Transportation: Page 495

U.S. Lawmakers Pass Bill To Reduce Ports Backlog

According to AAPA President and CEO Kurt Nagle, among the most important aspects of this legislation is that it puts WRDA back on an every-two-year cycle, avoiding a backlog of projects and adopting policy changes to make the system work more efficiently.

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Lawmakers Maintain Provision For 34-Hour Driver Restart Period

Before approving the bill, lawmakers rejected, by a vote of 19-28, a bid by Rep. David Price (D-N.C.) to remove several policy riders he considers to be poison pills from the measure.

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Oil Price Reaches 7-Month High

Oil prices have rallied in recent weeks as a string of outages, due in part to wildfires in Canada and unrest in Nigeria and Libya, knocked out nearly 4 million barrels per day of production.

Above $50 a barrel, oil was seen by many market players as breaching a psychological barrier that could lead producers, particularly among U.S. shale companies, to revive operations scrapped in recent years.

US Foods Inc. Raises $1.02 Billion In Public Offering

US Foods Holding Corp., the parent company of US Foods, Inc., announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 44,444,444 shares of common stock at an initial public offering price of $23.00 per share for a total offering size of $1,022,222,212.

US Foods Holding Corp., the parent company of US Foods, Inc., the Rosemont, Ill.-based nationwide foodservice distributor, has filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) relating to a proposed initial public offering of its common stock.

China Approves CMA CGM Acquisition Of Neptune Orient Lines

The takeover offer worth $2.4 billion marks CMA CGM's biggest acquisition and comes as container lines seek to cope with a severe market downturn through greater scale.

CMA CGM has made a preliminary offer for Neptune Orient and is conducting due diligence, though it hasn’t been granted exclusivity, while discussions with Maersk are less advanced, people with knowledge of the matter said before Neptune Orient’s announcement.

Load/Truck Ratios, Fuel Prices Rise; Spot Rates Next

DAT Freight & Analytics

The load-to-truck ratio is a sensitive, real-time indicator of the balance between spot market demand and capacity. Changes in the ratio often signal impending changes in rates.

Load-to-truck ratios increased and diesel prices have been rising sharply—an indication that spot rates may pick up soon.

Coca-Cola Enterprises Shareholders Approve Transaction Creating World’s Largest Independent Bottler

Coca-Cola Company

After the closing of the transaction, Coca-Cola European Partners will be the world’s largest independent Coca-Cola bottler based on net sales.

Muhtar Kent, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Coca-Cola Company, Sol Daurella, Executive Chairwoman of Coca-Cola Iberian Partners and John Brock, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc. toast the creation of Coca-Cola European Partners.

Rail & Intermodal

Cargo Railways Battle Amtrak Over Right To Go First

In December, the U.S. Surface Transportation Board said it is reviewing the existing rule and signaled that it is open to changing the current state of play.

For more than 40 years, Amtrak says it has had the right to go first under law, meaning freight railroads have to pull over their trains whenever possible to let a passenger train pass or hold their trains in a station to prioritize an Amtrak departure, except in emergencies.

Chilled Cargo Facility Coming To Port Of Savannah

Georgia Ports Authority

PortFresh Logistics has announced plans to build a 100,000 square-foot cold treatment facility dedicated to perishable cargoes imported through the Port of Savannah.

PortFresh’s state-of-the-art cold storage facility, on 20 acres of a 182-acre site, is specifically designed to allow multiple climate zones. Engineered to maintain cold chain integrity, the facility will ensure delivery of the freshest and safest produce from the port to the customer.

Ocean Ports & Carriers

International Maritime Organization Calls For 3-Month Grace Period On Container Weight Enforcement

International Maritime Organization (IMO)

The IMO Safety Committee said in a statement Monday that government agencies should postpone enforcement of the requirement that shippers verify the weight of containers to give operators more time to put together the systems needed to meet the mandate.

The Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has approved mandatory requirements for ships to record and report their fuel consumption.

Ocean Ports & Carriers

Six U.S. Ports Team With 19 Container Lines On Container Weight Rule

Five of the six operating ports that have signed on to the agreement have laid out their guidance for export shippers using their facilities.

The Port of New Orleans container yards stay busy year round.

US Foods To Acquire Produce Processor/Distributor Freshway Foods

The transaction is expected to close on June 10, 2016.

Freshway Foods provides value-added fresh-cut produce that includes the cutting, cleaning, chopping and packaging of raw produce resulting in a product that can be customized to meet any customer’s preferences and delivered ready for immediate use.

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