Category: Uncategorized

The U.S. average retail price of diesel fuel fell 1.9 cents to $3.266 a gallon, following a .3 cent decline a week ago, according to the weekly report from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration on June 11. Despite the drop, diesel now costs 74.2 cents more per gallon than it did one year ago.

Diesel prices fell in all regions nationwide. In California it dropped 1.3 cents a gallon to $3.990 but the state remains the most expensive place in the country to buy the fuel. The price of diesel in California has gone up $1.084 in the past year. The East Coast saw diesel at $3.264 a gallon, down 1.8 cents for the week but up 69.5 cents over a year ago.

The West Coast is the second-most expensive place for diesel at $3.769 a gallon, down 1.5 cents in the past week but up 96.4 cents for the year. The Gulf Coast had the lowest price at $3.037 a gallon, down 1.8 cents a gallon for the week but up 66.9 cents in the past year, EIA reported.

 

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U.S. coal production has been steadily declining. It is barely half of what it was just ten years ago. While a shift toward cleaner burning fuels has definitely played a role, the more likely economic driver has been the cheap cost of natural gas with the proliferation of shale gas drilling, according to Stifel’s maritime industry update released today. In fact, coal consumption for power generation in the U.S. continues its domestic downward trend. It’s down over 10% for the first half of 2018 over 2017.

The Trump administration has made big promises for the restoration of coal production, but unfortunately for legislators, it is not regulation alone that has been causing production declines, and it is hard for a capitalistic country to completely diverge from capitalism. However, while domestic consumption continues to fall, there has been a sharp increase in exports as oil and natural gas prices internationally are on the rise, making the economics of coal-fired power generation more compelling, and thus drawing out more U.S.-based production.

U.S. coal exports totaled 10.1 million metric tons in April, the highest monthly total since March 2013, according to new U.S. Census data. For the first half of the year thus far, coal exports are up nearly 24% over the same period last year. Ultimately, U.S. coal exports make up only about 7% of global coal trade, and are dwarfed by regions like Australia, South Africa, and Indonesia. However, with 80% of global coal exports headed to Asia, the ton-mile impact on shipping from a rise in U.S. export has real significance.

At the same time, grain is finding an unexpected home. Just two months ago, FreightWaves reported on the historic lows the price of wheat was seeing, falling spectacularly by 36% over the past three years, plunging beneath the break-even point for wheat production in the U.S., to an unsustainable rate for local cultivators. This led to a near century record low in wheat production. Exports were also frustrated by both tariffs and an abundant Russian grain harvest.

 

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Freightliner Trucks introduced the first all-electric versions of its heavy-duty Cascadia and medium-duty M2 models here, a major step toward bringing a full lineup of electric trucks to the North American market.

The first-generation eCascadia and eM2 test vehicles were unveiled here June 6 at the Portland International Raceway during Daimler Trucks’ capital market and technology day.

Freightliner plans to deliver 30 of the trucks to customers later this year. This “electric innovation fleet” will further test the vehicles in real-world operations, the company said.

The manufacturer intends to begin series production of the two models in 2021.

The Class 8 eCascadia, which offers 730 peak horsepower and a maximum range of up to 250 miles on a single charge, is designed for local and regional distribution and drayage operations. The vehicle can charge up to 80% in about 90 minutes, the company said.

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The U.S. trade deficit narrowed to the lowest level since September as exports rose to a record, amid Trump administration tariffs and trade threats that risk hurting global commerce.

The gap decreased 2.1% in April to $46.2 billion, from a revised $47.2 billion in the prior month, Commerce Department data showed June 6. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for an April trade deficit of $49 billion. Exports ticked up while imports fell slightly, according to the report.

President Donald Trump’s tariffs on imported steel and aluminum have showed signs of pushing up prices while disrupting some businesses, though they haven’t yet weighed on broader U.S. economic growth. This month’s extension of the metals levies to allies including Canada and Europe, along with plans for tariffs on additional Chinese goods, risk a wider trade war.

 

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The Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) announced that they will begin their controversial truck-only tolling program in the southern part of the state in less than a week.

Starting on Monday, June 11, Rhode Island will begin to toll trucks at two locations along I-95 between Hopkinton and Exeter.

The first toll location is 1 mile north of Exit 2 (Hopkinton/Hope Valley). Tractor trailer drivers will pay a $3.25 toll at this location.

The second toll location is at 3 miles south of Exit 5 (Route 102). Truck drivers will pay a $3.50 toll at this location.

