The Secretary of Transportation is establishing a National Freight Advisory Committee and seeking nominations for membership, DOT said in a Federal Register notice scheduled for Feb. 19. The NFAC will be established for a 2-year period, it said, to provide advice and recommendations to the Secretary of Transportation on freight transportation, including:

The Florida Department of Transportation implemented rule changes easing permitting and weight requirements for trucks to bring its standards into line with neighboring states and increase the state’s competitiveness. “By streamlining operations we’ll better position Florida to capitalize on the increased trade opportunities that the expansion of the Panama Canal will bring to our communities,” said Florida Governor Rick Scott. “By implementing these rule changes, we are not only enabling freight to flow better but ensuring that Florida remains competitive,” added Ananth Prasad, secretary of FDOT.

The Agricultural Marketing Service released the Ocean Shipping Container Availability Report (OSCAR) for the week of Feb. 13-19. The weekly report contains data on container availability for westbound transpacific traffic at 18 intermodal locations in the U.S.¹ from the eight member carriers of the Westbound Transpacific Stabilization Agreement (WTSA).² Although the report is compiled by AMS, it covers container availability for all merchandise, not just agricultural products.

The amount of freight carried for-hire rose 1% in December from November, rising for the second consecutive month, said the Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics' (BTS) Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI). The rail and trucking increases were partly due to further recovery from Hurricane Sandy, as well as general economic activity, BTS said. Freight shipments in December 2012 were 16.6 percent higher than the recent low in April 2009 during the recession, it said. For the full fourth quarter, Freight TSI rose 0.7 percent, following a 0.6 percent fall in the third quarter. The index increased in 11 of the last 14 quarters, BTS said.

The Federal Maritime Commission took the next step toward allowing negotiated rate agreements for foreign ocean transport intermediaries (OTIs) at its Feb. 13 meeting. The commission issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that would let foreign OTIs sign negotiated rate agreements instead of publishing rates, if they register with the FMC every three years and provide some additional information.

Airlines will be prohibited from carrying lithium ion aircraft batteries as cargo on passenger planes, pending the outcome of investigations of fires possibly caused by the batteries, said the president of the International Civil Aviation Organization. Final approval of the amendment from the ICAO Council is expected when it returns to Session later this month, ICAO said.

The Maritime Administration is requesting comments by March 15 on extension of a currently approved information collection on applications for capital construction fund and exhibits, it said in a Federal Register notice scheduled for Feb. 13. The affected public is U.S. citizens who own or lease one or more eligible vessels and who have a program to provide for the acquisition, construction or reconstruction of a qualified vessel.

The Federal Railroad Administration has issued a final rule, effective February 12, 2013, which will amend certain statutory civil monetary penalty provisions pursuant to the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act enacted July 6, 2012. Under the act, FRA is eliminating the minimum penalty for other than a training violation and adjusting the ordinary maximum penalty and the aggravated maximum penalty that applies when setting a civil monetary penalty for violation of the federal hazardous materials transportation laws or a regulation, special permit or approval issued under those laws. The amendments also revise references to those minimums and maximums in FRA civil penalty assessment guidelines to conform to the statutory changes.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration should immediately establish a process to remove from motor carriers' records crashes where it's plainly evident that the carrier was not to blame, said the American Trucking Associations. Carriers' scores in FMCSA's safety monitoring system, Compliance, Safety, Accountability, are based on all carrier-involved crashes, including those that the companies' drivers didn't cause and couldn't have prevented, ATA said, citing cases where a driver of a stolen car crosses grassy median causing a crash or a suspected drunk driver rear-ended a gasoline tanker. "Including these types of crashes in the calculation of carriers' CSA scores, paints an inappropriate picture for shippers and others that these companies are somehow unsafe," said ATA President Bill Graves.

Air freight declined 1.3% for the month of December, said the Airports Council International. For the full year, air freight was down 0.2%, according to its figures. It said Europe dropped 2.7%, Latin America-Caribbean 2.6%, North America 1.5% and Asia-Pacific 1.2%. Freight traffic grew 2.2% in Hong Kong and 2.5% in Memphis, it said, but 57% of the top 30 airports in air freight volume declined in 2012.