American Shipper

   Annoyed by the traction that the railroad industry has gotten with its ubiquitous “Freight Rail Works” advertising campaign, motor carriers have decided to use the media too to put their best face forward to the public and politicians.    Last month, the American Trucking Associations, Owner-Operators Independent Drivers Association, National Tank Truck Carriers, Truckload […]

   The Port of Miami is scheduled to receive its first container of grapes from Peru on Sunday, according to the port authority. A cold treatment pilot program commenced in October, making possible the direct import of grapes and blueberries from Peru and Uruguay.    Until now, imports of fruits from tropical climates had to […]

   A proposal announced earlier this week by the European Commission to triple the continent’s spending to promote exports of EU agricultural and agri-food products has U.S. producers requesting that Congress respond in kind.

   The U.S. Export-Import Bank has approved a $61.1 million direct loan to Inversiones Eolicas de Orosi Dos S.A. (Orosi), a subsidiary of Central American wind-generation company Globeleq Mesoamerica Energy, to buy wind turbine generators manufactured by Gamesa in Fairless Hills, Pa.    The authorization represents Ex-Im Bank’s first wind industry transaction in Costa Rica and […]

   Weatherford International Ltd. in Houston and four of its subsidiaries have agreed to pay a $50 million civil penalty following allegations that the company illegally exported oil and gas equipment to Iran, Syria and Cuba, said the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security.    In specific, the company violated the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) […]

   Representatives to the World Trade Organization’s General Council held the “most intensive” negotiations in Geneva since July 2008, but final agreements remain elusive in the face of the Bali Ministerial Conference on Nov. 26, said WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo.    “Over the last few days, we stopped making the tough political calls,” Azevêdo said […]

   The construction market for domestic transportation infrastructure will grow to $135.8 billion next year, up 5 percent from $129 billion in 2013, according to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association.

   The 26,500-DWT ships, which are being built by VT Halter Marine, will have a cargo capacity of approximately 2,400 TEU, with additional space for nearly 400 vehicles. They are due for delivery in the second and fourth quarter of 2017.

   The European Parliament could soon establish guidelines to increase the alternative fuel infrastructure across the European Union, adding fueling stations filled with electric, hydrogen and natural gas for ocean and road transport.    European Commission officials, who celebrated the development, say the vote solves the issue in the alternative fuel industry of not having […]

   JF Hillebrand Group AG, a third-party logistics specialist in the beverage industry, has acquired Houston-based Satellite Logistics Group.    Terms of the deal were not disclosed.    SLG specializes in reverse logistics solutions and related services for the beer and beverage industry, including its Kegspediter keg management, LogiTrax transportation management, and EcoBev beverage disposal. SLG’s […]

   The World Trade Organization released a final report this week backing the European Union’s ban on trade in products of commercial seal hunts. In 2010, Canada and Norway initiated a WTO challenge against the European Union’s ban.

   United Arab Shipping Company is introducing two new feeder services to improve its service in Asia.    “The dedicated and direct services will run weekly, covering Japan, Central and South China, Thailand, and Vietnam effective (at the) end of November 2013,” the company said. “These new services will provide UASC customers with expanded coverage […]

   The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and its contractor, Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co. LLC, last week began dredging Miami’s ship channel to 50-feet after more than 15 years of planning, design, permitting, gaining legislative authorization and settling lawsuits, the Port of Miami Authority said Thursday.    The latest estimate now pegs the […]

   In the wake of last summer’s highly publicized accident in which a train hauling crude oil crashed into the center of a Canadian town and killed 45 people, the freight rail industry is pressing the federal government to raise the standards for tank cars used to transport flammable liquids.    In comments filed earlier […]

   The company said transported volume reached 493,512 TEU in the third quarter of 2013, an increase of 5.6 percent compared to the second quarter of 2013 and of 0.8 percent  compared to the third quarter of 2012.

   “The evidence is overwhelming at this point that the four dominant freight railroads are financially strong,” he said. “It’s time for the STB to re-focus its mission on supporting the businesses and people who use the rail network.”

   The FDA has defined importers as the party directly responsible for ordering food from overseas under its proposed Foreign Supplier Verification Program. Importers must verify that suppliers meet food-safety standards.

   A merger between American Airlines and US Airways could reduce service to rural airports and small communities if the Department of Justice’s settlement is approved as is, Members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee wrote in a letter to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.    In the letter, John D. Rockefeller, IV, Bill Shuster, […]

   The bevy of current and future trucking regulatory changes could strain capacity in a truckload market that currently sits at 90-percent utilization, noted FTR Associates’ Noel Perry.    Perry, who spoke recently at a lunch hosted by Cowen and Company, predicted a price increase of between 4 percent and 5 percent for next year, […]

   Year-over-year truckload volume comps turned positive in May after several years of negative or near-negative growth, but that change was largely due to a corresponding decline in length-of-haul. Absolute index volumes remain well below pre-recession levels. We attribute the bulk of freight market lethargy to persistent weakness in underlying core economic growth. Y/Y dry […]