Traffic World articles from March 1997

Traffic World archives from March 1997

UP uses EJ&E for Connection.
March 31, 1997... Local opposition, cost of acquiring land for interchange rule out wider use of the 'J' Union Pacific has begun using trackage rights over 11 miles of the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern to connect the area southeast of Chicago with Canadian...

NS. BNSF. CSX Add Routes.
March 31, 1997... Intermodal service to Northwest. Appalachian coal lane begin Norfolk Southern Railway Co. and the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co. have begun offering interline intermodal service between Louisville, Ky., and points in the...

Atlas sets a Record.
March 31, 1997... Atlas World Group net rises 40 percent on Red Ball buy Atlas World Group, Evansville, Ind., reported net income of $6.4 million on record revenue of $415 million last year, compared with 1995 revenue of $316 million. The 40 percent...

Wabash Buys Fruehauf Assets.
March 31, 1997... Fruehauf Trailer Corp. sells all assets except Mexico unit to Wabash National Fruehauf Trailer Corp. says it will sell substantially all its remaining operating assets, other than the company's interest in its Mexican subsidiary,...

Long Beach OKs Terminal.
March 31, 1997... Commissioners unanimously reject threat of Congressional intervention The Port of Long Beach brushed aside concerns of national security and a threat of congressional intervention and unanimously approved a plan last Monday to build a...

Mississippi Barges Wreck.
March 31, 1997... Plume is a freelance writer based in New Orleans. Coast Guard closes river periodically after high water causes 4 accidents High water on the lower Mississippi River has wreaked havoc on inland water transportation this month, as...

Lights Out for DayLight.
March 31, 1997... Airline formed just last year shuts down after it loses fleet, RPS yanks contract It was a short flight for DayLight Air. The all-cargo airline last week shut its doors almost exactly one year to the date that it took off. DayLight...

UPS Teams Up With Challenge.
March 31, 1997... Deal gives UPS access to Latin America without filing for its own air carrier rights Striving to build brand recognition in Central and South America, United Parcel Service is teaming up with Miami-based Challenge Air Cargo to provide...

European Cargo Group Forms.
March 31, 1997... Commercial-oriented, issue-led group to establish performance standards Across-section of players in the European air freight industry have joined efforts to address issues preventing full partnerships among shippers, freight forwarders,...

Canadian Carriers Protest New Fees.
March 31, 1997... Air Transportation Association of Canada calls FAA's planned overflight charges unfair The Federal Aviation Administration's latest fund-raising plan has raised the ire of Canadian carriers who say they will be unfairly burdened by...

Losses Rise at TWA.
March 31, 1997... Cargo is bright spot with revenue up 6.9%, but loss of widebodies will cut revenue 11 % Trans World Airlines turned in worse-than-expected results for 1996, posting losses of $284.8 million, even worse than its 1995 loss of $227.5...

FedEx International Leads Gains.
March 31, 1997... Mild winter also helps carrier's quarterly income jump 131 percent, revenue 15 percent Buoyed by a mild winter on the East Coast and improved international revenue, Federal Express turned in a strong third-quarter performance. Net income...

Bias Charges Hit UPS.
March 31, 1997... United Parcel Service fends off allegations of discrimination United Parcel Service's is feeling the sting of two discrimination charges, one alleging race discrimination and the other discrimination against disabled employees. The...

Clarification.
March 31, 1997... An article on hazardous materials regulations in the March 10 issue of Traffic World may have left the impression that the states could preempt federal regulations. According to Roger F. Hermann, director of transportation and...

The U.S. Army.
March 31, 1997... The U.S. Army awarded DynCorp, an information technology and services company in Reston, Va., a five-year contract for support services. Before awarding the work to DynCorp, the Army had used the Brown & Root Services division of Halliburton...

General Motors Powertrain.
March 31, 1997... General Motors Powertrain Group has named Caliber Logistics its lead logistics provider for the second consecutive year, Caliber has announced. Caliber Logistics manages more than 10,000 shipments a week for GMPTG, which operates 26...

England Logistics.
March 31, 1997... England Logistics, a C.R. England company, has added Sorrento Cheese Co. Inc. to its customer base. England Logistics will manage the entire transportation system for Sorrento including dedicated contract carriage and traffic and...

