Intermodal

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

   Freightliner Group has acquired European intermodal services provider ERS Railways B.V. from Maersk Line.    The intemodal operator said the purchase of ERS supports its strategy of developing businesses in rail markets beyond its base market in the United Kingdom.    Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed and is still subject to the necessary regulatory approvals.    Rotterdam-based ERS was started in 1994 as an intermodal rail freigh...

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

   The United States and Canada on Monday began a limited demonstration program at the Blaine, Wash.-Surrey, British Columbia port of entry for pre-inspecting U.S.-bound trucks in Canada instead of on the U.S. side of the border, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced.    The first phase of the pilot program is designed as a "proof of concept" to determine the viability of assigning CBP officers to Canadian border facilities to pre-inspect trucks, drivers and car...

Thursday, June 13, 2013

   The U.S. Department of Transportation is distributing money awarded last June in the fourth round of TIGER grants.     The City of Bayonne, N.J., and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey received an $11.4 million grant on May 22 that will be used by Global Marine Terminals as part of its $350 million expansion and renovation. The TIGER funds will go to the purchase of two double-cantilever rail-mounted gantry cranes capable of loading and unloading double-stack ...

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

   The U.S. Department of Transportation said Tuesday that the fifth round of TIGER grants is oversubscribed once again, with 568 applications from around the country seeking more than $9 billion for infrastructure projects for a program that only has $474 million in available funding.    The deadline for public and private entities to submit applications was June 3. States, local governments, port authorities, metropolitan planning organizations, transit agencies and other grou...

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

   The Port of Corpus Christi has awarded a $12.6 million contract to low bidder Haas-Anderson Construction to build a new interchange rail yard at the west end of the inner harbor, the port authority announced Tuesday.    Rail traffic at the Texas port has more than doubled during the past five years. The Nueces River Rail Yard will include an 8,000-foot long track that can hold a 110-car unit train, six railcar siding tracks about 4,000 feet in length with enough space for mor...

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

   Enviornmental groups, including the  Natural Resources Defense Council filed a lawsuit on Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court challenging plans to build the Southern California International Gateway railyard project .    NRDC complained the project "violates the California Environmental Quality Act and the state and federal Civil Rights Acts, and will increase cancer rates, chances of children developing asthma, and add to chronic air pollution plaguing the region."  &nb...

Friday, June 07, 2013

   Last month, intermodal traffic rose 3 percent, year over year, to 1.21 million containers and trailers, according to the Association of American Railroads. May’s weekly average for intermodal traffic stood at 242,823 containers and trailers, the highest result the AAR has recorded.    Carloads finished the month at just more than 1.4 million units, a 0.7-percent increase over May 2012.    Out of the 20 major commodities tracked by AAR, 11 increased in May, with the bigge...

Wednesday, June 05, 2013

   North American freight volumes rose by 2.9 percent last month when compared to April, while expenditures stayed relatively flat, with an increase of .04 percent, according to the May issue of the Cass Freight Index Report .     Compared to the same month last year, however, May’s shipment volume declined by 0.3 percent; expenditures also dropped, showing a 2.6-percent decline.    Rail, and the shipment of crude oil, had a lot to do with increased volumes in May. Cru...

Tuesday, June 04, 2013

   The U.S. Department of Transportation on Thursday named 47 professionals from industry, academia, labor, safety advocacy and government to its inaugural Freight Advisory Committee, which will provide advice and recommendations for improving the national freight transportation system. Its first order of business will be to help the department create a national freight transportation strategy, as required by last year's MAP-21 surface transportation law.    The DOT said it sought to ...

Tuesday, June 04, 2013

   CSX has marked the formal groundbreaking of its $107 million, 89-acre intermodal terminal in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec’s Perron Industrial Park.    The terminal, which is expected to open in 2015, will connect the Montreal area and greater Quebec with CSX’s U.S. rail network.    With the help of rubber-tire gantry cranes to transfer containers between trucks and trains, officials expect the new facility to handle up to 100,000 units annually. After leaving the ter...

