Fuel Prices Increase In All Regions
This week’s national average price of diesel fuel increased to $4.177 which is 03.4¢ higher than last week price and prices in all Regions increased as well.  By comparison, gasoline is $3.603 per gallon which is 09.5¢ higher than last week.

In order that our readers may better understand the impact of these prices changes, we have produced a table showing the current price as well as the changes using information from the Department of Energy.

Transportation Department Announces Steps to Improve Aviation Safety
The Department of Transportation has announced a series of measures to improve the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) safety inspection program, and minimize travel disruptions caused when airlines abruptly ground aircraft.  The Secretary also tasked a newly created independent review team with crafting recommendations to improve the current aviation safety system.
           
The announcement said that the FAA would begin implementing a new program to track the inspections being conducted by field offices that will alert key personnel whenever a safety inspection is overdue.  The agency would begin requiring senior level officials within the agency’s field offices to be accountable for accepting voluntary safety disclosures from airlines and to revise ethics rules to require a cooling-off period before FAA inspectors can work for an airline they used to oversee or interact while at the agency. 

In addition, the FAA is establishing a new National Safety Inspection Review team.  This new team will be deployed to air carriers to conduct focused and comprehensive safety reviews.  She added that the team’s deployments would be based on where the safety data indicates problems are most likely to occur.

The Department’s Office of Aviation Safety Enforcement in the Office of General Counsel to gauge whether airlines have adequate plans in place to accommodate passengers should a carrier have to abruptly ground its aircraft.  
      
The members of the outside team are:  J. Randall Babbitt, William O. McCabe , Malcolm K. Sparrow, Ambassador Edward W. Stimpson and the Hon. Carl W. Vogt.

Truck Tonnage index Declines 3.3 Percent In March
The American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index fell 3.3 percent in March 2008, after remaining unchanged in February. The not seasonally adjusted index increased 3.8 percent from February to 113.2.

The seasonally adjusted tonnage index equaled 113.4 (2000 = 100) in March, its lowest level since November 2007. Additionally, tonnage contracted 0.2 percent compared with March 2007, marking the first year-over-year decrease in the index since October 2007.

The 3.3 percent drop was the largest month-to-month contraction since August 2006.

The statement released by the ATA state that truck tonnage often leads both recoveries and recessions, and the latest contraction suggests the economy and trucking are not out of the woods yet. As trucks haul virtually all consumer goods at some point in the supply chain, the industry is going to be significantly impacted both directly through higher diesel prices and indirectly through lower freight volumes.

Trucks hauled 10.7 billion tons of freight in 2006. Motor carriers collected $645.6 billion, or 83.8 percent of total revenue earned by all transport modes.

ATA calculates the tonnage index based on surveys from its membership and has been doing so since the 1970s. This is a preliminary figure and subject to change in the final report issued around the 10th day of the month. The report includes month-to-month and year-over-year results, relevant economic comparisons, and key financial indicators

Research Firm Release Report About Cargo Container Security
According to a report released by Allied Business Intelligence, Inc. (ABI Research), tracking of cargo containers and their contents from departure to delivery has clear benefits for the industrial and transportation sectors: Increased visibility and security of goods in transit. A further potential benefit, greater public safety and security, is a subject of debate. But it is frequently true that combinations of the three available tracking technologies, rather than any one in isolation, promise the maximum value for investment.

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), cellular data communications and satellite communications can all be applied to container tracking and security. Each has its pros and cons, and currently there is no one technology or business model that will be entirely cost-effective or sufficient for all container tracking and security.

According to the ABI Research report, choosing container tracking technologies requires a balance between the cost of each individual method versus the value it can deliver. In many cases a smart combination of technologies will provide greater value than the sum of its parts. Potential users today are searching for that optimum tradeoff.

RFID offers low overall costs, but expensive infrastructure. It stores data, but provides near real-time feedback only when passing through interrogation zones. Cellular communications carry moderate costs and offer real-time updates (where cellular service exists), but service fees are high.
Satellite communications also offer real-time data nearly anywhere, but costs are high, and metallic environments can cause problems.

ABI Research’s recent study, “Cargo Container Tracking and Security” examines the roles being played by government organizations, industry groups, and individual companies, while exploring relevant issues and profiling important players.

House Committee Conducts Hearing On Rail Capacity
The Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials of the House Transportation and Infrastructure held a hearing on rail capacity on April 23.

In a background statement, the Committee acknowledges that congestion has become a major problem across all modes of surface transportation. Current trends and studies all suggest a growing congestion problem on our passenger and freight rail networks.    

Since deregulation in 1980, Class 1 freight ton-miles have increased  93 percent, while miles of track have decreased 40percent. The Department of Transportation estimates that the demand for rail freight transportation will increase 88 percent by 2035. Their studies estimate that an investment of $148 billion in infrastructure expansion will be needed over the next 28 years to keep pace with economic growth and to meet DOT's forecasted demand.
 
