Traffic World articles from March 2007

Traffic World archives from March 2007

U.S. Rails, Unions Reach Pact.(National Carriers' Conference Committee)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... U.S. railroads reached a tentative labor agreement with seven rail unions, the first such deal in the current round of bargaining. The accord includes two of the largest unions - the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and...

Panama Canal Tonnage Rises.(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... BYLINE: Peter T. Leach The Panama Canal Authority said Wednesday net tonnage that passed through the waterway in the first quarter of its fiscal year increased by 11.7 percent, the number of ships transiting the canal increased by eight...

UPS Retires 194.(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... A small group of 194 corporate employees accepted an early retirement buyout offer from UPS. The delivery company offered the package in December to employees in its headquarters and Supply Chain Solutions division who were age 50 or older with...

USPS Buys Sorting System.(United States Postal Service)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... BYLINE: Thomas L. Gallagher The United States Postal Service awarded Northrop Grumman an $874.6 million fixed-price contract to provide mail sorting equipment. USPS already uses a system developed by Northrop Grumman. The next...

Grupo TMM Profit Slumps.(Transportacion Maritima Mexicana S.A.)(Financial report)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... BYLINE: Thomas L. Gallagher Grupo TMM, a Mexican multi-modal transportation and logistics company, had a tough year in 2006 as it lost major rail contracts and suffered from the earlier sale of port assets. Revenue of $248.2 million was...

FedEx Completes DTW Acquisition.(Datian W. Groups)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... FedEx closed Wednesday on the purchase of Tianjin Datian W. Group's 50 percent share of the FedEx-DTW International Priority express joint venture and DTW Group's domestic express network in China for approximately $400 million in cash. ...

NAFTA Surface Trade Dips.(North American Free Trade American)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... BYLINE: Thomas L. Gallagher December surface trade with Canada and Mexico fell 0.1 percent year-over-year. Although the drop to $59 billion was slight, it was the first decline from the same month of the previous year since August 2003,...

February Orders Rise.(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... BYLINE: Thomas L. Gallagher After the Census Bureau reported the biggest monthly decline in production on record in January, manufacturers say they are seeing some improvement in February. Economic activity in the manufacturing sector...

ACL Closes on McKinney Purchase.(American Commercial Lines)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... BYLINE: Thomas L. Gallagher American Commercial Lines closed Wednesday on the purchase of twenty towboats and related equipment from the McKinney group of companies. At a cost of $15 million, ACL doubled the size of its Gulf-region...

Jade Receives New Freighter.(Jade Cargo International)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Jade Cargo International has taken delivery of its third freighter and added services to four additional destinations. The Chinese all-cargo carrier took delivery of the new Boeing 747-400 Extended Range freighter on Feb. 26 from Amentum...

TSA Studies TWIC Recommendations.(Transportation Worker Identification Credential)(Transportation Security Administration)
March 1, 2007... BYLINE: R. G. Edmonson WASHINGTON -- A "touchless" reader at a maritime facility or aboard ship should be able to process the biometric data on the Transportation Worker Identification Credential in three seconds, and have a failure rate...

Rail Traffic Climbs to Even.(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... BYLINE: Thomas L. Gallagher A flat week is better than nothing for U.S. railroads. With year-to-date traffic figures down 3.9 percent overall, this week's zero percent difference from last year comes as a relief. Sequential gains in almost...

Senators Seek Cargo Scanning Deadlines.(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... BYLINE: Thomas L. Gallagher U.S. Senators Charles Schumer and Robert Menendez will offer March 1 an amendment to the Improving America's Security Act (S. 4) currently being considered by the Senate. The Schumer-Menendez amendment would...

EPA Seeks 'Greener' Locomotives, Tugboats.(Agency, Environmental Protection)
March 2, 2007... BYLINE: Joseph Bonney The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing more stringent air-pollution standards for locomotives and diesel engines on tugboats and other smaller vessels.   When fully implemented, the new rules will...

Australia Invests in Logistics.(Brief article)
March 2, 2007... BYLINE: Gordon Feller The Australian government has committed US$1.6 million to the country's freight and logistics sector over the next four years. This investment will be made to support the freight and logistics industry in the...

