UPS Inc. said Friday it will launch a new “around-the-world flight this summer to further enhance service between Singapore and markets in the Middle East, Europe and the United States.

The new flight will allow UPS to enhance service by improving pickup times and providing more airlift in response to customers’, UPS said in a statement.

As an example, the company said that customers shipping from Singapore to Europe and Mumbai, India, would gain a later pickup time of 8 p.m. each day.

Starting in July, UPS will operate five additional weekly flights using MD-11 aircraft. Each week, the aircraft will connect Singapore to major trading markets in Europe, the Middle East and the United States by flying from the company’s European air hub in Cologne, Germany.

UPS is ranked No. 1 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.

Crude oil futures for a second day closed just short of $65 a barrel on Friday, following a jump of more than $2 on Thursday, Bloomberg reported.

Benchmark light sweet crude oil prices rose 8 cents from Thursday’s close on the New York Mercantile Exchanged to finishg the trading week at $64.96 a barrel, Bloomberg said.

Traders on Thursday had cited concerns that gasoline supplies will not be adequate this summer in light of recent refinery outages, Bloomberg reported.

Although refinery capacity rose 0.6% to 89.5% — as measured in the Department of Energy’s weekly inventory report Wednesday — refineries should be running in the mid-90s percentile range, Bloomberg reported, citing analysts.

The so-called summer driving season begins in eight days, with the start of Memorial Day weekend.

Gasoline prices reached an all-time record $3.103 a gallon, DOE said Monday in its latest weekly retail price survey.

Diesel prices have declined more than a dime over the past four straight weeks, with the most recent national average price at $2.773 — leaving a 33-cent differential between the two fuels.

Citigroup Inc.’s commercial business unit said it is entering the transportation fleet financing business.

The new division, to be called Citi Transportation Finance, will provide financing for trucking companies and private fleets that have minimum annual revenues of $5 million and the potential for near-term financing needs of at least $1 million, the company said.

“We are uniquely positioned to immediately provide capital, services and insight to transportation fleets based on our history,” said Tom Meredith, executive vice president for the finance unit.

The unit will finance equipment including new and used class 3-8 trucks, tractors and trailers, Citi said.

Penske Logistics and ABX Logistics said Friday they have formed a new joint venture in Brazil to provide international freight management services in that country.

Each company will hold 50% of the venture, to be called ABX-Penske Air & Sea. It will be headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

This new joint venture is the first between the two organizations since they announced a strategic alliance in September 2006 to provide integrated transportation services for multinational corporations.

Penske Logistics is a subsidiary of Penske Truck Leasing Co., which is No. 7 on the Transport Topics 100 listing U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.

Thomson Delmar Learning, a provider of learning products and services for the health care, technology and trades and career education markets and part of The Thomson Corp., today announced that after a collaborative effort between Thomson Delmar Learning and the Professional Truck Driver Institute (PTDI), the PTDI Web site www.ptdi.org has been successfully updated and enhanced.Since its beginning, PTDI, which is affiliated with the Truckload Carriers Assocation, has promoted minimum training standards for those considering entering the truck driving industry and schools that value quality training. PTDI officials said the new and improved Web site proves that this remains true even to this day.

They said that in addition to its fresh new look, the Web site offers much more information, such as a summary of curriculum guidelines, as well as user-friendly navigation. These changes enable the site’s visitors to find the answers they need quickly and with the greatest of ease.

Thomson Delmar Learning is committed to giving truck drivers and school personnel the information they need to stay current with the latest safety and compliance regulations, the company said in a news release.

Even if you can not afford to enroll in a private truck driver school it doesn’t mean that you have to give up on your dream of becoming a truck driver. Not all private schools cost the same to attend as some can be much cheaper than others but if you have been looking for a long time and still can not find one that is within your budget you should know there are other alternatives out there which doesn’t cost nearly as much and some training can even be done for free.

The other alternatives you have besides the private truck driver schools are the public schools and the training you can get directly from a truck driver company. Like any other schools or training, enrolling in their programs can be both positive and negative but if finances are the issue then these are the options you have and bottom line is that you will accomplish the same as you would in a private truck driver school, namely getting your CDL and becoming a truck driver.

The public truck driver school is normally owned, operated and funded by local governments and this is part of the reason these are somewhat cheaper than private truck driver schools. At a publicly funded school there are also many other programs available besides truck driver training something which means that no program is being given special attention. Public truck driver schools also tend to be less flexible than the private school and missing some classes may cause you to have to start all over.

