News Briefs - Aug. 22
The Latest Headlines:
- Heartland Express Settles Lawsuit
- Trucking Company Owner Convicted in Bribery Case
- Fed Officials Downplay Strength of Recovery
- Truck Drivers in South Korea Go on Strike
- Venezuela Oil Production, Shipments Declining, Journal Says
- Kansas City Southern May Sue TMM Over Deal
- Intermodal Loads Up 0.8% in Latest Week
- Lynden Air Freight Opens New Offices in U.S., China
- Trucking Company Owner Convicted in Bribery Case
Heartland Express Settles Lawsuit
Heartland Express Inc. said Friday it had settled a lawsuit stemming from a traffic accident last year in which five people died.The company did not announce the terms of the settlement in its release. The suit had sought $110 million in damages. The payments will be covered by insurance.
The lawsuit was one of three filed against the truckload carrier after an accident on June 21, 2002, involving one of its drivers. One suit was dismissed and another seeking $150 million in damages settled in June, Bloomberg said.
Trucking Company Owner Convicted in Bribery Case
A federal jury has found the owner of a Chicago trucking company guilty of trying to pay a federal transportation official $2,000 to overlook safety violations, the Associated Press reported Friday.Hei Yeng Kwok, owner of K & W Trading Co., was convicted of bribery and faces up to three years in prison, according to AP.
Larry Eaton of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration testified at trial that he was about to give K & W Trading an unsatisfactory safety rating because of poor record keeping when Kwok allegedly tried to give him $2,000.
Kwok's lawyers argued that the native of China, who has limited English skills, was entrapped, AP said. He is the 58th person convicted in the government's Operation Safe Road investigation of public corruption. Transport Topics
Fed Officials Downplay Strength of Recovery
Despite recent positive economic data, several Federal Reserve officials are playing down the recovery and emphasizing the central bank's willingness to keep interest rates low, the Wall Street Journal reported.Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Robert Parry said in a speech Thursday that although there have been encouraging signs on growth, they "have not been sustained long enough to be conclusive," the Journal said.
In additional, St. Louis Fed President William Poole said growth remains "modest" and said the economy is "operating below potential." Transport Topics
Truck Drivers in South Korea Go on Strike
About 30,000 unionized truck drivers in South Korea went on strike Thursday, disrupting the nation's cargo transportation network and raising fears of delayed exports, the Associ-ated Press reported.The drivers are demanding that shipping companies and truck operators raise fees in line with increasing costs, including fuel prices, AP said.
Only 30% to 50% of the usual number of containers entered or left South Korea's major ports on Thursday, according to the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy.
In May, a weeklong strike by the Cargo Transportation Workers' Union paralyzed the country's two major ports, costing exporters more than $450 million in losses, AP said. Transport Topics
Venezuela Oil Production, Shipments Declining, Journal Says
After rising earlier this year, Venezuela's oil production appears to be declining again because of insufficient investment, poor maintenance and a shortage of skilled workers, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.The OPEC member, which accounts for about 14% of U.S. oil imports, is still trying to recover from a strike by oil workers at the end of last year. It is producing an estimated 500,000 barrels a day fewer than its prestrike output of three million barrels a day.
Venezuela's shortfall is contributing to currently tight global oil supplies, the Journal said.
The nation has also slowed the pace of its shipments to the United States. The Department of Energy said imports from Venezuela fell 10% in June to 1.26 million barrels a day, from 1.40 million barrels a day in May. Transport Topics
Kansas City Southern May Sue TMM Over Deal
Freight railroad Kansas City Southern said it may sue to make Mexico's Grupo TMM live up to its agreement to sell Mexico's biggest railroad after the Mexican company's controlling shareholder rejected the accord, Bloomberg reported Friday.The agreement would have created a 6,000-mile rail network between Mexico City and Chicago to boost Kansas City Southern's shipments between the United States and Mexico.
ansas City Southern said it was "misled" by TMM after it spurned the transaction that had been agreed to in April, Bloomberg reported. It also said the rejection caused "serious financial loss" to its shareholders.
However, TMM said that Kansas City Southern violated the agreement by contacting the Mexican government about selling its 20% stake in Grupo TFM, the railroad, instead of allowing TMM to take that step, Bloomberg said. Transport Topics
Intermodal Loads Up 0.8% in Latest Week
Intermodal traffic on the nation's railroads continued to outperform last year, the Association of American Railroads said Thursday.Railroading, like trucking, is an important economic indicator. Intermodal traffic, which tends to be merchandise rather than bulk commodities, is more directly competitive with trucking and more reflective of the state of the economy.
The AAR said 195,398 trailers and containers were loaded in the week ended Aug. 16, which was up 0.8% from the corresponding week a year ago.
So for this year, trailer and container loadings totaled almost 6.2 million, which is 5.7% above last year's pace. Transport Topics
Lynden Air Freight Opens New Offices in U.S., China
Lynden Air Freight Inc. said Wednesday that it had expanded its operations in the United States and China.Lynden Air Freight is a subsidiary of Lynden Inc., which also provides truckload, less-than-truckload, freight forwarding and other transportation services.
The air freight unit said in a release it had opened new stations in Washington, D.C.; Greenville, S.C.; Milwaukee and Tampa, Fla.
The company also said that it had opened seven new offices in China, including one in Beijing.
Lynden is ranked No. 41 on the 2003 Transport Topics 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian trucking companies. Transport Topics
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