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National Association Of Manufacturers News

05 Jun 2023

Retailers, Manufacturers Urge White House to Mediate in West Coast Ports Labor Dispute

© trekandphoto / Adobe Stock

Groups representing major retailers and manufacturers urged the White House on Monday to intervene in contentious West Coast port labor negotiations, citing worries about shipping disruptions during critical holiday shopping seasons.The call came after the largest terminal at Southern California's Port of Long Beach closed on Monday as dock workers rally for better pay. Monday's closure followed similar disruptions on Friday in Oakland, California.More than 22,000 dockworkers…

13 Oct 2017

HII CEO Petters Joins Manufacturers Association Board of Directors

Mike Petters (Photo: HII)

Mike Petters, president and CEO of Huntington Ingalls Industries, has been named to the board of directors of National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), an industrial trade association in the United States. According to the NAM, Petters will join its board to advance a manufacturing policy agenda that promotes growth and prosperity for all Americans. Founded in 1895, the NAM presently has more than 14,000 members including some of the world’s most iconic brands and many of the small manufacturers that power the U.S. economy.

07 Apr 2016

Stakeholders Voice Opposition to Proposed Waterway Tolls

Deb Calhoun (Photo: WCI)

A group of 75 companies and organizations have collectively voiced opposition to a Public Private Partnership (P3) project that would seek to toll the Illinois Waterway and that could make its way into the Water Resources and Development Act (WRDA) of 2016. The group consisting of a variety of stakeholders across the logistics chain and led by the Waterways Council, Inc. “We are not opposed to appropriate, properly-structured financing to improve the nation’s inland waterways transportation system,” the letters said.

10 Feb 2015

U.S. West Coast Port Ops Resume

U.S. West Coast port operations resumed in full on Monday after shipping companies halted loading and unloading of freighters for the weekend, citing chronic cargo backups that shippers and dockworkers have blamed on each other during months of labor tensions. But a planned resumption of federally mediated contract talks was pushed back until Wednesday without explanation, even as the White House joined retailers and manufacturers in urging the sides to redouble efforts to settle a dispute that has rippled through the U.S. commercial supply chain. Shippers and terminal operators announced last week they would suspend cargo crane operations for container vessels at the ports on Saturday and Sunday because of mounting congestion that they said had brought the docks to virtual gridlock.

24 Nov 2014

US Port Congestion Hides Deeper Issues

Photo: Port of Los Angeles

Ports on the U.S. West Coast are currently suffering from chronic congestion, but are there deeper issues affecting their performance? Drewry’s new report Container Terminal Capacity and Performance Benchmarks compares capacity and performance benchmarks for 500 terminals worldwide that help to explain some of the underlying factors hindering ports in North America. The severe congestion currently affecting U.S. West Coast ports is a consequence of a “perfect storm” of factors working together, Drewry said.

23 Sep 2014

In Support of Affordable Energy

As its key mission, Waterways Council, Inc. (WCI) advocates for a modern and well-maintained system of inland waterways and ports. WCI’s top issues areas include the implementation of waterways’ improvement legislation in the recently enacted WRRDA; remembering Rivers (the Fourth “R”) among Rail, Roadways and Runways; improving the reliability of the waterways system and properly funding its Operations & Maintenance; assuring navigation reliability during times of flooding and drought; and supporting a balanced approach to invasive aquatic species. But WCI has added another critically important issue to its portfolio: supporting affordable energy options. American consumers deserve affordable options for electricity, including our nation’s ever-abundant supply of coal.

23 Jun 2014

Coalition Asks Senate for Vessel Discharge Legislation

Tom Allegretti, AWO’s President & CEO

On June 20, a diverse coalition of 58 national and regional organizations representing a wide array of leading business, maritime and labor organizations signed on to a letter to Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Chairman John Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Ranking Member John Thune (R-SD) urging that the committee mark up and approve S. 2094, a bill that would establish a uniform, science-based national framework for the regulation of ballast water and other vessel discharges. S. 2094, introduced on March 6 by Sens.

