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Mercedes-Benz 2024 automobile sales fall in difficult year for automakers
MercedesBenz's core cars and truck sales fell in 2024, a tough year for the auto industry marked by subsiding need in a weak economy, specifically in essential market China, the German luxury carmaker said on Friday. It offered 1,983,400 cars throughout the year, down 3% versus 2023, weighed down by a 7% drop in China and a 3% decrease in Europe. Yearly sales of battery-electric cars and trucks (BEV) visited 23%. to 185,100 automobiles, adding pressure on the carmaker as brand-new,. harsher EU CO2 emission decrease targets take effect this year,. which could potentially suggest pricey pooling deals or hefty fines. for Mercedes if the BEV sales don't pick up. The automaker cut its full-year revenue margin target two times. in 2024 and said it will step up expense cuts, signing up with a growing. variety of European competitors blaming a weakening Chinese cars and truck market. for falling earnings and margins. Mercedes likewise plans to decrease its mid-term success. targets as market conditions are not likely to improve in the near. future, a source acquainted with the matter informed Reuters on. Tuesday. The carmaker is due to report full-year 2024 financial. results on Feb. 20.
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South Korea's MFG tenders for 140,000 T corn, traders say
South Korea's Major Feedmill Group (MFG) has actually released a worldwide tender to acquire up to 140,000 metric tons of animal feed corn sourced from the United States, South America or South Africa, European traders said on Friday. The deadline for submission of price deals is Friday, Jan. 10 and the corn is sought for arrival in South Korea in two consignments of 50,000 to 70,000 heaps each. Delivery of one consignment for April 25 arrival in South Korea was sought between March 22 and April 10 if sourced from the U.S. Pacific Northwest coast, for March 2-21 from the U.S. Gulf, in between Feb. 25 and March 16 from South America and for March 7-26 if from South Africa. Another consignment for May 20 arrival was sought sourced from only 2 areas, with delivery required in between March 22 and April 10 from South America or April 1-20 if from South Africa. Rate offers are looked for in outright terms per load expense and freight included (c&& f) or at a premium over the Chicago May corn agreement. The tender continues large volume feed grain purchasing by Korean importers today while concern remains over dryness destructive corn crops in Argentina and ahead of world farming supply and demand projections plus U.S. inventory and U.S. winter season wheat sowings from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). later on Friday. Traders report that almost 600,000 lots of corn and feed. wheat has actually been acquired by Korean importers today.
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Wall Street Journal - Jan 10
The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has actually not verified these stories and does not attest their accuracy. - BlackRock has actually withdrawn from the United Nations-backed Net Absolutely no Asset Managers effort, marking a. significant shift for the property supervisor when viewed as a leader in. ESG investing. - Southwest Airlines CFO Tammy Romo will retire on. April 1 after more than thirty years with the company, as the. airline seeks a search for her follower. - Elon Musk's AI startup xAI has launched Grok, its very first. stand-alone consumer app including its proprietary language. design, as it seeks to compete with OpenAI and Google in the. generative AI space. - Wells Fargo has actually appointed JPMorgan Chase. executive Ed Olebe to lead its credit card division, as the bank. seeks to expand business under CEO Charlie Scharf. - A New York appeals court has denied Fox Corp's. quote to dismiss Smartmatic's disparagement suit over 2020. election-rigging claims, permitting the case looking for billions in. damages to continue to trial. - Unionized dockworkers from Maine to Texas secured a nearly. 62% pay raise over 6 years and securities against innovation. use in a tentative labor handle East and Gulf Coast port. companies, reached simply ahead of a strike due date.
