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By Kiah Haslett |
Rail and transportation leasing company GATX Corp., said first-quarter
profits dropped 32 percent from a year ago, due to a decline in its
specialty division and the idling of steamships during winter months.
Net income was $18.7 million, or 40 cents per diluted share, compared
with $27.6 million or 56 cents a year ago. Shares in the Chicago-based
company were down 1.5 percent in early trading on the news.
From Reuters | Hub Group posted a higher first quarter result on Wednesday, announcing a net income of $8.7 million, or 23 cents a share, compared with $6.2 million, or 17 cents a share, a year ago. Other freight transportation companies also posted higher
first-quarter results on improved volumes.
Get the full story: reuters.com.
McClatchy/Tribune News | Nissan will start taking orders for its Leaf electric sedan on Tuesday. Priced around $25,000 after incentives, the compact is set to go on sale late this year.
Read the full story: Nissan to start taking orders for Leaf.
Associated Press | Toyota is testing all its sport-utility
vehicles to reassure buyers of their safety after Consumer Reports
warned a large Lexus SUV is susceptible to rolling over.
The expanded testing covers the entire lineup of Toyota and Lexus SUVs,
including popular models such as the RAV4, 4Runner and Highlander, said
Toyota spokesman Brian Lyons. The automaker will be testing the
vehicles’ stability control to replicate the Consumer Reports’ test that
uncovered the problem, he said.
Jim Lovell, left, with Neil Armstrong, speaking at O’Hare in March 2010. Lovell and other astronauts criticized Obama’s proposed space program changes in two scathing letters sent to the White House. (Brian Cassella/ Chicago Tribune)
By Julie Johnsson | President
Barack Obama is expected to reshape his vision for NASA to emphasize
Mars exploration as opposition builds to his controversial plan to move
NASA away from manned space missions while commercializing spaceflight.
Lake Forest’s Jim Lovell, commander of the Apollo 13 mission, and Neil
Armstrong, the first man to step on the moon, were among the more than
two dozen space explorers to criticize the president’s plan, unveiled in
his fiscal 2011 budget, in two scathing letters sent to the White House
this week.
From Reuters | Lombard-based transportation company Hub Group said it would buy
2,000 intermodal containers from a subsidiary of Singamas
Container Holdings. The acquisition of the 53-foot containers is a sign that the freight market
is picking up; the costs are estimated to be about $19.2 million.
Get the full story: reuters.com.
Associated Press | It’s walk to work day in Chicago and for once the weather is cooperating. The Active Transportation Alliance is urging workers to hoof it to the office as a more healthy and environmentally friendly alternative way to commute.
The Chicago-based group set up meet-up sites at several CTA stops to encourage riders to get off and walk the rest of the way to work, or to an 8:30 a.m. rally at Daley Plaza. With temperatures expected to reach into the 70s by afternoon, walking home might not be a bad idea, either.
The luxury motor coach MCI D4505.
By Julie Wernau |
A Schaumburg-based company will deliver 70 luxury motor coaches to Greyhound as the latter attempts to modernize its fleet of vehicles.
Motor Coach Industries said Thursday it will begin delivery of the coaches in June 2010, and that Greyhound has an option to purchase an additional 30 coaches. MCI said the coaches will be wired for wireless internet access and power outlets for passengers and five fewer seats to increase legroom. They are wired for up to six security cameras, and include other security and comfort features.
Tribune staff report | FedEx unveiled the first all-electric, full-size delivery vehicle in the U.S. Monday. The delivery truck was rolled out this morning at Soldier Field, before beginning a two-week road trip on Route 66. The zero-emission truck, built by Navistar, is designed to offer a full eight-hour shift of power before needing a recharge.
By Julie Johnsson |
The U.S. and European Union have struck a sweeping new pact to
liberalize air travel across the North Atlantic, the largest market in
the world, by eliminating restrictions on foreign ownership and control
of airlines.
The Open Skies II agreement, which must be approved
by the U.S. Congress and European parliament, would end U.S. rules
limiting overseas investors to a 25 percent ownership stake in a U.S.
airline.
Associated Press | Leading discount airlines have launched
a new round of airfare sales for summer, but travelers may have to act
fast and be flexible on dates to grab the best deals.
Sales from JetBlue Airways, Frontier Airlines and AirTran Airways end
this week.
By Wailin Wong | The availability of technology such as WiFi is boosting the growth of
low-cost bus services between regional cities, according to a new study
by DePaul University’s Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development.
“Over the past three years…bus companies — particularly ‘curbside’
operators that do not operate from conventional bus stations and
typically sell tickets only over the Internet — have pushed themselves
to the forefront of the wireless Internet movement,” researchers said in
the study.
By Wailin Wong | UAL Corp, the parent company of United Airlines, said it has hired Thomas J. Sabatino Jr. as general counsel.
Sabatino joins the airline March 29 and will report to UAL Chief Executive Glenn Tilton, the company said in a statement. Sabatino previously was general counsel at pharmaceutical company Schering Plough, which merged with Merck last year. Before that, Sabatino was general counsel at Baxter International.
Chrysler will be selling an electric Fiat 500, its first electric, in two years (AP)
Associated Press | Chrysler’s Italian management is
revising the company’s electric vehicle strategy, announcing Monday that
it will build a fully electric Fiat 500 minicar to sell in the U.S. in
2012.
But they’ll be a minimum of two years behind other major automakers
including Nissan Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co., all
of which plan to have rechargeable electric vehicles on sale this year.
By Julie Johnsson | United Airlines is the latest carrier to go paperless.
Chicago-based United on Friday unveiled mobile boarding passes at its home hub at O’Hare International Airport, new technology that allows passengers with iPhones, BlackBerries or other devices to check-in via cell phone.
