Shipping and Cargo

Any new federal surface transportation bill that emerges from the committee of lawmakers conferencing on the measure should include provisions establishing a national policy for freight movement, a group of organizations invested in the shipping and retail industries said Thursday.

The Freight Stakeholders Coalition, which was form to press lawmakers to consider freight issues in the proposed highway bill, called on lawmakers on the 47-member transportation conference committee to include a 10-point freight policy that was adopted by Senate in its compromise version of the highway bill.

The policy calls for the federal government to spend $2 billion on improving freight mobility. 

Your morning transportation speed-read:

A settlement has been reached in a case involving an accident between a duck boat and barge ship.

A pair of Southwest Airlines flights were grounded because of a bomb threat.

A United Airlines airplane made an emergency landing in Denver.

New Jersey's transportation commissioner wants his state's commuter buses to pick up passengers at Manhattan bus stops.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

The New Jersey Transit Corp. is using bomb-sniffing dogs at its busiest stations.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has closed an Indiana trucking company for safety violations.

A British man was fined for a tweet about blowing up an airport.

A report shows a canceled high-speed railway in Florida would have made a profit.

Opponents of allowing heavier trucks on highways put the brakes on an effort to raise the limit in the $260 billion surface transportation bill being considered by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Thursday.

After a debate that defied party lines, a bipartisan amendment from Reps. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.) and Jerry Costello (D-Ill.) to require a study before an increase in the limit on truck weight that was included in the Republican American Energy and Infrastructure Act (H.R. 7.) was approved Thursday on a 33-20 vote.

Under the defeated proposal , freight trucks could weigh up to 97,000 pounds, an increase from the current limit of 80,000 pounds, if they had six instead of five axles.

But lawmakers on the panel from both parties argued the increase would make roads less safe.

The $260 billion transportation bill released this week by House Republicans to spur highway construction in the United States would make roads in the country less safe, AAA argued a day after the GOP announced the legislation.

The proposal from House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) to spend $260 billion over five years on road and transit projects includes a provision that would increase the weight of trucks allowed on highways from 80,000 to 97,000 pounds.

AAA said the increased shipping capacity is not worth the risk of accidents involving bigger trucks.

“With a nine percent increase in truck related fatalities in 2010, traffic safety is a significant concern,” Jill Ingrassia, AAA’s managing director of government relations and traffic safety advocacy, said in a news release. “Additional research is required to demonstrate exactly how bigger and heavier trucks would impact traffic safety. Absent this research, we cannot take the chance — there is simply too much at stake.”

Reince Priebus compared Obama to Capt. Schettino, who apparently abandoned a sinking cruise ship on which at least 16 people died.

The DNC chairwoman blasted her Republican counterpart for comparing Obama to the disgraced captain of an Italian cruise ship.

Priebus called Obama a "Captain Schettino," saying he was more interested in campaigning than governing.

New limits on the number of hours truck drivers can work per week enacted by the Department of Transportation will put the brakes on commerce, the lobbying group for retail companies said Thursday.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association (FMCSA) announced last month that its new rules for trucker scheduling will limit the number of hours a driver can work to 70 per week. Under the old rules, truckers could drive 82 hours per week.

The Washington-based National Retail Federation (NRF) said those lost hours will increase the cost of doing business for its members.

“The new rule is a bit complicated but the ramifications are severe and will surely be felt on America’s roadways and throughout the retail industry supply chain,” NRF Vice President of Supply Chain Jon Gold wrote in a post on the organization’s blog Thursday.

Federal transportation officials on Thursday announced new scheduling rules for truck drivers that put a cap on how many hours they could work per week, but not on the number of hours per day, which safety advocates had been pushing for.

The changes, announced by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association, come a day after the Department of Transportation finalized new scheduling rules for pilots. FMCSA said Thursday that its new rules for truckers would limit the number of hours a driver could work to 70 per week.

Under the old rules, FMCSA officials said, truckers could drive 82 hours per week.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the new rules rules were another important step toward improving transportation safety.

"Trucking is a difficult job, and a big rig can be deadly when a driver is tired and overworked," LaHood said in a statement. "This final rule will help prevent fatigue-related truck crashes and save lives. Truck drivers deserve a work environment that allows them to perform their jobs safely."