Employers: Still time for East Coast port deal

Facing a dire countdown to the first dock strike in decades, employers at East and Gulf Coast ports say a new contract is still within reach, and publicly called for the International Longshoremen’s Association to return to contract talks.

“There has been no further progress on Master Contract negotiations – we remain committed to the bargaining process and need the ILA to return to the table,” the United States Maritime Exchange (USMX) said in a brief statement Friday.

The ILA, with the current...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/employers-still-time-for-east-coast-port-deal

Buttigieg: Rescheduling pot will not affect trucker drug testing

WASHINGTON — U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg pushed back on assertions that federal regulators could lose the ability to test truck drivers for marijuana use if the drug is deregulated down to a Schedule III substance.

Responding to that concern from lawmakers at a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing on Thursday — and to the concerns of the American Trucking Associations — Buttigieg testified that if the Biden administration’s marijuana rescheduling rulemaking...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/buttigieg-rescheduling-pot-will-not-affect-trucker-drug-testing

US senator proposes $125M in grants to reroute container ships

Lawmakers in both chambers of Congress have introduced legislation aimed at compensating vessel owners that want to divert ships from the U.S. West Coast to less-congested Gulf and East Coast ports.

The Supply Chain Emergency Response Act, introduced this week by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., redirects $125 million of unspent money from the CARES Act to help owners of vessels currently anchored off the U.S. West Coast to transit through the Panama Canal and dock at...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/us-senator-proposes-125m-in-grants-to-reroute-container-ships

DCLI expands chassis fleet in US Gulf region

Direct ChassisLink (DCLI) said it has recently added 1,000 new chassis to its proprietary pool in the U.S. Gulf region.

DCLI has been adding these chassis to its pool in Houston since March. However, the company said it expects the equipment to support container draymen and shippers throughout the Gulf.

The company added the chassis to the Gulf region after its departure earlier this year from the Ocean Carrier Equipment Management Association’s (OCEMA) Gulf Consolidated Chassis Pool (GCCP),...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/dcli-expands-chassis-fleet-in-us-gulf

Project cargoes keep AAL’s ships calling US Gulf ports

Project cargoes may not be the fastest movers on the high seas, but they have proved much less volatile than the U.S. container trades during the coronavirus pandemic.

Christophe Grammare, commercial director, AAL Shipping (Photo: Courtesy)

Singapore-based AAL Shipping, one of the world’s largest marine project cargo carriers with 25 vessels, has witnessed a steady increase in ship sailings involving the transport of large capital equipment from Asia to U.S. ports during the first half of 2020....

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/project-cargoes-keep-aals-ships-calling-us-gulf-ports