy another new vehicle of the same make or model... For the 2005 model year, Toyota enjoyed a 54.6 percent loyalty rating, while 63.1 percent of GM new car buyers bought another new GM car...

* Brazilian Innovation Prize Awarded for Bosch Alternative Fuel Concept
Brasilia,Brazil -admin (USA) -19 Jan 2006: Prize For The Flex Fuel Engine Management SystemBosch has been awarded the Brazilian Ministry for Science and Technology's product innovation prize for the "Flex Fuel" engine management system. The "Technological Innovation Finep Award" winning Flex Fuel technology developed by Bosch permits vehicles to be fueled by gasoline, by alcohol, or by any mixture of the two fuels...

Advice - USA - Readers offer U.S. automakers some one

Mailbag shows many frustrated with industry leadership
USA -MSNBC, by Roland Jones -Jan. 19, 2006: -- Once upon a time, American-made cars embodied a vigorous national confidence. They were enormous chunks of muscular metal and chrome with jukebox-like dashboards and dangerously-sharp tailfins. Bold and flashy, they commanded respect on the highway... These days, forget about respect. American cars are singled out for their lack of exciting designs, poor quality and meager fuel efficiency. Many American consumers began to choose Toyotas over Chryslers years ago... The reader comments focused on the poor design and quality many see in modern American-made cars. There was also bitter disillusionment with the American automotive industry, one of the nation’s largest, its management structure and out-of-date union deals. And many readers also spoke of their newfound preference for Asian-made cars...

GreenNews - USA - GM to push ethanol and fuel technologies in ads

DETROIT, Mich,USA -Automotive News, by Jamie LaReau -Jan 18, 2006: -- General Motors will launch a major push into the "green" next month when it kicks off a print campaign promoting its flexible-fuel vehicles, which can operate on the ethanol-based fuel known as E-85, said Beth Lowery, GM's Vice president, environment and energy, in the Automotive News World Congress... GM continues to back research and technology that improves fuel efficiency. The company will start promoting its flexible-fuel vehicles in a major ad campaign... The message is that offers consumers several alternatives to pure gasoline-powered vehicles: Besides flex-fuel vehicles, GM offers hybrid versions of some of its trucks... Also is introducing new hybrid vehicles, cylinder deactivation technology on some vehicles and diesel, which Lowery says is important in reducing carbon-dioxide emissions...

TRUCKING WORLD NEWS - Condenseds

* UK: Truck market grew by 4.5% in 2005
London,UK -AWKnowledge (subscription) -16 Jan 2006: ... Figures released by the UK Department of Transport show that registrations in Britain of all trucks over 3.5 tonnes gvw grew by 4.5% in 2005 compared with 2004. A total of 58,841 units was registered... Market leader, by an increasingly comfortable margin... by 9%, to 4,218 registrations, and Volvo's sister company Renault Trucks saw its ... units, where Iveco had been pre-eminent with its Cargo (latterlyEuroCargo) ...

* OffPeak program reaches 1m trucks milestone
Los Angeles,Cal,USA -Canadian Transportation & Logistics (Toronto,Ontario), by Julia Kuzeljevich -18 Jan 2006: Pierpass Inc. says that more than one million truck trips have been diverted from peak daytime traffic hours since the start of the "OffPeak" program in July last year, resulting in fewer bottlenecks at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach...

* New U.S. rules are changing cross-border travel
Canada -CTV.ca News -Jan. 18 2006: Only about 40 per cent of Canadians have a passport, and for the millions who don't, cross-border travel will become much more difficult when new rules kick in... By the end of the year, Canadians traveling to the U.S. by air or sea will be required to have a passport... At land crossings, a passport will be mandatory by 2008...

* FMCSA-Motor Carrier Efficiency Study
USA -Truckline Express -17 Jan 2006: The Department of Transportation, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, will host an Industry Day (February 9, from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM) for an upcoming project entitled The Motor Carrier Safety Efficiency Study, at the Sheraton Miami Mart Hotel in Miami, Florida... The purpose of this initial meeting is to provide the FMCSA with an opportunity to communicate to industry its objectives and expectations for the Motor Carrier Efficiency Study; and enlist industry input on this Congressionally directed study...

* Truckers Urged to Monitor ULSD Effect on Engines
USA -TTNews, by Jonathan S. Reiskin -17 Jan 2006: Ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel due out later this year should provide sufficient lubricating properties for the fuel-injection systems at the heart of the new 2007 model-year heavy-duty truck engines, according to original equipment manufacturers and companies that produce motor oils... Specifically, fuel experts said, maintenance managers should monitor closely whether ULSD’s lubricating qualities are high enough to prevent wear on fuel-injector parts or if ASTM International’s standards should be adjusted to require a higher minimum level of lubricity...

* New dash to diesels
DETROIT,Mich,USA -Auto News, by Richard Truett -Jan 16, 2006: High-tech engines take on hybrids in fuel economy race... The diesel engine is back... Five automakers revealed plans at the North American International Auto Show to introduce fuel-saving diesel engines in cars and trucks... Mercedes-Benz confirmed that it will introduce five diesel models beginning this fall. Honda, BMW, Nissan and the Chrysler group each confirmed plans to add diesels to their lineups over the next three to four years...

* Navistar misses annual report deadline
Chicago, Ill,USA -The Chicago Tribune, by James P. Miller -Jan 18, 2006: Navistar International Corp., citing still-unresolved issues with its outside auditor, said it missed Tuesday's deadline for filing its annual report with regulators for its fiscal year ended Oct. 31...

* Ontario trucks could face 105 km/h speed limit
Ontario,Canada -CBC News -17 Jan 2006: Tractor-trailers in Ontario could soon face a speed cap of 105 kilometres an hour, says a published report... Ontario's Transportation Ministry is reviewing a proposal from the Ontario Trucking Association, said the Toronto Star on Tuesday...

* Weatherproof inverter/charger available on Volvo trucks
VANCOUVER, B.C.,Canada -Truck News, by: Steven Macleod -Jan 16, 2006: Made to withstand extreme weather conditions, a new inverter/charger from Xantrex Technology Inc. is available for Volvo VN and Volvo VT 880 heavy-duty trucks... Xantrex's RM1012 AL is fully weatherproof and converts regular DC battery power into 120V AC of household power. Designed to operate devices such as televisions, microwaves and computers, the power source is ideal for long-haul trucks with sleeper cabs and eliminates the need to buy special 12-volt appliances or an auxiliary combustion generator...

* Mack offers stability system on vocational trucks
LAS VEGAS, Nev.,USA -Truck News, by James Menzies -17 Jan 2006: Mack has announced it's now offering a stability system for concrete customers... Mack Road Stability Advantage (Mack RSA) is a first-of-its-kind stability system developed by Bendix, the company says. It is designed to reduce incident potential while enhancing profitability and is available for mixer applications on the Mack Granite...

* Cummins introduces '07 ISL for vocational market
LAS VEGAS, Nev.,USA -Truck News, by: James Menzies -18 Jan 2006: Cummins has introduced its lightweight 2007 ISL to the vocational market... The company says the new ISL delivers improved fuel economy for vocational customers... and is lighter than any other engine in its class, it also delivers the highest power-to-weight ratio. Its peak torque level is 1,250 lb.-ft....

Statistics - Canada - Inventory-to-shipment ratio on the rise again

OTTAWA, Ont.,Canada -Truck News, by: Lou Smyrlis -18 Jan 2006: -- The inventory-to-shipment ratio jumped to 1.29 in November from 1.26 in October, Statistics Canada records indicate... Substantially weaker shipment activity led to the sharp rise in the ratio, which remained just below the year-high of 1.31 set in July... The inventory-to-shipment ratio is a key measure of the time, in months, that would be required in order to exhaust inventories if shipments were to remain at their current level...

Statistics - Canada - Manufacturing shipments decline in November

OTTAWA, Ont.,Canada -Truck News, by: Lou Smyrlis-18 Jan 2006: -- Large declines in petroleum prices and continued volatility in the auto sector were the driving forces behind the 1.5% drop in manufacturing shipments ($51.4 billion) in November, Statistics Canada reported this morning... At 1997 prices, total shipments fell 0.8% to $47.5 billion, as some manufacturers have cut production levels in recent months. This was the third decline in constant dollar shipments in the last five months...

Safety II - USA - Truckers Have Most Dangerous Jobs In Maine

LEWISTON, Maine,USA -8WMTW -16 Jan 2006: -- Truckers have had the most dangerous job in Maine in the past decade... That's according to figures released by the state's Department of Labor... Officials said the trucking profession in Maine had 54 on-the-job deaths between 1995 and 2004. That's more than three times as many deaths as the No. 2 occupation, forestry workers... The figures also showed that truckers reported nearly 3,600 injuries between 1994 and 2004...

Safety - USA - Fast-growing county grapples with unsafe trucks

HILLSBORO, Va.,USA -Associated Press/Daily Press -Jan 16, 2006: -- In fast-growing Loudoun County, law enforcement officials have been grappling with one of the consequences of development: unsafe trucks... As new residential and commercial developments pop up, speeding and overburdened trucks have become more of a problem, prompting local officials to weigh stronger penalties and even an outright ban in the town of Hillsboro... On average, at least 35 percent of trucks inspected at checkpoints by Loudoun deputies are too dangerous to be allowed to continue traveling, said Chris Rizzo, a county sheriff's deputy who has spent 16 years making truck inspections... notes that a car-on-car collision has about a 1-in-1,200 chance of causing a fatality, but a truck-on-car crash raises the odds to 1 in 9...

Ambitious Plan - Europe - The Rebirth of the Barge

Brussels' plan for inland waterways

Brussels,Belgium -European Commission/Tiscali Europe -18 Jan 2006: -- Yesterday the Commission proposed a long-term action programme to foster transport by inland waterways in Europe. It believes inland waterway transport is a significant option for improving Europe’s transport system, which is suffering from congestion, delays and which harms the environment. Shifting more freight to water will help to deal with the constantly growing freight flows. Moreover, Inland Waterway Transport has great potential to be fully integrated into the door-to-door logistics chains. The Action Programme addresses five key components: services, fleet, staff, image and infrastructure... The plan covers the 2006–2013 period and targets all levels responsible for inland waterway transport, the industry itself, EU member states and the EU...

Sales - Australia - Trucking's winners and losers in 2005

The new Super Liner LT led Mack's upward charge

Australia -CARSguide, by Patrick Whiteley -14 Jan 2006: -- Japanese truckmakers were the big winners in 2005, selling more trucks then ever before. In all, there were 34,732 trucks sold in 2005, up more than 3000 on the previous year's figures... Almost all of this gain in sales was realised in the 4.5-tonne to 8.5-tonne light market (2000 extra sales) and the 8.5t-16t medium duty (900 extra trucks)... Heavy truck sales went backwards only slightly after a dramatic rise in fuel prices and all makers of big trucks lost ground... Truck companies believe 2006 will be "steady as she goes" and expect similar sales figures, with a slight reduction in the heavy duty sector... Isuzu won the light-duty segment (3.5 tonne-8.5t) and medium-duty range (8.5t-16t) and sold more than 1000 extra trucks in 2005... Kenworth outsells its rivals, holding 22.2 per cent of the market, sold 2287 trucks — 14 less than in the previous year... Here is a run-down of each brand: ...

Technology - USA - Allows to keep close tabs on trucks, shipments

Alaska,USA -Alaska Journal of Commerce, by Rob Stapleton -Jan 15, 2006: -- Carlile Transportation Systems could easily be called the surface tie that binds between Washington and Alaska. Spanning a big chunk of highway between Tacoma and the North Slope, Carlile has installed and uses technology for security and better efficiency with its vehicles... Using Omni Tracs, a system developed by Qualcomm, Carlile can find any one of its hundreds of trucks 24 hours a day...

Tests - USA - Fleets Receiving ’07 Engines to Begin On-Highway Testing

USA -Transport Topics, by Roger Gilroy -17 Jan 2006: -- Some truck manufacturers have begun to offer fleet customers tractors equipped with engines that meet 2007 emission standards, while others said they would make the test vehicles available soon... Fleets are getting the 2007 models for testing months later than manufacturers had promised. Carrier executives had expressed concerns with the 2007-model engines’ sharply higher costs, reduced fuel efficiency and unproven technology...

Jobs - USA - Truckers needed in Weld

Have CDL, will work = dream employee

Greeley, CO,USA -Greeley Tribune, by Sharon Dunn -Jan 18, 2006: -- For many area companies needing commercial drivers these days, the dream is fading fast, right alongside wishes for lower gas prices... Area trucking employers are practically begging for qualified commercial drivers, but they're facing a shortage like none other... A shortage of commercial drivers for positions in northern Colorado has prompted the Employment Services of Weld County Workforce Development Board to form a group to identify sources of drivers and strategies for recruitment and retention... The group will next meet at noon Jan. 31 at Employment Services, 1551 N. 17th Ave. Employer and public participation and input is encouraged. For information, call Marie Llamas, 353-3800, Ext. 3371...

