Hurricane Ian made landfall in southwest Florida at approximately 3:05 PM EST, as a category 4 storm with sustained winds of 150 mph. Before the storm arrival, several airports including Orlando International Airport closed. Parts of Interstate 275 were closed. Delta Air Lines has an embargo on all shipments through late Saturday. Port Canaveral and Jaxport (Jacksonville) are closed, while container vessels off the Port of Savannah, GA, are heading out to sea ahead of the storm. Rail shipments are expected to be delayed in Florida as well. (More at: FREIGHTWAVES, “Hurricane update: Impacts on the supply chain,” Staff, 9-28-2022)

A transportation revenue solution known as “RhodeWorks,” developed by the DOT of the state of Rhode Island was deemed Unconstitutional in a ruling today by Federal District Judge William Smith. The ruling claims the plan is discriminatory as it unfairly tolls only large commercial trucks on bridges for the purpose of raising revenue for the construction and repair of bridges, while many other vehicles use these bridges as well. (See more at: Transport Topics, “Federal Judge Strikes Down Rhode Island Truck Tolling Plan …” by Eric Miller, 9/21/2022)

Yahoo Finance has presented data from Freightos this week explaining that global ocean container shipping rates on major trade routes have dropped by more than 50% in many cases this year. Analysts expect rates to continue to fall even into next year with a probability of ocean rates reaching levels near the pre-pandemic period. As profits have been at all-time highs in recent years, shipping groups have invested to produce new ships for deployment over the next couple of years. (See more at: Yahoo Finance, “Shipping rates plunge as experts say ‘unprecedented’ boom has peaked”, Dani Romero, 9/11/2022.)

The total number of container ships waiting to berth at U.S. ports is 130, down from a peak of 153 in July. However, the volume has dramatically shifted from the West coast ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach (currently 8 container ships) to ports on the Gulf and East Coasts. This shift has been caused by a combination of easing import demand along with concerns about West Coast expiring port labor contract and expected peak congestion. (See more at: American Shipper, “Only 8 ships waiting off Southern California …” by Greg Miller, 8/30/2022)

Approximately 1,900 workers at the Port of Felixstowe, as members of the Unite union went on strike yesterday, Sunday, August 21 on the issue of worker’s salary in the wake of crisis inflation in the UK. This is the first strike at the port in over 30 years which is expected to last for eight days and comes after other recent worker actions in rail and bus transportation services. As this is the largest UK container port, the action is expected to disrupt both the supply chain and the consumer market across the nation. (More at: The Guardian, “Workers at UK’s biggest container port .… strike over pay,“ Jess Clark, 8/21/2022)

America’s DOT announced last week the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity grants, providing $2.2 billion for 166 projects. Transport Topics explained that “The funds are meant to modernize roads, bridges, transit, rail, ports and intermodal transportation.” Many of the projects will involve work at U.S. ports to reduce truck waiting times, including grants for improvements at Port of LA ($20 M), Port of Miami ($16 M), Port of Wilmington, NC ($18 M), and Port Arthur, TX (13.6 M) as examples. (See Transport Topics, "DOT Awards $2.2 Billion …..” by Noel Fletcher, 8/11/2022)