The U.S. Senate today followed suit of the House-passed bill and voted 80 to 15 in favor of the labor agreement mediated by the emergency board put in place several months ago. This action by congress prevents a national rail shutdown during this holiday season with a major impact on the U.S. economy, as one third of the country’s cargo is transported via rail. (See The Hill, "Senate votes to avert costly rail strike" by Alexander Bolton and Karl Evers-Hillstrom, 12/01/2022)

Freightwaves reported yesterday that “Biden urged Congress to pass a bill that would compel the railroads and the unions to adopt the new agreement,” while even now four of the 12 rail unions still have not ratified their labor agreements. At the same time, more than 400 state and national trade groups also asked congress to take action to avoid a strike(with a deadline on Dec. 9) that would cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars. (See more at: Freightways, “Biden calls on Congress to prevent rail strike …” by Joanna Marsh, 11/28/22)

Freightways reported that Mexico’s transportation ministry announced on Tuesday that their servers experienced a cyberattack and responded with investigations and activated their cyber contingency plan. The ministry also delayed issuing commercial truck operators’ permits, license plates and driver’s licenses through the end of December which is likely to negatively impact transportation. (See more at: Freightways, “Cyberattack disrupts Mexico’s transportation systems” by Noi Mahoney, 11/06/22)

Since the invasion of the Ukraine earlier this year, thousands of Russians have flocked to relocate to Belgrade, Serbia. Bloomberg has reported this week that 2,321 small businesses have been registered and setup by the Russian immigrants so far this year compared to a total of 158 in 2021. More and more of these new arrivals are looking to purchase property instead of renting with potential long term plans. As a result of the increased market demand, rental prices have more than doubled in Belgrade.   (More at: Bloomberg, “Russians Find Refuge … “, by Misha Savic & Rodney Jefferson, 11-1-22)

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The Federal News Network reported last week that the Court of Federal Claims “denied two separate protest lawsuits filed by losing bidders who had challenged the up to $17.9 billion award to HomeSafe Alliance.” There is still an allowance of time before release of the full decision, for the protesting parties to offer arguments on potential redactions to the contract award. The two protesting parties (and losing bidders) are Connected Global Solutions, LLC (CGSL) and American Roll-on-Roll-Off Carrier Group (ARC). See more at: Federal News Network, “Court rules for DoD in challenge to $20B household ... contract” by Jared Serbu, 10/27/2022)

The American Trucking Associations (ATA) released an update this week explaining that this year’s driver shortage estimate is just short of last year’s high but still estimated at 78,000 with the possibility still to double that figure by the end of the decade if the current problem issues persist. The ATA (see link), now estimates that if challenges of increased freight demands continue, and driver demographics don’t improve (including high average driver age), the driver shortage can reach over 160,000 by 2031. (See more at Transport Topics, “Driver Shortage Decreases Slightly to 78,000, ATA Says” by Connor D. Wolf, 10/25/2022)