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Trying to gauge the portents for trucking is always something of a "is the glass half full or half empty" type of experiment.
There’s always something good going on right alongside something that’s not so good – and often they are the same thing, like low fuel prices. Lower fuel prices means less of an outright drain on trucking’s wallet, as we all know, but many truckers miss the money they can make off of fuel surcharges when prices are higher (a classic example of the infamous "Catch-22" in action). Learn More... Dean Foods Co., the largest U.S. dairy processor, agreed to buy the manufacturing and retail operations of Friendly's Ice Cream for $155 million to add another consumer brand and help build its business beyond commodity fresh milk.
The deal includes the Friendly's trademark and intellectual property, Dallas-based Dean said in a statement. The company will retain the Friendly's senior management team. It doesn't include the Friendly's chain of more than 260 restaurants; those will continue to be owned and operated by an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners Inc., which will license the trademark from Dean. Labor activists seeking to unionize truck drivers are targeting XPO Logistics Inc., which acquired large fleets in the U.S. and Europe last year.
Unionized workers have staged strikes at around 20 XPO facilities in France, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters is attempting to organize XPO terminals in the U.S. XPO has also had to pay out millions of dollars to settle claims by port truckers who said they were improperly classified as contractors. Learn More... 
Recent acquisitions drove double-digit revenue growth for WhiteWave Foods in the first quarter, the Denver-based natural and organic company announced.
The operator of brands such as Silk and Horizon Organic reported adjusted earnings of $48 million, or 27 cents per share, on revenue of $1.04 billion, up 15 percent from $911 million in revenue in the same quarter of 2015. For the year-ago period, earnings hit $39 million, or 22 cents per share. Excluding acquisitions – such as the Vega nutrition bar brand and Wallaby, a producer of yogurts – White Wave's sales would have increased 8 percent. The first-quarter results continue a stretch of sales growth for WhiteWave revenue quarter during the last three months of 2015. Oscar Mayer is leaving Madison next year, but one recognizable piece of the company's branding is scheduled to stay.
The Wienermobiles will still be based out of the Madison area, a Kraft Heinz spokesperson confirmed. The Hotdogger program, which next month welcomes its new class of recent college graduates to learn the ins and outs of the 27-foot rolling hot dog, will stay here as well. Parent company Kraft Heinz announced last November that it intended to close the Madison Oscar Mayer headquarters, which has made hot dogs, lunch meats and more here since 1919. The company said last month that operations will start to shut down on June 30 and wrap up by the end of March 2017. Learn More... Did you hear the sound of the final nail being driven into the coffin of the American Dream?
Although 2016 is an election year, I speak not of the withdrawal of Ted "Eddie Munster" Cruz from the presidential race. Nor do I refer to the seemingly doomed efforts of old white men to keep the presidency out of the hands of an uppity woman. Rather, I speak of something much more crucial to the fabric of the United States: the end of every child’s dream of finding a crummy plastic toy inside a box of Cracker Jack. On April 21, PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay division announced it has replaced what the company calls the "Toy Surprise Inside" packages of Cracker Jack with a cardboard QR code. Is nothing sacred? Learn More... 
A three-group alliance is looking to develop a food hub that would bring together producers and buyers to serve eight counties in far Northern California.
The Shasta Regional Transportation Agency (SRTA), Superior California Economic Development and Growing Local are developing a feasibility study. They have partnered with New Venture Advisors, a Chicago-based firm that specializes in developing regional food and agriculture ventures in states across the country. A stakeholders meeting was held Wednesday afternoon at Frozen Gourmet in Redding. Learn More... Research from Wall Street analysts may include opinions on where they see a certain stock moving in the future. Sell-side research reports may contain estimates and stock recommendations as well. Tracking analyst opinions on a company they cover may help investors gather important information. Out of the 14 covering analysts providing stock ratings for C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHRW), six have shares rated a Strong Buy while two analysts have the stock rated a Buy. Nine analysts have the stock rated Hold, and one is giving a Sell recommendation. These recommendations can be translated using a numerical scale from one to five. Compiling all the ratings, the current consensus is sitting at 2.38. A rating of one would be equivalent to a Strong Buy, and a rating of five would indicate a Strong Sell.
Learn More... A Tyson Foods plant in Jefferson will permanently close its doors on July 9, eliminating 248 positions, the food-manufacturing company announced.
A series of workforce reductions will take place before the final closing date, the Springdale, Arkansas-based company said in a release. All positions at the facility, salaried and hourly, will be affected. The shuttering of the pepperoni plant, located at 1 Rock River Road, was announced last November. At the time, Tyson officials said the closure would end about 400 jobs by June. Learn More... 
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. — April heavy truck sales dropped 18.9 percent from the same month last year and 17 percent from the previous month, WardsAuto reported. Year-to-date, sales through April fell 10.3 percent from the first four months of 2015.
Learn More... Since truck capacity is overwhelmingly concentrated among small and midsize carriers, cargo interests should have a detailed strategy for fostering close working relationships with that segment of the market, according to a C.H. Robinson executive.
"This is a fragmented trucking industry. You must listen to the voice of the carrier," K.J. Schmidt, director of North American Transportation-Western region, told the Los Angeles Transportation Club. Truck capacity in the major high-volume lanes is dominated by relatively few large motor carriers, but the hundreds of lower-volume traffic lanes that are so important to many shippers are a complex network of thousands of motor carriers. Schmidt advised cargo interests to segment their carrier needs according to their requirements for different types of shipments, origin and destination locations, seasonality, and so forth, in order to develop their carrier strategy. Learn More... Premium Waters, Inc., producer of brands Water Joe, Chippewa Spring Water, Glacier Clear, Glenwood Drinking Water, Kandiyohi Premium Water and Nature's Crystal, made the switch to Lifdek corrugated paper pallets to reduce pallet and shipping costs. According to Julie Fox, supply chain manager, "Our box supplier, Green Bay Packaging, is now able to produce and supply the corrugated pallets as well as the boxes being shipped. The corrugated paper pallets are also produced in the exact size of our unassembled boxes at 42 1/2 in x 42 1/2 in. This custom size reduces the pallet footprint by six inches, which allows us to fit four more pallets of boxes per truckload, reducing shipping costs." Premium Waters' reduction in box shipments saves fuel consumption, further bolstering sustainability efforts. In addition, the company now recycles the corrugated pallets after use, generating recycling revenue.
Learn More... 
The analysts who cover Mondelez International, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDLZ) shares are providing price target projections on the company. They project that the shares will escalate to $49 within the upcoming year. The number they’ve arrived at is calculated by Zacks.com, long known as a provider of top-notch investment research. Zack’s Research project an estimate high of $60 and an estimate low of $44 for the stock.
Learn More... MILWAUKEE and MADISON, Wis. and MINNEAPOLIS and KANSAS CITY, Kan., May 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- On May 6, 2016, a substantial trademark judgement against a Kansas-based marketing firm was awarded to Marten Transport, LLC (Marten), a trucking company headquartered in Wisconsin, with truck drivers operating throughout the United States.
In a jury decision issued in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas the jury awarded Marten $3.25 million in damages for trademark infringement, unfair competition and more. Presiding District Court Judge John W. Lungstrom immediately reduced the award by $750,000 to $2.5 million; however, the plaintiff and defendant will present motions to the court within the next several weeks regarding the remainder of the verdict. Marten's attorneys at DeWitt Ross & Stevens were very pleased with the jury's award. "Trademark infringement awards of this size are not an everyday occurrence," said Harry Van Camp of DeWitt. Learn More... |
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