COVID-19 relief

FMCSA extends 50-state hours-of-service waiver through Oct. 15

Truck driver electronic logging device.

A 50-state waiver that has provided work-rule flexibility for commercial truck drivers and carriers for over 29 months will remain in place for another six weeks.

The emergency declaration first issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on March 13, 2020, and set to expire Wednesday has been extended through Oct. 15, according to a notice posted by the agency.

The extension is warranted, according to FMCSA, “because the presidentially declared emergency remains in place,...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/fmcsa-extends-50-state-hours-of-service-waiver-through-oct-15

Feds release $200 million in COVID money for timber haulers

Timber haulers who took a hit from the COVID-19 pandemic are eligible for up to $125,000 from a pot of $200 million made available by the federal government.

The funding package announced this week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture – authorized as part of the pandemic relief bill passed in December 2020 – is aimed at giving relief to both loggers and truckers as part of USDA’s Pandemic Assistance for Timber Harvesters and Haulers program. The program is being administered by the department’s...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/feds-release-200-million-in-covid-money-for-timber-haulers

Airlines, pilots plead for more federal aid to retain workers

A small white and blue jet on the tarmac with a yellow jet in the background.

U.S. airlines collectively hope to reach a breakeven point by the end of the year, but even with public aid and severe austerity measures, barring another round of grants, their precarious condition means they won’t be able to retain thousands of employees needed to scale operations when the economy picks up, industry officials said Tuesday.

Domestic carriers are currently burning an estimated $150 million of cash per day, with analysts projecting negative cash flow of $90 million per day in the...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/airlines-pilots-plead-for-more-federal-aid-to-retain-workers

Maritime sector nervous about chances for COVID-19 relief

U.S. ports and terminal operators hope a last-ditch effort on Capitol Hill will send emergency funding their way as lawmakers put the final touches on the next COVID-19 relief package.

Such relief has so far eluded the maritime sector, which has been frustrated watching other transportation modes such as public transit and the airlines get billions of dollars from the previous two COVID-19 relief bills signed during the Trump administration.

“The port industry has yet to receive any relief in...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/maritime-sector-nervous-about-chances-for-covid-19-relief

Ports press Congress, Biden for emergency funds

A coalition of 37 maritime industry groups is asking Congress and President Joe Biden to fund a new relief program to strengthen an industry weakened by the effects of COVID-19.

“Despite container surges at several large ports, commercial cargo volumes have plummeted across the industry — total waterborne trade volume is down 5.5% compared to last year, while the value of this trade has crashed by 12.7% totaling $200 billion,” the groups, which included the American Association of Port...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/ports-press-congress-biden-for-emergency-funds

Senator will push Biden, Buttigieg for vaccine priority for food haulers

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., plans to push President Biden and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to prioritize vaccines for food product haulers.

“I plan on asking President Biden, and hopefully a [DOT] Secretary [Pete] Buttigieg, what they are going to do to help prioritize vaccines to those critical transportation workers who are moving food product,” Cantwell said Wednesday during an executive session meeting of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation....

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/senator-will-push-biden-buttigieg-for-vaccine-priority-for-food-haulers

Airlines ask Biden-Buttigieg DOT to focus on COVID recovery

Line of planes in queue on taxiway wait to takeoff.

U.S. airlines, casting themselves as a vital cog in the economic recovery from the pandemic, appealed Monday to the incoming Biden administration for more flexible, risk-based COVID measures that will enable the safe revival of air travel and with it the revenues necessary to survive.

In a letter to Transportation Secretary-designate Pete Buttigieg obtained by FreightWaves, the Airlines for America (A4A) warned that some carriers, and thousands of their workers, may not be around to transport...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/airlines-ask-biden-buttigieg-dot-to-focus-on-covid-recovery

Can Joe Biden get infrastructure done in 2021?

Next month before a joint session of Congress, President-elect Joe Biden plans to lay out his Build Back Better recovery plan that he claims will make “historic” investments in infrastructure.

“It’s time to stop talking about infrastructure and finally start building infrastructure,” Biden said while unveiling his $1.9 trillion COVID relief plan Thursday.

“Millions of good-paying jobs putting Americans to work rebuilding our roads, our bridges, our ports to make them more climate resilient, to...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/can-joe-biden-get-infrastructure-done-in-2021

What transportation can expect from Biden’s first 100 days

Policies addressing climate change, civil rights and equity will be linked with transportation policy like never before by the incoming presidential administration, according to policy experts in Washington.

Even before Pete Buttigieg was nominated by President-elect Joe Biden on Dec. 15 to be the next secretary of transportation, it was made clear during the presidential campaign that climate change and civil rights would be a major focus of the next administration. During his nomination...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/what-transportation-can-expect-from-bidens-first-100-days

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