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Rail Transportation News

04 Feb 2024

Ingram Forms Material Handling and Supply Chain Subsidiary

Š steheap / Adobe Stock

Nashville-based Ingram Barge Company announced it has formed a new material handling and supply chain solutions subsidiary, Ingram Infrastructure Group.The move, fueled by the company's acquisitions of Inland River Transport Holdings (SCF) and NexStar Solutions, is intended to enhance Ingram's end-to-end supply chain solutions capabilities.Ingram acquired integrated river transportation and logistics services provider SCF from SEACOR Holdings following the signing of a purchase agreement last October.Ingram currently operates across more than 4,500 miles of the U.S.

18 Jan 2024

Mawai Shipyard Building New Multipurpose Carriers for COSCO

(Photo: COSCO)

China''s Mawai Shipyard has started building the first in a series of 22 new multipurpose cargo carriers for COSCO Shipping Specialized Carriers (Southeast Asia) Pte. Ltd.The 85,000 DWT series vessel will measure 225 meters long with a breadth of 36 meters, a depth of 21.05 meters, a designed draft of 10 meters, and a designed speed of 15.5 knots.According to the construction plan, all 22 vessels in this series are scheduled for delivery between 2025 and 2026.The ships will primarily serve the export of Chinese manufacturing equipment in sectors such as automobiles…

16 Oct 2023

Securing Federal Grant Resources for US Ports

(Photo: HDR)

Like many ports, the Alaskan Port of Homer faces aging infrastructure and capital needs well beyond the local funding capacity. The port is a key link in the supply chain for 47 remote, rural, disadvantaged or Alaska Native communities served by Homer, making proposed port infrastructure upgrades critical for shipping statewide as well as for the local community.Enter the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This unprecedented…

26 Mar 2021

Suez Canal Blockage Adds Strain to Global Supply Chains

(Photo: Suez Canal Authority)

A stuck container vessel in the Suez Canal, which has blocked the flow of goods through the narrow channel, will add strain to global supply chains already stretched by rebounding economic activity and tight shipping container supplies, analysts said on Friday.The 400-metres long Ever Given container vessel has been stuck in the canal since Tuesday, suspending traffic of containers transporting goods, parts and equipment through the shortest sea link between Europe and Asia.The…

20 Aug 2020

Washington State Partners Set Out to Build Fast Foil Ferry

(Image: Glosten)

A group of public and private partners in Washington have come together to accelerate the design of a fast foil ferry to provide zero-emissions, high-speed passenger ferry service in the Evergreen State.Participants in the Joint Innovation Project include three Washington ports that have joined forces to support the effort: Port of Anacortes, Port of Bellingham and Port of Skagit. The vessel is under design by Glosten, a naval architecture and marine engineering firm, and Bieker Boats, a performance marine craft designer.

27 Jan 2020

Sri Lankan Supercar's Journey in Maersk

The  container logistics company A.P. Moller - Maersk has embarked on a journey that covers the end-to-end logistics of first-ever Sri Lankan made electric supercar Vega EVX that will be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show 2020 later this year in March.The car built in Colombo, started its journey from the Vega Innovations workshop in the heart of the city and is currently en route Port Rotterdam in the Netherlands from where it will continue all the way to Geneva, Switzerland.Maersk, with a legacy as a conglomerate within transport and energy, is transforming to become an integrated container logistics company.From operating eight different divisions with a big corporate layer on top…

03 Jul 2019

Wärtsilä Forms New Biofuel Arm

Finnish shipping technology group Wartsila has merged its Puregas Solutions and biogas liquefaction teams to form a new Biogas Solutions unit that will offer its customers a ‘one-stop-shop service’ for advanced biofuel production.Wärtsilä Biogas Solutions, a unit with expert capabilities in liquefying upgraded biogas for end-customer use, offers products for biogas upgrading to biomethane, and the liquefaction of biomethane into bioLNG."Currently, our market share in this field is almost 60 percent, and we expect this to continue to grow as we further develop our capabilities,” says Arne Jakobsen, General Manager, Wärtsilä Biogas Solutions.Wärtsilä has earlier provided the turnkey installation for the world’s largest bioLNG facility located in Skogn…

29 Apr 2019

Port NOLA Names Mike Stolzman as GM

The New Orleans Public Belt Railroad Corporation (NOPB), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA), has named M.D. (Mike) Stolzman as its new General Manager, effective immediately.Stolzman, a veteran railroad executive with extensive short line and Class I rail experience, will report to Brandy D. Christian, President and CEO of Port NOLA and CEO of NOPB, which is a Class III railroad on the nation’s fourth largest rail gateway that connects with six Class I railroads and serves Port NOLA and local industry.“There was tremendous interest in NOPB’s General Manager position and we were fortunate to attract a wide range of highly qualified candidates,” said Christian.

