Berkshire News Briefs - 7/18/15

BNSF adds to wind energy portfolio (FreightWeek)

BNSF Logistics, part of Berkshire Hathaway's Burlington Northern Santa Fe railway, has purchased Transportation Technology Services, a provider of outsized cargo movements by rail. The acquisition price was not disclosed. TTS began as a rail engineering company in 2001 and has since evolved to provide specialty services with a particular focus on the wind turbine industry. [...]

TTS will become the U.S. Rail, Project Cargo and Engineering Services division of BNSFL. The two companies have developed and managed nearly 50 unique project cargo transload sites across the U.S. over the past six years covering the wind energy, power generation, oil & gas, heavy machinery and manufacturing sectors.

The company manages a fleet of nearly 2,000 rail cars of which 1,200 are equipped with patented fixtures designed to handle wind turbine components including blades, tower sections and nacelles.

Derailed BNSF train spills 35,000 gallons of oil in Montana (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

Three tank cars leaked an estimated 35,000 gallons of oil after a BNSF train hauling crude from North Dakota derailed in rural northeast Montana, the latest in a series of wrecks across the U.S. and Canada, authorities said Friday.

No one was injured in the derailment Thursday night, which led to the temporary evacuation of some homes. [...] Unlike many other accidents, no fire or explosions were reported after the train, bound for Washington state, derailed about 5 miles east of Culbertson, near the North Dakota border, officials said.

As premiums fall, Berkshire pulls back from property insurance (Omaha World Herald)

Damage from natural disasters so far this year is down, a report said Tuesday, pushing premium prices for catastrophic insurance lower.

For Omaha-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and other property insurers, fewer disasters and fewer claims mean smaller insurance payouts and bigger profits — good news.

But for Berkshire, lower insurance prices also mean less revenue coming in and a pullback from the property insurance business. That’s because Berkshire’s insurance operators turn down business if the premiums go too low.

NetJets bargaining with pilots’ union amid customer gripes (NY Post)

After two years of refusing to bargain with its pilots’ union, Berkshire Hathaway-owned NetJets is now racing to reach a new contract before the end of the summer, The Post has learned.

Already new CEO Adam Johnson, who replaced Jordan Hansell in June, is making concessions to the union. He has tentatively agreed not to subcontract more flights without paying significant penalties, according to sources.

Warren Buffett's auto investment in China just took a huge hit (Fortune)

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway owns a 10% stake in electric automaker BYD, which is down by around 28% on Friday. At its lowest point, shares were down as much as 40%. The company had a market cap of $118 billion as of mid-June. [...]

Despite the news, BYD recently announced an expansion into Australia. This comes just a month after it started selling energy-storage units in Germany, according to Bloomberg. BYD, which is based in Shenzhen, China, boasts selling over 100 storage systems in Australia, which it considers a “strategic market.” The company also plans to raise over $2.4 billion to expand its battery input [...]