Free Republic

Filiberto Cervantes has already separated from his wife and kids, lost his car, moved into his truck and says he subsists largely on a diet of $1 cheese burritos. But Jan. 1 looms like a date with the grim reaper himself. ... Cervantes is among thousands of truckers servicing the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex who are facing a day of reckoning this New Year's. That's because Jan. 1 is the day new clean-air guidelines go into effect at the ports, banning all pre-1994 trucks -- as well as 1994-2003 rigs that have not been retrofitted with costly diesel particulate...

Dubai is asking creditors to accept a six-month suspension on debt repayments for its severely cash-strapped conglomerate Dubai World. The government of the Gulf emirate has also appointed consultants Deloitte to restructure state-run Dubai World's operations. The group includes property developer Nakheel, which built one of the state's most ostentatious projects, the palm-shaped, man-made residential islands of the Palm Jumeirah. The conglomerate also includes DP World, owner of the former P&O ports operator. According to Nakheel, Dubai World has $59bn (£35bn) of liabilities, a large proportion of Dubai's total debt of $80bn (£47bn). The emirate's government said in a statement:...

Slight April gain over March gives weak signal for peak season Container volumes at U.S. ports edged up in April compared to March, but remained well below the volumes recorded in April 2008, according to the monthly Port Tracker published by the National Retail Federation and IHS Global Insight. The second half of 2009 appears to be trending the same way the first half progressed, with containerized imports creeping up compared to the month before, but down noticeably from the same month last year. It therefore looks like the back-to-school shopping season this summer, traditionally the second busiest period on...

<p>A federal judge in Washington refused Wednesday to halt the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach's clean-truck program, which aims to phase out 17,000 polluting big rigs that shuttle freight to and from rail terminals and other transport hubs.</p>

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela's federal government seized seaports and airstrips in at least four states on Saturday, a move critics say is meant to limit the powers of mayors and governors opposed to President Hugo Chavez. The takeover, ordered by Venezuela's socialist president last weekend and approved by lawmakers, aims to bring the country's major transportation hubs under federal control this year.

Venezuela military 'seizes ports' Venezuela's military has taken control of key airports and sea ports under the terms of a move rubber-stamped by parliament a week ago, reports say. The move centralises the running of the country's main transport hubs. President Hugo Chavez has pushed for the move, describing it as "reunifying the motherland, which was in pieces". Critics of Mr Chavez says the plans are unconstitutional, but the National Assembly backed them a week ago, saying they would improve essential services. State-level governments in Venezuela have controlled the country's most important airports, sea ports and major highways since a...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's government seized seaports and airstrips in at least four states on Saturday, a move that critics say is meant to limit the powers of mayors, governors and other potential rivals to President Hugo Chavez.

Venezuela's military has taken control of key airports and sea ports under the terms of a move rubber-stamped by parliament a week ago, reports say. The move centralises the running of the country's main transport hubs. President Hugo Chavez has pushed for the move, describing it as "reunifying the motherland, which was in pieces". Critics of Mr Chavez says the plans are unconstitutional, but the National Assembly backed them a week ago, saying they would improve essential services. State-level governments in Venezuela have controlled the country's most important airports, sea ports and major highways since a move towards decentralisation began...

February imports fall 18.1% in L.A. and Long Beach. Other West Coast harbors see even worse declines. The international trade business is foundering faster than ever seen before, with some U.S. seaports watching cargo traffic fall by more than a third. It's gotten so bad that Los Angeles and Long Beach are slashing cargo rates to keep old customers and lure new business. Oakland's port has laid off 12% of its staff and canceled free tours for the public. The number of ships idled around the world is approaching three times the number that were out of work during the...