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South Korea's KFA Incheon purchased 65,000 T corn in private deal
The Incheon area of the Korea Feed Association (KFA) in South Korea is thought to have purchased about 65,000 metric lots of animal feed corn in a. personal offer on Thursday without releasing a worldwide. tender, European traders stated on Friday. It was thought to have been purchased from trading house. Columbia Grain International at an approximated $234.99 a lot cost. and freight (c&& f) consisted of with no additional charge for additional port. dumping. The KFA's Incheon area is also called the Feed Purchasers'. Group. The corn can be sourced from the United States, South. America or South Africa for arrival in South Korea around April. 15. If sourced from the U.S. Pacific Northwest coast, delivery. is in between March 1-March 31. Reports reflect evaluations from traders and even more. estimates of prices and volumes are still possible later on. The offer continued heavy getting of corn by Korean. importers this week ahead of world supply and demand reports and. other price quotes from the U.S. Department of Farming
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Kinder Morgan shuts two Los Angeles fuel pipelines due to power outages
Pipeline operator Kinder Morgan Inc. stated that two of its fuel pipelines in Los Angeles have. been shut considering that Jan. 8 due to power outages, as the most. destructive wildfires in the city's history continued to burn. uncontained on Thursday. The business stated the 515-mile (828.8 km) SFPP West pipeline. and 566-mile CALNEV pipelines are not straight impacted by the. fires, and it expects them to resume service once power has been. restored. Yikes! That's how item gets to Phoenix, Las Vegas and. San Diego, a West Coast fuel trader said on hearing of the. shutdown. SFPP West transfers fuel from the Los Angeles Basin to. Colton, and Imperial, California, and to Phoenix, Arizona. CALNEV moves fuel, diesel and jet fuel from Colton,. California to terminals in Barstow, California, and Las Vegas,. Nevada, according to Kinder Morgan's site. They need to be able to capture up, but it depends on the. stock situations, the trader said, asking for anonymity as. they are not licensed to speak publicly about another. company's operations. California refineries had about 5.2 million barrels of carbohydrate. gas in stockpiles as of Jan. 3, according to data from the. California Energy Commission. Up until now there have been no reports. of refinery blackouts in the state due to the wildfires. More than 300,000 clients were without power in California. since Thursday, according to figures from energy Southern. California Edison.
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Boeing states it is contributing $1 million to Trump presidential inaugural fund
Boeing is contributing $ 1 million to U.S. Presidentelect Donald Trump's inauguration, a representative for the U.S. planemaker stated on Thursday. Boeing is signing up with numerous major U.S. business including General Motors, Ford, Microsoft and Meta in donating for the Jan. 20 event. The planemaker previously contributed $1 million to the last three governmental inaugurations, consisting of Trump's very first in 2017. American Airlines separately confirmed on Thursday it is also contributing $1 million. In 2016, Trump extracted a pledge from Boeing that the expense of replacing Flying force One would not exceed $4 billion, and the company has actually because lost more than $2 billion on the significantly postponed program to deliver two brand-new presidential aircraft. Boeing likewise deals with continuing harder oversight by the Federal Air Travel Administration, a year after a door panel missing 4 key bolts flew off a new Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 in mid-air. Trump's candidate to head the Transport Department, Sean Duffy, told Reuters last month he wanted to make certain we. have safe airplanes coming out of Boeing. The FAA announced a brand-new. audit of Boeing in October. The Senate Commerce Committee will. hold a confirmation hearing for Duffy on Wednesday.
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Airplane lessor Avolon sees effect of supply problems lasting a years
A longrunning production deficiency by planemakers will underpin supply and demand characteristics that are enhancing airline and lessor profits for at least another decade, the head of the world's secondlargest aircraft leasing company Avolon said on Friday. Airplane makers and providers have struggled to keep up with a post-pandemic healing in travel due to rising costs, labour and parts scarcities, problems that have been intensified by safety issues at Boeing and a strike by its personnel last year. Avolon's annual outlook report anticipated that airline companies' web earnings would rise by 16% to over $36 billion in 2025, driven by low fuel rates, strong profits and the truth that airplane shortages have actually enabled them to prioritise the most profitable routes. That production deficiency underpins the supply and need balance, not just for the next 3 or 4 years, however for at least another years, Avolon President Andy Cronin informed Reuters. Cronin stated Avolon's view that the supply and demand balance would be firmly in our favour over that time period spurred it to buy 200 aircraft in 2023. It added 118 more airplane last year through the acquisition of smaller competing Castlelake Aviation Limited, bringing its overall fleet to 1,129 aircraft. The Dublin-based lessor said Boeing and main rival Jet will continue to have a hard time to hit their targets to ramp up production despite increasing their shipments. Avolon, which is a subsidiary of China's Bohai Leasing Co. Ltd, likewise predicted that orders from Chinese companies. will rise dramatically to 800 aircraft in 2025, pointing out development in. travel need and a need to change an aging fleet. While Avolon's report described the aviation outlook for. 2025 as robust, it also noted that financial cycles typically last. 4 to 6 years and that the current cycle is already in its. 4th or 5th year, with growth in Europe slowing. We define it as a low visibility environment at the. moment. I believe there's uncertainty around foreign policy and. trade policy, and substantial effects as it pertains to the. air travel market, Cronin included.
