House Railroads Subcommittee
chair not on board with Senate rail
reform bill
U.S. Representative Corrine Brown, a Florida lawmaker with considerable influence over transport matters, said that she would not
support the freight rail reform legislation making its way through
the Senate if it calls for reregulating the industry.
Speaking at a transportation and infrastructure conference in
Washington, D.C., Brown, who chairs the House Railroads,
Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee, said she is convinced that the nation’s freight rail system is the best in the world
and that it should not be tampered with. “I am not reregulating
our freight rail system,” Brown said.
The bill (S. 2889), which was approved in mid-December by the
Senate Commerce Committee, is considered the most comprehensive piece of rail reform legislation since the 1980 Staggers Act,
which deregulated the industry. Sponsored by Sen. John Rockefeller
( D-W.Va.), the current bill provides protections to “captive shippers” who cannot use any other transport mode; improves shippers’ access to other carriers’ trackage and terminals; and expands
the membership of the Surface Transportation Board, the federal
agency that rules on rail mergers, from three to five.
Shippers have applauded the bill as a way to open up competitive options for those who are captive not just to rail service but to
a single railroad. In announcing its support for the bill in mid-February, the National Industrial Transportation League (NITL),
one of the nation’s oldest and largest shipper groups, called the bill
a bipartisan, fair compromise that balances the competitive interests of the nation’s railroads and their customers. (For NITL
President Bruce Carlton’s views on bill, see our exclusive interview
on DCV-TV.) ;
RedPrairie acquired by private
equity firm
RedPrairie Holding Inc., a transportation, inventory, and workforce productivity software developer, has been acquired by New Mountain Capital,
LLC, a New York-based private equity firm, for an
undisclosed sum.
RedPrairie’s announcement that the acquisition had been completed came three and a-half-months after Waukesha, Wis.-based RedPrairie
had disclosed plans to go public. RedPrairie CEO
Mike Mayoras said the company was preparing
to go forward with its IPO when it was
approached in mid-December by New Mountain
about a possible acquisition. RedPrairie’s board
and management ultimately decided the company could respond and capitalize on market conditions—including pursuing possible acquisitions—with more speed and certainty as a private
rather than a publicly held concern, he said.
“We did not anticipate we would be making [the
acquisition] announcement when we filed our
documents” to take the company public, Mayoras
told DC VELOCITY. Mayoras said he was confident
that “we would have been successful either way.”
Mayoras said New Mountain’s capital infusion
will help fund RedPrairie’s research and development programs, expand its sales efforts, and
increase its global exposure. Currently, 30 percent of RedPrairie’s revenues are generated outside the United States, he said. In total,
RedPrairie has more than 34,000 customers in
approximately 40 countries. ;
short takes
Wynright, a designer and manufacturer of integrated material handling systems, has created a new brand to be known
as Wynright Robotics. The new brand will provide turnkey
automation solutions for a variety of industries, including
electronics, automotive, food, telecommunications, and
medical devices. … Intelligrated has added tilt-tray and
cross-belt sortation solutions to its product portfolio, along
with the associated software, controls, and induction and
chute solutions. The additions are the result of Intelligrated’s
2009 acquisition of FKI Logistex, which included FKI’s
Crisplant sorter technology. … Interroll is moving its U.S.-based Interroll Automation business unit to a new, high-tech manufacturing plant in Jeffersonville, Ind. Interroll
Automation also recently completed construction of a plant
in China. ... U.K.-based retailer Tesco says its new distribution
center in Widnes, England, will be totally powered by renewable energy generated from food waste. Through an arrangement with multimodal logistics company Stobart and food
waste recycler PDM Group, the new 500,000-square-foot
distribution center will be supplied with renewable energy
from a PDM plant that turns food waste into heat and electricity. … Choice Logistics, a specialist in outsourced service
parts logistics, has opened a regional hub in Dubai. The new
facility will serve as a primary gateway for the Middle East. …
For the sixth year in a row, Cat Lift Trucks and its Houston-area dealer, Adobe Equipment, are providing up to 100 lift
trucks for behind-the-scenes operations at the Houston
Livestock Show and Rodeo.