Paper no. 3068 Admiral Sureesh Mehta, the Chief of the Naval Staff sounded a stern warning on 18th February 2009, about the possibility of nuclear weapons being smuggled in to the country through the ever increasing container traffic. The warning was issued at a seminar to discuss Port Development and related security issues. At one level, there is nothing new in the warning. Similar warnings were issued post 9/11 by US and other maritime analysts who expected the seas to be the next medium for transportation and manifestation of terror. It is this fear that prompted the US to examine...

Remember the furor back in 2006 over the news that a Dubai-based company was going to buy a ship terminal operator in the United States? Remember how all of a sudden many Americans decided against letting a foreign company operate cargo terminals inside the US, despite the fact that the same terminals were already being operated by a foreign corporation? (P&O Ports, UK) Remember how nobody, including Congress, wanted to take a second and actually investigate what risks there were, if any, given that this purchase would not have changed the fact that the US Coast Guard would have remained...

The United States will need $1.6 trillion to repair damage to its infrastructure from a massive influx of immigrants, a new report reveals. In his report titled, "The Twin Crises: Immigration and Infrastructure," prominent researcher Edwin S. Rubenstein examines 15 categories of infrastructure: airports, border security, bridges, dams and levees, electricity (the power grids), hazardous waste removal , hospitals, mass transit, parks and recreation facilities, ports and navigable waterways, public schools, railroads, roads and highways, solid waste and trash, and water and sewer systems. Rubenstein, a financial analyst and former contributing editor of Forbes and economics editor of National Review,...

The Texas Department of Transportation is asking Nueces County residents to attend a public meeting in Driscoll to comment and provide input on proposed upgrades of US 77 to a controlled access facility that meets interstate standards. The purpose of the meetings is to review proposed options for upgrading US 77 and to present recommendations, TxDOT officials said. The first round public meetings were held in early March. This second round of public meetings is being held as part of TxDOT's continued effort to gain public input on issues related to proposed improvements and to provide an opportunity for public...

POTI, Georgia - Russian soldiers took about 20 Georgians in military uniform prisoner at a key Black Sea port in western Georgia on Tuesday, blindfolding them and holding them at gunpoint, and commandeered American Humvees awaiting shipment back to the United States.

ABU DHABI — A leading Gulf firm in the United Arab Emirates whose plans to operate six U.S. ports was last year rebuffed by Congress, has been certified as a partner in a U.S. port security program. The state-owned Dubai Ports World has been certified as a partner in the Customs-Trade Partnership against Terrorism. DP World underwent a successful audit that determined the company met international ISO 28000 security standards required by C-TPAT. In 2007, DP abandoned plans to purchase a British company that operated six major ports in the United States, Middle East Newsline reported. Congress was opposed to...

County commissioners reaffirmed their stance against the Trans-Texas Corridor, and they took another step toward keeping county government transparent when they met Tuesday. First up on the court's agenda, commissioners heard a presentation by Connie Fogle on behalf of the newly formed Pineywoods Sub-Regional Planning Commission. According to Fogle, the Texas Local Government Code, Chapter 391, requires state agencies to coordinate with local commissions to "ensure effective and orderly implementation of state programs at the regional level." "Critical in the code is the word 'coordinate,'" she said. "This does not mean the commission has to cooperate. The intent is to...

Thanks to an extended comment deadline, almost three weeks remain for people to let their feelings be known about the Trans-Texas Corridor. The most recent study of the proposal, which includes a stretch in Fort Bend County, must be approved by the federal government for the Texas Department of Transportation to proceed with planning and, eventually, construction. TxDOT and the Federal Highway Administration have extended their formal comment period through April 18. During this time, individuals are encouraged to submit written comments on either the project itself or what is called the Draft Environmental Impact Study (DEIS), which is a...

Plots by Communists to infiltrate America. The disintegration of borders and rural areas. Citizens mobilizing and rising up against government agencies and big business. It all sounds like the plot for a summer blockbuster, but it's something that could be happening in your own backyard. These were just a few of the topics addressed in the "How to fight the TTC" workshop, held Monday at the Pitser Garrison Civic Center in Lufkin. The conference served as an informational meeting aimed at informing citizens and local government officials how they can unite in trying to stop the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor project....