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Unions and employers praise Trump for US port deal which may influence future talks
The tentative labor agreement prevented potentially damaging trade disruptions in three dozen U.S. East Coast ports and Gulf of Mexico port. Both sides in the negotiations credited President-elect Donald Trump with clearing the path for them to reach a deal regarding automation. The International Longshoremen's Association's success in gaining Trump's backing for its anti-automation campaign could serve as a lesson for other unions who face contract renewals under his administration, such as the United Auto Workers and UPS Teamsters, or the International Longshore & Warehouse Union of the U.S. West Coast. The agreement, announced Wednesday night, will need to be ratified in order for it to become effective by the 45,000 ILA members and USMX employers. Judah Levine is the head of research for Freightos, an online platform that allows users to book and pay for freight. The strike was averted by the fact that it arrived days before the extended deadline of Jan. 15, averting the possibility of a second strike, which could have caused a major economic impact at the beginning Trump's second tenure on Jan. 20, 2019. Harold and Dennis Daggett, father-and-son ILA leader Harold and Dennis Daggett, late on Wednesday called Trump "a hero" to the union. They also gave him the "full credit for the successful resolution of the talks." They pointed out a Truth Social posting from mid-December where Trump seemed to support the union in its fight against "foreign employers" after meeting those ILA leaders. I've studied automation, and I know everything about it. Trump wrote that the amount of money saved was nowhere near as much as the pain, distress and harm caused to American Workers. In this case, it is our Longshoremen. The group of employers, which includes Maersk APM Terminals, and the U.S. arm of major container carriers like China's COSCO shipping, said that the agreement was "in large part" due to the leadership shown by President Trump. After a deadlock on automation led to a three-day walkout in October, the ILA and USMX extended the bargaining deadline. Joe Biden was instrumental in helping workers achieve a 62% increase over six years and ending the October strike. Biden thanked both the unions and employers on Wednesday for a tentative agreement. Trump hasn't commented on Truth Social, and his transition team didn't immediately comment. A pro-labor lawyer warned against misinterpreting Trump's comments on automation as union backing, saying it was consistent with his pugilistic international policy. "It supports the narrative of his going after foreigners," said Cathy Creighton. She is an attorney and Director of Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Buffalo. SEEING THE FURTURE? Sean O'Brien, the Teamsters president who negotiated United Parcel Service's last contract, made a bold move by speaking to the Republican National Convention and praising Trump's toughness. Last year, the Teamsters broke tradition by not endorsing a U.S. Presidential candidate. The UPS contract ends in 2028, Trump’s last year in office. Attorneys who support unions said that Trump's record does not show a commitment to supporting unions. Trump's National Labor Relations Board appointees issued a number of rulings during his first term in office that were seen as favoring business and making it harder for unions organize workers. The board protects the rights of workers to form unions and organize, and it investigates claims that employers are engaging in illegal labor practices. Trump warned federal employees in December that they would be fired if they did not report to work. Elon Musk, who is the richest man in the world and has called the NLRB unconstitutional, was also given the task of reducing the federal budget. Creighton, an attorney, said that Trump would not support the labor movement. "He has tried to undermine the labor movements."
South Korea jet crash puts fast-growing Jeju Air's safety under analysis
Before it suffered the most dangerous crash in South Korea's history, spending plan airline Jeju Air was moving quickly: racking up record passenger numbers and flying its aircraft more than domestic competitors and a lot of its worldwide peers, data reveal.
