Special U.S. House Panel on Freight Transportation Meets Today

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Panel on 21st Century Freight Transportation, chaired by Rep. John J. Duncan, Jr. (R-TN), will hold a roundtable meeting on today to examine what efforts the Department of Transportation and the Army Corps of Engineers have made to coordinate freight transportation policy, and what challenges exist for greater coordination amongst federal departments and agencies.

The roundtable policy discussion on “Coordinating Federal Efforts to Improve Freight Transportation” is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. in room 2253 of the Rayburn House Office Building. 

Deputy Secretary of Transportation John D. Porcari and Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) Jo-Ellen Darcy will join members of the freight panel for Wednesday’s discussion.

Committee rules allow the chairman to designate special panels to inquire into any matter within the Committee’s jurisdiction.  The Panel on 21st Century Freight Transportation, which held its first hearing on April 24, is tasked with making recommendations to the Committee for improving U.S. freight transportation, which may then be considered for future legislation.

U.S. Maritime Administrator Resigns

Yesterday the Administrator of the U.S. Maritime Administration, David Matsuda, announced his resignation.  Matsuda will be replaced, on an acting basis, by Deputy Administrator Chip Jaenichen.

In his three years as the Obama administration's Maritime Administrator Matsuda had an often fractious relationship with U.S. maritime labor.  In fact, in November of 2011 maritime labor organizations including the International Organization of Masters, Mates and Pilots (MMP); the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association (MEBA); the Seafarers International Union (SIU) and the American Maritime Officers (AMO) called for Matsuda's resignation.

Matsuda, a former congressional staffer, plans to leave his current post at the end of May. He made no mention of his future plans in his resignation announcement.

This Week's Poll Question

U.S. Great Lakes Wheat Exports Surge

According to figures released yesterday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service, inspection tonnages for wheat exports at U.S. Great Lakes ports are 478 percent greater than they were at the same last year.

The Great Lakes export inspection tonnage level reflects a higher increase over 2012 than that of any other port range in the United States.  Nationwide wheat export inspection tonnages are currently 15 percent greater than they were last year at this time.  Export inspection tonnages at Atlantic (238 percent) , Mississippi Gulf (46 percent), and Texas Gulf (34 percent) ports are all running ahead of last year's levels. 

Export inspection tonnages are running lower in the Pacific Northwest (-8 percent) and ports in the nation's Interior (-29 percent).

The surge in Great Lakes export volumes for this spring is attributable, in part, to depressed tonnage figures for 2012 due to last year's drought conditions and predictions for lower crop yields and higher prices which caused farmers to hold on to inventory for higher prices rather than sell in the spring. 

This year the opposite situation may be occurring.  High soil moisture content and mild weather have raised hopes for a large U.S. wheat crop this year that is likely to result in lower prices in the future.  

Great Lakes-Seaway News Sets New Readership Records

Last month Great Lakes-Seaway News, the most widely-read publication focusing on the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence maritime industry, set new monthly readership records in two of the three most important measures of readership for on-line publications of its kind.

In April Great Lakes-Seaway News set a new record in terms of the total number of unique readers, barely edging the previous record set in March by one-tenth of one percent.

By contrast, the total number of page-reads of Great Lakes-Seaway News in April was more than 13.7 percent greater than the previous high-water mark also set the month before.

The total number of hits on the Great Lakes-Seaway News website in the month of April fell short of the record number of hits which was posted in November of 2012.