All News Entries

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

The February edition of the Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index (PCI) dipped 1.5 percent, following a 0.3 drop-off in January. This cumulative decline washed out a 1.8 percent gain in December, according to the report’s authors.

The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported today that its Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI) increased 0.9 percent in January, following a 1.5 percent gain in December and a 0.3 percent decline in November.

While heavy capital expenditures are nothing new for the freight railroad industry, a report released today by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) stated that United States-based freight railroads are planning to spend $12 billion in capital expenditures in 2011, following a $10.7 billion investment in 2010.

Despite harsh weather conditions throughout many parts of the country, rail volumes in February were up in February on a year-over-basis, according to data from the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Cherry Hill, New Jersey-based NFI, an asset-based third-party logistics (3PL) services provider said this week it has acquired World Warehouse and Distribution, a Champlain, NY-based 3PL and warehousing services provider with facilities in Champlain and Albany, NY and Montreal.

On the heels of a 14.3 cent weekly gain, diesel prices saw their single highest weekly increase since May 2008, with a 15.5 cent bump to $3.871 per gallon, according to data from the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Freight transportation services provider ABF said this week it has rolled out its RPM service to the western one-third of the United States.

Monday, March 07, 2011

Class I railroads received good news last week, when the Federal Railroad Administration and the Association of American Railroads reached a settlement regarding the guidelines of the Positive Train Control (PTC) regulatory mandate.

After two months of declining freight shipment levels, February showed some signs of growth, according to the most recent edition of the Cass Information Systems Freight Index.

Now that the first half 2011 prediction has been raised, the report is calling for 7.5 million TEU during that period, which would be a 9 percent gain over the first half of 2010. In 2010, the report said there was a total of 14.7 million TEU moved—a 16 percent gain over 2009, which was largely achieved due to 2009’s 12.7 million TEU serving as the lowest annual tally since 2003.