AUTOS' WORLD NEWS

* Toyota fiscal year pretax profit seen up 10 percent
TOKYO,Japan -Nihon Keizai business daily/Reuters -Jan 16, 2006: Toyota Motor Corp. will likely report a more than 10 percent rise in group pretax profit for the fiscal year ending in March, helped by valuation gains on its former UFJ Holdings shares... The world's second-biggest automaker will book a stock valuation gain of about $1.23 billion (140 billion yen) on its holdings of shares in UFJ Holdings Inc., which merged with Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group in October to create Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., the newspaper said.The valuation gains will push up Toyota's full-year pretax profit to around $16.96 billion to $17.22 billion (1.95 trillion yen to 1.98 trillion yen), up about 11-13 percent from a year earlier, it said...

* Ford Motor sees record 2005 China vehicle sales
SHANGHAI,China -Reuters/Automotive News -Jan 16, 2006: Ford Motor Co. said on Monday it had sold 82,225 of its own-brand vehicles in China in 2005, up 46 percent on the previous year as it rode an expanded lineup of models... Ford said in a statement that its overall affiliated brands sales had surpassed an estimated 220,000 units last year... Analysts expect sales to grow some 20 percent this year on continued strong demand for cheaper models...

* Ford's Wixom safe
Waltham, Mass,USA -Global Insight/The Detroit News, by Bryce G. Hoffman -18 Jan 2006: Automaker will shutter 4 plants, but Michigan factory isn't on downsizing list... Ford Motor Co. plans to announce the closure of at least four assembly plants Monday, according to a respected industry analysis firm, but Michigan's Wixom Assembly Plant will not be one of them... With the struggling automaker preparing to reveal the details of its "Way Forward" restructuring plan Monday, Global Insight Inc. of ., will outline its analysis of Ford's plan today during a Webcast...

* General Motors at a fork in the road, by JEROME B. YORK (advisor to investor Kirk Kerkorian)
USA -Automotive News -16 Jan 2006: A possible solution for a robust resurgence. The text of a speech given Tuesday, Jan. 10, by Jerry York to the Society of Automotive Analysts regarding General Motors' problems. York is an advisor to investor Kirk Kerkorian, who owns 7.8 percent of GM. York is former CFO of Chrysler Corp...

* Skoda Auto eyes $250 million profit for 2005
PRAGUE,Checz. -Reuters/Hospodarske Noviny business daily -Jan 16, 2006: Profits at Skoda Auto, a unit of German carmaker Volkswagen, are likely to exceed $250.8 million (6 billion crowns) for 2005... Full year results are due out on Feb. 23... Skoda Auto Chairman Detlef Wittig said late last week that 2005 revenues were up some 20 percent year-on-year...

* European car sales end 2005 with a whimper
FRANKFURT,Germany -Reuters -Jan 16, 2006: New car sales in Europe fell 3.9 percent in December, ending 2005 on a weak note despite a ferocious price war, a slew of fresh models and strong showings by most Japanese manufacturers, industry data showed on Monday... Declines in big markets Germany, Italy, France and Spain offset a rare rise in Britain in December, limiting new car registrations in 23 European Union countries plus Norway, Switzerland and Iceland to just below 1.1 million units... "This drop was influenced by a smaller number of working days in almost all countries ... but also confirms the sluggish market conditions in the last quarter," European car industry association ACEA said...

* Saab loses $300 million in 2005, report says
FRANKFURT,Germany -Reuters/Handelsblatt -Jan 17, 2006: General Motors' premium brand Saab lost more than $300 million in 2005, heaping pressure on GM given calls from investor Tracinda to sell Saab and other loss-making units...The daily cited company sources saying Saab's loss widened from nearly $200 million in 2004...

* German prosecutors probe three ex-BMW staff
FRANKFURT,Germany -Der Spiegel magazine/Reuters -Jan 16, 2006: German prosecutors are investigating three former employees of carmaker BMW on suspicion of taking bribes... A purchasing manager, who has been detained, was among the suspects... A BMW spokeswoman said the three workers had been dismissed last year. The authorities accused them of taking bribes from German, U.S. and Austrian suppliers.

* Vietnam says 2005 car sales down 12 percent due taxes
HANOI,Vietnam -Reuters -Jan 17, 2006: Vehicles sales by 11 foreign-backed automakers in Vietnam fell 12 percent last year from 2004 to 35,264, the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association said on Tuesday... The sector has seen a decline in sales since last January when higher consumption taxes were imposed on domestically assembled vehicles...

Opinion - USA - The Fast And The Furious

Germany's automakers are doing a better job than Detroit in fighting off the Asians and high labor costs

NEW YORK,NY,USA -Forbes, by Jerry Flint -13 Jan 2006: -- All four of Germany's home-based auto companies are on the Forbes German 40 list, the largest local companies measured by a composite ranking of sales, assets, profits and market value. Ranked second on this list, is DaimlerChrysler, with $193 billion in global revenues over the latest 12 months. Even though Volkswagen Group it ranks at No. 11... BMW, ranked No. 10 on the Forbes German 40, is one of the most successful automobile companies in the world. Its luxury performance cars are fast, have terrific handling and are expensive... Porsche, ranked No. 37 on the Forbes German 40 with almost $8 billion in revenue and $948 million in net profits, is the best auto company in the world. Its cars are among the most desired... DaimlerChrysler's will return to the basic Mercedes philosophy: gorgeous and powerful luxury cars... VW has strengths: It is a power in China, and it has SEAT of Spain and Skoda of the Czech Republic, giving it access to lower-cost European production... Despite many challenges and a fair amount of turmoil, the overall German auto industry is in good shape. It's worth noting that the leaders of these great German companies know how to engineer and how to build cars. In today's market, that makes a difference...

Comments - USA - GM Goes Big, Toyota Gets Small

GM repeating mistakes of the past while Japan is pushing fuel-sipping subcompacts?

USA -Forbes, by Joann Muller -17 Jan 2006: -- While Japan pushes fuel-sipping subcompacts, GM is going big. Sound familiar?... Remember what happened during the oil crises of the 1970s?... Japanese automakers capitalized on soaring gas prices by flooding the U.S. with small, fuel-efficient compacts, while American carmakers kept cranking out their gas-guzzling land yachts. That marked the beginning of Detroit's long market-share slide. In 1973 the Big Three had a combined 82% of the U.S. market. At the end of 2005 they had just 57%... Maybe there's motive to GM's seeming madness. After a miserable 2005 JPMorgan anticipates GM's full-size-SUV production to rise 21% in 2006, adding $900 million in pretax profit this year and another $1.2 billion in 2007. Those $12,000 subcompacts don't have that kind of earnings horsepower...

Speech - USA - "Part of Toyota's success to Japan's history as a nation of rice farms"

Industry should be environmentally, socially responsible

DETROIT,Mich,USA -Automotive News, by Bradford Wernle -Jan 17, 2006: -- The auto industry has a huge responsibility to make sure its products don't inflict harm on the society or the environment, Jim Press president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc., told his Automotive News World Congress audience on Monday... As the population of cars grows, he said, the supply of gasoline to power them is being depleted rapidly... The United States, Japan and China account for 6 percent of the world's oil production but 40 percent of its consumption, he said... "To have sustainable growth of transportation, we've got to make sure that the car's ability to grow in terms of volume doesn't become its biggest problem as a detriment to society," said... Press attributed part of Toyota's success to Japan's history as a nation of rice farms... "What that means is that one family could not support itself on a rice farm," he said. "Because of the labor involved, it took five to 10 families working together in one unit just to survive. What that did is foster a culture where people grew up working together for the benefit of the group."...

Request - Philippines - Truckers denounce maze of rules that seriously affect their operations

Manila,Philippines -Manila Bulletin -14 Jan 2006: -- Eight truckers organization have urged the national government to intervene and rectify the maze of different ordinances and regulations in operation of cargo trucks that the local government units are now implementing, a move to make them free and unmolested access to their point of destination...

Alert - USA - Man photographed trucks, tankers

Nation's truckers asked to be on the lookout

WASHINGTON,DC,USA -CNN, by From Kelli Arena & Jeanne Meserve -Jan 13, 2006: -- The Department of Homeland Security has tapped the nation's truckers to help find a man who has been seen taking photographs of tanker equipment... On three separate occasions, the man also asked truck drivers several questions about deliveries and operations, according to the Highway Information Sharing and Analysis Center... (Photo: Authorities are looking for this man who they say has been seen taking photos of trucks and tankers)

Clean-air plan - USA - Lower speed limits for trucks could be in

Fort Worth,TX,USA -Fort Worth Star Telegram, by GORDON DICKSON -Jan. 06, 2006: -- Tractor-trailers and other large commercial trucks could be asked to abide by a lower speed limit than private vehicles on Metroplex highways, as regional leaders look for new ways to reduce air pollution, officials said Thursday... The lower speed limits -- perhaps 55 mph on a highway where cars may go 65 -- are among many options on the table, said Mike Eastland, executive director of the North Central Texas Council of Governments. However, he said such a change wasn't imminent and could be several years away.

Invents Safer System - USA - Trucker for Securing Wood Planks on Flatbed Trailers

Augusta,Ga.,USA -The Augusta Chronicle, by Tony Lombardo, -Jan. 14, 2006: -- Driving past flatbed semi trucks on the freeway, you might not notice the planks of wood tied to the trailer undersides... The Beech Island native has invented a device, specifically for flatbed truckers, to better secure these timbers and prevent them from coming loose and causing an accident... These wood planks, known as dunnage in the trucking industry, are laid on the trailer bed to elevate cargo so a forklift can get underneath the materials...

TRUCKING WORLD NEWS - Condenseds

* Hitch found in FUPS fitting
Australia -Supply Chain Review -13 Jan 2006: Industry is reporting difficulties in the testing and certification for aftermarket and retrospective installation of front underrun protection systems (FUPS) for 26-metre B-Doubles... A new industry code of practice is being prepared, incorporating guidelines for the application of the FUPS standards...The Australian Trucking Association's (ATA) Industry Technical Council will meet next week to consider the code...

* "Onerous" fatigue regs close in NSW
Australia -Supply Chain Review -11 Jan 2006: Operators are being warned to educate themselves about new fatigue regulations, which the industry calls an onerous new burden... All freight operators, consignors, consignees and head carriers in New South Wales — and interstate operators travelling more than 500 kilometres in the state — must comply with the new Long Distance Driver Fatigue Regulation from March 1... The industry opposed the laws, which place further fatigue monitoring responsibilities on operators over and above chain of responsibility laws...

* Trucking Industry Short 20,000 Drivers
USA -Layover -13 Jan 2006: The long-haul, heavy-duty truck transportation industry in the United States currently is experiencing a national shortage of 20,000 truck drivers, ATA reported in its US Truck Driver Shortage: Analysis and Forecasts issued in 2005... In addition, Careerbuilder.com, a national job bank, ranked heavy-duty truck driving Number 18 on its list of the top 25 jobs for 2006, according to ATA...

* CTL Atlanta Driver Receives Company's Bulldog Performance Award
MULBERRY,FL.,USA -Layover -12 Jan 2006: Kenny Dawson, a driver based in CTL Distribution's Atlanta terminal, has been named the January recipient of the company's Bulldog Performance Award. Mulberry, FL-based CTL's Bulldog Award began in September to nominate and recognize employees for job performance, and is awarded monthly among the 674 employees and owner operators who are part of its headquarters and 13 terminal locations in eight states... Kenny is the most senior driver in the Atlanta terminal...

Jobs - USA - Website Helps Drivers Get Local Trucking Jobs From Their Computers

USA -openPR/Regional trucking Jobs -13 Jan 2006: -- New website helps drivers find a job that will give you a $35,000 income for the first year and the chance to travel all around the U.S... KANSAS CITY, Jack O’ Higgins had been seeking trucking jobs for some time. The problem is he could not find information about jobs easily...

Sales - USA - Strong Year for Commercial Truck Trailer

USA -Layover -13 Jan 2006: -- It was a banner year for commercial truck sales, according to figures compiled by Wards Communications. While overall sales (including pickups, vans, and SUVs) were flat in 2005, the types of trucks that typically are used in commercial applications were up almost 25% last year... Dealers sold 9,777,284 trucks of all sizes in 2005, virtually unchanged from 2004. But take the trucks with GVW ratings under-10,000 pounds out of the mix, and the numbers change dramatically. Trucks with GVW ratings above 10,000 pounds had a 23% increase when compared with 2004 sales. The market in 2005: 663,431 trucks, compared with 538,932 that were sold in 2004...