The high utilisation rate of Jeju Air's aircrafts - the number of hours they fly in a day - is not problematic in itself, professionals state, however suggests scheduling sufficient time for required upkeep is vital.
Authorities have suggested a bird strike contributed to the mishap, but as part of their probe into the occurrence aboard Boeing 737-800, police have raided the airline companies' Seoul office to seize files associated with the operation and maintenance of the plane.
You're literally looking at everything, said aviation security and crash examination professional Anthony Brickhouse. You're going to start off with their mishap history and security history. What sort of occasions have they had in the past, what happened, what was done to correct the issues?
Jeju Air informed Reuters that it did not neglect upkeep procedures which it would step up its safety efforts. The Dec. 29 crash, which killed 179 people, was the airline's very first deadly accident given that its 2005 founding and the first for any Korean airline in more than a years.
The business's CEO, Kim E-bae - who has actually been barred from travelling overseas during the investigation - informed a news conference last week that Jeju's upkeep remains in line with regulatory requirements and that there were no upkeep concerns with the doomed jet during pre-flight inspection.
He acknowledged the airline's safety measures had actually not been sufficient in the past, however said enhancements had been made.
The authorities have not said bad maintenance contributed to the crash and the precise scenarios behind the disaster remain unclear.
Besides the reported bird strike, authorities are looking into why the pilot might have hurried a second landing attempt after declaring an emergency, and why the landing equipment was not released.
Investigators have recuperated the cockpit and flight information recorders but have not released any information.
The country's transportation regulator is checking all 101 737-800s in South Korea - more than a 3rd of which are run by Jeju Air - focusing on how frequently and how well the planes were kept, to name a few factors to consider.
Although it had actually taped no violations in the last 2 years, it was struck with more fines and suspensions for aviation law breaches than any of its domestic competitors in 2020-2022, simply throughout and after the COVID-19 pandemic, records reveal.
According to transport ministry information on major airlines from 2020 to August 2024, Jeju Air was struck by about 2.3 billion won ($ 1.57 million) in fines and the impacted airplane were stayed out of operation for a total of 41 days, according to Reuters calculations based on the information.
The next-most penalized airline company, T'way Air, had 2.1 billion won in fines and four days of suspended operation during that period.
Jeju Air flies its aircrafts more than any other significant airline company in the country, information show, and also exceeds most worldwide peers such as Ireland's Ryanair and Malaysia's AirAsia.
Jeju Air 7C2216 was flying from the Thai capital of Bangkok to Muan in southwestern South Korea at night when it belly-landed, overshot the runway and burst into flames after hitting an embankment. The airplane flew every day in 2024, according to flight data reviewed .
UTILISATION RATES
High utilisation rates are treasured in the market as an indication of financial efficiency, especially at low-cost carriers, specialists state.
Jeju Air, which ranks behind only Korean Air and Asiana Air in regards to traveler volumes in the nation, saw record numbers from January to December 2024, according to transport ministry information.
Its regular monthly utilisation hours for traveler jets almost doubled to 412 in 2023 from 2022, greater than Korean Air at 332 hours and Asiana Airlines at 304 hours, according to stock exchange filings.
T'way balanced 366 hours monthly in traveler and freight jets combined, Jin Air balanced 349 hours, and Air Busan 319 hours, according to their filings.
In 2024, Jeju Air flew its airplanes more every day - 11.6 hours - than almost any other airline offering inexpensive tickets and flying just narrowbody airplane, according to information from air travel analytics company Cirium, which determines utilisation rates differently from the profits filings.
Only Saudi Arabia's Air Arabia flew its planes more - 12.5 hours a day. Vietnam's VietJet flew its airplanes 10 hours a day. Ryanair's typical use was 9.3 hours, while Malaysia's AirAsia was 9 hours. China's Spring Airlines flew 8 hours a day.
The utilisation itself is not an issue, said Sim Jai-dong, a professor of airplane maintenance at Sehan University in South Korea. But there could be higher tiredness for pilots, crew members and mechanics given the greater utilisation rates.
(source: Reuters)