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Freight Transportation News

13 Mar 2024

MARAD Announces $500 Million in Funding for Port Infrastructure

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As a part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) published a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for $500 million in Federal Fiscal Year 2024 funding through MARAD’s Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP).Investments made under the PIDP focus on modernizing the Nation’s coastal and inland waterway ports as well as strengthening its supply chains and economic security for generations to come.

03 Nov 2023

US Awards More than $653 Million for Port Projects

© druid007 / Adobe Stock

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) announced over $653 million to fund 41 port improvement projects across the nation under the Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP).The investments—part of the largest dedicated funding for ports and waterways in history, nearly $17 billion through the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law—are intended to help grow capacity and increase efficiency at coastal seaports, Great Lakes ports and inland…

02 Nov 2023

NYC Exploring Ways to Move More Freight Via Waterways

© batman6794 / Adobe Stock

New York City is looking at ways to help shift freight transportation off of its busy roads and onto the waterways.The city's Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) and Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) on Wednesday jointly released a Request for Information and Expressions of Interest (RFEI) seeking private sector feedback to help it gauge industry challenges and opportunities, and explore ways to implement and support businesses to engage in waterfront freight operations.The initiative is part of NYC's "Blue Highways" program, launched under the city's previous mayor, Bill de Blasio.

18 May 2023

Cultivating Tomorrow’s Waterways Workforce

© Marina Tolkacheva / Adobe Stock

The American Waterways Operators (AWO) is taking action to help address an industry need and a national imperative to recruit, retain and develop the next generation of maritime employees.As much as the tugboat, towboat and barge industry contributes to our nation’s prosperity and security today, we are an industry with an incredibly bright future that has even more to offer in the years to come. Our industry is uniquely positioned to be part of the solution as shipper-customers…

16 May 2023

Coastal Shipping Can Help Cut NZ’s Freight Transport Emissions

© Emagnetic / Adobe Stock

A shift to coastal shipping and rail could cut NZ’s freight transport emissions – why aren’t we doing it?According to a recent study, coastal shipping produces a fifth of the carbon emissions (well-to-wheel) of road freight. Rail also performed well, with about a quarter of trucking emissions.Despite this, trucking accounts for nearly 80% of New Zealand’s heavy goods transport, and a 94.5% share of the total emissions from heavy freight transport.The dominance of trucking follows the expansion of the road network…

15 May 2023

Vane Brothers’ Iuliucci Elected AWO Chairman

Rick Iuliucci (Photo: AWO)

The members of the American Waterways Operators, the national tugboat, towboat and barge industry association, elected a new slate of leaders during the association's Spring Convention and Annual Membership Meeting.Rick Iuliucci, Vice President, The Vane Brothers Company, was elected Chairman; Kelly Teichman, Chairman of the Board, T&T Marine, was elected Vice Chair; and Brian Hughes, Vice President Operations & Sales, Hughes Bros., Inc., was re-elected Treasurer. Iuliucci succeeds outgoing Chairman Clark Todd…

16 Jan 2023

Sunflower Kurenai: Japan's First LNG-fueled Ferry Enters Service (Gallery)

©Mitsui O.S.K. Lines

Japan's Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), Ltd. said Monday that the first of Japan's first two LNG-fueled ferries, the Sunflower Kurenai, owned by MOL and operated by its group company Ferry Sunflower entered service on January 13.The ferry serves the Osaka-Beppu route between Sunflower Ferry Terminal (Osaka Prefecture) and Beppu International Tourist Port (Oita Prefecture) as a replacement for the ferry Sunflower Ivory."Compared to earlier ferries, the new ferry offers greater transport capacity and convenience for both cargo and passenger transport.

31 Oct 2022

The Case for an Inland River Transportation Caucus Within US Congress

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An Inland River Transportation Caucus could help inland river transportation interests that are often misunderstood and greatly undervalued.For anyone doing business on the inland river transportation system, the goal is to keep the rivers open for business, the barges moving and the landside facilities efficient in order to keep America’s supply chain strong.To accomplish this, it takes the federal agencies that are charged with operating and maintaining inland rivers to have the support of congress, the funding congress allocates and legislation passed by congress.

