House Transportation Committee To Study Linkages Between Freight Transportation
Examining the current state of freight transportation in the U.S. -- and how to link together movement of goods between land, sea and air -- is the task of a new House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure panel, announced April 16. The special panel will serve for six months, beginning with its first hearing on April 24, and will provide recommendations on improving movements between highways, ports, inland waterways, railroads, air carriers and pipelines, Committee Chairman Bill Schuster, R-Pa., said in an announcement on the panel. Congress passed a surface transportation bill last year, but it did not include specific mandates for coordination across all types of transportation (see 12070241).
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“In the past, the conversation about freight transportation and goods movement has focused only on one specific mode of transportation or another,” said Rep. John Duncan, Jr., R-Tenn., who will chair the panel. “Bottlenecks during any leg of that journey from the manufacturer to the market drive up costs. That’s why improving the flow of freight across all modes of transportation is so critical to a healthy economy.” The Airforwarders Association already supported the panel, and its recognition that air cargo is “an essential component in our nation’s freight delivery network and connecting to other modes of transportation is important for our country's commercial success.”