April - 2017

Archive

Canadian Company Proposes to Cut Pipeline Monitoring Costs with Automated Drones

According to the U.S. Dept. of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, as well as Deloitte Consulting, the global oil and gas industry spends $37 billion a year monitoring nearly 10 million kilometers of pipelines. SkyX, a Toronto-based aerospace company, hopes to cash in on that market with a drone-based monitoring system it claims not only could reduce traditional monitoring costs by nearly 90%, but also, using patented technology, provide m

Uber is really serious about flying cars, and Dallas could be first city to test them

Three years from now, Dallas could be testing out its own version of The Jetsons cartoon with flying taxis shuttling through the skies. At least that’s the grand vision of Uber, the San Francisco ride-hailing company that unveiled an aggressive six-year goal for rolling out small aircraft that could be used on demand throughout the region. Uber announced Tuesday that Dallas-Fort Worth is the first location in the U.S. chosen for Uber Elevate, an effort to build a network of o

Expanded Panama Canal performance exceeds expectations

Since its inauguration, the Expanded Panama Canal’s performance has exceeded expectations, setting monthly and daily tonnage records, attracting 15 new liner services, and welcoming an average of six Neopanamax daily transits when forecasts originally anticipated two to three transits a day for its first year of operation. In fact, among the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) segment, a first for the waterway, 5.2 LNG vessels transit the Canal per week on average, above the original

Cornyn, Cuellar Praise Selection of Four Texas Ports for Public-Private Partnerships

U.S. Representative Henry Cuellar (TX-28) and I released the following statements after U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced the Anzalduas Bridge, Cameron County, the City of Donna, Texas, and the city of Laredo, Texas were selected for Public-Private Partnerships. Our legislation, the Cross-Border Trade Enhancement Act, permanently authorized the program. Investing in our ports of entry reduces wait times, increases efficiency, and encourages commerce across Texas an

How Cities Should Be Preparing for the Onset of Autonomous Vehicles

Last year, when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released its autonomous vehicle guidelines, the document helped lay out a strategy for how the government will adopt self-driving vehicles. NHTSA suggested that the vehicle itself should be certified safe as a part of its federal motor vehicle safety standards and that states should remain responsible for the licensing and registration of the vehicle. What remained ambiguous, according to the National

California’s jammed highways hold hope as power source

California’s famously congested freeways may soon do more than create headaches. State officials agreed last week to fund an initiative to generate electrical power from traffic, a plan that involves harnessing road vibrations with the intent of turning the automobile, like the sun and wind, into a viable source of renewable energy. The technology is peculiar but proven. Devices that convert mechanical force into electricity are used in watches and lighters and are being test

House and Senate Transportation Committee Hearings April 17-21

House Transportation THURSDAY - 4/20/17 8:00 A.M., E2.012 HB 277 Gonzales, Larry Relating to the designation of a portion of U.S. Highway 79 as the Officer Chris Kelley Memorial Highway. HB 732 Bohac, Dwayne Relating to the content of photographic traffic monitoring system signs. HB 911 Romero, Ramon Relating to a study by the Texas Department of Transportation on the use of municipal impact fees for roadway facilities. HB 917 Schubert, Leighton Relating to the des

Latest ‘World’s Largest Containership’ Delivered to Maersk Line

Just two weeks after the delivery of the first containership to surpass the 20,000 TEU mark, the record for the world’s largest containership has been broken yet again with the delivery of the Madrid Maersk to Danish shipping giant Maersk Line. Maersk took delivery of the Madrid Maersk on Tuesday from South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering. According to the maritime analyst Alphaliner, the Madrid Maersk has a capacity of 20,568 twenty-foot equivalent units (TE

Biggest Ship to Ever Call On U.S. East Coast Arriving in May

The biggest ship ever to visit the U.S. East Coast will make its maiden call in Charleston, South Carolina next month after sailing through the expanded Panama Canal from China. The MV Cosco Development, which measures 1,200 feet long and 158 feet wide, can transport up to 13,092 TEUs. It is scheduled to call at the South Carolina Ports Authority’s (SCPA) terminal in Charleston Harbor on May 13. The vessel is deployed on the new OCEAN Alliance’s weekly South Atlantic Express

AAPA & MARAD Complete Final Two Modules of Port Planning and Investment Toolkit

U.S. Maritime Administration U.S. Maritime Administration News UpdateStartFragment Toolkit resources are helping ports better compete for public, private funding Developed through collaboration between the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA), the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD), PFM Group of Orlando, Fla., WSP/Parsons Brinkerhoff of Virginia Beach, Va., and a host of industry experts, the PPIT is a valuable resource for the port