Arriving in the Port of Oakland at 6 a.m. last Thursday, the grey-blue colossus auto carrier Century Highway No. 3 carries enough cars to fill all the parking lots surrounding the Giants stadium — a mere fraction of the average 368 million annual tons of autos, toys, and other goods moving through the 29 ports along America's Pacific coast. Could there be a force of man or nature powerful enough to interrupt this perpetual merchandise tsunami? Would you believe — San Francisco radical peaceniks? On May 1, the usually bustling ports along the West Coast will become still, as members...

Topic: Globalism The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is planning on building a new super highway system called the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC). The Trans-Texas Corridor will not be just another interstate and will it will be used by more than just automobiles. It will include 10 lanes for traffic, two high speed rail tracks, four standard rail tracks, utility lines, oil pipelines, and gas pipelines. The Trans-Texas Corridor will consist of many corridors segments that are 1,200 feet wide, with each mile consuming 146 acres of land. This land is currently ranch and farm land that is being taken by...

REFUGIO, Texas - With an abandoned Wild West-vintage town of storefronts slumbering just a block from old US 77, tiny Refugio is a place where myth and reality coexist in a ghostly silence. more stories like this Obama faces heat over aide's NAFTA remarks to Canadians Texas, Ohio could decide Dem nomination Canada says didn't misrepresent Obama over NAFTA McCain tags Dems on trade treaty NAFTA seen differently in Ohio, Texas And now this South Texas outpost is swept up in one of the more intriguing tests of myth vs. reality in today's political life: the battle over the so-called...

TEXAS CITY — A massive superhighway that Texans have protested at public hearings statewide drew heated opposition among Galveston County residents, who said they feared the toll road would cripple the local shipping industry and do nothing to improve insufficient hurricane evacuation routes. The Trans-Texas Corridor would wind from Laredo to Corpus Christi, wrap around the western edge of Greater Houston, parallel Interstate 59 through East Texas and leave the state in Texarkana. But residents at a public hearing Thursday night in Texas City questioned the real purpose for the road, which would also be part of a national Interstate...

NACOGDOCHES — The rows of extra chairs brought into the The Fredonia's biggest meeting room Thursday night were not enough to accommodate more than 750 people who attended an open house and public hearing on the proposed TTC-69 highway. Texas Department of Transportation officials heard hours of public testimony that continued late into the night overwhelmingly opposed to the construction of new roadways through East Texas. Applause throughout the hours-long meeting never swelled as loudly as it did when the first speaker of the night, state Rep. Wayne Christian, told TxDOT representatives emphatically that "our answer is 'no' on the...

Sometimes the truth just has a way of coming to light. A public information officer with the Texas Department of Transportation this week wrote a column in the Herald-Press describing the financial woes facing TxDOT and how because of those problems the state’s transportation department doesn’t have the money to deal with many of the state’s transportation issues. Apparently, several of the state’s senators do not feel that is the case at all. David Dewhurst called out the state’s interim chairwoman of the Texas Transportation Commission, Hope Andrade, on this very issue, according to a story from the Associated Press....

A so-called “NAFTA Superhighway� earned support from the city’s mayor and discussion among residents Monday during a public hearing on the Texas Department of Transportation’s I-69 project. TxDOT held a public hearing at the Brownsville Events Center Monday to explain the progress of the Trans-Texas Corridor, a future segment of Highway I-69, which will link the U.S.-Mexico border to the U.S.-Canada border. After a short presentation, the floor was open for comments. Among the local politicians, college students and retirees at the hearing there was a wide range of opinion on the project. According to Mario Jorge, district engineer for...