Public truck driver schools generally tend to last longer than the private programs do and this can actually be quite positive if the instructors are thorough in their teaching. On the other hand, if you are out of work and would like to get working and earning a salary as soon as possible this may not be the right type of school or program for you. If this is the case then there is just one answer left for you and that is to go directly to the truck driver companies and get your training thru them.

Motor carrier training is what this type of truck driver training is called and can of course be good for someone desperately in need of a job. Your training may not be as thorough here as at public and private schools since the purpose of these programs are to get as many drivers for that company as soon as possible something which naturally ends with cutting corners on training.. Companies normally offer the training for free if you commit to working for the company for at least a year.

Contrary to what many believe the truck driving business do not only offer jobs to people wanting to drive heavy tractor-trailers across the country. Behind all the big rigs you see along Americas highways and interstates there is an elaborate network of workers who help this industry run like clock work. Truck drivers and driver/sales workers who ensure the safe delivery of cargo to its destination on time only occupy 45% of the trucking industry. Many other positions are available within the field of trucking.

Laborers such as stock, freight and material movers are all people who help load and unload cargo and move it around warehouses and terminals and in order to do so they may use things such as conveyor belts, fork lifts, hand trucks or pallet jacks. Most of these workers are often unskilled.

Positions relating to installation, maintenance and repair are often occupied by workers coming from similar jobs within other industries than the trucking industry and have often received some form of specialized training. Service technicians and mechanics are people who perform preventive safety checks and also do some routine service and repairs. These sometimes advance to part managers who monitor the inventory and therefore require computer skills, mechanical knowledge and purchasing procedures.

Office workers and people in administration are who perform the recordkeeping for the warehouses and transportation and while these people keep records of everything dispatchers are the ones who coordinate all movement of cargo and trucks as well as assign pick up and deliveries to available truck drivers. They give truckers their schedules and routes and have to juggle drivers in order to best satisfy their clients. Shipping and receiving clerks has to keep record of any and all cargo arriving and leaving a terminal.

People who meet with potential customers are called sales related workers. As they meet with customers they discuss their individual needs and suggest the right services for those clients. Requirements for these positions are that you must be able to analyze sales statistics, prepare reports as well as being able to handle some administrative duties. Traveling is also a part of these positions.

Last but not least there is the managerial staff whose responsibilities are to provide general direction to the firm. They hire staff, supervise and ensure safety. They are also in charge of training workers for the various positions within the industry. These are the people who solve problems such as foreseeing the demand for transportation. Ordering parts and equipment and parts are parts of their duties along with scheduling transportation of goods. These workers are also the ones who map out the most efficient traffic routes.

Over the past ten years, our society has continued shifting towards the digital age. E-books and online newspapers are proof that our society is slowly moving away from the age of pencil and paper. The truck driving industry is no exception to this digital evolution. Modern products such as GPS have greatly enhanced the industry for truck drivers. Truck driver recruiting is the area in which the impact of the Internet is most evident. While recruitment used to be done through newspaper classifieds and door-to-door sales pitches, recruiters are now turning to the Internet to find new drivers. Truck driver recruiters are using three main online methods in an attempt to recruit new drivers: banner advertising, application databases, and company web sites.

Banner advertising refers to the large banners found at the top, bottom, and side of most web sites. These banners are designed by a company wishing to advertise, and then placed on relevant web sites with high traffic. The responsibility of the truck driver recruiter is to use banner advertising as effectively as possible within the limits of the budget. This requires the recruiter to design or have a banner created, research and identify relevant sites with high traffic, and then negotiate with the owners of the web sites the price of running the banner ad campaign.

The second method that a recruiter can use to find potential truck drivers online is creating a database of applications. By using this method, recruiters can build an extensive file of drivers that are available for hire. This allows the company to instantly hire new drivers when positions become available. The recruiter is responsible for setting up the database. They recruiter should be the person to create the application itself, which requires determining what questions are most important to ask a potential driver. The recruiter is also responsible for managing and organizing the applications once they are received.

A database of applications can work well in conjunction with a company web site. Most recruiters create a company web site to provide potential drivers with details and information about the company. The recruiter should create a site that is simple and easy to use, but provides enough information to address all the questions a potential driver might have. Topics such as salary, working hours, company procedures, and equipment information are all examples of important information that should be included on the web site. By combining a banner ad campaign, an application database, and a company web site, a recruiter can use the Internet to effectively find potential truck drivers.