Current Affairs
April 7, 2022
Propylene Inventories
April 4, 2022
Trucking Issues
Dow transport index drops nearly 5% on concerns of freight downturn
Index loses more than 771 points as freight issues take it on chin
Mark SolomonFriday, April 1, 2022 3 minutes read
Listen to this article 0:00 / 4:49 BeyondWords
The Dow Jones Transportation Average fell out of bed Friday, dropping nearly 5% in one of the index’s worst single-day performances in recent history.
The 20-stock index fell $771.72 to close the session at $15,511.30.
J.B. Hunt Transportation Services Inc. (NASDAQ: JBHT) fell more than 9.6%, Landstar System Inc. (NASDAQ: LSTR) declined 7.3%, Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE: NSC) dropped 6.79%, and Old Dominion Freight Line Inc. (NASDAQ: ODFL) fell 6.76%. At its low point of the session, about 15 minutes before the 4 p.m. ET close, the index was down by more than $800 from Thursday’s closing price.
Virtually all of the damage came from the freight side of the index. The six airlines making up the index came through relatively unscathed, with Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) actually posting a gain in the session.
The decline came as the Department of Labor reported Friday that the number of truck transportation jobs fell in March after 21 consecutive monthly gains. The seasonally adjusted figures came in at 1,550,800 jobs, a decline of 4,900 jobs and the first month-to-month drop since April 2020, when the U.S. economy was collapsing as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. There was no company-specific news that could be seen as triggering such an extreme drop.
Equity markets in general shrugged off the decline in the index. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and the NASDAQ posted gains in volatile intraday trading.
The transport index had rebounded in recent weeks, mirroring a recovery in the overall equity market through most of March after pronounced weakness in January and February. The index hit $16,579 on Jan. 4 before falling for the balance of the month and well into February. The index troughed at $14,523 on Feb. 23, the day before Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. It reversed course from there, peaking at $16,573 on March 29 before posting three consecutive days of declines.
The index is well below its 52-week closing high of $17,039.38, set last Nov. 2.
The index was created in July 1884 by Charles Dow, and initially consisted of nine railroads and two non-rail companies. The index’s composition at its inception reflected railroads’ dominance in interstate commerce and the industry’s profound importance to the country’s growth.
The index has long been viewed as a leading indicator of the broad market’s direction, mainly because economic demand shows up first in shipping order books. Over the decades, freight recessions have presaged broad economic recessions.
The freight industry, and especially the trucking sector that dominates it, is notoriously cyclical. In an op-ed on Thursday, FreightWaves Founder and CEO Craig Fuller predicted an imminent freight recession. Fuller cited data from FreightWaves’ SONAR platform showing a steep decline in the rate of tender rejections for contract truckload services. The drop of nearly 500 basis points in one month reflects a sharp drop in shipping activity, less demand for carriers’ services and the effective end of carriers calling the shots as to which loads they will accept or reject, Fuller wrote.
The tender rejection rate fell 1.3% during the last week of March alone, historically one of the best periods of the year for carriers, according to SONAR data.
In an op-ed the week before, Fuller predicted a “bloodbath” in the truckload market with demand destruction wiping out many operators that had either entered the market or over-expanded during the last two to three boom years.
Anthony Smith, FreightWaves’ chief economist, said that goods demand will continue to be impacted as consumers shift more of their spending to services such as travel. In addition, there is still a lot of upstream inventory in the hands of manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors, Smith said. Cargo owners that opted to fill up warehouses to keep buffer stock on hand are saddled with more inventory than they need and aren’t eager to ramp up their orders, he added.
Carriers and third-party logistics providers also shoulder some of the blame for growing in a “sloppy manner” over the past couple of years, Smith said. Highly elevated rates during that period “covered up a lot of mistakes that will hit much harder in the next few months,” he said.
The FREIGHTWAVES TOP 500 For-Hire Carriers list includes Transportation Services (No. ), J.B. Hunt (No. 4), Landstar System (No. 6) and Old Dominion Freight Line (No. 9).
April 4, 2022
Trucking Issues
Dow transport index drops nearly 5% on concerns of freight downturn
Index loses more than 771 points as freight issues take it on chin
Mark SolomonFriday, April 1, 2022 3 minutes read
Listen to this article 0:00 / 4:49 BeyondWords
The Dow Jones Transportation Average fell out of bed Friday, dropping nearly 5% in one of the index’s worst single-day performances in recent history.