Leaders with the Texas Department of Transportation sought to allay fears about the Trans-Texas Corridor Thursday night in Rosenberg with a “town hall” meeting. The meeting proceeded fairly smoothly, but hardly seemed to put a dent in the large crowd's seemingly uniform opposition to the proposal of a massive transportation corridor. Hank Gilbert, a regular speaker at TTC events and leader of an anti-TTC non-profit group, drew cheers for suggesting TxDOT officials have failed to make the case for a large, privately owned transportation cluster. “No good argument has been made for the TTC that would allow farmers to be...

A state audit released this morning blasts the Port of Seattle for lax management of construction projects, citing a host of failings that have wasted taxpayer money and left the Port "vulnerable to fraud, waste and abuse." The report found that the Port frequently has circumvented public bidding requirements in violation of its own policies, and sometimes in violation of state law. In one instance, Port management authorized a contract related to construction of the third runway at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport that was $32.7 million higher than an engineer's original estimate. That contract violated state law and details of it...

The Port of Long Beach's Board of Harbor Commissioners was scheduled to vote Monday on a proposal to sharply reduce pollution at the nation's busiest port complex by banning an aging fleet of diesel trucks. The proposal calls for replacing about 16,000 trucks serving the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles by 2012. The trucks, which regulators said are a leading cause of unhealthy air around the ports, could also be retrofitted to meet more stringent emissions standards. If approved, it would move a step closer to becoming the first action taken by Long Beach and Los Angeles under...

Road plans in Texas have conspiracy theorists in an uproar I am driving along a mostly empty road in rural Fayette County, Texas, about an hour east of Austin, looking for the NAFTA superhighway -- the one that Stephen Harper, George W. Bush and Felipe Calderón mocked as a conspiracy theory when they were asked about it at their trilateral meeting in Montebello, Que., in August. Critics, who say that behind the leaders' denials lurks a larger, nefarious plan to unite North America, fear that such a roadway will eventually be a four-football-stadium-wide artery connecting Mexico, the U.S. and Canada,...

Protesters were kept outside for the third and final day of the Great Plains International Conference – a Denver event on intercontinental trade corridors in which a Mexican official urged swift movement toward a "North American Union."

A new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office charges that the Department of Homeland Security used biased methods to enhance performance results in tests on a new generation of radiation detectors meant to protect U.S. ports. At stake are $1.2 billion in contracts to produce advanced spectroscopic portal (ASP) monitors and thousands of lives should they fail to work. Experts from four national laboratories were consulted prior to publication of the report (PDF) by the GAO, the nonpartisan audit and investigative arm of Congress, which was released yesterday. The agency found that the DHS' Domestic Nuclear Detection Office "used...

The Interstate 69 corridor, a Mexico-to-Canada concept discussed since 1991, has received government recognition as a "corridor of the future," a designation that immediately means $800,000 in federal money for studies. Local officials say it could mean more trade in South Texas. The corridor -- a 2,680-mile international trade route from Mexico to Canada also known as the Trans-Texas Corridor-69 -- was one of two designated Tuesday as corridors of the future. Interstate 10 from California to Florida also received recognition. Hailed as a route that would facilitate trade resulting from the North American Free Trade Agreement, I-69's Texas portion...

Miami, the cruise ship "Mecca" and one of the top ten ports in the United States is also one of seven major U.S. cities listed by the FBI as "terrorist havens".  Miami Deputy Port Director, Khalid Salahuddin, an Orthodox Muslim, was a member of the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakham's anti-Semitic thugs.  Today, he heads his own mosque, Masjid Al-Ikhlas, in North Miami.  Salahuddin has ties to radical Islam.  He officiated at a fundraiser for the American Muslim Association of North America, a group headed by Sofian Abdelaziz, who was Vice President of Hamas ran "Health Resource Center for Palestine"....

May 11, 2007 U.S. Port Contractor Has Terrorist Ties A foreign company set to build a massive tunnel project at a major U.S. seaport has close ties to the government of a country that has long appeared on the State Department’s list of nations that sponsor terrorism. The French construction giant (Bouygues Travaux Publics) is the preferred contractor to build a $1 billion tunnel at the South Florida Port of Miami, the world’s top cruise ship terminal with nearly 4 million passengers annually and one of the country’s busiest cargo ports with about one million containers a year. It turns...

