Transport, Trade and Regulation News

Congress on Wednesday passed free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea.

The CEOs in President Obama’s advisory jobs council are pushing for big federal investments in transportation networks and energy systems, and creation of a national infrastructure bank.

Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica said “a national infrastructure bank is dead on arrival in the House,” after some senators proposed pairing the bank portion

CSX Transportation said it has completed nearly a third of federally aided track clearance projects so that doublestack container trains can move between its new intermodal hub in northwest Ohio and a

The Panama Canal Authority completed the third phase of digging the excavation for the new locks on the Pacific side of the canal.

A.P.

President Obama’s big push for Congress to pass a jobs plan laden with new transportation funding fell well short Tuesday of the 60 votes needed for Senate passage.

The Senate voted 63-35 Tuesday evening to give the Treasury Department and U.S.

Rear Adm. Philip H. Greene Jr., superintendent of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, N.Y., has stepped down amid accusations of the Maritime Administration micromanaging the school.

The Senate is expected on Tuesday evening to reject President Obama’s $447 billion jobs plan, with $50 billion in transportation grants plus $10 billion to fund an infrastructure bank.

President Obama designated six large transportation construction projects for fast-track permitting and environmental reviews to get them into their building phase faster and spur job creation.

U.S. trade volume is expected to rise 62.3 percent in the next 15 years but the U.S. share of global trade will fall behind China’s, according to a new forecast by HSBC Bank.

The transportation piece of the Obama administration’s 2009 stimulus program has paid out more than $7 billion in the first nine months of 2011 to reimburse states for completed projects, accord

While economists and observers of trade flows have been debating contradictory data on the direction of the U.S. economy for several months, one measure has been unwavering.

To U.S. farmers, the free trade agreements negotiated with South Korea, Colombia and Panama several years ago have been something like a bumper crop cruelly out of reach, unable to be harvested.

Some in the perishables industry already are talking about lawsuits as the Food and Drug Administration rolls out new fees for inspections of some imported foods.

Just how successful has PierPass been at the Port of Los Angeles-Long Beach?

The Cass Freight Index for U.S.

The Transportation Security Administration will not meet its Dec. 31 deadline to screen all cargo on international passenger flights, the agency told industry stakeholders.

A big shift of manufacturing from China to the U.S. and other parts of North America will create up to 3 million U.S. jobs in coming years, says a study from Boston Consulting Group.

Toyota is telling its parts suppliers in Japan to cut prices or face being replaced by overseas competitors as the yen’s value appreciates,

The Panama Canal Authority ordered 14 new tugboats in anticipation of more vessel traffic when the canal completes its

Rick Calhoun sees the inland waterways infrastructure crisis from the perspective of both shipper and carrier.

Federal regulators are due to issue a final rule on changes in truck driver hours at the end of this month, but opponents say the Obama administration should let the clock run out.

The Republican-controlled House is speeding toward a conflict with the Department of Transportation that could scuttle changes to trucker hours of service rules.

The National Retail Federation forecasts a 2.8 percent increase in holiday sales, and said

A European Union scheme compelling all airlines to pay for carbon emissions on flights to and from the 27-nation bloc from next January is legal, the EU’s highest court said in a preliminary opi

The Canadian government said it will “vigorously defend” its trade policies and infrastructure investments against any of the findings of a Federal Maritime Commission study looking into t

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood cleared a $196.5 million grant for Michigan to spend on track upgrades, the first part of a nearly $350 million federal investment in a east-west track segment now

The Federal Maritime Commission, jumping into a dispute over the shift of imported containers from the United States to Canada, voted Wednesday to launch an inquiry over whether the U.S.

President Obama sent Congress long-pending free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama on Monday afternoon.

Cargo shipped through the Panama Canal increased by 7.1 percent in the fiscal year 2011 ended Sept. 30, to set a record of 322.1 million Panama Canal/Universal Measurement System tons.

The Institute of Supply Management’s closely watched manufacturing index defied downbeat expectations on Monday by growing one percentage point in September to its highest level since June, sign

A coalition of about 200 shippers backing the use of heavier trucks launched a video campaign to build support for truck size and weight legislation.

Weak demand for exports from Europe and the U.S.

The arrival late last month of a China Cargo Airlines freighter at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport was supposed to launch a service aimed at raising the city’s role in global trade.

A large container ship is slowly transiting the Kill van Kull channel on its way to a berth at Port Elizabeth, N.J.

The U.S.

Federal regulators are opening a public proceeding on whether the premium Berkshire Hathaway paid in 2010 to buy BNSF Railway should be deducted from the valuation base that shapes the carrier’s

The International Chamber of Commerce tapped Anthony Barone, director of global logistics policy for Pfizer, as chairman of the group’s customs and trade regulation committee.