Railroad Car News

As zero carbon cargo efforts are progressing, it is becoming more apparent that the lowest hanging fruit is in the last few miles. This is where a large amount of carbon is expended in delivering small parcels to stores and consumers’ doors.This is particularly apparent in dense pack cities like New York City, where delivery vans clog streets and water crossings. The NYC Economic Development Commission recently issued a Request For Expression of Interest in waterborne micro cargo delivery.

The US Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has announced proposed changes to the fees it charges to recoup the costs of agricultural quarantine inspections (AQI) at U.S. ports of entry. AQI activities include inspections conducted by the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) U.S. Customs and Border Protection of conveyances, cargo and passenger baggage entering the country as well as APHIS' analytical and scientific work to track pests  overseas, focus inspections at ports of entry, and develop the import regulations that protect U.S. animal and plant health from foreign pests. Revenue from fees charged has been insufficient to cover all costs.

An interview with Rich Hobbie, the leader of the Water Quality Insurance Syndicate (WQIS), the largest underwriter of pollution liability insurance for marine vessels in the United States. Can you give our readers an overview of your business today. The Premium income and growth factors in the marine insurance industry are very stagnant right now. And competition is quite heavy in all areas. In the U.S. market and in the marine market in general, there are new players. The London market has gotten more aggressive over here.

Built in 1945, the 141-foot steam powered tugboat was utilized by the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroads. Originally named the Edward J Engel, it moved railroad car barges from Oakland to San Francisco until 1969. After which she passed through several hands and eventually her name was changed to TV ‘Respect’. She remained a steam powered vessel till 2007, when she sank at her moorings in the Oakland Estuary. In 2013, the United States Environmental Protection Agency embarked on a program to clean up the Oakland Estuary. Global Diving & Salvage, Inc.

The newest addition to the Hobart family of AWS E70T-1 welding wires— the Hobart FabCO 70XHP gas-shielded flux-cored wire — offers low fume generation rates to help improve operator comfort and high deposition rates that help increase productivity, the manufacturer said. The new wire complements the FabCO TR-70 and FabCO RXR wires currently offered under the Hobart brand. Together, the three wires provide a continuum of benefits, with the new FabCO 70XHP wire offering the highest level of performance and the lowest visible fume levels.

Governor Bob McDonnell announced today that the Bay Coast Railroad Car Barge will resume service next week as a result of a partnership between the Commonwealth, area localities, and the Bay Coast Railroad. The barge, which was removed from service last year, provides connecting service between the Virginia’s Eastern Shore and Norfolk/Virginia Beach. Last year, the Bay Coast Railroad suspended service on the barge when it identified $1 million in structural deficiencies critical to the barges safety. In order to restore service, the Commonwealth of Virginia provided a grant through the Shortline Railway Preservation Fund, which included $700,000 in state funds and a $300,000 match provided by Accomack and Northampton counties, as well as Bay Coast Railroad.

Grain shipments through the St. Lawrence Seaway increased by 51 percent to 830,000 metric tons in August compared to the same period last year as international demand began to ramp up in the wake of production shortages in Russia. The St. Lawrence Seaway reported that American grain shipments reached 303,000 metric tons in August, an increase of 62 percent compared to the same period last year, while Canadian grain shipments increased by 45 percent to 527,000 metric tons. Year-to-date numbers, however, reflect an 18 percent increase to 743,000 metric tons for U.S. grain shipments and a 15 percent decrease to 2.8 million metric tons for Canadian grain shipments from March 25 to August 31compared to the same period in 2009.

The 102-year old steam-powered, ocean-going tug, Hercules, is in dry-dock at Bay Ship & Yacht Co.’s Alameda yard for maintenance and repair work. Earlier this month she was towed across the bay from her berth at the Hyde Street Pier of the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park, operated by the National Park Service. She will be in dry-dock at BS&Y for about a month for sandblasting and painting the riveted steel hull, replacing the boat deck, and other maintenance work at an estimated cost of some $500,000.

The term short-sea shipping comes up aplenty these days, as the powers-that-be rediscover the practicalities and the economies of waterborne transport. The thinking is renewed and the interest revitalized, but for a lot of harbors nationwide it's deja vu. Take the island city of New York, and the multitudes of communities near and far that are joined to it by inland waters—the rivers, sounds, creeks, streams—all the way up to Albany, to Waterford and the Canal system, and to everything beyond that. There's nothing new about the short-sea shipping principle around here.

How many great ships have graced the front page of The New York Times? In a century and a half of publication, the newspaper of record has featured plenty. Ships were once the technological measure of civilization, like the automobiles and aircraft and TVs and PCs and Gameboys that followed. All of them characterized and defined an epoch, an age, a generation. Each changed the things people did, the way they saw, how they thought, spoke, and behaved. Yet of all those technological inspirations, the most truly regal, the most romantic were ships. They are the most embracing. People dine and sleep aboard. Some earn their livings and some play. All go to the bathroom, many recreate, perhaps even procreate on ships. People are sometimes born on ships.

"Tugboats of New York" is one of those rare constructions where everything works just about perfectly. The text is insightfully, appreciatively, and masterfully written. The illustrations are informative, handsome, and sometimes — deliberately, one gathers, given some of the credits — quite beautifully artistic. The photo captions are detailed and often lengthy, turning the book into sort of an A-V show on paper. And what paper. The stock is coated and 60-lb. heavy, bright, easy on the eyes, apparently formulated to last the next century or two. The illustrations glisten with a sheen more reminiscent of actual photographic prints than something screened into a book.