Kelley named VP at ConMet

Canadian operations among Best Fleets Top 20

Chao Confirmed as Transportation Chief

Image via Elainelchao.com

As expected, Elaine Chao was easily confirmed on Jan. 31 as Secretary of Transportation by the U.S. Senate.

Secretary Chao has stated that one of her top priorities will be cooperating with Congress to enact the trillion-dollar infrastructure investment plan that has been floated by President-elect Trump since right after the election.

Speaking at her Senate confirmation hearing earlier in January, Chao emphasized the “significant difference between traditional program funding and other innovative financing tools, such as public-private partnerships.” She said getting private capital flowing into infrastructure projects will require “incentivizing” equity firms, pension funds, and endowments to invest in “a bold new vision” for building highways and other infrastructure.

In addition, Chao pledged in that hearing to keep safety a “primary objective” for DOT on her watch. She has also asserted that regulatory decisions should be “based on sound science with solid underlying data.”

Chao is no stranger to the power elite in Washington. She served as secretary of labor throughout both terms of President George W. Bush. Her first major executive appointment was deputy secretary of transportation under President George H.W. Bush.

Related: Chao Pitches Private Infrastructure Investment in Confirmation Hearing

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Time for testing trucking’s cybersecurity defenses

Over the last few years, household goods moving conglomerate Arpin Group has relied on tactic that remains fairly uncommon in the transportation world to ensure that its cyber defenses are solid: using third party firms to launch hack attacks against itself.

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Earnings Watch: UPS Reports Loss, Paccar Earnings Fall

Despite increased revenue and freight volume, parcel delivery and trucking company UPS Inc. on Tuesday reported a loss in the fourth quarter of 2016.

The net loss of $239 million, or 27 cents per share, compares to net income of $1.3 billion, or $1.48 per share, in the final three months of 2015. Total revenue increased 5% to $16.9 billion as the company delivered 1.4 billion packages during the quarter, 7.1% higher than a year earlier.

According to the company, much of the reason for the loss was due to pension charges of $1.90 per share. When it and other one-time charges are excluded, adjusted earnings for the final quarter of 2016 were $1.63 compared to $1.57 a year earlier but 5 cents less than a consensus estimate by a poll of Wall Street analysts.

UPS' domestic package operation revenue increased 6.3% from a year ago to $10.9 billion while its adjusted operating profit fell slightly to $1.33 billion. Average daily shipments increased 5% to 19.6 million.

Its supply chain and freight business, which includes the mainly less-than-truckload carrier UPS Freight, saw a 2.6% increase in fourth quarter revenue over the same time in 2015, totaling $2.7 billion.

LTL revenue increased 2% to $604 million as the number of LTL shipments edged up 0.3% and gross weight hauled improved 2.1% Despite this, UPS had an operating loss of $139 million versus a fourth quarter 2015 operating profit of $187 million.

For all of 2016, UPS net income totaled $3.4 billion, down 29.2% from 2015 as total revenue increased 4.4% to $60.9 billion.

Meantime, in the truck and engine manufacturing arena, the parent company to truck marques Kenworth and Peterbilt, saw both its fourth-quarter and full-year 2016 profits fall due to lower truck deliveries in North America.

Paccar Inc. earned $288.8 million, or 82 per ...Read the rest of this story

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