EcoNews - Australia - Queensland bio-diesel plant operational by February

Australia -Supply Chain Review -11 Jan 2006: The local biofuels industry is about to take another step forward with news that a bio-diesel plant in Narangba, Queensland will be fully operational by February... The facility, currently under construction, will produce 75 million litres of bio-diesel per annum commencing the second half of 2006... A joint venture company established by the directors of the Narangba plant has an exclusive sub-licence for the technology for all countries outside of the European Union and while in this instance the owners have applied the technology to their own plant, it is believed they will actively use their licence to sell other plants in other parts of the world... The spokesperson says a Western Australian company has placed an order for a plant. The Brisbane plant will use Queensland tallow as prime feedstock to produce the bio-diesel...

Sales - Australia - Isuzu leads the way in 2005 truck sales

Australia -Supply Chain Review -11 Jan 2006: -- Isuzu trucks has recorded its 17th consecutive year of Australian truck market sales leadership in 2005 dominating the light market segment, winning back leadership in the medium market and registering strong results in the heavy segment... As the Australian truck market powered to another record sales year, Isuzu built on its continued market dominance selling a total of 7718 trucks in 2005 according to industry standard data provided by ERG Truck Tracker... The nearest competitors Hino and Mitsubishi sold 4674 and 3669 trucks respectively... Kenworth maintained its dominance of the Heavy Truck end of the market with 2287 trucks sold in 2005 taking 22.2 percent of the market with competitors, Volvo, Mack and Isuzu following with 1116, 1092 and 1034 respectively, all hovering around the 10 percent market share...

AUTOS' WORLD NEWS

* GM considering $500 million expansion of Toledo plant
TOLEDO, Ohio,USA -Associated Press -Jan 14, 2006: General Motors Corp. is considering a $500 million expansion of its transmission plant to produce a new, six-speed automatic transmission, officials said Friday...

* GMAC sees $450 million charge for goodwill impairment
WASHINGTON,DC,USA -Dow Jones/AP -Jan 14, 2006: General Motors Acceptance Corp., the finance arm of General Motors Corp., on Friday said it will take a non-cash impairment charge of roughly $450 million in the quarter ended Dec. 31... According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the charge is mainly for the 1999 acquisition of The Bank of New York's commercial finance business...

* Wagoner GM's says fate of Delphi, GMAC will affect GM's financial picture
DETROIT,Mich,USA -AP, by Dee-Ann Durbin -Jan 14, 2006: General Motors Corp. expects to save about $4 billion this year as it implements its North American turnaround plan... But Wagoner declined to give any earnings guidance, saying there are too many outstanding issues facing the struggling automaker... Earlier this week, Jerome York, an aide to billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian, said GM should consider cutting its annual $2 per share dividend in half, which he estimated would save $566 million a year...

* A shareholder asking for less?
NEW YORK,NY,USA -The Detroit News, by Rachel Beck -Jan 14, 2006: One of General Motors Corp.'s biggest investors proposed something this week that came as a shock to many in these times when greed often rules: He's willing to give up guaranteed cash for the sake of trying to put the struggling company's business back on track... Top Kerkorian lieutenant Jerry York gave a frank critique of GM's turnaround plan... Kerkorian can't be thrilled with the automaker's performance over the last year. GM has failed to boost slumping sales, especially of gas-guzzling SUVs, while it wrestles with higher labor costs. It lost nearly $4 billion in the first nine months of last year... Among the suggestions: Ask board members to work for less than the $200,000 a year they are currently paid, and slash the compensation of the company's top five executives. York also said that GM should seek wage concessions from United Auto Workers members, who he said might be more willing to accept pay cuts if they saw them happening up and down the company's ranks... Of course, one can't forget Kerkorian's ultimate goal in all this is to make money. He certainly isn't just leaving money on the table out of the goodness of his heart. What he seems to believe is that by giving up the dividend payments, that may boost his chances of recouping more should the stock price surge if GM begins to turn itself around... It's a gamble that could backfire, of course, if a dividend cut sends GM shares into a new freefall. But one at least one particularly savvy investor believes the risk is worth taking...

* GM sees flat U.S. market and ramps up savings
DETROIT,Mich,USA -Reuters, by Jui Chakravorty -Jan 13, 2006: General Motors Corp., which lost nearly $4 billion (2.3 billion pounds) in the first three quarters of 2005, on Friday said it would accelerate its cost-savings plan as it moves to stanch losses in the face of a flat or weaker year for the U.S. auto market... The world's largest automaker expects to realise about $4 billion in savings in 2006, the bulk of $7 billion it had previously targeted through 2008 -- including $6 billion in structural costs and $1 billion in material costs... GM said it was aiming to lower its structural costs, including pensions, to 25 percent of its revenue in 2010 from the current level of about 34 percent...

* Toyota Prius hybrid outselling its tax credits
Los Angeles,CAL,USA -Los Angeles Times, by David Colker -Jan 14, 2006: If you want a tax break on a new hybrid car, you may have to settle for your second choice... When the hot-selling model reaches 60,000 units sold this year, tax break phases out... U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow on Friday promoted the new tax break for buyers of gas-electric powered hybrids... For automakers, the new tax law has been something of a bureaucratic headache... Buyers can claim a fuel economy credit of up to $2,400 a hybrid, depending on how much less fuel the vehicle uses over a standard 2002 model, plus up to $1,000 based on estimated lifetime fuel savings... However, the final savings depend on data supplied by automakers... On Friday, car manufacturers were told to submit to the Internal Revenue Service detailed information on their hybrids' weight and fuel efficiency before the agency would certify a specific tax credit...

* Toyota '05 Sales In Russia Up 39% On Year
MOSCOW,Russia -Dow Jones/The Japan News -13 Jan 2006: Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. said Friday its sales of Toyota and Lexus models in Russia rose 39% in 2005 to 66,007 cars. The sale of Toyota models rose 73% on year to 60,638 cars, led by the Corolla model which clocked 22,442 sales. The sale of Lexus vehicles rose 39% to 5,369. The off-road RX300 led Lexus sales with 2,806 cars leaving the forecourt...

* India's Tata Motors to sell Fiat cars as part of alliance
NEW DELHI,India -Associated Press, by Rajesh Mahapatra -Jan 14, 2006: India's largest automobile manufacturer, Tata Motors Ltd., has agreed to sell Fiat cars as part of an alliance that is intended to allow the Indian and Italian automakers to share technologies and designs, the companies said Friday...

* DaimlerChrysler Suspends Manager
BERLIN, Germany -The Spiegel News Magazine/Associated Press News -14 Jan 2006: DaimlerChrysler AG has suspended nine managers over allegations that the carmaker paid bribes in order to secure contracts with Iraq under the U.N. oil-for-food program, German media reported Saturday... The German-American carmaker suspended the managers as a result of the investigations by a U.N. commission and U.S. stock-market regulators...

Consolidation - USA - Auto Industry : Is There a New Model on the Horizon?

Penn,USA -Knowledge/Wharton/Pen Univ. -11 Jan 2006: -- The turmoil and uncertainty among auto manufacturers and their suppliers have left people wondering when a shakeout can be expected. Two experts who follow the auto sector say consolidation will take place among suppliers to a much greater extent than among carmakers, which may not experience mergers and acquisitions at all in the near term but will be engaged in ever-shifting strategic alliances and joint ventures... Says Christopher Benko, director of the PricewaterhouseCoopers Automotive Institute in Detroit: "Even if the overall automotive market holds up this year, this is an industry that has little room for error. Anything that accelerates change in market share between the major automakers will accelerate that restructuring. So 2006 could easily be the year when you see some of this cleansing process start to take place"...

SLACK supervision - China - Checks on cargo truck firms bare twin woes in safety

Beijing,China -Beijing Time, by Dong Zhen -10 Jan 2006: -- SLACK supervision of cargo truck drivers and the poor condition of their vehicles are the two main reasons for deadly road accidents in the city, police concluded yesterday after a sudden check on several cargo transport companies across town... Police said one of the serious problems was that many transport companies had almost no daily supervision over their drivers in terms of road safety knowledge training as well as punishments for frequent traffic violations... The transport companies were found to be particularly poor in supervising their short-term out-of-town drivers...

TRUCKING WORLD NEWS - Condenseds

* Trucks may be prevented from circulating in Spain
Algarve,Portugal -Regiao Sul -13 Jan 2006: Spanish authorities do not permit the circulation of trucks and buses, registered after 1st January 2006, without a digital tacograph... The Associação do Comércio Automóvel de Portugal (ACAP), representing the companies of commercial and heavy vehicles, and the Associação Nacional de Transportadores Públicos Rodoviários de Mercadorias (ANTRAM), representing public transports in the sector, criticise the Government for not yet having implemented legislation relative to the introduction of digital tacographs in these vehicles...

* KC trucking company facing proxy battle
Kansas City,Miss,USA -The Kansas City Star -Jan. 12, 2006: Kansas City trucking company SCS Transportation Inc. is facing pressure from one of its largest shareholders to sell one of its subsidiaries in an attempt to boost shareholder value... Starboard Value and Opportunity Master Fund Ltd. and its affiliates own 5.7 percent SCS Transportation’s shares, making it one of the company’s largest shareholders... said the company’s shares are significantly undervalued and that a sale of its Jevic subsidiary is the first step to maximize shareholder value... also stated that selling Jevic would enable the company to focus more attention on the Saia subsidiary...

* U.S. Customs And Border Protection To Implement New Processing System
El Paso, Tx,USA -kfoxtv -12 Jan 2006: U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers were introduced to the Automated Commercial Environment -ACE-. It's a new system that will allow for paperless processing for commercial freight... Between the Americas and Zaragoza bridges, an average of 2,500 trucks cross on a daily basis. Each driver must provide several identifying documents to officers at the checkpoint before being allowed in...

* China: Truck builder drives into banking world
BEIJING,China -China View -Jan. 11, 2006: Truck maker China National Heavy Duty Truck Group Co Ltd (CNHTC) has branched out into the country's banking industry by buying around 20 per cent of a city commercial bank... CNHTC and Weihai City Commercial Bank (WHCCB) signed a contract on Monday... Under the terms of the deal, CNHTC will make a 100 million yuan (US$12.3 million) capital injection into the bank to become its second-biggest shareholder...

* Fitch Downgrades Dana Corporation and Remains on Rating Watch Negative
CHICAGO,Ill,USA -Business Wire -Jan. 11, 2006: Fitch Ratings has downgraded the ratings of Dana Corporation as follows:... Fitch has also upgraded the following bank facility rating since Dana's banks have taken limited security with the bank line:... The ratings for Dana remain on Rating Watch Negative by Fitch, focusing on the company's accounting practices, the ability of Dana to file its third-quarter financial statements, and the resolution of the reporting requirement violation under its existing bond indentures... Dana is focused on being an essential partner to automotive, commercial, and off-highway vehicle customers, which collectively produce more than 60 million vehicles every year...

* Freight Wing Awarded U.S. Department of Energy
SEATTLE,WASH,USA -PRNewswire -Jan. 10, 2006: Freight Wing, Inc., an engineering company focusing on improving fuel efficiency for the trucking industry, today announced that the company has received a $250,000 Inventions and Innovation grant from the United States Department of Energy (DOE)... The funding will allow Freight Wing to offer trucking fleets 50 percent cost-share trials of the company's fuel saving aerodynamic attachments for semi-trailers...

* Viva DAF Trucks!

UK -Big Lorry Blog, by Brian Weatherley -11 Jan 2006: Is there anything PACCAR can't do in this world? Year-on-year profit increases, year-on -year sales growth. Business awards showered on it like confetti. Try as hard as you might you simply can't knock success—and biglorryblog isn't about to make that mistake. Meanwhile, the "cloggies" (AKA DAF Trucks) had another record breaking year in 2005 with its sixth consecutive year of volume growth to give 14,987 registrations...

* Do something about big trucks' exhaust
Mountain Home, Ark,USA -The Baxter Bulletin, from Janet L. Speaks -10 Jan 2006: I would like to join Frank Sutton, Mountain Home, in his complaint about excessive exhaust smoke emitted by trucks... The worst offenders are dump trucks whose exhausts are emitted at the lower side of the truck so the fumes and smoke are right at passenger car window level... Motorists next to and behind these offensive trucks are assaulted by large, black, noxious clouds of smoke...

