Port of Virginia Inland Port Switches to Renewable Power, Department of Transportation Announces Funding for 9 Megaprojects, Iowa Bill Introduced to Limit Length of Freight Trains.
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Ocean
ONE announces more blank sailings and detours as earnings fall. ONE announced that as a result of falling cargo volumes and earnings from April to December last year it will blank more sailings and detour more ships round the Cape of Good Hope. ONE has been diverting ships round the Cape of Good Hope on return legs of Far East-Europe and Far East-North America east coast sailings to reduce the idle time of vessels caused by blank sailings, according to The Loadstar.
Ports
Port of Virginia inland port switches to renewable power. The Port of Virginia’s inland port in Front Royal has become one of the first inland port facilities to make the switch to 100 percent renewable electrical power for its own infrastructure and operations. Other Virginia terminals are expected to make the switch as well.
Customs
UFLPA ACE Enhancement Region Alert Information Notice for Trade. CBP will deploy the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Region Alert enhancement to the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE On March 18, 2023. This enhancement will provide an early notification to importers and their representative of goods that may have been produced in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang or XUAR) and may be excluded from importation into the United States. This enhancement includes electronic data interchange (EDI) impacts. See the changes for trade users here.
Trucking
Department of Transportation announces funding for 9 megaprojects. This week, the Biden administration announced $1.2 billion in federal funds to be distributed to nine projects qualifying for a new grant program created under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, FreightWaves reports. The money for the projects comes from discretionary grants provided by the new National Infrastructure Project Assistance grant program. Eligible projects include highway, bridge, freight, port, passenger rail and public transportation projects.
Rail
STB says rail merger would cause noise pollution. In a statement released last week, The Surface Transportation Board’s Office of Environmental Analysis said that it is upholding its conclusion that “increased railroad noise levels in some communities would be the greatest environmental impact resulting from the merger between Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern,” according to FreightWaves. Read a more detailed report and recommendations from OEA here.
Iowa bill introduced to limit length of freight trains. A bill in the Iowa Legislature is seeking to restrict the length of freight trains operating in the state. Legislation was introduced in the Iowa House of Representatives last week that seeks to restrict the length of freight trains operating in the state. The bill would prevent railroad companies from running trains that exceed 8,500 feet in length, or about 1.6 miles, according to FreightWaves. The rule could cost companies between $500 and $5,000 per violation if signed into law.
Air
Air Canada heavily investing in cargo. Air Canada is amassing a sizeable cargo fleet, adding a fourth Boeing B767 freighter, two factory-built B767-300Fs, and two newbuild B777Fs, making the company go from three to seven freighters between now and June 2023. Air Canada expects to have 12 freighters by the end of 2024, AirCargoNews reports.
International
India to build new container transshipment terminal. India’s Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways announced that a new container transshipment terminal will be built, the Galathea Bay Transshipment Port. The Ministry said that a transshipment hub in India would “attract Indian and regional transshipment traffic from the current hubs, save significant revenue loss, reduce logistics inefficiencies for Indian trade, reduce risks to the country’s export competitiveness and create an opportunity for India to become a large hub for Asia-Africa, Asia-US/Europe container traffic trade,” according to Splash247.
Other
Cardboard box demand plummeted during 2022 fourth quarter. According to data released by the American Forest & Paper Association and Fibre Box Association last week, demand and output for cardboard boxes and other packaging material plunged in the fourth quarter of 2022.