19 Aug 2018

Japan, Russia Join for Trans-Siberian Rail Transportation

Japan and Russia plan to officially develop a freight transport route between the two countries via the Trans-Siberian Railway, the Yomiuri newspaper reported.The report said that the two governments aim to foster mutual economic cooperation by energizing the “third distribution channel,” after sea and air routes.Now cargo between Japan and Russia are delivered mainly either by air or by sea. According to the Japanese Ministry of transport, terms of delivery of goods by sea ranged from 53 to 62 days. Delivery of the aircraft occurs much faster but is costly.A test to verify distribution using the Trans-Siberian Railway will start around Sept.

01 Nov 2017

What’s the Cost of Unscheduled Lock Outages?

(Photo: USACE)

Unscheduled lock closures burden the shipper supply chain by more than $1 billion annually, according to estimates from two Tennessee universities. A study, “The Impacts of Unscheduled Lock Outages”, released today by the National Waterways Foundation (NWF) and the Maritime Administration (MARAD), looks at the economic impacts of unscheduled lock outages and highlights economic benefits associated with reliable inland waterways navigation. The Center for Transportation Research…

26 Oct 2017

Marine Finance for Brown Water Operators

Š Merek / Adobe Stock

A primer for navigating the ‘ups and downs’ of marine money for domestic stakeholders. Vessel financiers are resourceful and adaptable to changing markets. On the domestic side, financiers of Jones Act and “brown water” assets have continued to serve their customers through shifting shoals in both broader capital markets and in the marine markets – both known for their ups and downs. Marine finance can take many forms. In the broadest sense, funding can be done through loans, where the vessel is owned by the borrower…

29 Mar 2017

Indian Waterways Development in Big Way

The ongoing project on national waterways ‘Jal Marg Vikas’ is a Rs 5,400-crore World Bank funded project on the Ganga, being developed between Allahabad and Haldia to cover a distance of 1620 km. The Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) for capacity augmentation of National Waterway-1 (NW-1) between Haldia and Varanasi is being implemented with the technical and financial assistance of the World Bank. The shipping ministry has released details about the present status of Multimodal terminal at Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, multimodal terminal at Sahibganj, Jharkhand and multimodal terminal at Haldia, West Bengal under planned JMVP multi modal terminals.

10 Jun 2016

Indiana Ranks Top 10 for 109 Logistics Categories

The newly released 2016 Indiana Logistics Directory reports that Indiana ranks high nationally in its ability to move freight via truck, rail, water and air. The state is ranked in the top five states in more than 25 logistics-related categories and in the top 10 in 109. The Directory, published by the Ports of Indiana, showcases Indiana's vast transportation infrastructure and includes national logistics rankings, maps and freight statistics. According to the Directory, Indiana ranks first among all states in pass-through interstates, is home to the country's largest producer of truck trailers and is ranked third in truck tractor registrations.

20 Apr 2016

SC Ports Authority Plans 2nd Inland Port Facility

The South Carolina Ports Authority announced plans to pursue a second inland port facility, driven by the success of Inland Port Greer and demand for enhanced efficiency of international container movements between the Port of Charleston and growing markets in South Carolina and North Carolina. "Inland Port Greer is one of SCPA's most successful investments, as the growth of intermodal container volume movement in our state and region requires appropriate facilities in the interior to ground loaded and empty containers and to leverage the efficiency and sustainability of rail transportation," SCPA president and CEO Jim Newsome said. "If it is feasible, an additional inland port will be a great diversification of our logistics footprint.

18 Sep 2015

APM Terminals Liberia Sees Economic Recovery

Addressing the US - Liberia Trade & Investment Forum in New York City, APM Terminals Liberia Managing Director George Adjei points to a 30% increase in import container traffic at Liberia’s largest port as a reason for great confidence in Liberian investment. At the US-Liberia Trade & Investment Forum held on September 16th in mid-town Manhattan, Vice President of the Republic of Liberia, Joseph N. Boakai delivered a keynote address expressing confidence in Liberia’s recovery from the consequences of last year’s Ebola virus crisis and a return to positive economic growth in the West African nation of 3.8 million. Speaking on the Investing in Infrastructure panel later in the afternoon…

08 Sep 2015

Port Security Requires Early Planning

Port security has too often lagged behind the demands of ever more vulnerable facilities with new technology often being deployed as an after-market add-on, rather than a homogenous part of the port’s day to day working. With new ports being developed on green or brown-field sites across the globe, it is now possible to design-in security from the planning stage. Dr. Mark Yong, Business Development Director for BMT, outlines the scale of the challenge and explains how port planners can help operational security. With the threat of international terrorism looming, port security remains of paramount importance, not only due to the direct threats to life and property, but for the potential economic damage that can arise from effects on supply chains.

