trucks world news: January 2009

State road plan * USA - In New York would be ‘detrimental’ to truckers, farmers

Albany,NY,USA -Land Line Magazine -29 June 2009: -- Despite warnings by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association that banning heavy trucks from certain state roads would be detrimental to small-business truckers in upstate New York, the New York Department of Transportation is still pushing forward with the proposed regulation... The NYDOT is proposing a regulation to ban all heavy trucks from seven specific routes in the Finger Lakes region, citing the needs for “a sense of environmental quality that is unique to that region of the state,” according to NYDOT spokesman Charles “Skip” Carrier... OOIDA Legislative Affairs Director Mike Joyce said this proposed rule “couldn’t come at a worse time” for small-business truckers, as well as farmers, who are trying to stay afloat during these challenging economic times... If passed, this rule would force truckers to spend more in fuel and toll costs to route around these secondary roads, not to mention their added operating costs... (Map from Wikipedia: Finger lakes in NY)

Labels: roads plan

TRUCKING INDUSTRY NEWS * USA & Canada - Company Sues New Hampshire over Fatal Crash

Sainte-Luce, Quebec,CAN -Claims journal.com (NH,USA) -January 30, 2009: -- A Canadian trucking company is suing New Hampshire's Department of Transportation, alleging its failure to clear ice and snow off Interstate 93 led to the death of a 6-year-old boy... Brendon Mahoney was killed in February 2007 when his mother's van was hit by a tractor-trailer that jackknifed on the slippery road. Last month, his mother won a $2.5 million settlement from the trucking company, but the company, Fidele Tremblay of Sainte-Luce, Quebec, now is suing the state... The lawsuit claims no sand or salt was applied to the road the morning of the crash, despite eight calls from the state police requesting treatment. Though only trace amounts of snow had fallen since a storm the day before, several state troopers called the highway a "skating rink'' the day of the crash...

Labels: trucking industry news USA and CAN

TRUCKS' PRODUCTS * USA - Advantages of the Teletype GPS Systems For Truckers

Taking Advantage of the Many Teletype 710060 GPS System Features

USA -GPS in Car, by Jeffrey Meier -29 January 2009: ... If you want to get the most bang for your buck, especially in business, it is a good idea to explore all of the features as they can greatly enhance your experience, and maybe your productivity. So if you're thinking of purchasing a new trucking navigation for your company, consider both primary and hidden Teletype 710060 GPS system features and how they can offer all the benefits you'll need for your business.

* Large 7-Inch Touch Screen

* Truck Restriction Routing

* Map Storage

* Entertaining Your Crew

Just remember, if you purchase the unit, don't let all of the Teletype system features go to waste. Because now more than ever, getting the most bang for your buck is vital to keeping your business afloat. This model is made for the trucking profession.

Labels: trucks products

TRUCKING INDUSTRY ANALYSIS * USA - Death of the weak only hope for U.S. truck companies?

Either the U.S. economy needs to rebound or more companies need to fail for truck supply to shrink to meet demand

Chicago,ILL,USA -Reuters (UK), by Nick Carey. Editing by Patrick Fitzgibbons & Phil Berlowitz -Jan 29, 2009: -- For life to improve for America's battered truck sector, one of two things must happen: Either the U.S. economy needs to rebound or more companies need to fail for truck supply to shrink to meet demand... But as the U.S. continues to languish in recession, few analysts see any relief for truckers before 2010... Truck companies run low-margin operations on the front line of the world's largest economy... "We are now over 27 months into a freight recession that is the worst I have seen during my 37 years in this industry," Arkansas Best Corp Chief Executive Robert Davidson said after the less-than-truckload (LTL) company posted a loss this week... The company also said it had cut 1,100 jobs in the quarter. LTL operators consolidate small loads into a single truck. Another LTL carrier, Con-way Inc., said this week it was delaying buying new trucks to conserve cash... The one thing that has kept many truck companies -- small, medium and large -- from going under has been the recent drop in diesel prices from record highs last summer... "STAY OF EXECUTION": Analysts say that while the private companies are at the highest risk, all eyes are on the country's struggling No. 1 trucker, LTL carrier YRC Worldwide Inc... Oil was the truck killer in the first half of 2008. As prices rose to the July highs over $148 per barrel, the number of truckers filing for bankruptcy jumped... The number of second-half bankruptcies reached 1,160, bringing the total for 2008 to 3,065. High, but short of the record 3,990 in 2001 during the last U.S. recession... "Without the decline in diesel prices, more companies would have gone under," Tavio Hedley, staff economist at the ATA said... Jason Seidl, an analyst at Dahlman Rose and others, predict a wave of bankruptcies starting in the spring, and the best hope for the rest is to wait it out... YRC, which reported a quarterly loss of $244.4 million or $4.14 a share on Thursday, is seen as the one to watch... YRC has received a temporary waiver on its debt covenants and its unionized workers recently approved a 10 percent wage cut in return for a 15 percent stake in the company to save up to $250 million a year. YRC has also cut jobs and shut down facilities to take excess capacity out of its network... But in a January 23 blog, Wolfe Research wrote "we believe the restrictive conditions in these (debt covenant) waivers likely shows how little hand YRCW has left ... and we continue to believe a high risk of some form of bankruptcy remains"...

* YRC CEO: Volume May Be Bottoming; Rules Out Bankruptcy

New York,NY,USA -The Dow Jones Newswires, by Bob Sechler/CNN Money -January 30, 2009: -- Trucking giant YRC Worldwide Inc. (YRCW) weighed in on the steep slump in freight volumes Friday, with Chief Executive Bill Zollars voicing some optimism that the industry-wide trend at least may be bottoming... "The percentage declines year-over-year have started to stabilize" in the early weeks of 2009, Zollars said in an interview. "Believe me, we're looking really hard for any sign of improvement"... Meanwhile, Zollars reiterated that bankruptcy isn't being considered as an option for debt-laden YRC. He said talks aimed at relaxing some debt covenants have been proceeding well with lenders and should be successfully completed by mid-February... YRC has $1.36 billion in debt, a portion of which it has been struggling to refinance. But because of a sinking bottom line, the company is at risk of falling out of compliance with credit lines and has been working to renegotiate covenants...

* YRC Worldwide's quarterly losses exceed expectations

Overland Park,Kansas,USA -The Kansas City Star, by RANDOLPH HEASTER -30 Jan 2009: -- The economic crisis that escalated in the final three months of last year hit YRC Worldwide Inc. hard, leaving the Overland Park-based trucker a rough road in 2009... For the three months that ended Dec. 31, YRC posted a net loss of $244.41 million, or $4.14 a share, on $1.93 billion in revenue. That is an improvement, however, from a 2007 fourth-quarter loss of $735.77 million, or $12.99 a share, on $2.35 billion in revenue...

Labels: trucking industry analysis USA

TRUCKMAKERS' NEWS * WORLDWIDE

* Germany - VW's light truck sales to Russia up 78 pct in '08

Frankfurt,Germany -Associated Press/The International Herald Tribune -January 29, 2009: -- Car and truck maker Volkswagen AG said Thursday it had increased its light truck sales to Russia by 78 percent in 2008 despite the economic downturn... The Wolfsburg-based company said it had delivered 10,500 Caddy and T5 vans and Crafter delivery trucks. In 2007, VW delivered 5,905 such models... Volkswagen said its most sold truck in Russia was the T5 transporter van, which saw a 66 percent increase in sales last year to 5,406 vehicles. (Photo Crafter from Volkswagen)

* USA - Paccar rises after the truck maker tops estimates

New York,NY,USA -Associated Press/FORBES -30 Jan 2009: -- Paccar Inc. shares climbed sharply Friday despite a broad-based downturn in the broader market, after the maker of Peterbilt and Kenworth trucks reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street's expectations... However, Paccar's sales decreased 24 percent to $2.62 billion from $3.43 billion. Analysts expected sales of $2.77 billion... "The average cost of these commodities has reduced by approximately one third compared to the levels during the commodity price bubble in 2008," Tom Lundahl, vice president of purchasing, said in a statement... Paccar also credited strong European sales and the efficiency of its dealer network for its earnings...

* USA - GM weighs deal with Isuzu for truck line

Detroit,Mich,USA -Reuters, by Carol Bishopric -Jan 30, 2009: -- General Motors Corp and Japan's Isuzu Motors are discussing the sale of GM's medium-duty commercial truck business, the Flint Journal said on Friday... The newspaper said the deal would keep production of medium-duty trucks at the current GM facility in Flint through the end of 2014, quoting unnamed sources... The newspaper quoted UAW Vice President Cal Rapson as saying that while the sale of the plant was not "a done deal," the UAW and GM had signed a memorandum of understanding that would allow the transaction to move forward... GM issued a statement in response to the report saying that it was continuing to review its options for the Flint-based production line that makes the GMC TopKick and Chevrolet Kodiak commercial trucks... The truck models are widely used as cargo haulers, dump trucks and in work fleets...

Labels: truckmakers news worldwide

TOLL INCREASES * USA - Board votes to raise truck tolls, add E-ZPass fee

Baltimore,MD,USA -The Baltimore Sun, by Michael Dresser -29 Jan 2009: -- Over vocal objections from the public, the Maryland Transportation Authority's board voted this morning to raise truck tolls at its bridges and tunnels on Interstate 95 and to impose a $1.50-a-month fee on its E-ZPass customers... The board voted unanimously after hearing comments from Marylanders who turned out for a public meeting near the Key Bridge on the authority's proposed package of revenue increases — designed to make up for a shortfall caused by a drop in traffic that is part of a national decline in driving. About 30 people attended... Opponents argued that the truck toll increases of 50 percent or more come at a time when many operators are struggling to survive the economic downturn... (Baltimore Sun photo by Amy Davis / January 29, 2009 - The Maryland Transportation Authority held a public meeting on its proposed fee increases for E-ZPass use and truck tolls. MdTA board member Ronald L. Freeland, front, read the recommendations of the board from a prepared statement at the conclusion of the meeting, after which the authority voted to enact the increases)

Labels: toll increases

TRUCKING INDUSTRY NEWS * USA

* USA Truck slashes costs to turn 4Q profit

New York,NY,USA -Associated Press/FORBES -29 Jan 09: -- USA Truck Inc. said Thursday it swung to a profit in the fourth quarter by slashing costs to offset collapsing demand for its freight shipping services... In an effort to protect its bottom line, USA Truck cut its fleet size by 10 percent, or 250 tractors... For full-year 2008 the company reported net income of $3.1 million, or 31 cents per share, compared with $140 million, or one cent per share, in 2007. Revenue grew to $535 million from $482 million...

* Arkansas Best trucking company to trim more jobs

Fort Smith,ARK,USA -Associated Press/FORBES -29 Jan 2009: -- Arkansas Best Corp. trucking company says it will lay off 350 people, in addition to the 1,100 workers it let go last year... The Fort Smith-based company said Thursday it has cut its work force by 18 percent overall. The company says it has reduced its fleet by 14 percent in road tractors and 9 percent in trailers, with further reductions to come...

Labels: trucking industry news USA

Clean Truck Program * USA - At So Cal Ports Is Becoming Victim of Success

OPINION by John O'Dell: "Well, not only did it work, it is working too well"

USA -edmunds.com/Green Car Advisor -29 Jan 2009: -- ... The Los Angeles Times reported this week that the ports, which expected to have to subsidize about 1,000 trucks, have received bills from trucking firms for more than 2,200 trucks in the first three months of the program and expect to be hit for subsidies for as many as 7,500 this year... More tan 100 trucking companies have ordered new rigs under the program... That's tough, because the ports' incentive fund has run out of money, the state is too broke to ante up any more and under the previous administration the federal government had refused additional funding as well... The ports have had to dig into their own diminishing operating budgets for $44 million to help cover the initial 2,200 subsidies... Its early success also can serve as a lesson to those who scream foul every time a government agency institutes a new policy for improving air quality: the California trucking firms serving the two ports not only accepted the inevitable, they embraced it... Let's not now punish them for finally being good citizens... (Photo: Clean Truck Program at So Cal Ports Is Becoming Victim of Success)

Labels: Clean Trucks Program

TOLLS * USA - Truckers ask phase-in of toll increase

Baltimore,MD,USA -The Baltimore Sun, by Michael Dresser -January 28, 2009: -- An advocate for the Maryland Motor Truck Association pleaded with the Maryland Transportation Authority yesterday to cushion the impact of a proposed toll increase by stretching it out over a longer period and giving a break to frequent users... But after the plea before the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee, state Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari said the relief for truckers may not be possible...

Labels: tolls

HYBRID TRUCKS * Canada - New hybrid-electric delivery truck unveiled in Victoria

Victoria,BC,CAN -Truck News -28 Jan 2009: -- Thanks to support from the B.C. Ministry of Environment and the Fraser Basin Council’s Green Fleets B.C. program, Victoria-based R&B Trucking is meeting the tough economic times head on with a new diesel-electric hybrid refrigerated delivery truck that’s expected to save the company as much as 35% in fuels costs and reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by more than 20 tonnes per year... It’s all part of the Fraser Basin Council’s Green Fleets B.C. program, which provides support to trucking companies, to help them move towards environmentally-friendly practices and technologies. In return for sharing their experiences with others in the industry, participating companies save money, improve worker health, and decrease smog and GHG emissions... (Picture: The hybrid delivery truck could save fuel consumption by up to 35%)

Labels: hybrids trucks

Road Safety * USA - Big Rigs, Icy Roads

Harrisburg,PA,USA -CBS 21, by Ben Russell -29 Jan 2009: -- It's a potentially scary scenario - a big rig passing your tiny car as you creep along on an icy highway... Two area drivers know the feeling... Despite those extreme examples, a trucking industry spokesperson tells CBS 21 News that drivers need not be afraid of tractor trailer drivers... Instead, we should trust them."When you have a one or two, three million mile operator of a vehicle who has driven all over the United States, in all kinds of weather, he very well may or she may very well feel that they are in a comfortable position with the way they drive to handle the vehicle," said James Runk, President and CEO of the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association... Runk said he cannot vouch for the safety of every driver, but that the industry has a focus on safety... "Hopefully they're trained well enough to understand what kind... how they can operate in certain kinds of weather conditions." ... (See Video)

Labels: roads safety

TRUCKMAKERS' NEWS WORLDWIDE * India - Tata Motors set for worst show since ’02

Sales are expected to shrink by nearly 45% to Rs5,161 crore from Rs9,238.48 crore

Mumbai/Pune/New Delhi,India -TWSJ/livemint (USA). by Shally Seth, Sudha Menon & Samar Srivastava -29 Jan 2009: -- As Tata Motors Ltd, the country’s biggest auto maker, prepares to report earnings on Friday, the market is bracing itself for some really bad news... In the last quarter, sales of the company’s mainstay—commercial vehicles (CVs) such as trucks, buses and goods vans—have fallen off a cliff and analysts expect a sharp dip in net profit for the three months to 31 December... Shares of the company, however, rose 4.5% to end Wednesday’s trading at Rs146.65 each after the UK government offered car makers loan guarantees to help them cope with the recession. Tata Motors makes the Jaguar cars and Land Rover utility vehicles after it acquired both brands last year... Other truck makers have seen demand hit too, but analysts and investors say Tata Motors is different due to its scale and the impact of the slowdown on it. It reported a net profit of Rs2,167.70 crore on revenue of Rs40,340.79 crore in fiscal 2008... (1 India - Rupia = 0.02024 US Dollar)

* Germany - Stocks Rise... MAN AG sell 168 trucks for Saudi Arabia

Munich,Germany -Bloomberg, by Stefanie Haxel -Jan. 28, 2009: -- ... MAN AG climbed 9 percent to 33.70 euros, the steepest gain in two months. Almarai Co., the largest food producer in Saudi Arabia by market value, ordered 168 trucks from a unit of Europe’s third-largest truckmaker...

