News Briefs - June 10
The Latest Headlines:
- Film on Overnite Strike Premieres Monday
- Mass. Seeks to Avoid New, Big, Toll Hike
- U.S. Announces Steel Tariff Exemptions
- Simon to Liquidate; No Stockholder Return Seen
- Crude Plunge Drives Down Gasoline Prices
- Mass. Seeks to Avoid New, Big, Toll Hike
Film on Overnite Strike Premieres Monday
A documentary about the Teamsters union and its ongoing strike against Overnite Transportation premieres at 8 p.m. Monday on HBO, New York Newsday reported.The film, entitled "American Standoff," chronicles the strike that began in 1999 and is still unresolved.
Barbara Kopple has won two Oscars for other documentaries about labor issues - her first in 1976 for "Harlan County, U.S.A." about coal miners and again in the 1990s with a film about meat packers called "American Dream." Transport Topics
Mass. Seeks to Avoid New, Big, Toll Hike
Members of the Massachusetts Legislature's Transportation Committee will meet Thursday to seek alternatives to a Masschusetts Turnpike toll increase that would make it the most expensive toll road in the Northeast, the Associated Press reported.The increase would defray the cost of the cost of the Big Dig project, officially known as the Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel Project, which will bury part of Interstate 93 beneath the city.
Tolls for cars at both the Allston-Brighton and Route 128 exits on the Boston Extension of the highway will double to $1 and, with the increased tolls, the Boston Extension's tolls will be up to 17 cents per mile, AP said.
While some Turnpike officials defended the increase, opponents argued that the high tolls would be a sign of poor leadership, the AP said.
Officials contacted at the Turnpike Authority declined to discuss the possible effect on truck tolls at this time. Transport Topics
U.S. Announces Steel Tariff Exemptions
U.S. officials on Friday exempted 61 categories of steel products from tariffs ordered by President Bush in March, the Washington Post reported.Tariffs could discourage steel imports, helping truckers who carry domestic steel, but hurting truckers who pick up steel at ports.
The Commerce Department said exemptions include specialized items such as hot-rolled products, cold-rolled products, stainless steel bar, stainless steel wire rod, tin mill products, welded pipe and stainless steel bar.
The exclusions cover less than 1% of the approximately 13 million metric tons of annual steel imports initially subjected to the tariffs, which range from 8% to 30%, the Post said.
About 1,200 requests for tariff exclusions are still pending, the Post said. Transport Topics
Simon to Liquidate; No Stockholder Return Seen
Simon Transportation Services Inc. and its subsidiary Dick Simon Trucking Inc. said June 7 that it intends to file a liquidation plan and cancel the interests of all common shareholders.Earlier this spring, a federal bankruptcy court approved the sale of most of the company's assets to Central Freight Refrigerated Services, a division of Central Freight Lines Inc. The company closed this sale on April 22.
Now, with Simon planning to liquidate the rest of its assets, the company said it expects unsecured creditors to receive "at best, cents on the dollar for their claims." It also said it does not expect holders of its common stock to see any return on their investment under the liquidation plan.
Simon Transportation Services Inc. had been ranked No. 62 on the 2000-2001 Transport Topics 100 list of the largest trucking companies in the United States. Central Freight is ranked No. 44 and is controlled by Swift Transportation Co. chief Jerry Moyes. Transport Topics
( for the full press release.)
Crude Plunge Drives Down Gasoline Prices
Plunging crude oil prices sent gasoline prices down nearly 2.5 cents a gallon over the last three weeks, the Associated Press said Sunday.A large segment of commercial trucking runs on gasoline.
Analyst Trilby Lundberg's survey of 8,000 service stations showed an average price, nationwide of about $1.44 per gallon,
Twin factors in the drop Lundberg said, are lower crude prices and supplies of gasoline which are more than adequate to meet demands. Crude oil prices fell more than $3 per barrel over the three weeks and show no sign of rising soon, Lundberg said.
She said gasoline today costs 29 cents per gallon less than it a year ago. Transport Topics
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