LA Port Co-funds Hybrid Tug.(Port of Los Angeles funds Foss Maritime Co.)(Brief article)
March 2, 2007... The Port of Los Angeles will contribute $850,000 to co-fund development of a hybrid tug boat. The tug, proposed by Seattle-based Foss Maritime Co., will be substantially less polluting, more fuel efficient and quieter than modern tugs...

UPS Cancels A380s.(United Parcel Service of America Inc.)
March 2, 2007... BYLINE: Thomas L. Gallagher UPS will drop its order for A380 freighters, the company announced March 2, dealing the final blow to the cargo version of the troubled Airbus aircraft program. The announcement came a week after UPS and...

BDP International Invests in JB Cargo.(JB Cargo Group acquired)(Brief article)
March 2, 2007... BYLINE: William Hoffman Extending its reach into markets south of the border, Philadelphia-based logistics and transportation company BDP International bought "a major interest" in Mexican logistics service provider JB Cargo Group for an...

Horizon Profits in 4th Quarter.(Horizon Lines)(Brief article)
March 2, 2007... BYLINE: Thomas L. Gallagher Horizon Lines, the nation's leading Jones Act container shipping line, earned $10.6 million net income in the fourth quarter, compared to a net loss of $10.9 million in the prior year fourth quarter. ...

Knight Opens Two Service Centers.(Knight Transportation)(Brief article)
March 2, 2007... Knight Transportation opened two new service centers this week in Columbus, Ohio. One is a dry van center; the other is a brokerage facility. Knight now has a total of 35 centers across the country. Twenty-five provide dry van services, four...

Senate Rejects Scan-All Proposal.
March 2, 2007... BYLINE: R. G. Edmonson WASHINGTON -- The Senate late Thursday rejected a proposal that would require all containers to be scanned at foreign ports before loading on U.S.-bound ships. The amendment by New York Democrat Charles Schumer...

Matson, J.B. Hunt Partner on Imports.(J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc.)(Matson Navigation Company Inc.)
March 2, 2007... BYLINE: John Gallagher Matson Navigation Company and J.B. Hunt Transport Services are partnering on a guaranteed service from China that is expected to provide a new transportation option to hundreds of truckload and intermodal shippers in...

U.S., EU Draft Open Skies Agreement.
March 2, 2007... Negotiators for the European Union and the United States on Friday put together a draft agreement after week-long talks on an Open Aviation Area. The trans-Atlantic air cargo market, which comprises 70 percent of the global fleet, could...

South Atlantic Chassis Pool Grows.(Consolidated Chassis Management, LLC)
March 2, 2007... BYLINE: Peter T. Leach Consolidated Chassis Management, LLC, which last September created the South Atlantic Consolidated Chassis Pool covering the ports of Charleston and Savannah and major inland hubs in Atlanta and Charlotte, said...

NNR Global Logistics USA Implements Management Dynamics' On-demand Proposal Generation Solution.
March 2, 2007... Leading NVOCC Chooses Proposal Builder(tm) to Optimize Customized Rate Quotes and Proposals EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ, March 1, 2007 - Management Dynamics, a leading provider of global trade management solutions, today announced that NNR Global...

Coal Lumps.(Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad )
March 5, 2007... BYLINE: Paul Page The Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad came painfully close to getting the federal backing for a project that would help the national economy and rail shippers in just about every way, except for that small matter of...

Talking Logistics to Students.(Letter to the editor)
March 5, 2007... This is in regards to the article in the Jan. 29 issue of Traffic World about college students'' limited interest in logistics/transportation management. I think in order to make someone interested in a career path, they need to know such a...

Leasing Toll Roads is the Wrong Fix.(Column)
March 5, 2007... BYLINE: Bill Graves I have a black-and-white photo, taken in 1956, of a truck making its way through the toll plaza on the Kansas Turnpike. The truck, emblazoned with the Graves Trucking logo, belonged to my father''s trucking company. ...

Dell''s Direct-to-Logistics Strategy.(Company overview)
March 5, 2007... BYLINE: William Hoffman It''s been a rough couple of years at computer maker Dell. The Round Rock, Texas, company lost its position as the world''s largest personal computer seller to Hewlett-Packard. A notebook computer battery recall...