* Japan - Hino Widens Loss Forecast as Stronger Yen Cripples Earnings

Tokyo,Japan -Bloomberg, by Makiko Kitamura -Jan. 28, 2009: -- Hino Motors Ltd., Japan’s biggest maker of heavy-duty trucks, widened its full-year loss forecast as the global recession cuts vehicle demand and a stronger yen reduces the value of overseas sales... The company will post a loss of 33 billion yen ($370 million), compared with a previous forecast of a 20 billion yen loss for the year ending in March, Hino said in a statement today... Hino last month said it will post its first full-year operating loss in nine years as the deepening global recession and a credit crunch saps demand. The truckmaker is half owned by Toyota Motor Corp. and builds the FJ Cruiser and 4Runner sport- utility vehicles for the larger carmaker...

* Germany - Daimler, Beiqi Foton to Cooperate on Truckmaking in China

Stuttgart,Germany -Bloomberg, by Tom Lavell -Jan. 29, 2009: -- Daimler AG said it signed a joint-venture agreement with Beiqi Foton Motor Co. to build medium- and heavy-duty trucks... The companies will cooperate on diesel systems for vehicles based on Foton’s Auman model, Stuttgart, Germany-based Daimler said in an e-mailed statement...

Labels: truckmakers' news worldwide

PROSTITUTION * USA - Thousands’ of teens said caught up in web of truck stop prostitution

USA -The Trucker, by DOROTHY COX -27 Jan 2009: -- Some truckers claim prostitution is only a matter of working girls trying to make a living and therefore, victimless. But according to statistics — and law enforcement — they’re either fooling themselves, misinformed, or both. An ABC TV Prime Time Crime special this summer asserted that “thousands of teens are forced into truck stop sex,” with an FBI spokesman adding that truck stops are uniquely suited to prostitution because at night the parking lots are isolated and out of the view of the public and police... One former career driver from Saline County, Arkansas, told The Trucker that the back parking lanes are known as “party row.”... “Anywhere there are big trucks delivering goods you’ll find prostitutes, both male and female; it’s a fact of life,” he said... Statistics show that these prostitutes often have been brutalized or sexually molested by a father or other male family member. Many are involved in drugs, authorities say... (One FBI “sting” on a prostitution ring in December of 2005 charged 31 individuals in four U.S. FBI districts and involving several truck stops. “These children are victimized twice,” asserts FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker, “first by the handler who exploits them and secondly by the individual who solicits them.”)

Labels: road prostitution

TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS, Mergers & Acquisitions * WORLDWIDE

Strategic Buyers - International Deals

* Germany - 19 Jan: Gebrüder Weiss GmbH has acquired 25.0% of Weiss-Rohlig India ("WRI"). Based in Chennai, India, WRI provides freight forwarding, packaging and warehousing services. Terms were not disclosed.

* Norway - 19 Jan: World Nordic ApS has acquired an additional 12.5% of BW Gas Ltd. for $46.5 million. Based in Oslo, Norway, BW Gas provides liquefied petroleum/natural gas marine transportation services.

* Sweden - 20 Jan: Railcare Group Ab announced the pending acquisition of 33.0% of Grenland Rail AS for $119,000. Grenland Rail provides rail transportation services from its base in Skien, Norway.

Labels: Mergers and Acquisitions worldwide

TRUCKING INDUSTRY NEWS * USA

* Trucking Industry Asks Congress for National 65 mph Speed Limit

Washington,DC,USA -Environment News Service -January 27, 2009: -- The American Trucking Associations today asked Congress to enact a national 65 mile per hour speed limit and govern truck speeds at 65 mph or slower to reduce fuel consumption... Testifying on behalf of ATA before the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, ATA First Vice Chairman Tommy Hodges said "Our industry is proud of its environmental record in reducing emissions and transitioning to clean fuels"... Currently, the power to set speed limits rests with each individual state... (Photo by Threaded Thoughts - Big rigs parked at a Salt Lake City truck stop)

* C.H. Robinson’s 4Q Income Rises

Eden Prairie,Minn,USA -Transport Topics -27 Jan 2009: -- Transportation and third-party logistics firm C.H. Robinson Worldwide said its fourth-quarter profit rose to $88.9 million, or 52 cents a share, from $85.3 million, or 49 cents, a year ago... Total revenue rose 0.2% to $1.96 billion, the company said late Tuesday... Net income for the year rose to $359.2 million, or $2.08 per share, from $324.3 million, or $1.86. Total revenue rose 17.3% to $8.58 billion...

* Marten’s 4Q Income Improves

Mondovi,WI,USA -Transport Topics -27 Jan 2009: -- Refrigerated truckload carrier Marten Transport’s fourth-quarter net income rose to $5.8 million, or 27 cents a share, from $3 million, or 14 cents a year ago... Operating revenue from trucking and logistics operations rose 3.1%, to $140.4 million, the company said late Tuesday... For the full year, Marten earned $18 million, or 82 cents a share, up from $15 million, or 68 cents, a year earlier...

Labels: trucking industry news USA

WEATHER TROUBLES * USA - Storm System Leaves Icy Roads in Many States

Washington,DC,USA -AP/Transport Topics -28 Jan 2009: -- A large storm system stretching from Arkansas into the Northeast has left roads with as much as three inches of ice in many areas, the Associated Press reported Wednesday... Icy roads were blamed for car accidents in Virginia, West Virginia Indiana, Texas, Ohio and other states, news reports said... In all, 19 people have died because of the storms, which also knocked out power in many areas... State highway officials scrambled Tuesday night into Wednesday morning to clear roads of snow, ice, trees, utility poles and other hazards... The National Weather Service had winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories in effect Wednesday morning in most of the Northeast and parts of Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia...

Labels: Cold Weather

CARBON TAX * USA - EPA Pick Is ‘Open’ to

Jackson Says She Prefers Cap and Trade

Washington,DC,USA -Transport Topics, by Eric Miller -Jan. 19, 2009: -- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson said she was “open to discussion” of a carbon tax to limit greenhouse gas emissions and would immediately begin a review of the Bush administration’s denial of California’s request to regulate those emissions from automobiles... However, Jackson said, “a carbon tax alone in isolation does not set an eventual goal for actual reduction of global warming,” and she told a Senate panel that President Barack Obama favored a cap-and-trade system... Steven Chu, Obama’s energy secretary, also said he supported Obama’s preference for a cap-and-trade program over a carbon tax...

Labels: carbon taxes

ALTERNATIVE FUELS * USA - Pickens Shifts Gears, Focuses On Natural Gas-Powered Trucks

New York,New York,USA -Clean Tech Brief -January 28, 2009: -- The financial crisis may have put his ambitious wind-power plans on hold, but Texas oil billionaire and clean energy advocate T. Boone Pickens has other plans to reduce American reliance on imported oil... Pickens is seeking up to $28 billion in federal economic stimulus incentives to convert about 350,000 heavy-duty trucks to natural gas from diesel. He told participants at the Cleantech Investor Summit in Palm Springs last week that he has met twice with President Barack Obama's transition team and leading Congressional Democrats to plug his plan... "We have an abundance of natural gas in America,” said Pickens, "It's cheaper, it's cleaner, and it's ours"...

Labels: alternative fuels

CARGO THEFT * USA - Working Together Can Help Curb

Rockaway,NJ,USA -Manufacturing.Net, by Amanda Earing -January 27, 2009: -- The FBI estimates that cargo theft cost anywhere from $15 to $30 billion and the average freight on a trailer was worth anywhere from $12,000 to $3 million. Unfortunately, cargo theft largely goes unreported. The good news is that government agencies and law enforcement are catching up and more manufacturers are joining the fight to help prevent cargo theft... Cargo theft is a low risk crime (imprisonment time is minimal) with a high profit. In most cases, it is a highly organized criminal group behind the theft, taking advantage of the lack of information sharing between law enforcement agencies... “We have done a good job securing our ports in recent years, but the result of that is cargo theft has been pushed to land transportation, making many of our trucks and railways potential targets for cargo theft,” Mary Aftanas, National Insurance Crime Bureau, Director of Property/Casualty Investigators, warns... Despite local task force’s efforts, cargo theft often goes unreported for two main reasons: inconsistencies regarding how law enforcement should report it, and lack of awareness...

Labels: cargo theft

Truckers Battle * USA - Over Green

Washington,DC,USA -Traffic World, by Thomas L. Gallagher -27 Jan 2009: -- An organization representing large trucking corporations offered recommendations for environmental sustainability. An organization representing small business truckers thinks those suggestions move in the wrong direction... The American Trucking Associations on Jan. 28 presented arguments in testimony before the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in favor of longer/heavier truck and trailer combinations as well as government mandates for speed limiters on truck engines... The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association believes "those things have nothing to do with making trucking more 'green' and everything to do with adding more 'green' to the pockets of large corporations," said OOIDA Executive Vice President, Todd Spencer. OOIDA contends effective environmental solutions begin with addressing inefficiencies in the supply chain such as time and fuel wasted by truckers waiting to be loaded or unloaded and the amount of empty miles truckers must drive... (Publisher Note: Please hear this "argentine's pampa" speech: "when siblings fight amidst, they are eaten by outsiders")

Labels: differences

WARNING * USA - Florida Puts Brakes on Agent Accused of Not Placing Truckers' Insurance

Failed to place coverage for dozens of truckers, causing them to unknowingly operate without insurance

San Diego,CA,USA -Insurance Journal -January 27, 2009: -- Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink is urging the commercial trucking industry and the public to provide any information that may assist the Department of Financial Services' ongoing criminal investigation into an agent who they say pocketed at least $500,000 in commercial auto premiums and failed to place coverage for dozens of truckers, causing them to unknowingly operate without insurance... Margarita D. Martin, owner and operator of Martin-Argote Insurance Group, Inc., in Medley, has been permanently barred from any involvement in the insurance industry, based on a final order the department issued in December. Sink took expedited action against Martin, including an emergency order in October. The department's Division of Agent and Agency Services, Bureau of Investigation, said that Martin sold commercial liability insurance and had customers throughout Florida. Between January 2006 and November 2008, some truckers lost their licenses and even their jobs after having to pay for accidents that occurred during the time they were supposedly insured under policies written by Martin's agency, according to officials...

Labels: trucking insurances

ENGINE MAKERS' * USA - Turbine Truck Engines Secures Strategic Alliance Agreement with Leading Chinese Corporation

DeLand,FL,USA -SYS-CON Media -Jan. 27, 2009: -- Turbine Truck Engines, Inc. (“TTE”), a leader in detonation cycle gas turbine clean engine technology, is proud to announce that the company has signed a Strategic Alliance Agreement with Aerospace Machinery & Electric Equipment Company, Ltd., a Chinese corporation (“AMEC”)... Details of the agreement outline that AMEC and TTE will collaborate on modifying and applying the DCGT engine technology to create two new engine designs; a 150 hp engine for automobiles and a 400 hp engine for buses... Currently TTE is testing a fifth-generation prototype clean-air engine specifically designed for trucking industry applications, using alternative fuels...

Labels: engine makers

TRUCKMAKERS' NEWS * USA - Volvo laying off 650 at Virginia truck plant

Dublin,VA,USA -The Canadian Press (OBT,CAN) -27 Jan 2009: -- Swedish vehicle manufacturer Volvo has announced permanent layoffs of 650 workers at its truck assembly plant in Dublin, Va... Volvo Trucks North America said Tuesday it will lay off 40 per cent of the Pulaski County plant's remaining workforce by the end of April. The layoffs will begin in March... Volvo spokesman Jim McNamara says the layoffs are prompted by declining demand for heavy trucks... The Swedish company company laid off about 1,000 workers at the plant last May, and had planned weeklong shutdowns during the first three months of this year to avoid additional job cuts... Earlier this month, Volvo announced it will cut more than 1,600 jobs in Sweden... (Photo; Volvo front side)

* UK - Iveco heavy truck range fuelled up for 2009

Milan,Italy -Due Motori -28 gennaio 2009: -- Iveco dealers across the UK are offering retail customers 1,000 litres of free fuel with the purchase and registration of any new Stralis or Trakker heavy truck until 31 March 2009... This first quarter special promotion is being run in conjunction with Key Fuels, with the free fuel able to be drawn from any site within Key Fuels’ extensive network, which spans the length and breadth of the UK...

Labels: truckmakers' news USA

TRUCKERS' HOME in SHOTS * USA - An 18-Wheeler That Feels Like

USA -Wired Blogs/Autopia, by Keith Barry -January 26, 2009: -- Long-haul truckers make their money traveling far from home, so they want rigs that feel like home... Too often they're more like cheap motels, something Peter Boatwright and John Cagan changed when they helped big-rig maker Navistar design the interior of its flagship rig... The two Carnegie Mellon University professors didn't know the first thing about life on the road when they started work on the International LoneStar, but they knew plenty about design, having written the book, "The Design of Things to Come." That and hours spent chatting up drivers at truck stops helped them create a "lifestyle savvy" interior that packs the comforts of home into a rig as popular among truckers as hot coffee and cheap fuel...

Cagan says working on the project led him and Boatright to develop "compassion and understanding" for the lives of truckers. But they haven't gotten the tattoos... (Images: Navistar)

Labels: cabin designs

* Australia - Trucking industry calls for more road maintenance

The Australian Government should spend more on road maintenance as it works to boost the economy, rather than trying to bring forward more new road projects...

Canberra,Australia -Logistics Magazine (Sydney,NSW) -27 January 2009: -- ... according to the Chairman of the Australian Trucking Association (ATA) Trevor Martyn... Mr Martyn made the comments while releasing the ATA’s pre-budget submission to the Government... The submission warns that bringing forward more major projects in an attempt to jump start the economy could simply result in cost blowouts when construction starts in a few years’ time... In the ATA’s view, the Government should now spend more on road maintenance, which would generate an immediate boost to the economy: maintenance projects can get started very quickly... Under AusLink, the previous Government allocated $300 million per year to maintenance, but this figure was inadequate from the start...

Labels: road maintenance

BILL * USA - Requiry drivers to clean snow, ice from vehicles advances

Gannett,NJ,USA -The Daily Record, by LARRY HIGGS -January 26, 2009: -- Drivers, including truckers, will have to clean off snow and ice from their vehicles before getting on the road under a bill released by the Assembly Transportation Committee on Monday... The committee unanimously voted to release an amended bill over protests by trucking industry representatives that the proposed requirement is unsafe for truck drivers and relies on technology they say doesn't exist here. "There are still problems. This could be the last straw for some (small) trucking companies," said Sam Cunningham of Spring Lake, who handles government relations for the Association of Bi-State Motor Carriers. Safety experts said ice and snow flying off the tops of tractor trailers and other large trucks is a hazard...