Grassroots Americans of all parties and economic classes rose up out of their political apathy a few months ago and forced President Bush to reverse his administration's decision to allow a Middle East government to own America's major ports. But the push for foreign ownership continues: the next port scheduled to be taken over is Kansas City, Missouri. Even though public schools stopped teaching geography a couple of decades ago, most Americans (especially residents of the Show Me state) are surprised to learn that Kansas City (where the only waves are "amber waves of grain") is a port. We are...

The television advertisement starts with an ominous warning about 9/11. Then it shows a nuclear explosion, followed by a photo of Osama bin Laden and a ship loaded with cargo containers. "Since 9/11, it is one of the greatest threats we face, a nuclear weapon in the hands of Osama bin Laden shipped through an American port," says the voice-over. Finally, the ad reveals its villain: an outfit based in Arkansas that has a network of 1.8 million workers around the world who operate at 3,900 locations in the United States. Its corporate name is Wal-Mart Stores Inc. What's the...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House agreed Wednesday to give the government broader powers to review foreign investments in U.S. power plants, ports and other facilities that could be vulnerable to terror attacks. The legislation, passed 423-0, would give legal muscle to a once- obscure federal office that gained attention a year ago with the uproar over plans by a Dubai-owned company to manage six of the nation's largest ports.

Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), a close ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), is calling elements of a Peru free-trade agreement (FTA) signed by the Bush administration a threat to national security. The chairman of the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee has warned Democratic leaders on trade that the deal grants a United Arab Emirates company the ability to invest in U.S. ports. Murtha has asked Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) to demand that the administration alter the free-trade deal it negotiated with Peru to prevent enterprises there from investing in U.S. landside port activities. If the administration fails...

DUBAI — Dubai Ports World, which faced a last-minute snag in selling its US ports, yesterday said it will not budge to the new demand made by New York Port Authority to pay a $84 million transaction fee. Speaking to Khaleej Times from New York, Chairman of Dubai World, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem said: "We have not accepted and we will not accept the huge fee they now demand. However, we are confident that the issue can be resolved as we remain committed to completing the sale as promised." Although DP World has received approval for the sale of...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Dubai Ports World, the company whose planned takeover of major port operations in New York and other U.S. cities ignited a political firestorm last year, may be headed for a new storm in its plan to sell off those operations to a U.S.-based company. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is seeking tens of millions of dollars from the prospective new owner, AIG Global Investment Group, for improvements the port agency has made to the Port Newark Container Terminal in Newark, N.J., which AIG would operate. Port Authority spokesman Stephen Sigmund said Wednesday he...

With a major interstate running right through our area traffic is a common topic for Central Texans. How do we solve the problem of more traffic on i-35? Is the Trans Texas Corridor a realistic solution and do we even need it? In part two of our Trans Texas Corridor series we look at the project from a needs angle. There are basically two sides to the Trans Texas Corridor project, those for it and those against. One thing both sides gree on is that something needs to be done. There are twenty one million Texas residents. 45 percent of...

Iraqi metal tradesmen work on the steel framework for the pier of the new roll-on and roll-off berth at the Port of Umm Qasr. BASRAH -- The Port of Umm Qasr directly influences the economy of Iraq and the U.S Army Corps of Engineers works to help improve the services of the Iraqi berths to handle the cargo flowing in or out of the country. Natalie J. Sudman, a USACE project engineer with the Gulf Region South (GRS) District, oversees the $13.8 million project helping to expand the capacity of the port located south of the city of Basrah near...

