RAISE grant program announces $1.5 billion for critical infrastructure projects
Good morning! It’s Tuesday morning and we’re already ready for Christmas. Can this week fly by?! 🫠
Communities across the countries are likely celebrating after the White House announced a huge grant funding round of significant local or regional projects. Some of the notable projects already funded include a bridge replacement in Tucson, Arizona, a new berth at Port Tampa Bay, Florida, a pontoon bridge in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, and a snowmelt system in Berlin, New Hampshire. The Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program has already funded 166 projects in all fifty states and several territories.
Check out today’s featured article from The Trucker to read about the $1.5 billion investment grant through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) discretionary grant program for 2023. What improvements are in store for these communities? ☕️
Featured Article:
Feds announce $1.5B to communities around US for infrastructure improvement | The Trucker
“The White House has announced that $1.5 billion in grant funding will be made available to communities around the country to help shore up infrastructure.”
Driver Issues & Hiring 🚛
Trucking recruitment normalizes after wild pandemic era
According to the American Trucking Association, the estimated professional driver shortage has decreased to 78,000 as of October as compared to the number of 80,000 in 2021. There has been a notable push to recruit truck drivers with massively increased wages and companies are paying more attention to drivers’ needs - including safer working conditions and addressing parking issues.
While the “driver issue” cannot be simplified as “there are not enough people who want to drive trucks”, there are several possible reasons it continues to be a challenge in the industry.
Demographics: There is an aging population of drivers, and younger people may not be as interested in pursuing careers as drivers.
Lifestyle: Being a truck driver can be a demanding job with long hours on the road, which may not be appealing to some people.
Compensation: Drivers may not feel that they are being fairly compensated for their work, which can lead to a lack of interest in the field.
Regulations: The trucking industry is regulated by the federal government, and certain rules and regulations, such as hours of service limits, can make the job less appealing to some people.
Technology: The increasing use of automation and self-driving trucks could potentially reduce the need for human drivers in the future.
By addressing these problems, companies have been able to tackle each of these issues by diversifying their workforce, advocating on behalf of drivers with local and state government, and implementing new technological advancement in-cab on on-person for better safety precautions.
Rail & Embargoes 🚂
Union Pacific freezes freight rail embargoes after federal scrutinization
And so the saga continues.
The Surface Transportation Board, a federal oversight board that analyzes transportation service levels, is scrutinizing the Union Pacific Railroad’s controversial embargo use. This comes on the heels of railroad unions pointing to the embargoes as a reason for their concerns about labor policy in the industry.
The Union Pacific Railroad is a Class I freight railroad that primarily transports freight and cargo, covering 23 states in the western two-thirds of the United States. With over 32,000 miles of track that serves cities such as Denver, Los Angeles, and New Orleans, the railroad is responsible for a massive amount of cargo transported throughout the United States. The embargoes in question are a method used to control - and possibly manipulate - freight rail traffic. STB chairman Martin Oberman and Union Pacific CEO Lance Fritz are currently in talks over the embargo use.
Let’s Get Global 🌎
Game Master Twitch GIF By Hyper RPG via GIPHY
🚢 U.S. ports of call are changing for Asian markets. The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach were once king of the West Coast and absorbed the vast majority of goods being shipped to the U.S. from overseas. Now, Gulf Coast and U.S. East Coast ports such as those in New York, New Jersey, Houston, and Georgia are having their hay day. By diversifying points of entry into the U.S. market, suppliers are attempting to avoid pitfalls involving potential labor strikes and other supply chain issues spurred by the pandemic era. Given the trajectory, it is unlikely that companies will go back to relying on a single point of entry into the U.S., and this diversification is likely to continue. Sorry, Los Angeles!
🇲🇽 Mexico welcomes a new Tesla manufacturing plant. Santa Catarina in Monterrey city, the capital of Nuevo Leon state, is to be the home of the newest electric vehicle assembly plant. In October, Tesla’s Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk visited the Mexican state to meet with officials and while the details are still being “fine-tuned”, it seems that the factory will be the first of the company’s to be located south of the U.S. border. A Mexican-manufactured automobile will likely still qualify for the new electric vehicle subsidies included in the IRA legislation, signed into law by the Biden Administration in August.