Labels: laws and bills USA

TRUCKING INDUSTRY NEWS * USA - Con-way Reports Fourth-Quarter Loss

Carrier Suspends Guidance, Freezes Administrative Pay

Ann Arbor,MI,USA -Transport Topics -26 Jan 2009: -- Con-way Inc. late Monday reported a fourth-quarter loss, suspended its full-year earnings outlook and set a pay freeze for management and administrative employees... The carrier reported a fourth-quarter loss from continuing operations of $49.7 million, or $1.09 a share, compared with earnings from continuing operations of $36.9 million, or 78 cents, a year earlier... Revenue fell to $1.13 billion, from $1.2 billion a year earlier... For the full-year, Con-way reported net income from continuing operations of $58.6 million, or $1.23 per share, compared with $146.8 million, or $3.06, a year earlier. Both years included the effect of special charges...

Labels: trucking industry news USA

TRANSPORT STATISTICS * USA - Truck Tonnage Plunges 14.1% in December

Washington,DC,USA -Transport Topics -26 Jan 2009: -- Truck tonnage plummeted 14.1% in December from the same month last year, the biggest year-over-year decrease since February 1996, American Trucking Associations said late Monday... The decline in the group’s for-hire seasonally adjusted truck tonnage index marked the third straight year-over-year decline, following 11 straight increases... The tonnage index lost 11.1% from November’s level, the largest month-to-month drop since April 1994, when the less-than-truckload industry was on strike, ATA said... (Photo by Tom Biery/Trans Pixs)

Labels: transport statistics

CLEAN TRUCK PROGRAM * USA - L.A. port's clean-truck running on empty

Funding for a $20,000 incentive for buyers of clean-fuel trucks has dried up. Some trucking firms have spent millions of dollars on greener fleets, expecting the cash

Los Angeles,CAL,USA - The Los Angeles Times, by Ronald D. White -January 27, 2009: -- It sounded like a good deal: The Port of Los Angeles offered to pay $20,000 incentives as part of its Clean Trucks Program, launched Oct. 1 in conjunction with the neighboring Long Beach port to reduce pollution from trucking fleets serving the harbor... That sent Vic La Rosa into overdrive... The owner of Total Transportation Services Inc. ordered 111 trucks, some powered by cleaner-burning diesel and some by liquefied natural gas, each eligible for the $20,000 because they meet 2007 emissions standards... Then came the roadblocks... Port officials were expecting only modest interest in the incentive program -- maybe 1,000 rigs -- because eligibility hinged on far surpassing the requirements of the Clean Trucks Program, which initially bans all trucks built before 1989. Instead, more than 100 large and small trucking companies turned out, with as many as 7,500 trucks requiring grant money over the course of the next year... On top of that, state officials nixed funding assistance and a federal agency blocked the collection of fees to support the program, forcing the L.A. port to dip into its strained budget for $44 million to cover the first 2,200 trucks... That's leaving Total Transportation Services of Rancho Dominguez and other motor carriers short of a full load... Some carriers are worried they could go under if they don't get all of the help they had anticipated... (Photo by Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times - Vic La Rosa, owner of Total Transportation Services, ordered 111 cleaner-fuel trucks, each eligible for a $20,000 incentive through the Port of Los Angeles. The program was more popular than expected)

Labels: Clean Trucks Program

BORDERS' TROUBLES * Europe - Bulgaria wants clean transport corridor to Greece for its carriers

Sofia,Bulgaroa -BTA -January 26, 2009: -- Bulgaria will request a clean transport corridor to Greece for Bulgarian carriers, Transport Minister Peter Moutafchiev told BTA Sunday. The request will be made Monday through the Foreign Ministry and through Brussels, he added. Meanwhile road hauliers asked the government to claim compensations from the Greek government for the losses they sustain as a result of the blocking of the Greek border... The Transport Minister met with representatives of transport companies on Sunday as the three border crossings on the Bulgarian-Greek border remained closed for yet another day of protests by Greek farmers... (Photo: 10km of trucks Q-up to cross border to Bulgaria)

Labels: borders troubles

TORCHED TRUCKS * India - Naxals torch 28 trucks in Chhattisgarh

Raipur,Kanker,India -The Press Trust of India (New Delhi) -Jan 26, 2009: -- Armed naxalites torched 28 trucks and vehicles engaged in road construction work in Dantewada and Kanker districts last night... Senior police officials said today that a large number of armed naxalites barged into a vehicle garage of a prominent contractor in Kirandul and torched 24 vehicles stationed there. Similarly, the extremists torched four tippers in Kanker district... Dantewada SP Rahul Sharma told PTI today that more than 400 armed naxalites stormed the garage of prominent contractor K A Papachand and Company Limited (KAPCL) last night. They first threatened the family members of the contractor and his workers of dire consequences if they raised any alarm and then set afire the vehicles stationed in the garage.

Labels: torched trucks

TRUCKMAKERS' NEWS * WORLDWIDE

* Germany- MAN Extends Truck Plant Closures Amid ‘Weak’ Demand

Munich,Germany -Bloomberg, by Andreas Cremer -Jan. 26, 2009: -- MAN AG, Europe’s third-largest truckmaker, will suspend commercial-vehicle production longer than planned to counter “weak” demand, a spokesman said... MAN’s commercial-vehicle unit plans to halt manufacturing for 70 days in the first half of the year. The step will affect about 9,400 workers at plants in the German cities of Munich, Nuremberg and Salzgitter... Heavy-truck sales in Germany, Europe’s largest economy, fell 17 percent in December while new registrations of all sizes of trucks and buses in Europe tumbled 24 percent, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association said Jan. 23, citing “the sharpest decline in demand” since 1993... (Photo, Wikipedia: This logo is on the front of all MAN trucks and buses. The lion comes from Büssing AG, a company that MAN acquired in 1971)

* South Africa - Scania Trucks Boost Cape Commerce

Cape Town,South Africa -The Cape Business News -27 Jan 2009: -- Scania SA’s Cape Town dealer recently handed over no less than seven new Scania R-Series tractors to four eager operators. Five new Scania R470 tractors and two Scania R380 tractors were handed over on the same day... Joos Oberholzer owns Obie Transport, based in Upington and operating from Namibia, took delivery of the two R380 6x4 trucks... (Photo: Scania Ad Tonneau 1903)

* Russia - Kamaz expects $46 million loss in 2009

Moscow,Russia -Reuters -Jan 26, 2009: -- Russia's largest truck maker, Kamaz, expects a net loss of 1.5 billion roubles ($45.59 million) in 2009 due to a sharp drop in demand and volatility on the currency markets, it said on Monday... Truck makers have been harder hit by the global financial crisis than most other segments of the auto industry... Their main clients in the construction industry have had to cancel large orders for trucks after banks began refusing loans for building projects...

* India - Subbarao May Keep Indian Interest Rates on Hold at Record Low

New Delhi,India -Bloomberg, by Cherian Thomas -Jan. 27, 2009: -- India's central bank Governor Duvvuri Subbarao , who alone decides monetary policy, unexpectedly cut rates on Jan. 2 to coincide with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's second fiscal stimulus package since December... Singh is also under pressure to prop up the economy and prevent companies from scaling back production and firing workers before general elections scheduled for April and May this year... Tata Motors Ltd., India's biggest truckmaker, stopped production at a commercial-vehicle factory for six days this month. Hyundai Motor Co.'s Indian unit is cutting output and firing temporary staff. Indian exporters said this month they expect to cut about 10 million jobs by March...

* USA - Eaton’s Fourth-Quarter Income Declines

Cleveland,OH,USA -Transport Topics -26 Jan 2009: -- Vehicle parts manufacturer Eaton Corp. said Monday its fourth-quarter profit fell to $163 million, or 98 cents per share, from $256 million, or $1.71, a year earlier... For the full year, its overall net income rose 6% to $1.06 billion, while income per share was $6.52, down 1% from a year earlier. Sales rose 18% to a record $15.4 billion...

Labels: truckmakers news worldwide

DIRECTIVES * USA - Obama Directs Regulators to Tighten Auto Rules

President Obama directed federal regulators on Monday to move swiftly on an application by California and 13 other states to set strict limits on greenhouse gases from cars and trucks

Washington,DC,USA -The New York Times, by JOHN M. BRODER -January 26, 2009 — The centerpiece of Monday’s announcement was Mr. Obama’s directive to the Environmental Protection Agency to begin work immediately on granting California a waiver under the Clean Air Act to allow the state, a longtime leader in air quality matters, to set standards for automobile emissions that are stricter than the national rules... He also ordered the Transportation Department to begin drawing up rules imposing higher fuel-economy standards on cars and light trucks... Mr. Obama directed the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider the Bush administration’s past rejection of the California application. While he stopped short of flatly ordering the reversal of the Bush decision, the agency’s regulators are now widely expected to do so after completing a formal review process... The president also directed the Transportation Department to draw up rules to implement a 2007 law requiring a 40 percent improvement in gas mileage for autos and light trucks by 2020. The Bush administration failed to write any regulations to enforce the new law... Ray LaHood, a former Republican congressman from Illinois, and the new Secretary of Transportation, was present for this morning’s announcement and afterwards dismissed the auto makers’ complaints... To avoid losing another year on emissions and fuel efficiency, Mr. Obama will order temporary regulations to be completed by March so that automakers will have enough time to retool for vehicles to be sold in 2011. Final standards for later years will be determined by a separate process that, under Mr. Obama’s order, must take into consideration legal, scientific and technological factors... Mr. Obama said his administration would take into account the financial troubles of the auto industry, which have already received billions of dollars in federal aid and are seeking more... “Our goal is not to further burden the struggling American auto industry,” he said, but rather to make a major step toward addressing global warming by cleaning up the American transportation fleet... (Photo by Stephen Crowley/The New York Times - President Barack Obama signed the presidential memorandum in the White House on Monday)

Labels: Obama's Administration

ELECTRIC TRUCKS * USA - Provo testing out chinese electric trucks

Provo's mayor is electrified

Provo,UT,USA -The Associated Press/The Salt Lake Tribune -26 Jan 2009: -- Mayor Lewis Billings is temporarily exchanging a regular car for an electric one. The city has two new Miles ZX40ST electric trucks, which arrived two weeks ago and are now licensed to be on the street... Billings, who is test-driving the vehicle, says the cars are part of an effort to find ways to reduce costs, pollution and dependence on foreign oil... Billings says engineers will review the performance of the electric trucks after six months to see whether it's worth getting more of them... The trucks reach a maximum speed of 25 mph and have a range of about 40 miles. Deputy Public Works Director Scott Peppler says they cost about $20,000 each... The trucks are built by the Tianjin-Qingyuan Electric Vehicle Co. of Tianjin, China... (Photo: cars in the China's factory)

Labels: electric trucks

BIODIESEL CONCERNS * Canada - BCTA accuses province of ignoring those ones

Langley,BC,USA -Truck News -23 Jan 2009: -- After a meeting with senior representatives of the provincial government on Jan. 15, the B.C. Trucking Association is now concluding that the provincial government is not taking any of the BCTA’s biodiesel mandate concerns seriously... The BCTA states in a recent news release, that it “has striven over a number of months to encourage the government to address evidence that biodiesel may cause problems for some engines - including fuel filter plugging, fuel clouding/gelling and damage to fuel systems - before the new Renewable Fuel Requirements Regulation (RFR) is implemented on January 1, 2010. BCTA has emphasized that our findings on biodiesel should not take the place of scientific research, but that there are enough red flags on issues of extreme importance to the trucking and bus industries, to warrant a more considered and unbiased approach to a wholesale fuel mandate”... The BCTA indicates that it has repeatedly drawn the attention of the government’s Climate Change Secretariat, to numerous unresolved issues that transportation companies will face in 2010 when, by law, biodiesel enters B.C.’s petroleum diesel pool...

Labels: alternative fuels

Truckers taking on water * Canada - As MA ferry delays persist

Take a number and wait

North Sydney, NS,CAN -Today's Trucking -26 Jan 2009: -- It's the Canadian way. And it's what truckers who use Marine Atlantic will be doing a lot more of... The Crown North Sydney-Port aux Basques ferry says it will soon implement a number system to clear the backlog of trucks that forms when the service is experiencing delays, as (if you ask most truckers) it often does... Local media reports that when the terminal lot is full and back-ups begin, arriving truckers will be given a number and told to park off-site. They will be contacted in sequence when it's their turn to proceed to the lot... Reportedly, Highway 162, Prince Mine Road has been approved for parking while truckers wait to board... (Picture: A trucker who's been parked on the Trans Canada for two days snapped this pic of available parking at Marine Atlantic. Drivers claim the ferry is telling them the lot is full.)

Labels: truckers' complain

CONVICTED * Germany - Former Deutsche Post CEO, Zumwinkel, Convicted of Tax Evasion

Bonn,Germany -Traffic World (USA), by Thomas L. Gallagher -26 Jan 2009: -- A German court on Monday convicted Klaus Zumwinkel of tax evasion... The court suspended a two-year prison sentence and imposed a $1.3 million fine on the former Deutsche Post CEO... Zumwinkel was arrested last year in front of news cameras and resigned from his position. He immediately repaid back taxes of $5.1 million and admitted his offense. When his trial opened last week, he repeated his admission of evading just under $1.3 million in taxes between 2002 and 2006. He described his method of putting money into a foundation in Liechtenstein to avoid taxes. "It was the biggest mistake of my life," he said.

Labels: tax evasion

TRUCKING INDUSTRY CRISIS * USA & Canada - YRC Bankruptcy Risk High, says Analyst

Overland Park,Kansas,USA -Traffic World, by John Gallagher -26 Jan 2009: -- Details of the waiver conditions YRC Worldwide obtained from its bank lenders Jan. 16 reveal that the nation's largest trucking company may not have improved its chances of avoiding bankruptcy, according to Wall Street analyst Ed Wolfe of Wolfe Research... YRC's banks provided the waivers until mid-February to allow sufficient time to amend its credit facilities and renew asset backed securitization without a delay in reporting the company's 2008 results... "We believe the restrictive conditions in these waivers likely shows how little hand YRCW has left in these negotiations and we continue to believe a high risk of some form of bankruptcy remains"...

