Check out last month’s new transportation updates in the shipping industry.
USDOT Gives $241 Million Ports to Boost Supply Chain
As part of Biden’s administration plan, the transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg is awarding over $241 million in grants to U.S. ports to help supply chain with infrastructure improvements to increase the flow of goods. These grants are immediately available to 25 projects in 19 states.
On December 23rd, Buttigieg said, “U.S. maritime ports play a critical role in our supply chains.” “These investments in our nation’s ports will help support American jobs, efficient and resilient operations, and faster delivery of goods to the American people.”
Buttigieg’s announcement helps build upon the Transportation Department’s recent moves, which decreases supply chain congestion. Buttigieg feels that allowing port authorities to redirect leftover money from grant projects will improve supply chain congestion.
New Louisiana Port Targets Moving Freight to Midwest
The Plaquemines Port Harbor and Terminal District, also known as the Louisiana Gateway Project, is a new port construction along the Mississippi River. The Louisiana Gateway Project sits on 5,500 acres 20 miles south of New Orleans.
The Plaquemines Port Harbor and Terminal District are being built to attract businesses from more extensive facilities traveling through the Panama Canal. This port will focus on its distribution model, designed to transfer cargo from large vessels onto smaller, faster ships that can reach upriver terminals in the south and Midwest in less than a week.
The executive director of Plaquemines Port Harbor said, “our value proposition is that we can save you money by going through the Panama Canal and coming to us, and we can deliver lower costs.”
Plaquemines Port Harbor project leaders expect a small portion of The Plaquemines Port Harbor to be fully operational by Spring of 2024 and plan to expand over the next ten years.
November Tonnage Hits Highest Mark Since Spring
Consumers are continuing to increase their spending in both brick-and-mortar stores and online. This spending has surged freight activity. AS a result, in November, The American Trucking Association announced that the truck tonnage posted the most substantial year-over-year gain since spring.
According to the American Trucking Association, the Truck Tonnage Index rose to 114.5 last month, a 2.5 percent increase compared to November of 2020. It is also 1.3 percent higher than October’s Tonnage Index, 113.
American Trucking Association Chief Economist Bob Costello said, “The index saw the largest gain from a year earlier since May. Costello also noted that “in November, strong factory output and housing starts helped push the index higher.” Despite those results, Costello says “that the index fell a total of 4.6 percent during the April through July stretch of this year, so not quite back to where we were last spring.”
We can expect to see an increase in Truck Tonnage in December with holiday shipping.
UPS to Buy $1.5 Billion of Boeing Freighters as Air Cargo Booms
UPS Inc. agrees to buy 19 Boeing Co. freighter jets with air-cargo booming. UPS Inc. plans to purchase the freighter jets between 2023 and 2025. According to Avitas, the planes UPS has agreed to buy have a combined value of $1.5 billion. As a result, the purchase of these freighter jets boosts the UPS fleet and adds to a record-breaking year for Boeing’s freighter sales.
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