Weekly intermodal traffic hit a 2010 high for the second straight week, the Association of American Railroads said Thursday.

Traffic for the week ended Saturday rose to 236,404 trailers and containers, up 24.2% from the same week last year and 2,367 units higher than the previous week.

Containers jumped 24.2% to 202,475 units, while trailers rose 12.4% to 33,929 units. The total level was 2.6% higher than the same week two years ago.

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For the third consecutive month, the Freight Transportation Services Index posted a gain over the previous month. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the Freight TSI rose 0.3 percent in April over its March level. Though its year-to-year growth is nearly 5 percent, April numbers remain well below all previous year-over-year marks since April 2000. The index takes into account the output of the for-hire transportation industry including trucking, rail, inland waterways, pipelines and air.

Freight Index Indicates Month-to-Month and Year-Over-Year Gains

The Freight Transportation Services Index rose 0.3 percent in April from its March level, rising for the third consecutive month, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported.

BTS, a part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, reported that the Freight TSI has risen 4.9 percent over the last 11 months, starting in June 2009, after declining 15.3 percent in the previous 10 months beginning in August 2008. The index has increased in nine of the last 11 months. The index started 2010 with a decrease of 1.4 percent in the first four months.

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NASHVILLE, Ind. — A new study questions the oft-cited notion that shifting freight to rail through government incentives will actually result in a ‘greener’ transport system.

FTR Associates’ Noël Perry, who authors a report titled Transportation Fundamentals, agrees that rail line haul is far more fuel efficient than truck per load, but maintains that this is just part of the energy equation and rail should face similar emission rules that the trucking does.

He suggests that reductions in greenhouse gas emissions can be achieved through improved access to intermodal terminals, equalization of rail and truck standards for production of potent NOx exhaust and modifying existing truck size and weight regulations to put more freight on the road per tractor-trailer unit.

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A multi-state freight rail project is promoting its ability to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and fuel consumption as it seeks to build support for the hundreds of millions of dollars it needs to cover infrastructure investment costs.

The National Gateway, a multi-state public-private partnership that aims to forge a new freight rail route between Mid-Atlantic ports and Midwestern markets, claims that clearing existing rail routes for double-stack freight trains would convert over 14 billion highway miles to rail– and so reduce CO2 emissions by almost 20 million tons and fuel consumption by nearly 2 billion gallons.

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The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) recently announced the completion of two major components of a $600-million ExpressRail project. The projects are expected to enable 1.3-million cargo containers to be shipped by rail– taking approximately three million trucks off state and local roads.

The agency said it finished construction of a second lead track to the ExpressRail Elizabeth, NJ, facility that will allow trains to arrive and depart simultaneously. In addition, construction was completed on a rail support facility that will be able to handle four 10,000-ft trains daily.

According to the announcement, these projects are the culmination of a multiyear effort to promote the use of rail to transport cargo and are expected to attract new cargos and new services to the Ports. In anticipation of this rail capacity expansion, Norfolk Southern has already developed a new direct service to Harrisburg, PA, and CSX will begin a new direct service to Buffalo at the end of September.

“Completing these two major components of ExpressRail, 18 months ahead of schedule, will ensure our port’s future competitiveness and help us remove millions of truck trips annually from our local roads,” said PANYNJ Chairman Anthony R. Coscia. “This is a win-win for the economy and the environment.”

[source - fleetowner.com]

Rail Project to Link Mid-Atlantic Ports, Midwest

The cornerstone for a massive network of intermodal facilities aimed at creating a more efficient freight link between the Mid-Atlantic ports and the Midwest is now being laid in North Baltimore, OH, the eventual home of the new Northwest Ohio Intermodal Terminal. The first step in creation of what is being called the National Gateway, completion of the Ohio terminal is expected by 2011.

Unveiled in May last year, the National Gateway public-private project is being headed by rail giant CSX Corp. through its CSX Intermodal division. The railroad is ponying up $300 million of the project’s estimated $840 million price tag to enhance three existing rail corridors that run through Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. The plan calls for completing the entire network of intermodal terminals by 2015.

The gateway intermodal corridors include the I-70/I-76 Corridor between Washington, D.C. and northwest Ohio via Pittsburgh; the I-95 Corridor between North Carolina and Baltimore via Washington, D.C.; and the Carolina Corridor between Wilmington and Charlotte, NC.

Michael Ward, CSX’s CEO, said public funding will be used primarily to raise the clearances under bridges and tunnels, enabling the movement of double-stack railcars that will allow trains to double their load capacity. Private funding from CSX and its affiliates will be primarily dedicated to building intermodal terminals, such as the one now under construction in North Baltimore, he said.

CSX said it’s already started developing four terminals that are a key component of the National Gateway, and once public funding is secured, the project could be completed in four to five years.

“The challenge of meeting our nation’s surface transportation needs is too big for any single industry – never mind any single company – to accomplish independently,” Ward said at a ground breaking ceremony for the new Northwest Ohio Intermodal Terminal. “This partnership you see here today exemplifies the future of our nation’s transportation infrastructure.”

