The somewhat sketchy reports that President Trump would support an increase in the federal motor fuels tax came into sharper clarity today after several lawmakers said they were told by the president that he would back a 25-cent-a-gallon hike, to be imposed at one time, and that he would take the heat from his own party to get it accomplished.
The most direct confirmation came from Sen. Thomas D. Carper (D-Del.), the ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, who said that Trump told him and other lawmakers in a recent closed-door meeting that, in Carper's words, the president "would provide the political cover" for the increase, and absorb the pushback from the Republicans who would oppose it.
Speaking at an annual meeting of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) in Washington, Carper said he and others in the room were stunned by the directness of Trump's statement.
Carper said that after the meeting with Trump, he contacted Transport Secretary Elaine L. Chao, who told him, in Carper's words, that the president "has been talking about this for weeks." The White House has not tried to clarify or tamp down Trump's comments, leaving that exercise to Republican members of Congress, many of whom are in no mood to raise taxes, Carper added.
Chao, who also spoke at the AASHTO event today, did not refer to Trump's purported comments. Nor did she comment on the mechanism for funding transport projects other than to say the process is greatly complicated by burdensome regulations that the Administration is in the process of addressing and, if necessary, repealing.
Federal taxes on diesel fuel and gasoline, which stand at 24.4 cents and 18.4 cents a gallon, respectively, have not been raised since 1993. In that time, about half the states have raised their fuel taxes, some repeatedly. Earlier this year, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation's largest business trade group, proposed a 25-cent-a-gallon increase, to be phased in over five years or done all at once. The Chamber said that the increase, which would be indexed to inflation and improvements in fuel economy, would raise about $394 billion over 10 years for the beleaguered Highway Trust Fund, which is supported almost exclusively by fuel tax receipts and has been repeatedly been kept afloat by capital infusions from the general treasury.
The White House has proposed a broad infrastructure initiative that would cost $1.5 trillion over 10 years. Of that amount, $200 billion would be directly funded by the federal government, which would qualify as "seed" capital to encouraging $1.3 trillion from states, localities, public-private sector partnerships, and money from budget savings elsewhere in the federal government. The proposal was silent on funding mechanisms, and critics in and out of Congress contend the $1.3 trillion figure is far too daunting for entities outside the federal government to consider.
Rep. Peter A. DeFazio (D-Ore.), ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee, said the funding dilemma is amplified by stiff opposition from GOP leaders like Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) to any such large-scale investment. "Unless President Trump makes it clear that he wants to do something, there will be no investment," DeFazio told the AASHTO gathering. "And if there is no investment, there will be no bill."
Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), chair of the House T&I Committee, acknowledged that Trump seems set on pushing for a 25-cent-a-gallon fuels tax, and that it will be Republicans, not Democrats, who will push back on it. Shuster added that time is of the essence in crafting an ambitious infrastructure measure as proposed by the White House. Should Congress not pass a bill by the end of 2018, progress will likely stall out in 2019, and then face the run-up to the 2020 general election, where little of legislative significance would get done, Shuster warned.
Shuster, who is retiring at the end of his current term, floated the idea of Congress pushing through a bill during the lame-duck session between the midterm elections in November and the start of the 116th Congress in January.
Supply chain planning (SCP) leaders working on transformation efforts are focused on two major high-impact technology trends, including composite AI and supply chain data governance, according to a study from Gartner, Inc.
"SCP leaders are in the process of developing transformation roadmaps that will prioritize delivering on advanced decision intelligence and automated decision making," Eva Dawkins, Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Composite AI, which is the combined application of different AI techniques to improve learning efficiency, will drive the optimization and automation of many planning activities at scale, while supply chain data governance is the foundational key for digital transformation.”
Their pursuit of those roadmaps is often complicated by frequent disruptions and the rapid pace of technological innovation. But Gartner says those leaders can accelerate the realized value of technology investments by facilitating a shift from IT-led to business-led digital leadership, with SCP leaders taking ownership of multidisciplinary teams to advance business operations, channels and products.
“A sound data governance strategy supports advanced technologies, such as composite AI, while also facilitating collaboration throughout the supply chain technology ecosystem,” said Dawkins. “Without attention to data governance, SCP leaders will likely struggle to achieve their expected ROI on key technology investments.”