DM&E is Dusting Off.(Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad)
March 5, 2007... BYLINE: John D. Boyd The Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad is holding out the possibility that it will go ahead with the railroad industry''s most ambitious construction project in years even as many critics of the plan are toasting the...

Delta States Seek Transport.(Delta Regional Authority)
March 5, 2007... BYLINE: Penelope Brown Looking to focus attention, and funding, on regional transportation needs, eight mostly Southern states are pressing an $18.5 billion highway plan that would be just the first part of an initiative that could extend...

Opening the Border.(Mexico and United States trade agreement)
March 5, 2007... BYLINE: John Gallagher Mexican truckers may not be lined up at the border, engines running in anticipation of acquiring U.S. operating rights - but they''re edging close. They are expected to get the go-ahead soon to roll across the border...

Retailers Urge Fast-Track Extension.(Brief article)
March 5, 2007... The National Retail Federation wants Congress to renew the president''s "fast-track" trade promotion authority, saying it is essential to U.S. participation in the World Trade Organization''s Doha Round of trade negotiations. "Negotiators...

Shipping in a Slowdown.
March 5, 2007... BYLINE: William Hoffman Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan spooked financial markets after he told a Hong Kong business audience last week a U.S. recession was possible later this year. But transportation logistics analysts...

Profiting from Service.(shippers see prospects in addiitional services)
March 5, 2007... BYLINE: William Hoffman Shippers frustrated with declining margins on manufactured durable goods are looking to services after the sale - and the service parts logistics that support them - as a new way to bolster their bottom lines. ...

ProLogis Expands in Romania.(Brief article)
March 5, 2007... Commercial real estate developer ProLogis pre-leased 115,000 square feet of space to Swiss logistics provider Kuehne+Nagel outside Bucharest, Romania, to serve local and regional distribution customers. The space, in ProLogis Park Bucharest...

DHL to Ramp Up in Dubai.(DHL express and logistics )(Brief article)
March 5, 2007... Deutsche Post World Net''s DHL express and logistics subsidiary is planning to more than triple its facilities footprint in the Middle East. Over the next several years, DHL will expand its facilities in the sprawling Dubai Logistics City...

Freight Handling Gets Global.
March 5, 2007... BYLINE: Ian Putzger Cargo handling is no longer an integral part of Lufthansa Cargo; it is now a business in its own right. At the end of January the German carrier concluded that it would spin off its ground handling activities into a...

Slugging Out Market Share.
March 5, 2007... BYLINE: John Gallagher The risk of losing long-term shippers is at a high point for carriers as the LTL trucking industry rushes to consolidate during the weakest pricing environment in years. Shippers may be benefiting from lower...

CN''s Pain, Truckers'' Gain.( Canadian National Railway )
March 5, 2007... BYLINE: John Gallagher The conductors'' strike against Canadian National Railway proved a short-term boon for trucks competing for the railroad''s business. Although Canada''s largest railroad reached a tentative settlement with the...

Celadon Buys Warrior.(Celadon Group acquires Warrior Xpress )(Brief article)
March 5, 2007... Pressing on ongoing acquisition strategy, truckload business Celadon Group bought the business and certain assets of Warrior Xpress for $8.3 million. The purchase gives Celadon a larger customer base in the mid-Atlantic region the Charles...

Universal Truckload Profits Rise.(Universal Truckload Services)(Brief article)
March 5, 2007... Universal Truckload Services posted a 13.6 percent increase in profit in the fourth quarter despite a softer freight market. The Warren, Mich.-based non-asset truckload carrier generated $163.8 million in revenue during the quarter, up 11.3...

ATA Pushes Safety Agenda.(American Trucking Associations )(Brief article)
March 5, 2007... The American Trucking Associations wants tougher training standards for new drivers. The policy was adopted at the associations'' winter leadership meeting in February. It urged the trucking industry to embrace competency-based training...

CN''s Long Strike Shakeout.(Canadian National Railway)
March 5, 2007... BYLINE: John D. Boyd United Transportation Union train conductors and rail yard workers may be back on the job at Canadian National Railway, but aftershocks from their strike will shake shippers and businesses across Canada for weeks to...

