The Canadian National Railway’s $33.6 billion bid to merge with the smaller but strategically significant Kansas City Southern suffered a serious and possibly fatal blow Aug. 31, as the U.S. Surface Transportation Board unanimously voted to reject a vital component of the agreement.

The ports of New Orleans, Baton Rouge and South Louisiana, vital in terms of shipping grain commodities worldwide, have been shut down, and there is no timetable for when they will reopen.

Hours-of-service flexibility for truckers involved in critical relief efforts is one element of the federal government’s response to Tropical Depression Ida.

Hurricane Ida forced Kansas City Southern to shut its main line in Louisiana and has halted exchanges between railroads in New Orleans, which may worsen delays in a U.S. shipping industry that already is stretched thin.

WASHINGTON — Hurricane Ida is sure to take a toll on the energy, chemical and shipping industries that have major hubs along the Gulf Coast. But the impact on the overall U.S. economy likely will be modest so long as damage estimates don’t rise sharply and refinery shutdowns are not prolonged, economists say.

Private fleets once had a clear advantage in the endless competition to hire trained truck drivers and provide them with the equipment needed to move America’s goods. But the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have upended that advantage.

BISMARCK, N.D. — The North Dakota Department of Transportation is developing the State Freight & Rail Plan and has launched the project website.

New York City lawmakers passed a measure that will make temporary caps on third-party delivery fees permanent in a blow to companies like DoorDash Inc., Grubhub and Uber Technologies Inc.

Nuro Inc., which has unmanned delivery pods scurrying around Southwestern streets, said that it will build a $40 million facility to assemble and test a new generation of autonomous vehicles in Nevada.

Stifling supply chain bottlenecks are likely to remain — and possibly worsen — in the months ahead as consumers follow back-to-school purchases with end-of-year holiday shopping, according to experts who spoke with Transport Topics.