John’s Blog 8-25-08

Dear Friends,

As oil bounces up and down due to world events and weather one thing is for sure.  Consumption is falling and that should bring down price despite the spike we saw last week after the Russian incursion into Georgia.

Oil dropped to about $115 a barrel this morning.

Last week saw investment interest in YRC with Tontine Associates picking up 2.97 million shares or 5.2 percent ownership in the company.  This stake comes as YRC furthers its investment in Jiayu Logistics, one of China’s largest LTL companies.

Building an international logistics infrastructure is an expensive proposition especially difficult given the world economy and nervous stockholders.  This is a long term play and could be golden if and when the economy improves.

For those transportation companies dealing with insulation, furniture and other home related materials and furnishings it looks like the going will continue to be tough. Today the National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales rose 3.1% in July while the median price fell 7.1% from a year ago.

I attach a number of informative pieces this week and hope that you find some value in them.

At Wagner we are in the holiday crunch time with a large number of contract packaging projects and seasonal fulfillment underway.  A number of new clients have come on board and we are grateful for their confidence in Wagner and our fine team of associates.

As always, please let me know if we may work with you to lower your landed cost by collaborating with you on supply chain challenges.

Best regards,

John