Rail

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 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...

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

   The Transport Council of the European Commission has adopted a general approach to rail interoperability throughout the European Union, removing administrative and technical barriers to the “Fourth Railway Package.”    The European Parliament will vote on the proposal in November.    The entire railway package, adopted Jan. 30, calls for measures to open up the constricted railroad market, promote better quality and efficiency among operators, and link the continent toget...

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...

Friday, June 07, 2013

    German national railroad DB Schenker announced plans to operate a "Bospherous Shuttle" linking Germany and Turkey with up to five pairs of freight trains per week. The service is scheduled to begin in September with three trains.      The railroad said it will take five days to cover the 2,000 kilometer route between Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Istanbul. DB Schenker's Bulgaria subsidiary will transfer the trains directly to the Turkish State Railways.

Thursday, June 06, 2013

   Coos Bay Rail Link (CBR) signed a 10-year agreement signed with the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay last week to run the 134-mile railroad. CBR has been running revenue freight trains on the line since October 12, 2011, under an interim agreement.    "This long-term agreement assures stability for the railroad," said CBR General Manager Tom Foster. "It is important for shippers, employees and communities along the line to know that their railroad is here to stay."  &nbs...

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...

Wednesday, June 05, 2013

   ART Logistics has started a new sea-rail service connecting Southeast Asia with Central Asia    The new service connects Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand with Central Asia.    Cargo is moved by sea from the ports of Jakarta, Port Kelang, Bangkok, Haiphong, Keelung and Singapore. Shipments are then routed by rail through the China corridor, from Lianyungang in north-eastern China to the Kazakhstan border crossings of Dostyk and then on to Almaty, the co...

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

   Helping eliminate 33.5 million metric tons of greenhouse gasses, diverting 75 percent of its waste from landfills and recycling more than 4.2 million gallons of fuel are some of the ways Union Pacific beefed up its environmental activity in 2012.    In its recently published Sustainability and Citizenship Report , Union Pacific outlined a number of environmental achievements from last year.    The company eliminated its customers greenhouse gasses by moving products that...

Monday, June 03, 2013

   The American Association of Railroads (AAR) and National Industrial Transportation League (NIT League) last week sparred over proposed changes in railroad regulation.    The AAR, which represents the country's "Class 1," or largest freight railroads, last week claimed they "could lose revenue up to 80 percent of their entire annual capital budgets if a forced competition scheme" proposed by the NIT League was adopted .    The comments from the railroad association are in ...

Friday, May 31, 2013

   The Canadian House of Commons passed the Fair Rail Freight Service Act, which encourages shippers and railroads to negotiate service agreements and gives shippers access to an arbitration process if no agreement is reached.    The Canadian Transportation Agency will serve as arbiter when needed and will have the authority to mete out a fine of up to $100,000 for violations of arbitrated agreements. Officials say this new rule will encourage collaboration and boost efficiency i...

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

   The Canadian National Railway said Tuesday it will accelerate the upgrade of 74 miles of track in Wisconsin to handle growing demand for sand shipments used in hydraulic fracturing of shale formations by oil and gas developers in the Bakken region of North Dakota, Montana, and southern Canada, and elsewhere.    The railroad is investing $33 million to install heavier gauge track capable of supporting rail cars weighing 286,000 pounds between Wisconsin Rapids and Blair, which will i...

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

   A CSX freight train collided with a truck hauling trash and derailed in an industrial district in Rosedale, Md., outside of Baltimore, on Tuesday causing a large explosion and fire, according to the railroad and local news reports.    Smoke from the fire could be seen for miles.    CSX said the train was en route from Selkirk, N.Y., to Waycross, Ga., when the accident occurred around 2 p.m. About a dozen rail cars went off the tracks. CSX said one of of the cars carried s...

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 23, 2013

   The U.S. Transportation Department on Wednesday awarded a $10.9 million TIGER 2012 grant to the City of West Memphis, Ark., to expand the city’s port.    “Once the expansion is complete, the port will be able to handle increased freight rail capacity, helping businesses send more goods to markets across the country. It will also help position the port and the region as a freight transportation leader, attracting development and creating new jobs for those living in and around West ...

Friday, May 17, 2013

   AES Logistics and Aljex Software said Thursday the two companies have integrated AES Logistics rates into Aljex hosted software for quick access by Aljex users.    AES is a provider of transportation services and supply chain logistics including truckload, less than truckload (LTL), ocean and air cargo service. Aljex is a provider of hosted transportation management software for brokers, carriers and other transportation providers.    "Integration with AES provides sourci...

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...

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...

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

   Last month, Genesee & Wyoming’s consolidated carloads increased by 7.3 percent, year over year, to 157,700, with the company’s North American activity increasing by 6.4 percent.     Analysts at BB&T Capital Markets have anticipated a second-quarter carload result of around 472,000, an estimate which they now consider to be on the conservative side.    G&W’s best cargo during April came in the form of petroleum products, which shot up 69.9 percent, year o...

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...

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

   The U.S. Surface Transportation Board has adopted a new arbitration program for disputes between shippers and railroads with clear liability limits.    Effective June 12, the rule change establishes when the parties would be ordered to participate in mediation.    Initially, Class I and II railroads were to be automatically enrolled in the arbitration program unless they specifically opted out of the program by application to the board. Class III rail...