🐬 Trade barriers are causing issues in eliminating plastic waste from oceans. According to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, the overwhelming amount of visa requirements, tariffs, and restricted access to certain areas of the ocean are hindering the decades-long efforts to clean up the beaches and oceans across the globe. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a regional economic forum with the goal to promote economic growth, cooperation, and trade among its 21 member countries located in the Asia-Pacific region. This region accounts for approximately 60% of the world's population, approximately 59% of the world's GDP, and approximately 47% of world trade.
iLevel With You
More topics for the average American household to consider…
😩 Employee stress levels are abnormally high in young workers. In a recent Gallup poll of Gen Z and young Millennials, stress and burnout were reported by 68% of respondents. It is important to avoid burnout at work because it can have serious negative consequences for both employees and employers. Reduced productivity, increased absenteeism, increased turnover, and a negative impact on health and the organization are all serious concerns in companies where their employees are experiencing high levels of stress.
🧪 Chemicals are polluting our supply chains. Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are the culprits that are deeply endangering the public’s health, according to Cally Edgren, the Director of Sustainability at Assent. With about 12,000 substances at home in the PFAS family, together they can cause health issues pertaining to fertility problems in women, raised blood cholesterol levels, and thyroid disease. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently investigating the role that PFAS plays in the supply chain.
🎄 You can’t take my Christmas tree. Despite inflation that has been crippling, American families are paying a premium for the famous Christmas centerpiece - a Christmas tree. Prices on the Christmas staple have been increased as major retailers such as Home Depot and Lowes and the mom-and-pop Christmas tree farms… but there are just some things that families are unwilling to give up. We guess it’s fitting that it’s Christmas spirit! The price of Christmas trees increased this year somewhere between 5% to 15%.
GET SMART
Ramp up that brain power for these advanced topics…
♻️ Scope 3 emissions are tricky to track. Scope 3 carbon emissions, also known as indirect emissions, are emissions that are a result of an organization's activities, but occur from sources that are not owned or controlled by the organization. These emissions can come from a variety of sources, such as the use of a company's products, the disposal or recycling of a company's products, and the transportation of a company's products. While many companies have pledged efforts to eliminate carbon emissions by 2050, the mission to eliminate scope 3 emissions is on - and the possibility of new tech to single out these emissions is underway.
🧑🔧 Diagnosing electrical and electronic issues isn’t as easy as it looks. Oftentimes, technicians can do more harm than good when conducting repairs with an improper understanding of how the issues occurred in the first place. Circuit-tracing tools and multimeters are being abandoned by technicians for oscilloscopes and thermal imaging cameras and they work to avoid customer complaints and try to get to the root of the problem.
🛞 Tires require a higher level of maintenance than many expect. A tire’s load and inflation pressure do not need to be inflated to capacity in order to properly hold up a vehicle - a common misconception in the industry. Kevin Rohlwing, the SVP of training for the Tire Industry Association is speaking up on these common misconceptions in the industry and how fleets can properly maintain their vehicle’s tires.
Leadership 🏆
The Final Wrap-up of this year – the ATSC Awards 2022 | All Things Supply Chain
All Things Supply Chain contributor Kai Keppner writes about the annual awards ceremony presented each year by All Things Supply Chain.
Repair & Maintenance 🔧
Factors to consider when choosing an outside service provider | Fleet Owner
Fleet Owner contributor Jane Clark writes about the importance of connecting with a service provider that you can trust to fix your fleets.
Trucker’s Lounge 🧢
Meet the federal contractor helping carriers put apprentices behind the wheel | Transport Dive
Transport Dive contributor Colin Campbell writes about Dave Harrison, an executive at Fastport that is assisting the U.S. government with implementing a truck driver apprenticeship program.
Rail 🚂
Rail union leader retires to clear way for upstart who won | AP News
AP News contributor Josh Funk writes about the new head of the second-largest rail union - the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. Please welcome, Eddie Hall!
Industry Forecast 📊
From Normal to New Normal to Normalish | Food Logistics
Food Logistics contributor Marina Mayer writes about the turns and twists in the supply chain over the past three years.
Compliance 📋
IIJA’s Implementation Gained Momentum in 2022 | TT News
Senior Reporter Eugene Mulero writes about the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and how m much of it has been implemented with a variant of projects across the United States.
Ports 🚢
Ports Close Out Year of Change; Infrastructure on Tap in 2023 | Transport Topics
Transport Topics Senior Reporter Dan Ronan writes about the evolution of America’s “formerly” busiest ports: the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Trade & Border Issues 🗺️
EU agrees to the world’s largest carbon border tax | CNN
CNN Contributor Hanna Shady writes about the European Union’s first major carbon border tax in its effort to be carbon neutral by 2050.
The Workday Dash is an aggregation of articles regarding the transportation logistics, trucking, and supply chain industries for November 28, 2024, from iLevel Logistics Inc.