01 Feb Consumer Comfort Highest Since 2001 on Optimism for Economy U.S. consumer confidence, along with a measure of Americans’ views of the economy, advanced last week to the highest levels in nearly 17 years, the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index showed Feb. 1. Read more...
01 Feb Truck Driver Shortage Slows Operations at World’s Largest Newsprint Maker For the world’s largest newsprint maker, there simply are not enough truck drivers to move its goods. Read more...
01 Feb House Panel Schedules Hearing on Positive Train Control The status of automatic braking technology implementation will headline a Feb. 15 hearing of the Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee in the House, the panel’s chairman announced. Read more...
01 Feb How Autonomous Trucks Could Lead to More Driving Jobs, Not Fewer Self-driving truck developer Uber Technologies Inc. predicts that transfer hubs for longhaul autonomous trucks will increase demand for local drivers, countering perceptions that automation will lead to widespread job losses in trucking. Read more...
01 Feb Roadrunner Releases Financials Through 2016 One year after withdrawing its financial statements dating to 2011, Roadrunner Transportation Systems Inc. on Jan. 31 took a major step forward by releasing amended results through 2016. Read more...
01 Feb How Autonomous Trucks Could Result in More Driving Jobs, Not Fewer Self-driving truck developer Uber Technologies Inc. predicts that transfer hubs for longhaul autonomous trucks will increase demand for local drivers, countering perceptions that automation will lead to widespread job losses in trucking. Read more...
01 Feb Daimler Expects Heavy Spending on New Tech as Industry Shifts to Autonomous Driving German automaker Daimler made lots of money last year. That’s a good thing, because the company says it will need to spend heavily this year to keep up with the technological change expected to disrupt the car industry. Read more...
01 Feb Transportation Stakeholders Curious About Trump Infrastructure Package Much of the transportation community — freight and business executives, the construction sector, local leaders and experts — said President Donald Trump’s call for a $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill that also would streamline project permitting to two years during his State of the Union address left them with more questions than answers, particularly on the matter of funding. Read more...
01 Feb Industrial Vacancy Rates Fall to All-Time Low, Rents Rise The vacancy rate in 2017’s fourth quarter for industrial space in the United States fell to an all-time low of 5%, down from 5.2% in the previous quarter, according to JLL, a research arm of real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle. But industrial space is even more precious in top logistics markets like Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, where vacancy rates have fallen below 3%. Read more...
01 Feb Port Houston Sets Record for Container Volume in 2017 Port Houston broke its record for container traffic in a year due to strength in the transportation of steel, wind energy equipment and automobiles, according to the port authority, which also is confident the numbers will grow with the plastin resin boom in the Gulf Coast. Read more...