Issue link: http://digital.nexsitepublishing.com/i/269434
25 www.cargobusinessnews.com February 2014 role its police force may have played concerning the lane closures on George Washington Bridge for several days last September, according to anonymous sources close to the matter. The infamous closing of access lanes to the George Washington Bridge created traffic jams and triggered a political scandal in New Jersey involving Gov. Chris Christie's administration. Specifically, Foye wants the watchdog agency to investigate the actions of police after reports that officers told motorists stuck in traffic to send their complaints to the mayor of Fort Lee, or to call the borough of Fort Lee's offices to complain. Several top Christie advisers and staff have been named in the scandal that suggests that state officials planned the gridlock to politically punish Fort Lee's Democratic mayor, Mark Sokolich, for not endorsing their Christie for reelection last year. Christie said he didn't know about the traffic debacle until after it was over and media reports were issued, and he has denied knowledge of any political scheme. MSNBC reported it appears that a Port Authority police officer with close family ties to Christie drove a key figure in the scandal - Port Authority executive David Wildstein - around bridge facilities at the time of the traffic jams to inspect the gridlocked roads. For more of the KPAX story: kpax.com STockToN porT ApproveS $18 millioN up rAil-weldiNg fAciliTY Stockton port officials approved Union Pacific's plan to build an $18 million rail-welding facility, where the railroad will produce ribbons of steel rail longer than four football fields starting in late 2014. The new project will generate revenue for the port, including maritime service fees, land lease rents and port electric utility changes, estimated at more than $2 million a year, officials said. "It's a good income generator for the port and a good jobs generator for the community," said Port Director Richard Aschieris. "It's really a very promising addition to the port and the city," said Gary Christopherson, a port commissioner. The Omaha, Neb.-based railroad is expected to invest $18 million in the welding facility, to include 17,000 feet of rail tracks, a rail storage yard, a welding and inspection building, and a gantry crane with a 200-foot span. It would receive 480-foot lengths of steel brought in from Japan on a custom- built ship now under construction. Those rails would be welded into single pieces running 1,440 feet, or a quarter-mile in length - so-called ribbon rail - at the Stockton facility. The ribbon rails would then be carried on special trains to Union Pacific rail renovation and expansion projects throughout the West and Midwest. Port commission members were told the facility would create up to 10 permanent jobs at an average salary of $50,000 a year, and help generate a n o t h e r 3 0 i n d i r e c t j o b s a n d 7 5 temporary construction jobs. For more of the Recordnet.com story: recordnet.com New virgiNiA porT AuThoriTY direcTor TAckleS budgeT Virginia Port Authority executive director John Reinhart, former chief executive at Maersk Line Limited, decided to address the struggling finances of the port during his first week on the job. A l t h o u g h t h e p o r t p r o j e c t e d a small profit this year, their figures were off, drawing criticism from new Transportation Secretary Aubrey Layne. The port's operations have been in the red for five consecutive years, though the loss has been somewhat mitigated by an annual subsidy — a bit over 4 percent of the state's Transportation Trust Fund is allocated to the ports. In the first six months of the fiscal year, "there's been a $10.5 million operations loss across the board … and you can't make it up on (higher cargo) volume," Reinhart told a group of maritime officials at the Virginia Maritime Association breakfast. "We're losing money on some of the cargo" moving through the port, he added. VPA board chair Jeff Wassmer has said one of the problems includes big increases in rail traffic, which has increased overtime payments for the workers who deal with the associated cargo traffic jams. The port's budget has been extended in many other ways. The agency's board of commissioners committed $4 million annually to finance the expansion of Route 460, which runs from Hampton Roads to Petersburg. They also paid for two recent port-related consultant studies, and the one focused on the VPA's operational arm, Virginia International Terminals, cost more than $1 million. Reinhart named a couple areas in which the port can save money. He noted three large container ships are scheduled to call on Hampton Roads one after another after another, and getting the resulting glut of containers out of the port and toward their final destinations will be expensive. The ships ideally "should have been spread out over 2 months," he said. H e a l s o s a i d t h e C r a n e y I s l a n d terminal, a project that when completed will dramatically increase the port's cargo capacity, should be pushed "a little bit to the right" on the timeline, noting a cheaper and quicker way to expand port capacity is to build out the state-operated APM Terminal facility in Portsmouth. For more of the Daily Press story: dailypress.com