Mr. John Schulz

GLG News by Mr. John Schulz, Independent Analyst - Contributing Editor

GLG News is now G+ Insights

G+ is a community for professionals, academics and entrepreneurs to connect through online discussions and in-person meetings. You will continue to see G+ Insights (formerly GLG News) here as well as on the G+ website, where you can share and discuss the G+ Insights you read.

Taking a Second-Generation Look at Biofuels

January 17, 2008

Analysis of:Europe May Ban Some Biofuels | www.nytimes.com

The European Union may ban certain types of biofuels--basically those produced from the importation of certain crops, such as palm oil from Southeast Asia--because they are not as "green" as promised. This might have significant policy ramifications in this country, which has just authorized a massive increase in the push for ethanol from corn.

If Paper Were Dollars, This Country's Infrastructure Needs Would be Solved Immediately

January 17, 2008

Analysis of:Study: Gas-tax Hike the Way to Go | www.philly.com

 New reports, seemingly issued every day, are calling for the U.S. to sharply upgrade spending on its infrastructure. Most reports seem to favor an increase in the federal fuel tax -- unchanged since Bill Clinton raised it a nickel back in 1993 -- as the fairest methodology to raise the funds necessary to keep American from falling into Third World status in infrastructure. But the political will to raise taxes in an election year is non-existent, and it's unclear whether Washington will ever seriously attack the problem.

Hey, FedEx, the IRS Wants to Help You!

January 9, 2008

Analysis of:Employment Taxes and Classifying Workers | www.irs.gov

 Transport companies that utilize operator-operators, such as the FedEx Ground unit of FedEx Corp., often find out the hard way how to be in full compliance with Internal Revenue Service regulations on the correct usage of owner-operators.   In light of the IRS's recent claim that FedEx owes $319 million in back taxes and fines in an owner-operator case at its FedEx Ground division, the IRS has begun trying to enlighten employers on the issue.   This is the latest of a fact sheet in the IRS "Tax Gap" series, explaining to business owners how to classify workers correctly for tax purposes.

M&A Forecast for Transportation: Partly Sunny with a Chance of a Big Deal

January 7, 2008

Analysis of:Transportation Deals: Pricewaterhouse Coopers Report says 2007 M&A Volume on Pace to Exceed 2006 Levels | www.logisticsmgmt.com

Takeovers and other mergers and acquisitions in the transportation and logistics industries last year were on pace to exceed those in 2006, according to a preliminary report released by Pricewaterhouse Coopers.   Interestingly, while the number of deals were up year over year, the total value of M&A activity actually fell, according to the PWC analysis. The report said that total deal value for the first three quarters of 2007 was $39 billion compared to $27 billion for the first three quarters of 2006.   Primary drivers in the M&A activity in transportation was the need to grow, expand service capabilities and diversification. Worldwide supply chains are being integrated at a dizzying rate, and transport and logistics providers often need that "last link" in the puzzle to meet shippers' needs.

It's Now Official: YRC Admits it Overpaid for USF Regional Carriers

January 3, 2008

Analysis of:YRC Worldwide to Absorb Up to $800 Million Pretax Charges in 4Q | biz.yahoo.com

  The first quarter for all truckers is bad news as freight demand drops for nearly everybody. YRC Worldwide, the nation's largest LTL carrier at nearly $10 billion in revenue, chose the first business day of the New Year to drop a financial bombshell on its investors with news that it taking an $800 million write-down of the former USF group of regional carriers, which it bought for $1.25 billion three years ago.   YRC officials felt compelled to call a conference call with analysts to assure the company, whose stock has been battered after losing more than 60 percent of its value in 2007, that it was not in violation of any debt covenants, that "only" $150 million of the impairment charge is taxable and that it still is targeting this regional group of carriers for as much as $100 million in cost reductions this year.

What YRC is Paying for Five Years of Labor Peace with the Teamsters Union

January 2, 2008

Analysis of:Proposed Freight Agreement Has Concessions | tdu.org

Economic details of the Teamsters union's new five-year proposed agreement with YRC Worldwide have leaked out from the union. Wages will rise $2.20 over the five-year contract that expires in 2013 and covers some estimated 55,000 YRC Teamsters. In addition, benefit payments will rise by $1 per year. In exchange, the company is getting flexibility in operations that may allow it to migrate into the regional LTL markets.

