Transport, Trade and Regulation News

Hair samples would be used to screen truck drivers for illegal drug use if a bill introduced in the House of Representatives this week becomes law.

The U.S. House of Representatives today approved a bill, HR 2838, the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2012, for regulatory reforms for the Coast Guard and maritime small businesses.

China’s demand for iron ore and coal imports for its steel-making industry is expected to increase in 2013, according to Peter Sand, chief shipping analyst at shipping association BIMCO.

Pig producers in Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. have warned Canada that its pork subsidization program will be challenged in thisround of Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations...

Twenty-four senators recently signed a letter to President Obama expressing support for negotiating strengthened labor rights and protections against outsourcing in the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership.

U.S. Steel imports in October were 2.54 million tons, dropping 2.5 percent from 2.60 million tons in September and falling 8.5 percent from 2.34 million tons in October 2011...

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charged package giant UPS with religious discrimination in a lawsuit filed on behalf a Jehovah’s Witness fired by the company.

The National Association of Manufacturers and 104 businesses and business groups today sent a letter to congressional leaders urging the passage of the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill...

Containerized volumes of grains and soybeans from the U.S. will see double-digit declines in the coming months.

Federal regulators ordered a truck driver involved in a fatal crash off the road after discovering he had a medical condition that disqualifies him from driving.

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, the UK government’s regulatory department, recently clarified at a conference its policy on authorized economic operators for imports and exports...

The U.S. transportation construction infrastructure market is expected to increase 3 percent from $126.5 billion to $130.3 billion in 2013...

The Federal Highway Administration today selected Caitlin Hughes Rayman, Maryland Department of Transportation’s Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy and Freight...

The House chose Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., to head the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, starting in January, after the current chair, Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., dropped his waiver bid to hold onto the gavel.

The trucking and railroad industries face little risk of regulatory surprises in the next few years, as the pipeline of rules laid out in President Obama’s first term will continue to flow through his second.

Customs and Border Protection will open six Centers of Excellence and Expertise nationally in 2013, as the agency works to bring uniformity to the handling of major product imports.

A customs maneuver called Operation HOPE, organized by the World Customs Organization, recently led to more than 70 major seizures of endangered flora and fauna, including live tortoises, rhino horns, ivory tusks and more...

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, law enforcement agencies from five European countries, and the European Police Office...

Like favorable winds for a ship sailing out of harbor, bipartisan optimism billows behind Congress’s drafting of a long-delayed port and inland waterways bill.

India’s economic growth slowed to 5.3 percent in the second quarter, its lowest level in nine years, Coface recently reported in its assessment of the country’s fiscal performance.

The European Union said it plans to finalize a free trade agreement with Canada in the “coming weeks” that could boost annual two-way trade by more than $33 billion.

Europe’s imports and exports are expected to decline in the next six months amid concerns that the region’s economy will contract further, according to Global Port Tracker’s North Europe Trade Outlook.

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ board of directors recently voted to elect Michael Lewis, Rhode Island’s transportation director, as president for 2013.

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials board of directors today voted to approve Frederick G. “Bud” Wright as executive director.

Commercial trucks crossing the U.S. border into Canada have been given a reprieve: The Canada Border Services Agency won’t begin assessing fines or refusing entries to trucks and drivers not meeting eManifest requirements until May.

The Food and Drug Administration has a daunting task ahead: inspecting food imports to keep the U.S. food supply safe, according to a new report by the congressional General Accountability Office.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Coast Guard and representatives from the barge and shipping industries held a press conference in St. Louis on Nov. 16 to discuss government-industry cooperation in managing the Mississippi River...

The World Trade Organization on Nov. 16 adopted panel and appellate body reports in the United States' dispute with China about the imposition of duties on U.S. exports of grain oriented flat-rolled electrical steel, according to Ron Kirk, U.S. Trade Representative.

Changes in European Union trade rules could cause Caribbean countries to lose up to 10 million euros by the end of the decade from falling rum revenues, reported the Overseas Development Institute, a UK think tank on international development issues.

Nicaragua was recently approved for a $39.2 million loan by the Inter-American Development Bank to improve the efficiency and safety of its transportation system.

The IEC System of Conformity Assessment Schemes for Electrotechnical Equipment and Components, which provides conformity testing and certification for the safety and performance of electronic products...