Thursday, May 30, 2013

   Trade value among the United States, Mexico and Canada hit $95.6 billion in March, a 4 percent decline from March 2012.    Trucks carried 60 percent of the goods traded, with rail accounting for 16.5 percent of the goods moved, vessels taking on 8.1 percent of the cargo, and air transporting just 3.7 percent of the freight. Seven percent of the goods traded moved by pipeline.    Trade between the United States and Canada finished March at $54.3 billion, a 2 percent d...

Thursday, May 30, 2013

   The massive agriculture processor Archer Daniels Midland Co. continues to heavily invest in transportation infrastructure to move commodities around the world and expects governments and its business partners to make similar investments to support the harvest supply chain as the global population grows, according to a key company official.    In an address at the Virginia Maritime Association's annual banquet in Norfolk earlier this month, Mark Schweitzer, managing director in...

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

   To take further advantage of the increased trade between the United States and Mexico, CEVA has added a bonded trucking program targeted at Mexican importers and a new intermodal service to its U.S.-Mexico Transborder portfolio.    “Mexico Direct” will help importers achieve faster customs clearance by combining its ground LTL service on the U.S. side with Mexican in-bond trucking. Cargo destined for Mexican airports is transferred directly from CEVA’s warehouses in Los Angeles in ...

Friday, May 24, 2013

   Total domestic rail activity ticked up 2.6 percent last week compared to the same week last year, reaching 535,835 carloads and intermodal units, according to the Association of American Railroads.    Carloads were up 1.9 percent, and intermodal activity saw a 3.5-percent increase.    Total domestic traffic of 10.32 million units so far in 2013 represents a 1-percent, year-over-year increase. On the year, carloads are down 1.7 percent, but intermodal units have grown 4.3 ...

Thursday, May 16, 2013

   Governments in Belize, Central America and the Dominican Republic should create an environment that embraces an integrated, intermodal sea-land network, according to a recent report by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).    A stronger supply-chain network would help push global trade forward and would also encourage trade exchanges between the countries in the region.    The two authors of the study, Amar Ramudhin and Don Ratliff, posit that a number of initiative...

Thursday, May 16, 2013

   C.R. England, one of North America's largest trucking companies, has appointed Sam Scott and Tracy Brown as new division presidents.    Scott has become president of the National and Regional Divisions, and Brown will assume the role of president of the Dedicated Division.    Scott has been with C.R. England since 2003, serving in various capacities at the manager, director and vice president levels in the company. In his most recent position, first as director, then vice...

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

   The upward trend in cargo volumes at the Port of Virginia continued as the number of TEUs handled in April grew 5.7 percent when compared with the same month last year.    In April, the port handled 179,370 TEUs, an increase of 9,726 units compared with April 2012. Export TEUs tallied 96,261 and import TEUs were 83,109, an increase of 6.1 and 5.3 percent, respectively.    Year-to-date TEU volume is up 6.1 percent, an increase of almost 40,000 TEUs. Rail containers in Apr...

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

   The Port of Long Beach is recirculating a draft environmental impact statement for a proposed grain export facility at Pier T on Terminal Island.    The public is being encouraged to comment on the EIR in writing or at a public hearing scheduled for June 5.    The grain transload facility proposed by Total Terminals International would receive railcars with 53-foot domestic containers full of grain and dried distillers grain with solubles, a byproduct of ethanol pro...

Thursday, May 09, 2013

   DHL Global Forwarding has added daily intermodal services from Shanghai and a weekly service from Chengdu to the European border.    The offerings will use a combination of rail and truck transportation.    According to DHL officials, customers will see faster shipments of up to 21 days compared with ocean shipments and lower transportation costs.    This service offers the option of booking variable capacity — "ranging from a single container to a whole t...

Thursday, May 02, 2013

   Domestic intermodal container volume ticked up 10.2-percent, year over year, during the first quarter, making it the sixth consecutive quarter of increases of more than 10 percent, according to the Intermodal Association of North America.    The total intermodal volume of 3.68 million units is also good for the second highest volume in domestic container history, the association reported in its Intermodal Market Trends & Statistics report.    Year over year, ISO cont...

