Car hauler wants wage cuts extended

Allied is doing it again

Found this article tonight by the following writer:

By Robert Schoenberger
rschoenberger@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal



Car hauler Allied Holdings, which is in bankruptcy, has asked a court for permission to extend wage cuts for its drivers until Sept. 30. The temporary wage cuts are set to expire at the end of this month.

The Teamsters union, which represents the drivers, said it will fight the proposal.



Last month, Allied won approval from a federal bankruptcy court in Georgia to cut the wages by 10 percent. It said without the cuts it would run out of money by July. In court filings then, Allied said it would spend the two months trying to negotiate a contract with the Teamsters.

But if talks failed, the company said then, it would ask the court to void its union contracts. Union leaders said contract cancellations would likely lead to a nationwide strike, which would make it difficult for automakers to move vehicles from plants to dealerships.

Allied is the country's largest auto hauler. In Kentucky, it has terminals in Louisville, Georgetown and Bowling Green serving Ford, Toyota and General Motors plants.

Fred Perillo, an attorney for the Teamsters, said Allied has not offered a workable contract in negotiations, and he said he plans to oppose the extension of wage cuts at a hearing on June 23.

"Our objective is to protect our members," Perillo said. He added that he sees no benefit in keeping wages depressed while the company drags its feet at the negotiating table.

In its filings, Allied said it was ready to request that the contracts be voided but was asked by an investor to seek the extension and continue negotiating with the Teamsters.

The Yucaipa Cos., a California investment firm owned by Democratic Party fundraiser Ronald Burkle, bought about two-thirds of Allied's $150 million in bonded debt. The investment firm retains former President Bill Clinton and civil-rights activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson as advisers.

In its filing, Allied said Yucaipa asked it to continue bargaining and arranged a $30 million loan so the company could keep paying its bills.

Yucaipa representatives did not return calls seeking comment on their request to delay the contract cancellations.

The firm has been described as union-friendly.

Last year, when Yucaipa invested $150 million in Pathmark grocery stores in New Jersey, United Food and Commercial Workers President Joe Hansen said the firm has great relationships with unions.

Yucaipa is working with the union representing newspaper employees in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., to buy the Times-Leader from its parent, the McClatchy Co., and turn it into an employee-run operation.

In addition to extending the pay cuts by another three months, Allied asked for permission not to make increased payments to its pension and health care plans that are scheduled to take effect Aug. 1.

Reporter Robert Schoenberger can be reached at (502) 582-4669.

Finally!

Ok, finally! Apparently you just have to wait a hellaciously long time before the blogger computer figures out what to do with these pictures.

Meant to get these up months and months ago. Somebody from Southeastern Transport wasnice enough to send me some new pictures of the Boydstun screw trailers they bought to haul Toyotas.

I'd be interested in hearing what folks think. I've heard good things from Walter down at Southeastern. Some other guys at Selland were grumbling last year about too much maintenance on the Cottrell screw trailer, but I didn't hear too much beyond the fact that the maintenance guy wasn't too keen on lubing those screws once a week. Don't even know if that's required, though that is a heck of a lot of metal-on-metal.

Boydstun Screw Trailer

Picture
Hopefully if you click on this, you'll see the new Boydstun screw trailer.
If not, I may have to take this computer out to the driveway and drive over it a couple times.

Coming Soon: Auto Transport Directory

Of course soon is a relative term. We'd like to get as much in it as possible: auto transport equipment repair facilities, manufacturers, salesmen, parts, finance, insurance... you name it. (I'm tired of working so hard to find phone numbers when I need them... seems like there ought to be a book for car haulers!)

Boydstun Screw Actuators Selling Well

Sources in the industry report that Boydstun is in the process of closing a huge deal that will give a boost to their screw actuator auto transport trailer line. They're already selling around four screw trailers for every hydraulic car hauler!

Must be nice to be a car hauler salesman these days!

My back-of-the-envelope calculation puts the gross of this one deal at over $17 million. I'd take 5% of that any day of the week.

Looks like there's a big deal in the works from Honda in rail auto transport, too. We'll have to see what happens there. If Greenbriar Gunderson gets that deal, then the Portland, Oregon area will get a "two-fer"

(Boydstun Metalworks is located in Portland. I think Gunderson is in Beaverton, which is close by.)