* Canada - Carriers cutting capacity; Pessimism over '09 worsens

Toronto,ONT,CAN -Today's Trucking -26 Jan 2009: -- Going on at least 18 months now, the Canadian freight recession has gloomed the economic outlook for many Ontario fleets. On the bright side, however, fleets are responding to the wilting demand by cutting capacity rather by squeezing the market further with cheap trucking... So says the 1Q09 Business Pulse e-Survey conducted by the Ontario Trucking Association earlier this month, which shows a marked deterioration in the provincial outlook for the next three to six months... OTA President David Bradley, points out that, "most trucking companies, and certainly those who will survive this difficult period, are taking the actions they can and structuring themselves to weather this storm and to come out of it when things do start to recover stronger than before"... Of the 82 trucking companies that responded to the survey, half said they were pessimistic about overall industry prospects over the next three months, up from 34 percent in the 4Q08 survey. And percentage of trucking companies that are optimistic about the coming quarter dropped to 17 percent, from 24 percent... (Photo: Truckers who thought the clouds would part in the first half of 2009 will have to wait longer yet)

Labels: trucking industry crisis

TRANSPORT & LOGISTIC NEWS * WORLDWIDE

Briefing Weekly News

from Freight Forwarding

* Germany - DPWN ends a nervous year
Deutsche Post World Net has previewed profit figures which show results holding up in 2008 despite an ominous fall in the last quarter. Read Full Brief Here

* USA - Forward Air hit by weak fourth quarter
US freight forwarder Forward Air has provided updated earnings guidance for the fourth quarter 2008. Read Full News Here

* UK - Forwarder Anglo Overseas goes into administration
Well-known UK freight forwarder Anglo Overseas Limited has been put into administration, Vantis Business Recovery Services announced this week. Read Full News Here

* Dubai/UAE - GAC opens business development office in France
Dubai-headquartered shipping, logistics and marine services group GAC has announced the opening of a logistics business development office in Lille, France. Read Full News Here

from Contract Logistics

* USA - UPS SCS gains traction in healthcare sector
A recently-announced decision by Merck & Co to outsource a large part of its vaccine and pharmaceutical distribution in the US to UPS Supply Chain Solutions represents a market breakthrough for the latter. Read Full Brief Here

* Qatar/UAE - GWC, Agility Qatar plan to merge operations
Agility Qatar has announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding to enter into merger discussions with the Gulf Warehousing Company (“GWC”). Read Full News Here

* Holland - Vopak 2008 results on track
Dutch chemical logistics specialist Vopak has released a statement saying that it had achieved its corporate objectives in 2008. Read Full News Here

* Japan - NYK Logistics to support slimming product rollout in Europe
NYK Logistics (UK) has reported its appointment by national pharmacy chain Rowlands Pharmacy to support the UK launch and European roll out of a new slimming product. Read Full News Here

* Canada - Company Lakeside Steel selects PLS Logistics
PLS Logistics Services announced this week that it had been selected by Canadian company Lakeside Steel Corporation to manage the latter’s transportation logistics needs. Read Full News Here

* USA - CEVA wins LG Electronics contract in Brazil
Global supply chain management company CEVA Logistics this week announced it had signed a contract with consumer electronic goods manufacturer LG Electronics in Brazil. Read Full News Here

from Express & Mail

* Europe - EU lawyer concludes Royal Mail postal service should be VAT-exempt
An EU Court of Justice Advocate General has decided that the postal service of the UK’s Royal Mail organisation is, in principle, exempted from value added tax. Read Full News Here

* UK - Royal Mail targets near doubling of annual profit in 2008-09
UK postal and parcel service provider Royal Mail Group this week reported that “for the first time in almost 20 years”, all its business units were making an operating profit. Read Full News Here

* Germany - DHL opens new gateway in Mexico
DHL Express has significantly expanded its infrastructure/capacity in Mexico with the official inauguration yesterday (January 22) of two new facilities. Read Full News Here

from Road Freight

* USA - YRC bank discussions take another step forward
US trucking group YRC Worldwide Inc announced on Friday (January 16) that it had completed “an important step” toward finalising an amendment with its banking group. Read Full News Here

* Germany - DHL launches Europe-Middle East road freight service
DHL Freight, the overland transport business of German global logistics group DPWN, yesterday (January 20) officially launched a regular road freight service between Europe and the Middle East. Read Full News Here

from Air Cargo

* Germany -. Fraport Group reports 2.5m tonnes in 2008
Frankfurt Airport has reported that its cargo throughput declined significantly in December 2008, influencing its performance in 2008 as a whole. Read Full News Here

* UK - Freight body welcomes third Heathrow runway
The British International Freight Association has given qualified support to the UK government’s decision to allow a third runway at Heathrow airport. Read Full News Here

* France - Air France-KLM warns of quarterly operating loss
Air France-KLM has warned that a range of factors, including a “strong decline” in cargo revenue, mean it is likely to have incurred an operating loss in the latest quarter. Read Full News Here

* Malaysia - Asia Pacific airlines confirm “dire” cargo performance in December
The Association of Asia Pacific Airlines yesterday (January 22) released its preliminary traffic figures for 2008 and warned of “an extremely difficult year” to come. Read Full News Here

from Warehousing

* USA - ProLogis reports further leasing activity in Japan
ProLogis has leased approximately 24,200 sq m at ProLogis Parc Ichikawa I, a distribution facility near Tokyo, Japan. Read Full News Here

from Shipping/Ports

* Container industry facing its toughest challenges ever
According to latest data, 2009 will be the toughest year yet for the global container shipping industry, with ocean carrier casualties a real possibility. Freight rates in the major east-west trade lanes continue to fall, and with vessel supply set to exceed cargo demand by a considerable margin this year the outlook for the industry is bleak. Read Full Brief Here

* Malaysia - Somalia and Nigeria drive increase in piracy
The ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB) Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) has released its annual piracy report which shows an unprecedented rise in maritime hijacking in 2008. Read Full Brief Here

* Sweden - Stena cuts Rotterdam-Harwich freight capacity
Ro-ro ferry operator Stena Line has announced a planned freight capacity reduction on its route between Rotterdam, Europoort, in the Netherlands and Harwich, south-east England. Read Full News Here

* Singapore - PSA reports strong growth in port volumes
PSA International has announced strong growth in containers at its port projects around the world, but warns for the future. Read Full News Here

* China - CSCL estimates more than 50% slump in annual profit
China Shipping Container Lines yesterday (January 21) warned that its net profit figure for 2008 is likely to be less than half that achieved the previous year. Read Full News Here

from Intermodal

* China - Outlines future of the Pearl River Delta
The Chinese government has released its plan for the future development of that country’s most prosperous region, the Pearl River Delta. Read Full Brief Here

* France - Channel Tunnel back to full capacity in February
Eurotunnel has announced that it will restore full Channel Tunnel capacity by reopening ‘Interval 6’ during the night of 9-10 February 2009. Read Full News Here

* USA - CSX reports revenue and operating income growth in Q4 2008
US rail and intermodal freight service operator CSX Corporation this week reported “solid” financial results for the fourth quarter of 2008. Read Full News Here

from IT Solutions

* Abu Dhabi/UAE - Integrated security system boosts Abu Dhabi border inspections
US border security and traffic management company Perceptics has reported the development of an enhanced integrated border security system for Abu Dhabi Customs in the UAE. Read Full News Here

Labels: transport and logistics news

JOB CUTS * USA - Tens of thousands more layoffs are announced

Washington,DC,USA -AP, by JEANNINE AVERSA -26 Jan 2009: -- It's already been a lousy year for workers less than a month into 2009 and there's no relief in sight. Tens of thousands of fresh layoffs were announced Monday and more companies are expected to cut payrolls in the months ahead... A new survey by the National Association for Business Economics depicts the worst business conditions in the U.S. since the report's inception in 1982... Caterpillar Inc., the world's largest maker of mining and construction equipment, announced 5,000 new layoffs on top of several earlier actions. The latest cuts of support and management employees will be made globally by the end of March. An additional 2,500 workers already have accepted buyout offers, and ties have been severed with about 8,000 contract workers worldwide. In addition, about 4,000 full-time factory workers already have been let go... Peoria, Ill.-based Caterpillar also reported Monday that its fourth-quarter profit plunged 32 percent. The company expects sharply lower results this year as global economic problems cut into its business... (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File – In this Nov. 18, 2008 file photo, a semi hauling a load of lumber pulls through The Home Depot store parking lot in Ankeny, Iowa. Home Depot Inc. said Monday, Jan. 26, 2009, it's cutting 7,000 jobs and closing its smaller Expo chain as the recession continues to batter the nation's housing market)

Labels: jobs' cut

Funny Sex Sign on Truck * USA

Akron,Ohio,USA -wompels.com -25 Jan 2009: -- Its not really a Sex Sign, its Service Economy Express. But it got your attention didnt it? Clever trucker advertising from Akron, Ohio...

Labels: truckers humour

CARGO THEFTS * Canada - Shift into high gear

Toronto,ONT,CAN -National Post, by Melissa Leong -January 23, 2009: -- Few would pause to consider the contents of two orange aluminum tractor trailers rumbling along the 380-kilometre stretch of highway from Sudbury to Toronto. Inside, the six-metre long containers appeared to be lined with dirt... But to the organized bandits who hijacked the truck in July, 2007, it was 40 tonnes of nickel sinter, a metal used in the making of such things as electrodes for fuel cells, and worth $2-million... The truck driver was found bound and gagged in the back of a car in a commuter parking lot near Guelph. Police located the containers without a trace of powder and the tractor was burned out on the side of a road. The case remains unsolved... Cargo thieves will take anything — a load of bubblegum, chicken beaks and feet, wedding dresses. Last weekend, someone stole a tractor trailer full of eggs from a Mississauga yard. The empty truck was recovered in Scarborough yesterday... In 2008, thieves stole $22-million worth of goods in Peel Region. With its vast industrial yards, its circuit of highways and its proximity to Pearson International Airport, Peel is considered by some in the industry to be the cargo theft capital of North America... Across the GTA, thieves are becoming more organized, and striking more often... (Photo, Peter Redman/National Post: Thefts of cargo are on the rise in the GTA)

Labels: cargo theft

JOB CUTS * Japan - Bridgestone to cut 800 jobs at U.S. plant

Tokyo,Japan -Japan Today -25, January,2009: -- Bridgestone Corp has announced that it was shedding about 800 jobs in the United States to cope with weaker demand. Bridgestone said it would stop making tires for passenger cars and light trucks at its Tennessee factory with the loss of 543 jobs... It will also reduce production of tires for bigger trucks at the same plant, resulting in a further 259 layoffs... Bridgestone said it hoped to re-hire workers when the economy picks up, perhaps as early as the fourth quarter of 2009... The company will continue to produce tires for larger trucks and buses at the plant with more than 700 workers...

Labels: jobs' cut

TRUCKING INDUSTRY TROUBLES * USA - Economic troubles hitting industry especially hard

Downturn in retail, real estate means less goods to transport

Sacramento,CAL,USA -The Sacramento Business Journal, by Melanie Turner -January 23, 2009: -- A worsening economy is one more blow to the trucking industry, which took a hit from record-high fuel prices last summer and still faces costly state Air Resources Board regulations... The California Trucking Association is starting to see a decline in membership as companies shut down. The association reported more than 100 companies merged or went out of business in the past year, Julie Sauls, vice president of external affairs for the association wrote in an e-mail... Nationally, more than 2,000 trucking companies, each with at least five trucks, went out of business in the first six months of last year, the most recent period for which data was available from the American Trucking Association. Most could no longer afford to do business, Sauls said... (Photo by Noel Neuberger Sacramento Business Journal - Devine Intermodal driver Don Reed drops a trailer at Farmers’ Rice Cooperative in West Sacramento. Devine hauls a lot of agricultural and food products, so has been somewhat insulated from the economic slowdown)

Labels: trucking industry news USA

TRUCKS' MARKETS * Europe - West betters East in 2008 European truck market

Frankfurt,Germany -Reuters, by Christiaan Hetzner & Dan Lalor -Jan 23, 2009: -- The European heavy truck market came out of 2008 with no more than a bloody nose as demand for big rigs outperformed that for passenger cars in the economic downturn, turning the usual industry logic on its head... New registrations of trucks weighing at least 16 tonnes edged some 2.2 percent lower to 313,765 units last year due to a 15 percent drop in new EU member states after western Europe managed to record a slight increase, industry data published by Brussels-based ACEA showed on Friday... This divergence highlighted a contrasting geographical trend in the truck market, where countries like Britain or the Netherlands posted nearly 20 percent growth rates compared to double-digit declines in Poland and Romania... Even in the final month of last year, western Europe easily bettered its eastern neighbours after Italy saw registrations of heavy trucks rise 9.1 percent and Britain recorded a gain of almost 13 percent... In Poland the market shrank by 63 percent last month...

Labels: trucks markets worldwide

TRUCKMAKERS' NEWS * WORLDWIDE

* USA - Mack Trucks to close Macungie plant for two weeks

Macungie,PENN,USA -The Lehigh Valley Express-Times -January 23, 2009: -- Mack Trucks said today it will close its Macungie plant for two weeks in the coming month because of the economic downturn... Spokesman John Walsh said the shutdown affects most of the plant's 425 unionized employees. Affected workers can apply for unemployment benefits... The shutdown announced today comes one month after Mack said it was laying off 180 workers at Macungie because of economic conditions... Manufacturing operations are slated to remain in Macungie...

* Holland - Paccar's DAF plans to save 100 mln euros in 2009

Amsterdam,Holland -Reuters -Jan 24, 2009: -- Paccar's Dutch truck brand DAF plans to cut costs by at least 100 million euros ($129.6 millon) in 2009, a DAF spokesman said on Saturday... Job cuts could not be ruled out, and would depend on the condition of the truck market in the coming year as well as Dutch government measures on temporary unemployment, the spokesman told Reuters... Like others in the car industry, truck makers are feeling the sting of a global credit crunch that has drastically tightened lending conditions for customers including hauliers and other logistics groups...

Labels: truckmakers' news worldwide

AUTOMAKERS' CRISIS * USA - President faces tough choices on ailing automakers' future

Washington,DC,USA -The Detroit News, by David Shepardson -22 Jan 2009: -- With 10 inaugural balls and a first spin in the new presidential limousine behind him, President Barack Obama faces a series of urgent decisions affecting the future of the domestic automakers... He must approve new fuel efficiency rules by April 1 and decide whether to allow California and 13 other states to impose independent tailpipe emissions limits. His administration also must decide how $25 billion in low-cost retooling loans are awarded... And when he makes those decisions over the next four years, he'll help reshape what Americans drive -- and which companies are building those vehicles. Obama this year will choose an "auto czar" or team of people to oversee the restructuring of the domestic auto industry and decide whether to lend General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC more government money... GM has received $9.4 billion in aid and could get another $4 billion in February as part of the loan package approved by then-President George W. Bush. Chrysler got $4 billion and has said it will ask for another $3 billion, which will also be up to Obama...

* Road for autos runs through Oval Office

Detroit,MICH,USA -The Detroit News, by Daniel Howes -January 23, 2009: -- The former Michigan governor, Democrat Jim Blanchard, nailed it: "The first priority" for the Obama administration isn't enforcing new environmental rules but ensuring "the automakers are rescued because none of the regulations will make any difference if they aren't viable," he told The Detroit News... And if Detroit's automakers aren't viable, he might have added, they're collapsing into bankruptcy or dismemberment or both, making a bad jobs outlook much worse... President Barack Obama is poised to face an automotive conundrum potentially pitting him, the Detroit auto industry and the more immediate needs of the beleaguered national economy against pressure from environmentalists, fuel economy zealots and the powerful California delegation, including the two members of Congress who escorted him to his inauguration... How Obama proceeds with the automakers over the weeks and months ahead likely will have historic implications for a prominent cornerstone of American manufacturing. The new president has more power to dictate the fundamental direction of this key sector of the national economy -- and the economic future of Michigan -- than perhaps any president since FDR in the early days of World War II...

