The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee last month approved legislation (S. 357) that would, for the first time, mandate fuel economy improvements in medium- and heavy-duty commercial trucks. Under the bill, fuel economy regulation for large trucks would kick in beginning in the middle of the next decade. Average fuel economy would be required to rise by at least 4 percent a year. S. 357 still must be considered by the full Senate. The House has not yet acted on similar legislation.
Trucks entering the United States from Mexico though all land border ports in California, New Mexico and Texas now must transmit cargo information electronically through U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Soft enforcement will continue through June 19. After that date, carriers that don’t file electronically can be refused entry into the United States or incur penalties of up to $10,000. For more information, go to this site.
Freight Transportation Services Index rose 1.3 percent in March from the February level, rising after two monthly declines, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of transportation Statistics reported. The rise was the largest monthly increase since May 2006. The March freight index of 109.1 was down 1.4 percent from its March 2006 level. Year-to-date, the freight index has climbed 0.6 percent.
California Air Resources Board asked the American Trucking Associations to gauge the preparedness of trucking operations for the state’s new idling law that takes effect Jan. 1, 2008. As of the date, the state’s five-minute idling limit will no longer exempt idling for the purpose of achieving mandatory rest in a sleeper. To take a survey on the matter, go to this site.
Container shipping into the United States rose 37 percent to almost 26 million containers from 2000 to 2005, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported. More than half – 15 million units – came from Canada and Mexico by truck or rail. The BTS report, “America’s Container Ports: Delivering the Goods,” is at this site.
PierPass says its OffPeak program has diverted more than five million truck trips from peak daytime traffic at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach since the program’s start in July 2005. Shippers moving containers at the two ports during peak daytime hours must pay a traffic mitigation fee, which helps fund five new nighttime and weekend shifts per week.
The Department of Transportation on April 30 announced that it would move ahead with a demonstration project that would allow a limited number of Mexican carriers to operate throughout the United States, but the House last month passed legislation (H.R. 1773) that would delay the expansion by throwing up numerous procedural hurdles. Unless Congress blocks the program through legislation or a limitation on funding, DOT is expected to move ahead with it in July. And the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, the Teamsters Union, the Sierra Club, Public Citizen and the Environmental Law Foundation filed suit April 23 to block the project from going forward, citing procedural objections.
