Free Republic

Powered by small business owners and union workers alike, the trucking industry is on a collision course with the Democrat Party over federal and local efforts to phase out diesel rigs and push the shipping industry to electric vehicles. The latest strike came a few weeks ago when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed new tailpipe emissions goals that could require up to two-thirds of new vehciles sold in the U.S. by 2032 to be battery-powered electric vehicles. A top executive of one of the country’s largest trucking companies declared Tuesday that EPA's proposed new regulations on carbon emission are...

California is taking action to curb locomotive emissions operating within its borders as part of the state's sweeping climate agenda. On Thursday, the California Air Resource Board (CARB), a state agency tasked with protecting air quality and reducing harmful pollution, announced that it would pursue aggressive regulations to limit freight train emissions. The so-called In-Use Locomotive Regulation makes California the first state to tackle freight train emissions which represent just 0.5% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, according to federal data.

Most of the clothing and gadgets you buy in stores today were once in shipping containers, sailing across the ocean. Ships carry over 80% of the world’s traded goods. But they have a problem – the majority of them burn heavy sulfur fuel oil, which is a driver of climate change. While cargo ships’ engines have become more efficient over time, the industry is under growing pressure to eliminate its carbon footprint. European Union legislators reached an agreement to require an 80% drop in shipping fuels’ greenhouse gas intensity by 2050 and to require shipping lines to pay for the...

NEW YORK – China’s exports jumped 23% from the year-earlier month, breaking a five-month series of declines, China’s Customs Administration reported on April 13. Shipments to China’s neighbors in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) led growth with a 34% year-on-year gain, reaching a new monthly record of US$54 billion seasonally adjusted. China’s leadership in digital infrastructure is an import driver of the export boom in developing Asia, we reported earlier this year (“Digital infrastructure propels new SE Asian Tigers,” February 5, 2023). Exports to India rose in lockstep with shipments to Southeast Asia, reflecting China’s growing presence in...

44 Marisa Gerber, Ronald D. White Fri, April 7, 2023 at 2:07 PM EDT·5 min read Long Beach, CA - February 17: An aerial view of the Port of Long Beach at dusk Friday, Feb. 17, 2023. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) A dockworker shortage at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach stretched into its second day Friday, halting cargo traffic at the massive port complex. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) A dockworker shortage at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports stretched into its second day on Friday, halting cargo traffic at the...

Nearly all container terminals at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles are closed after union workers failed to show up to work, officials said. The work stoppage comes in the midst of labor negotiations between one of the state’s most powerful unions, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, and their employers, represented by the Pacific Maritime Association. In LA, all seven container terminals were closed Friday, port officials said in an email to the Business Journal. In Long Beach, meanwhile, officials told the Business Journal four out of six terminals are closed, including International Transportation Service on Pier...

Unfortunately, this is not an April Fools’ joke. The U.S. House Select Committee on the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) announced on April 1 that Chinese-owned firms make 80% of U.S. ports’ cargo cranes. The CCP also controls about 90% of the world’s rare earth processing — and rare earths are essential to all the electronic devices and chips upon which we depend. That’s a lot of control the CCP has over the American economy as it becomes ever more hostile to America. Chinese-owned firms make 80% of cargo cranes at American ports. On Friday, Chairman @RepGallagher and @RepCarlos explored this...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The Biden administration cleared the way Friday for California’s plan to phase out a wide range of diesel-powered trucks, part of the state’s efforts to drastically cut planet-warming emissions and improve air quality in heavy-traffic areas like ports along the coast. The decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency allows California — which has some of the nation’s worst air pollution — to require truck manufacturers to sell an increasing number of zero-emission trucks over the next couple of decades. The rule applies to a wide range of trucks including box trucks, semitrailers and even large...

The Biden administration will approve new California rules to cut tailpipe pollution and phase out sales of diesel-burning trucks, according to three people briefed on the plans, a move that could jump-start the nation’s transition to electric-powered trucks and help communities harmed by diesel pollution.

Smaller trucking businesses are feeling financial pressure after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released new standards for semi-trucks to lower air pollution. Andrew John of the John N John Trucking Company warned that the costs associated with the new standards could kill many mom-and-pop trucking businesses. ... They go out of business, and we all know how important mall businesses are to the economy." For the first time in two decades, the EPA released new standards that are 80% stronger than current ones and require semi-trucks to cut harmful nitrogen oxide pollution. ... The EPA estimates the new requirements could...