Thursday, May 02, 2013

   Freight and shipping interests in California are decrying plans by ports in the state to adopt general rate increases in accordance with California Association of Port Authorities (CAPA) recommendations.    CAPA recommended the 11 ports in the state raise tariffs by 1.7 percent by July 1 as part of its annual rate increase guidelines. Recent or pending hearings on the increase are occurring in Oakland, Los Angeles and Long Beach, the three biggest container ports in California. &nb...

Thursday, May 02, 2013

   Eurogate said its container terminal in Wilhelmshaven is enhancing its competitiveness by offering hinterland connections by rail at the same prices as other German ports.    “Eurogate Group rail operators Eurogate Intermodal (EGIM) and ACOS Group are offering hinterland connections to/from Wilhelmshaven at the same fair prices as to/from the two other German seaports Bremerhaven and Hamburg," the terminal said. "Via the EGIM and ACOS transport networks, any destination i...

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

   President Obama has named Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx to succeed Ray LaHood as secretary of transportation.    Foxx must now be confirmed by the Senate before taking his post.    LaHood, who has served as transportation secretary since 2009, announced in late January that he would resign his post as soon as a successor was confirmed. In a letter to DOT employees at the time, LaHood noted his successes over the previous four years. The contentious pilot fatigue rulin...

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

   Two members of Congress from Southern California are urging the City of Los Angeles and BNSF Railway to take further steps to mitigate the environmental effects of a planned intermodal container transfer facility to protect the health of Long Beach residents who live close by.    The Southern California International Gateway is planned for construction on property owned by the Port of Los Angeles a few miles from the marine terminals. It is designed to shorten the drive for trucker...

Monday, April 29, 2013

   For the first 16 weeks of the year, total railroad traffic in the United States has grown by nearly 1 percent over 2012's figures, according to the Association of American Railroads.    The organization measured total carloads and intermodal units of 8.2 million on April 20, showing a 0.7-perecent bump over last year. Total volume, however, of 4.4 million carloads, represented a 2.3-percent, year over year, drop. Intermodal units were up by 4.6 percent.     In ...

Monday, April 29, 2013

   Two South Florida ports, Miami and Port Everglades, are prime examples of the dysfunctional approach in the United States for improving the waterborne transportation system.    Projects undergo a series of congressional approvals and feasibility studies that easily can take longer than a decade to complete before dredging even starts.    Cargo interests worry the Army Corps of Engineers' slow bureaucracy and the paucity of congressional appropriations for increasing ...

Friday, April 26, 2013

   Industry leaders concurred during testimony on Capitol Hill Wednesday that the freight transportation industry is doing a lot to make fleets greener, but said Congress could help reduce air pollution by making it easier to adopt clean energy systems and get infrastructure projects completed that reduce congestion.     Fred Smith, the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of FedEx Corp., suggested a reduction in corporate tax rates would help companies ad...

Thursday, April 25, 2013

   The U.S. Department of Transportation on Monday notified the public of the fifth round of funding availability for the popular TIGER grant program , which is aimed at multi-modal transportation projects that have a high benefit-cost ratio and don't normally get funded through traditional highway aid to states.    There is $474 million available for the next round, with applications due by June 3. Decisions are expected by late summer or early fall, according to DOT officials....

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

   Pacer International/Ocean World Lines has appointed Al Benki to senior vice president of international logistics in the United States and Europe.    He formerly served as the company’s senior vice president of international logistics for Asia and Europe.    Taking Benki’s place in Asia is Danny Yang, who will serve as managing director for Asia.    Benson Chua has become Pacer International/OWL’s managing director in China, while Andrew Luk continues to manage t...

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

   The U.S. State Department recently issued a presidential permit to the state of Michigan to build a new bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.    The State Department approves new international border crossings after reviewing whether they are in the national interest.     Local and national officials in Canada and the United States for many years have been developing plans for a second bridge to relieve congestion on the privately-held Ambassador Bridg...

