Transport, Trade and Regulation News

The European Union has opened the bidding for a record 11.9 billion euros [$15.5 billion] of funding for projects to improve transport links and remove logistics bottlenecks across the 28-nation bloc.

With the U.S. Congress back in session after the August recess, a coalition of shippers and freight transportation providers is wasting no time letting legislators and the Obama administration know what they want out of the next federal highway bill.

Interest in using liquefied natural gas as vessel fuel is highlighting the need for regulatory policies and operational and safety standards, according to a new Maritime Administration study on LNG bunkering.

Canadian Pacific Railway and BNSF Railway said Thursday that requiring them to add railcars or even allow other railroads to operate on their lines — as some officials and shippers have asked the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to require them to do — would hamper needed rail service improvements.

Nine marine terminals at Santos earmarked for a new concession process that would eliminate them may soon be given an official stay of execution following moves by Codesp, the local port authority.

Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Co. appear to have the same confidence that Chinese regulators will approve their “2M” vessel-sharing agreement as they did before China’s rejection of the P3 Network, said U.S. Federal Maritime Commissioner Richard Lidinsky.

In a deal that could have implications for refrigerated shippers and warehouse operators across the U.S., Costco agreed to pay $335,000 in penalties and spend as much as $2 million over the next few years to cut greenhouse gas emissions from its warehouse stores.

A new five-year plan aimed at developing China’s shipping industry could help Chinese container lines and ports become more competitive.

Hong Kong’s Centre for Food Safety (CFS) has banned the import of poultry meat and products into the territory from Salem County, New Jersey, following an outbreak of avian influenza in the U.S. state.

The Indian federal government has approved a proposal to delegate more project approval authority to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in a bid to minimize delays in awarding of concession contracts.

The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission Wednesday received the “2M” vessel sharing agreement proposal for the east-west trades, starting the clock on the agency’s review of the Maersk Line-Mediterranean Shipping Co. plan for the alliance created following the rejection of the P3 Network by China in June.

The value of total trade and exports moving through U.S. foreign-trade zones last year hit record highs, reflecting exporter and retailers’ increased of the hubs.

A U.S. agency is imposing big penalties on companies that allegedly fired truck drivers for raising safety complaints, and it’s not the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

A coalition of trucking groups is redoubling efforts to get controversial public safety scores taken off the Internet.

A proposed rule-making on truck driver coercion that would extend U.S. regulatory authority deeper into the international supply chain and hit offenders — including motor carriers, logistics operators and shippers — with penalties of up to $11,000 per incident, is being hotly debated.

The Obama administration picked T.F. Scott Darling III, chief counsel of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, to be the agency’s interim administrator, starting next week.

The U.S. rail regulatory agency is asking the seven major U.S. and Canadian railroads, along with short lines, to explain how they will handle the expected surge of intermodal traffic, noting the situation has been “challenging.”

The U.S. government will study vehicle-to-vehicle communications technology that could form the backbone of future systems aimed at improving passenger car and truck safety.

A statutory review of Canada Transportation Act dovetails with the country’s recent success in negotiating free trade agreements with the European Union and South Korea, Canadian Transport Minister Lisa Raitt told port officials.

Nine straight weeks of steady declines in pricing of low-sulfur bunker fuel have brought the price per metric ton down to the lowest levels in more than three years.

The U.S. Maritime Administration’s latest push to promote coastal and inland waterway container services comes despite signs that such efforts are either a long shot or destined to fail.

U.S. poultry exporters are facing stricter inspections of their products by Russian authorities.

Japan has decided not to extend punitive tariffs imposed on some products imported from the United States in retaliation for a U.S. anti-dumping trade law known as the Byrd amendment.

The U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission cleared the planned merger between Hapag-Lloyd and Compania Sud Americana de Vapores, which will create the world’s fourth-largest ocean container line.

Some U.S. states aren’t waiting for federal rules but are increasing inspection and enforcement actions related to temperature-controlled transport on their own.

Applicants for Transportation Security Identification Credential cards now can have them mailed directly to their homes or other locations instead of having to make a second trip to pick up the cards at a TWIC enrollment center.

More gloom has darkened the outlook for the export of U.S. distiller dried grains now that China is requiring all shipments to have a certification showing the feed ingredient doesn’t include an unapproved genetically modified strain.

China’s factory output and total new orders in July rose to their highest levels since March last year, improving the operating conditions of mainland manufacturers and supporting carrier predictions of third quarter container volume increases in the seasonal build up to Christmas.

Despite a loss at the World Trade Organization last fall, China isn’t prepared to give in on a dispute over U.S. poultry that has exposed U.S. producers to steep anti-dumping and countervailing duties in what was once their largest overseas market.

India’s refusal to give in on protecting its food subsidy program spelled the end of a World Trade Organization pact aimed at improving global trade facilitation.

U.S. federal dollars to states for highway construction will keep flowing through May now that Congress approved a bill just hours before the main engine of such funding would have expired.

WASHINGTON — U.S. House and Senate leaders have less than a day to work out their differences in seeking a short-term patch for the main engine of federal highway construction.

After five years leading a broad and often controversial effort to reshape federal truck safety regulation, Anne S. Ferro is leaving the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission is seeking authority to use its website instead of the Federal Register to provide public notice when it revokes or suspends the licenses of ocean transportation intermediaries.

Six U.S. truck drivers have filed a class action suit accusing the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration of unlawfully disseminating reports of driver safety records to potential employers.

The U.S. Senate will vote this week on a House bill that would pump $10.9 billion into the dwindling Highway Trust Fund, keeping funding for road and bridge projects flowing to states until next May.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American Trucking Associations is urging the U.S. Senate to pass a shorter “short-term patch” to the Highway Trust Fund than that approved by the House of Representatives earlier this month and then quickly move to finding a long-term funding solution.

Two Federal Maritime Commission members hailed U.S. dredging legislation and Seattle-Tacoma port cooperation as “significant” steps to help U.S. ports compete with Canadian and Mexican gateways for shipments to U.S. points.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx won’t be celebrating if a $10.9 billion injection for the Highway Trust Fund approved by the House last week makes it through the Senate.