* Volvo India posts 65% growth in truck segment
Bangalore,India -Business Standard -Jan 11, 2006: The truck division of Volvo India Private Limited has registered a 65 per cent growth in sales volume in 2005 despite the much slower 15 per cent growth posted by the heavy duty trucks sector in the country...

* Poor record for road
Orange,New South Wales,Australia -Orange Central Western Daily, by JANICE HARRIS -11 Jan 2006: The Cargo Road west of Orange continues to return a poor report card with 20 major crashes occurring on the road last year... The statistics, released by Orange and Cabonne's road safety officer Andrea Hamilton Vaughan, have drawn comment from Independent Member for Calare Peter Andren who believes local government areas should pool resources to pour money into the road...

* Kenworth Ranks Highest in Medium-Duty Conventional Truck and Hino Ranks Highest in Cab-Over Truck Satisfaction
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.,USA - PRNewswire -Jan. 9, 2006: Kenworth Truck Company ranks highest in customer satisfaction among conventional cab medium-duty trucks, as well as for dealer service satisfaction, while Hino Trucks leads in the cab-over segment for a fourth consecutive year, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2005 Medium-Duty Truck Customer Satisfaction Study(SM)... New Emission Requirements, Problematic Product Launches Have Negative Impact on Truck Satisfaction...

* Ashok Leyland to invest Rs.5.5bn by 2008, open base in Dubai
New Delhi,India -New Kerala -13 Jan 2006: Hinduja Group's flagship company, Ashok Leyland, announced here Friday that it would invest Rs.5.5 billion in capacity expansion and to set up a manufacturing base in Dubai that will serve as its export hub...

* Idle at own risk if new bylaw is passed
Hinton, AB,Canada -Hinton Parklander, by Bradley Fehr -Jan 09, 2006: Motorists in Hinton may want to think twice before leaving their parked vehicle running for an extended period of time... A vehicle left idling for more than 15 minutes might subject the operator to a fine if a proposed bylaw is approved...

History - USA - Since the 1956 Highway Bill, It's Been 50 Years On a Fast Track

Pioneering legislation set stage to build and fund America's Interstates
USA - Engineering News Records, by Scott Lewis -16 Jan 2006: -- The birth of America's Interstate highway system in 1956 had a contentious and drawn out gestation. But today's 42,795-mile transportation marvel owes its development to the vision and determination of a quintessential American, Dwight D. Eisenhower... Most state highways in the 1940's were two lanes. Only a handful of divided highways existed. Highway death rates were more than four times higher on a per mile traveled basis than today... The first U.S. toll road was the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which opened in 1940, followed in the post-war years by others in Illinois, Ohio, New Jersey, Indiana and Massachusetts. These four or six-lane divided highways, with limited access, flatter curves, and lower grades were thoroughbreds by comparison. Many of their design features were inspired by Germany's Autobahn, which was constructed in the 1930s... (Photo: Catalyst. Eisenhower’s 1919 cross-country convoy sparked the idea of an Interstate system. photo courtesy of the eisenhower library)

Purchases - USA - Port of Oakland fleet modernization program

USA -Fleet Owner -Jan 11, 2006: -- The Port of Oakland (CA) has awarded TIAX, a product and technology development firm, a contract to replace older heavy-duty diesel trucks that service the port with newer lower-emissions vehicles. The Port will provide up to $1.5 million to replace about 60 trucks... TIAX implemented a similar fleet modernization program in the Los Angeles area, in which 350 trucks were replaced. That project is expected to eliminate 1,000 tons of emissions over the planned five-year life of the project...

Boycott - USA - Conservatives threaten Ford

Ford Motor Co. again is facing the threat of a U.S. boycott of its vehicles...
DETROIT,Mich,USA -The Detroit Free Press, by Kortney Stringer -12 Jan 2006: -- The American Family Association, along with 41 other organizations nationwide, sent a letter to Chairman Bill Ford Wednesday giving the automaker an ultimatum to stop supporting homosexual groups and pull its ads from gay publications or risk a massive boycott of Ford products by the conservative Christian group...

Judge - USA - American Crushing Assets Can Be Auctioned

HARTFORD, Conn,USA -NBC 30 -Jan 10, 2006: -- A judge has ruled that the assets of a Bloomfield trucking company can be sold to compensate victims of a fiery crash that killed four people in Avon... Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said this means the company is out of business forever. All of American Crushing and Recycling's trucks and equipment will be sold at an auction in March... One of the company's trucks went out of control in July and barreled down Avon Mountain, causing a chain reaction crash that injured 19 people...

Controls - USA - New PierPASS tags on port trucks

LONG BEACH,Cal,USA -Press Telegram, by Felix Sanchez -13 Jan 2006: -- Cargo trucks going into the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles will now be outfitted with electronic tags, similar to devices on automated carpool lanes, in a bid to quicken traffic at the facilities and improve security... PierPASS is starting the tag program in response to Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Coast Guard mandates that only trucks needing to be at the ports be permitted inside... The radio frequency identification tags to be installed on trucks are similar to the FasTrak and E-Z pass devices now used on Southern California roads for collecting tolls at carpool lanes. The program will begin in March...

AUTOS' WORLD NEWS

* Profit warnings hurt car supplier stocks
Detroit,Mich,Usa -The Detroit News -Jan 13, 2006: Shares fall as investors also grow concerned about production, health plans at GM, Ford... Shares of many North American automotive suppliers fell sharply Thursday after several major companies warned of lower profits and investors grew concerned about the health and production plans at General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co...

* Automakers compete with low-emission, high fuel economy models at auto show
Detroit,Mich,USA -TheDetroit News, by Jeff Plungis -Jan 12, 2006: Feeling pinched by high gasoline prices? Automakers are listening and are using the North American International Auto Show this week to offer up a new round of remedies... If there is one clear message from the automakers, it is this: being green no longer means making compromises. They emphasize horsepower right alongside their fuel-economy prowess. Even Detroit's new muscle cars are seen as green... With a lightweight aluminum block and a system that shuts down four of six cylinders at certain driving times, Chervrolet's concept Camaro could get more than 30 mpg on the highway, the company said... Ford's SuperChief, a locomotive-sized pickup concept, also is claiming the green mantle: it runs on gasoline, ethanol or hydrogen...

* Safety sells with world automakers
Detroit,Mich,USA -The Detroit News, by Jeff Plungis -Jan 12, 2006: It's not just environmental technology. With safety continuing to sell, automakers are dueling on safety innovations and safety strategies... Hyundai offers side air bags standard, Honda includes six features in its safety lineup...

* ICBC Rates 2006 SUVs & Trucks Poorly in Rear-End Collision Protection
VANCOUVER,Canada -CNW -Jan. 9, 2006: The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) announced results today of rear-crash protection tests in 2006 pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles (SUVs). None of the 16 pickup trucks tested and only six of the 43 SUVs tested received "good" protection ratings. Nine of the pickups and 27 SUVs received "poor" ratings, while the rest had "marginal or adequate" ratings...

* Volvo XC90 Ranks Top in Test of Whiplash Protection
IRVINE, Cal,USA -PRNewswire -Jan. 13, 2006: This is the first time the IIHS (International Insurance Whiplash Prevention Group), has carried out a dynamic test with SUVs and pickup trucks. The test was carried out in two stages. First, the seats were measured to determine the preconditions for protecting the head of a person of normal height. Only seats with good or acceptable head restraint geometry went on to the second stage, the dynamic crash test... Only 6 of the 44 vehicles tested proved to offer effective protection against whiplash injuries. The Volvo XC90 was one of the best...

* Touch-sensitive handles ease door openings
Detroit,Mich,USA -The Detroit News, by Larry Edsall -Jan 11, 2006: When the driver presses the panel, the door pops open wide enough to grab hold of the door edge... Magic Touch, replaces the original-equipment door handle with a body-colored panel and some hidden electrical components... Touch the panel and the door pops open far enough for you grab the door edge and pull the door open...

* Chrysler will lower time it takes to make vehicle by 6 hours
Detroit,Mich,USA -The Detroit News, by Josee Valcourt -13 Jan 2005: The Chrysler Group is counting on major gains in manufacturing productivity this year to help the automaker close the efficiency gap with Asian automakers... Chrysler CEO Tom LaSorda told analysts Thursday the company is on track to lower the average time it takes to build a vehicle from 35.8 hours in 2004 to 30 hours by 2007, helping it match the factory efficiency of Asian automakers...

* Chrysler's $90M fix
USA -Autoweek -13 Jan 2006: The Chrysler group will spend more than $90 million to fix faulty emissions control systems and resolve charges it violated clean air laws... The Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Justice Department had accused the company of failing to disclose the defects. Chrysler agreed to extend warranties on catalytic converters in about 700,000 1996-99 vehicles and notify owners of 300,000 newer ones that repairs are available under original warranties. About 500,000 1996-98 vehicles are to be recalled for repair of a separate defect in the onboard diagnostics system and to have their catalytic converters checked...

* CHINA: Auto sales growth rallies to 13.54%
Beijing,China -Xinhua news agency -Jan 13, 2006: AUTO sales rose 13.54 percent last year, as the Chinese auto market recovered from sluggish sales in 2004, citing a report by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers today... Chinese automakers sold more than 5.75 million vehicles last year, up 13.54 percent from 2004, and their output grew 12.55 percent to 5.7 million units, the report said...

* China now 2nd largest auto market in world
BEIJING,China -Reuters/People's Daily -Jan 13, 2006: More vehicles were sold in China last year than in Japan, making China the world's second largest auto market after the United States, with almost 6 million units sold, a state newspaper said on Friday.But if imports of 160,000 were excluded, China was still number three...

* VW Set to Sell Hybrid
USA -The Car Connection -Jan. 13, 2006: Volkswagen will produce a hybrid passenger car for sale in 2007, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. The paper says that the new VW's hybrid powertrain will be a "full hybrid" like that offered by Toyota and Ford, meaning that it can be operated in electric-only mode...

* GM gives dealers coupons to help close deals
Detroit,Mich,USA -The Detroit News, by Brett Clanton -Jan 12, 2006: Dealers handed $250 incentive certificates one day after carmaker cuts MSRP on most cars... A day after General Motors Corp. announced a major plan to cut sticker prices on most U.S. vehicle models, it quietly introduced a new incentive program for dealers to help them sell some models... The automaker is offering its dealers $250 "instant value certificates" that can be used as closing tools in the sale of GMC and Chevrolet SUVs and pickups...

* Toyota increases sales prediction
USA -The Baltimore Sun -13 Jan 2005: Toyota Motor Corp., which had the largest sales gain among major automakers in the United States in 2005, said yesterday that it expects an increase this year of as much as 10 percent, doubling a forecast it made last week... Toyota in 2005 sold a record 2.26 million cars and trucks in the United States, up 9.7 percent from a year earlier... News told reporters in a conference call Jan. 4 that the company expected to raise U.S. sales no more than 5 percent in 2006...

* West Europe new car registrations fall in December
FRANKFURT,Germany -Reuters-Jan 13, 2006: New car registrations in western Europe fell 4.1 percent to 1 million vehicles in December, dragged down by poor figures in Germany and Italy, the German automotive industry association VDA said on Friday...

* Russian carmaker GAZ plans to increase sales in 2006
NIZHNY NOVGOROD,Russia -RIA Novosti, by Zhanna Voronova -Jan 13 2006: Russian carmaker Gorky Auto Plant (GAZ) plans to sell 230,000 cars in 2006... "We plan to increase sales to 230,000 in 2006"... Preliminary data from December put 2005 sales at around 216,000, he said, including 140,000 Gazel and Sobol minivans, 55,000 Volga sedans, and 21,000 medium-sized trucks...

* DJ Thai '06 Vehicle Sales Likely Up 5% From '05 - Toyota

BANGKOK,Thainland -Dow Jones Commodities News/Comtex -Jan 12, 2006: Sales of new cars and trucks in Thailand are expected to grow 5% on year in 2006 to 735,000 units, with growth in passenger vehicle sales likely to offset a slowdown in trucks, Toyota Motor Thailand said Thursday...

* Tata my car
South Africa -Mail & Guardian, by Lloyd Gedye -13 Jan 2006: Indian vehicle manufacturer Tata, having quickly established itself as a leading player in the South African bus and truck market, is starting to make inroads into the car market...

Responsability - USA - Minors' curfew back for auto show

Police require those under 18 to have an adult with them after 5 p.m. at Cobo Center
DETROIT,Mich,USA -The Detroit News -Jan 12, 2006: -- The Detroit Police Department says it plans to enforce adult supervision rules for minors attending the North American International Auto Show at Cobo Center... People under the age of 18 visiting the auto show after 5 p.m. must be accompanied by a responsible adult who is at least 21 years old... If police find any one who is under 18 and without adult supervision, he or she faces being escorted from the premises...

