News Briefs - March 20
The Latest Headlines:
- Heartland Purchases Regional Terminals
- Arkansas Best to Sell Stake in Tire Retreader, Dealer
- Cummins Extends Truck-Engine Guarantee
- ArvinMeritor Announces Several Trucking-Related Contracts
- IEA Chief Urges Holding of Oil Reserves
- Oil Prices Tumble, Then Rebound on Nymex
- Volvo Opens Russian Truck Facility; First Western Company to Do So
- Initial Jobless Claims Dip Slightly, Remain Above 400,000
- Arkansas Best to Sell Stake in Tire Retreader, Dealer
Heartland Purchases Regional Terminals
Heartland Express Inc. said Thursday that it has acquired, and plans to acquire several more, terminals as part of a plan to expand its regional operations.The company said that it has purchased facilities near Columbus, Ohio; Carlisle, Pa.; Chester, Va. and Memphis, Tenn.
The cost of the purchases is expected to exceed $10 million, the company said in a statement. Transport Topics
Arkansas Best to Sell Stake in Tire Retreader, Dealer
Arkansas Best Corp. said Wednesday it has notified Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. of its intention to sell the 19% ownership stake in Wingfoot Commercial Tire Systems LLC back to the tire manufacturer.Wingfoot, a tire retreader and retail chain, was established in November 2000 as a joint venture between several tire manufacturers. Arkansas Best said that it expects to receive $71.3 million from Goodyear in the sale.
The transaction should be closed about May 1, 2003, the company said, and Arkansas Best expects to record a pre-tax gain of $12 million, or $8.4 million after taxes.
Proceeds from the sale will be used reduce its outstanding debt under its credit agreement, Arkansas Best said.
Arkansas Best is ranked No. 17 on the 2002 Transport Topics 100 listing of the largest trucking companies in the United States and Canada. Transport Topics
( for the full press release.)
Cummins Extends Truck-Engine Guarantee
Cummins Inc., a leading manufacturer of heavy-duty diesel truck engines, said Wednesday that it had extended a guarantee on new truck engines that meet new Environmental Protection Agency rules on emissions.With the extension, the “uptime” guarantee now applies to Cummins’ ISX and ISM series engines built and bought between Oct. 1, 2002 and Dec. 31, 2003. When it was first announced, the guarantee only ran through March 31.
Cummins, and other engine makers, agreed as part of a 1998 settlement to meet strict new emissions standards starting on Oct. 1, 2002. Transport Topics
( for the full press release.)
ArvinMeritor Announces Several Trucking-Related Contracts
Vehicle parts maker ArvinMeritor said Wednesday that it has been awarded several contracts and contract extensions by different heavy-duty truck manufacturers to provide a variety of components.The contracts include:
Sales of heavy-duty truck components account for about a third of the Troy, Mich.-based company’s receipts. Transport Topics
( for the full press release about the International contract.)
( for the full press release about the Hyundai contract.)
IEA Chief Urges Holding of Oil Reserves
The head of the International Energy Agency said that the group sees no need for its member countries to dip into their strategic reserves of oil, Bloomberg reported Thursday.Claude Mandil, IEA’s executive director, said that there’s no need to tap those reserves yet because members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries can meet any oil shortfall caused by the U.S.-led attack on Iraq, Bloomberg reported.
Mandil did however leave the door open for those reserves to be opened if the need were to arise, Bloomberg reported.
OPEC reiterated Thursday that it will be able to supply the world with enough oil during the war, Bloomberg said. OPEC President Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah said that right now there is “plenty of oil out there.” Currently, Persian Gulf states Oman, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are still pumping oil and a tanker in Turkey is being filled with Iraqi oil, al-Attiyah told Bloomberg. Transport Topics
Oil Prices Tumble, Then Rebound on Nymex
The price of crude oil plummeted nearly $2 a barrel when trading opened on the New York Mercantile Exchange Thursday, then rebounded slightly by mid-morning, the Associated Press said.At the start of trading, oil prices fell $1.88 a barrel to $28 on the Nymex, AP said. The beginning of hostilities in Iraq precipitated the decline, traders said.
By midmorning, however, oil prices had risen a bit, but were still down 72 cents from Wednesday’s close of $29.88, AP reported.
Crude oil reached a pre-war high of $39.99 during trading on Feb. 27 on fears that a war in Iraq could cut off oil supplies from the oil-rich Middle East. Transport Topics
Volvo Opens Russian Truck Facility; First Western Company to Do So
Volvo Trucks, a subsidiary of Volvo AB, said Thursday that it has become the first Western heavy-duty truck manufacturer to open its own factory in Russia.The factory, which opened Wednesday in Zelenograd, Russia, will initially produce 200 to 300 trucks annually for the Russian truck market.
The company said that there are currently 12,000 trucks on Russia’s highways, and that in 2002, the company delivered 423 new vehicles to Russia. Tansport Topics
( for the full press release.)
Initial Jobless Claims Dip Slightly, Remain Above 400,000
The number of American workers filing for unemployment benefits for the first time fell 4,000 to 421,000 in the week ended March 14, the Department of Labor said Thursday.Despite the decline, analysts were not encouraged by the news because claims remained above the 400,000-mark – a figure that generally signals a poor job market, Bloomberg said.
The four-week moving average rose to 424,750 from 421,000 the previous week. It was the highest total for the composite report since the week ended May 4, 2002 when it was 429,500. The moving average is designed to reduce some of the volatility in the weekly statistics.
Analysts told Bloomberg that the data was consistent with theories that U.S. companies were reluctant to hire new employees before some of the geopolitical uncertainty surrounding Iraq was cleared up. Transport Topics