Shipping and Cargo

House Republicans joined industry officials in urging the administration to pull back the new rules.

Trucking companies are about to get hit with regulations further limiting the time a driver can spend behind the wheel.

Lawmakers in the House will consider pulling the plug on a controversial Transportation Security Administration (TSA) program to provide identification cards to control access to the nation’s ports next week.

The House Homeland Security Committee's Border and Maritime Security Subcommittee will meet on Tuesday to review the TSA's Transportation Worker Identification Card (TWIC) program.

Lawmakers have repeatedly criticized the TSA for being behind schedule in developing the supposed smart-cards that were intended to improve control over access to ports and goods coming into the United States.

The Oversight chairman's new measure reworks many controversial provisions in his previous bill.

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A lobbying group for truckers is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals to throwing a ruling that drivers with Mexican driver's licenses can drive on U.S. highways in reverse.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) said Wednesday that it was filing an appeal of the decision by U.S Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to uphold an Obama administration program that tests allowing truck drivers to carry loads using Mexican driver's licenses.

The court ruled last month that the pilot cross-border truck program, which is being administered by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), was legal because of a pair of congressional bills it said authorized granting "equivalency" to Mexican driver's licenses. 

Your morning transportation speed-read: 

Long-delayed guidelines to make sure new ferries and cruise ships are accessible to people with disabilities have passed the final stage of internal review and are ready to be proposed.

For more than 15 years, a little-known regulatory agency has been working on the proposed guidelines for making new and refurbished passenger ships compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. On Thursday, the proposal finally completed a review at the White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the last step before publication.

Once released, the guidelines will still have to go through a public comment period and a chance for editing before being finalized.

The operator of a freight train that derailed on Tuesday and caused explosions said the train was carrying a chemical that is classified as a hazardous material.

CSX, which was operating the train before it crashed Tuesday in a Baltimore suburb, said the material was being transported in at least one of the cars that were on the train that left the tracks.

"It appears that about a dozen rail cars are involved, including at least one rail car containing a material classified by U.S. Department of Transportation as a hazardous material," the company said in a statement. "That is sodium chlorate, an oxidizer used in a variety of industrial processes." 

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on Tuesday that it was monitoring developments about a freight rail train derailment that has reportedly caused explosions and building collapses.

A freight train being operated by CSX derailed Tuesday afternoon in the Baltimore suburb of White Marsh, according to reports.

The Baltimore Sun reported that the train crash was followed by "a loud explosion and sent a plume of white smoke into the sky that could be seen clearly from downtown Baltimore."