Friday, April 19, 2013

   The liner carrier MOL this week said that in the first quarter of 2013 it failed to meet its internal 90-percent target for intermodal transit on-time performance for 18 origin-destination pairs between Asia and the United States.    The closest pairs to the target were Cai Mep-to-Memphis, Yantian-to-Memphis, and Shanghai-to-Dallas, which were on-time 87 percent, 87 percent, and 86 percent, respectively.    The worst performing pair was Shanghai-to-New York, which was on...

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

   Bill Shuster, the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman, has formed a special panel of six committee members to create a national infrastructure strategy across all modes.    The panel, which will include six Republicans and five Democrats, is to work for six months to generate recommendations for the next highway bill. Shuster    Shuster is expected to formally announce the panel Tuesday, and the panel will begin meeting April 24.    J...

Friday, April 12, 2013

   The Union Pacific railroad has introduced a dedicated intermodal rail service between the Port of Houston’s Barbours Cut Container Terminal, and its Dallas Intermodal Terminal facility.    UP’s Dallas facility is located 12 miles from downtown Dallas in the city Wilmer, Texas.    “The central location of this rail facility and close proximity to the interstate system will allow a seamless connectivity between some of the largest distribution centers and population c...

Friday, April 12, 2013

   J.B. Hunt Transportation Services turned in first-quarter earnings of $73.3 million, a year-over-year increase of more than $5 million.    Operating revenue during the quarter increased from $1.17 billion in 2012 to $1.29 billion. Dedicated contract services were up by 9 percent, intermodal revenue grew by 15, and integrated capacity solutions saw a 26-percent revenue rise. Truck segment revenue declined because of a fleet reduction, ending the quarter down by 21 percent.  &n...

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

   The U.S. Department of Transportation plans to issue within the next two weeks a notice of funding availability for the fifth round of TIGER grants, Polly Trottenberg, under secretary for policy, said Tuesday at the annual meeting of the Coalition for America's Gateways and Trade Corridors on Capitol Hill.    Officials expect to make awards by late summer or early fall, she said.    The Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) is a discret...

Monday, April 08, 2013

   Shipment volumes continued their rise last month, jumping 5.8 percent from February to March after a 5.6 percent increase from January to February, according to the Cass Freight Index.    Money spent on freight also rose last month, increasing 6.5 percent compared to February’s number.    According to the Cass report, analysts foresee freight strengthening in the next few months, but since the economy has still not turned a corner, it’s hard to predict how freight will r...

Friday, April 05, 2013

   The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has completed the 10-year, $370 million deepening of the Port of Los Angeles' main navigation channel and turning basins, enabling the nation's largest container port to receive a new generation of super-size vessels now being deployed.    Deepening the main channel from 45 feet to 53 feet "has been our single-most important infrastructure project," Port Director Geraldine Knatz said in a statement.    Under federal cost-sharing guid...

Thursday, April 04, 2013

   Importers, exporters and other members of the trade community can expect continuity at U.S. Customs and Border Protection in the wake of the retirement of Commissioner David V. Aguilar on Sunday, Allen Gina, assistant commissioner for international trade, said Wednesday in a Webcast to members of the Coalition of New England Companies for Trade (CONECT) at their annual conference in Rhode Island.    Deputy Commissioner Thomas S. Winkowski has become the acting commissioner, a...

Thursday, April 04, 2013

   In its annual report, the European Shippers Council reiterated that the European government needs to safeguard the 32-billion-euro infrastructure allowance that’s part of the Connecting Europe Facility in the 2014-2020 budget.     ESC hopes the budget will be resolved soon and finalized this sometime this year.     The council stressed the importance of the government allocation, saying there’s a total need for 250 billion euros in transportation funds by ...

Thursday, April 04, 2013

   The City of Long Beach is appealing to the Los Angeles City Council not to approve the Southern California International Gateway rail yard project recently forwarded by the Port of Los Angeles.    On Wednesday, the Port of Long Beach Harbor Commission formally went on record supporting the city's position, saying the Port of Los Angeles had not done enough to mitigate the impact of noise and diesel emissions from trucks serving the proposed BNSF Railway facility on the residen...