* Obama urged to uphold EPA rule

Washington,DC,USA -The Detroit News, by David Shepardson -January 24, 2009: -- Opposition is emerging to the possibility of President Barack Obama reversing a Bush administration decision not to grant California and 13 other states the right to impose their own vehicle tailpipe emissions limits... Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox and the National Automobile Dealers Association on Friday urged Obama not to take action. Their separate requests came two days after California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and California Air Resources Board chairwoman Mary Nichols formally asked the Obama administration to grant the state a waiver under the Clean Air Act to impose a 30 percent reduction in tailpipe emissions by 2016. Thirteen other states have adopted the California rules... The NADA said in a report Friday that the California rules would force automakers to ration deliveries of larger vehicles to comply with the requirements and that could lead to some customers buying vehicles in adjacent states without the rules. The rules "will distort the auto market and (do) nothing to decrease greenhouse gases or improve fuel economy on a national basis," the report said... Cox asked a federal appeals court Friday to reject efforts by California and the other states to impose their own limits on tailpipe emissions, which would require higher fuel economy standards because that is the primary way to reduce emissions. The District of Columbia and Bernalilo County in New Mexico have also adopted the California rules... "The auto industry is working hard to reform and retool," Cox said. "Allowing state-by-state fuel efficiency standards would be devastating to the auto industry"... Cox filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, arguing that the Clean Air Act and the Energy Policy and Conservation Act pre-empt California from independently regulating auto emissions... "If California and a handful of other states are allowed to dictate environmental policy for the entire country on a state-by-state basis and not a uniform basis, our nation's economy will become further weakened," Cox said. "I will not stand by silently while a handful of states try to drown the U.S. auto industry in new regulation"... California wants to require passenger cars and other vehicles under 3,750 pounds to average 43.7 miles per gallon and light trucks 26.6 mpg by 2016, and automakers have lost a string of lawsuits trying to block the effort. They are in the process of drafting additional limits through 2020... Automakers say the California rules would place undue financial burdens on the industry, and drive the price of new cars and trucks sharply higher. The final barrier to implementation, a waiver from the EPA, was defeated in December 2007 when the Bush administration denied the request. California then sued the EPA, a congressional investigation was launched and during the campaign, Obama pledged to grant the waiver, if elected... "We feel strongly that under its new leadership, EPA will recognize that the decision made by the former administrator to deny California the waiver to enforce our clean car law was flawed, factually and legally, in fundamental ways," Nichols said... The Supreme Court ruled in April 2007 that the EPA has the express authority to regulate tailpipe emissions, though the Bush administration didn't exercise that authority... The NADA report noted the problems compliances poses for auto dealers. Just one county in New Mexico has adopted the California emissions standards and dealers there would lose sales to neighboring counties. The report also noted that BMW has one dealership in Vermont, which also adopted the tougher rules. That could force BMW to curtail delivery of some vehicles, if customers don't buy a balanced mix...

Labels: automakers' crisis

* USA - TRUCKER YRC OFFERS TO AVOID BRANKRUPTCY

YRC offers fee to modify loan agreement

New York,NY,USA -Reuters, by Jacqueline Poh & Dena Aubin -Jan 23, 2009: -- YRC Worldwide Inc., North America's largest truck company, is offering a 75 basis point fee to lenders to relax key financial covenants on its $962 million loan, banking sources told Reuters Loan Pricing Corp on Friday... The borrower had asked for a waiver on Jan. 12, giving a 50 basis point fee, a rare offer for waiver requests, according to RLPC... YRC is asking for a waiver on some of its financial covenants that it has temporarily defaulted on and to extend its repayment of some loans... The possibility of amendments to relax financial covenants was one of the discussion topics, but sources said it appears there will be no major changes except for the definition of those covenants... YRC could be forced into bankruptcy if it fails to reach an agreement with lenders, misses those targets and defaults on its loans, Fitch Ratings warned earlier this month when it downgraded the company's ratings... YRC currently has over $250 million of cash and expects to generate additional cash from sale and leaseback transactions and from sales of excess facilities, while reducing its 2009 equipment purchases by integrating its national companies... Also previously announced, the company is integrating the operations and local sales teams of its two largest brands, Yellow Transportation and Roadway... (Photo USA Today: Keith Graham, a truck driver for a unit of America's biggest trucking firm, YRC Worldwide, loads a truck in Holland, Michigan September, 20, 2007. YRC says its business has been hurt by slowing economic growth, especially in the upper midwest because of the declining U.S. auto industry. Picture taken September 20, 2007.)

Labels: trucking industry troubles worldwide

TRUCKMAKERS' NEWS * China - NEW PLAYER: China's CIMC plans $59 mln truck venture

Shanghai,China -Reuters, by Fang Yan, & Jacqueline Wong -Jan 23, 2009: -- China's CIMC, the world's largest shipping container maker, said on Friday one of its subsidiaries had agreed to set up a truck manufacturing venture with two domestic partners capitalised at 400 million yuan ($58.5 million)... CIMC will hold a 45 percent stake in the venture, mostly making medium and heavy trucks, it said in a statement... Initial investment in the venture, expected to start production in 2011, will be 2 billion yuan, it said... CIMC also said it expects a 40 percent to 60 percent fall in its net profit in 2008 as the global financial crisis takes a toll on ocean shipping demand... Unaudited net profit in 2008 was about 1.5 billion yuan compared with 3.17 billion yuan in 2007. ($1=6.837 Yuan)...

Labels: truckmakers' news worldwide

ELECTRIC TRUCK * USA - ZAP to Introduce Electric Van and Truck

At Nation's
Largest Auto Dealer Expo January 24

Santa Rosa,Cal,USA -CNNMoney.com -January 23, 2009: -- To help automotive fleets reduce emissions and operating expenses, electric car pioneer ZAP will debut a five-passenger, 4-wheel, 100 percent, plug-in electric van at the National Automobile Dealers Association annual conference and exposition, booth number 4763, January 24-27, 2009 in New Orleans... ZAP's new Shuttle was designed for passenger transport or cargo. The seats are removable so it can convert into a cargo vehicle with 108 cubic feet and a 900 lb. total carrying capacity.

.. Large slider doors on both sides and a rear lift hatch provide convenient access to the rear compartment, which is weatherproof and secure. At 138 inches, its length is just shy of most mini-vans and at 6 ft 2 inches it has plenty of headroom. The ZAP Shuttle was designed for transportation around large campuses, to and from parking lots, and, because it produces zero emissions, through factories, warehouses and other indoor uses... Air conditioning, solar panels and a rapid charger are available options. MSRP: $14,700...

Labels: electric minitrucks

CLEAN TRUCKS * USA - FMC judge allows petitioners in S. Calif. trucks case

Newark,NJ,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by R.G. Edmonson & Bill Mongelluzzo -January 23, 2009: -- A Federal Maritime Commission administrative law judge has ruled that petitioners in the Port of Los Angeles-Long Beach clean-trucks case can intervene in the proceedings.... The FMC administrative law judge’s order allows supporters and opponents of the anti-pollution program to use discovery procedures to collect information from the two port authorities and terminal operators that sought FMC approval for the plan... The FMC is concerned that certain concession requirements in the ports’ programs could reduce trucking competition and raise rates. The FMC’s main concern involves a Port of Los Angeles mandate that motor carriers employ drivers rather than contract with independent owner-operators... Petitioners in the case include the American Trucking Associations; Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association; three environmental groups filing jointly -- the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club, and the Coalition for Clean Air -- and the National Association of Waterfront Employers... In a separate case involving the Southern California clean-trucks program, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has set oral arguments for March 4 in Pasadena. That case involves a request by the American Trucking Associations for a preliminary injunction against the ports’ concession requirements... The ATA charges that a U.S. District Court in Los Angeles last summer erred in denying its request for a preliminary injunction based on truck safety and national security reasons. That decision is under appeal before the 9th Circuit...

Labels: clean trucks suit

AWARD * USA - Yokohama commercial tire wins 'Nifty Fifty' award from Heavy Duty Trucking

North Olmsted,OH,USA -Motor Age/Search-Autoparts.com -Jan 23, 2009: -- Yokohama’s 103ZR commercial tire has earned one of Heavy Duty Trucking’s 2008 Nifty Fifty awards, which are chosen by its editors as the best new product introductions during the last year... The 50 winners were selected from hundreds of new product articles appearing in the magazine and judged on their usefulness to the truck operator in terms of innovation, serviceability and performance... John Cooney, Yokohama’s director of commercial sales explains that “the 103ZR offers a compound, tread design and casing construction that delivers longer treadwear and low rolling resistance. The casing innovations actually predict changes in tire shape that occur in early stages of wear. The result is increased durability due to stabilized performance over the wear of the tire”... Other special features of the 103ZR include rock-ejector platforms that keep stones and debris out of the grooves to enhance durability; superior fuel economy due to stronger and more pliable rubber that reduces heat generation and provides low rolling resistance; and a wide tread, partnered with a 23/32-inch tread depth that promotes long, even wear...

Labels: tiremakers news

TECHNO NEWS * USA - High-Tech Solutions Ease Inaugural Challenges

One of the most important components on Inauguration Day was RITIS, the Regional Integrated Transportation Information System

Maryland,USA -Ascribe Newswire -15 Jan 2009: -- ... The system centralizes and consolidates various streams of traffic information and other data onto a single screen. The software was developed by the University of Maryland and provides a single, comprehensive real-time view... RITIS merges, translates, standardizes, and redistributes large volumes of real-time data from multiple agencies. Traffic and incident conditions across the region's transportation network can be viewed in both two- and three-dimensional graphical formats... CATT is now working to build-in additional data sources. These include weather information, public safety agencies, and transit groups...

Labels: technonews

INFRASTRUCTURES * USA - Department of Transportation Signs I-95 Corridor of the Future Development

Agreement With Five States to Relieve Congestion

Washington,DC,USA -Federal Highway Administration Release -16 Jan 2009: -- The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has signed an agreement with the Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia departments of transportation to bring congestion relief along a 1,054 mile stretch of the 1,917-mile-long I-95 corridor from Florida to Virginia... "We are proactively encouraging states to focus on relieving congestion on corridors that are critical to the nation's economy and America's businesses," says Transportation Secretary Mary Peters. The agreement was signed as part of DOT's Corridors of the Future Program...(Map)

Labels: infrastructures

New DOT Secretary * USA - Senate Panel Approves LaHood as

Washington,DC,USA -Transport Topics -22 Jan 2009: -- A Senate panel Wednesday approved Ray LaHood to be Secretary of Transportation, passing his nomination by President Obama to the full Senate, the New York Times reported... LaHood, who just retired as a Republican congressman from Illinois, the panel he is committed to repairing U.S. bridges, roads and rail systems, Bloomberg reported...

* Government job opportunities and Obama ethics rule

Washington,DC,USA -Land Line Magazine, by Jami Jones -January 22, 2009: -- Lobbyists who had hopes of working for federal agencies that they may have lobbied in the past are out of luck because of an executive order issued by President Barack Obama... The executive order issued Wednesday, Jan. 21, mandates that all appointees in every executive agency – including the Department of Transportation and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration – must sign an ethics pledge that among other things limits the roles of lobbyists... Drilling that down to the trucking industry, that provision keeps anyone in appointed roles at the DOT or FMCSA from working as a lobbyist for any trucking-related interest... Appointees are also prohibited from accepting any gifts from lobbyists or lobbying organizations...

To read the full executive order issued by Obama, click here...

Labels: Obama's Administration

Highway Safety Advocates * USA - Call for Improvement in State Statutes

USA -National Underwriter (Property & Casualty - Risk & Benefits Management Edition), by Mark E. Ruquet-12 Jan 2009: -- According to the "2009 Roadmap to State Highway Safety Laws" report from the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, a number of jurisdictions have failed to implement proven safety laws. The coalition of insurance, consumer, health, safety, and law enforcement groups recommends the federal government withhold funding from states until proven safety laws are in place. Many of the laws relate to teen driving, drunk driving, and the use of seat belts, child booster seats, and motorcycle helmets, and the group says no state has enacted all 15 proven safety laws. Among the worst states listed in the report were Arkansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming because they have less than seven of the laws enacted. Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department Chief Patrick Burke said, "Model safety laws should be consistent across our jurisdictional boundaries."

Labels: road safety debate

TRUCKING INDUSTRY NEWS * USA & Canada

* USA - Werner’s 4Q Profit Improves

USA -Transport Topics -23 Jan 2009: -- Truckload carrier Werner Enterprises said its fourth-quarter profit rose 20% as it trimmed the size of its fleet to save money... Fourth-quarter net income was $18.6 million, or 26 cents per share, up from $15.6 million, or 22, a year ago... Revenue fell 7% to $490.6 million, Werner said late Thursday... (Photo by Tom Biery/Trans Pixs)

* Glenncoe Transport to close up shop

Kelowna,B.C.,CAN -Today's Trucking -23 Jan 2009: -- The loss of its largest customer has forced regional hauler Glenncoe Transport out of business... Speaking to local media in Kelowna, B.C., President Don Coe said a major customer, making up 70 percent of his business, recently went under. A handful of other top ten accounts also ceased operations, and the carrier couldn't find enough new freight quick enough to stay afloat... After nearly four decades in business, Glenncoe (which was acquired by Bison Transport a little over a year ago) will continue in full operation until its doors are closed on May 31, 2009... (Photo: Business in the Pacific market Glenncoe concentrated on is drying up, fleet owner say)

* Heartland Express Prepares to Downsize

North Liberty, IO,USA -Traffic World, by John Gallagher -23 Jan 2009: -- Truckload carrier Heartland Express, in the midst of a tractor and trailer upgrade that began in the third quarter last year, said it's prepared to downsize its fleet through attrition if freight demand gets worse... Low demand was responsible for an 8.1 percent decline in profits for the year. The North Liberty, Iowa-based company, generated $70 million in net income on revenue of $626 million, which was up 5.7 percent. In the fourth quarter, a $6.1 million gain on disposal of equipment boosted net income 16.4 percent to $19.4 million on revenue that fell 7 percent to $142 million...

* USA - Changing Truck Terms

Green Hills, PA,USA - Traffic World, by John Gallagher -26 Jan 2009: -- The overcapacity that grips the trucking industry is hitting the $25 billion truck leasing market, and leasing companies are adjusting their strategies to deal with plunging demand... Penske Truck Leasing was forced to cut 50 positions at its Green Hills, Pa., headquarters earlier this month as a result of weakening demand for commercial truck rentals. It was the first time in the $4 billion company's 40-year history it had to resort to laying off employees at headquarters...

Labels: trucking industry news USA and CAN

Homeland Security * USA - Use only TSA sources for TWIC info

Twicprogram.com has no affiliation with TWIC or the federal government, or the 1.5 million truck drivers and other port workers required to be enrolled in TWIC by April...

Grain Valley,MO,USA -Land Line Magazine -January 22, 2009: -- Two days after one truck driver applied for his Transportation Worker Identification Credential, he received an e-mail from an address attached to twicprogram.com, which is apparently an advertising-based search engine... Gary, a driver from Georgia who asked his last name not be used, set up his TWIC enrollment in recent weeks and applied in person on Jan. 15 at an Indiana TWIC enrollment center. Two days later, he received an e-mail from an address attached to twicprogram.com, which is registered to Los Angeles-based Oversee Research and Development LLC... Gary said he’s concerned someone has hacked into the TWIC Web site and possibly taken information that could be used for identity theft...

