October - 2017

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Watch this amazing time-lapse showing how ships get through the Panama Canal

A video released from the US Coast Guard shows how one of its vessels travels through the Panama Canal. The Canal is a complex system that utilizes an artificial lake to help ships traverse between the Continental divide. Following is a transcript of the video. The Panama Canal is an engineering marvel. About 14,000 ships use it every year. The canal is about 48 miles long. It functions as a waterway between North and South America. The canal connects the Atlantic and Pacifi

White House meets with lawmakers on infrastructure plan

President Trump’s legislative affairs team met with a small group of House lawmakers at the White House on Thursday morning to discuss the administration’s plan for rebuilding U.S. infrastructure. Two Democrats and three Republicans attended the meeting, including two members who sit on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The panel is expected to be a key player in Trump’s $1 trillion rebuilding proposal, which has yet to be released. The administration is also h

West Memphis beefing up deepwater port's rail service with an eye toward creating jobs

A $10.9 million upgrade of West Memphis port facilities is under way, increasing connectivity among river, road and rail traffic and offering potential for up to 3,000 new jobs. Arkansas, Crittenden County and West Memphis leaders on Thursday broke ground on the project to beef up rail service to the Port of West Memphis and expand the International Rail Port Logistics Park. West Memphis won a federal grant in 2012 to install heavier-duty rail serving its Mississippi River po

Today’s Top Supply Chain and Logistics News From WSJ

Bigger is proving better at the Panama Canal. More than a year after completing the $5.4 billion, nine-year project to expand locks to meet the maritime world’s drive toward mega-ships, the canal is helping reshape trade flows and supply chains. The WSJ’s Costas Paris writes the bigger Panama Canal has handled more than 2,000 vessels that couldn’t fit through the older canal, adding tens of millions of dollars in new tolls and triggering a trading boom at U.S. East Coast port

Analysis: The line for money at the Texas Capitol just got longer

Legislative sessions are almost always about the money — how much is available, and who is going to get it. The next session of the Texas Legislature will have the usual suspects in line —school finance, border security, pensions, etc. — but a new entry will be at the front of the line. His name is Harvey. This year’s regular and special legislative sessions were marked by financial wrangling, and by some analysts’ reckoning, lawmakers dug their successors a deep hole. The Te

Panama Canal Authority, shippers work to double LNG capacity

The Panama Canal Authority is working with LNG shippers towards doubling the capacity set aside for LNG vessels by next October, the PCA said. The PCA is working towards allowing two LNG vessels a day to transit the canal, from the single slot currently available. “Currently all LNG transits are limited to daylight hours. We are working towards lifting some transit restrictions by the third quarter of next year,” the PCA said in a statement, adding that there are currently no

AUTOMATED VEHICLES: NHTSA grants Calif. agency permission to test AVs on public roads

The Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA) in California received permission from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to test shared autonomous vehicles (AVs) on public roads within the 600-acre Bishop Ranch business park. The park is where CCTA is leading a pilot demonstration project operating electric, low-speed, multi-passenger AVs that are not equipped with a steering wheel, brake pedal, accelerator or operator. Authorized by California Assem

House rail subcommittee hears from industry stakeholders

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials yesterday held a hearing to gather stakeholders' perspectives on what's needed to improve the nation's rail infrastructure. Several representatives of railroad and transportation labor organizations testified before the subcommittee members. The hearing was held as the subcommittee and committee prepare for the Trump administration's infrastructure package prop

DB consortium selected for California high speed rail consultancy contract

USA: California High-Speed Rail Authority announced on October 6 that the DB Engineering & Consulting USA consortium has submitted the highest-scoring proposal for the Early Train Operator services contract. The winner of the ETO contract would provide CHSRA with an operating perspective during the planning and procurement of civil works, rolling stock and facilities, with the aim of ensuring that the high speed line will be attractive to passengers while minimising operating

America’s oldest transport network needs some attention

ONE of the murals depicting the history of Paducah on a wall built to keep out the river shows a captain in his pilot-house, looking over a 15-barge tow with 24,000 tonnes of cargo. At the turn of the last century this small city in Kentucky, at the confluence of the Ohio and Tennessee, became a hub of the inland-waterways system and the home of barge and tugboat companies, dry docks and repair shops. Its Centre for Maritime Education still trains river mariners all over the