06 Jun 2022

Do California’s Proposed Harbor Craft Rules Threaten America’s Supply Chain?

(Photo: Curtin Maritime)

Americans became aware of our nation’s supply chain problem when they witnessed a hundred cargo ships anchored off the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, stymied from moving cargo to store shelves throughout the United States. Such circumstances could become all too common, especially as recently adopted engine emission regulations force maritime companies out of the country’s most impacted ports, or limit their ability to expand operations as America’s demand for imports and…

10 May 2022

DB Schenker to Launch Un-Crewed Coastal Container Feeder in Norway

Credit: Naval Dynamics AS

Supply chain management and logistics solutions firm DB Schenker plans to build a fully-electric, zero-emission, un-crewed coastal container feeder to serve the route between Ikornnes quay and the Port of Ålesund in Norway. DB Schenker, and its cooperation partners, the furniture giant Ekornes and vessel designers Naval Dynamics, in addition to KONGSBERG and Massterly, aim to replace the traditional feeder vessels utilized along this stretch of the Norwegian coastline.The new autonomous and electric…

24 Mar 2022

AWO Urges California to Reconsider Proposed Harbor Craft Engine Emissions Rules

© Enrico / Adobe Stock

A trade group representing the U.S. tugboat, towboat and barge industry is urging the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to reconsider new harbor craft engine emissions regulations that many in the industry say will be difficult, if not impossible, to comply with.The American Waterways Operators (AWO) said it is "deeply concerned that CARB's proposed regulations mandate engine technology that is not available and is not certified as safe by the U.S. Coast Guard; impose an infeasible compliance schedule…

04 Mar 2022

Kongsberg's Propulsion and Control System for Scandlines' Zero-emission Ferry

Credit: Kongsberg

Norway's Kongsberg Maritime said Friday it would supply a complete propulsion and control system package for a forthcoming Scandlines zero-emissions ferry which, when built, is destined to be the world’s largest all-electric double-ended ferry. The ferry has been designed by LMG Marin AS in Norway and will be constructed at Cemre Shipyard in Turkey, in cooperation with Scandline’s vessel-newbuild experts. The freight ferry is expected to enter service in 2024. The new 147.4 meters…

03 Mar 2022

Sunflower Kurenai: MOL Names Japan’s 1st LNG-fueled Ferry

Sunflower Kurenai - Credit: MOL

Japanese shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) on Thursday held a naming and launching ceremony for the first of Japan’s first two LNG-fueled ferries.The ceremony was held at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' Shimonoseki Shipyard & Machinery Works Enoura Plant, and the newbuilding ferry was named “Sunflower Kurenai” by the mayor of Beppu City Yasuhiro Nagano. The vessel is expected to enter service on the Osaka-Beppu route, operated by Ferry Sunflower Co., Ltd. as an alternative of the vessel currently in service in January 2023, after it is delivered from Mitsubishi Shipbuilding.

17 Jan 2022

The Big Challenges for Supply Chains in 2022

© Hor / Adobe Stock

In the run-up to Christmas, there was considerable anxiety about shortages of festive food and gifts. Trade friction was already at the core of the Brexit debate, and supply chain issues have been made much worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.For example, a computer chip shortage had a knock-on effect across many industries. Concerns have also been raised about everything from lithium supply for electric vehicle batteries to restaurant food supplies to even coffee shortages.Never has the issue of supply chain management been so prominent.

23 Dec 2021

Over $241 Million in MARAD Grants Awarded for US Ports

© Matt Gush / Adobe Stock

More than $241 million in discretionary grant funding has been awarded for projects to improve U.S. port facilities, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced on Thursday.The grants, which will go to 25 projects in 19 states and one territory through the Maritime Administration’s (MARAD) Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP), are intended to help strengthen America's supply chains to meet heightened demand and help address inflationary pressures, the DOT said.“U.S. maritime ports play a critical role in our supply chains,” said U.S.

