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GE’s Latest Offspring Sees Green Boost for Gas Engine Sales

The latest company born out of General Electric Co. expects sales of its industrial engines fired by natural gas to benefit from the spread of renewables such as solar and wind.

Advent International Corp.’s $3.3 billion purchase of GE’s distributed-power assets was completed Nov. 6. The deal gives the private-equity company custody of a maker of generators used at campuses, factories and hospitals to keep electricity flowing when the grid goes dark.

Increasingly, small gas engines and turbines are seen as the backbone of microgrids that are reshaping the way communities get power because they can back up supplies from solar panels or battery systems. The new company, called Innio and based in Jenbach in the Austrian Alps, is seeking to ride “a massive energy sector transformation” driven by the shift to greener energy supplies, CEO Carlos Lange said.

“We’ve seen massive growth in renewables that are intermittent and volatile,” Lange said in an interview. “When the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow, we’re there.”

The flood of intermittent wind and solar power on grids is opening new markets for companies such as Innio, whose engines are sold across Europe and North America. It’s Jenbacher and Waukesha brands have more than eight decades of manufacturing experience and already have shipped some 64 gigawatts of generation.

Diesel Continues to Slide, Drops 1.7 Cents to $3.338 a Gallon

The U.S. average retail price of diesel dropped 1.7 cents to $3.338 a gallon as prices for West Texas Intermediate crude oil continued to sink despite concerns that global supplies could fall amid U.S.-imposed sanctions on Iran.

It was the third consecutive weekly decline in the price of diesel.

Trucking’s main fuel costs 45.6 cents a gallon more than it did a year ago, when the price was $2.882, the Department of Energy said Nov. 5.

Average prices fell in all regions of the country. The highest one was in California at $4.074.

The national average price for regular gasoline fell 5.8 cents to $2.753 a gallon, DOE’s Energy Information Administration said. The average is 19.2 cents higher than it was a year ago.

Trump Orders Federal Spending Cuts as Chao Touts Regulatory Streamlining

The U.S. Department of Transportation and other federal agencies have to come up with a 5% reduction in their budgets for next year, President Donald Trump told his Cabinet during a recent meeting at the White House.

“I’m going to ask each of you to come back with a 5% budget cut from your various departments. Whether it’s a secretary, an administrator, whatever, I’m going to ask everybody with a 5% cut for our next meeting. I think you’ll all be able to do it,” the president said Oct. 17.

“Get rid of the fat. Get rid of the waste. And I’m sure you can do it. I’m sure everybody at this table can do it. It will have a huge impact,” added Trump, whose order came shortly after the Treasury Department indicated the deficit was $779 billion in fiscal 2018, which was $113 billion more than in the last fiscal year.

Several days later, speaking to reporters in Nevada, Trump indicated Republican leaders were working on a tax cut proposal that would target the middle-income bloc nationwide. The president did not expound on the plan, which he said would likely be produced shortly before the midterm elections Nov. 6. Congress is in recess through mid-November. A GOP-led tax overhaul was enacted last year.

At the White House meeting, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao emphasized that officials at her department had withdrawn nearly two dozen regulations that “didn’t make sense, that were nonsensical, that were overly burdensome, that were basically red tape.”

Diesel Slides 1.4¢ in First Decline Since Aug. 20

The U.S. average retail price of diesel inched down 1.4 cents to $3.380 a gallon as crude oil prices slipped amid growing U.S. inventories of crude.

It was the first decline in the price of diesel since Aug. 20.

Trucking’s main fuel costs 58.3 cents a gallon more than it did a year ago, when the price was $2.797, the Department of Energy said Oct. 22.

The national average price for regular gasoline fell 3.8 cents to $2.841 a gallon, DOE’s Energy Information Administration said. The average is 36.2 cents higher than it was a year ago.

Court Ruling Could Require Driver Pay for Hours Spent Sleeping

Trucking companies could owe employee truck drivers pay for every hour spent on the job, including sleeping breaks required by law, under a new court ruling.

The ruling by the U.S. District Court in Fayetteville, Ark., came in an ongoing wage lawsuit against P.A.M. Transport Inc. Issued Friday, it said federal labor laws, not safety rules, should be used to tally for how many hours of work an employee truck driver must be paid.

“The Department of Transportation regulations aim to make our roads safe, while the Department of Labor regulations aim to provide workers adequate compensation,” U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Brooks said in denying P.A.M.’s motion for dismissal of some of the lawsuit’s claims.

“This is big — this is a completely different approach, which says, ‘Look, anytime you are on the road is potentially compensable — every hour you are away from home you deserve minimum wage,’ ” said Steve Viscelli, a truck labor expert and author who teaches at the University of Pennsylvania.

