Commerce Express Weekly Road Map:
April 16th, 2024
Keeping you informed on the latest news/insights in our industry.
Baltimore Bridge Incident:
— The Port of Baltimore continues to remain indefinitely closed and salvage crews have started to remove containers from the cargo ship that crashed into the bridge. We have seen ocean freight container rates on this realm to be steady and stable.
— Port of Newark has expanded their truck gates and would be open until 6pm and PNCT will be open on Saturdays from 7am to 3pm, for an undefined time. The Port of Virginia is extending their gate hours by opening at 5am instead of 6am.
Trucking –
- As of April 16th, the average price of diesel was $4.015 a gallon.
- Seeing a 4.6 cent increase from last week.
- CVSA International Roadcheck this year is May 14th-16th.
- The focus is on tractor protection valve, trailer supply valve and anti-bleed back valve.
- Chassis providers are confident that the current equipment pools are able to handle and adjust to cargo re-routing from the Port of Baltimore.
- They do caution that chassis could be occupied for longer if the drayage haul is longer than usual.
Rail –
- BNSF has moved 14% more intermodal volume through their facilities compared to last year.
- Railways have moved $15.6 billion of freight in January 2024, this is down almost 7% from January 2023.
CVSA’s Operation Safe Driver Week is Set for July 7th-13th
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance has announced the dates for this year’s Operation Safe Driver Week, set for July 7th through the 13th.
This week is an effort to promote and enforce safe driving and outreach initiatives to improve driving behaviors through educational and traffic enforcement methods and interactions with law enforcement.
The focus for this year’s Operation Safe Driver week is on reckless, careless or dangerous driving.
Baltimore Truckers Get FMCSA Waiver
Late Thursday April 4th, the FMCSA granted Baltimore truckers, impacted by the bridge collapse, a waiver that adds two hours to the allowed hours of daily driving under the 14-hour on duty limit. Currently, the law allows 11 hours of driving in a 14 hour day window.
Additionally, this extra two hours will be applied to commodities that are being rerouted from the port of Baltimore, as well as fuel deliveries coming out of the Curtis Bay terminal in the port of Baltimore. Ten other areas in Maryland will be covered by this two hour extension as well.
This allows more “flexibility” for those truckers that may need to shift their operations.
Commerce Blog
Federal regulators overseeing the freight rail industry have declared a final ruling which will now require Class I railroads to maintain a minimum of two-person crews.
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), a federal agency under the U.S. Department of Transportation, finalized the rule on Apr. 2. The regulation takes effect 60 days following this publication date.
Norfolk Southern Agrees to Pay $600M Over Derailment
This $600M agreement will settle all class-action claims in relation to the East Palestine, Ohio derailment.
Additionally, if this is approved by the court it will resolve all class-action claims within a 20-mile radius from the derailment and for residents who choose to participate, personal injury claims within a 10-mile radius from the derailment.
So far Norfolk Southern has spent over $1.1 billion in response to the derailment, with more than $104 million in direct aid to the city and its residents.
Port of Albany Receives Nearly $10M in Rail, Maritime Funds
The Port of Albany recently received almost $10M in funds from the NYS Department of Transportation Passenger and Freight Rail Assistance Program (PFRAP).
“These rail and maritime infrastructure improvements are key to ensuring regional manufacturers can transport their products to the world through the Port of Albany. It will also ensure heavy cargo and special project cargo can be transported through the facility and is a capstone to recently completed upgrades at the Port of Albany,” said Port of Albany CEO Richard Hendrick.
Projects with these funds will include improvements to heavy rail and on-dock wharf system at the Port’s current maritime terminal.
Total Weekly Rail Traffic for the Week Ending April 6th, 2024
- Total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 450,142 carloads and intermodal units – seeing an increase of 1.6% from the same time last year, per AAR data.
- Total U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 241,000 containers and trailers – seeing an increase of 7.6% compared to last year.
- Grain, chemicals, motor vehicles and parts all saw increases. While coal, non-metallic minerals, metallic ores and metals all saw decreases.
- In the first 14 weeks of this year, total North American rail volume was 9,127,511 carloads and intermodal units – seeing an increase of 2.2% from last year.
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