04 Nov 2021

AWO Publishes Environmental Stewardship Best Practices

© bmargaret / Adobe Stock

Trade group The American Waterways Operators (AWO) has released a set of environmental stewardship best practices for the tugboat, towboat, and barge industry.Distributed to AWO members and available on the AWO website, the best practices are intended to inform, support and guide vessel operators' continuous improvement in the areas of water quality, energy efficiency, air quality, waste management and corporate responsibility, AWO said."Barge transportation is the safest, most environmentally sustainable mode of freight transportation," said Jennifer Carpenter, AWO president and CEO.

26 Oct 2021

Tekorius to Succeed Furman as Greenbrier CEO

Lorie Tekorius will become Greenbrier CEO and co-founder William A. Furman will become executive chair (Photo: Greenbrier)

The Greenbrier Companies, Inc., supplier of equipment and services to global freight transportation markets, announced on Tuesday that its Board of Directors appointed President and Chief Operating Officer (COO), Lorie Tekorius, as the company's next CEO and President, effective March 1, 2022. On the same date, Greenbrier's co-founder, Chairman and CEO William A. Furman will assume the newly created role of Executive Chair until his retirement in September 2022. Furman 's current Board term continues until January 2024.Furman said…

10 Sep 2021

FMC Announces National Shipper Advisory Committee Membership

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The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) on Thursday announced the membership of its newly formed National Shipper Advisory Committee.The committee is comprised of 24 members, evenly divided between those who export cargo from and those who import cargo to the United States, that will advise the commission on policies relating to the competitiveness, reliability, integrity and fairness of the international ocean freight delivery system.“The current freight transportation challenges…

18 Mar 2021

Congress Provides Last-minute Help for Small Inland and Coastal Ports

© Daniel S. Logan / Adobe Stock

In two major pieces of legislation passed by Congress at the end of 2020 and the beginning of this year, Congress addressed the difficulty that many smaller inland and coastal ports have in obtaining funding for their infrastructure projects. First, on December 11, 2020 Congress passed the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (NDAA), and on January 1, 2021 overrode President Trump’s veto. Second, on December 24, 2020 Congress passed…

15 Oct 2020

MARAD Awards $220 Mln in Port Infrastructure Grants

© Stuart Westmorland, Danita Delimont / Adobe Stock

More than $220 million in discretionary grant funding has been awarded to improve U.S. port facilities in 16 states and territories through the Maritime Administration’s (MARAD) Port Infrastructure Development Program, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao announced Thursday.“This $220 million in federal grants will improve America’s ports with nearly half the projects are located in Opportunity Zones, which were established to revitalize economically distressed communities,” said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine L.

08 Oct 2020

MARAD Launches Port Planning and Investment Toolkit

© Nataliya Hora / Adobe Stock

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) has set up a new online resource intended to help U.S. ports plan, evaluate and finance freight transportation projects.The new Marine Highway module of the Port Planning & Investment Toolkit (Toolkit) was produced as part of a cooperative agreement between MARAD and the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) and is designed to be easy-to-read, easy-to-understand and easy-to-execute, helping to guide ports toward fruitful investments.The goal of the Port Planning & Investment Toolkit is to provide U.S.

24 Aug 2020

Hilburn Rejoins Crowley Solutions as VP, Business Development

Bleu Hilburn (Photo: Crowley)

Logistics executive Bleu Hilburn is returning to Crowley Solutions as vice president of business development for all government services. In this role, Hilburn will develop strategies to build a customer pipeline, qualify opportunities and manage all aspects of marketing, bid and capture management to drive growth and build deep relationships with government customers for Solutions.Hilburn, a 2015 Thomas Crowley Award winner, the company’s highest honor for employees, will start Aug.

29 Jun 2020

Hull Optimization Improves Vessel Performance

Catalina Provider (Photo: EBDG)

Several months ago, Avalon Freight Services (AFS) approached Elliott Bay Design Group (EBDG) to explore different keel options to improve the directional stability of its landing craft, Catalina Provider.EBDG's team of engineers worked closely with AFS leadership to understand the vessel's particulars, operation and route, detailed project objectives and determine a project plan. Multiple keel designs were considered as viable options for the 150-foot landing craft. EBDG then…

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