The 20-stock index fell $771.72 to close the session at $15,511.30.
J.B. Hunt Transportation Services Inc. (NASDAQ: JBHT) fell more than 9.6%, Landstar System Inc. (NASDAQ: LSTR) declined 7.3%, Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE: NSC) dropped 6.79%, and Old Dominion Freight Line Inc. (NASDAQ: ODFL) fell 6.76%. At its low point of the session, about 15 minutes before the 4 p.m. ET close, the index was down by more than $800 from Thursday’s closing price.
Virtually all of the damage came from the freight side of the index. The six airlines making up the index came through relatively unscathed, with Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) actually posting a gain in the session.
The decline came as the Department of Labor reported Friday that the number of truck transportation jobs fell in March after 21 consecutive monthly gains. The seasonally adjusted figures came in at 1,550,800 jobs, a decline of 4,900 jobs and the first month-to-month drop since April 2020, when the U.S. economy was collapsing as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. There was no company-specific news that could be seen as triggering such an extreme drop.
Equity markets in general shrugged off the decline in the index. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and the NASDAQ posted gains in volatile intraday trading.
The transport index had rebounded in recent weeks, mirroring a recovery in the overall equity market through most of March after pronounced weakness in January and February. The index hit $16,579 on Jan. 4 before falling for the balance of the month and well into February. The index troughed at $14,523 on Feb. 23, the day before Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. It reversed course from there, peaking at $16,573 on March 29 before posting three consecutive days of declines.
The index is well below its 52-week closing high of $17,039.38, set last Nov. 2.
The index was created in July 1884 by Charles Dow, and initially consisted of nine railroads and two non-rail companies. The index’s composition at its inception reflected railroads’ dominance in interstate commerce and the industry’s profound importance to the country’s growth.
The index has long been viewed as a leading indicator of the broad market’s direction, mainly because economic demand shows up first in shipping order books. Over the decades, freight recessions have presaged broad economic recessions.
The freight industry, and especially the trucking sector that dominates it, is notoriously cyclical. In an op-ed on Thursday, FreightWaves Founder and CEO Craig Fuller predicted an imminent freight recession. Fuller cited data from FreightWaves’ SONAR platform showing a steep decline in the rate of tender rejections for contract truckload services. The drop of nearly 500 basis points in one month reflects a sharp drop in shipping activity, less demand for carriers’ services and the effective end of carriers calling the shots as to which loads they will accept or reject, Fuller wrote.
The tender rejection rate fell 1.3% during the last week of March alone, historically one of the best periods of the year for carriers, according to SONAR data.
In an op-ed the week before, Fuller predicted a “bloodbath” in the truckload market with demand destruction wiping out many operators that had either entered the market or over-expanded during the last two to three boom years.
Anthony Smith, FreightWaves’ chief economist, said that goods demand will continue to be impacted as consumers shift more of their spending to services such as travel. In addition, there is still a lot of upstream inventory in the hands of manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors, Smith said. Cargo owners that opted to fill up warehouses to keep buffer stock on hand are saddled with more inventory than they need and aren’t eager to ramp up their orders, he added.
Carriers and third-party logistics providers also shoulder some of the blame for growing in a “sloppy manner” over the past couple of years, Smith said. Highly elevated rates during that period “covered up a lot of mistakes that will hit much harder in the next few months,” he said.
The FREIGHTWAVES TOP 500 For-Hire Carriers list includes Transportation Services (No. ), J.B. Hunt (No. 4), Landstar System (No. 6) and Old Dominion Freight Line (No. 9).
April 1, 2022
TDI Release Handled Safely
Shelter-in-place in Adrian lifted; was issued after chemical release at Anderson Development
Brad HeinemanThe Daily Telegram
ADRIAN — Residents in much of Adrian’s east side were told to shelter in place for more than one hour early Wednesday morning because of a chemical release at the Anderson Development Co.
The shelter-in-place order was lifted at about 9 a.m. Wednesday, according to a news release from the city of Adrian.
The shelter order was issued at about 7:45 a.m. and affected people residing or working along and inside the boundaries of Center and Elm streets, East Siena Heights Drive, Parr Highway and East Beecher Street in Adrian. Residents in this area were informed to stay indoors and keep their home’s windows and doors closed throughout the duration of the order.
