Business
Transport Topics business coverage focuses on the financial, economic, and commercial aspects of the modern freight business. Looking at both the microeconomic and macroeconomic forces shaping bottom lines, the news in this category includes labor news, jobs reports, tonnage and sales indicators, operations analysis, money and banking, mergers, acquisitions, e-commerce, bankruptcy, insurance issues, and more.
Amazon Jumps Into Freight Brokerage
Amazon.com has jumped into the market of the third-party logistics broker, roiling the waters and raising concern that the Seattle-based e-commerce giant could disrupt the freight industry forever and indelibly.
Bill Shuster Offers Gameplan for Infrastructure Funding
WASHINGTON — A bottom-up approach to funding a $2 trillion infrastructure package was suggested by Bill Shuster, former chairman of the transportation policy panel in the U.S. House of Representatives, during keynote remarks at an event hosted by the Intelligent Transportation Society of America on May 15.
Self-Driving Shuttle Pulled Over in Rhode Island
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A self-driving shuttle got pulled over by police on its first day carrying passengers on a new Rhode Island route.
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont Sets Rates for Tolls
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, architect of a controversial tolling plan, has offered an idea of what toll rates will look like in a recent letter to the General Assembly. In the letter, published May 9, Lamont revealed that peak rates will be set at 4.4 cents per mile.
Oil Advances as Shrinking US Gasoline Supply Brightens Outlook
Oil rose after a government report showed shrinking U.S. gasoline supplies, suggesting more demand ahead for crude as tensions flare in the Middle East.
Ports Off to a Strong 2019 Start, but Concern Looms Over Trump Tariffs
Many of the nation’s ports have reported record monthly and quarterly container volumes so far in 2019, but port executives are expressing concern that steeper tariffs on Chinese goods imposed by President Donald Trump could hurt the economy — and their facilities.
Startup Valqari Aims to Prepare Mailboxes for Drone Delivery
You can build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door, Ralph Waldo Emerson noted in the late 19th century. More than 100 years later, Ryan Walsh is building a better mailbox so the world’s goods can be delivered to your door.
In Shift to Electric Buses, China Is Ahead of US
Plodding down DeKalb Avenue in Brooklyn is a bus moving under the power of an eerily quiet motor. It looks newer than most buses on the route, with a vivid digital display facing the driver and doors that part with a futuristic pneumatic swoosh. Commuters trundling aboard at rush hour don’t seem to realize this is one of the few electric buses—300 last year, to be exact—in America.
US Futures Extend Slide on Growth, Trade Angst
U.S. stock futures slumped and Treasuries surged, signaling the May 14 relief rally will be short-lived, as fresh concern about the health of the global economy rattled investors still on edge over the trade war.
US Industrial Production Down 0.5% in April
WASHINGTON — U.S. industrial production fell in April, dragged by a big drop in factory output as production of autos and auto parts continued to slide.