Freight Trains Picking Up Speed as Winter Approaches

Does it seem as if freight trains are moving faster along railroad crossings in recent weeks? That’s because they are. According to Railroad Performance Measures — a website where intermodal carriers voluntarily submit weekly reports on the average velocity of their freight trains and other data — several of North America’s biggest railroads posted sharp increases in … Read more

Report: ‘Dump Highway Trust Fund and Pay Via Income Taxes’

A new proposal from the Washington think tank the Eno Foundation calls on Congress to get rid of the current system for funding federal highways and transportation infrastructure and instead pay for it out of the federal income tax. The Highway Trust Fund (HTF) currently uses the federal fuel tax to pay for maintenance and … Read more

New OSHA Rules on Reporting Injuries in Effect January 1

The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration has changed the requirement for reporting employee injuries. Beginning January 1, 2015, employers will  now be required to report all work-related fatalities to OSHA within eight hours after they occur, and all in-patient hospitalizations, amputations, and losses of an eye with 24 hours. Previously, employers were required to … Read more

Published Report: Three Firms Circling APL Logistics

While news that APL Logistics –the flagship freight management and logistics business of Singapore’s Neptune Orient Lines Ltd. — is on selling block has been public since last summer, a new published report indicates that three firms may be ready to make an offer. According to the website JOC, the Journal of Commerce’s site that … Read more

FedEX Returns Easier Thanks to Purchase of 3PL Company

Consumers love buying products online because of the convenience of push-button shopping. But the transaction becomes more complicated when items have to be returned because they are the wrong size, they don’t work, or the buyers simply don’t like them. FedEx, one of the leading package delivery companies serving the e-commerce customers, simplified the way … Read more

Illinois High School Students Participate in Robotics Competition

Martin Engineering — a global materials handling company headquartered in Neponset, Illinois — is sponsoring two teams of Illinois high school students in a national robotics competition. For the second consecutive year, the company will sponsor teams from Kewanee and Peoria in the FIRST Robotics Competitions, an annual robotics engineering contest created by Dean Kamen … Read more

Video of the Week: ‘Undercover Boss’ Drives the Forklift

This week’s Video of the Week comes from the popular CBS-TV program “Undercover Boss” which originally aired Sunday, December 14, 2014. John Hartmann, the chief executive officer of True Value Hardware, visited one of the chain’s distribution centers in Springfield, Oregon, where he was paired with a veteran True Value forklift operator named Terrell. ‘Undercover … Read more

Chicago Area Contractor Fined Nearly $70K for Cave-In Hazards

Using cave-in protective equipment when working in trenches deeper than five feet isn’t just a good idea. It’s the law. That’s what the owners of A. Lamp Concrete Contractors — a construction company in Morton Grove, Illinois —  found out the hard way last week when they were fined $69,300 by the US Occupational Safety and … Read more