Biodiesel - USA - Industry Gets Extension To Fix Problem

St. Paul,Minn,USA -WCCO-TV/AP -Jan 12, 2006: -- State commerce officials are giving the biodiesel industry another month to fix problems with the fuel that may have clogged fuel filters this winter. The Commerce Department said a state law requiring diesel fuel to contain 2 percent biodiesel won't go back into effect until Feb. 10, extending an emergency waiver that would have expired Friday...

TRUCKING WORLD NEWS - Condenseds

* Court ruling favors Volvo in pricing case
GREENSBORO, N.C.,USA -The Trucker -11 Jan 2006: The United States Supreme Court on Jan. 10 issued a ruling in favor of Volvo Trucks North America in a dispute with one of its dealers regarding competitive pricing practices... The case was initiated by a dealer who argued against Volvo Trucks North America’s practice of evaluating specific potential truck sale transactions to meet specific competitive circumstances... In its interpretation of the Robinson-Patman Act in the case of Volvo Trucks North America, Inc. vs. Reeder-Simco GMC Inc., the Court upheld and affirmed the practice of competitive pricing in the heavy-duty truck industry...

* Survey: 1 in 4 Aussie truckers involved in accident
SYDNEY, Australia -The Sydney Morning Herald/The Trucker -11 Jan 2006: Things are apparently a bit harrowing on the roads of Australia... Reported that one in four truck drivers on roads in New South Wales was involved in an accident in the past year and more than 40 percent narrowly avoided one... The paper said the union had called for industrial manslaughter laws to be extended to clients of long distance transport companies so that managers and companies would be held criminally and financially accountable for fatal accidents caused by unsafe trucking schedules...

* International to call new Class 8 truck ProStar
WARRENVILLE, Ill.,USA -The Trucker -11 Jan 2006: International Truck and Engine Corp. has announced that the official name of its new 2007 Class 8 tractor is ProStar... The truck will be produced at the International Assembly Plant in Chatham, Ontario, Canada...

* November Tonnage Index Higher Than First Reported, ATA Says
USA -The Trucker -11 Jan 2006: Overall for-hire trucking freight volumes surged 1.9% in November from a month earlier, greater than originally reported and to the second-highest level on record, American Trucking Associations said late Tuesday...

* ATRI Hopes to Prevent Driver Fatigue With New ‘Tool Kit’
USA -TTNews -11 Jan 2006: The American Transportation Research Institute said it will develop a new “tool kit” with U.S. and Canadian regulators by 2009 to help trucking better combat driver fatigue... ATRI President Rebecca Brewster said the tool kit will include a series of videos and brochures to help trucking company officials, drivers and their families identify the symptoms and causes of fatigue...

* You Delay, You Pay in Indiana
USA -TTNews -11 Jan 2005: Indiana lawmakers are contemplating whether to assess "bad" drivers a surcharge for delaying traffic due to their accidents. ATA Safety & Loss Prevention Management Council members can read more in the S&LPMC February Safety Bulletin...

* Diesels may turn the heat up on hybrids
USA -Autoblogs, by John Neff -Jan 12, 2006: While hybrids are still a hot topic here in the U.S., diesels appear to be making a strong move to capture the North American mileage crown... Dieter Zetsche talked about DaimlerChrysler’s new BLUETEC 3.2L engine, stressed two things over and over in his press conference on the diesel engine: 1. It meets the world’s most stringent exhaust emissions standards, including all 50 U.S. states, and 2. it gets great gas mileage in every vehicle...

* Careerbuilder Ranks Trucking Among Top Jobs for 2006
USA - TTNews -12 Jan 2006: ATA Reiterates Concerns on Looming Driver Shortage... National job bank Careerbuilder.com has ranked heavy-duty truck driving No. 18 on its list of the top 25 jobs for 2006... The survey, which represents 8 million new jobs and 40% of total job growth over the next decade, ranked industries ranging from retail sales to teaching assistants based on their need for skilled professionals...

* Trucking industry delivers the jobs
Indiana,USA -IndyStar.com -Jan 12, 2006: State's central location is boon to transportation work... Truck transportation was Indiana's second-largest industry segment in 2003, according to an InContext report from Indiana University and the state of Indiana... The industry thrives in Indiana because of the state's geographic location and convenient interstate access, according to a 2004 report from the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership. Trucks can reach 75 percent of the population of the United States and Canada in one day's drive, the report said...

Jobs - USA - Drivers ... WHAT IT PAYS ?

Indiana,USA -IndyStar.com/Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics -Jan 12, 2006: -- Transportation jobs range widely in pay, from minimum wage to more than $70,000 a year for long-haul Teamster drivers at the nation's biggest freight firms... Senior executives pull down seven-figure salaries... Here's a look at the average wages, as of November 2005: $16.91 per hour... Truck transportation (drivers).$15.25 per hour... Couriers/messengers.$15.33 per hour... Production workers in warehousing/storage...

HOS Denied - USA - FMCSA Nixes OOIDA Bid to Amend Hours Rule

USA -TTNews -11 Jan 2006: -- The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has denied a petition by a major drivers’ group to amend the sleeper-berth provision of its new hours-of-service rules... As a result, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association said last week it planned to file a lawsuit against FMCSA over the sleeper-berth provision, which opens the door to other legal challenges... “We’d like to see the issue resolved,” Todd Spencer, OOIDA’s executive vice president, told. “I hope it will take place within the next couple of weeks.”... FMCSA’s new rules, published in August, allow drivers to work for 14 straight hours but require they take 10 consecutive hours off... Drivers taking off-duty time in the sleeper berth can divide off-duty time into two periods, provided one is at least eight hours long...

Challenges - Canada - Wheels of Change

Multi-level challenges face trucking
Prov. Manitoba,Canada -Red Orbit, by Bob Armstrong -9 Jan 2006: -- Transcontinental trade made Manitoba what it is... the trucking industry employs far more Manitobans and generates $1.2 billion for the province's gross domestic product, says Bob Dolyniuk, general manager of the Manitoba Trucking Association... Jobs created directly and indirectly by trucking include the drivers of some 14,000 trucks, as well as mechanics, truck dealers, warehouse workers and office staff working for 400 to 450 trucking companies in the province... Even more income is generated in Manitoba by a related sector - a transportation equipment manufacturing industry that builds semi trailers, motor homes, buses and a wide variety of equipment parts...

Jobs - USA - Growing shortage of long-haul truck drivers

Businesses are feeling the pinch of
New York, NY,USA -The Business Review, by Eric Durr -Dec 30, 2005: -- Peter Bennison, vice president of Waste Management & Recycling Products Inc., has been having a problem... Eighty-five percent of American products move by truck, according to industry figures. When trucks don't move, production bottlenecks and costs increase... The number of long-haul truckers needed in the United States will hit 1.62 million by 2014, the same time 219,000 drivers hit retirement age. The industry says it will need 539,000 new truck drivers over the next nine years... Brute strength is no longer required, so trucking is open to women, although the dominant demographic is still white male... The industry is aggressively going after ex-soldiers and Marines, Harry Kowalchyk, president of the National Tractor Trailer School, said. Somebody who muscled a supply truck along Iraqi highways is a perfect candidate, he said...

Opinion - USA - Diesel Power

USA -Forbes, by Dan Lienert - 11 Jan 2006: -- Poor diesel engines. By the 1970s and '80s, they had developed a reputation for being noisy, stinky and noxious. Sometimes they would emit clouds of black smoke, and a diesel vehicle, in motion, could look, smell and sound like something that would give everybody on your block cancer... And although modern diesels are cleaner and more efficient than ever (not to mention smoke-free), gas/electric hybrid cars have denied diesels a chance to capture the public's imagination--at least in the U.S. Around the world, diesels have been reliable money-savers for years...

Comments - USA - Detroit: Heal Thy Self

USA -Forbes, by Jerry Flint -5 Jan 2006: -- The strangest thing about the crisis in the American auto industry is this: Nobody outside of Detroit seems to care. General Motors, could go down. Ford Motor, could go down. If either company fails, hundreds of thousands of workers could lose their jobs and health benefits. I'm not saying that this is going to happen. I'm just saying that the American people and the leaders in Washington don't seem particularly concerned about the traditional U.S. auto industry... I remember when we used to say that one in six jobs in America was connected to the automobile industry... I remember in 1953 when the head of General Motors, Charles E. Wilson, said, "What is good for the country is good for General Motors and vice versa"...

AUTOS' WORLD NEWS

* Magna sees 2006 sales of $22 billion to $23.3 billion
NEW YORK -Reuters -Jan 12, 2006: Magna International, the Canadian auto-parts group, said on Thursday it expects earnings to rise in 2006 with sales due to run between $22 billion and $23.3 billion...

* Faurecia will add 5 plants, expand 1 in '06
DETROIT,Mich,USA - Automotive News, by Greg Migliore & Bradford Wernle -Jan 11, 2006: Automotive supplier Faurecia said it plans to open five U.S. plants and expand an existing plant in 2006 and hire an additional 2,000 employees by the end of 2009, the French company said Wednesday... The plants will be in Michigan, Ohio and South Carolina and bring the supplier's North American total to 23. When adds the workers, it will have about 9,200 on the continent...

* China's SAIC 2005 vehicle sales up 24 percent
SHANGHAI,China -Reuters -Jan 11, 2006: Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp.,the General Motors' partner, China's largest automaker, said its vehicle sales grew 24 percent to 1.05 million units last year... sold 740,000 cars in 2005, up nearly 20 percent from 2004, SAIC said in a statement. Commercial vehicles sales made up the rest of its total, surging about 36 percent to 310,000 units...

* GM may export cheap cars from China factories
SINGAPORE,China -Financial Times/Reuters -Jan 12, 2006: General Motors is considering exporting vehicles from its Chinese division to developing markets in a further sign of China's potential to supply the world with cheaply-built vehicles.... "No decisions have been made, but it is a very exciting opportunity," Clarke said. "I can't tell you how excited I am about it. The emerging markets could use another $5,000 vehicle."...

* Hyundai Motor considers new engine factory in China
SEOUL,S.Korea -Reuters/Automotive News -Jan 12, 2006: Hyundai Motor Co. said on Thursday it was considering setting up a new engine plant in China as it aims to increase car production in the world's fastest-growing market... to produce up to 400,000 passenger car engines per year...

* China carmaker Changan to develop low-emission cars
BEIJING -Reuters -Jan 11, 2006: Changan Auto Co. Ltd., the partner to Ford Motor Co., China's fourth-largest vehicle maker, said it planned to invest 3 billion yuan, or $372 million at current exchange rates, to research and develop low-emission cars, the state news agency Xinhua reported on Wednesday...

* Porsche Recalls 911 "S" Models
USA -The Car Connection -12 Jan 2006: Some Porsche 911 Carrera S models are being recalled for a potential defect in their exhaust system... a total of 5385 cars sold in the U.S. and Canada are recalleds... The pipes have welds that may not hold them properly on the tailpipe; some 30 instances of the tips falling off have been reported...

* 2005: The Sales Year in Review - Some surprises when you dig behind the brand names.
USA -The Car Connection, by Mike Davis -11 Jan 2006: As usual, the reports of car and truck sales figures for the calendar year just past have some surprises and more than a few confirmations of trends seen all year long...

* Toyota aims for '06 European sales of 1 million cars
FRANKFURT,Germany -Reuters -Jan 11, 2006: Toyota Motor Corp. aims to sell more than 1 million vehicles in Europe in 2006, the company said on Wednesday after reporting its ninth consecutive year of record sales in the region...

* Peugeot Citroen slashes 2005 profit outlook again
PARIS,France -Reuters/Automotive News -Jan 11, 2006: French carmaker PSA/Peugeot-Citroen cut its 2005 profit outlook for the second time in three months after European car sales weakened further in the last quarter of 2005...

* Brazil car output up 10.7 percent in 2005
SAO PAULO, Brazil -Reuters/Automotive News -Jan 11, 2006: Brazilian vehicle output rose 10.7 percent last year amid economic growth and booming exports, reaching 2.45 million units despite a 6 percent fall in December from the previous month, manufacturers said on Wednesday...

* Czech car sales rise, industry positive on 2006
PRAGUE -Reuters -Jan 11, 2006: New passenger car registrations in the Czech Republic rose slightly last year after a 2004 drop, and industry officials set their eyes on this year to bring more growth thanks to the expanding economy...

* Volvo Looking Large
Detroit,Mich,USA -The Car Connection -11 Jan 2006: For a small, Swedish car company, Volvo has a big role in the world of Ford. It's provided platforms for a growing number of products sold by the various Ford divisions, and it is playing lead in the global automaker's safety efforts. It's also growing its own sales, with a worldwide target of 600,000... What is more important, is to integrate safety systems the company can offer to the maximum numbers of buyers across the full range of its product line...