Labels: TWIC hacking

TRUCK STOP PROSTITUTION * USA - Business fights back against truck stop prostitution

Chapman propositioned him over CB radio, asking, "Who wanted some company?"

Johnson County,IN,USA -WTHR (Indianapolis,IN)/Eyewitness News, by Jennie Runevitch -Jan 23, 2009: -- Police say prostitution has become a constant problem along Indiana highways. They say businesses along I-65 are attracting more than semi traffic, and that they've become a hotbed for prostitutes cruising for customers... But Tuesday, a manager at Whiteland's Pilot Truck Stop took action. He called police after noticing the same car in the lot visit up to 30 times in the last two months... Investigators followed the car to the Flying J across the street. They saw a woman get out and spend time in a trucker's cab... Afterward, police arrested 21-year-old Carissa Chapman, who is eight months pregnant, for prostitution... The truck driver, 47-year-old Clayton Woodman, told police he paid her $80 for sex... (SEE VIDEO)

Labels: road prostitution

FEES * USA - Ports to begin clean-trucksfee on cargo after delays

Torrance,CA,USA -The Daily Breeze -21 Jan 2009: -- The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles will begin collecting a $35 per cargo container fee on Feb. 18 to help subsidize the replacement of thousands of polluting trucks, it was announced Wednesday... The ports will also unveil an electronic gate access system to enable the fee collection and improve security at shipping terminals, a port official said... Collection of the clean-trucks fee was scheduled to begin in November but was delayed twice due to review by the Federal Maritime Commission, the government agency that oversees the port...

Labels: clean truck fee

JOB CUTS * USA - Bridgestone-Firestone to cut 543 jobs at La Vergne

Murfreesboro,TN,USA -The Murfreesboro Post -January 22, 2009: -- Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations (BATO) today announced that it will cease passenger and light truck manufacturing at its La Vergne tire plant due to negative economic conditions... Following the December announcement, and prior to making any final decisions, the company had ongoing discussions with the leadership of the United Steelworkers (USW) on what, if any, actions could be taken to continue consumer tire production at that facility. Following those meetings, the union communicated with its members that it would take “massive cuts to wages and benefits” to bring passenger and light truck tire production at that facility to a financial break-even point...

Labels: jobs' cut

DANGEROUS JOB * USA - Houston Trucker Claims, Sues Promaxima Manufacturing

Houston,TX,USA -The Houston Press, by Chris Vogel -Jan. 22 2009: -- At 2 a.m., Houston trucker Daniel Moye was the only driver on the road, speeding through the remote mountains of northern California to meet his deadline and drop off a load of exercise equipment... Suddenly, his engine stopped. An electrical lead from the battery to the cut-off switch broke. Not equipped, trained or authorized to fix it and out of cell phone range, Moye found himself stranded in what is known in California as the Lost Coast... More than six hours later, Moye arrived at the ranger station. It was closed. Moye tried again to get a cell phone signal. No luck. His only hope was what he thought looked like a fire station at the base of the mountain way off in the distance... After resting an hour, Moye set out again, not knowing it was a 17 mile hike that lay ahead. By nightfall, he was still walking, as temperatures dipped below 40 degrees and icy, gale-force winds punished his face and body. Moye was exhausted and his feet were badly blistered. Convinced he was going to die, he sat down and wrote a farewell letter to his wife in case his body was ever found... But Moye pressed on, eventually making his way to the building, which turned out to be a prison. From there, he was moved to a local hospital, where Moye was treated for hypothermia, dehydration, and his ravaged feet. When the hospital discharged Moye, doctors gave him several narcotic pain-killers... Moye claims his employer did spring for a hotel room, but because his company did not provide him transportation and because Moye had left his wallet in the rig, Moye had to hobble one mile to the hotel on his damaged feet...

Labels: truckers' surviving

Truckers Worried * Australia - About domino effect of McArthur River Mine closure

Ver mapa más grande

Borroloola,NT,Australia -ABC News -Jan 22, 2009: -- The Australian Trucking Association says the potential closure of the McArthur River mine will have a big effect on the Territory economy... The association's Northern Territory executive officer Louise Belato says "... the obvious come into the camp facility at McArthur River and it's going to have a flow on effect to other road transport companies because there is going to be more players with less work. The domino effect means that the trucking companies that have got existing contracts are going to be directly effected and that's going to come at a price"...

Labels: trucking markets prognosis

CLEAN PORTS * USA - An overhaul of New York’s port rules would bring vital jobs to the state

New York,NY,USA -The New York Daily News, by Jerrold Nadler& Andrea Batista Schlesinger -January 22, 2009: -- With President Obama's administration urging Congress to pass an economic stimulus quickly, local leaders should waste no time pointing to a smart, stable source of middle-class jobs: port trucking in New York's regional economy. If we reverse years of dangerous deregulation, thousands of new low-paying jobs could quickly become sustainable middle-class jobs... According to a new study by the Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations... That deregulation enabled bosses to dispatch cargo through so-called independent contractors. Treating these drivers as small businessmen rather than employees has prohibited the drivers from joining unions - and essentially enabled the companies to cheat on payroll taxes... A majority of these port truckers are recent immigrants with no negotiating power or workplace rights. Their lives are dictated by ocean shipping lines and trucking companies trying to get maximum productivity at minimal expense. These drivers have to pay for their own truck maintenance, fuel, road taxes, tire insurance and tolls. They are covered neither by workers' compensation nor by any labor legislation that protects fair wages, hours, occupational safety or health... They're not the only victims of the system. The Rutgers study reveals how the structure of the trucking industry passes off huge labor and environmental costs to the rest of us. Ordinary citizens are paying for the environmental effects of diesel emissions, for the health care of drivers and their families who can't afford insurance and for the congestion on freight routes that often run through residential neighborhoods... Port truck drivers operating with such low profit margins are most likely to use the least expensive trucks available, older and far more polluting than newer, cleaner trucks. The cheapest trucks emit the most dangerous fumes in neighborhoods closest to the ports, making the air increasingly toxic and causing severe spikes in asthma rates... The Port Authority, along with Gov. Paterson and Mayor Bloomberg, should push for new regulations that would require the trucking industry to absorb the total labor and environmental costs of doing business in our region... (Video from YouTube, by travelfilmarchive -May 28, 2008: "Influence of Geography & History on Port of New York 1949" - An educational film about the Port of New York and how it was formed Footage from this subject is available for licensing from www.globalimageworks.com)

Labels: clean ports

TRUCKS' PRODUCTS & SERVICES * UK

* International service lauches to protect vehicles and drivers around the world

London,UK -Truck.Net (USA) -21 Jan 2009: -- GLOBALWATCH launches today as a pioneering international service that protects vehicles and drivers around the world. It helps you contact the police when a crime or emergency occurs wherever you are in the world. At its core is the industry-leading EUROWATCH service that covers more than 40 countries and is now seamlessly extended for North and South America, the Middle East, Russia and South Africa... The service includes Stolen Vehicle Tracking, Alarm Monitoring and eCall and, uniquely, connects with any GPS tracking device... Auto and Freight crime are now large scale industries run by sophisticated, international gangs controlling all aspects of their ‘value chain’. This ranges from acquiring detailed intelligence through to the theft, dispersal and resale of goods and vehicles via international channels. In particular these gangs exploit the ease of passage that exists across national borders and the limited resources applied to cross-border law enforcement...

Labels: trucks' products and services

TRUCKMAKERS' NEWS * USA

* McNeilus Delivers First of 144 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Refuse Trucks to Seattle

Dodge Center,Minn,USA -Truck.Net -22 Jan 2009: -- McNeilus Companies, Inc., an Oshkosh Corporation company, delivered the first of 144 new state-of-the-art Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) refuse trucks to the city of Seattle, Washington... The purchase of these new McNeilus CNG-powered refuse trucks are part of a statewide initiative to cut vehicle emissions in advance of the 2010 federal emissions requirements... McNeilus expects to deliver the remaining CNG vehicles in late March 2009...

* Waukesha-based truck manufacturer acquires New York hybrid supplier

Waukesha,WI,USA -The Milwaukee Small Business Times (Milwaukee,WI) -January 22, 2009: -- DUECO Inc., a Waukesha-based manufacturer of medium and heavy duty trucks for the utility and contracting market, recently purchased the assets of Odyne Corp., a Hauppauge, N.Y.-based clean technology company that specializes in propulsion systems for hybrid trucks and buses... Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. However, the New York company has been closed, and all production will be shifted to DUECO’s Waukesha headquarters, a spokeswoman told BizTimes today...

Labels: truckmakers' news USA

TAX * Canada - Ontario business groups seek change

Toronto,ONT,CAN -Today's Trucking -22 Jan 2009: -- One of the big political buzzwords of the day is change, and the Ontario Trucking Association wants to see some of it in the province’s tax system... The OCC report -- entitled, “Made in Ontario: The Case for Sales Tax Harmonization” -- illustrates three potential options for the harmonization of Ontario’s sales tax with the GST... The first is a simple harmonization which replaces the PST with an 8 percent tax harmonized with GST; the second is made-in-Ontario alternative A, which exempts the purchases of children’s clothing, “clean” energy, labor intensive services and the MASH sector (Municipal, Academic, Schools, Hospitals) from the Ontario portion; and the third is made-in-Ontario alternative B, which zero-rates financial services from the Ontario portion...

Labels: tax policys

TRUCKING INDUSTRY NEWS * USA

* Celadon Reports Flat 2Q Income

Indianapolis,IN,USA -Transport Topics -22 Jan 2009: -- Truckload carrier Celadon Group said its fiscal second-quarter profit was unchanged at $1.7 million, or 8 cents a share, from a year ago... Revenue for the quarter ended Dec. 31 fell 13.7% to $119.6 million, while freight revenue excluding fuel surcharges dropped 14% to $98.5 million, the company said late Wednesday...

* UPS Survey Shows Small Businesses Optimistic About Future

USA -Transport Topics -21 Jan 2009: -- A survey sponsored by UPS Inc. shows that small business owners are optimistic about the financial future, despite harsh economic times, the company said Wednesday.. The UPS Business Monitor, conducted in September and October 2008, showed that 91% of small business owners expected their companies to be in the same or better financial shape in a year. The survey was again conducted in December, when 86% of business owners responded affirmatively to the same question, UPS said...

Labels: trucking industry news USA

Rules & Regulations * USA - Obama puts hold on 11th-hour regs, including EOBRs

In one of his first moves after taking office, President Barack Obama put a hold on the flurry of regulations issued by the Bush administration in its last days

Washington,DC,USA -Land Line Magazine -Jan. 21, 2009 – In a Tuesday, Jan. 20, memo sent to heads of executive departments and agencies, Obama’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel brought the executives and agency heads up to speed on Obama’s plan for “managing the federal regulatory process”... In the memo, Emanuel wrote that agency heads appointed by Obama must review any regulation not having cleared the White House Office of Management and Budget during the Bush administration... One such regulation was a final rule on the mandated use of electronic on-board recorders... The EOBR – or “black box” – rule was sent to the White House for approval in November 2008 and did not get the needed approval to be published in the Federal Register before Bush left office... In addition to bringing regs at OMB back in for review, any regulation that Bush’s OMB office had approved but had not published officially in the Federal Register is also on hold waiting for agency review, according to the memo... Specifically for the trucking industry, three new regulations were published in the Federal Register during the last days of the Bush administration. Those include final rules on responsibility for intermodal chassis, driver medical certification verification and the new entrant safety assurance process...

Labels: rules and regulations

FUEL THEFTS * Canada - Diesel still targeted by fuel filchers

Edmonton, AB,Canada -Today's Trucking -22 Jan 2009: -- Fuel prices may have dropped dramatically in the last few months, but not entirely enough for thieves, it seems... Southern Alberta police report an uptick in fuel thefts at remote, unmanned cardlock locations around Edmonton and Calgary... Moreover, thieves are breaking into transport trucks to steal their fuel cards for the pumps, which they'll siphon fuel from and put it into storage tanks... Police say almost every cardlock in Edmonton has been hit. Fuel can sell for as low as half the pump price on the street. Some thieves resell the fuel cards...

Labels: fuel thefts

TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS, Mergers & Acquisitions * WORLDWIDE

Strategic Buyers - International Deals

* Germany - 12 Jan: Gebrüder Weiss GmbH has acquired Hellman-PKZ, s.r.o... Hellman provides road transport services from its base in Prague, Czech Republic. Terms were not disclosed.

* Denmark - 13 Jan: DSV A/S has acquired 25.0% of DFDS A/S for $123.7 million... Based in Copenhagen, Denmark, DFDS provides sea transportation services for freight and passengers in northern Europe.

* Germany - 14 Jan: Emons Holding Gmbh & Co. Kg has acquired 20.0% of MB Logistic Limited ("MBL")... MBL provides logistics and transportation services from its base in Bulgaria. Terms were not disclosed.

Financial Buyers

* Kuwait - 12 Jan: Global Capital Management Ltd., has acquired 60.0% of Jassim Transport & Stevedoring Company WLL ("JTS")... Based in Safat, Kuwait, JTS provides port, equipment leasing, logistics, bulk fuel and warehousing services. Terms were not disclosed.

* USA - 13 Jan: Main Street Capital Corporation, management of Smokey Point Distributing, Inc. ("SPD") and Don Daseke have acquired SPD for $34.0 million... Based in Arlington, WA, SPD provides transportation of large, irregular and difficult to handle cargo such as heavy machinery, aerospace parts and raw materials.

* USA - 13 Jan: Bay Grove Capital LLC has acquired Seafreeze Limited Partnership... Seafreeze provides cold storage warehousing services from its base in Seattle, WA. Terms were not disclosed.

