Transportation Department News

The Baltic Exchange's dry bulk sea freight index fell on Friday to log its third straight weekly decline, weighed down by a dip in rates across all vessel segments.The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels, shed 41 points or 2.5% to 1,628 points, its lowest level in seven weeks.The index was down over 10% for the week.The capesize index was down by 80 points, or 3.4%, at 2,274. It logged a weekly rise of over 13%.Average daily earnings for capesize vessels…

The U.S. Transportation Department on Friday said it reached an agreement with Baltimore County to revise an $8.26 million grant agreement to enable Tradepoint Atlantic (TPA) to accommodate more cargo.Repurposing the funds will allow a boost in cargo to Sparrows Point at the Port of Baltimore, which is outside the area affected by last week’s collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge and continues to move cargo.The changes will enable Baltimore County and TPA to speed paving at least 10 acres that will be used for an additional cargo laydown area by the end of April…

Five people were killed after a barge collided with a bridge over a waterway in China's Pearl River Delta near Guangzhou city, causing part of the bridge to break off, plunging vehicles into the water, Chinese state media reported on Thursday.The barge was travelling from Foshan city to a southern district of Guangzhou when it crashed into the bridge at 5:30 a.m. (2130 GMT) on the Hongqili Waterway, the Guangzhou Maritime Safety Administration said in a statement.Images on state…

U.S. shipping industry stakeholders told the Transportation Department they "expected increased congestion at some U.S. container ports in the next four to six weeks as shippers re-route cargo to avoid the Red Sea," the department said on Friday.The stakeholders shared their concerns during a call with the department's Office of Multimodal Freight on Thursday, the department said. The call focused on supply chain issues stemming from the situation in the Red Sea, where attacks by Yemen's Houthis have disrupted shipping.(Reuters - Reporting by Rami Ayyub and David Shepardson)

The U.S. Transportation Department (USDOT) said on Wednesday a supply chain pilot data-sharing project aimed at easing bottlenecks at congested U.S. ports has begun exchanging data and doubled in size.USDOT announced the planned project in March with truckers, shippers, wholesalers, retailers and ports "to develop a digital tool that gives companies information on the condition of a node or region in the supply chain."The effort known as the Freight Logistics Optimization Works (FLOW) program included 18 initial participants including FedEx…

U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday urged the Transportation Department to take action to address persistent allegations of rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment made by midshipmen at the government's main school for merchant mariners.Lawmakers said a "toxic culture" had allowed sexual abuse to fester and go unchallenged at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA), which works with major shipping lines to prepare new recruits for a life at sea.Senator Maria Cantwell, who chairs the Commerce Committee…

The U.S. Transportation Department has completed its assessment of what ships are available to carry petroleum products from the Gulf to the Eastern Seaboard and is ready to review any Jones Act waiver requests, the White House said on Wednesday after a ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline disrupted supplies.The Jones Act requires goods moved between U.S. ports to be carried by ships built domestically and staffed by U.S. crews.The Department of Homeland Security must issue…

The Transportation Department said on Tuesday it was evaluating whether a temporary waiver of the Jones Act is needed to ensure sufficient gasoline supply to some U.S. states after the ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline."The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has started the work needed to enable consideration of a temporary and targeted waiver of the Jones Act," the department said. The Jones Act requires goods moved between U.S. ports to be carried by ships built domestically and staffed by U.S.

Pete Buttigieg was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Tuesday by a 86-13 vote to head the U.S. Transportation Department.Buttigieg, a U.S. Navy veteran and the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., will oversee maritime, aviation, highways, vehicles, pipelines and transit, as well as efforts to ensure safe transportation amid the COVID-19 pandemic.Buttigieg recently drew praise from members of the American maritime industry after voicing his support for the Jones Act, a federal law requiring goods transported between U.S.

A&M becomes first U.S. Maritime Academy to teach accredited DP courses.The Offshore Service Vessel Dynamic Positioning Authority (OSVDPA) has announced that Texas A&M Maritime Academy (TAMMA) is accredited to provide OSVDPA courses to its cadets. TAMMA, in Galveston, Texas, is the first Maritime Academy in the United States to be accredited by a dynamic positioning operator (DPO) certification body.In announcing the accreditation, OSVDPA Executive Director, Aaron Smith, said, “The OSVDPA Board of Directors and our staff are very excited to issue this accreditation. Going in to the accreditation process we obviously knew of A&M’s reputation as a great maritime training institution, but they surpassed even those lofty expectations.

After 10 years at the helm, Harry Bolton handed over command of the Training Ship Golden Bear Wednesday at California State University Maritime Academy.Bolton, a 1978 graduate of the Academy, returned to Cal Maritime on May 1, 2008 after a 30-year career with American Maritime Officers. Twenty of those years were with American Overseas Marine Corporation (AMSEA) aboard the original preposition ships based out of Guam, Saipan and Diego Garcia. Bolton began sailing as Master in 1985, only seven years after graduation.Dr.

