User-agent: Mediapartners-Google* Disallow: Trucks World News
Google
 
Loading

Jun 10, 2008

TRUCKERS' PROTEST & STRIKES * WORLDWIDE

* Europe & Asia - Truckers in fuel protest

Madrid,Spain -The Gulf Daily News -9 June 2008: -- Tens of thousands of truckers in Spain, France and Portugal yesterday stepped up protests against rising fuel prices, causing mayhem on highways and blocking border crossings... Spanish and Portuguese drivers began indefinite strikes, and lines of trucks up to 8km long formed on the French side of the border after Spanish picketers smashed the windscreens of foreign goods drivers who tried to enter Spain... French and Spanish truckers also staged 'go-slow' protests, causing tailbacks of 30km in Bordeaux, France, and 20km or more around Madrid and Barcelona... Meanwhile, three main unions demonstrate in the eastern city of Liege to protest against the rising cost of living and the fall in workers' purchasing power, Belgian news agency Belga said... Separately, Indian police use water canon and batons in Kashmir to disperse hundreds of government employees who gathered outside the office of the state's chief minister in Srinigar... A four-day strike called by private transport operators demanding an increase in passenger fares and freight charges also force thousands of people to walk to work... More than 20 Indonesian students to protest against rising fuel prices, which increased by 30 per cent last month... (Photo News VOA: Spanish truck drivers block traffic on Spanish border with France in Behobia, northern Spain, 9 June 2008)


* France - Struggling with high fuel costs staged fresh protests near the Spanish border

French fishermen end strike in the Mediterranean

Marseille,France -AFP -9 June 2008: -- ... French truckers struggling with high fuel costs staged fresh protests near the Spanish border and in the southwest, demanding government action to stem the price hike... About 15 trucks from the southern city of Perpignan disrupted traffic at several border posts and preventing trucks from crossing, causing a tailback of some 10 kilometres (six miles) on both sides of the border... Some 200 long-haul trucks were to converge on the four main motorways leading into Bordeaux early Monday, drive around the ring road before heading into the southwest city, said Jean-Pierre Morlin, president of the European trucking organisation for the Aquitaine region... "We are demanding immediate measures" to counter the impact of high fuel prices, said Morlin... The French truckers' action "is aimed at protesting the price of fuel and to make authorities aware of the need to harmonize the price of diesel in Europe," said Roland Bacou, head of a national trucking union for the Languedoc-Roussillon region... Fleets in France's biggest fishing port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, Calais and Dunkirk last week called off their strike pending the outcome of the talks in Brussels...


* S Korea - Truckers to launch strike over soaring fuel prices

Seoul,S.Korea -Xinhua (China) -June 9, 2008: -- A union of South Korean truckers voted Monday to launch a strike this week to protest the soaring fuel prices, triggering concerns that the country's transport system might be paralyzed... The Korea Cargo Transport Workers Union said 90.8 percent of its 13,000 members endorsed the strike in the vote... "We plan to hold further negotiations with the government and cargo owners until Thursday, and if the negotiations fail, it will engage in industrial action the next day," the union's leader Kim Dal-shik told a press conference... Monday's vote came on the heels of the government's announcement on Sunday that it will spend over 10 trillion won (9.77 billion U.S. dollars) over the next year as part of a comprehensive policy package meant to help citizens deal with the record-breaking crude oil prices... (Photo: Yonhap/The Korea Times - Unionized car transport drivers hold a sit-in rally before a walkout, calling for the raising of transportation fees amid soaring oil prices, in front of Busan Economic Promotion Agency, Busan, Monday. Truckers and bus operators also plan to go on strike this week)


* South Korea - Gov't to use military, non-union vehicles to cope with possible trucker strike

Seoul,S.Korea -Yonhap/chinaview-Xinhua -June 10, 2008: -- The government said Tuesday that it will use military and non-union vehicles to prevent possible serious delays in overland freight traffic if truckers go on strike later in the week... They agreed that in addition to military and non-union trucks, smaller-sized private vehicles will be given permission to handle commercial cargo... Only 3-4 percent of all commercial vehicles are union vehicles, but because many of the union's members drive large container-hauling trucks, a strike could seriously affect the country's ability to haul freight by road... The union threatened to go on strike starting Friday unless the government lowers diesel fuel costs, raises fees for hauling freight to reflect market conditions and introduces a standardized pricing system for truckers that can ensure minimum wages for services rendered...

