News

As Congress and the Obama administration line up for GOP control of both houses, the transportation industry is waiting to see if a new long-term Highway Bill is in the cards. The latest extension of highway funding runs out on May 31, 2015 and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx said the nation cannot afford…

The much publicized truck driver shortage in the U.S. is real. The American Trucking Associations (ATA) estimates the shortage at 30,000 and growing. But what is not in the spotlight is the growing shortage of technicians to maintain and service trucks that are getting more sophisticated by the day. Major manufacturers are rolling out new…

With the dust pretty much settled from the Nov. 4 midterm elections, U.S. transportation is adding up as a big-time winner at the polls, according to several national transportation associations. The Transportation Investment Advocacy Center within the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) is reporting that voters approved 60 of 90 transportation-related initiatives on…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s efforts to regulate transportation-related food safety are missing the mark, according to members of the transportation community that commented on proposed rules to implement the Sanitary Food Transportation Act. The FDA received thousands of comments on its proposed rules. The law initially was enacted in 2005, but never implemented…

The national shortage of trained and qualified truck drivers will hurt the industry in the current freight transportation cycle, according to analysts with Morgan Stanley. The global banking company reports that barge and rail capacity are set to see the greatest expansion in the short term. “When freight volumes reached prior peaks, there were usually…

As the U.S. economy continues to rebound, the national shortage of truck drivers to take goods to market is becoming more and more of an issue. According to the American Trucking Associations (ATA), the industry is short some 35,000 drivers. The shortage has left major carriers struggling, pushed up freight rates, and could contribute to…

A three-year pilot trucking program between the U.S. and Mexico has come to an end and U.S. federal agencies are now in the process of evaluating the program. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the DOT Inspector General’s Office met recently to discuss the results of the pilot project, which began in 2011…

The Obama administration has granted provisional operating status to 13 Mexican trucking firms that have hauled goods to and from the United States during a pilot program for the past three years. The program expired at the start of October. The administration said little about what would happen next and various commodity groups, including Washington…

A year after a winter that put much of the transportation industry in a tailspin, projections for the upcoming winter are coming as a welcome relief. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) is projecting that expenditures for natural gas, heating oil, electricity and propane will decrease this winter after last year’s frigid winter that was 11…

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is moving closer to wireless vehicle and driver inspections. FMCSA and partners Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Innovative Software Engineering (ISE) will kick off a field operation test of wireless roadside inspection (WRI) next year in five Southeastern states involving as many as 1,000 commercial trucks and…