Monday, April 01, 2013

Obama    President Barack Obama made the case for federal investment in transportation infrastructure during a visit to the Port of Miami Friday, where he observed the construction of a $900 million, privately financed port access tunnel that bypasses downtown streets to carry truck traffic between the port and nearby interstate highways.     The president used the event to tout his job-creation policies as he wrestles with Congress about how to bring down the federal ...

Friday, March 29, 2013

   Trucking lead the way among modal trade in January between the United States, Canada and Mexico, finishing the month with a 59.3 percent share of the $90.5 billion in trade, according to the Department of Transportation.    Year over year, truck trading grew by 3 percent.     Rail was responsible for carrying 14.3 percent of the total trade value, a 4.8 percent year-over-year rise, while vessels handled 9.8 percent. Air was only used to carry 3.8 perce...

Friday, March 29, 2013

   Things are looking up for JB Hunt, according to a BB&T analysis ahead of the company's release of first-quarter results.    BB&T predicts intermodal volumes will rise near the top of a company projection, finishing the quarter at 14 percent (the company has a growth target of between 10 and 15 percent). The industry as a whole has grown 8.7 percent so far this year. BB&T's prediction, though, defies seasonal trends going back 20 years that show first-quarter numbers ave...

Friday, March 29, 2013

   The Port of Long Beach on Tuesday broke ground on a major track realignment to remove a railroad bottleneck and development of a rail support yard to help eliminate many truck deliveries on local streets and improve cargo flow.    The $84 million project, one of four rail projects collectively dubbed the "Green Port Gateway," was funded in part by a $17 million TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation and $...

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

   In May, Florida Coastal School of Law will start a number of programs in logistics and transportation law, including a Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree, as well as graduate certificates for lawyers and non-lawyers interested in transportation law.    The programs are offered online and can be completed on the student’s schedule any time. The first term for all programs starts May 6.    “Our goal is to train ‘solution brokers,’ well-rounded transportation and logistics profes...

Friday, March 22, 2013

   The Los Angeles Harbor Commission on Thursday approved a 50-year development agreement and lease for BNSF Railway to construct, operate and maintain an intermodal container transfer facility on port property in nearby Wilmington that proponents say would improve cargo handling efficiency.    Currently, import containers that don't move inland from the dock as a block on unit trains are trucked 24 miles downtown to the City of Commerce to BNSF's Hobart Yard. The near-dock inter...

Friday, March 22, 2013

   The Port of New Orleans said its board of commissioners has given notice to AECOM Technical Services to begin the design of the port’s new Mississippi River Intermodal Terminal Project.    The port received a $16.7 million federal transportation grant last year for improvements to the Napoleon Avenue Intermodal Terminal. The project site is an existing 12-acre railyard that serves the adjacent container terminal. The new rail yard will be re-configured and modernized into an effic...

Friday, March 22, 2013

   Local government and industry officials at three ports on the opposite end of the spectrum in California are lobbying members of Congress and U.S. Customs to adjust how the agency is implementing forced budget cuts because reductions in manpower to clear cargo are beginning to harm the maritime industry, with potential losses of millions of dollars per day just around the corner.     Port stakeholders say their unique circumstances mean that Customs and Border Protection's ini...

Thursday, March 21, 2013

   It’s been nearly five months since the Army Corps of Engineers officially received details for the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project, which will expand and deepen the Port of Savannah and the Savannah River, and officials are now waiting on funding to complete the project.    Gov. Nathan Deal asked the state legislature in January to add $50 million in funding for the project, bringing the state's current contribution to $231 million of an anticipated $261 million, and now officia...

Thursday, March 21, 2013

   CenterPoint Properties broke ground this week on a new ACE Hardware distribution center at Wilmer, Texas.    The 450,000-square-foot facility will be situated on 31.3 acres within the 59.9-acre Sunridge Business Park.    The facility will be leased by ACE for 10 years, and is located about 10 miles outside Dallas, along the LBJ Freeway (Interstate-45). The site is also positioned a half mile from Union Pacific’s Dallas intermodal hub. ACE estimates it will bring in ...