Monday, May 13, 2013

   Charles "Wick" Moorman will give up his duties as president of Norfolk Southern Corp. to James Squires, who has been promoted from vice president administration, effective June 1, the company announced Friday along with a series of changes at the vice presidential level.    Moorman will remain chairman and chief executive officer of the Norfolk, Va.-based Class I freight railroad.    In his new role, Squires will be responsible for the company's administration, fina...

Thursday, May 09, 2013

   Denver-based Rocla Concrete Tie, a railroad tie manufacturer, has been acquired by Altus Capital Partners and the company's senior management team from a Belgian holding company.    Financial details of the purchase were not disclosed.    "We are extremely excited about the opportunity of working with Altus Capital Partners to accelerate growth and create additional value through expansion both in the United States and internationally," Rocla's chief executive officer, Pe...

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

Allegretti    The American Maritime Partnership (AMP), a trade organization for the U.S. shipping industry, said Thomas Allegretti has been elected as its new chairman.    Allegretti is president and chief executive officer of the American Waterways Operators, a trade group for the tug and barge industry.    He succeeds James Henry, chairman and president of the Transportation Institute, who will serve as AMP’s vice chairman.    “It is an honor to serve ...

Wednesday, May 01, 2013

   Iron ore exports are moving through Southern California's Port of Long Beach for the first time in 40 years.    The port said SA Recycling, a long-time exporter of scrap metal through the port, is working with CML Metals Corp. to send iron ore from mines in Utah, California, Arizona and Nevada to Asian steel makers. ( However, the U.S. Geological Service notes that in 2012, mines in Michigan and Minnesota shipped 97 percent of the usable ore produced in the Unit...

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...

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

   A federal appeals court will soon rule on whether an antitrust case against four railroads that allegedly engaged in price-fixing can be tried in the courts as a class action suit.    Dakota Granite Co., Zinifex Taylor Chemicals and 11 other shippers brought a suit against BNSF, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific in 2007. The plaintiffs alleged the carriers illegally imposed surcharges from 2003 to 2008. In that case, the judge allowed for a class-action su...

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 ...

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

   VTG Aktiengesellschaft, a European railcar and logistics services provider, and Kuehne + Nagel, a large logistics firm, are planning to merge parts of their rail logistics activities.     Both parties entered a letter of intent this week.    “This merger represents an expansion of the long-term partnership that has existed between VTG and Kuehne + Nagel within the scope of their joint company Transpetrol for more than 20 years,” the...

Thursday, April 25, 2013

   The U.S. Coast Guard said Thursday morning that the Port of Mobile was open following an explosion Wednesday evening aboard a gasoline barge owned by Kirby Inland Marine.    The agency said it received the initial notification at 8:40 p.m. that there was a barge explosion between the George Wallace Tunnel and Bankhead Tunnel in Mobile Bay. A total of seven explosions were reported, and the fire has been put out.    Three people were transported to USA Medical Center ...

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...

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

   Communications company Parallel Infrastructure is looking to widen its focus after signing 21 new short-line and regional railroad agreements in the past year.    New development efforts may confront different types of infrastructure and future agreements could focus primarily on the properties of public sector entities.    “We continue to expand our footprint nationwide, forming strategic relationships and adding prime corridor property to our growing communications inf...

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...

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

   The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) this week launched a new interactive online mapping application, PhillyFreightFinder.    The application is aimed at highlighting the region's freight network, denoting major freight routes, such as highways, rivers and rail lines, and key hubs of employment and goods movement, including ports and freight centers. The application is interactive, allowing the viewer to explore more than 350 individual features, each with a th...

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

   The Indonesian logistics industry is set to grow by 14.5 percent in 2013 on the strength of government initiatives, increased manufacturing activities and a growing economy, according to analysts at Frost & Sullivan.    External trade could reach $446 billion this year, a 16.7 percent growth rate.    Foreign direct investment in Indonesia will grow to $42.7 billion, with a large amount of that going into the mining industry. This mining money will help boost industria...

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...

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

   Port Corpus Christi commissioners on Tuesday approved a grant agreement with the U.S. Maritime Administration outlining the terms and conditions for the use of funds to start construction of the Nueces River Rail Yard.     On June 21, 2012, the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded a $10 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant to the port for phase I construction of the) rail yard. When complete the rail yard will include an ...

Tuesday, April 09, 2013

   In March, intermodal traffic rose by 0.5 percent, year over year, to 933,208 containers, while the number of carloads declined by 0.5 percent to 1.117 million when compared to March 2012, according to the Association of American Railroads.    Intermodal finished the month with the smallest year-over-year gain in nearly a year and a half, while the carload decrease came in as the smallest decrease since January 2012.    The mixed results didn’t inspire much confidence, but...

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...

Wednesday, April 03, 2013

   The North American revenue-earning railcar fleet increased by 1 percent in 2012, according to the 2013 North American Freight Railcar Review, published by Railinc.    The revenue-earning fleet is a subset of the total fleet consisting mostly of freight cars.    The 1-percent increase in 2012 was good news for those in the freight industry, as there was almost no increase seen in the previous report. But the fleet is still not at pre-recession levels. While hoppers and bo...

Monday, April 01, 2013

Graham    Sen. Lindsey Graham said he's working on national port legislation that would create a “merit-based” system for funding port infrastructure.    “This bill changes the way we deepen ports and it sets aside money to make sure there will be money there available to us,” he said.    Speaking last month at a meeting of the South Carolina Ports Authority board, Graham described plans to create a $20 billion fund that would include $9 billion for deepening East Coas...

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

   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...