If you can't see the image to the left, go to www.boydstun.com

But don't expect to get your new screw trailer any time soon. I hear Boydstun has a hell of a backlog. From what we're hearing from dealers like Rush, it's the same over atCottrell trailers, though I don't think their screw trailer is anywhere near as popular as Boydstun's. Time will tell I guess.

The big question is what these rigs will be worth at turn-in time, and how many guys will want them. I'm guessing that if they do well, there will be a pretty good market with the medium-sized fleets picking up at the ports. The open design of the screw actuator car hauler lends itself well to that kind of car hauling operator. Not sure how many POV car haulers will be jumping onto the bandwagon.

Auto Transport Trailer Manufacturers and Freightliner Trucks

I might have been hallucinating, but I think I heard someone say the other day that Cottrell Trailers is putting out six or eight trailers a day. I have no idea how much Boydstun is making up there in Portland, but the other day when I was talking to Mark Mecklam, he had about thirty seconds before he had to take another call.

That Cottrell number might not be far off the mark. I was talking to someone at Rush Truck Center the other day and he said he wasn't having trouble getting new Peterbilts, but getting trailers was like pulling teeth.

Haven't talked to Jakes in a while, but if these guys are THIS busy, Jakes Truck Center will be ten times as busy. He was busy when everything was slumping a while back.

I have no corroboration on those numbers from Cottrell Trailers, but if they're true, and if Boydstun is as busy as they seem, I've got to believe it has to do with the 2007 emission standards for commercial trucks.

A reliable source says Freightliner's North Carolina plant is pumping out over 200 tractors a day. 200 Freightliners a day!

Seems as if every fleet in the country decided to upgrade at the same time.

Improvements to CarloadUSA

Latest Additions:
One click setup of Instant Notification when new loads posted
Distance & Directions available for all loads
Carrier Package available online
Broadcast email regarding Available Space to all brokers
Broker's phone hours and carrier requirements added
New members that want to View Loads (Carriers and Carrier/Brokers) get a 30-day free trial and then pay a fee of $19.95 per month. Membership to Post Loads only is FREE.
To find out more, go to www.carloadUSA.com

Telephone Service

Normally, I don't talk about things that aren't related to car hauling equipment or the car hauling business, but I wanted to draw your attention to a new affiliate for Carhauler News: Lingo. This is an amazing company offering VOIP telephone service.

VOIP stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol. What this basically means is that you can use your DSL or cable broadband internet service to make phone calls now.

There are several different companies that have really started to pull ahead of the others in VOIP service, to my knowledge, Lingo offers the best service yet, especially compared with adding an additional line through your regular phone company.

Between long distance, local service, fees and taxes, I was easily spending over $120 a month for my second business line. For $20 a month, I now get unlimited local and long distance calls in the US, Canada as well as over a dozen countries in Europe!

Basically, I'm saving about $1,200 a year by using this service. The calls are actually clearer than they were when I had my second business line, plus I get free voice mail, call forwarding, three-way calling, speed dial, call return, caller ID block and a bunch of other features. My phone company made me choose my top three. If I wanted more than that, I had to pay extra. If I wanted to call Canada, I had to pay extra.

What's really funny is my Lingo phone service runs on my DSL which is provided by the local phone company.

An additional source of savings comes from the fact that I don't have to pay a bunch of stupid local, state and federal taxes for the extra phone line.

I highly recommend this service. If you want to try it out for yourself, click on the link to the right. The good news is you don't have to be highly technical to get the thing to work. I set up my Lingo box and got my service working in about a half hour.

Their customer service is also great. After making a change to my office's network configuration, I discovered my VOIP line wasn't working. After trying some basic tricks to get it to come back, I called customer service. After about a five minute hold, a service tech came on the phone. In about fifteen minutes, we had the whole thing sorted out and the VOIP line was working great.

If you want to ask me about the service, you can me on the Carhauler News VOIP phone! Our number is 503-342-2085.