Labels: Mergers and Acquisitions worldwide

TRANSPORT & LOGISTIC NEWS * WORLDWIDE

Briefing Weekly News

from Freight Forwarding

* USA - North America Logistics 2009 - Executive Summary
This comprehensive report on the state of the transport and logistics market in North America shows that, despite the economic downturn, there are opportunities for investors, both in infrastructure improvement projects and in the provision of new services, across the continent. Read Full Brief Here

* USA forwarders oppose TSA antitrust immunity request
The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America has submitted comments to the US Federal Maritime Commission opposing a Transpacific Stabilisation Agreement request for antitrust immunity. Read Full News Here

* Japan - Forwarder YAS establishes own company in Mexico
Japanese global forwarder Yusen Air & Sea Service has set up its own company in Mexico, in part to support the further development of US-Mexico cross-border logistics operations. Read Full News Here

from Contract Logistics

* Holland - TNT wins contract from UK bathroom products supplier
TNT has secured a contract from Bristan Group covering the movement of bathroom and sanitary ware items to major stockists across the UK, it was announced yesterday (January 13). Read Full News Here

* Abu Dhabi - ADBIC and Maersk Logistics conclude study on logistics service centre
Abu Dhabi Basic Industries Corporation and Maersk Logistics have “successfully” concluded a joint study into the feasibility of providing end-to-end supply chain services to tenants at Abu Dhabi Polymers Park. Read Full News Here

from Express & Mail

* Feature: The prospects for an unhappy New Year?
Estimating the prospects for the logistics sector in 2009 is complicated, due to instability in the wider economy. However, this only makes the importance of looking ahead all the greater, as the world’s economy fundamentally changes, dragging the logistics sector with it. Read Full Brief Here

* Spain - Geodis hands over Iberian parcel distribution to Azkar
Iberian market logistics operator Azkar has announced the signing of a parcel distribution partnership agreement with Geodis, part of French rail and logistics group SNCF. Read Full News Here

* UK - Royal Mail to launch lower cost service for 'green' direct mail
UK postal organisation Royal Mail plans to introduce a new bulk mail service which offers a lower price tariff for direct mail "that meets newly developed environmental standards". Read Full News Here

* Germany - Christmas B2C deliveries boost DHL Express UK business
DHL Express this week announced that its B2C (business-to-consumer) package deliveries in the UK last month were up almost 60% on December 2007. Read Full News Here

* Germany - Revised structure for Italian parcel service operator Porta a Porta
German logistics provider Hermes Logistik Gruppe and Swiss Post International have restructured their stakes in Italian parcel and logistics company Porta a Porta. Read Full News Here

* USA - Pitney Bowes opens new mail facility in California
Pitney Bowes this week announced the opening of a new facility in Corona, California, US, which offers both domestic mail pre-sort and international mail services. Read Full News Here

from Road Freight

* Denamrk - DSV looks to work DFDS harder through equity stake
Fast-expanding Danish global forwarder and logistics service provider DSV has purchased a quarter of Scandinavian ro-ro shipping line DFDS. Read Full Brief Here

* USA - Motor freight executives reunite to launch new operation
Two specialists in growing non-asset based transportation companies have reunited to direct a new player in the US freight transport market, it was announced on Friday (January 9). Read Full News Here

* USA - FedEx Freight offers 1030 hours delivery with money-back guarantee
US regional LTL service provider FedEx Freight yesterday (January 13) launched a service offering delivery by 1030 hours, backed with a money-back guarantee. Read Full News Here

* USA - Moves to speed up cross-border trucking
The US Department of Transportation yesterday (January 15) reported the signing of two agreements designed to speed up cross-border truck movements to/from both Mexico and Canada. Read Full News Here

from Air Cargo

* Japan - Planned NCA/JAL air cargo 'code share' highlights strategic rethink
Nippon Cargo Airlines, the air freight subsidiary of NYK Line, is discussing a ‘code share’ with Japan Airlines for cargo flights between Japan and the US. Read Full Brief Here

* Hong Kong/China - Hactl reports near 4% decline in annual air cargo tonnage
Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Limited yesterday (January 11) reported that its 2008 aggregate air cargo throughput had registered a 3.8% decline to just over 2.53m tonnes. Read Full News Here

* Swiss - Aviation sector ground handler Swissport to pull out of Singapore
Swissport International yesterday (January 12) announced it would cease ground handling operations in Singapore at the end of March and focus its activities on other Asian markets. Read Full News Here

* China - Cathay Pacific delays completion of third cargo terminal
Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific yesterday (January 15) confirmed that it was postponing the completion of a new cargo terminal, two days after reporting a 24% drop in cargo traffic. Read Full News Here

from Warehousing

* USA - ProLogis leases 22,000 sq m of warehouse space in Poland
Global distribution facility provider ProLogis yesterday (January 12) announced it had signed new lease agreements for warehouse space at two ProLogis parks located near Wroclaw, Poland. Read Full News Here

* USA - Hanesbrands starts operations from new US west coast distribution centre
Hanesbrands Inc, a US-based global marketer of innerwear, outerwear and hosiery apparel, has started shipping products from its new 1.3m sq ft distribution centre in Perris, California. Read Full News Here

from Shipping/Ports

* USA - Resistance to TSA's capacity control bid increases
Resistance is increasing among shippers and freight forwarders in the US to moves by the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement (TSA) to secure the authority to manage container vessel capacity on behalf of its 14 ocean carrier members in the eastbound trade from Asia to the US west coast. Read Full Brief Here

* Denmark - Maersk to "enhance" Middle East-Med-US east coast services
Global container shipping operator Maersk Line has announced “new exciting enhancements” to its services between the Middle East/Indian sub-continent and US east coast Read Full News Here

* Japan - These lines to suspend second loop of New Andes service
Japanese global container shipping operator ‘K’ Line has announced a winter programme for its service linking Asia and Mexico/west coast South America. Read Full News Here

* USA - Maritime policy must take broader view, argues new report
A report prepared for the US Department of Transportation Maritime Administration says the country’s maritime policy must focus on freight transportation as a whole. Read Full News Here

* Belgium - EC approves acquisition of Brostrom by A.P. Moller-Maersk
The EC this week announced it had cleared the proposed acquisition of Swedish product tanker operator Broström by Danish shipping and industrial group A.P. Moller-Maersk. Read Full News Here

from Intermodal

* USA - CSX announces preliminary 2008 Q4 results
US rail, intermodal and rail-to-truck transload service provider CSX Corporation yesterday (January 12) announced preliminary 2008 fourth quarter earnings per share of 63 US cents. Read Full News Here

* Russia - R. Railways outlines 2008 figures and future plans
Russian Railways has published its preliminary traffic figures for 2008, including “record” freight volumes, and outlined its investment/development plans for the next couple of years. Read Full News Here

* USA - Freight services index fell 1.4% in November
The US Freight Transportation Services Index fell 1.4% in November 2008 from its October level, the national Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported yesterday (January 14). Read Full News Here

* France - Tunnel fire leads to 11% fall in Eurotunnel truck shuttle traffic
Eurotunnel, the company which operates the Channel Tunnel rail link between England and France, yesterday (January 15) published its unaudited revenue and traffic figures for 2008. Read Full News Here

Labels: transport and logistics news

TRAFFIC TROUBLES * USA - Channahon truck stop is a nightmare

Channahon,ILL,USA -The Joliet Herald News (Joliet,IL), by JEANNE MILLSAP -January 22, 2009: -- Joe Cook says in all his years of being on the village board, first as trustee and now as village president, there's never been an issue residents have been more vocal about than the traffic jams around the Pilot Travel Center on Route 6, just east of Interstate 55... The village says the backups are the direct result of semi-trucks stacking at Pilot, then having difficulty making the left-hand turns back onto Route 6 to get back on the interstate.... Pilot asks for more: On Monday, a representative from Pilot, Bill Mulligan, asked trustees to approve an additional three diesel pumps at the center, a truck scale, and 40 more truck parking stalls... Village Trustee Scott Slocum has been drawing a hard line on the travel center, asking fellow board members for the past couple of board meetings to approve a resolution for the Illinois Department of Transportation to erect a "right-in, right-out only" sign at the Pilot, forcing trucks to exit right onto Route 6 and drive east to Houbolt Road, where they would access I-80 back to I-55... (Photo by Liz Wilkinson - A semi-trailer driver turns left (west) out of the Pilot gas station onto Route 6 near the Interstate 55 interchange in Channahon on

Labels: traffic jams

TIRE THEFTS * USA - Truckers victims of

Costs eventually passed on to consumers

Victorville,CA,USA -The Victorville Daily Press, by BEATRIZ E. VALENZUELA -January 21, 2009: -- As the bottom has fallen out of the metal market, the sharp decrease in metal thefts has allowed another problem to come to light — the theft of tractor-trailer tires and rims... This has been a nuisance to the trucking industry for years and cost the local trucking industry tens of thousands of dollars in replacement costs. But locating and returning tires worth hundreds of dollars each has no easy solution, officials said... “We recently had a case where someone stole the tires and rims off of a trailer but left the cargo inside — beer,” Detective Carlos Flores with the San Bernardino County Auto Theft Task Force said. “They had even popped open the seal, so they knew the beer was there”...

Labels: tire thefs

NEW FEES & TAXES - USA - Idaho gov's plan: Raise $174M in 5 years for roads

ID,USA -The Associated Press/MSNBC -Jan. 20, 2009: -- Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter aims to phase in tax and fee increases to raise $174 million annually after five years for highways and bridges. His proposal would generate $47 million the first year. To win over skeptics, he's touting efficiency measures at the Idaho Transportation Department, such as a 10 percent cut in administration costs and an annual accountability report. Here's how he'd raise the money:

GAS TAX: Idaho's current fuel tax rate is 25 cents per gallon, unchanged in 13 years. Otter would raise it two cents a year over the next five, raising $17.6 million more per year, for a total of $88 million.

LIGHT TRUCKS: Registration fees on trucks between 8,000 and 60,000 pounds are now $48 to $311, depending on vehicle weight. That would rise after five years to $120.40 to $561.65. The changes would generate $2.45 million in the first year and a total of $9.3 million in five years.

HEAVY TRUCKS: Otter would raise registration fees on big trucks by 5 percent in the first year, generating $2.5 million. A task force would examine the current registration system, to see if all classes of trucks pay their fair share.

Labels: fees and taxes

NEW ADMINISTRATION * USA - Celebration over, Obama's work begins Wednesday

Washington,DC,USA -The Associated Press/The Trucker News, by JENNIFER LOVEN -21 Jan, 2009: -- President Barack Obama is turning from the star-studded, crowd-pleasing pomp of his inauguration to the workaday task of governing a hurting nation of 304 million and meeting the soaring expectations that he and others have put on his shoulders... Twin crises of the economy and Iraq figured to take center stage Wednesday, Day One for the new administration... "Tonight, we celebrate. Tomorrow, the work begins," Obama declared Tuesday night at the Commander in Chief Ball, one of 10 official black-tie celebrations that kept him up late into the night... A meeting with Obama's economic team was planned for Wednesday to assess his approach and plot the way forward. Taking over the White House with 11 million Americans out of work and trillions of dollars in stock market savings lost, Obama said turning around the limping economy is his first and greatest priority... (AP photo)

Labels: Obama's Administration

HIGHER TRAFFIC FINES * USA - Florida OKs' ones, to bolster budget

FL,USA - Land Line Magazine. by Keith Goble -January 20, 2009: -- The Florida Legislature approved a bill that would increase fines for driving violations. It is intended to help plug a $2.3 billion budget hole... Meeting during a special budget-cutting session this month, lawmakers endorsed legislation that would raise the cost of all traffic tickets by $10 while speeders would pay $25 more... Judges also would be prohibited from waiving fines... The extra money for the state is expected to reach $16 million this year and $63 million in 2010. It would be routed into newly created trust funds that pay public defenders and prosecutors...

Labels: trucks fines

License Testing Shutdown * USA - Leaves “thousands” of drivers in limbo

Thousands of truckers may soon be traveling U.S. highways on expired CDLs without even knowing it

TENN,USA -Land Line Magazine, by Charlie Morasch -January 20, 2009: -- Drivers who obtained a commercial driver’s license through an unnamed third-party tester in Tennessee between May 2005 and January 2008 may be required to do a complete retest, according to the Tennessee Department of Safety... Tennessee has mailed letters to the approximately 1,300 CDL-holders in that state who obtained CDLs from the third-party tester – one the state declines to name – between May 2005 and January 2008, said Laura McPherson, a spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Safety... The department has a breakdown of affected drivers by state, McPherson said, including about 1,200 from Georgia and likely at least 5,000 nationally who were issued CDLs from the third-party tester during that 32-month span...

Labels: CDLs' troubles

NEW ADMINISTRATION * USA

* Obama administration to inherit EOBR controversy

Washington,DC,USA -Land Line Magazine, by Charlie Morasch -January 20, 2009: -- As DC gets a makeover, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has been watching what some call “midnight regulations,” ones that Bush administration could make happen in the weeks leading up to today, the first day of the new Obama administration... Federal agencies send their proposed regulations to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget for final review... Among the significant regulatory actions related to trucking that did not get the green light during the final week was a mandate for electronic on-board recorders in commercial trucks. It’s a mandate that is unpopular with professional truck drivers and one that has long been opposed by OOIDA... The EOBR rule was sent to the OMB in November 2008, and it is now apparent that it has failed to make it to the table during the last working days of the Bush administration... OOIDA will be watching the OMB and how the EOBR review will fare under the new administration...

* EPA Pick Is ‘Open’ to Carbon Tax. Jackson says She Prefers Cap and Trade

Washington,DC,USA -Transport topics, by Eric Miller -19 Jan 2009: -- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator-designate Lisa Jackson said she was “open to discussion” of a carbon tax to limit greenhouse gas emissions and would immediately begin a review of the Bush administration’s denial of California’s request to regulate those emissions from automobiles... Steven Chu, Obama’s energy secretary-designate, also said he supported Obama’s preference for a cap-and-trade program over a carbon tax... Clayton Boyce, spokesman for American Trucking Associations, said the federation was opposed to cap-and-trade for mobile sources such as heavy trucks and cars...

Labels: carbon taxes, EOBR rules

WEATHER TROUBLES * USA - NC, SC drivers warned of icy roads after snowfall

Raleigh,N.C,USA -The Associated Press/The Trucker News, by MIKE BAKER -21 Jan 2009: -- ... In North Carolina, Gov. Bev Perdue called the state of emergency order a precaution so the state could better use its resources to respond. She said she hoped the snowfall was enough for kids to have fun, but urged drivers to stay off the road... Officials warned drivers to be wary of road hazards Wednesday as lingering snow could melt and turn to ice... Road crews across the state were expected to salt and sand roads throughout the night to combat slick roads as Tuesday's snow began melting and turning into ice with freezing temperatures predicted. The forecast caused North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue on Tuesday to declare a state of emergency... (AP photo)

Labels: weather troubles

NOT an AWARD * USA - OIG report on Highway Watch not really a thumbs up

“Initially,” the report stated, “DHS wanted the program to involve all highway and motor carrier industry stakeholders and to provide appropriate sector-specific training". ATA did not implement that plan

Washington,DC,USA -The Trucker News Services -20 Jan 2009: -- ... A September 2008 report by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the Department Homeland Security (DHS), which recently was made public, found fault with the American Trucking Associations’ enrollment strategy for the program, saying ATA used only its state associations to sign up members and “left potential partners antagonistic” towards the program... In 1998 ATA established the Highway Watch program to take advantage of the experience and commitment of transportation workers to safeguard the nation’s infrastructure and highway-related transit tunnels. With funding from the federal Department of Transportation (DOT), truck and bus drivers and other workers were taught to recognize and report hazardous conditions, criminal activity and other behavior... In August of 2003 the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) entered into its first agreement with ATA and between 2004 and 2007 awarded ATA $63 million for the program... Last year, the Consolidated Appropriations Act set aside an additional $16 million for the Trucking Industry Security Grant Program (ATA trademarked the name, Highway Watch) and stated that the funding would be “competitively awarded”... It didn’t award the monies to ATA...

Labels: governmental subsidies

TRUCKMAKERS' NEWS * WORLDWIDE

* Germany - Scania Drops After Porsche Makes Mandatory Bid for Truckmaker

Stuttgar,Germany -Bloomberg, By Benedikt Kammel -Jan. 19, 2009: -- Scania AB, Sweden’s second-largest maker of heavy trucks, declined as much as 1.1 percent after Germany’s Porsche SE made a mandatory bid for the company that’s lower than Scania’s last stock price before the offer... Porsche is bidding 67.1 kronor for each Scania Class B share, and 68.52 kronor for each Class A share, the Stuttgart-based company said in a release today. The bid values Scania at about 31.6 billion kronor ($3.91 billion), Porsche said... Scania, based in Soedertaelje near Stockholm, dropped as much as 0.75 krona to 68.25 kronor in the Swedish capital. The Class B shares, which are more widely traded, closed at 69 kronor on Jan. 16...