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 5:45 AM  0 comments

Jun 5, 2008

COMMENT: FUEL COST * WORLDWIDE - High Oil Killing China Labor Advantage

*What goes around, comes around

WIS,USA -Destinys Choice - America Is, by The Slickster! -4 June 2008: -- Chinese labor is cheap, but high oil — perversely, the direct result of quick Chinese growth — is now killing the Asian giant’s manufacturing cost advantage... The cost of transporting heavy cargo over long distances will become so expensive it will completely erode China's low-wage economic advantage, says a key analyst. That could provide incentives to produce more goods at home... “Exploding transport costs may soon remove the single most important brake on inflation over the last decade — wage arbitrage with China,” CIBC World Markets Chief Economist Jeff Rubin told... “The cost of moving goods, not the cost of tariffs, is the largest barrier to global trade today”... Indeed, oil price rises have already driven up shipping costs so much that Chinese imports are now high-cost and losing market share, a new CIBC research report shows... The cost of shipping a 40-foot container from Shanghai to the U. S. eastern seaboard has quadrupled to $8,000 on high crude prices... If oil reaches $200 a barrel it will double again, increasing the impact on entire global trade for goods that carry high freight costs... “If that container is filled with diamonds, it doesn’t matter,” Rubin says. “But for mass-manufactured products it means that a lot of those jobs may be coming home”... Freight-sensitive Chinese exports to the U.S. now account for 42 percent of total exports, down from 52 percent in 2004... Rubin estimates that were it not for the dramatic increase in transport costs, growth in Chinese exports to the U.S. since 2004 would have been 35 percent stronger than the actual tally... Even domestic transport costs are becoming a tough uphill battle — according to YRC Worldwide Chairman and CEO Bill Zollars. About 70 percent of goods moved in the U.S. are moved by truck, and the 800,000 customers Zollars’ company serves include major players like Home Depot and Wal-Mart, which he says gives him a good overall view of the U.S. economy... “It’s interesting that the biggest impact (Washington) thought it could have was yelling at the guys who are making money,” Zollars told CNBC...

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 8:20 AM  0 comments

May 27, 2008

FUEL COSTS TROUBLES * WORLDWIDE - Soaring fuel prices have yet to dent demand for freight transport

* UK - Britain has become the latest country to experience public protests over fuel prices, with truck drivers yesterday (May 27) blocking major roads into London with their vehicles

London,UK -Transport Intelligence -28 May 2008: -- Trade bodies representing that country's road freight industry are urging the government to cut the tax on diesel. The British International Freight Association, for example, is demanding the abolition of a planned 2p (£0.02) increase in fuel duty this October and the introduction of an "essential user rebate". Britain has some of the most expensive fuel in the world, with prices now over US$9 a gallon... Public protests against fuel prices have also occurred in countries where fuel is cheaper than in Britain. In France, for instance, the government seems to be reacting to demonstrations by contemplating a reduction in VAT (sales tax) after fishermen blockaded French ports. That sort of action is thought likely to be about to occur elsewhere in Europe...


* USA - Soaring Fuel Prices Take a Withering Toll on Truckers

New York,NY,USA -The New York Times, by LOUIS UCHITELLE -May 27, 2008: -- ... If diesel prices do not decline and make that side of the business viable, Jesse Hendley of eastern Georgia says, he will have to sell his trucks, or try to sell them. That is just what thousands of other truckers are doing as they shed used rigs in what appears to be the biggest shakeout since trucking was deregulated in 1980... The squeeze on truckers’ profits from rising fuel costs is compounded by the slowing economy, which is reducing freight traffic. Truckers say they find it hard to impose fuel surcharges, in part because their industry has suffered for years from over-capacity as deregulation drew thousands of small operators into trucking... Still, 70 percent of the nation’s freight tonnage moves over the highways on trucks, much of it in the diesel-powered tractor-trailers of the nation’s 350,000 independent operators, each with a fleet of up to five vehicles, one usually driven by the proprietor. Profit margins, notoriously thin in good times, are minuscule now, and each rise in fuel prices pushes more truckers into the red... More than 45,000 vehicles, or 3 percent of the tractor fleet, have disappeared from the highways since early last year, according to America’s Commercial Transportation Research in Columbus, Ind.... That surpasses the last great shakeout, in the early 1980s, when deregulation, along with a recession, high interest rates and the second Arab oil embargo, took out 33,000 tractors... John Seibert, a research analyst at the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, whose members includes as many of the protesters, said the drivers “think that government should not permit a situation in which the market does not pay them for their work.” He added, “It would seem that they are demanding a return to some form of regulation.”... (Picture by Tami Chappell for The New York Times - Jesse Hendley with trucks he owns near his home in Millen, Ga. He says he will sell his trucks if fuel prices do not fall)