Passenger trains are also seeing increased ridership, with demand expected to grow. Amtrak ridership is at its highest levels since its operations began in 1971, with 25.8 million passengers in 2007. This is the fifth straight year of record ridership for Amtrak.

Unfortunately, as freight movements have grown, so have the conflicts between freight and passenger trains, even though under existing federal law, Amtrak trains have priority over freight trains.  This demand for space in the rail system has also caused unintended  consequences for shippers.

According to the Committee’s statement, as Congress begins to develop and reauthorize the next SAFETEA bill, it is critical that the need for additional rail capacity for both freight and passenger rail is addressed.  

National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission expects that Class I railroads will need to invest $4.8 billion per year to accommodate projected freight rail demand in 2035.  However, the railroad association expects that the Class I railroads can only make a $3.4 billion annual investment, leaving a funding gap of $1.4 billion per year to be funded from other sources.  This investment, the Commission concedes, would still leave the rail network significantly more congested than it is currently.

The future of ground transportation is on our rails, whether it would be taking freight off congested highways or moving people on high speed rail corridors.

There is no one solution that will solve rail congestion.  New and creative ideas from both government and the private sector must be utilized to increase and improve both freight and passenger rail capacity.  

Transportation Department Proposes 25 Percent Increase in Fuel Efficiency Standards
Fuel efficiency standards for both passenger vehicles and light trucks would increase by 4.5 percent per year over the five-year period ending in 2015 – a 25 percent total improvement that exceeds the 3.3 percent baseline proposed by Congress last year – under an ambitious new proposal announced today by the Department of Transportation.

For passenger cars, the proposal would increase fuel economy from the current 27.5 miles per gallon to 35.7 miles per gallon by 2015. For light trucks, the proposal calls for increases from 23.5 miles per gallon in 2010 to 28.6 miles per gallon in 2015.

As required by Congress, the proposed rule allows for auto makers to earn credits for exceeding Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFÉ, standards. This will serve as an incentive for companies to exceed these goals while giving manufacturers flexibility to meet the standards without compromising their economic vitality.

Bureau Of Transportation Statistics  Releases Fourth-Quarter 2007 Air Fare Data
Average air fares in the fourth quarter of 2007 were up 4.0 percent from the fourth quarter of 2006, reaching the highest fourth-quarter level since 2001 but remaining 2.7 percent below the high set in 2000 for any October-to-December period, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported today.  

BTS reported that the average domestic itinerary fare in the fourth quarter of 2007 of $331 was the highest average fare since the second quarter of 2006.  The fourth-quarter 2007 average fare was up 11.3 percent from the post-9/11 fourth-quarter low of $297 in 2004.

Average fares are based on domestic itinerary fares, round-trip or one-way for which no return is purchased. Fares include taxes and fees. Averages do not include frequent-flyer or “zero fares” or a few abnormally high reported fares. Average fares in this release may not be comparable to BTS fare press releases before the second quarter of 2007 which did not exclude frequent flyer fares or abnormally high fares.  Bulk fares continue to be excluded as in earlier releases.  

Average air fares in the fourth quarter rose 1.0 percent from the third-quarter 2007 average of $328. Quarter-to-quarter changes may be affected by seasonal factors.

The Air Travel Price Index (ATPI)
A separate measure of fares, the BTS Air Travel Price Index (ATPI) was up 4.1 percent from the fourth quarter of 2006 to the fourth quarterof 2007, reaching the highest fourth-quarter level recorded in the 13 years of the ATPI (1995 1st quarter = 100).  The ATPI is up 6.4 percent from its pre-9/11 fourth quarter high set in 2000 and up 16.1 percent from its post-9/11 fourth quarter low set in 2004..

ATPI is a statistical index that documents quarterly changes in airline prices since the first quarter of 1995.  The index measures changes in airline ticket prices used on identical routings and identical classes of service on a quarter-by-quarter basis.  The index can be used to compare airfares in the most recent available quarter to any quarter since the base year of 1995.     

Canada Post and FedEx Express Canada Will Launch New International Express Service
Canada Post Corporation and FedEx Express Canada have developed of Priority™ Worldwide, a new international express service that will be sold in Canada through Canada Post’s retail and commercial networks and delivered worldwide through the extensive FedEx international delivery network. Priority™ Worldwide will be available to customers in the fall of 2008.

Priority™ Worldwide will offer an on-time, money-back guarantee and delivery standards of next business day by noon to most USA destinations and 2-3 business days to most of the remaining industrialized world. Other key features of Priority™ Worldwide include tracking, delivery confirmation and signature upon delivery.