Layoffs Begin as Traffic Falls.
March 5, 2007... BYLINE: John D. Boyd Ongoing weakness in freight activity for major North American railroads is triggering new concern, and pointing to a demand slump that reflects slower economic activity. As a result, U.S. railroads have begun to...

RailAmerica Replaces Top Executives.(John Giles named CEO)(Brief article)
March 5, 2007... Short line railroad operator RailAmerica named John Giles its new CEO, effective immediately, as former CEO Charles Swinburn stepped down along with the company''s president and chief financial officer. The moves came a little more than a...

From Air Freight to Real Estate.(GE Commercial Aviation Services and Lynxs group joint venture)
March 5, 2007... BYLINE: Ian Putzger GE Commercial Aviation Services is extending its reach into the air cargo business to the ground. The commercial aircraft financing and leasing arm of GE, which commands a fleet of some 1,450 aircraft, has signed an...

UPS Reconsiders A380s.(United Parcel Service of America Inc. and Airbus's restructured agreement)
March 5, 2007... The last remaining order for A380 freighters is hanging by a thread. UPS and Airbus announced a restructured agreement for UPS''s purchase of 10 all-cargo versions of the troubled aircraft, a pact that includes a new timetable for UPS to...

ABX Flies More Profitably.(ABX Air profits rise from changes in DHL airways contract)(Brief article)
March 5, 2007... Cutting back operations for DHL is making ABX Air more profitable. The cargo airline saw its revenue plunge 15 percent in the fourth quarter to $306.3 million and 14 percent for the year to $1.26 billion as DHL sharply cut back its air and...

DPW Sale Clears Deck.(AIG Global Investment Group acquires P&O terminal facilities from Dubai Ports World)
March 5, 2007... BYLINE: William B. Cassidy and Peter T. Leach A year after its $6.8 billion purchase of P&O ignited a political firestorm in the United States, Dubai Ports World finally is moving ahead with plans to sell its former P&O terminal facilities...

European Perishables Service Back on Menu.(Maersk Line)(Brief article)
March 5, 2007... Maersk Line''s decision to re-establish service from the U.S. West Coast to North Europe is good news for most shippers - especially those shipping perishables - in a trade lane that exporters and importers say is underserved by ocean carriers....

Rising Tide of Rates.(shipping rates on the rise says Trans-Atlantic Conference Agreement and Westbound Transpacific Stabilization Agreement)
March 5, 2007... East Coast or West Coast, ocean shipping rates are rising. Two major trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific shipping alliances say they plan to boost rates April 1. The Trans-Atlantic Conference Agreement plans to raise tariff rates in what...

Crowley Adds Bigger Vessel.(Crowley Maritime Corp.)
March 5, 2007... Crowley Maritime Corp. is strengthening its Central American service with a new roll-on, roll-off vessel that will add capacity to its U.S. East Coast-Central America northern zone service. The Stena Shipper, which can hold up to 150...

People.(Ryder System appoints Luis P. Nieto)(Port of Seattle appoints Phil Lutes )(Thermo King appoints Pietro Sonza )
March 5, 2007... The Port of Seattle named Phil Lutes deputy managing director of its seaport division. Lutes spent 28 years with Westwood Shipping Lines, most recently as director of marine operations. A graduate of the Maine Maritime Academy, Lutes also...

Shippers and Sealed Trailers.
March 5, 2007... BYLINE: Colin Barrett Q: We''re a large retailer, and one of our vendors ships products of considerable value from several distribution sites. They do not pay freight, and as a matter of company policy they refuse to seal truckloads...

The Back Page.(Surface Transportation Board moves office)(Allan Rutter leaves Federal Railroad Administration)(United Transportation Union's strike in Canadian National Railway Co.)(Brief article)
March 5, 2007... Moved. The Surface Transportation Board said it was all set for its move from offices in downtown Washington to the Department of Transportation. Wouldn''t shippers love to know the rate they got on that move? Orangutan. Our research on...

International Air Freight Rises.(Brief article)
March 5, 2007... BYLINE: Thomas L. Gallagher Growth in international air freight traffic proceeded slowly in January, struggling against high fuel costs and competition from alternatives on land and sea. January's pace of 3 percent above the year-earlier...