Over a 30-year period, CSX noted, the National Gateway is expected to CO2 emissions by over 12 million tons, save businesses over $3.5 billion in shipping costs, reduce fuel consumption by nearly 1 billion gallons, and reduce congestion on the highways, largely by converting approximately 3 billion freight highway miles to rail, the company noted.

This multi-state intermodal effort is also intended to improve freight flows as volumes increase significantly over the next decade and a half. The Dept. of Transportation forecasts that by 2020, overall freight tonnage hauled in the U.S. will have grown by 70% from 1998 levels. The National Gateway infrastructure initiative is designed to address that growth, CSX said, and relieve pressure on the nation’s capacity-strained freight network.

[source - fleetowner.com] ]]> http://www.myettnews.com/2009/08/work-begins-on-intermodal-rail-gateway/feed/ 0 http://www.myettnews.com/2009/06/shorter-supply-chains-mean-more-growth-for-truckload-carriers-officials-say/ http://www.myettnews.com/2009/06/shorter-supply-chains-mean-more-growth-for-truckload-carriers-officials-say/#comments Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:26:59 +0000 Rhonda Flathman http://www.myettnews.com/?p=597 Though intermodal transportation has a price advantage over truckload carriers, major industry players believe that the latter will come out on top as supply chains shorten. Truckload carriers could see faster growth, they say, because of their speed and flexibility. Intermodal saw a rise in popularity as fuel prices rose, and continues to see an interest from companies who want to minimize their carbon footprint.

NEW YORK — Truckload carriers are well-positioned to grow faster as supply chains continue to shorten in the next several years because of their speed and flexibility advantages over intermodal movement, major shippers and carriers agreed.

That was the message from top logistics officials at Wal-Mart Stores and MillerCoors, as well as major fleet operators such as U.S. Xpress Industries and Schneider National Inc. that also have nationwide intermodal options.

The executives spoke at the Wolfe Research Global Transportation Conference here recently. Also speaking were representatives from intermodal providers such as J.B. Hunt Transport Services, who said rail-truck business will capture business from the all-highway option.

Comments from both carriers and shippers were focused on long-term trends, since both shipping options have seen volumes decline steadily as the recession has deepened over the last six months.

Officials such as Kelly Abney, vice president of corporate transportation for Wal-Mart, and Eduard Jimenez, manager of logistics strategy and controls for MillerCoors, linked long-term truckload growth to the shortening of supply chains and steps to streamline distribution and reduce inventory.

Peter Goulding, executive director of global transportation for Estee Lauder, also tied expected future truckload growth to more efficient supply and manufacturing patterns affecting his company.

“Our business strategy causes us to look more and more at speed from the DC [distribution center] to the store,” Abney said, adding that truckload is a better tool to optimize smaller freight movements.

Intermodal still may be a viable option, Abney explained, especially if those operators can create more capacity for refrigerated shipments. Intermodal’s attractiveness also is linked to rising fuel prices, he noted.

Abney added that streamlining of the supply chain is “moving inventory backwards out of our stores and utilizing capacity upstream” in distribution centers. Wal-Mart is in the process of reviewing its store-stocking policies and shelf space allocation, which will take even more inventory out of the system, he said.

In MillerCoors’ case, a drop in rail shipments, including boxcar, is the result of a three-year effort to change the distribution patterns for the brewing companies that merged last year, Jimenez said.

He said the company’s goal of reducing length of haul from 1,200 miles to about 400 miles will prompt more moves by truckload, though intermodal efforts to provide more shorter-haul regional service could boost its share of freight business.

Intermodal operators are countering that trend by moving into shorter distance markets and underlining the cost advantages of intermodal, executives such as Paul Bergant, president of Hunt’s intermodal unit, said.

Bergant also noted a trend by four of the company’s largest customers to tie their intermodal business to improving their “carbon footprint” and lowering emissions.

Intermodal “started as a price play, but now the service offering has more components,” he said. “We believe we can grow in that space. We’ve seen a major shift in the way people view intermodal service. If we took a show of hands, I don’t think anyone here would say energy costs won’t be a factor in the future.”

Citing a survey done by a railroad, Bergant said 1.5 million truckloads moving in the eastern half of the United States could be converted to intermodal.

Intermodal maintains an average price advantage over truckload of about 10% to 15%, he said, though the spread rose to as much as 40% when diesel prices peaked.

Dan Avramovich, chief operating officer of Pacer International, said intermodal’s advantages from an economics standpoint will prevail over the long term.

Both he and David Yeager, chief executive officer of Hub Group Inc., stressed the importance of improved rail service, such as capital improvements to add more double-stack trains.

Other major carriers that offer both types of services but are primarily truckload operators shared the shippers’ view.

“Truckload will be the clear winner,” said U.S. Xpress Enterprises co-chairman Max Fuller. “If you look at where companies source their goods and the building of plants closer to the consumer, that is changing the supply chain.”