A release of a toluene diisocyanate vapors, also known by the acronym TDI, led the company to call the Adrian Fire Department, a news release from Anderson said. TDI is used in the production of a wide range of materials from couch cushions to rollerblade wheels. While finished products produced from TDI are common, the raw materials have some safety concerns, the release said.
“Exposure to TDI and related compounds is well known to result in skin and lung sensitization among workers and has been documented to cause asthma, lung damage, and in severe cases, fatal reactions,” according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
Operators at Anderson’s plant at 1415 E. Michigan St. were starting to make a batch of urethane at 4 a.m. Wednesday, the company’s news release said. Urethane is commonly used as a sealant, but it has several other uses because it is resistant to water, oil and oxidation.
“As they were charging materials, they identified that the temperature began increasing very quickly,” the company said. “The reactor heated up and the safety relief devices activated as designed. Some material carried over into the containment vessels, and some toluene diisocyanate vapors were released into the atmosphere.”
Emergency responders, which consisted of the Adrian fire and police departments and the Lenawee County hazmat team along with Anderson, “decided to be very cautious about the situation” and requested that people shelter in place for a half-mile around the plant.
Capt. A.J. Armstrong of the Adrian Fire Department said the responding agencies made sure those vapors that did get released into the air were not harmful.
“Luckily, nature helped us out and dissipated what was in the air,” Armstrong said. “We have resources and literature available that gives us an idea on how to deal with situations like this. First, we start with distances and meters and we monitor the quantity of the chemical that was released into the air. We were able to confirm the half-mile radius downwind was sufficient for issuing the order.”
The responding agencies, Armstrong said, had to wait for the “all clear” from Anderson Development when the parts in the plant were replaced and fully functional.
“Things could have gotten worse, but luckily they didn’t,” Armstrong said. “We were able to get a handle on things pretty quickly. If they did get worse, we would have used our knowledge of the situation to address any further concerns.”
Anderson Development said the emergency responders that assisted at the scene were able to handle the incident safely and addressed it without any injuries to employees or responders.
“The reactor is cooling and is stable at this point,” the release said. “Air monitoring has been conducted and confirmed that public health was never in jeopardy during this situation. The actions the team took were all out of an abundance of caution to protect the public.”
Investigation of the chemical release is being conducted, the release said, and is in its initial stages.
“We will continue our investigation to ensure that we understand what happened and how we can prevent anything like this from happening again,” the release said.
Craig Tanis, Lenawee County emergency management coordinator, said the shelter-in-place order issued by the city of Adrian was precautionary. The readings of the chemical released into the air were in the parts per billion, he said, which is well below the acceptable threshold.
“People were not in any real danger. It was just precautionary,” he said.
Through the county’s Lenawee Alerts system, 108 people who had registered addresses inside the half-mile radius zone were notified of the situation, Tanis said.
The alerts, he said, notify registered people of severe weather and other incidents happening throughout the county. To create an account, visit www.lenaweealerts.com. Residents should also make sure at least every six months that their account information is still viable and up to date, Tanis said, so that they will be able to receive instant notifications about emergencies right to their phones.
Anyone who believes they signed up for alerts but did not get a message before the countywide tornado siren test last week should log in to the website and check their contact information.
Messages can be sent by any combination of phone call, text message or email.
Because of the chemical release, The Daily Bread food pantry and soup kitchen, 302 S. Tecumseh St., posted on its social media page Wednesday morning it would be closed for the day. The shelter order included part of Siena Heights University’s campus on the south side of East Siena Heights Drive. An alert posted to SHU’s Facebook page said this area included the Erickson Enrollment Building, the softball and baseball fields, the fieldhouse and the parking lots.
The Lenawee County Fair & Event Grounds also shared on social media it would be temporarily closed to the public because of the shelter order.
Normal operations were able to resume following the lifting of the order.
Daily Telegram news editor David Panian contributed to this report.
April 1, 2022
TDI Release Handled Safely
Shelter-in-place in Adrian lifted; was issued after chemical release at Anderson Development
Brad HeinemanThe Daily Telegram
ADRIAN — Residents in much of Adrian’s east side were told to shelter in place for more than one hour early Wednesday morning because of a chemical release at the Anderson Development Co.
