FreightClick.com has joined the fight to help victims of the Myanmar cyclone.  For the next several weeks, the company is offering discounts off LTL (less-than-load) freight and Truckload freight services for customers shipping supplies destined for the victims of the Myanmar cyclone.

FreightClick’s customers can use the company’s on-line rating system to obtain freight quotes and rate shop between different leading LTL and Truckload freight companies and carriers. When notified that the shipment contains emergency relief supplies for Myanmar, customers will receive a reduced rate on their freight shipping.  The discounts apply to domestic shipments that are consigned to ports for ultimate transportation to Myanmar cyclone victims.

“We all need to try and help people in need,” explains FreightClick CEO Justin Lubin. “The discounts should help folks who are looking to do something positive.  Shippers simply need to contact us to get an LTL or Truckload freight quote. We will help them the best freight shipping solution for their load, and prepare all the required documentation. The ultimate goal is to help get critical supplies to the people in Myanmar who need them the most.”

FreightClick’s decision to help the victims of the Myanmar cyclone is just another example of American business working hard to help others.  Discounted freight shipping is especially helpful in light of the recent surge in shipping prices as a result of the record high oil prices. 

Unknown to most freight shippers is the freight futures market where companies can hedge against increases in freight rates. Analysts report that the activity on the Baltic Exchange’s Index (Dry) shows that investors and hedge funds are running to participate in these once obscure markets.

Ronald Willins, analyst of the FIS Freight Services, reports that “The freight futures derivatives market should continue to grow larger than the underlying freight market. Financial players want to exploit and profit from the growth of Asian markets, even in spite of America’s slowdown.”

The impact on domestic freight shippers could be felt as speculators on the freight futures derivatives markets could push pricing up for ocean freight, with a possible spillover into domestic LTL and Truckload freight rates.

Not all Carriers are being hurt by surging fuel prices. Burlington Northern Santa Fe, one of the largest railroad freight carriers in North America, announced that its first quarter net income substantially improved by 30%.

The details show that much of this financial improvement came as a result of the company’s ability to collect an extra $275 million in fuel surcharges from freight shippers who use the railway.

The results show that the rail carrier was, really, benefiting from the rise in fuel prices. Commentators note that companies that engage in freight shipping, LTL, Truckload, or rail, should note that fuel surcharges are not merely “cost pass-throughs”, but may also be profit centers for carriers.

This is because methods of determining fuel surcharges factor in variables other than just the price of fuel.  This means that a small increase in the actual cost of fuel can end up as a significantly greater boost in the “fuel surcharges” tacked on by carriers.

When navigating the pricing maze, freight shippers need to be be sure the freight quote they receive is an all-in price, including any fuel surcharges.  This way, shippers can avoid nasty surprises when the bill comes.

There are many different opinions on how involved the government should become in the freight shipping industry and transportation in the United States. First, there are tax issues. In its most recent report, The National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Student Commission, comprised of logistics industry figureheads, proposed a fuel tax increase to help support funding for interstate infrastructure.  The Bush administration is very much against any sort of tax hike.

Current administration officials explain that freight haulers need to use the current infrastructure more wisely; for example, spacing out volume by providing incentives for hauling freight during the night. The bottom line, the jury is out on tax increases, and any potential electoral candidate who supports them is risking quite a bit.

Government agencies are also focusing on truck safety. In doing so, they are paying attention to using new technologies to make sure truckers comply with rules. This regulation could further lessen the supply of freight which could come back to haunt us as we pull out of the recession and find lots of demand and a shrunken freight supply.

A new survey by maintenance management experts Arsenault Associates found that fleet budgeting as the biggest worry facing trucking company managers. Next comes equipment life cycle costing. Arsenault will use the results of this survey where around 200 fleet managers participated, during its conference in October. The survey also covered driver/mechanic management; tire management, equipment specification, wireless computing, purchasing, and accident tracking.

Fleet managers, therefore, are not only accountable for keeping the fleet operational and running, but also for its financial management.

They must be conversant with budgeting fleet maintenance expenses, developing an operating expense plan and managing it.

Arsenault’s Dossier software helps track and report on actual fleet expenses vis-à-vis estimated expense budgets; tracks parts, labor, fuel, fluids, tires, and other related fleet operational and administrative expenses. 

Fleet managers face the key challenges of managing the high cost of fuel and executing safety programs that focus on reducing accidents that can be prevented. Added to this is the constant pressure from management to reduce costs. They have to continuously show more and more cost savings every year while managing a bigger workload with minimum resources. But fuel and safety are the top challenges that face commercial fleet managers. One of the reasons for safety being a major concern is the pressure from corporate risk departments in fleet management. So much so, fleet managers think twice about taking on vehicles that do not come with the recommendation of the risk department, in case there is a safety related issue, ending up in an injury or accident, where they may be blamed for not taking the safety issue seriously.

The pilot project that was to let Mexican trucks haul freight into the US has been stalled since the Senate panel voted for a delay.

The earlier decision was to allow hundred Mexican trucking companies to come beyond the present twenty-mile limit for a period of one year initially, provided they complied with on-site Department of Transportation audits and prescreening of Mexican drivers, along with drug tests and insurance checks. Similar to Canadian carriers, the Mexicans are not allowed to haul point to point within the US. At the present time Mexicans are allowed to travel twenty miles into the commercial zone, north of the US-Mexico border. But the Senate panel wants to delay the plan – and wants details of this pilot program published. They feel the public should have enough time to express its opinion before the program is executed. It is felt that the move to open the US border to Mexican trucks is compromising safety. In the meantime, the Transportation Department expressed its commitment to going ahead with the program, taking care of law enforcement concerns on the way. The Department feels that allowing the Mexican trucks into the US will benefit the US economically as well as maintain safety standards.