15 Feb 2015

Modi Urges GE to Make Ships in India

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited US-based General Electric (GE) to manufacture ships in India claiming that the country offers immense opportunities for the ship-building sector. Pitching his government's 'Make in India' campaign, he pointed out that India is in a position to export marine defense equipment to other third world countries at cheaper-than-expected rates. GE currently manufactures equipment like engines, which are used in ships, but does not manufacture ships in India. Modi was inaugurating GE’s first-of-its-type multi-modal manufacturing facility at Chakan, Pune. The new $200 million, 250,000 square feet GE plant will manufacture products to service four different industries – wind power generation, aviation, oil and gas and rail transportation.

26 Jan 2015

Port of Indiana-Jeffersonville Sets Shipping Record

The Port of Indiana-Jeffersonville handled over 2.4 million tons of cargo in 2014, up 48 percent from the previous year. This was the first time annual shipments exceeded two million tons in the port's 29-year history. The 2014 total was 464,000 tons higher than the previous record set in 2006. Another outstanding harvest in 2014 helped push grain tonnage to its highest volume ever breaking the previous record set in 1993. Steel and salt shipments also set all-time records, up 72 percent and 51 percent from 2013, respectively. For the year, the port handled approximately 1,300 barges, 197,000 trucks and 18,000 railcars. "These robust year-end numbers illustrate the impact our port companies have on the region's economy," said Ports of Indiana CEO Rich Cooper.

17 Sep 2014

Buckeye Pipeline Quietly Makes Key Acquisition

Houston-based logistic firm Buckeye Partners has spent more than $3.5 billion buying assets since 2010, transforming itself from a quiet regional pipeline utility into an emerging energy powerhouse. But the acquisition that may best symbolize its evolution is one the company didn't tout to investors this summer: a Washington lobbyist. After spending most of the past century pumping fuel from one place to another, the 128-year-old company has become a key player in the import and export of North American oil, with an unrivalled network of East Coast and Caribbean fuel depots and an expanding business loading crude oil from trains to tankers.

22 Jul 2014

New ICTF Boosts Crowley’s Efficiency

Crowley containers aboard the FEC Train during the recent opening ceremony of the new intermodal container transfer facility adjacent to Crowley's Port Evergaldes terminal. (Photo courtesy of Crowley)

The opening of Florida East Coast Railway’s (FEC) new, state-of-the-art intermodal container transfer facility (ICTF) adjacent to Crowley Maritime Corporation’s Port Everglades, Fla., terminal is providing Crowley customers with more efficient cargo handling and faster deliveries now that containers no longer need to be trucked via interstate highways to and from an off-site rail terminal, Crowley reported. Additionally, the strategic location of the 43-acre, near-dock station is allowing the company to handle bigger…

24 Jul 2013

CIGI Urges Canada to Increase Arctic Ops, Spur High North Economy

John Higginbotham (Photo: CIGI)

To prepare Canada’s northern communities for the “New Arctic,” the federal government needs to devote greater policy attention and resources to strategic Arctic maritime areas such as Nunavut, says a new policy brief issued by The Center for International Governance Innovation (CIGI). In Nunavut and the New Arctic, CIGI Senior Fellow John Higginbotham highlights the need for basic maritime transport infrastructure in Nunavut, which is the Canadian region with potentially the most…

16 Mar 2012

NWF Releases Modal Transportation Comparison Update

Michael Hennessey, Chairman, National Waterways Foundation.

National study Updated: Compares freight trdansportation by barge, truck and train. Barges Superior in Terms of Fatalities, Injuries, Spills and Environmental/Societal Impacts. The National Waterways Foundation (NWF) has released an update of a 2007 study comparing selected societal, environmental, and safety impacts of utilizing inland river barge transportation to highway and rail transportation. Titled “A Modal Comparison of Freight Transportation Effects on the General Public…

09 Dec 2009

Calhoun Named Chair WCI

Photo courtesy Waterways Council, Inc.

Rick Calhoun, president of Cargill Marine and Terminal, Inc., has been elected chairman of the Waterways Council, Inc. (WCI), the national public policy organization advocating a modern and well-maintained national system of ports and inland waterways. “We are at a critical juncture in the U.S. waterways,” Calhoun said. “The waterways infrastructure is aging, with more than half of our nation’s 240 lock chambers operated by the U.S. WCI is supported by more than 200 waterways carriers…