Chris Spear Archives - Maritime Shipping News

Countdown starts for hydrogen-powered trucks?

15 February 2023

WASHINGTON — The use of hydrogen fuel cells to power electric trucks was prominently featured in a debate in the U.S. Senate over how to formulate a national low-carbon fuel standard.

Much of the discussion, which kicked off the Environmental and Public Works Committee’s first hearing of the new Congress on Wednesday, centered on not whether hydrogen fuel cells and other clean fuels should be part of reducing green-house gas (GHG) emissions but how aggressive a national standard timeline should...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/countdown-starts-for-hydrogen-powered-trucks

Rush-hour truck speeds slow to 36.3 mph at major bottlenecks

8 February 2023

Truck drivers waited 6% longer on average in 2022 while driving through the nation’s most congested sections of highway at rush hour, according to the latest data compiled by the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI).

Average peak-hour speeds were clocked at 36.3 mph at the top 100 freight bottlenecks, ATRI found, compared with 38.6 mph in 2021. The decrease follows an 11% drop in average speeds between 2020 and 2021.

The intersection of Interstate 95 and state Route 4 in Fort Lee,...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/rush-hour-truck-speeds-slow-to-363-mph-at-major-bottlenecks

Transportation industry representatives attack infrastructure law rollout

1 February 2023

WASHINGTON — Transportation officials representing trucking, rail and seaports took aim at priorities touted by Democrats over the past two years — including the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) — at the opening hearing of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Wednesday.

They took their cue from the committee’s Republicans, who now lead the 65-member panel after Republicans took control of the House in January.

“Although I did not support the IIJA, I...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/transportation-industry-representatives-attack-infrastructure-law-rollout

Trucking industry worried after EPA issues final rule on NOx emissions

21 December 2022

The Environmental Protection Agency made good on its promise to issue a final rule on heavy-duty truck tailpipe emissions by the end of the year, but the first take on the rule from engine manufacturers and trucking organizations is that compliance will be difficult.

The agency earlier this year proposed two options for drastically reducing nitrous oxide (NOx) emissions: a two-step process with standards getting progressively tighter in model years (MY) 2027 and 2031, or a one-step standard in...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/trucking-industry-worried-after-epa-issues-final-rule-on-nox-emissions

El tribunal falla contra el programa de peaje exclusivo para camiones de Rhode Island

21 September 2022

Un juez federal ha dictaminado que el programa de peaje “RhodeWorks” de Rhode Island para pagar la mejora de los puentes de las autopistas de todo el estado discrimina a los camiones pesados y ha ordenado al estado que deje de cobrar a los camioneros con este sistema.

“Rhode Island tiene un interés legítimo -incluso imperioso- en el mantenimiento de sus puentes en mal estado”, escribió el juez del Tribunal Federal de Distrito de Rhode Island William Smith en una orden dictada el miércoles.

“Pero...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/el-tribunal-falla-contra-el-programa-de-peaje-exclusivo-para-camiones-de-rhode-island

Court rules against Rhode Island’s truck-only toll program

21 September 2022

A federal judge has ruled that Rhode Island’s truck-only “RhodeWorks” tolling program to pay for upgrading highway bridges across the state discriminates against heavy trucks and ordered the state to stop charging truckers under the system.

“Rhode Island has a legitimate — even compelling — interest in the maintenance of its ailing bridges,” wrote Rhode Island Federal District Court Judge William Smith in an order handed down Wednesday.

“But there is no reason that interest cannot be served by a...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/court-rules-against-truck-only-tolling-in-rhode-island

FMCSA’s Hutcheson commits to allowing hair-based drug testing of truckers

8 June 2022

FMCSA Acting Administrator Karen Hutcheson

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration chief Robin Hutcheson testified Wednesday her agency is committed to closing what some in the trucking industry believe are major loopholes in the FMCSA’s oversight of testing truck drivers for drug use.

“We are working with [the Department of] Health and Human Services; they are completing a study and when it is complete we stand ready to implement their recommendations,” Hutcheson told Senate Commerce Committee lawmakers at her nomination hearing to...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/fmcsas-hutcheson-commits-to-allowing-hair-based-drug-testing-of-truckersnbsp

OSHA plans ‘enforcement discretion’ after court reinstates vax mandate

18 December 2021

Trucking companies and other private businesses covered by the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine and testing mandate have been given a small amount of compliance breathing room by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) after a federal appeals court reinstated the rule.

In a decision issued late Friday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit voted 2-1 to grant a motion by OSHA to lift a stay of the vaccine-or-test Emergency Temporary...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/osha-plans-enforcement-discretion-after-court-reinstates-vax-mandate

Holmes-Norton eyes House T&I committee top spot

1 December 2021

The chair of the highway subcommittee of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee wants to lead the full committee now that House T&I Chairman Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., has announced he will not seek reelection in 2022.

Eleanor Holmes-Norton, who was elected to Congress in 1991 as the delegate to the District of Columbia, said she will run for chair or ranking member (if Republicans gain control of the House) of the T&I committee for the 118th Congress. Norton is...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/holmes-norton-eyes-house-ti-committee-top-spot

California lawmakers seek supply chain ‘state of emergency’

18 November 2021

Federal lawmakers from California are pressuring Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency and suspend or eliminate regulations to deal with a supply chain crisis they say has no letup in sight.

In a letter sent Wednesday to Newsom, a Democrat, eight U.S. representatives — all Republican — said that while President Joe Biden’s recent call for 24/7 operations at California ports is a “step in the right direction,” more than 100 ships are still anchored off the ports of Los Angeles and...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/california-lawmakers-seek-supply-chain-state-of-emergency

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