The Trump administration is weighing a range of options to fund public infrastructure projects, including private-sector investments and a higher tax on gasoline, U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said on Tuesday. Trump will donate his quarterly salary to the Transportation Department to help fund infrastructure projects, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said at a daily White House news briefing. (Reporting by Steve Holland, Lisa Lambert and Mohammad Zargham; Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Leslie Adler)

The U.S. Transportation Department said on Tuesday the company that built a Seattle amphibious "duck boat" involved in a deadly 2015 collision between the vehicle and a charter bus that killed five international students has agreed to pay a fine of up to $1 million.   Ride the Ducks International LLC also admitted it failed to comply with U.S. vehicle manufacturing rules because it had not registered with the government and agreed it will now follow rules governing safety related defects.   The National Transportation Safety Board in November blamed the crash on a front axle failure that resulted that from a manufacturing error. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Alan Crosby)

Are we that far away from phantom fully autonomous vessels plying the world’s seas? Not according to many in the know. Many predict by 2020 that we will see this type of ship with a limited crew in smaller applications such as the marine highway short haul scenarios, local ferry service such as the Staten Island ferry and offshore supply boats in the Gulf of Mexico. Phantom/drone unmanned ships reportedly would be safer, cheaper and less polluting for an industry that carries approximately 90 percent of the world trade. However as with aircraft drones and on the horizon driverless auto’s, we must be concerned with regulatory and safety issues.

Baltimore-headquartered marine transportation provider The Vane Brothers Company has taken delivery of the Fort Schuyler, the latest Maryland-built tugboat to join the company’s fleet. Fort Schuyler is the 11th Sassafras Class tugboat contracted by Vane Brothers through Chesapeake Shipbuilding of Salisbury, Md. The Fort Schuyler’s sister tug, the Kings Point, was delivered in April 2015. According to Vane Brothers President C. Duff Hughes, “Working alongside another Maryland-based…

The directors of SHIPPINGInsight today announced that U.S. Merchant Marine Academy professor Capt. David Moskoff has agreed to be a special guest speaker at the 2015 Fleet Optimization Conference & Exhibition. The annual event takes place Oct. 13-14, at the Marriott Hotel & Spa in Stamford, Conn. A special area of focus for this year’s SHIPPINGInsight event is ship telematics, and Capt. Moskoff, an acclaimed expert on cyber security in the maritime industry, will kick-off a roundtable Oct. Capt. Moskoff is a professor in the Marine Transportation Department - Nautical Sciences at the United States Merchant Marine Academy. A recognized expert in maritime cyber security…

The National Retail Federation (NRF) and more than 100 other business groups called for passage of legislation that would require the Transportation Department to track port statistics, saying it could help avoid a repeat of the congestion and slowdowns that occurred along the West Coast during the labor dispute resolved earlier this year. “U.S. ports are a key component in the American transportation system and the global supply chain that thousands of businesses and millions of workers depend on,” the letter said.

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is set to be a chief beneficiary of a bid by Senate Republicans to weaken new regulations to improve train safety in the $2.8 billion crude-by-rail industry, a key cog in the development of the vast North American shale oil fields. A series of oil train accidents, including the July 2013 explosion of a train carrying crude in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, that killed 47 people, led U.S. and Canadian regulators to announce sweeping safety rules in May. Among other things, U.S. oil trains are required to install new electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes. But in late June, the Republican-controlled Senate Commerce Committee approved a measure to drop that requirement, and order years of new research to confirm the safety benefits of ECP brakes.

The U.S. Executive Branch has declared that the cyber threat is one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation, and that America’s economic prosperity in the 21st century will depend on effective cyber security. Before the maritime industry sounds the danger signal, it needs to monitor other industries and branches of the government and take proactive preventative measures. There is no better place to prepare future and current mariners for these challenges than in maritime simulators.

The Maritime Transportation Research and Education Center, based at the University of Arkansas, has received a federal grant of $923,700, reports AP. The center, known as MarTREC, is a consortium of researchers focused on maritime and multimodal transportation research. It has received $3.7 million since 2013. The latest grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation will support research and programs through September 2018. The Fayetteville-based center is part of a consortium of researchers from Arkansas, Jackson State University, Louisiana State University and the University of New Orleans. They focus on the development of sustainable infrastructure and emergency management systems for coastal and river valley communities.

The Washington State Ferries (WSF) summer 2015 sailing schedule will take effect Sunday, June 14, with a new Olympic Class vessel, additional sailings, vehicle reservations to the San Juan Islands and increased service hours on many routes, the state’s transportation department announced. For the Anacortes/San Juan Islands service, WSF added a fifth vessel, the new Olympic Class 144-car ferry Samish, for more sailings, providing better connections to Anacortes and Friday Harbor during commute hours. Also new this summer, customers can make vehicle reservations to and from the San Juan Islands.

Originally developed to guide Allied convoys safely across the Atlantic, the use of synchronized low frequency radio signals as a navigational aid revolutionized modern maritime navigation in the 1940s. Faced with operating ships and aircraft over vast areas, researchers pioneered the use of radio signals to aid navigation in regions where poor weather conditions made traditional methods—such as dead reckoning and celestial navigation—exceptionally difficult. This system was eventually named LORAN.

Alaska's lone road to North Slope oil field operations remains closed for the third time in two months while emergency crews continue to redirect flooding from an adjacent river, state officials said on Friday. Alaska Governor Bill Walker's office said he would sign a second disaster proclamation while in Deadhorse, the base of operations for several oilfields, after a three-day tour of drill sites that included a fly-over of the flooded area. Production and pipeline operations have not been affected by the closure, said BP Plc spokeswoman Dawn Patience, operator for the Prudhoe Bay field. A 10-mile stretch of the Dalton Highway leading into Deadhorse shut down early on Monday morning and state transportation officials had hoped to re-open the roadway on Friday.