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

   The American Society of Civil Engineers has given the nation’s infrastructure a "D+" and estimated the necessary infrastructure investment will reach $3.6 trillion by 2020.    While the organization ranked the current state of the nation’s bridges and rail both at "C+" and gave U.S. ports at a "C," roads and aviation infrastructure were both given Ds.    In the organization’s Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, released every four years, modal infrastructure i...

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

   Truckload line-haul costs have risen 4.3 percent last month compared to February 2012, but have remained flat from January, according to the Cass Truckload Linehaul Index.    Intermodal costs have increased by 2.2 percent compared to last month and 9.9 percent year over year.     Truckload rates have remained on an upward trajectory since a low point in 2010. The Cass index points to increased rates from the end of 2012, which are likely to hold this year....

Friday, March 08, 2013

   The rail industry opposes a competitive switching proposal made by the National Industrial Transportation League that is being considered by federal regulators both because it is a “property rights question” and for service reasons, said Matthew Rose, BNSF chairman and chief executive officer.    The NIT League proposal, which is backed by several other shipper groups, would make it easier for shippers to make railroads switch freight from one railroad to another.    “It...

Friday, March 08, 2013

   The Los Angeles Harbor Commission on Thursday certified the final Environmental Impact Report for the proposed Southern California International Gateway (SCIG) intermodal railyard, which it said would increase the efficiency and competitiveness of moving containerized cargo through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.    BNSF will invest $500 million in the rail container transfer facility, which will be located on 185 aces four miles north of the ports.    ...

Thursday, March 07, 2013

   Freight shipments rose by 0.5 percent, year over year, and increased by 5.6 percent when compared to January, according to the Cass Freight Index.    January’s numbers showed a 4.8 percent, month-to-month drop.    Expenditures fell by 1 percent when compared to February 2012, but rose by 1.8 percent from January.    These increases reversed a downward spiral that had spanned four months, but that doesn’t mean volatility is over for any of the modes. The report ...

Thursday, March 07, 2013

   Legislation submitted Tuesday in the House aims to ensure that planning for a national freight network by the Department of Transportation covers modes beyond highway transport.    MAP-21, the two-year surface transportation reauthorization bill enacted last summer, calls on the DOT to develop the nation's first freight strategy and identify arteries that comprise the national freight network as a guide for setting funding priorities. Congress tasked the DOT to designate a national...

Thursday, March 07, 2013

   This Sunday emergency response agencies around the port of Los Angeles and Long Beach port complex will conduct a full-scale exercise that will provide a “vivid depiction of a unified command working together on a simulated incident” inside the Alameda Corridor.    The drill, which will take place between 9 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., will include the L.A. Fire Department, L.A. County Fire Department, Vernon Fire Department, Compton Fire Department, L.A. Police Department, L.A. ...

Wednesday, March 06, 2013

   The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has named eight new industry members to sit on the Commercial Operations Advisory Committee, including two experts from the air cargo sector.    The 13th COAC convenes today in Washington for the first meeting of its new term.    COAC provides policy-making advice about commercial operations to the secretaries of DHS and Treasury, but primarily works with U.S. Customs and Border Protection within DHS.    DHS ad...

Tuesday, March 05, 2013

   U.S. Customs is using plans for how to resume business in the wake of a natural or man-made disaster as a guideline for dealing with the forced budget cuts that went into effect March 1, the agency said in a memo over the weekend outlining how it will try to minimize the impact of the sequester process.    Officials reiterated that they are eliminating overtime work and personnel will begin to to lose a day per pay period in unpaid leave in mid-April. Their strategy redirects...

Friday, March 01, 2013

   The $754 million hit that U.S. Customs will take to its budget through Oct. 1 under the automatic federal budget cuts that kick in today will significantly decrease the efficiency of port operations, agency officials have told industry stakeholders in a series of outreach sessions.    Customs and Border Protection leaders on Friday held a conference call with several trade associations to outline where they were making cutbacks and how the reduced manpower would impact operat...