Surface

FTR Associates’ Shippers Conditions Index for April improved slightly from the previous month to a reading of negative 6.9.

Indian Railways carried 171.91 million metric tons of revenue-earning freight traffic in April and May, the first two months of fiscal year 2013 to 2014, increasing 4.6 percent or 7.53 million metric tons from...

Slow-steaming by shipping lines, the shift of production centers in China inland and the easing of customs barriers in Eastern Europe are rapidly opening up overland transport routes between Asia and Europe.

Freightliner, the United Kingdom’s second largest rail freight operator, today announced its acquisition of ERS Railways, the pan-European intermodal rail company, from ocean carrier Maersk Line.

The South Carolina Ports Authority board of directors approved its fiscal year 2014 plan, which includes volume increases across business segments and $123 million in capital spending on a number of projects.

Deutsche Bahn and Bombardier Transportation have signed a frame contract for the delivery of up to 450 electric locomotives by the year 2020.

The American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Trucking Tonnage Index jumped 2.3 percent to 126.0 in May, after falling 0.2 percent in April to 123.2, making it the highest level on record.

The new Canadian National-Indiana Rail Road intermodal service to Indianapolis will offer export “matchback” opportunities for steamship lines and shippers when it launches on July 1.

Old Dominion Freight Line will increase its base rates for intrastate, interstate and cross-border lane charges, effective July 1.

Indian Railways reported its revenue from April 1 to May 31, 2013, was Rs. 22,439.30 crore (about US$3.9 billion), increasing 12.7 percent from $3.4 billion during the corresponding period last year.

AECOM Technology Corp. has won a $148 million, three-year contract to provide construction supervision and design review services for the portion of the Doha Expressway program in Qatar known as Group 7.

Roadrunner Transportation Systems’ outbound, less-than-truckload service center operations have commenced in Kansas City, Mo.

North American truckload pricing in May increased 1.4 percent from the same month in 2012, but fell 2.4 percent from April, according to the Cass Truckload Linehaul Index.

Norfolk Southern has officially unveiled its Franklin County Regional Intermodal Facility in Pennsylvania.

The Railway Association of Canada has applauded the Transportation Safety Board of Canada’s request for installation of in-cab video cameras and voice recorders in all mainline controlling locomotives in the nation.

Train passengers and the family of one of the three engineers who died in last year’s VIA Rail derailment in Burlington, Ontario, are joining the Transportation Safety Board of Canada’s call for improvements in rail technology.

Con-way Freight will raise its less-than-truckload base rates 5.9 percent on average June 24, along with minimum charges and accessorial fees.

Class 1 railroads are making a big push to convert over-the-road freight to intermodal, and for CSX Intermodal, its 2-year-old Northwest Ohio hub is proving to be a force multiplier in that strategy.

The China Railway Corp., a spinoff of China’s former Ministry of Railways, has launched a new express cargo service to allow it to better compete in the logistics market, Global Times reports.

John Spencer, chairman of KiwiRail, along with the KiwiRail’s board, have announced that they will not renew KiwiRail Chief Executive Jim Quinn’s five-year contract when it expires in February 2014.

The European Commission’s Transport Council has plans to introduce a single European authority for placing railway vehicles in the European Union market and reinforce the central role of the European Railway Agency.

The latest round of general rate increases points to higher contractual pricing to come as LTL carriers seek to regain lost pricing levels.

Six trucking companies have sued Los Angeles and the Port of Los Angeles Harbor Commission to block the construction of a recently approved $500 million railyard near the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex.

A consortium of Japanese conglomerate Sojitz Corp. and domestic infrastructure major Larsen and Toubro has won a contract to develop the first phase of India’s long-planned rail freight corridor between Delhi and Mumbai.

A study by the nation’s Advisory Council on Rail Safety’s Working Group on Locomotive Voice and Video Recorders calls for the voluntary installation of voice and video recording devices on locomotives by railway companies.

FedEx Freight will raise its general tariff rates 4.5 percent on average July 1, following a route blazed by UPS Freight and ABF Freight System in May and June.

The Dow Chemical Co. and Union Pacific have released a report on the progress of their memorandum of cooperation that began in 2007 to improve rail safety and security.

Suddath Global Logistics, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based warehousing and logistics management company, has acquired PenserSC, a third-party logistics provider.

Con-way Freight has opened a new service center in Lumberton, N.C.

The Port of New York and New Jersey and Norfolk Southern are discussing the possibility of making an intermodal railyard in Bethlehem, Pa., an inland port, The Morning Call reports.

ACF Industries has reopened its rail car manufacturing plant in Milton, Pa., after it was closed in 2009 because of declining sales.

Employment in transportation and warehousing climbed 1.4 percent in May, as the U.S. economy added 175,000 jobs, according to data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

An uneven, anemic economic recovery, spending cuts driven by the federal sequester and winter storms all threw up roadblocks for trucking operators in the first quarter, slowing the industry’s drive toward greater profitability.

Preliminary net orders for Class 8 trucks totaled 23,300 units in May, basically flat compared to the previous month, according to ACT Research.

Textainer Group Holdings and Trifleet Leasing have signed an agreement under which Textainer will invest in new intermodal tank carriers to be managed by Trifleet, marking Textainer’s entry into the tank container market.