Economic Blast
Truck tonnage held at an all-time high in September, rising 3.7 percent from a year ago and capping the highest quarter on record, according to a recent statement by the American Trucking Associations. U.S. consumer confidence rebounded strongly in October, hitting a seven-year high as solid job gains raised expectations for economic growth. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its confidence index climbed to 94.5, the strongest reading since October 2007 and the start of the Great Recession a few months later. This month's gains reversed a revised decline to 89 in September from 93.4 in August.
The U.S. economy grew at a solid annual rate of 3.5 percent for the third quarter according to the Commerce Department. The results for Q3 were better than expected, following the 4.6 percent up-tick in Q2 after a terrible Q1 estimate of 2.1 percent due to the terrible winter weather! Many economists are predicting a solid 3.0 percent growth for all of 2015.
Quotable
"The 50-50-90 rule: Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability you'll get it wrong!"- Andy Rooney (CBS) 60 Minutes
Ramp/Dock Report: November 2014
For those of you that deal in the international container trade via LA/LGB ports, we want to helpyou with a better understanding of the root causes of the congestion and gridlock as well as offering an apology for the slowed service. The reasons are adding up to what may be labeled, "a perfect storm". Factors that by themselves would not necessarily cause gridlock but together have created one of the worst backlogs and slowdowns in many years! First is the elimination of ship line owned chassis. There are very severe shortages which add to the delays of moving containers and unloading the vessels at dock. Currently, there are at least 10 vessels anchored off shore awaiting a dock opening! Next is the increase in the arrival volume for the peak season which currently is about 11 percent higher than average. Finally, the ILWU and PMA negotiations have slowed and so is the productivity of the ILWU labor! Thus, "the perfect storm"! We at Absolute Intermodal are working to add power to help lessen the turn-around for all port moves and reduce the additional costs associated with longer turnaround times!
Absolute Intermodal, LLC is enthusiastically moving forward with our newest operating entity, All Decks Intermodal, LLC. The All Decks division will be marketing a door-to-door product using the newest intermodal flat deck to help on consistent moves that would normally go over-the-road via truck and flatbed trailer. Available operating locations are currently being formulated and should have pricing and points available by December. Please let us know if you have any interest in this and we can determine the pricing as well as the operating timetable. Mexico and Canada lanes are going to be offered as well!
Lessons from the Past
In the over ten years that this column "Lessons from the Past" has beenwritten for our newsletter, I was reminded of why this was included; inspiration from Andy Rooney and his critically acclaimed segment on 60 Minutes- "A Few Minutes With Andy Rooney". The topics over the 1097 segments aired, included anything and everything and sometimes something about nothing! As writers, we struggle for ideas to keep the topics fresh and interesting. Andy Rooney was once asked how he did it. His response; "I sit down at my typewriter, or my computer now and I damn well decide to have an idea. That's how you get an idea. They do not strike you very often in the middle of the night or when you're doing something else....Ideas are amorphous, but you have to work on having one. They don't come just out of the blue." Amen Andy!
So with a little literary license, I will attempt a 'Rooneyism' (my word). The topic, "Beer and Hymns" Rooney's segment might have gone something like this__ "Did you hear about the Christian Church of Downtown Tulsa serving beers to the congregation on Sunday night 'Beer and Hymns' gathering? I am sure that God would look down on this effort to bring in more of the unwashed as the epitome of bad marketing! With a three beer limit, I suppose you could get quite a buzz on, no teetotalism here, but how about a bunch of church folk gathering on Sunday night to throw back a few brewskies in the name of Jesus? Seriously...? Can you imagine the crowd with alcohol induced bravado spouting their opinions of what God really wants? Call me old fashioned, but this is just too weird, even for me!"
What has always struck me the most about Rooney is how normal and average he was, and I mean that as a compliment. He was probably the most famous, "normal" person in the world. Andy Rooney died November 4, 2011 one month after his last broadcast on 60 Minutes at the age of 92.He and his wife raised four great kids. Did you know that he was married only once, to Margie, for 62 years, and after she died in 2004 it hurt him so much he cried himself to sleep and couldn't even type her name in columns anymore. So much for his curmudgeonly, prickly wit often confused with cynicism, criticism and cutting bigotry. We can definitely miss the ubiquitous unruly eyebrows and piercing stare into lens of the 60 Minutes cameras.