Transportation: Page 470

Delivery App Postmates Raises Another $140 Million in Funding

The new infusion of capital will mostly be used to improve engineering and expand into new markets as Postmates re-emphasizes their efforts to compete with Amazon Prime.

About 6,000 merchants pay for better placement on the app and to be featured in the Postmates Plus Unlimited program, which encourages members to place larger orders in lieu of delivery charges.

Ocean Ports & Carriers

Joint Georgia-South Carolina Port Project Reaches First Milestone

Georgia Ports Authority

The idea is to have the first phase of the new terminal operating in a decade when container capacity at the ports in both Charleston and Savannah begins running out.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has issued a public notice that it plans to prepare a draft environmental impact statement on the proposed terminal in Jasper County on the South Carolina side of the river.

Pepsi to Invest $16.5 Million on New DC in North Carolina

The St. Pauls, N.C., site was chosen from seven options in two states and will consolidate six different distribution centers into the new facility.

Governor Pat McCrory, North Carolina Commerce Secretary John E. Skvarla, III, and the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina (EDPNC) announced that Pepsi Bottling Ventures LLC will create 50 jobs over the next five years at a new $16.5 million distribution center in Robeson County.

Japan's Three Largest Shippers to Merge Container Operations

Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha and Mitsui O.S.K. will combine their container operations to create a business worth about 300 billion yen, or $2.9 billion.

The three companies said they expected combining their fleets to save about ¥110 billion per year. The deal is expected to be complete by July 1, with operations beginning in April 2018. The companies’ bulk-shipping lines, which transport cargo like grain and iron ore, will remain independent.

Canada's TransForce Acquires XPO Logistics' Truckload Business for $558 Million

The deal transfers about 3,000 tractors, 7,500 trailers and 29 locations to TransForce, which is Canada’s largest trucking company and has expressed interest in expanding its U.S. truckload business.

XPO Logistics Truck 58135c423c916

Ocean Ports & Carriers

Maritime Administration Awards $4.85 Million in Grants to Upgrade River Freight Options

Short-sea shipping mode has been hard to jumpstart without government subsidies because most shippers have been reluctant to sacrifice speedier transit times and the lack of dedicated port infrastructure for transfer of containers from trucks to barges.

The U.S. Maritime Administration has announced grants aimed to support five initiatives designed to transport freight on rivers to help relieve congestion on highways and reduce diesel pollution from trucks.

Material Handling Equipment

Featured in Food Logistics: How the Internet of Things Transforms TMS

“We’re transforming from a world where only a select handful of people have sophisticated intelligent technology. Now everybody has it,” says Abtin Hamidi, co-founder and executive vice president of Cargo Chief.

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Carbon Footprint

EPA, DOT Finalize Phase Two Greenhouse Gas and Fuel Efficiency Standards for Heavy-Duty Trucks

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

New standards address second-largest segment of U.S. transportation in terms of emissions and energy use.

The final standards are expected to lower CO2 emissions by approximately 1.1 billion metric tons, save vehicle owners fuel costs of about $170 billion, and reduce oil consumption by up to two billion barrels over the lifetime of the vehicles sold under the program.

Maryland Governor Pitches Plan to Deepen Howard Street Tunnel at Port of Baltimore

Although the newly deepened port of Baltimore is one of just a handful that can accommodate giant ships moving through the newly widened Panama Canal, the Howard Street Tunnel bottleneck limits how quickly cargo can move through the port.

The tunnel, dug in the 1890s, was built to accommodate trains of that era. It does not have enough clearance to allow the passage of double-stacked freight containers, so cargo coming out of the port moves at half the pace that it can leave other facilities.

Software Solutions

Survey Reveals Fleets Aren't Monitoring OBC Data to Identify Cost Savings

Fleet Advantage, LLC

While 70 percent of industry professionals regularly monitor onboard computer (OBC) data for driver logs and dispatching, only 6 percent utilize it to gain insight on fuel consumption.

The survey also revealed that 33% of respondents cannot quantify operational savings using OBC reporting.

Otto and Budweiser Deliver First Shipment by Self-Driving Truck

Otto shipped a truckload of Budweiser from Fort Collins, Colo., to Colorado Springs last Thursday with the driver monitoring from the truck's sleeper berth for the entire two-hour journey.

Transportation experts predict the earliest applications of autonomous technology will be in self-driving trucks, not cars. The technology is best suited to the relative predictability of long hauls on highways, rather than busy city streets with many distractions.

Ocean Ports & Carriers

Egypt Changing Suez Canal Toll Payments to Compete with Panama Canal

Under the proposed early payment plan, Maersk Line, Mediterranean Shipping Co. and CMA CGM would receive a discount, potentially making the Suez route more attractive route than the Panama Canal.

Talks with Maersk, Geneva-based Mediterranean Shipping Co. (above) and France's CMA CGM were going well and an agreement to come into effect at the start of 2017 might be reached as early as next week

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