Videogame software publisher.
March 31, 1997... Videogame software publisher Activision selected Ditan Distribution to handle direct-to-store delivery of its games. Activision makes software for its own PlayStation game and for the Sega Saturn and Nintendo titles. Ditan, a specialist in...

Questions about how.
March 31, 1997... Questions about how to get rid of obsolete equipment are answered in a new program from National Industrial Services Inc., a St. Louis company specializing in the appraisal and disposal of unneeded industrial equipment. Dubbed ANSWER, the new...

Hub Group Inc.
March 31, 1997... Hub Group Inc. reported that revenue in 1995 increased to $754.2 million from $81.4 million in 1995. Hub acquired the general partnership interests in the Hub Partnerships in March and the rights to service the customers of American President...

SYSCO Food Services.
March 31, 1997... SYSCO Food Services of Central Alabama Inc., a new subsidiary of Houston-based SYSCO Corp., has announced plans to buy 34 acres in Calera, Ala., to build a 200,000-square-foot food service warehouse and distribution center. Located on Highway...

The Institute of Logistics.
March 31, 1997... The Institute of Logistics Management has announced its 1997 schedule of logistics courses. ILM is offering three seminars -- in domestic transportation management, business logistics and supply-chain management and international...

Fritz Cos. Inc.
March 31, 1997... Fritz Cos. Inc. has opened a new 300,000-square-foot logistics center in Dallas next to the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. The facility boasts the latest in information technology systems, 47 bay doors for loading and 32-foot...

Swiss-based Danzas.
March 31, 1997... Swiss-based Danzas Corp. is fine-tuning its presence among the Nordic part of the world. Danzas has acquired the forwarding activities of the Finnish company, Victor Ek, Helsinki/Finland. The acquisition includes the sea, air and overland...

Manufacturing production.
March 31, 1997... Manufacturing production and employment got a boost last month but orders are still weak, according to the APIC Business Outlook Index for February. The index is weighted measure of current and expected economic conditions affecting...

A Transparent move.
March 31, 1997... For a clear view of its traffic, FedEx integrates air, ground tracking systems Federal Express is integrating satellite-based truck-tracking technology with a new traffic monitoring system being deployed nationwide, according to FedEx...

Extending Online Services.
March 31, 1997... UPS, FedEx work to strengthen presence on the Internet The battle for cyberspace between rivals United Parcel Service and Federal Express continues to rage. Each recently announced new Internet projects and developments. UPS signed a...

New version of ShipperPlus will complete migration from DOS.
March 31, 1997... Information Software, Bloomfield, Conn., will release a 32-bit Windows version of its ShipperPlus software, perhaps as early as next month, according to a company spokesperson. The program will be the latest and last of ISI's...

Shipping regulations available on CD.
March 31, 1997... Solutions Software Corp. has expanded its library of federal rules on CD-ROM to include Title 46 (shipping) and Title 49 (transportation) of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations. The complete set of 50 CFR's on CD-ROM costs $62.50. The...

Inventory software is upgraded.
March 31, 1997... Robocom Systems, Massapequa, N.Y., has released version 3.4 of RIMS, its UNIX-based warehouse and inventory management software. The program uses rules-based options to let users customize procedures and processes that take place when RIMS...

Need to check.
March 31, 1997... Need to check a motor carrier's safety rating? The Federal Highway Administration wants to make the job easier by putting carrier safety information on the Web. But unless you have the carrier's DOT or ICC identification number, it may be...

The home page.
March 31, 1997... The home page of the House Transportation Committee is one of the better government web sites out there. The committee is requiring hearing witnesses to submit their prepared remarks on disk and is posting them on-line within hours, along...

Caliber Logistics.
March 31, 1997... Caliber Logistics will use the CAPS Logistics Toolkit to develop logistics solutions for its customers, the Caliber Systems subsidiary announced. The toolkit will provide Caliber with the software it needs to optimize shipment consolidation,...

Sabre Decision Technologies.
March 31, 1997... Sabre Decision Technologies, Fort Worth, Texas, teamed with Syntegra, the systems integration business of British Telecommunications, PLC. Syntegra will market SDT's CargoMax 3.0 revenue management system to customers using its CargoChorus...