The shelter-in-place order was lifted at about 9 a.m. Wednesday, according to a news release from the city of Adrian.
The shelter order was issued at about 7:45 a.m. and affected people residing or working along and inside the boundaries of Center and Elm streets, East Siena Heights Drive, Parr Highway and East Beecher Street in Adrian. Residents in this area were informed to stay indoors and keep their home’s windows and doors closed throughout the duration of the order.
A release of a toluene diisocyanate vapors, also known by the acronym TDI, led the company to call the Adrian Fire Department, a news release from Anderson said. TDI is used in the production of a wide range of materials from couch cushions to rollerblade wheels. While finished products produced from TDI are common, the raw materials have some safety concerns, the release said.
“Exposure to TDI and related compounds is well known to result in skin and lung sensitization among workers and has been documented to cause asthma, lung damage, and in severe cases, fatal reactions,” according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
Operators at Anderson’s plant at 1415 E. Michigan St. were starting to make a batch of urethane at 4 a.m. Wednesday, the company’s news release said. Urethane is commonly used as a sealant, but it has several other uses because it is resistant to water, oil and oxidation.
“As they were charging materials, they identified that the temperature began increasing very quickly,” the company said. “The reactor heated up and the safety relief devices activated as designed. Some material carried over into the containment vessels, and some toluene diisocyanate vapors were released into the atmosphere.”
Emergency responders, which consisted of the Adrian fire and police departments and the Lenawee County hazmat team along with Anderson, “decided to be very cautious about the situation” and requested that people shelter in place for a half-mile around the plant.
Capt. A.J. Armstrong of the Adrian Fire Department said the responding agencies made sure those vapors that did get released into the air were not harmful.
“Luckily, nature helped us out and dissipated what was in the air,” Armstrong said. “We have resources and literature available that gives us an idea on how to deal with situations like this. First, we start with distances and meters and we monitor the quantity of the chemical that was released into the air. We were able to confirm the half-mile radius downwind was sufficient for issuing the order.”
The responding agencies, Armstrong said, had to wait for the “all clear” from Anderson Development when the parts in the plant were replaced and fully functional.
“Things could have gotten worse, but luckily they didn’t,” Armstrong said. “We were able to get a handle on things pretty quickly. If they did get worse, we would have used our knowledge of the situation to address any further concerns.”
Anderson Development said the emergency responders that assisted at the scene were able to handle the incident safely and addressed it without any injuries to employees or responders.
“The reactor is cooling and is stable at this point,” the release said. “Air monitoring has been conducted and confirmed that public health was never in jeopardy during this situation. The actions the team took were all out of an abundance of caution to protect the public.”
Investigation of the chemical release is being conducted, the release said, and is in its initial stages.
“We will continue our investigation to ensure that we understand what happened and how we can prevent anything like this from happening again,” the release said.
Craig Tanis, Lenawee County emergency management coordinator, said the shelter-in-place order issued by the city of Adrian was precautionary. The readings of the chemical released into the air were in the parts per billion, he said, which is well below the acceptable threshold.
“People were not in any real danger. It was just precautionary,” he said.
Through the county’s Lenawee Alerts system, 108 people who had registered addresses inside the half-mile radius zone were notified of the situation, Tanis said.
The alerts, he said, notify registered people of severe weather and other incidents happening throughout the county. To create an account, visit www.lenaweealerts.com. Residents should also make sure at least every six months that their account information is still viable and up to date, Tanis said, so that they will be able to receive instant notifications about emergencies right to their phones.
Anyone who believes they signed up for alerts but did not get a message before the countywide tornado siren test last week should log in to the website and check their contact information.
Messages can be sent by any combination of phone call, text message or email.
Because of the chemical release, The Daily Bread food pantry and soup kitchen, 302 S. Tecumseh St., posted on its social media page Wednesday morning it would be closed for the day. The shelter order included part of Siena Heights University’s campus on the south side of East Siena Heights Drive. An alert posted to SHU’s Facebook page said this area included the Erickson Enrollment Building, the softball and baseball fields, the fieldhouse and the parking lots.
The Lenawee County Fair & Event Grounds also shared on social media it would be temporarily closed to the public because of the shelter order.
Normal operations were able to resume following the lifting of the order.
Daily Telegram news editor David Panian contributed to this report.
Everchem Updates Archive 
Sign Up for Email Updates