Buy & Sell New & Used Trailers at TrailerShopper.com -- Search

Buy & Sell New & Used Trailers at TrailerShopper.com -- Search: "2006 Featherlite Enclosed Carhauler Mdl#4926"

I've been thinking for some time we need to have a site dedicated to the smaller types of carhauler trailers, parts and supplies. This site here has over a hundred of smaller car hauling trailers, both enclosed and open.

Auto recalls archive for 1998 boydstun trailer vehicles

Auto recalls archive for 1998 boydstun trailer vehicles: "ACCURIDE/AKW WILL REPLACE THESE WHEELS."

For the price they charge for aluminum wheels, it's nice to see manufacturers standing behind them!

Auto Recalls: 1997 - BOYDSTUN - TRAILER -- Nolo

Auto Recalls: 1997 - BOYDSTUN - TRAILER -- Nolo: "1997 BOYDSTUN TRAILER - WHEELS:RIM"

I never heard of this one myself, but I suppose if you've got a 1997 Boydstun, this would be worth looking into.

Allied Holdings seeks salary cuts - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

Allied Holdings seeks salary cuts - Atlanta Business Chronicle:: "Allied Holdings Inc. has filed a motion in Bankruptcy Court to reduce its unionized employees' salaries by 10 percent, which would save the company about $2 million each month and possibly save it from liquidation."

Maybe it's time some of those boys get themselves a truck and trailer?

GM, Ford sales go downhill, Toyota zooms ahead- The Economic Times

GM, Ford sales go downhill, Toyota zooms ahead- The Economic Times

What this means for the auto transport industry is anybody's guess. Might help to brush up on your Japanese. What I've been thinking about lately is how out-of-touch GM, Ford and Chrysler are with the female car-buyer. (Sorry, still think of Chrysler as an American brand!)

Just a few weeks ago, my wife wanted a new car. I suggested several possibilities: the Ford 500, a used Chevy Tahoe (to pull my new boat on the weekends!).

My wife actually test-drove the Ford 500 and loved the handling, fit, finish, etc. It seemed too much of an "old person's car", so she wasn't interested in buying one. I was interested in the Tahoe for reasons of safety and boat-towing ability, but she didn't like the fuel economy, didn't want something that big (she parks in a garage downtown and has trouble with the pillars). Besides, she didn't really feel like she was a truck person.

After borrowing her mom's Toyota Camry, she decided she really liked the way that drove. On the way to the dealer to buy a Toyota Camry, we passed a Honda dealer. As an avid reader of the car review in the Saturday paper, I recalled that the new Honda V6 got rave reviews for comfort and performance. She test drove a fully loaded EXL and it was love at first sight. After driving the Accord, she did try out a new Camry, but it felt a bit "stodgy" to her after the V6 Accord. Needless to say, we bought the Honda.

What really struck me about the whole experience was how no GM product (other than the Tahoe-- which I brought up) or any Chrysler at all even came under consideration.

Driving by the line-up of the new cars at the local Chrysler dealer, it struck me how far off the mark their designers are when it comes to the female buyer. It's like they made a decision that they'll sell mini-vans to the moms and pickups and Chargers to the dads-- and that's it!

Ford is making an attempt to get the female buyer with the new front-wheel drive car... hell I can't even remember its name right now! At one point, I we were thinking about the mini SUV they built on the 500's platform, but then we looked up reliability and Consumer Reports didn't rank them very high, so that was the end of that.

I'm glad my wife is happy with her new Honda, but I've got to admit-- I'm really not a Honda guy. Plus the disconnect between American car makers and American women doesn't bode well for these companies' fortunes.

I think we could be looking at a future where Ford builds nothing but SUV's and trucks and the Mustang GT (My next car.) GM will continue the trucks and SUV's, plus Cadillac and Corvette. Pontiac? Oldsmobile? Buick?

Auto hauler hires turnaround expert

Auto hauler hires turnaround expert: "PTS, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year, is the
second largest transporter of new automobiles, sport-utility vehicles and light trucks in North America. It operates three trucking lines: E
and L Transport, Hadley Auto Transport and Leaseway Motorcar Transport, which together deliver approximately 3.8-million new cars and light trucks annually."

What's going on at the top of the food chain? Correction of over-supply? Look for some of these divisions to get spun for cash.