TPM: Reporter's Notebook.(Brief article)
March 5, 2007... BYLINE: Peter T. Leach As some 1,300 attendees from all over the world gathered in Long Beach for the opening day of The Journal of Commerce's 7th Annual Trans-Pacific Maritime Conference, carrier executives are exuding confidence in the...

ProLogis Expanding to Inland China.
March 5, 2007... BYLINE: William Hoffman In a sign of China's accelerating transformation from an export-oriented economy to one focused on the country's growing domestic markets, commercial real estate developer ProLogis announced nearly a quarter-billion...

Ben & Jerry's to Open Nevada Facility.
March 5, 2007... Ice cream maker Ben & Jerry's plans to lessen its dependence on cross-country trucking by opening a production line in Henderson, Nev., later this year. In addition to eliminating shipments of ice cream pints from the company's two Vermont...

Maersk Reopens Perishables Service.(Brief article)
March 5, 2007... Maersk Line's decision to re-establish service from the U.S. West Coast to North Europe is good news for most shippers - especially those shipping perishables - in a trade lane that exporters and importers say is underserved by ocean carriers....

Yucaipa to Acquire Allied.(Allied Holdings Inc.)(Brief article)
March 5, 2007... BYLINE: Thomas L. Gallagher Allied Holdings, the nation's largest car hauler, agreed March 2 to a bankruptcy exit plan that would involve acquisition by Yucaipa Companies, a large holding company with investments in grocery chains and at...

Watkins Leaves FedEx National LTL.(Chip Watkins)
March 5, 2007... Chip Watkins, who helped engineer the sale of Watkins Motor Lines to FedEx, resigned as president and CEO of the trucking company now operating under the FedEx name. Watkins resigned from Lakeland, Fla.-based FedEx National LTL for...

BTT Settles OOIDA Suit.(Bridge Terminal Transport and Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association of America)(Brief article)
March 5, 2007... BYLINE: Thomas L. Gallagher The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association and Bridge Terminal Transport reached a settlement in a class action suit involving 6,000 drivers. The suit, filed in June 2004, alleged that BTT, a...

APL Performance Improves.(Financial report)(Brief article)
March 5, 2007... Neptune Orient Lines said average revenue per container fell seven percent in the latest reported six-week period despite container volumes that increased 17 percent in that time. The Singapore-based company noted that container volume at...

Trailer Bridge Net Soars.(Financial report)(Brief article)
March 5, 2007... Trailer Bridge said net income increased more than 40 percent to $3.9 million in the fourth quarter from the same period a year ago as revenues gained 10.7 percent on higher southbound volumes and rates and increased fuel surcharges. The...

Diesel Jumps 7.5 Cents to $2.626.(Brief article)
March 5, 2007... BYLINE: Thomas L. Gallagher As diesel inventories fall below last year's level, the average price is rising across the country in spite of a favorable outlook on the future availability of crude oil. Inclusion of ultra-low sulfur diesel...

Rennert Appointed STB Chief of Staff.(Board of Surface Transportation appointed Jamie P. Rennert)(Brief article)
March 5, 2007... Surface Transportation Board Commissioner Francis P. Mulvey named Jamie P. Rennert, Esq. as his Chief of Staff. Rennert has been with the STB since 2002 in the Office of the General Counsel. In 2004 and 2006, she served as Attorney-Advisor...

March 5, 2007.(Allan Rutter leaves Federal Railroad Administration)(United Transportation Union strike in Canadian National Railway)(Brief article)
March 5, 2007... Moved. The Surface Transportation Board said it was all set for its move from offices in downtown Washington to the Department of Transportation. Wouldn't shippers love to know the rate they got on that move?  Orangutan. Our research...

Shippers and Sealed Trailers.
March 5, 2007... BYLINE: Colin Barrett Q: We're a large retailer, and one of our vendors ships products of considerable value from several distribution sites. They do not pay freight, and as a matter of company policy they refuse to seal truckloads that...