Schneider Vice President Steve Duley agreed with Fuller’s view of future modal growth, as did a shipper, Ashley Dorna, who is executive director of supply chain for Niagara Bottling.

CRST International CEO John Smith also sided with truckload, but said that intermodal growth could come close to keeping pace.

[source - ttnews.com]

]]> http://www.myettnews.com/2009/06/shorter-supply-chains-mean-more-growth-for-truckload-carriers-officials-say/feed/ 0 http://www.myettnews.com/2009/05/senate-to-consider-stiffer-rail-competition-rules/ http://www.myettnews.com/2009/05/senate-to-consider-stiffer-rail-competition-rules/#comments Thu, 21 May 2009 14:19:41 +0000 Rhonda Flathman http://www.myettnews.com/?p=422 Free from major rate and service restrictions, freight railroads have enjoyed higher profitability, record levels even in the past five years, thanks in part to the Staggers Act. But some organizations say is exploiting its monopolistic power, posting fourth-quarter profits despite a nearly double-digit decline in traffic. A measure that could increase rail restrictions is headed to a Senate vote in a matter of weeks.

Freight railroads are facing their stiffest legislative challenge in three decades, as a bill that would make the first changes to the industry’s competitive environment since 1980 is slated for a Senate vote in a matter of weeks.

The measure (S. 146), sponsored by Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), would expose railroads to antitrust laws, trim the power of the Surface Transportation Board — which currently sets rail competition policy — and permit lawsuits in state courts on rail competition policies.

Kohl’s spokeswoman, Lynn Becker, told Transport Topics on May 6 that the Senate will consider the measure when its session resumes on June 1.

“There hasn’t been a vote on this issue since the Staggers Rail Act of 1980,’’ Marty Durbin, vice president of federal affairs for the American Chemistry Council, told TT on May 7. “We consider it quite historic to actually make significant changes in freight rail policy. The current policy puts us in a position where the railroads are able to have monopoly-like power.”

The Staggers Act freed the railroads from major rate and service restrictions, allowing the industry to regain profitability that reached record levels over the past five years.

Railroads continue to staunchly oppose Kohl’s measure, which has been awaiting floor action since it was passed 14-0 by the Judiciary Committee in March.

The bill “would cause dual oversight of railroad activities, resulting in overlapping and conflicting regulation,” said Tom White, a spokesman for the Association of American Railroads. “Elements of rail labor have also come out strongly against the legislation because it would threaten the ability of the nation’s railroads to expand their networks and could threaten the jobs of railroad workers.”

Among the unions that side with AAR is the Transportation Communications International Union, which represents the industry’s clerical workers.

“Customers were promised two things in the Staggers Act: access to competition and protection from monopolistic practices,” said Robert Szabo, executive director of Consumers United for Rail Equity, known as CURE, whose members include the American Chemistry Council, as well as coal and grain shippers. “They have not gotten either.”

Szabo’s group has been attempting for more than two decades to change the competitive landscape, claiming that prices for shipping those bulk products typically are 50% higher when customers don’t have a choice of railroads.

Becker said Kohl is “cautiously optimistic” that the Senate will pass S. 146. A companion House bill has not moved yet.

Tim Lynch, senior vice president of American Trucking Associations, said ATA has not taken a position on Kohl’s bill, although he said that trucking has been subject to anti-trust rules for decades and that “the water is not that cold.”

Meanwhile, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and committee member Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) have signaled their intention to pursue legislative changes as well. Neither has introduced a bill in this congressional session, but they have asked the STB to postpone hearings on rail competition this month while they develop legislation.

Spokeswomen for both Rockefeller and the Commerce Committee declined additional comment. Chris Bender, Lautenberg’s spokesman, said the senator had been tied up with other rail issues relating to passenger trains and high-speed rail service, but he remained interested in freight matters.

Durbin, who described Kohl’s bill as “one step,” said it was up to Rockefeller’s committee to “get to the heart of the matter” by taking steps such as introducing rail competition where it doesn’t exist today and changing STB procedures to decide rate cases faster and more fairly.

AAR’s White said the group wouldn’t comment on any proposed legislation by Rockefeller.

“Our view is that railroads and shippers would both be best served by legislation that recognizes the need for a balanced and fair regulatory system and recognizes the enormous investments railroads must continue to make in order to expand rail capacity,” White said.

CURE’s Szabo said a particular sticking point was fourth-quarter rail profits that rose, despite an 8% decline in traffic.

“Increasing revenue from declining volumes of freight?” Szabo observed. “The answer is obvious: the railroads are exploiting their monopoly power . . . during the worst economic recession since the 1930s.”

White responded: “For most of last year, rail traffic remained at fairly high levels — within a couple of percentage points of 2007. As those declines have continued, it should be noted that almost all of the Class I railroads reported double-digit drops in earnings during the first quarter.”

[source - ttnews.com]

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