Now One Understands Why They Call it the Green Movement

December 19, 2007

Analysis of:Long Beach OKs Fee on Cargo to Fund Green Efforts | www.latimes.com

The Long Beach Harbor Commission has approved a $35 per-container "special cargo fee" that is expected to cost shippers, ocean haulers and truckers $1.6 billion a year by 2012. The fee will be used to subsidize a fleet of new, cleaner drayage trucks that work the port, adversely affecting the 16,000 non-union, mostly Spanish-speaking draymen who will be banned from using older, more polluting trucks.

Environmental Moves by Southern California Ports Destined to Raise Trucking, Maritime Costs Steeply

December 10, 2007

Analysis of:Southern California Ports Move to Curb Emissions From Shipping Industry | www.nytimes.com

  The move by Southern California to ban older trucks from its ports as part of its plan to cut diesel emissions may be only the tip of the iceberg for maritime shippers. Now there is a plan to sharply curb emissions by reducing use of diesel engines still out in the Pacific Ocean.   The ports plan to "cold iron" ships into harbor. That would require some ships to power down on-board power generation systems and instead use on-shore power grids. Moreover, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) plans to vote in December on regulations modeled on the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles and extend them throughout the Golden State.

Trucking Guarantees are No Guarantees of Profitability

December 10, 2007

Analysis of:UPS Freight Launches Reliability Guarantee | biz.yahoo.com

  UPS Freight (formerly Overnite Transportation Co.) will be offering an on-time delivery guarantee for its LTL shipments starting Jan. 2, 2008. It is also offering enhancements at that time to its internet freight shipping software suite that integrates with shippers' existing data bases.   While a convenient marketing tool that no doubt will attract some shippers, these guarantees are largely not needed in the LTL sector where on-time service routinely runs in the 98 to 99 percent range.

How Big is Trucking? The Census Bureau Tries to Compute

December 6, 2007

Analysis of:Trucking Revenue Tops $300 Billion, Census Bureau Says | www.supplychaindaily.com

 The Census Bureau has taken a stab at estimating the total value of U.S. trucking, which it pegs at $312 billion. However, it excludes private carriers, which are the largest single source of revenue for trucking.   However, the Census Bureau's "2006 Service Annual Survey: Truck Transportation, Couriers and Messengers, and Warehousing and Storage," does provide a wealth of other hard-to-obtain trucking data. These include revenue, shipment size, revenue by commodity shipped, origin and destination and inventories of revenue-generating equipment

UPS Secures Labor Peace, at Quite a Price

December 6, 2007

Analysis of:BNA Daily Labor Report: Teamsters Approve UPS Contract, Five Supplements Rejected | tdu.org

  How much does labor peace over the next five and a-half years mean to UPS, the nation's largest transportation provider? The new pact will increase UPS's costs by as much as 4 percent, not counting a one-time payment of $6.1 billion to the Teamsters Central States Pension Plan in a deal that allows UPS to withdraw from that chronically underfunded multiemployer pension plan.

CSX Wins Big in High Court Tax Case

December 6, 2007

Analysis of:Supreme Court Sides with CSX in Georgia Tax Case | www.ajc.com

  The Supreme Court has ruled unanimously in favor of CSX Transportation  in a  tax  case involving how a state can determine the value of a railroad's real estate. In ruling 9-0, the High Court reversed the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. In writing the opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts held that railroads may challenge a state's methods for determining the value of real estate for tax purposes.   The decision could affect all U.S. railroads and might result in a lowering of their tax rate.

Honda Hybrids Losing Their Tax Advantages

December 3, 2007

Analysis of:IRS Announces Phase-out of Credit for New Qualified Hybrid Vehicles and New Advanced Lean Burn Technology Motor Vehicles | www.irs.gov

 The Internal Revenue Service is phasing out tax credits for new advance burn technology vehicles and hybrid cars and light trucks manufactured by American Honda Co. It will apply to such Honda vehicles purchased or leased in the U.S. after Jan. 1, 2008.   Notice 2007-98 will be in Internal Revenue Bulletin 2007-50, to be issued Dec. 10, 2007.