The tolls will be capped. From RIDOT: “Tolls will be limited to once per toll facility, per day in each direction. Toll rates will be limited along the I-95 corridor at $20 for a border-to-border trip from Connecticut to Massachusetts. There also is a daily maximum toll of $40 per tractor trailer regardless of the number of toll gantries passed. All caps require the use of a radio identification transponder (such as E-ZPass).”

Additional locations will begin tolling trucks throughout the next 18 months.

Only Class 8 or higher trucks will be tolled.

Rhode Island transportation officials say that they will only be tolling trucks because they believe that trucks are causing the most damage to the state’s bridges and roadways. RIDOT says that the revenue generated by the tolls will be used for infrastructure repair.

 

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Though the technology of blockchain has been in the spotlight over the last few years, it can be argued that to many businesses it still is an enigma – a tech jargon expected to have overarching benefits, but hard to figure out nonetheless. The trouble lies in figuring out an exact process through which blockchain could be adopted without causing a splash in the organizational setup in place.

A recent SAP study showed that 92% of all its survey respondents held a favorable view towards blockchain, but a measly 3% of them were actually using blockchain in production today. The gap between the ‘interested’ and the ‘doers’ is ostensible, and to bridge the divide requires a precise definition of the value blockchain could bring to a business – possibly in terms of growth, visibility, and transparency.

In light of this, SAP announced today that it plans to expand its SAP Leonardo Blockchain solutions to create immediate business value for its customers. “When it comes to blockchain, there are a few things to consider. One is technology, which helps us to create blockchain related applications. The other thing that we need to consider, and what is often overlooked, is the existing co-application that the company already has,” said Torsten Zube, VP and Head of Blockchain at SAP. “It doesn’t make sense to create something when the company has existing processes, applications and solutions already in place.”

 

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Ocean shipping amounts to 80% of the global physical trade, and contributes to 2% of the total CO2 emissions from fuel consumption every year. Fuel costs account for half of the total maritime operating costs, making the sector the single largest stakeholder concerned with fuel price inflation, which has been seeing a steady rise from last July.

The situation behind the fuel price rise is quite relatable to trickle down economics – while the shipping industry is in the direct line of fire, the end consumers would eventually feel the heat as a large part of what they consume has been on a deck at one point – finished product or otherwise.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) had introduced Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) in 2013, as a measure to reduce the CO2 emissions from the industry. Though shipping remains the most efficient form of commercial transport for every tonne of cargo being hauled, the industry is so massive that it produces more than a billion tonnes of CO2 every year. Wilting to global concerns, the IMO had instructed shipping lines to reduce their CO2 emissions gradually over a space of a decade, by mandating a 1% annual improvement in the efficiency of fleets between 2015 to 2025.

On top of this arrives the new global sulfur cap regulation that comes into effect in 2020. As per the standard, fleets would be required to limit the sulfur content in their fuel to 0.5%  which could have far-reaching consequences, as this move would force fleets to seek better alternatives for fuels.

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TORONTO—Train conductors and engineers went on strike at Canadian Pacific Railway late Tuesday night, stranding large volumes of commodities and manufactured goods that are shipped across North America by the country’s second-largest railroad.

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Last month marked the busiest April ever for the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA), with the Port of Savannah moving 356,700 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) for the month.

That figure marked a 7.1 percent increase over April 2017. So far this fiscal year, GPA has moved more than 3.4 million TEUs total, an 8.8 percent increase over the first 10 months of FY2017.

“We’re on track to move more than 300,000 TEUs in every month of the fiscal year, which will be a first for the authority,” said GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch in a press release. “We’re also anticipating this to be the first fiscal year for the Port of Savannah to handle more than 4 million TEUs.”

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If you browse online forums for owner operators and independent truck drivers, you’ll see the idea of a nationwide work stoppage or strike bandied about as a scorched-earth solution for everything from shippers’ detention practices and low trucking rates to the ELD mandate itself. Despite rumors, threats, and a laundry list of grievances, a general strike has never materialized among American owner-ops.

Things are different in Brazil. That country is now 11 days into a nationwide strike by its self-employed drivers over out-of-control diesel fuel prices. The controversy over diesel prices has its roots in the 2016 political crisis that saw President Dilma Rousseff impeached and removed from office. President Rousseff went down over her involvement in a wide-ranging corruption scandal at Petrobras, the semi-public Brazilian state oil company. Rousseff was on the Petrobras board of directors when it came out that Petrobras executives colluded to overpay for construction and other services in return for bribes; in her capacity as President, Rousseff changed policy to allow for plea deals for the executives caught up in Operation Car Wash, the law enforcement initiative that uncovered the scheme.

 

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