| |
Released: October 6, 2009
Senate Panel Questions Ferro Over FMCSA Confirmation Bid
President Obama chose Anne Ferro to head the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, a regulatory position that NASSTRAC views as critical to many of its advocacy initiatives, including Hours of Service. Ferro appeared before the Senate Commerce Committee last week as its members weighed her confirmation. During her hearing Sept. 23, Ferro (who currently is president of the Maryland Motor Truck Association) spent much of her time responding to hard-hitting questions and comments from Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), who is a vocal and longtime critic of FMCSA and the trucking industry. Lautenberg said he viewed FMCSA as an agency in need of reform, and voiced concerns over Ms. Ferro’s ties to the trucking industry. In fact, he was sharply critical of Ferro’s apparent unwillingness to commit to revising driver hours-of-service rules or requiring trucks to have electronic onboard recorders. Lautenberg, who did most of the questioning during the hour-long hearing, pressed Ferro to commit to changing the hours-of-service rule issued by the Bush administration and ordering all trucks to use electronic onboard recorders to monitor drivers’ hours. > Download NASSTRAC’s new Position Paper on Hours of Service.
Freight Volumes in August Rise to Six-Month High
August truck tonnage volumes reinforced signs of a recovering economy, reaching the highest level in six months and recording the best year-over-year performance since November, according to American Trucking Associations. ATA’s tonnage index reached a seasonally adjusted 104.1 in August, the best reading since February. On a year-to-year basis, tonnage fell 7.5%, a performance that was measurably better than the 10.4% drop in July and 13.6% in June. In a month-to-month comparison, the results for August matched the 2.1% increase in July. ATA released the data — preliminary numbers that are subject to revision — on Sept. 25. “The gains in tonnage during July and August reflect a growing economy and less of an overhang in inventories,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said in a recent Transport Topics article, noting that he hopes the overall trend of tonnage increases will continue. At the same time, he cautioned that the pace of tonnage growth is hardly assured. “While I am optimistic that the worst is behind us, most economic indicators, including industrial output and household spending, suggest freight tonnage will exhibit moderate, and probably inconsistent, growth in the months ahead,” Costello said.
Diesel Falls 1.9 Cents to $2.582 In Fifth Consecutive Drop
The national average price of diesel fuel fell for a fifth straight week, dropping 1.9 cents to $2.582 a gallon, the Department of Energy reported to NASSTRAC on Monday. This is significant to NASSTRAC shippers as most members rely heavily on over-the-road trucking to manage freight flows in the supply chains. Trucking’s main fuel has declined 9.2 cents in the past month, and the latest price left it $1.293 below the same week last year. Gasoline’s national average, meanwhile, fell 3.1 cents to $2.468 a gallon, DOE said following its weekly survey of filling stations. This marked gasoline’s eighth straight downturn, in which time it has declined 17.9 cents. The downturn left gasoline $1.016 below the same week last year, according to DOE records. Each week, DOE surveys about 350 diesel filling stations to compile a national snapshot average price.
|
Industry News