The Senate’s concern is that the US has opened the border to the Mexicans before Mexico opened the border to US trucks. The International Brotherhood Of Teamsters is happy with the delay. Though access to US highways to Mexico was to materialize in 2003, it was stalled due to disagreements between the US and Mexico.

Old Dominion Freight Line, a Less-than-truckload carrier has increased its base rates by 5.1% starting March 26, 2007. This rate increase will differ based on customer lanes and shipment distances. The increase implies restructuring that will allow increase in rates and minimum charges based on length of haul rather than the traditional “across the board” increases. Usually, the shorter the haul, the lower the impact of the increase. Even though each customer will have a different financial impact based on the lanes and distances their shipments cover, the overall increase is about 5.1%.

This increase in tariff is essential to balance higher costs as a result of new equipment, new service centers, the latest technology, insurance costs and wages and benefits, etc. In order to continue to provide customers with value in technology and graet performance they have now grown to depend on this increase is essential. 

Founded in 1934, ODFL Inc. is a less than truckload or LTL super regional carrier providing one to five day service, and next day and second day services. They offer premium expedited services, truckload services, truckload brokerage services, logistical solutions and container delivery to and from ten ports and distribution services. ODFL offers a range of unique products and services with complete nationwide coverage with the Southeast, South Central, Northeast, Midwest and West regions of the country. This includes 37 states with 100% full-state coverage and international services around the globe. ODFL has a tracking technology system, which lets its customers track the status of their shipments in real time.

FedEx plans to launch next-business day domestic delivery services in China from June this year even though it has been in the Chinese market  for more than twenty years. Earlier, FedEx only had international express services in China. Its competitors DHL and UPS already offer domestic services. DHL launched its domestic services in China in 2004 and UPS in 2005.

FedEx’s President feels that they are in the ideal position to take advantage of China’s transition to a consumer economy through its rapidly growing middle class.  The business in China is being viewed more as a long term investment and the company is confident about the market because about 90% of its customers in China and abroad had been feeling the need for domestic services.

The regional hub in HangZhou, East China’s Zhejiang Province has already been set up by FedEx to make its domestic service operational. Hangzhou is ideally located in terms of air traffic capacity, reasonable operating costs, centrally located, good weather conditions, and a potential customer base. These are critical factors when it comes to setting up a logistics center.

The regional hub at the Xiaoshan International Airport has the capacity to initially sort up to 9,000 packages per hour.

An airport official says that FedEx and Xiaoshan International Airport have a three year agreement contract. There will be two night circular routes from Hangzhou. Roughly 200 cities will be covered by trucks throughout the country. The transport will be taken care of by domestic carrier Okay Airways with their three Boeing 737 freighters. 

Why not? Karl Krueger, conservative Democrat has every intention of doing his best to get there, and he is not taking campaign donations exceeding $50  

Krueger is a union driver for Yellow Freight and his line is “eliminate America’s use of foreign oil” and he supports the use of alternative fuels – batteries, ethanol and biodiesel – to the forefront of American transport.  A war veteran, Krueger feels that fuel is a major tactical supply. According to him, Germany lost in World War II because of lack of fuel. America now gets its fuel from places where there is continuous unrest. Krueger is not on media like TV yet – rather, you will find him pitching in small towns, weekly newspapers and the like, in the Midwest.

After this week’s MATS, Krueger intends to go to small town newspapers, parades and fairs to propagate his point. Politics is nothing new to him – he ran for US Senate in South Dakota a decade ago but did not win. He has the distinction of having met Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton and the elder George Bush during his career-long stint with the U.S. military. In 1960, he met Jack Kennedy in the course of raising money for his school band as a teenager. Kennedy happened to be passing Krueger’s town and Krueger sold him a 50 cent chocolate bar. Kennedy had no money and borrowed from his driver to pay for it.

FedEx Corp’s less than truckload (LTL) units will implement a 5.59% general rate increase starting April 2. This increase for Fedex Freight and FedEx National LTL will not affect other companies within FedEx Corp; this includes FedEx Express and FedEx Ground. FedEx Freight is the regional and inter-regional provider of LTL services. They bought out Watkins Express a few months ago and renamed it FedEx National LTL.The rate increase will be applicable to interstate and intrastate traffic, and selected shipments between the United States and Mexico and Canada. They will make additional adjustments to include minimum and accessorial charges and also in select lanes and service areas.

This year, FedEx Corp.’s fiscal third quarter profits showed a 2% slide to $420 million compared to $428 million last year. Reasons stated are slowing economy, winter storms and lower fuel surcharges .The third quarter revenue has gone up by 7% to $8.59 billion.

The operating income for the LTL FedEx Freight unit went down 32% to   $50 million, while revenue rose 30% to $1.1 billion. LTL shipments were up 20% year-over-year as a result of acquiring Watkins Motor Lines last year. In the meantime, FedEx Ground operating income rose 5% to $196 million, while revenue was up 12% to $1.52 billion.The FedEx Express segment’s operating income dropped 12% to $391 million, while revenue rose 3% to $5.52 billion.

FedEx Kinko’s segment’s operating income was 43% lower; revenue was also down 3%.  Fourth quarter earnings for FedEx is likely to be $1.93 to $2.08 per share, while earnings for the full year would be $6.45 to $6.60 per share.