Shipping and Cargo

Your morning transportation speed-read:

The Federal Aviation Administration dedicated a new air traffic control tower at Memphis International Airport.

Amtrak is adding Internet Wi-Fi to its regional trains.

New York City has a new MTA chief.

FedEx's cargo facility at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport has gone green.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Utah transportation officials says a makeshift animal shelter is in the way of a highway they want to build.

The Transportation Secretary Administration will let more pilots skip airport security lines.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will meet with Michigan Gov. Rick Synder (R) and Detroit Mayor Dave Bing (D).

The National Transportation Safety Board has released the findings of its investigation of a 2010 truck crash in Kentucky.

The partisan battle over the role of government regulations could move into a new lane soon as a group of Republicans pushes President Obama to make a U-turn on an effort by his administration to place new limits on the number of hours truckers can drive long-distance cargo hauls.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has eyed changing hour-of-service rules for truckers for the better part of two years, but the agency is set to finalize new limits next month. Under the proposed changes, the window in which drivers can work would be allowed to exceed 14 hours only twice a week, and they're time on duty would be capped at 13 hours.

Under the proposal, driver's behind-the-wheel shifts would be limited to 10 or 11 hours.

But House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) and a trio of other Republican lawmakers have indicated they are going to do everything in their power to stop the changes.

"We are very concerned the proposed changes will result in additional trucks and drivers on the road to deliver the same amount of freight, adding to the final product costs and increasing congestion on our already overburdened roads," the group, which includes Mica and Reps. Bill Shuster (Pa.), John Duncan (Tenn.) and Sam Graves (Mo.), wrote last week in a letter to President Obama.

Lawmakers extended the bill that extends surface transportation spending for six months last week, but advocates for public transit will resume the fight over a larger spending bill Tuesday.

The American Public Transportation Association will hold a "Don't X Out Public Transit" day to argue against proposed cuts to the highway and transit reauthorization, which is expected to be considered by Congress this fall.

The chambers have produced vastly different proposals for the bill, with the Senate suggesting a two-year, $109 billion measure that adjusts current transportation spending levels for inflation. The House has proposed a six-year, $235 billion bill that, among other reductions, cuts public transit funding by a third.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

The National Transportation Safety Board is calling for a ban on cellphone use by commercial drivers.

Three Transportation Security Administration workers in Florida were arrested for allegedly being involved in a drug ring.

Airlines collected fewer bag fees in the first three months of the year.

Another Amtrak train hit a truck this week in Illinois, though no injuries were reported.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

The National Transportation Safety Board said distraction was the cause of a duck boat accident.

The Department of Transportation's inspector general will investigate the oversight of the Washington MetroRail expansion to Dulles International Airport.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) is bringing a bill to ban Transportation Security Administration pat-downs there up for a vote.

Cincinnati is closing one of its airport's main terminals for remodeling.

Showing off his company's newest 777 airplane, FedEx International President Michael Ducker said Congress passing several pending trade agreements would help the company get the global business the new large airplanes give it capacity to handle.

Speaking to reporters at Washington's Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia, Ducker said he would like to see Congress get moving on deals with Colombia, Panama and South Korea that have languished the entire time President Obama has been in office.

"We see ourselves as enablers, great proponents of trade," said Ducker,  who also serves as the company's Chief Operating Officer.

"Trade agreements have a great benefit," to companies like FedEx, he added.

Waterways Council Chairman Rick Calhoun pushed lawmakers Tuesday to declare an emergency to come up with money to dredge the Mississippi River.

The Waterways Council, the main industry group that promotes shipping on heartland rivers, has been trying to call attention to the issue for months. The Army Corps of Engineers, which handles dredging, has allocated $66 million for dredging along the Mississippi River and other bodies of water, but the Waterways Council has said work is expected to cost $100 million.

On Tuesday, Calhoun called the situation on the Mississippi River "a state of emergency" that should be treated as such in the congressional appropriations process. 

"The inland waterways navigation system is the most important transportation asset in the United States and is vital to the economic well-being of this country," Calhoun said in a statement.  "We urgently call on the federal government today to take all necessary steps to provide funding for this national transportation asset and to allow the Lower Mississippi River to remain fully open for commerce."

Read more...

The largest U.S. airfreight company will show off one of its new airplanes that it flies to South Korea, Hong Kong, Dubai and India this week at a Washington area airport.

FedEx will celebrate the first full year of service for the 777F with an event Wednesday at Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Va.

The company has said it is the first cargo airline to fly 777F airplanes, which debuted in 2008, and says the planes improve its ability to deliver packages from the U.S. and Canada to Latin America and South Korea.

FedEx president Mike Ducker, who is also the chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's International Policy Committee, will speak at the event on the benefits of the 777 and the importance of new trade routes and international trade agreements.

The Department of Homeland Security issued an intelligence note about the possible threat to oil and gas infrastructure.