Fanning out from the mammoth ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, 16,000 drivers, nearly all of them Latino, crisscross Southern California's congested highways, carrying freight that will make its way to every part of the country. But a number of the drivers are undocumented immigrants, and they could soon find themselves out of work and freight ould begin backing up across the country. That's because the federal government, in its drive to boost port security, is on the verge of issuing guidelines for checking identities of the nation's 750,000 port workers, including 110,000 or so who work as haulers....

Office of the Press Secretary DHS Press Office, (202) 282-8010 NNSA Public Affairs, (202) 586-7371 The Departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and Energy (DOE) today announced the first phase of the Secure Freight Initiative, an unprecedented effort to build upon existing port security measures by enhancing the federal government’s ability to scan containers for nuclear and radiological materials overseas and to better assess the risk of inbound containers. Today’s announcement includes the endorsement from a broad coalition of terminal operators, ocean carriers, and shippers, who pledged to support this effort at facilities they operate overseas. “Our highest priority and greatest...

Bush administration efforts to screen U.S.-bound cargo for radioactive weapons are unlikely to stop a determined militant group from smuggling nuclear material onto American soil, experts said on Thursday. Peter Zimmerman of Kings College, London, and Jeffrey Lewis of Harvard, who have researched the task of building an improvised nuclear device, said anyone hoping to hatch a nuclear attack on the United States would most likely build the weapon on American soil. ... Zimmerman and Lewis produced a study showing a nuclear weapon as strong as the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima could be constructed and deployed for $5.4 million....

Since last year's coastal evacuation during Hurricane Rita, improvements to the former I-69 corridor have been on the fast track. Previously, Interstate 69 from Texarkana to South Texas was introduced as a concept with minimal federal funding in 1994. Eight years later, Gov. Rick Perry would introduce his concept of the Trans-Texas Corridor, which confused local residents and intermingled plans for the proposed Interstate corridor. But it wasn't until last autumn, when the state learned what a nightmare a Houston evacuation could be on the existing U.S. Highway 59, that Perry instructed the Texas Department of Transportation commission to recast...

Bush signs law on security for US ports, ban on online gambling President George W. Bush signed a law designed to bolster security at US ports and prevent terrorists from smuggling in nuclear weapons. The law also included an unrelated provision inserted by lawmakers in Congress to severely restrict Internet gambling, prompting gaming companies abroad to close down their US operations. Hoping to retain control of Congress in legislative elections on November 7, lawmakers in Bush's Republican party adopted the measure two weeks ago to persuade voters that they are better able to prevent another terrorist attack. The Republicans rode...

Cargo theft accounts for approximately $50 billion in direct merchandise losses each year worldwide — $15 billion of that in the United States alone. (SNIP) The Hialeah gang (Miami) is believed to be the single most important theft grouping active in cargo crime across the United States. (SNIP) ..grouped by geography: • Miami/South Florida: Widely considered the most prolific in highvalue cargo theft, the gangs in this region can be divided into two groups: those that operate strictly within Florida and Georgia and those that operate beyond the regional boundaries. Those that roam outside the region generally target high-dollar freight,...

WASHINGTON – There are mixed signals coming from Mexico about the fate of a proposed mega-port in Baja California for mainly Chinese goods that would be shipped on rail lines and "NAFTA superhighways" running through the U.S. to Canada. The port at Punta Colonet, planned as a major container facility to transfer Asian goods into America's heartland, got at least a temporary setback when a Mexican businessman announced a competing project in which he was seeking to secure mineral rights in the area. Gabriel Chavez, originally one of the principal movers behind the port plan, now says there are significant...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress approved a major ports security bill early Saturday, providing new steps to prevent terrorists from slipping a nuclear, chemical or biological device into one of the 11 million shipping containers entering the nation every year. Passage of the bill was the last act of the House as lawmakers left for a five-week election campaign during which candidates will be trying to prove to voters their commitment to keeping America safe in the war on terrorism. The Senate passed it by a voice vote, sending it to the president for his signature. Containers, now largely uninspected, "have...