With help from Oriana Pawlyk and Tanya Snyder
— Freight rail companies and unions escalate their war of words, and a strike is possible starting Friday.
— Container prices continue to tumble.
— The NTSB and FAA signed a new memorandum that clarifies each agency’s role in investigating commercial space accidents.
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“Container don land?/E don land, e don land/Container don land?/E don land, e don land”
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SHIPPING CHANGES COMING: A freight rail strike is possible beginning on Friday, but freight railroad operators said that shipping changes for hazardous and security-sensitive materials, such as chlorine used to purify drinking water and chemicals used in fertilizer, will begin today. The Association of American Railroads said the changes are necessary to ensure “no such cargo is left on an unattended or unsecured train in the event of a work stoppage.” And they warned that shippers will likely experience “delayed or suspended service” this week as they prepare for a possible strike.
LEVERAGE PLAY: Two freight rail unions that haven’t yet agreed to a new contract said Sunday that the announcement from the freight rail carriers is an attempt to provoke congressional action. The SMART Transportation Division and Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen said they were not happy with the service announcement, which they called “corporate extortion.”
PEB IS THE WAY: Tanya reports that Senate Commerce ranking member Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said he remains hopeful that a strike can be avoided. But Wicker warned if it becomes clear a strike is likely, he will push for legislation that would codify recommendations made by a board appointed by President Joe Biden to resolve the issue.
“The Presidential Emergency Board has put forward a comprehensive and fair set of recommendations that, if adopted, could end this standoff today,” Wicker said in a statement. “I will be calling on my colleagues in Congress to join the administration in endorsing these recommendations as written and advance legislation to resolve this dispute if it is clear that a shutdown in rail service is imminent.”
The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association, The Fertilizer Institute and Consumer Brands Association all urged Congress over the weekend to intervene if a strike appears imminent.
MORE AGREEMENTS: The National Carriers’ Conference Committee, which represents the freight railroads in collective bargaining, said Sunday they reached tentative agreements with the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, and the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers – Mechanical Department. The NCCC said the agreements follow the PEB Board’s recommendations made in August.
TUMBLING DOWN: The price of shipping a container from East Asia to the U.S. West Coast, which at one point in 2021 was nearly $20,000, has continued to fall. The average price of a container on the busiest U.S. shipping route was about $4,300 as of Friday, according to the Freightos Baltic Index, with prices less than half of what they were as recently as June. The current container price, which still about double what it was pre-pandemic, is significant for shippers and consumers alike because Democrats in Congress have warned that more legislation targeting the ocean shipping industry’s antitrust protections is likely if prices remain high.
HEARING COMING: Next week, the House Transportation Committee’s Coast Guard and Maritime Subcommittee will hold a hearing on compliance and enforcement of the maritime industry’s Buy American laws. Lawmakers from both parties, particularly from major agricultural producing districts, have complained that ocean carriers are declining to fill their containers with less lucrative U.S. exports to instead send them back empty to fill with more lucrative U.S. imports. Officials from the U.S. Maritime Administration, the Government Accountability Office, the Hudson Institute, USA Maritime, and the International Organization of Masters, Mates, and Pilots will testify on cargo preference compliance and enforcement.
SPACE TRAVEL NEWS: Oriana reports that the FAA has named Kevin Coleman as its permanent associate administrator for Commercial Space Transportation. Acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen last week named Coleman, previously the office’s deputy associate administrator, for the role, the agency said Friday.
TIME FOR YOUR CLOSEUP: The FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation has the authority to regulate private human spaceflight as an industry, such as operating practices and safety inspections. In May, Coleman previewed that the agency’s management over human spaceflight may soon be getting a makeover since a legislative “learning” trial period — first set by Congress in 2004, but extended multiple times — is roughly a year from expiring.
KUMBAYA: The NTSB and FAA on Friday signed a new memorandum that clarifies each agency’s role in investigating commercial space accidents, Oriana reports, a major breakthrough in a stalemate that has left who is responsible for the task up in the air even as commercial spaceflight is growing.
“This agreement is proof that the federal government can keep pace with the exciting advances taking place in the private sector while also prioritizing safety as we enter a new space age,” said NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy.
CHAIN OF COMMAND: According to the new memo, the NTSB will take the lead in spaceflight accident investigations if there is “a fatality or serious injury to any person, regardless of whether the person was on board the commercial space launch or reentry vehicle,” or if there is “damage to property not associated with the commercial space launch or reentry activities or the launch site, from debris that could reasonably be expected to cause death or serious injury,” the agency said. The FAA will maintain its lead investigative role “for all other commercial space mishaps.”
WHERE’S THE DOUGH GOING? Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), chair of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), chair of the Coronavirus Crisis Select Subcommittee, are calling on the Treasury Department to investigate how airlines spent $54 billion doled out in pandemic relief, Oriana reports. The investigation follows a summer where airlines struggled with workforce shortages that have caused delays and cancellations over the busy travel season.
“American taxpayers supported the airline industry during its darkest days at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, when nearly 75% of commercial flights were grounded,” the lawmakers wrote. “Americans deserve transparency into how airlines have used the federal funds they have received.”
WE CAN’T PARALLEL PARK: Our Influence newsletter reports that members of the Truckload Carriers Association, which represents operators of over 220,000 trucks, will head to Washington this week to lobby lawmakers around the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act. The House Transportation Committee earlier this summer approved the bill, which would aim to improve truck parking options. The bill, H.R. 2187 (117), would provide $755 million in competitive grants over four years for truck parking projects, as a lack of dedicated parking has forced truckers to often park along the sides of highways and off ramps.
Deepak Ahuja will join Zipline as its first ever Chief Business and Financial Officer on September 30, overseeing financial operations, including finance, accounting, investor relations, as well as global sales, excluding the Africa region. Ahuja was previously the CFO at Verily Life Sciences and CFO of Tesla.
Eloise Eagan, has joined Elevate Government Affairs, focusing on transportation and energy efficiency issues. Eagan was recently an intern at Forbes Tate Partners. (h/t POLITICO Influence)
Sydney Harvey is now special assistant Infrastructure Implementation Coordinator Mitch Landrieu. Harvey was most recently was executive assistant/legislative aide for Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.). (h/t Daniel Lippman)
Michael Ahn is now digital communications manager in the office of public affairs at the Department of Transportation. Ahn most recently was communications director for Rep. Kai Kahele (D-Hawaii) and co-founded the Congressional Korean American Staff Association. (h/t Daniel Lippman)
— “Mr. Biden, tear down this highway.” New York Times.
— “The skies, and TSA, still aren’t friendly to those with Black hairstyles.” Boston Globe.
— “Ex-company executive gets prison term in bid-rigging plot.” Associated Press.
— “Dozens of flights delayed at Newark Airport over suspicious package reports.” Fox 5 New York.
— “Hong Kong govt scraps quarantine rules for air crew.” Reuters.
— “Seaplanes are a Seattle icon. Their pilots are mystified by tragic crash.” Seattle Times.
