A.M. Executive Briefing - Feb. 28
This Morning's Headlines:
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IT Guideline for Logistics on Tap
An ad hoc group, including J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Wal-Mart Stores, software vendor Logility, and others, is banding together to create business and technology guidelines for handling logistics on the World Wide Web. The group, to be part of the Voluntary Interindustry Commerce Standards Association, will publicize itself at April's VICSconference in Chicago.Meanwhile, software vendors Logility and Qiva are both set to release software this week enabling online interaction between manufacturers and carriers, with five rival European shipping companies, including MSAS Global Logistics, joining together to share truck shipment information via the Qiva product.
Study Says Iowa Needs More Truck Parking
A study performed by the Iowa State University Center for Transportation Research and Education, at the request of the state legislature, says Iowa does not have enough overnight truck parking, with 584 parking spots at rest areas on interstate highways.However, private truck stops adjacent to interstates have 4,052 spots, usually some unoccupied; the Iowa 80 Truck Stop's Delia Meier told the Associated Press she believes "the emphasis should be on a private sector solution."
A task force of trucking companies, truck stop operators, and government authorities said the state should look at present public property, such as weigh stations, to find out if more parking spots can be placed there. Also, parking spots should be built during rest area upgrades to accommodate the coming 20 years' growth in demand, and truckers should have improved information about public and private parking spots, the report said. Heavy Duty Trucking Online (02/28/00)
Trucking Groups Agree to Seek Resolution of Industry Concerns
The Ontario Trucking Association and the newly-formed Canadian owner-operator group National Truckers Association say they would begin joint discussions intended to reduce tension caused by diesel prices and keep highway protests from escalating. The groups want to allow all the stakeholders in the fuel-price crisis to better understand one another.The OTA and NTA intend to put together a joint meeting with the Canadian Trucking Alliance and the Canadian oil industry and to put an open letter to oil companies in newspapers. They also plan to set up meetings between: OTA and the Ontario government; CTA and the federal transport minister and top officials; CTA, OTA, and top shipper groups; and OTA, the OTA Professional Driver and Owner-Operator Forum, and Com Car Owner-Operators Association. NTA will be invited to participate in all the meetings. [According to news sources, NTA was the organizer of several recent Canadian diesel-price protests.] Canada NewsWire (02/27/00)
Business Briefs: Two Dozen Truck Drivers Stay Off The Job
With some two dozen truckers for St. George Express in Houston still not working Friday after a walkout that began Thursday, Teamsters leaders said 1,000 area truckers will shut down March 13 for increased pay and ability to form a union. The St. George Express walkout seems to have begun after trucker Luis Espindola was fired; he claimed it was because he asked how much drivers would receive of the fuel surcharge. San Antonio Express-News (02/26/00) P. 2D© copyright 2000 INFORMATION, INC. Terms of Service
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