A software certification.
March 31, 1997... A software certification program was set up by Qualcomm Inc., San Diego, to help the mobile communications provider develop integrated business solutions with third-party software suppliers. The program will involve cooperative developmental...

ShipWorld.
March 31, 1997... http://www.shipworld.com Once the laggard in the e to make websites interactive, the maritime industry is rapidly steaming to the forefront. The latest site connecting shippers and carriers is ShipWorld, where container lines can post...

Pilot Air Freight.
March 31, 1997... http://www.pilotair.com Pilot is the among the latest wave of freight forwarders to add shipment tracking capability to its website. Shippers can track by shipment number or by customer reference number or date range. Once the...

THAI Airways International.
March 31, 1997... http://www.thaiair.com/ A beautiful, elegant site from Thailand's national carrier is more than your typical online billboard. Setup by Web Ventures, which specializes in transportation sites, including those for Singapore Airlines and...

Navigation Information Connection.
March 31, 1997... http://www.ncr.usace.army.mil/navdata/nic.htm River barges are a whole lot less exotic than Bangkok but more essential to shippers in the U.S. If you find you can't tell your COE Lock from your flat pool, however, you might want to check...

I Trek.
March 31, 1997... http.//www.ediidea.com/i_trek/ No, it's not a sequel to Star Trek, but a service aimed at helping the many small and midsize freight forwarders provide Internet services only the big companies can usually afford. I Trek, created by...

Canada Revises Fees.
March 31, 1997... Binkley is a freelance writer based in Ottawa. Coast guard unveils recovery policy that assesses costs instead of flat fee The Canadian Coast Guard has unveiled a reshaped cost-recovery policy that has won praise from many in the...

CP sets Freight Record.
March 31, 1997... SPECIAL TO TRAFFIC WORLD Recovery plan in wake of snowstorms speeds grain shipments to west coast After a bruising winter, the Canadian Pacific Railway says it has rebounded with a record movement of freight in February. The...

Canadian Aviation Panel.
March 31, 1997... SPECIAL TO TRAFFIC WORLD Current ills, future prospects on agenda; unions may push 'smart' reregulation Canadian Transport Minister David Anderson has established a special panel to examine the current ills and future prospects of...

TNT Extends Euro 1 to N. America.
March 31, 1997... Premium service initially for documents only but will expand to parcels, freight TNT Express Worldwide, the Amsterdam-based express distribution company wholly owned by Dutch postal and telecommunications corporation KPN, has extended...

Canadian National Railway.
March 31, 1997... Canadian National Railway has been named carrier of the year by Occidental Chemical Corp. of Dallas. CN scored 297 points out of a possible 361 beating other eight other major railways. The award goes to the carriers showing best performance...

CP Ships has.
March 31, 1997... CP Ships has ordered two Panamax gantry cranes, worth about C$14 million, for its container terminals in the Port of Montreal. They will be built by Liebherr Containers Cranes Ltd. of Ireland and are scheduled for delivery in the fall. One of...

Canadian Airlines has.
March 31, 1997... Canadian Airlines has gotten its long-awaited tax break from the Canadian government. The deal could be worth up to C$20 million a year and is in addition to C$18 million in fuel tax breaks from the British Columbia and Alberta governments....

Only the Beginning.
March 10, 1997... Despite the rough deal unveiled last week, the real nitty gritty in the fight between Norfolk Southern and CSX for Conrail is just getting started and it shapes up as high-stakes poker with a deck full of wild cards. "There is some...

Devil in the Details?
March 10, 1997... CSX, Norfolk Southern cut deal on $10.3 billion buyout of Conrail but serious issues remain unsettled; shippers' initial reaction positive Last week's armistice ending the four-month battle for Conrail left shippers and Conrail...

Maritime Deregulation.
March 10, 1997... Senate gets first try at legislation this year; Hutchison and Lott to introduce bills Legislation to deregulate the ocean shipping trades was scheduled to be introduced last week by Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas and Trent Lott,...

Jones Act Repeal?
March 10, 1997... Commerce Committee Chairman McCain says he'd like to, but not this year Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., wants to kill the Jones Act, but doesn't see it happening soon. "I'd like to get rid of the Jones Act,...