The British logistics robot vendor Dexory this week said it has raised $80 million in venture funding to support an expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered features, grow its global team, and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous robots.
A “significant focus” continues to be on expanding across the U.S. market, where Dexory is live with customers in seven states and last month opened a U.S. headquarters in Nashville. The Series B will also enhance development and production facilities at its UK headquarters, the firm said.
The “series B” funding round was led by DTCP, with participation from Latitude Ventures, Wave-X and Bootstrap Europe, along with existing investors Atomico, Lakestar, Capnamic, and several angels from the logistics industry. With the close of the round, Dexory has now raised $120 million over the past three years.
Dexory says its product, DexoryView, provides real-time visibility across warehouses of any size through its autonomous mobile robots and AI. The rolling bots use sensor and image data and continuous data collection to perform rapid warehouse scans and create digital twins of warehouse spaces, allowing for optimized performance and future scenario simulations.
Originally announced in September, the move will allow Deutsche Bahn to “fully focus on restructuring the rail infrastructure in Germany and providing climate-friendly passenger and freight transport operations in Germany and Europe,” Werner Gatzer, Chairman of the DB Supervisory Board, said in a release.
For its purchase price, DSV gains an organization with around 72,700 employees at over 1,850 locations. The new owner says it plans to investment around one billion euros in coming years to promote additional growth in German operations. Together, DSV and Schenker will have a combined workforce of approximately 147,000 employees in more than 90 countries, earning pro forma revenue of approximately $43.3 billion (based on 2023 numbers), DSV said.
After removing that unit, Deutsche Bahn retains its core business called the “Systemverbund Bahn,” which includes passenger transport activities in Germany, rail freight activities, operational service units, and railroad infrastructure companies. The DB Group, headquartered in Berlin, employs around 340,000 people.
“We have set clear goals to structurally modernize Deutsche Bahn in the areas of infrastructure, operations and profitability and focus on the core business. The proceeds from the sale will significantly reduce DB’s debt and thus make an important contribution to the financial stability of the DB Group. At the same time, DB Schenker will gain a strong strategic owner in DSV,” Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz said in a release.
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.
Serious inland flooding and widespread power outages are likely to sweep across Florida and other Southeast states in coming days with the arrival of Hurricane Helene, which is now predicted to make landfall Thursday evening along Florida’s northwest coast as a major hurricane, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
While the most catastrophic landfall impact is expected in the sparsely-population Big Bend area of Florida, it’s not only sea-front cities that are at risk. Since Helene is an “unusually large storm,” its flooding, rainfall, and high winds won’t be limited only to the Gulf Coast, but are expected to travel hundreds of miles inland, the weather service said. Heavy rainfall is expected to begin in the region even before the storm comes ashore, and the wet conditions will continue to move northward into the southern Appalachians region through Friday, dumping storm total rainfall amounts of up to 18 inches. Specifically, the major flood risk includes the urban areas around Tallahassee, metro Atlanta, and western North Carolina.
In addition to its human toll, the storm could exert serious business impacts, according to the supply chain mapping and monitoring firm Resilinc. Those will be largely triggered by significant flooding, which could halt oil operations, force mandatory evacuations, restrict ports, and disrupt air traffic.
While the storm’s track is currently forecast to miss the critical ports of Miami and New Orleans, it could still hurt operations throughout the Southeast agricultural belt, which produces products like soybeans, cotton, peanuts, corn, and tobacco, according to Everstream Analytics.
That widespread footprint could also hinder supply chain and logistics flows along stretches of interstate highways I-10 and I-75 and on regional rail lines operated by Norfolk Southern and CSX. And Hurricane Helene could also likely impact business operations by unleashing power outages, deep flooding, and wind damage in northern Florida portions of Georgia, Everstream Analytics said.
Before the storm had even touched Florida soil, recovery efforts were already being launched by humanitarian aid group the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN). In a statement on Wednesday, the group said it is urging residents in the storm's path across the Southeast to heed evacuation notices and safety advisories, and reminding members of the logistics community that their post-storm help could be needed soon. The group will continue to update its Disaster Micro-Site with Hurricane Helene resources and with requests for donated logistics assistance, most of which will start arriving within 24 to 72 hours after the storm’s initial landfall, ALAN said.