Posted on June - 29 - 2011
Coffee Break: FedEx adds to growing green fleet
The Memphis market figures prominently in FedEx Corp. testing of different electric vehicle types and mass replacement of conventional vehicles with clean diesel Sprinter vans.
Two conventional pickup and delivery trucks are being converted to all-electric powertrains and will be put in service by FedEx Express in Memphis later this summer.
FedEx said this week its express delivery unit also is buying 92 Sprinters, featuring lower-emission BlueTEC clean diesel technology, for high-mileage routes in Tennessee. They’re part of a 4,000-Sprinter purchase nationally, representing replacement of a 10th of the fleet.
The two conventional-to-electric conversions are among 24 new all-electric vehicles that will more than double the electric fleet to 43 vehicles. Other types of electric vehicles will be deployed in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.
Additionally, FedEx Express is testing fiveposite vehicles from Utilimaster in Detroit, Memphis, Jackson, Tenn., and Jonesboro, Ark.bining efficient engine with lightweight body, the vehicle dubbed “The Reach” has achieved a 35 percent improvement in fuel economy.
ARS program nears end
Morgan Keegan & Co. said Wednesday it is nearing thepletion of its voluntary repurchase program for auction rate securities.
The Memphis-based investment bank expects to repurchase all remaining ARS sold by the firm and held by retail investors in Morgan Keegan accounts during the third quarter of 2011.
With the end of the repurchase program, Morgan Keegan says all participants in the repurchase program will have received 100 percent of principal and interest they invested.
A federal judge in Atlanta on Tuesday ruled in favor of thepany, rejecting allegations that thepany engaged in fraud in the sale of ARS.
Smith new UTMG CEO
UT Medical Group Inc. has named Dr. J. Lacey Smith its new president and CEO.
Smith succeeds Steven H. Burkett, who worked for Memphis’ largest physician group for 30 years.
Smith has been UTMG’s chief medical officer and executive vice president since 2008. He is a professor of medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and served recently as the interim dean for the College of Medicine.
No sale for Lake Vonda
Lake Vonda in Hardeman County, which was set to be auctioned off on June 28, didn’t attract a top bidder, but some interested parties are now in negotiations to purchase the site.
A crowd of primarily friends, family and nearby neighbors attended the event, said auctioneer David Hudgins of United Country Hudgins Auctions, but most were interested in purchasing small, individual tracts of the 417-acre recreational site. However, no firm bid for the entire property emerged.
The site, built by the late P.T. Grantham, was the subject of a recent feature in Themercial Appeal.
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