* USA - Tough times for truckers

Meriden,CT,USA -The Meriden Record-Journal, by Jason R. Vallee -26 May 2008: -- ... when he first started working in trucking a little more than 20 years ago, he would drive to the Berlin Turnpike to buy wholesale diesel fuel at 99 cents per gallon... Just last week, Brysh went to his wholesale distributor and found prices had spiked to more than $4.40 per gallon... Michael J. Riley, president of the Motor Transportation Association of Connecticut, said those prices have risen to $5 in some parts of the state during recent weeks... With no end to the excessive rates in sight, area companies, and particularly independent truckers, are looking for federal assistance to combat the higher costs. If no help is provided, Riley warns, the next action could be picking up the pieces of a shattered economy... These are just the fuel costs. The higher prices have led to closings and bankruptcy filings by independent truckers and small companies... (Photo by Dave Zajac / Record-Journal )


* USA - Fuel prices continue to take their toll; used U.S. trucks exported

New York,NY,USA -The New York Times (see above)/Land Line Magazine -May 27, 2008: -- An article in today’s looks at the impact of fuel prices on truckers... The Times cites a report by America’s Commercial Transportation Research group that says 45,000 tractors, or more than 3 percent of the nation’s tractor fleet, have departed from U.S. highways since early last year. That surpasses the last great shakeout, in the early 1980s, when deregulation – along with a recession, high interest rates and the second Arab oil embargo – took out 33,000 tractors... It also cites a Commerce Department report that says nearly 24,000 used, over-the-road tractors have been exported to other countries in the last year. The weakness of the dollar is one reason more trucks are going abroad. According to the article, many of the trucks end up in Russia, a strong outlet for the used trucks... Thousands of truckers have sold their used rigs because the soaring price of diesel has stripped the profit from hauling...


* USA - Truckers grapple with rising diesel prices

West Covina,CA,USA -San Gabriel Valley Tribune , by Kevin Smith -28 May 2008: -- Southern California motorists have been hammered by spiking gasoline prices - prices that have topped $4 per gallon at many stations... But as bad as that's been, trucking companies and independent truckers are facing even worse... On Tuesday, the average price for a gallon of diesel fuel in the Los Angeles/Long Beach region was $5.134, down from Monday's record high of $5.135 per gallon... A month ago, diesel was selling for $4.49 per gallon and a year earlier it was priced at $3.16 per gallon... "Every day it gets worse and worse," said Isidro Lombera, owner of Fast Freight Transportation in Santa Fe Springs. "I'm trying to raise my rates, but most customers won't let you. They want you to keep rates the same. Some of them have gone somewhere else. But if they can't find anything they come back ... then we try to negotiate a price."... JNC Transportation in Baldwin Park has hiked its rates out of necessity, according to owner Jim Cass... Cass' company uses 25 trucks that haul produce destined for export overseas... "I'm passing our cost increases along to customers," he said. "It's a 35 percent increase in delivery costs, but our customers understand perfectly well. I'm actually busier than I've been in a long time. I keep hearing about the economy going bad, but people still have to eat."... Julie Sauls, a spokeswoman for the California Trucking Association, said drivers are getting hit from all sides with increased fees, diverted tax revenues and rapidly escalating diesel prices... "Diesel prices have surpassed labor as the biggest expense for trucking companies," she said. "One of our members said they're seeing voluntary repossessions of equipment. Some drivers just can't afford the cost of fuel."...


* South Korea - High Diesel Prices Hit Merchants

Seoul,S.Korea -The Korea Times, by Kim Hyun-cheol -28 May 2008: -- The situation raises concerns of the possibility of another nationwide strike from cargo truck drivers... Last week, the Korean Transport Workers' Union (KTWU) threatened to go on strike next month unless the government comes out with countermeasures to help ease their hardship... The union went on strike in 2003 and 2006, asking for improved freight-operating systems and better working conditions... A cargo driver is paid 800,000 won ($770) for a round-trip between Seoul and Busan currently, but now the charge is not profitable as drivers spend nearly 600,000 won on diesel for the trip, the union says... The government discussed a series of measures at a ministers meeting on Wednesday including a subsidy extension... Cargo truck drivers currently receive a 287-won per liter subsidy for diesel they consume at work. Without the extension, the policy will expire next month... The union, however, is negative on the effects of the measure, saying that cannot be a permanent solution and the money falls well short of recent increases in diesel prices... "The subsidies come from the driving tax, and it means the government is doing nothing but burdening the common people with its policy failure," a KTWU official said...

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 6:54 PM  0 comments