McCain's Priorities.
March 10, 1997... Senate committee takes off on air security; chairman 'out of patience' with Amtrak Aviation security and opposing Amtrak are tops on Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain's 1997 legislative agenda. In an interview with...

NEXTEA Funding Criticized.
March 10, 1997... Plan to spend less than budget for 1998 draws fire even before bill goes to Congress The Department of Transportation's surface transportation reauthorization bill hasn't been formally submitted to Congress but already opponents are...

Shortlines Fight for ISTEA Funding.
March 10, 1997... Shortlines generate some congressional support but administration backing may disappear Shortline railroads are fighting to keep alive a Department of Transportation proposal that would give them access to federal highway funds. ...

Security Responsibility.
March 10, 1997... Carriers and forwarders face more demands under proposals of FAA cargo security group Tighter security for air cargo will likely put more responsibility on forwarders and carriers to know more about their customers than just their name,...

`We Will Find You'.
March 10, 1997... 'You are going to see a lot more of us' is message of FAA head of aviation security to air cargo industry The Federal Aviation Administration is serious about dangerous goods. Since the crash of ValuJet Flight 592 last May, its...

No Surprises In Report.
March 10, 1997... Coopers & Lybrand says FAA is out of control, doesn't know how to manage its money The book-length report issued by the accounting firm Coopers & Lybrand on the financial state of the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed what...

Shippers Asking for More.
March 10, 1997... Forwarders search for ways to become more responsive to demands for better service, greater on-time performance Freight forwarders are looking for ways to streamline their operations to be more responsive to customer needs and to be more...

Expeditors' Rose Redefines Business.
March 10, 1997... Chairman says forwarders are 'passe' as he continues to set pace in 'communications' Expeditors International of Washington likes to do things differently. Although more than 50 percent of the Seattle-based company's revenue is generated...

Eagle USA Flying High.
March 10, 1997... Midsized forwarder, posting record profits since going public, will pursue international business Eagle USA Airfreight has found a niche that many believe was already saturated --the U.S. domestic forwarding market. Although Eagle...

Danzas' North American Presence.
March 10, 1997... World's 2nd-largest forwarder making its name in North America, targeting larger companies Danzas is the second-largest freight forwarder in the world in terms of sheer volume but it operates in North America under relative obscurity....

Volvo Opts for Airfreight.
March 10, 1997... Tony Carding, a freelance writer based in London. Swedish construction equipment maker shifts from sea to air for spare parts deliveries Swedish-based Volvo Construction Equipment Corp. has switched all its transatlantic spare parts...

Argentina's Privatization Signals Rail Revival.
March 10, 1997... ARGENTINA'S PRIVATIZED rail system has begun the long haul back to commercial life. Five private operators now run the system that carries about 17 million tons of cargo -- mainly stone, grain, chemical products, cement and containers....

Iowa Takes New Direction with Outsourcing Deal.
March 10, 1997... Iowa Interstate Railroad and C.H. Robinson have developed a variation on the intermodal marketing theme that could offer a blueprint for small railroads with intermodal ambitions. At the beginning of November last year, CHR, which...

MOP UP THOSE MOISTURE DAMAGE CLAIMS.
March 10, 1997... Del Monte Foods had a problem. Canned pineapples the company was shipping from the Philippines to the United States were coming out of the containers looking as if they'd spent most of the voyage on the ship's afterdeck. Some cans were rusted...

CONTAINER LEASING COMPANY LAUNCHED.
March 10, 1997... A new container leasing company, Gateway Container International has been launched. Based in Bermuda, Gateway leases marine container equipment, and provides associated services to shipping lines. The company initially will be represented in...

FABRIC GUARDS AGAINST TRAILER WEAR.
March 10, 1997... The constant day-to-day hammering that loading docks take from trailers can be reduced with a new product called SteelSeal. Manufactured by Frommel Industries, a division of Rote-Hite Corp. in Milwaukee, the fabric is engineered to last...

KALMAR REACHES THE AMAZON.
March 10, 1997... Amazon Lines, which operates container services between Brazil and the United States, has ordered five forklift trucks from Swedish manufacturer Kalmar LMV AB, based in Ljungby, for container handling at the remote Brazilian port of Manaus....

