Topic: Transportation

As railroad volumes continue to show steady improvement on an annual basis, the week ending May 29 was no exception with carload and intermodal volumes both showing gains, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

Following a January announcement in which it announced it had reached a preliminary agreement with the Clinton County Port Authority to donate its former Air Park in Wilmington, Ohio to the local Wilmington community, express delivery and logistics services provider DHL said at a press conference yesterday the transaction was official.

The National Mediation Board, an independent United States Government agency that coordinates labor-management relations within the U.S. railroad and airline sectors, recently rejected a request made by the Teamsters Airline Division to be released by contract negotiations.

As the months go by in 2010, the Cass Information Systems Freight Index continues to show sustained growth.

As the Federal Maritime Commission ramps up its investigation of ocean carrier price-fixing, it is also keeping a vigilant watch on capacity and equipment shortages.

The American Trucking Associations recently reported this week that its advanced seasonally-adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index was up in April for the sixth time in seven months.

Earlier this week, the Federal Highway Administration and the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) released the findings of a new survey, which assesses the level of truck-oriented congestion at 100 locations on the U.S. national highway system.

The International Air Transport Association said international scheduled cargo traffic saw the pace of its recovery slow to 25.2 percent growth.

Following 12 straight weeks of traffic growth, the Association of American Railroads reported that volumes for the week ending May 20 have leveled off, although they remain up on an annual basis.

As trucking capacity continues to tighten and freight demand returns, many freight transportation stakeholders maintain that the specter of a future truck driver shortage is not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when.’

Even though coal carloads are down roughly 3 percent year-over-year, the commodity’s importance to the freight railroad industry is not to be overlooked. That was the message from Association of American Railroads (AAR) President and CEO Edward R. Hamberger in recent testimony for the Congressional Caucus on Coal.

Evergreen and China Shipping will commence a new service later this month linking Los Angeles and Oakland with central and northern China

Net orders for heavy-duty Class 8 commercial vehicles were in April were up 91 percent year-over-year

Port operations help to preserve Georgia’s manufacturing base and foster growth of the state’s massive logistics, distribution and warehousing sectors.

While the effects of the global recession took its toll on enterprise software markets to a large degree in the form of a double-digit revenue reduction, it does not appear that damage to the Transportation Management System (TMS) market was nearly as severe, according to research from ARC Advisory Group.

While it is not always a top of mind topic given the myriad challenges shippers face at any time, the issue of port security is never truly too far away.

In a Rose Garden ceremony on May 21 with a handful of top U.S. trucking industry and heavy truck manufacturers on hand, President Obama signed a presidential memorandum that for the first time would set mileage and pollution limits for big trucks. The rules are set to take effect with the 2014 model year.

After decades of playing defense, Big Labor is going on offense following a recent ruling by the National Mediation Board might make it easier to organize workers in the airline and railroad industries.

Shippers, logisticians and their motor carrier partners, who often worry about various problems that can occur at any time for shipments in their supply chains, now have another worry that could keep them awake at nights.

The Independent Pilots Union (IPA), which represents pilots flying for UPS, said this week that 54 pilots will be furloughed on Sunday, May 23.