* Teenagers predict gasoline-powered cars obsolete by 2015
USA -Autoblogs, by Stuart Waterman -Jan 12th 2006: American high school students think that gasoline-powered automobiles and compact discs will be yesterday's news in ten years, according to a survey... Automakers take note, if your competition has a viable and affordable alternative fuel vehicle in the 2010-2015 timeframe and you don't, expect to lose the youngest segment of the market...timeframe and you don't, expect to lose the youngest segment of the market...

* Kerkorian Aide: GM Should Sell Saab and Hummer
DETROIT,Mich,USA -Autoblog -11 Jan 2006: Financial guru Jerry York had a few well-chosen words of advice for troubled General Motors, telling the automaker to chop its annual dividend by 50 percent and slim down its North American distribution channels to four: Cadillac, Chevrolet, Saturn, and Buick-Pontiac-GMC... York's justification for that harsh dictum: He sees Hummer as profitable but noncore and unable to coax its customers into other GM vehicles. Saab simply does not have enough sales to justify its existence... York calculates that General Motors spends $24 million per day and has enough cash to continue on that path for about three years...

"Terminatoring" - USA - Governator Driving Without a License

USA - The Car Connection -11 Jan 2006: -- If you saw the coverage this week of the motorcycle accident that cut into Calif. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Hollywood-perfect lips, you probably said to yourself, "Damn! I thought that Terminator model had the power to heal itself instantly."... But the Governator's lip may heal well ahead of his dented reputation-Schwarzenegger, it turns out, was riding on his bike without the proper certification to drive a motorcycle in California... The Governor didn't get a ticket because police arrived on the scene after the accident, in which Schwarzenegger cut his lip, an injury later cured with 15 stitches... "I just never really applied for it," the Governor answered when asked. "It was just one of those things that I never really did."

Controls - USA - EPA Proposes Changes to Fuel-Economy Tests

USA -The Car Connection -11 Jan 2006: -- The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it would try to change the way new light-duty cars and trucks are tested for fuel economy, to better reflect the real-world mileage drivers experience... The agency estimates that changes would drop the fuel economy printed on most vehicle sticker prices to drop by 10 to 20 percent, as the current EPA tests do not accurately reflect the speed and conditions experienced by drivers and their vehicles... Speed limits, for example, that were set at 55 mph when the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) rules were written in the 1970s, are now 75 mph in some states... The agency says hybrids could suffer even more drastic drops than conventional vehicles because of how the cars are optimized for gas-electric driving. The new rules could go into effect for the 2008 model year...

EcoNews - USA - Group warns of bad 'indoor' vehicle air

Detroit,Mich,USA -Automotive News, by Harry Stoffer -Jan 11, 2006: -- An environmental group warned that vehicle interiors have dangerous levels of toxic chemicals, mainly from flame retardants and plastic softeners... The group, the Ecology Center, urged motorists to protect themselves by keeping their vehicles vacuumed and ventilated... The flame retardants -- polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs -- are linked to problems with children's brain development and other health issues. The plastic softeners, called phthalates, are believed to interfere with male reproductive system development... The organization said Volvo Car Corp., have started to move to safer alternatives. It said some countries and states are working on legislation or rules that would restrict use of the chemicals... But automakers believe that the chemicals, such as the flame retardants, are needed to protect people in crashes...

AUTOS' WORLD NEWS

* Hybrid owners wait for tax credit
Raleigh,L.L.C.,USA -News 14 Carolina -10 Jan 2006: If you bought a hybrid car or truck and are waiting for your tax credit, you'll have to wait longer... The Internal Revenue Service has not figured out which cars qualify for credits and how much you can cut your tax bill by buying one...

* Automakers introduce several new hybrids
DETROIT,Mich,USA -Associated Press -Jan 10, 2006: Automakers introduced several new hybrids at the North American International Auto Show, but several remain skeptical that the vehicles will make a profit anytime soon because of the high cost of development...

* Hybrid Trucks and SUVs
USA - trucks.about.com -10 Dec 2006: Hybrids are vehicles that are operated using two or more sources of power. There are two attractions to hybrid cars and other vehicles: they have lower tailpipe emissions and they get better gas mileage than autos with traditional gas or diesel engines. Take a look at concept and production hybrid trucks and SUVs...

* China's Geely makes its mark in Detroit
Detroit,Mich.,USA -msnbc.msn.com -Jan. 9, 2006: No glitz at U.S. auto show, but presence definitely felt... China’s Geely Automobile Company has a rather ordinary display featuring a small silver sedan outside the main show room... Until recently, Chinese vehicle exports were limited to buses and trucks. But now China’s manufacturers have been busy upgrading their technology and production to compete overseas and they are ready to do business in the massive U.S. automobile market with low-priced vehicles aimed at U.S. consumers...

* Honda Sweeps North American Car and Truck of the Year Prizes
DETROIT,Mich,USA -Global Auto Systems -Jan 09, 2006: The Japanese automaker makes history, becoming the first brand ever to win both awards in one year... The 2006 Honda Civic and the 2006 Honda Ridgeline were awarded the 2006 North American Car of the Year and North American Truck of the Year on Sunday by 49 international journalists. It marks Honda's first win in either category—and the first time that a single brand has won both awards in the same year...

* Toyota Thinks Big
TOKYO,Japan --Global Auto Systems -Jan 04, 2006: Full-Size Diesel and Hybrid to Be Built in and for United States in '09... Toyota is secretly planning a big diesel pickup truck for the U.S. market and will add a hybrid as well, according to a report in Tokyo... In a move to counter soaring energy prices and stifle accusations of building gas guzzlers, Toyota is going eco with the next Tundra. Sort of...

* Auto Executives Predict Fast-Paced Growth for Hybrids
DETROIT,Mich,USA -Global Auto Systems -Jan 04, 2006: Eighty-eight percent of the executives polled by KPMG say they expect gas-electric hybrids to gain market share... Global auto executives say sales of hybrid cars and fuel-efficient vehicles will accelerate over the next five years because of concerns about fuel prices, according to an annual KPMG survey released on Wednesday...

* Asian Onslaught: Korean Automakers Sell a Record 5.2 Million Vehicles in 2005
SEOUL,S.Korea -Global Auto Systems -Jan 03, 2006: Hyundai leads the Korean industry by boosting global sales 11 percent last year, while the Chinese hit a milestone of their own... Strong global sales helped South Korea's five automakers sell a record 5.2 million vehicles worldwide in 2005, up 16 percent from 2004. At the same time, the Chinese government reported that the country became a net exporter of cars in 2005 for the first time...

* Mercedes-Benz Moves In to Two New Global Markets
TEHRAN,Iran and BEIJING,China -Global Auto Systems -Dec 29, 2005: Mercedes-Benz is spreading internationally, reaching important milestones in Iran and China this week... —The Mercedes-Benz E-Class went on sale this week in two fast-growing markets: China and Iran. DaimlerChrysler set up manufacturing facilities in both countries...

* Volkswagen to Assemble Skodas in Stupino
Moscow,Russia -The Moscow Times, by Anna Smolchenko -Jan 10, 2006: The Skoda Octavia is set to be the first model to be assembled at the plant Volkswagen plans to build in Stupino... Europe's largest carmaker, Volkswagen, said Monday that it planned to begin assembling its Skoda model in Russia in a bid to boost its share of the country's booming car market...

* But the star this year? It might just be a humble family sedan
Detroit,Mich,USA -USA Today -10 Jan 2006: The sixth-generation Toyota Camry rolled out Monday at the North American International Auto Show, redesigned to maintain the lead it has held since 1997 as the nation's best-selling car...

* GM financial chief Henderson takes no-nonsense approach
Detroit,Mich,USA - DetNews -10 Jan 2006: He's too shrewd to telegraph GM's solution to the GM-UAW-Delphi Corp. bankruptcy triangle -- except to say there needs to be one. Or to open a window into plans to find a buyer for GM's captive finance arm, GMAC. When the feds are investigating your company and just about every official utterance is considered "material" by new Wall Street rules, the less said the better...

* GM to cut prices as much as $2,500
DETROIT,Mich,USA -The Detroit News, by David Phillips -10 Jan 2006: Cuts cover 57 of the automaker's 76 models in North America... General Motors Corp., hoping to jumpstart sluggish sales and get off to a better start in 2006, is lowering prices on 57 of 76 car and truck models sold across North America...

* Toyota to Take Teachers on Education Journey to Japan
USA - aiada.org -10 Jan 2006: Toyota is expanding one of its signature educational initiatives, the Toyota International Teacher Program, an all-expenses-paid, 10-day program in Japan for high school teachers. A total of twenty high school teachers will be selected from the following ten states... "There is no substitute for meeting real people, seeing real places, engaging in real dialogue, grappling with real issues..."

Condenseds TRUCKING WORLD NEWS

* Exports of 2,000 heavy duty Ukrainian cargo trucks KrAZ
Ukrainia -Ukrainian Journal (subscription-Staten Island,NY,USA) -27 Dec 2005: YUSHCHENKO visits Iraq for oil, and gas talks... year, up from $1.5 million in 1998, as more Ukrainian companies export their products and goods, such as exports of 2,000 heavy duty Ukrainian cargo trucks KrAZ

* Truck rental increases after Supreme Court's order on ...
Ernakulam,Kerala,India -NewKerala.com -27 Dec 2005: ... poor cargo offering with phenomenal increase in truck fleet annually... State Governments are bypassing the apex court order in permitting overloadingof trucks...

* Cargo trucks banned
Shanghai,China -Shanghai Daily -27 Dec 2005: AS of January 1, 2006, freight vehicles will be banned on the Shanghai-NanjingExpressway (A11) from 2pm to 7pm every day to reduce crowding, the Shanghai...

* Volvo India achieves 65 per cent growth
BANGALORE,India -newindpress.com -Jan 11 2006: Fuelled by the growth in the construction and mining sectors, Volvo’s truck division in India achieved a robust 65 percent growth in 2005, the company’s Managing Director in India Eric Leblanc said here on Tuesday...

* Spartan Chassis Reports Record Fire Truck Orders in 2005
CHARLOTTE, Mich.,USA -PRNewswire-FirstCall -Jan 10, 2006: Spartan Chassis, Inc., a subsidiary of Spartan Motors, Inc., today reported record orders of its fire truck chassis for both the year and fourth quarter ended December 31, 2005...

Breakdown - USA - Trucking cos. report engine problems after switching to blended fuel

Milwaukee,WIS,USA -The Journal Sentinel, by RICK BARRETT -Jan. 7, 2006: -- Only days after a Wisconsin trucking firm switched to biodiesel fuel, its trucks started breaking down on the road... Engines sputtered as fuel filters became plugged with unknown, slimy gunk. The problem worsened in cold weather... For many reasons, including highway safety, truckers need reliable fuels, said Tom Howells, president of the Wisconsin Motor Carriers Association, a Madison-based trade group... (Photo: Minnesota was the first state to require truckers to use a biodiesel blend, but the law is currently on hold while operational problems with the fuel are investigated)

Condensed TRUCKING NEWS

* Truck tonnage increases 1.6 percent
ALEXANDRIA, Va.,USA -The Trucker -8 Jan 2006: The American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted for-hire Truck Tonnage Index jumped 1.9 percent in November, marking its third consecutive monthly increase, the association reported...

* Magazine honors Schneider as For-Hire Fleet of the Year
GREEN BAY, Wis.,USA -The Trucker -8 Jan 2006: Schneider National Inc. has been selected as the For-Hire Fleet of the Year by Fleet Owner magazine...The company said in a news release that it was being honored for its driver recruitment and retention efforts in 2005...

* Class 8 truck sales dip for November, but 2005 likely a banner year
USA -The Trucker -8 Jan 2006: Class 8 truck sales dropped 7.1 percent in November of 2005, following at least a six-year trend for the 11th month of the year. All OEMs contributed to the decline... November 2005 sales were 20,753 compared with 22,335 in October...

* Harbingers unheeded
USA -peakoil.com -Jan 9, 2006: The most efficient short-term prescription for America's dependence on foreign oil is breathtaking both in its simplicity and in the odds against its being adopted: Replace the diesel-guzzling large trucks that carry 70 percent of domestic freight with expanded rail and barge service...