* South Africa - MBSA trucks had good year

South Africa -News 24.com -21 Jan 2009: -- The commercial vehicle division of Mercedes-Benz South Africa (MBSA) including Freightliner/Mitusbishi FUSO/Western Star ended 2008 on a high note with total sales of 9 167 units in the over 3,5 t GVM segments, giving a market share of 26,4%, an improvement of 3,2% over 2007... Mercedes-Benz South Africa has in its stable the complete Mercedes-Benz product range from the Vito and Sprinter van range, to the Atego, Axor and Actros trucks, and the bus and coach offering... Total year-end volumes for Mitsubishi FUSO reached 3 331 units, an improvement of 21% over 2007... Furthermore, the American range which includes the Freightliner Argosy and Columbia, have increased their sales volumes to 1 719 units, an increased growth of 46% over 2007 volumes of 1 181 units... Freightliner continues to hold the number one spot in the long-haul 6x4 tractor market... Western Star custom built trucks continue to sell strongly with their biggest volume of sales coming from a mixture of off-highway mining trucks and on-highway recovery/breakdown trucks...

Labels: truckmakers' news worldwide

INFRASTRUCTURE * Canada - Truckers feeling the loss of Pattullo Bridge

Vancouver,BC,USA -The Vancouver Sun, by Gordon Hamilton -January 19, 2009: -- The loss of the Pattullo Bridge is taking its toll on the region's trucking businesses, where drivers are spending wasted hours caught in traffic jams caused by motorists diverting to other routes... From Port Metro Vancouver, where pick-up and delivery turn-around times were being monitored Monday to determine the impact of the traffic chaos, to individual trucking lines, who are spending more time on the road, there will be a business cost to the bridge closure... (Picture: Pattullo-from-skyt)

Labels: border infrastructures

TRUCKING INDUSTRY NEWS * Australia - New trucking laws would make life easier

Murray,QLD,Australia -The Murray Valley, by LUCILLE KEEN -20 Jan 2009: -- Trucking and freight companies across the Murraylands are supportive of the Australian Trucking Association’s plan to press the Federal Government for a single set of national trucking laws through its release of a consultation paper... Penta Transport Murray Bridge owner Peter Penta said the plan would be good for his business and staff as he has a number of trucks that frequently travel interstate... Mr Penta said a national registration and licensing system was a good idea... Australian Trucking Association chairman Trevor Martyn said the association would release a consultation paper which would recognise the industry’s concerns about the red tape and inconsistent laws... (Picture - One law: Penta Transport Murray Bridge owner Peter Penta said a uniform system of regulation is what the trucking industry needs)

* National heavy vehicle laws inch closer

Sydney,Australia -Transport & Logistic News -20 January 2009: -- The Australian Government will hold a series of meetings with the trucking industry in January and February about its plan for national trucking laws... The government is also seeking information from operators who can provide examples of the cost and difficulty of coping with Australia’s eight different sets of heavy vehicle laws and nine different registration systems... The government launched the consultations after releasing what it called a ‘consultation regulatory impact statement’ into its plan for a national framework for the regulation, registration and licensing of trucks and truck drivers. The consultation statement is based on principles endorsed by all of Australia’s transport ministers... ATA chairman Trevor Martyn said the statement recognised the industry’s concerns about the red tape and inconsistent laws imposed on trucking operators...

Labels: trucking industry news Australia

STUDY * USA - Vindicates retreads in road debris debate

A U.S. government study has concluded that there is no significant link between retreads and accident-causing debris on the road

Washington,DC,USA -Today's Trucking -20 Jan 2009: -- ... The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently issued its final report on its Commercial Medium Truck Tire Debris Study, which examined hundreds of discarded tire casings from truckstops and over 1,000 tire fragments that were collected along the interstate highway system at five representative locations throughout the U.S... The casings and tire fragments were examined by tire forensic experts to determine the probable failure type, axle location of the failed tire, and the likely reason for the tire failure... Among other findings, the analysis concluded that the proportion of tire debris from retread tires and OE tires is similar to the estimated proportion of retread and OE tires in service...

Labels: studies

TRUCKER'S DEATH * USA - Court extends street racers' sentence in trucker's death

Toronto,ONT,CAN -Today's Trucking -19 Jan 2009: -- A 20-year-old who admitted to "murdering" a truck driver as a result of a deadly street race should have been sent to jail instead of receiving a conditional sentence, the Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled... Nauman Nusrat was sentenced to house arrest (after time served) for two years and was given a lifetime ban on driving by Ontario Court Judge Gregory Regis. The Crown, however, appealed that decision and won... In its latest ruling, the Ontario Court of Appeal substituted a penitentiary sentence of 2.5 years in place of Regis' sentence. However, Appeals Court Judge Gloria Epstein there would be little point sending Nusrat back to jail since he would only serve a few more months... However, the new sentence sets a benchmark for cases of two other racers involved in the incident that day...

Labels: truckers' news

TRUCKMAKERS' NEWS * USA & * Canada - Pete and Kenworth bail from signature truck show

Bellevue,Wash,USA -Today's Trucking (CAN) - 20 Jan 2009: -- Paccar's truck divisions, Kenworth and Peterbilt, have pulled out of the Mid America Trucking Show in Louisville, Ky., which is widely considered the largest truck show in North America... The company told U.S. trade media that it is taking tme to "refocus its resources." Instead of exhibiting at MATS it will work with dealers to organize events across the U.S. and Canada where potential and existing customers can test drive new trucks... Neither truckmaker will be holding a press conference and Kenworth will not sponsor a big-name music concert as it does every year... Peterbilt’s General Manager, Bill Jackson also said that the strategy may not just be limited to 2009...

* Union, Peterbilt remain at odds - Truck factory workers were locked out in June

Nashville,TN,USA -The Tennessean, by G. Chambers Williams -January 20, 2009: -- About 310 United Auto Workers union members at Madison's Peterbilt truck factory remain locked out by management as a nearly seven-month labor stalemate continues into this week... The company shut the workers out of the plant in late June after their contract expired... The previous contract ran out June 26, and the union has yet to vote on the company's offer for a new five-year pact... UAW Local 1832 President Mike Pardue said Monday that the union would like to resume talks with the company but that Peterbilt "refuses to answer our calls or e-mails" requesting a meeting. The two groups last held negotiations in August...

* Canada - Manufacturer showcases new hybrid truck in Woodstock

Woodstock,Ont,CAN -The Victoria Star, by Shawn Merrithew -January 21st, 2009: -- With the global push to go green, one of North America's largest truck manufacturers is doing its part to save the environment... Last week Peterbilt Motors Company was in Carleton County to showcase one of its new hybrid truck models... Matt Preston, Peterbilt Canada's senior district sales manager, said the new hybrid truck uses both diesel and battery power, unlike its diesel predecessor... The use of both diesel and electric power results in an 80-per cent reduction in energy consumption while the engine is idling, and thus increasing the life of the engine. It also reduces fuel consumption by 30 to 40 per cent while travelling about, Preston said, saving money at the pumps and producing fewer emissions into the environment...

* USA - Eaton Corp. cutting 5,200 jobs

Cleveland,OH,USA -The Associated Press/The Trucker News, by M.R. KROPKO -21 Jan 2009: -- Industrial parts and systems maker Eaton Corp. said Wednesday it is cutting an additional 5,200 jobs because of a drop in demand for its products within a global economic downturn... Eaton Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Alexander Cutler warned in December as the company lowered its profit forecast that it was seeing less demand in its end markets, most notably in its automotive, truck and hydraulics segments... The move is intended to help the company reduce costs by $125 million in 2009 and follows 3,400 job cuts last year...

* USA - Cummins Emissions Unit Sets Partnership; Will Close Wisconsin Plant

WIS,USA -Transport Topics -21 Jan 2009: -- Cummins Inc. unit Cummins Emission Solutions said it will partner with a technology company for 2010 engine controls and that it will close a Wisconsin plant... CES said late Tuesday it will partner with EMCON Technologies LLC to make emission controls systems for the 2010 on-highway truck market... EMCON will make CES’s diesel particulate filters... It will continue to provide the particulate filter and selective catalytic reduction systems to meeting 2010 emission standards from its existing manufacturing base in Wisconsin... CES also said it will shut down its Wautoma, Wis., plant, which employs about 180 people. It will close its doors by the end of March...

* Trailmobile seeks protection during restructuring

Toronto,ONT,CAN -Today's Trucking -19 Jan 2009: -- The Canadian division of trailermaker Trailmobile has filed an NOI (Notice of Intention), similar to a Chapter 11 Restructuring plan in the U.S., todaystrucking.com has learned... An NOI is a mechanism that states an insolvent debtor’s intention to file a restructuring proposal and provides time to formulate it. An NOI filing automatically stays proceedings by all creditors without the need to obtain a separate court order... Trailmobile's Bert Clay confirmed to us in an email, "This success all depends on the acceptance (by the creditors) of the plan proposed," a process, Clay says, will take 30 to 45 days... The company is currently in an "extended holiday shutdown" pending the success of the reorganization...

Labels: truckmakers' news USA

TRUCKING INDUSTRY NEWS * USA & * Canada

* USA - Truck firm get systems from Par subsidiaries

New Hartford,NY,USA -Rome Sentinel -20 Jan 2009: --... ParTech Logistics Management Systems has been selected by C.R. England, the nation’s largest refrigerated trucking company, to deploy a monitoring system on the Utah-based company’s more than 5,000 refrigerated trailers... Par’s system will allow C.R. England constant real-time visibility and control of its refrigerated trailers across North America. It will help improve asset utilization and fuel savings, and provides protection of perishable products...

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31.1.09

State road plan * USA - In New York would be ‘detrimental’ to truckers, farmers

TRUCKING INDUSTRY NEWS * USA & Canada - Company Sues New Hampshire over Fatal Crash

TRUCKS' PRODUCTS * USA - Advantages of the Teletype GPS Systems For Truckers

TRUCKING INDUSTRY ANALYSIS * USA - Death of the weak only hope for U.S. truck companies?

TRUCKMAKERS' NEWS * WORLDWIDE

TOLL INCREASES * USA - Board votes to raise truck tolls, add E-ZPass fee

TRUCKING INDUSTRY NEWS * USA

29.1.09

Clean Truck Program * USA - At So Cal Ports Is Becoming Victim of Success

TOLLS * USA - Truckers ask phase-in of toll increase

HYBRID TRUCKS * Canada - New hybrid-electric delivery truck unveiled in Victoria

Road Safety * USA - Big Rigs, Icy Roads

TRUCKMAKERS' NEWS WORLDWIDE * India - Tata Motors set for worst show since ’02

28.1.09

PROSTITUTION * USA - Thousands’ of teens said caught up in web of truck stop prostitution

TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS, Mergers & Acquisitions * WORLDWIDE

TRUCKING INDUSTRY NEWS * USA

WEATHER TROUBLES * USA - Storm System Leaves Icy Roads in Many States

CARBON TAX * USA - EPA Pick Is ‘Open’ to

ALTERNATIVE FUELS * USA - Pickens Shifts Gears, Focuses On Natural Gas-Powered Trucks

CARGO THEFT * USA - Working Together Can Help Curb

Truckers Battle * USA - Over Green

WARNING * USA - Florida Puts Brakes on Agent Accused of Not Placing Truckers' Insurance

ENGINE MAKERS' * USA - Turbine Truck Engines Secures Strategic Alliance Agreement with Leading Chinese Corporation

TRUCKMAKERS' NEWS * USA - Volvo laying off 650 at Virginia truck plant

27.1.09

TRUCKERS' HOME in SHOTS * USA - An 18-Wheeler That Feels Like

* Australia - Trucking industry calls for more road maintenance

BILL * USA - Requiry drivers to clean snow, ice from vehicles advances

TRUCKING INDUSTRY NEWS * USA - Con-way Reports Fourth-Quarter Loss

TRANSPORT STATISTICS * USA - Truck Tonnage Plunges 14.1% in December

CLEAN TRUCK PROGRAM * USA - L.A. port's clean-truck running on empty

BORDERS' TROUBLES * Europe - Bulgaria wants clean transport corridor to Greece for its carriers

TORCHED TRUCKS * India - Naxals torch 28 trucks in Chhattisgarh

TRUCKMAKERS' NEWS * WORLDWIDE

DIRECTIVES * USA - Obama Directs Regulators to Tighten Auto Rules

ELECTRIC TRUCKS * USA - Provo testing out chinese electric trucks

BIODIESEL CONCERNS * Canada - BCTA accuses province of ignoring those ones

26.1.09

Truckers taking on water * Canada - As MA ferry delays persist

CONVICTED * Germany - Former Deutsche Post CEO, Zumwinkel, Convicted of Tax Evasion

TRUCKING INDUSTRY CRISIS * USA & Canada - YRC Bankruptcy Risk High, says Analyst

TRANSPORT & LOGISTIC NEWS * WORLDWIDE

JOB CUTS * USA - Tens of thousands more layoffs are announced

25.1.09

Funny Sex Sign on Truck * USA

CARGO THEFTS * Canada - Shift into high gear

JOB CUTS * Japan - Bridgestone to cut 800 jobs at U.S. plant

TRUCKING INDUSTRY TROUBLES * USA - Economic troubles hitting industry especially hard

TRUCKS' MARKETS * Europe - West betters East in 2008 European truck market

TRUCKMAKERS' NEWS * WORLDWIDE

24.1.09

AUTOMAKERS' CRISIS * USA - President faces tough choices on ailing automakers' future

* USA - TRUCKER YRC OFFERS TO AVOID BRANKRUPTCY

TRUCKMAKERS' NEWS * China - NEW PLAYER: China's CIMC plans $59 mln truck venture

ELECTRIC TRUCK * USA - ZAP to Introduce Electric Van and Truck

CLEAN TRUCKS * USA - FMC judge allows petitioners in S. Calif. trucks case

AWARD * USA - Yokohama commercial tire wins 'Nifty Fifty' award from Heavy Duty Trucking

23.1.09

TECHNO NEWS * USA - High-Tech Solutions Ease Inaugural Challenges

INFRASTRUCTURES * USA - Department of Transportation Signs I-95 Corridor of the Future Development

New DOT Secretary * USA - Senate Panel Approves LaHood as

Highway Safety Advocates * USA - Call for Improvement in State Statutes

TRUCKING INDUSTRY NEWS * USA & Canada

Homeland Security * USA - Use only TSA sources for TWIC info

TRUCK STOP PROSTITUTION * USA - Business fights back against truck stop prostitution

FEES * USA - Ports to begin clean-trucksfee on cargo after delays

JOB CUTS * USA - Bridgestone-Firestone to cut 543 jobs at La Vergne

DANGEROUS JOB * USA - Houston Trucker Claims, Sues Promaxima Manufacturing

Truckers Worried * Australia - About domino effect of McArthur River Mine closure

CLEAN PORTS * USA - An overhaul of New York’s port rules would bring vital jobs to the state

TRUCKS' PRODUCTS & SERVICES * UK

TRUCKMAKERS' NEWS * USA

TAX * Canada - Ontario business groups seek change