Crossborder Trucking is as Dead as the Dennis Kucinich Presidential Bid

November 27, 2007

Analysis of:Mexican Truck Stop | www.emailthis.clickability.com

  All those plans for a single North American trading bloc may still live inside the heads of economists and tenured college professors. But on the highways of North America and in the halls of Congress, it's dying a not-so-slow death.    There will be no sizable or coordinated crossborder trucking program between the U.S. and Mexico as politicians on both sides are reading the tea leaves and deciding it's a non-starter.   Leading presidential contender Hillary Clinton is calling for a "trade timeout." That's stunning, when one considers it was her husband who initially signed the NAFTA accord in 1993.

UPS Follows FedEx's Rate Increase, to the Dime

November 20, 2007

Analysis of:UPS to Raise Rates 4.9 Percent in 2008 | www.purchasing.com

UPS is matching FedEx's announced 2008 rate increase by increasing domestic ground rates by 4.9 percent. Air and international rates will technically rise by 6.9 percent, but the effective rate will also be 4.9 percent thanks to a 2 percent reduction in the fuel surcharge. These are the largest base rate increases by the two small package giants since 1998.

New IRS Tax Breaks Coming Soon for Biodiesel, Ethanol and Methanol

November 16, 2007

Analysis of:Alternative Fuel: IRS Definition of Liquid Hydrocarbon | www.irs.gov

  The Internal Revenue Service is clarifying which alternative fuels can qualify for certain tax credits and payments.   Specifically, biodiesel, ethanol and methanol now qualify under the definition of liquid hydrocarbons for income tax purposes. That's according to a news flash from the IRS Guidewire. The notice will formally appear in IRB-2007-49 on Dec. 3, 2007.  

West Coast Truckers Pay, Everybody Else Wins

November 12, 2007

Analysis of:Seattle, Tacoma and Vancouver Ports Seek to Reduce Air Pollution | seattlepi.nwsource.com

  The ripple effects of the move by the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles to eliminate older trucks in an attempt to clean the air in Southern California is having intended, and unintended, consequences. This story details how three other West Coast ports -- Seattle, Tacoma and Vancouver, B.C., are following LA's lead to limit truck diesel fumes. These ports have a plan that is largely voluntary but nevertheless will result in 80 percent of the trucking fleet servicing those ports being required to meet 2007 emission standards. By 2017, all the trucks will have to meet those tougher standards.

The Solution to YRC Worldwide's Structural and Financial Woes

November 9, 2007

Analysis of:Biggest U.S.Trucker Battling Economic Headwinds | biz.yahoo.com

 YRC Worldwide is feeling the downdraft in trucking worse than most companies. Part of the problem is the environment YRC operates -- the long-haul sector is the worst and slowest-growth part of trucking. Part is its high-cost fixed network with more than 55,000 Teamsters, the highest-paid work force in the industry. But part of it is YRC's specific situation and business plan -- with more than 1,000 terminals inherited from its go-go buying binge when it eliminated long-haul rival Roadway Express and when it purchased then-high-flying regional LTL carrier, USF Freightways. At over $2 billion combined, those investments are looking rather dubious as the company is awash in terminals, personnel, networks with not enough good-paying freight to fill all those trucks.

Ron Carey Calls UPS Contract "A Complete Sellout"

November 7, 2007

Analysis of:Labor Notes Interviews Former Teamsters President Ron Carey on the UPS Contract | labornotes.org

Former Teamsters union general president Ron Carey is blasting James P. Hoffa's negotiations with UPS, which has resulted in a tentative proposed contract that now must go to the rank and file. Carey calls the contract a "complete sellout." Carey, who was elected as a reformer to the top Teamster post in 1991, still has some influence within the reform wing of the 1.4 million-member union. But does he have enough to torpedo the proposed deal?

Forget the FedEx List Price Increases, It's the Accessorials That Add Up

November 5, 2007

Analysis of:FedEx Express to Raise 2008 Rates | logisticstoday.com

  FedEx Express will effectively raise rates on international and domestic express package and freight shipments by 4.9 percent on Jan 7, 2008. The increase is identical to that which UPS took a year ago and is likely to be matched almost identically by rivals UPS and DHL for 2008.   While the list increases are hefty, virtually no large-account shipper will pay nearly this much. But the devil is in the details, which show large 15 to 25 percent increases in "accessorial" charges such as additional handling surcharges, address correction fees, insurance, delivery reattempt charges and oversize tariff increases.

Previous Page : 567891011121314Next181 to 200 of 336