UTILITY TRUCK ROLLED OUT.
March 10, 1997... TriEnda Corp., Portage, Wis., has introduced plastic utility trucks that can haul up to 800 pounds and 18 cubic feet of material. The units can be loaded and unloaded via a web door, provide two-way forklift truck access and are nestable.

APL EXPANDS WEB SITE USES.
March 10, 1997... American President Lines (APL) is adding an intermodal shipment tracing feature to its Internet web site. APL says the feature provides up-to-the-minute details about the rail segment of an international move originating in or destined...

MOBILE SYSTEM OFFERS LOW-COST ACCESS.
March 10, 1997... TotalFleet, a wireless communications system that provides mobile workers with graphic dispatch, fleet management and electronic commerce services, has been enhanced with a new low-cost means of accessing the system. The product supports...

Greenbrier issues Earnings Warning.
March 10, 1997... Pessimism caused by drop in railcar demand and continued losses in logistics operations The Greenbrier Cos., Lake Oswego, Ore., has warned that earnings for its just completed second quarter and full year ending in August will fall...

UP Reopens Feather River Canyon.
March 10, 1997... Crews worked 2 months to repair washouts in Northern California Union Pacific last week reopened its Feather River Canyon route after two months of work to repair flood damage on the Northern California line hit by washouts and slides...

RailAmerica Wins Chilean Line.
March 10, 1997... Florida-based owner of 12 shortlines gets controlling interest in 1,350-mile system RailAmerica, a Boca Raton, Fla.-based owner of 12 shortlines, has made its first investment in Latin America. RailAmerica de Chile has acquired a...

CSXT Reverses Decision.
March 10, 1997... After years of trying to abandon line, railroad says it has turned profitable Since 1995 CSX Transportation has tried to abandon 0.69 miles of line in Orlando, Fla., but now it says business is good enough to keep the line in service...

Conrail Settles Tax Case.
March 10, 1997... Railroad, New York school districts agree on payment in disputed property tax assessments Conrail and the class representatives of more than 700 school districts in the state of New York have reached a tentative settlement in a...

Helping Fleet Managers Thrive.
March 10, 1997... The National Private Truck Council annual education and management conference will be held at the San Antonio Convention Center April 27-30. Tided "Many Roles, One Solution," the conference is designed to help fleet managers and their...

Landstar 1990 Net Dips.
March 10, 1997... Fourth quarter hurt by Poole, T.L.C. performances; Country Wide Transport loses, P.A.M. falls Landstar System, Shelton, Conn., parent of the third-largest group of truckload carriers, reported 1996 net income of $18.9 million on record...

Correction.
March 10, 1997... In a story in the March 3 edition of Traffic World, USF Holland was included in a list of unionized trucking companies in Trucking Management Inc., the negotiating arm of the LTL freight industry. USF Holland resigned from TMI after the last...

Carey: 'Just Say No'.
March 10, 1997... Teamsters leader decries poor truck inspections, 'ready-made pipeline' for drugs from Mexico Teamsters union President Ron Carey, decrying what he called "no enforcement" by customs and border authorities, called for a permanent delay...

Score Another for CRASH.
March 10, 1997... CRASH takes credit for halting heavier trucks on Idaho highways Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways (CRASH) is applauding a move by the Idaho House Transportation Committee to kill a proposal that would have increased the allowable...

CTA Warning on Pot.
March 10, 1997... Calif. Trucking Association cautions carriers about driver use of medicinal marijuana The California Trucking Association wants to clear the air about confusion arising from that state's passage of Proposition 215, the "medicinal...

North American.
March 10, 1997... North American Van Lines, a unit of Norfolk Southern Corp., will spend $13.4 million on capital improvements this year, a 56 percent increase over 1996 levels. The budget calls for funding new equipment as well as major systems projects, NAVL...

Schneider National.
March 10, 1997... Schneider National, Green Bay, Wis., has won a contract as lead logistics provider Chrysler Corps Newark, Del., plant Schneider said it plans to integrate services it already is providing to Chrysler's facility in Warren, Mich. Schneider is...