Biodiesel - USA - Fuel could replace sulfur as lubricant

EPA rule may boost biodiesel
Fort Wayne, Ind,USA -The Journal Gazette, by Jenni Glenn -Jan. 08, 2006: -- Much of the biodiesel fuel made from soybean crops powers farm vehicles, school buses and municipal vehicles. But federal rules scheduled to take effect this fall could make the fuel more attractive to commercial trucking fleets, proponents of the alternative fuel say... The Environmental Protection Agency is requiring fuel refineries to lower the amount of air-polluting sulfur in diesel fuel by Oct. 15... Soybean prices will rise as demand for the fuel increases, and communities will need to build more biodiesel plants to meet that demand. American Ag Fuels already is investing $4million to $5million to expand its Defiance plant... (Photo: Dean Stangland of AGPlus pumps biodiesel fuel into a tanker truck at the Energy Plus 24 gas station)

New Magazine - USA - Castrol launches one for trucking

WAYNE, N.J.,USA -The Trucker -8 Jan 2006: -- Castrol Tection Extra has launched In Motion, a magazine designed specifically for owner-operators but of interest to anyone in the trucking industry... The publication is an opportunity for the company to connect with owner-operators and keep them informed of issues directly impacting them... added that it speaks both to the driver and to the small business owner. Each issue will cover a wide variety of issues relevant to owner-operators including truck maintenance, new industry regulations, industry trends, entertainment, health and family...

Products - USA - 'Hard Truck Tycoon' - 21 New Screens

USA -worthplaying.com -Jan 09, 2006: -- Hard Truck Tycoon is an economic simulation in the sphere of trucking industry. The player will be able to build his own trucking infrastructure, upgrade his numerous trucks, recruit personnel and deal with tight competition... Real cities, various trucks, changing economic conditions, multiplayer modes - all this is available in Hard Truck Tycoon...

Championships - USA - Trucking convention promises to hold event in New Orleans

New Orleans, Lou,USA -Associated Press -Jan 9, 2006: -- The American Trucking Association will hold its 2006 National Truck Driving Championships here as scheduled in August... Nearly 400 professional truck drivers from all across the United States will attend the event... Michael Baker, chairman of the 2006 National Truck Driving Championships Committee, said the competition will be a chance for truckers to demonstrate not only their skills, but also that they are there to help when needed...

Regulations - USA - Fuel dealers lose drivers as security kick in

MONTPELIER,Barre,VT,USA -Barre Montpelier Times Argus, by David Delcore -Jan 8, 2006: -- A federal regulation that was crafted to keep terrorists from wreaking havoc with trucks loaded with hazardous cargo is making life miserable for some Vermont fuel dealers and forcing others to bend the law... Since the change went into effect last February, 296 applications from Vermont truck drivers have been reviewed and approved, none have been rejected, and 48 are still being processed... Sweet conceded the point, suggesting the regulation be reviewed and modified to address concerns raised by fuel dealers...

AUTOS' WORLD NEWS

* The heat is on! - Automakers put up their dukes with hot debuts
DETROIT,Mich,USA -The Detroit News, by Bryce Hoffman, Brett Clanton and Josee Valcourt- 8 Jan 2006: General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., entering a do-or-die year, came out swinging at the North American International Auto Show on Sunday with a slew of new models, but Japanese powerhouses Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and other rivals showed no signs of giving an inch... A torrent of splashy introductions, from subcompacts to luxury sedans and large SUVs, signaled that automakers are gearing up for even fiercer competition this year...

* Kerkorian: GM must step up its overhaul - Expected dramatic cuts in dividend and executive pay
Detroit,Mich,USA -The Detroit News, by Bill Vlasic -8 Jan 2006: Kirk Kerkorian is about to send a pointed message to General Motors Corp. to move faster and harder to fix the problems that have crippled GM's profits and ravaged its stock price... In a major speech to analysts Tuesday, Kerkorian adviser Jerry York is expected to challenge GM to further overhaul its operations, set timetables for a turnaround, and come to terms with pressing issues involving the United Auto Workers...

* Korean, Chinese Automakers Make Splash in Detroit
Seoul,S. Korea -chosun.com -9 Jan 2006: The emergence of Korean and Chinese automakers as serious contenders has also caught the media's attention. Hyundai Motor showcased its Talus, a SUV concept car, and the New Santa Fe, which will be made at the company's new Alabama plant for the U.S. market. Korea's leading automaker expanded its exhibition space and increased the number of models on display to 19. Its affiliate Kia Motors will unveil its own SUV concept car, the Soul... Chinese carmaker Geely Holiding Group became the first from the country to put a car on display at the show, the five-seater 7151K sedan. The firm plans to build an assembly plant in the U.S. between 2008 and 2009 and produce small cars priced at around $10,000 there...

* Thorough Ford cleanup
New Jersey,USA -nynews -Jan 8, 2006: Ramapo has joined the effort to get Ford Motor Co. to clean up its pollution in the Hillburn area, and the added pressure may push the matter... Ford should be told in no uncertain words how to clean this up and given the big bill. It should also be required to set up medical checkups for any resident complaining of illness that might be related to the toxic materials dumped in a highly irresponsible manner. And it should clean up every area found with its pollution...

* DaimlerChrysler's Electric Vehicles On Show at Los Angeles and Detroit Auto Shows
AUBURN HILLS, Mich.,USA -PRNewswire-FirstCall -Jan. 6. 2006: DaimlerChrysler will showcase its new six-passenger neighborhood electric vehicles and the upgraded 2006 Model Year line-up at the year's first major auto shows in Los Angeles and Detroit in January 2006... Zero emission GEM vehicles provide clean, quiet, efficient, affordable and fun-to-drive transportation as an alternative to conventional vehicles for short trip driving. Studies of GEM users have demonstrated that use of the all-electric vehicles can have a significant impact on air quality...

* Toyota shuts down car factory in India
BANGALORE, India -AP, by S. SRINIVASAN -9 Jan 2006: Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. indefinitely shut down its vehicle factory near the southern Indian city of Bangalore after workers went on strike last week to protest the dismissal of three employees, an executive at the plant said Monday...

* General Motors woes seen causing supply chain cull
LONDON,UK -Reuters, by Gerard Wynn -8 Jan 2006: Struggling carmaker General Motors is putting fresh pressure on its vast network of suppliers, which was trimmed by 500 firms in 2005, prompting fears of further U.S., European auto supplier bankruptcies... The price squeeze could benefit East Asian firms as the world's biggest carmaker said one way its suppliers of auto parts could cut costs was to source from low-cost countries...

* Volkswagen planning factory in Russia
Berlin,Germany -AP/Itar-Tass(WASHINGTON,USA) -Jan 9. 2006: German-based Volkswagen AG plans to build a factory in Russia with production capacity of 250,000 vehicles per year... If the plan is accepted by Volkswagen's board, which is widely expected, the new assembly plant is to be build in the town of Stupino, south of Moscow...

* Sales rose at Daimler during '05
DETROIT,Mich,USA -Bloomberg, by Jeremy van Loon -JAN 9, 2006: DaimlerChrysler said Sunday that its worldwide sales increased 3.8 percent last year on demand for a revised Mercedes-Benz sport utility vehicle and Chrysler models like the 300 sedan... Sales rose to 4.05 million units from 3.9 million vehicles a year earlier, said DaimlerChrysler, which is based in Stuttgart...

* VW to specialize by country
DETROIT,Mich,USA -Bloomberg, by Jeremy van Loon -JAN 9, 2006: Volkswagen reported that it sold 5.34 million units, a 3.2 percent increase, in 2005... Volkswagen, the largest European carmaker, said it planned to build more vehicles in the coming years designed for specific markets in an effort to increase faltering sales in the United States and China... Volkswagen is sending German employees to live in the United States, China, India and Russia to study consumers in those countries and get a better sense of what they want to buy...

Offense - USA - Big 3 go on

Automakers pin hopes on do-or-die new model push
Detroit,Mich,USA -The Detroit News, by Bill Vlasic -8 Jan 2006: -- Amid the storm clouds of restructuring costs, labor problems and volatile gas prices, Detroit's Big Three automakers are counting on a blitz of new products to brighten their prospects for success in 2006... Both General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., desperately need to refocus attention on their product lineups in the year ahead. At the Chrysler unit of DaimlerChrysler AG, the goal is to build on recent market share gains with even fresher offerings... Scenarios of doom and gloom have clearly taken a toll on the image of the traditional domestic auto industry. Banner headlines about massive cost-cutting efforts at Ford and GM, as well as the bankruptcy of auto parts giant Delphi Corp., have cast somewhat of a pall over Detroit... But a new year, a new auto show and a raft of new products offer hope that the game is far from over. As Mark Fields, Ford's new head of its Americas division, said last week, "It's time to play offense"... (Dodge's Photo: The five-door Caliber hatchback concept)

To survive - USA - Five things to watch

Point 5: Profits
Detroit,Mich,USA -DetNews/Autos Insider -Jan 08, 2006: -- GM and Ford lost a combined $6.2 billion in North America in the first nine months of last year. It's been 13 years since GM and Ford both posted annual losses, and the two automakers may be on the verge of doing it again. As the losses mount, they are using wads of reserve cash to keep operations going. But how quickly the struggling giants can restructure, downsize and revive automotive profits and generate positive cash flow again will determine long-term success. Without consistent profits, product programs suffer. And no automaker has ever recovered and survived without hot cars and trucks with decent profit margins...

Recall - USA - Michelin recalls 6,500 tires in U.S., Canada

NEW YORK,NY,USA -Automotive News/Reuters -Dec 29, 2005: -- Michelin North America on Thursday said it is recalling about 6,500 Pilot Sport tires in the United States and Canada because of a defect that might lead to a rapid loss of air pressure and possible crash... The tire maker said its 255/35ZR20 97Y Extra Load tires were original equipment on some Jaguar XJ8 cars and also available in the replacement market. It said an affected tire typically has a blister on its sidewall, which may produce vibration. This might result in a loss of air pressure and cause a driver to lose control of a vehicle, Michelin said...

Markets - China - Will Japan's quality win over the hearts of Chinese buyers?

Detroit,Ill,USA -Automotive News, by Edward Lapham -Jan 3, 2006: -- Quality will out, no matter where in the world a vehicle is built... In the J.D. Power Asia Pacific 2005 China Initial Quality Study, Japanese brands ranked first in four of five categories. Toyota was first in three categories, and Honda was best in another. The Chevrolet Spark, a reborn Daewoo model, was the non-Japanese winner... The quality of homegrown brands is still pretty rough in China, as anyone who saw the Chinese cars and SUVs at the Frankfurt auto show can testify. But for the Chinese, buying a Japanese car is more than a brand issue. It's a leap of faith...

AUTOS' WORLD NEWS

* Report: SUVs No Safer for Kids
USA -Pediatrics (Medical Journal)/AP -6 Jan 2006: Children are no safer in sport-utility vehicles than in passenger cars, reports a new study... The journal released the findings of a study on Tuesday that finds that the increased risk of a rollover accident negates the potential safety of riding in a larger, heavier sport-ute. The study, compiled by State Farm Insurance and a Philadelphia children's hospital, studied accidents involving about 4000 children... An industry representative told the Associated Press that rollover rates are improving due to new technology and the migration of buyers from truck-based SUVs to car-based crossovers...

* U.K. car registrations rise in December
LONDON,UK -Reuters/Automotive News -Jan 6, 2006: New car registrations in Britain posted their first year-on-year rise of 2005 in December, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said on Friday, but it cautioned carmakers and sellers were set for a tough year... SMMT said new car registrations rose 8.7 percent from the same month a year before to 156,866 units, due to a 40.6 jump in diesel registrations as company car drivers took advantage of a tax break that expired at the end of 2005...

* Federal-Mogul to cut plants, jobs in restructuring
CHICAGO,Ill,USA -Reuters/Automotive News -Jan 6, 2006: Bankrupt auto parts maker Federal Mogul Corp. on Friday announced a three-year restructuring plan that could affect 25 facilities and reduce the company's work force by about 10 percent...

* China will build 2.9 million cars. Exports will account for less than one percent
USA -The Car Connection, by Michael J. Dunne -2 Jan 2006: Passenger-car exports from China will surpass 25,000 units this year, up from 10,114 in 2004. In percentage terms, this marks a dramatic leap in overseas shipments. In absolute numbers, China's car-export industry remains a pipsqueak... What are Chinese companies doing to find their way around the impediments?... The foremost issue is quality. The shortfall in quality means that Chinese companies are not ready to invade Europe, America, or Japan, home to most of the world's most discerning consumers... Instead, Geely, Chery, and Great Wall export to Egypt, Syria, the Ukraine, and Columbia, where the unique selling point is price - and price alone. Syria, the top importer of Chinese cars, purchased 6100 units through the first ten months of 2005...