Leasing Toll Roads is the Wrong Fix.(Column)
March 5, 2007... BYLINE: Bill Graves I have a black-and-white photo, taken in 1956, of a truck making its way through the toll plaza on the Kansas Turnpike. The truck, emblazoned with the Graves Trucking logo, belonged to my father's trucking...

Dell's Direct-to-Logistics Strategy.
March 5, 2007... BYLINE: William Hoffman It's been a rough couple of years at computer maker Dell. The Round Rock, Texas, company lost its position as the world's largest personal computer seller to Hewlett-Packard. A notebook computer battery recall last...

CN's Long Strike Shakeout.(United Transportation Union strike at Canadian National Railway)
March 5, 2007... BYLINE: John D. Boyd United Transportation Union train conductors and rail yard workers may be back on the job at Canadian National Railway, but aftershocks from their strike will shake shippers and businesses across Canada for weeks to...

Letters 3/5/2007.(Letter to the editor)
March 5, 2007... Talking Logistics to Students This is in regards to the article in the Jan. 29 issue of Traffic World about college students' limited interest in logistics/transportation management. I think in order to make someone interested in a career...

INTTRA Expands in China.(Brief article)
March 6, 2007... BYLINE: Thomas L. Gallagher In response to explosive demand, INTTRA opened three new offices in China. The large electronic booking platform for maritime shippers increased the number of containers processed by 260 percent between the...

FFEX Profit Cut in Half.(Financial report)
March 6, 2007... BYLINE: Thomas L. Gallagher Frozen Food Express Industries, Dallas-based temperature-controlled carrier of perishable goods, saw record revenue and profits blow away in 2006. In the fourth quarter of 2006, net income fell 33 percent to...

New Orders Slide Further.(Brief article)(Statistical data)
March 6, 2007... BYLINE: Thomas L. Gallagher New orders for manufactured durable goods in January fell even further than at first reported. On March 6, the U.S. Census Bureau revised its estimate to indicate orders had fallen $19.3 billion or 8.7 percent...

Air France, KLM Combine Data.(KLM Cargo UK)
March 6, 2007... BYLINE: Thomas L. Gallagher Air France Cargo-KLM Cargo used a data integration platform from Informatica to migrate customer, contract and pricing data from the two branches into a new shared application environment. This is the first...

Diana Shipping Acquires Capesize Ship.(Diana Shipping)(Brief article)
March 6, 2007... BYLINE: Thomas L. Gallagher Dry bulk cargo specialist Diana Shipping agreed to purchase a Capesize dry bulk carrier for $110 million. The ship was built in 2005 by Imabari Shipbuilding with a 180,235 dwt capacity. The company expects...

Trinity Industries Names New Director.(John L. Adams)(Brief article)
March 6, 2007... BYLINE: Thomas L. Gallagher Trinity Industries, a Dallas-based investment company with railcar and barge interests, elected John L. Adams to the board of directors. Adams previously served as a Trinity director from 1996 to 1999 when...

UPS Teams With Dept. of Commerce.(United Parcel Service of America Inc.)(Brief article)
March 6, 2007... BYLINE: Thomas L. Gallagher The Department of Commerce's U.S. Commercial Service agreed to work with UPS in a new initiative to increase exports from U.S.-based small- and medium-sized enterprises. The two agreed to provide firms with an...

Saia Wins Lowe's 2006 Platinum Team, Program Development Awards.
March 6, 2007... DULUTH, GA - February 28, 2007 - Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ: SAIA), has been presented with the "2006 Platinum Team Award" by Lowe's Companies, Inc for exceeding four service performance indicators. It is the highest award the carrier has earned from...

E*Fill Partners with Tri-Net.(E*Fill America and Tri-Net Logistics Management)(Brief article)
March 6, 2007... BYLINE: William Hoffman In a deal that trades access to North America for access to the world, E*Fill America and Mitsui's supply chain subsidiary Tri-Net Logistics Management announced a strategic alliance offering expanded warehousing...

Rail Safety Summit Sets Agenda.(Brief article)
March 6, 2007... BYLINE: Thomas L. Gallagher In the wake of crossing collisions that have taken six lives in recent weeks, railroad industry executives and leaders from federal, state and local government met in Birmingham, Ala., Monday March 5 for a...