London CNN — Russian oil is still finding its way to buyers around the world. But even those who spend their days tracking its movement across oceans struggle to work out exactly who is ferrying it. As Western sanctions against Russia have escalated over its invasion of Ukraine, more ships have joined an existing fleet of mysterious tankers, ready to facilitate Russia’s oil exports. Industry insiders estimate the size of that “shadow” fleet at roughly 600 vessels, or about 10% of the global number of large tankers. And numbers continue to climb. Who owns and operates many of these ships...

A large liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier Grace Emilia ran aground in Egypt’s Suez Canal on Wednesday. Local media reports the shipping traffic is unaffected as the incident took place in a southern section of the canal where a second channel allows for ships to bypass the blockage. AIS data from Vesselfinder (below) showed four tugboats working to move the 293-m-long vessel. Equasis lists the 2021-built 174,000 cu m ship, which entered the canal early Wednesday morning, as owned by Japan’s NYK. The latest incident comes just three weeks after the bulker Glory bound for China carrying 66,000 mt of...

ATLANTA – The Georgia Ports Authority handled a record 5.9 million twenty-foot equivalent container units (TEUs) of cargo during the last calendar year, an increase of 5% over 2021. The Port of Savannah achieved four of its top five months for container volume during the year, peaking in August with an all-time high of 575,500 TEUs. “It was a challenging year, but collaborative effort across Georgia’s supply chain ensured cargo movement remained fluid,” said Griff Lynch, the authority’s executive director. “I want to thank our board for approving new infrastructure that allowed us to handle more cargo.”

It’s not every day you find a government document calling for Cato Institute employees to be charged with treason, but as a new article in The Dispatch details, here we are: "In March 2020, a maritime shipping advisory panel offered a simple suggestion to the government: Charge all past and current members of two libertarian think tanks with treason. "It is certainly not the first time a bunch of libertarians angered members of a bureaucratic panel. But this backlash stemmed from criticism of the Jones Act, a century‐​old law that imposes requirements for shipping between American ports." Haley Byrd Wilt’s...

A national freight rail strike is viewed as increasingly inevitable as four rail worker labor unions have rejected a tentative agreement with rail companies. In September, Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh brokered a tentative deal between rail unions and rail carriers while President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg were out of town. Union concerns centered around sick time and scheduling, and Walsh’s work appeared to have avoided a strike that had the potential for far-reaching consequences on the American economy. However, the deal has fallen to pieces, and the clock is ticking as a December 9 strike looms.

Wisconsin Rep. Bryan Steil says that the economy could take a dual hit after the election if diesel shortages persist and rail unions strike as promised. In September, rail workers threatened to strike after the election if they could not agree to a new contract with railroad companies, which would result in substantial problems for the U.S. economy and its already challenged supply chain. "It's incredibly concerning," Steil said Tuesday on the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show. "We got to remember this is just weeks after President Biden told us that he had this all under control, and...

1.) We have 25 days of diesel fuel left. 2.) Biden has failed to come to an agreement with rail workers’ unions, and a strike could start as soon as November 19th. ... If we actually run out of diesel fuel, the result on our supply chain would be catastrophic. We could expect shelves to empty and cargo ships to divert from America to places that have a better chance of delivering the goods. What’s more, prices would skyrocket on any good that has to be transported – which is basically all of them. If you can find it at...

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Slump in imports, cargo diversions to other ports help shrink queue of dozens of vessels The backup of container ships off Southern California’s coast that was at the heart of U.S. supply chain congestion during the Covid-19 pandemic has effectively disappeared. The queue of ships waiting to unload at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach fell from a peak of 109 ships in January to four vessels this week ... . U.S. import volumes are declining ... The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach together handled 686,133 loaded import containers in September, down 18% from a year...

I know this has probably been going on a long time. Bu I have a problem with the concept. And everyone should. I just ordered $1000 worth of tires. The shipper sent them free shipping. They use FedEx as contracted. Long story short, after two weeks of chasing hese down o make sure they actually and finally get to me something happened that bothered me greatly. The shipper sent them as "signature required". Bu when they finally showed up I asked the delivery guy if he needed a signature. He told me that no he did not because he already...