* Toyota Will be the new king of the hill in 2006?
USA -The Car Connection, by Paul A. Eisenstein -2 Jan 2006: The Japanese giant aims to boost global production to 9.08 million cars, trucks, and crossovers, an eleven-percent increase. GM barely built nine million vehicles in 2005 and isn't revealing its 2005 target. The increasingly cautious GM has lately been loathe to make forecasts, and for good reason, repeatedly falling short on everything from sales to share to the depth of its bottom-line losses. Toyota , on the other hand, consistently delivers what it promises...

* COMMENTS: by Joann Muller, On The Automotive Industry
USA -Forbes, by -31 Dec 2005: No surprise here. It’s the continuous decline of the U.S. automakers. General Motors and Ford Motor will struggle to regain their footing in the market after huge cutbacks and plant closures. Although both companies have attractive new vehicles in dealer showrooms--GM’s redesigned sport utilities and Ford’s new passenger cars--they’re fighting an uphill battle. The public has come to view Detroit carmakers as losers, and it’s tough to change impressions. Look for Ford and GM to continue their market-share slide in 2006...

* COMMENTS: by Dan Lienert On Autos - The Big Trend
USA -Forbes -29 Dec 2005: 2006 will be the year American automakers break their social contract with unionized workers. In order for the American auto industry to survive, manufacturers will have to cripple their unions, just as Northwest Airlines did. Delphi Chairman Steve Miller has already demoralized his unionized workers; in 2006 he will force the UAW to abandon a decades-old tradition of gold-plated wages and benefits for its workers. Following suit, General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler will begin to chip away at the power of their union workers, too...

* Tofas says two Fiat models to be assembled in Russia
ISTANBUL,Turkey -Reuters/Automotive News -Jan 3, 2006: Turkish vehicle maker Tofas said on Tuesday that Fiat car models Palio and Albea, currently produced in Turkey, will also be assembled in Russia from 2007...

* Chrysler group will build minivans for VW
DETROIT,Mich,USA -Automotive News, by Dale Jewett -Jan 5, 2006: The Chrysler group will build minivans for Volkswagen beginning in 2008, the automakers confirmed Thursday... The Chrysler group is expected to introduce a generation of minivans in 2007 for the 2008 model year... The VW vans will be based on those redesigned models...

* Some 5,000 Mercedes staff accept buyout
FRANKFURT,Germany -Reuters/Automotive News -Jan 5, 2006: Roughly 5,000 German employees at Mercedes Car Group have accepted a voluntary redundancy package offered by parent DaimlerChrysler.. Mercedes is looking to cut a total of 8,500 German jobs by the end of 2006 as part of its goal to double its operating margin to 7 percent by the following year... The job cuts are expected to cost DaimlerChrysler $1.15 billion (950 million euros)...

* Ford pickup concept burns hydrogen
DETROIT,Mich,USA -Automotive News, by Richard Truett -Jan 8, 2006: The F-250 Super Chief concept provides a peek at where Ford Division wants to take its next generation of heavy-duty pickups.... The Super Chief's most interesting feature is its powertrain. The supercharged V-10 engine has what Ford calls a tri-flex fueling system that enables the engine to run on hydrogen, E85 ethanol or gasoline. Cruising range between fill-ups is 500 miles...

* S&P cuts Ford, Ford Credit deeper into junk status
NEW YORK,NY,USA -Reuters/Automotive News -Jan 5, 2006: Standard & Poor's on Thursday cut its ratings on Ford Motor Co. deeper into junk territory, citing a slide in market share and doubts about the automaker's ability to turn around its North American auto operations... S&P also cut its ratings on Ford's finance arm, Ford Motor Credit, deeper into speculative grade...

* GM jumps on E85 bandwagon
LOS ANGELES, Cal,USA -Automotive News, by Kathy Jackson -Jan 6, 2006: General Motors has joined a team to study ethanol as an alternative fuel source. The team will investigate consumer acceptance of E85, a blend of 85 percent ethyl alcohol and 15 percent gasoline... GM already has about 1.5 million vehicles on the road that can burn E85...

* Big 3 decide to play the ponies
Detroit,Mich,USA -Automotive News, by Edward Lapham -Jan 6, 2006: There will be plenty of cute little crossover vehicles and politically correct sedans at the Detroit auto show, but the smart money says modern-day pony cars will kick up the most interest.The success of Ford's retro-look Mustang has prompted crosstown rivals General Motors and Chrysler to consider building their own high-horsepower coupes, just as the original Mustang did 40 years ago...

HOS' Opinion - USA - The View From the Road

USA -TTNews, by Dan Schobert Co-Owner Pointours LLC (*) -30 Dec 2005: -- With 20 years of over-the-road employment -including some 2 million miles of safe driving- I have assessed the truck driver shortage, and several thoughts come to mind... Consider that:• Despite the hours-of-service rules, drivers often find they are expected to log incorrectly to get more driving time. When I was an OTR driver, I often logged 15 minutes for unloading 40,000 pounds of product from my trailer. This is, of course, impossible, but it seemed to pass inspection when logs were checked.• Drivers often find they are expected to participate in loading and unloading. Food warehouses in particular expect drivers to unload their trucks or pay out of their own pockets for lumpers, or dock workers, to do the work for them. • The phrase “off duty” is meaningless for many OTR drivers. Even while resting in the truck’s sleeper berth, the driver is, in effect, the guardian of the truck and its cargo. He would be expected to wake up and go into action if someone tried to break into the trailer... What does this have to do with the driver shortage? The simple truth is that potential drivers can see these things happening early on and be discouraged from becoming career drivers — a job where the money is good, but not commensurate with the time actually put in, and where there are no real opportunities to climb the ladder to positions with a better ratio of hours to pay... (*) The writer is a former longhaul truck driver who now operates a bus company in Plover, Wis., with his wife.

TRUCKING WORLD NEWS

* Manufacturers to Offer Programs Preparing Technicians for ’07
USA -TTNews -6 Jan 2006: Detroit Diesel Corp. and Cummins Inc. said they had programs aimed specifically at their 2007 engines, while Volvo Trucks North America, Mack Trucks and International Truck and Engine Corp. said they would provide training updates for technicians... Environmental Protection Agency regulations slash allowed levels of nitrogen oxide and soot emissions for new engines starting in January 2007...

* California Reportedly Considering Adding Toll, Truck Lanes
USA -Los Angeles Times/TTNews -5 Jan 2006: California Gov. plans to propose adding special toll lanes, including some exclusively for trucks, on the state’s freeways... Under the plan, local officials would make the final decisions if the plans were approved by state lawmakers...

* PierPASS OffPeak Program Diverts a Million Truck Trips from Daytime Los Angeles Traffic
LONG BEACH, Cal,USA -Business Wire -6 Jan 2006: PierPASS Inc. today announced that more than a million truck trips have been diverted from peak daytime traffic since the start of the OffPeak program on July 23, 2005, eliminating costly bottlenecks at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and reducing gridlock on area freeways...

* Pacer International Named to Forbes List of ``Best Big Companies in America'' for 2006
CONCORD, Cal,USA -Forbes -6 Jan 2006: Logistics & Freight Transport Provider Makes List for 2nd Consecutive Year Pacer International, Inc., the North America logistics and freight transportation provider, has been named for the second consecutive year to the Forbes Platinum 400 list, known as the "Best Big Companies in America"...

* J.B. Hunt T. S., Inc. Recognized with Prestigious Core Carrier Partner of the Year Award
LOWELL, Ark.,USA -Business Wire- 6 Jan 2006: J. B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc., today announced that the Company has been recognized by The ScottsMiracle-Gro Company, the world's largest marketer of branded consumer products for lawn and garden care, with the prestigious 2005 Truckload/Intermodal Core Carrier Partner of the Year award...

* Trucking Logistics Firm Succeeds By Sweating Over Every Detail
USA -Investor Business Daily, by Alan R. Elliott -Jan 6, 2006: Driving a truck isn't rocket science. Managing a truck fleet is darned close... Try booking each cubic yard of trailer space full through every mile traveled. Multiply that task across hundreds of fleets covering countless routes and endpoints... Then you'll get a workaday sense of CH Robinson Worldwide...

* New Information Available on Bioterrorism Act and Food Transportation
USA -TTNews -4 Jan 2006: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has published several new booklets dealing with various aspects of the Bioterrorism Act of 2002 pertaining to the transport of food. The booklets provide the latest information on regulations published by FDA to implement provisions of the Bioterrorism Act of 2005. Of particular interest to trucking companies that transport food is information on establishing and maintaining records and administrative detention...

* House Bill to Increase Tax Credit for Hybrids including commercial trucks
USA - TTNews -3 Jan 2006: Legislation introduced in the House of R

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30.1.06

TRUCKING WORLD NEWS

Corruption - Mexico - Probe May Delay Customs Facility in Mo.

Safely - Russia - Trucks reach Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky after 12 days en route

Jobs - USA - Trucking Jobs in Idaho

Pollution - USA - Panel says Mexican trucks must meet pollution rules

AUTOS' WORLD NEWS

Study - USA - Boosts Ethanol As Fuel

Oil - USA - Exxon Mobil profit rises 27% on energy prices

28.1.06

TRUCKING WORLD NEWS

Regulations - USA - Trucking Safety

EcoNews - USA - EPA website shows diesel truck, bus fleets run cleaner

EcoNews - USA - Soy biodiesel gives bigger energy bang than ethanol

Production - USA - Tenneco plant in Seward wins new exhaust treatment business

Shows - Canada - Today's Trucking publisher buys ExpoCam and CamExpo truck

Jobs - Canada - Truck drivers targeted for Sask

Appreciation - USA - Trucking Industry Under Review

AUTOS' WORLD NEWS

27.1.06

MADD - USA - Dry Up Alcohol Ads

26.1.06

TRUCKING WORLD NEWS - Condenseds -

AUTOS' WORLD NEWS

GM News - USA - Full-year loss totals $8.6 billion

Invention - South Africa - Designer bins Cape baboon littering

Comments - USA - Fleets positive about ’06, but fear ’07 technology

Safety Program - USA - Michelin sponsors Share the Road

Competition - USA - Mexican truckers drive down wages

25.1.06

TRUCKING WORLD NEWS - Condenseds

Sales - USA - Heavy-duty trucks posted heavy-duty sales gain in 2005

Big Three - USA - Tout fuel efficiency in D.C.

Production - Russia - Cummins and KAMAZ in Russian JV for Mid-Range Diesel Engines

Class-action - USA - Freightliner, Lawsuit filed against union

AUTOS' WORLD NEWS

Ford's News - USA - Francisco Codina to take top sales job

Opinion - USA - Private Ford?

Comments on Ford - USA - Overhaul Time--Again

Ford News - USA - To close 7 assembly plants, cut up to 30,000 jobs

20.1.06

TRUCKING WORLD NEWS - Condenseds

Comments - USA - Trucks, cars share road – and responsibility

Opinion - Canada - Trucks and safety

Markets - Hong Kong/China - Shares end morning higher led by China stocks

Perfomance - Canada - OTA points across the border in biodiesel warning

"Forbes" - USA - Trucking firms make “America’s Best Big Companies” list

Talks - USA - Got a trucker story to tell?

Act - USA - Robinson-Patman Applied to Customer-Specific Bid Discounts

Thesis - Sweden - Shows Danger of Inattentive Drivers

Survey - Belgium - Predicts Fall in Dangerous Vehicle Emissions

Surcharges - Europe - FTA says no to EC plan to adopt mandatory fuel ones

Opinion -USA - Trucking's Economic Year in Review

Production - USA - Tank-Trailer Makers Optimistic

Fed Says - USA - Economy Holding Strong; Trucking Concerns Remain

19.1.06

AUTOS' WORLD NEWS

Advice - USA - Readers offer U.S. automakers some one

GreenNews - USA - GM to push ethanol and fuel technologies in ads

18.1.06

TRUCKING WORLD NEWS - Condenseds

Statistics - Canada - Inventory-to-shipment ratio on the rise again

Statistics - Canada - Manufacturing shipments decline in November

Safety II - USA - Truckers Have Most Dangerous Jobs In Maine

Safety - USA - Fast-growing county grapples with unsafe trucks

Ambitious Plan - Europe - The Rebirth of the Barge

Sales - Australia - Trucking's winners and losers in 2005

Technology - USA - Allows to keep close tabs on trucks, shipments

Tests - USA - Fleets Receiving ’07 Engines to Begin On-Highway Testing

Jobs - USA - Truckers needed in Weld

AUTOS' WORLD NEWS

Opinion - USA - The Fast And The Furious

Comments - USA - GM Goes Big, Toyota Gets Small

Speech - USA - "Part of Toyota's success to Japan's history as a nation of rice farms"

15.1.06