P.A.M., based in Tontitown, Ark., and its attorneys did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday. The company owned and operated 1,351 trucks on average in the third quarter. It recently posted record quarterly profits of $9.2 million on higher quarterly revenue of $140.3 million.

Japanese company wants to fight “driver shortage” with flying trucks

This week, a Japanese company announced that it is partnering with an American helicopter manufacturer to develop a driverless “flying truck” designed to help combat perceived labor shortages in the trucking industry.

On Friday, October 12, Yamato Holdings Co. and Bell Helicopter announced that they are collaborating to develop an unmanned cargo airplane set to be put into regular service by the mid 2020’s.

According to a press release from Bell Helicopter, Bell will be in charge of designing the aircraft while Yamato Holdings will focus on the development of the cargo container.

Bell says that the “flying truck” will be able to reach speeds of 100 m.p.h. and that it will be capable of handling load between 15 and 1000 pounds. The aircraft will be designed to take off and land vertically.

CSX Sues Norfolk Southern, Short-Line Railroad Over Alleged Monopoly

NORFOLK, Va. — CSX Transportation Inc. is suing Norfolk Southern Railway and the Chesapeake-based Norfolk & Portsmouth Belt Line Railroad, alleging that they have conspired to create a monopoly at Norfolk International Terminals by essentially boxing out CSX at the Port of Virginia’s largest container facility.

The case, filed in Norfolk federal court, also names as defendants three Norfolk Southern vice presidents and the president of the Belt Line. It weaves threads that include railroad history going back more than a century, port rail logistics and the competitive position of the Port of Virginia.

Norfolk Southern and the Belt Line declined to comment.

The Belt Line is a local “short line” railroad that operates more than 26 miles in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Chesapeake. It specializes in breaking down big freight trains and delivering, among other things, intermodal containers — the cargo-carrying boxes seen all over the region — to facilities around the port.

“NS and the NPBL have used the NPBL as a chess piece to establish and maintain NS’ monopolistic control over intermodal transportation in and out of [Norfolk International Terminals] by making it practically impossible for any other rail carriers to provide intermodal service to NIT,” the suit alleges.

Diesel Inches Up 0.9¢ to $3.394 in Eighth Straight Increase

Diesel prices continue to move higher, increasing 0.9 cent to $3.394 per gallon, according to the weekly survey by the U.S. Department of Energy on Oct. 15.

The cost of trucking’s primary fuel rose by less than a penny compared with the previous week’s 7.2-cent surge, but diesel prices still have risen for eight consecutive weeks. The cost of the fuel has increased a total of 18.7 cents since Aug. 20.

Compared with a year ago, diesel prices are up by slightly more than 60 cents a gallon.

Prices moved higher in all but one region, with the Lower Atlantic posting the largest gain — 2.9 cents to $3.272.

Trade War Hinders Commodities, Helps Oil

Commodity companies are beginning to feel the impact of President Donald Trump’s trade policies, and their earnings report cards will signal how well they’ve been able to protect shareholder value.

Raw-material producers are coming off their worst week since February after the longest quarterly sell-off in commodities since 2015. Demand concerns mounted after the International Monetary Fund cut its global growth forecast, in part due to escalating trade tensions. Amid the tumult, energy markets have been a rare bright spot, with oil and natural gas reaching multiyear highs in 2018.

Industrial-metal miners are bearing the brunt of Trump’s tariffs, with Alcoa Corp. forecast to post its weakest quarterly earnings since it split from its jet- and car-parts business in late 2016. In agriculture, producers still face low prices but a volatility pickup may help traders. While higher steel prices —a consequence of metal levies — boosted costs for some oil companies, these are no match for the strong tailwind from the rally in crude.

“There’s a dichotomy in performance between the metals and the energy side,” said Peter Sorrentino, the Dallas-based chief investment officer of Comerica Asset Management Group, which oversees $67 billion. “Industrial metals and even precious metals for the most part have been under pressure from a strong dollar, and most of the energy components have done better, from crude oil to even natural gas.”

Uber Freight Now Renting Trailers to its Carriers

Powerloop is a new Uber Freight company that aims to make “power-only loads more accessible to carriers” by renting them trailers.

Having determined that what it terms the “traditional trailer pool model” to be “particularly ripe for reinvention,” Uber Freight has launched Powerloop.

The “brand new company,” which was announced on Oct. 17 and is described as affiliated with Uber Freight, will rent trailers to eligible Uber Freight motor carriers and “in doing so, enable them to participate in an innovative new trailer pool model,” said the company.

In a blog post, Max Pike, Uber Freight’s program manager of strategic projects, explained that Powerloop aims to lower the barrier to entry to trailer-pool programs. “Eligible carriers leveraging the Powerloop program are able to find backhauls more frequently and spend more of their day moving through the network instead of constantly searching for the next load,” he pointed out.