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The DOT wants to string power lines along your freight railroad

Key takeaway: A new federal initiative to run transmission infrastructure along rail corridors promises revenue for railroads and faster grid buildout for the country. But nobody is asking what it means for the freight that actually moves on those tracks. The US Department of Transportation has a new plan for the nearly 140,000 route miles of freight railroad in this country. It wants to run high-voltage power lines along them. And fiber optic cables. And water pipelines.

Cargojet ups freighter flights to Liege

Cargojet will increase its capacity between North America and Europe this month with the launch of an additional service to Liège, Belgium. The Canadian freighter operator said the new Wednesday service beginning 23 September builds on its established weekend service. This new service to the Belgian freighter hub will be operated with a Boeing 767 freighter on the Hamilton - Halifax - Liège - Hamilton route. Cargojet said the service advances its One Network strategy by integrating domestic overnight, ACMI and charter operations across an expanding network of international markets. "This expansion demonstrates the power of our One Network strategy -- connecting our domestic overnight network with our international operations to deliver greater reach, flexibility and value for our customers," said Pauline Dhillon, chief executive, Cargojet. "Growing demand from customers across Central and Western Europe for our weekend Liège service created an opportunity to add mid-week capacity and provide customers with a more seamless, fully connected solution between Canada, Europe and beyond." The carrier entered the scheduled European market with the launch of a Liege connection last year. Previously, Cargojet only offered a charter operation to Europe. According to Planespotters, Cargojet has a fleet comprising 16 757Fs, 25 767Fs, mostly passenger to freighter (P2F) conversions. Cargojet saw both its revenues and profits grow in the second quarter of the year as higher fuel prices, contractual price increases and new charter opportunities affected performance.

General Average declared on CMA CGM Petra as Maersk wins $13m fire case

CMA CGM yesterday declared General Average on the 8,000 teu CMA CGM Petra, which suffered a fire in one of its containers on 23 August, while the vessel was en route from Singapore to Colombo. The fire was initially contained by the crew, with no injuries reported, and was later assisted by professional salvors with the firefighting and salvage operations while the vessel was at anchor near Penang. It was subsequently towed to Port Klang, where some 450 containers were unloaded for inspection. The 2024-built vessel is owned and operated by the French carrier, which yesterday declared General Average "as a consequence of the extraordinary costs incurred for the safety of the common maritime adventure". As a result "General Average security will be required from all Cargo Interests prior to the delivery of their cargo," said cargo claims consultancy W K Webster, which is assisting in the security requirements for its clients. "We are liaising with the appointed Average Adjusters regarding the form and wording of the General Average securities required and a further update will follow shortly in this respect. "We are also arranging for a fire expert to attend the vessel to investigate the cause and origin of the fire," WK Webster added. Meanwhile, earlier this month the English Commercial Court settled a decade-old dispute between Maersk and Indian shipper Sree Rayalaseema Hi-Strength Hypo over a fire that broke out on the 8,400 teu Maersk Seoul on 19 July 2015 shortly after the vessel had departed Jebel Ali. This month the court awarded $13m to Maersk after establishing that the fire was caused by a consignment of calcium hypochlorite in a number of containers which although had been properly declared to Maersk, had been improperly packed within the containers themselves. "The applicable IMDG Code provisions required packages within containers to permit adequate air circulation throughout the cargo," said an analysis of the judgment by Clyde & Co lawyers. "Instead, the cartons containing the calcium hypochlorite had effectively been packed together as a block, restricting both air circulation and the dissipation of heat. "The expert evidence was that compliance with the IMDG Code requirement would have greatly reduced the risk of a runaway reaction and, more likely than not, would have prevented the casualty. "By failing to pack the calcium hypochlorite in accordance with the IMDG Code, Sree breached that warranty and became liable to indemnify Maersk for the resulting losses," they added. However, the court's judgment also noted that despite being aware of the containers' contents, Maersk's dangerous goods team had not checked that they were packed correctly before loading, and therefore the containers did not comply with parts of the carrier's acceptance policies - although this was not found to the cause of the casualty. "Maersk ultimately succeeded despite shortcomings in its own dangerous goods acceptance process. "A different evidential picture on causation, or a properly advanced contributory negligence case, could potentially have made those shortcomings considerably more important," the Clyde & Co briefing concludes.