02 Jun 2014

Green Groups See Need To Nudge Obama's 'Opening Bid' On Carbon Cuts

In large part, the wide-ranging reaction to President Barack Obama's signature effort to cut power plant carbon emissions could have been written months in advance. Key Republicans and many industrial groups decried it as a job-killing war on coal that would drive up power prices; environmentalists and many Democrats hailed it as a landmark measure making good on Obama's pledge to tackle climate change. Behind the bombast, however, more measured voices found a proposal that was not as severe as critics had feared nor as ambitious as proponents had hoped for. Basing the average 30 percent reduction on the year 2005 - near a high point for such emissions…

14 Mar 2014

Industry Urges Senate for Vessel Discharge Legislation

On March 13, a diverse coalition of 59 national and regional organizations representing a wide array of business, maritime and labor interests signed on to a letter to Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee leadership, Chairman John Rockefeller (D-WV) and Ranking Member John Thune (R-SD), thanking them for cosponsoring S. 2094, a bill that would establish a uniform national framework for the regulation of ballast water and other vessel discharges, and urging swift Committee consideration and approval. S. 2094, introduced on March 6 by Sens. Mark Begich (D-AK) and Marco Rubio (R-FL), has 23 bipartisan co-sponsors, nearly one-quarter of the Senate.

17 Sep 2013

Nationwide Survey Shows Need for Critical Infrastructure Investments

Jay Timmons, NAM President and CEO, discusses infrastructure survey results at the Port of Philadelphia. Also pictured, Port of Philadelphia Executive Director James McDermott (Left) and BAF Co-Chair and Former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell (Right). Please credit National Association of Manufacturers/David Bohrer.

Majority Say U.S. National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) President and CEO Jay Timmons joined today with Building America’s Future (BAF) Co-Chair and former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell to unveil a new survey that highlights manufacturers’ concerns about America’s roads and bridges, transit and aviation systems and ports. According to the survey of more than 400 manufacturers, a majority believe American infrastructure is in fair or poor shape, while roads in particular are getting worse. There is strong agreement among participants that U.S.

30 Nov 2012

Movement of $7 Billion in Commodities in Jeopardy

Mike Toohey, WCI’s President & CEO

The American Waterways Operators and Waterways Council, Inc. continue to warn Congress and the Administration of the economic effects that the nation’s midsection would face in the wake of further navigation restrictions or possible Mississippi River closure to barge traffic in mid-December. States along the river would see an immediate impact on jobs and wages, and the potential toll would be harshest in Louisiana, Illinois and Missouri, with thousands of impacted jobs and tens…

21 Sep 2011

WCI's Michael Toohey Testifies Before House Subcommittee

Michael J. Toohey, WCI President & CEO

WCI President testified before House Water Resources & Environment Subcommittee on substantial economic importance of inland waterways system navigation projects, once completed, will provide jobs and billions of dollars for american economy. Michael J. Toohey, President and CEO of Waterways Council, Inc. (WCI), testified today before the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee’s Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee on “The Economic Importance and Financing Challenges of Recapitalizing the Nation’s Inland Waterways Transportation System.”  Mr.

17 Nov 2010

Waterways Users Board Testifies Before Senate

Matt Woodruff, a member of the Inland Waterways Users Board, the Waterways Council Board of Directors, and Director- Government Affairs for Kirby Corporation in Houston, Texas, testified before the Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works about the essential value of the waterways system to the nation’s economy, jobs and America’s continued competitiveness. He specifically addressed the Inland Waterways Capital Development Plan, a comprehensive, consensus-based package of recommendations formulated by an industry and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers working group to improve the reliability of the U.S. inland navigation system and its infrastructure over the next 20 years.

09 Jul 2010

WCI: Groundswell of Support for Inland Waterways Capital Plan

To date, more than 200 industry stakeholders including national organizations, state, regional and local organizations, and companies have endorsed the new comprehensive, consensus-based package of recommendations formulated by an industry and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers working group to improve the reliability of the U.S. inland navigation system over the next 20 years, known as the Inland Waterways Capital Development Plan. Among the supporters are the United States Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, American Land Conservancy, National Corn Growers Association, National Grain & Feed Association, Steel Manufacturers Association, National Mining Association, National Council of Farm Cooperatives, and many others from diverse segments of the American economy.

19 Oct 2005

Hurricanes Revive Florida Offshore Drilling Battle

America's thirst for energy and high fuel prices after hurricanes Katrina and Rita have rekindled the fight over oil and gas drilling off Florida, where clean beaches are the bedrock of a $57 billion-a-year tourism industry. Environmentalists say they are girding for battle as pump prices of $3 a gallon soften longstanding support for bans on offshore drilling, once sacred to Florida politicians and the state's 17 million people. With Washington pressing for new domestic oil and gas sources to ease U.S. dependence on foreign energy, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, long sought by oil companies, has risen to the top of the national agenda again.