Earlier this year, severe winter conditions across North America coupled with the continued boom of bulk crude oil shipments originating from the Bakken region of North Dakota led to significant railcar bottlenecks and shortages. Business media was quick to note that the rail car shortage problems stemmed from pileups at the BNSF Railway, which was one of other railroads heavily burdened by surging demand for crude oil transport. MORE

There is also strong load volume available in the Dakotas. Load-to-truck ratios were also high in North Dakota and New Mexico, as indicated by the dark blue areas on this Hot States Map for the week of September 6 - 12, but there were not enough loads available to make the trip worthwhile. MORE

Con-way Truckload and Con-way Multimodal Join Forces to Launch New Intermodal Service for North America. CombineNet and Transplace Extend Partnership in Delivering Advanced Transportation Procurement Solution to North America. MORE

The Van Horne Institute is recognized both within Canada and internationally as one of North America’s leading research institutes focused on transportation, supply chain and logistics, regulatory affairs and information and communications, as measured through its contributions to the strategic decision-making and implementation processes in the public and private sectors. This leaves one option open: Go North. MORE

Okay, Okay.next up is Gerry O’Keefe of Bismarck North Dakota with his 2010 Mack truck. American Idle Welcome to the 4th season of American Idle, Ladies & Gentlemen. My name is Ryan SeatRest and I am going to be your emcee for this afternoon show. MORE

For those of you on the coasts (all three of them—East, West, and Gulf) you may be vaguely aware of the Bakken oil boom in North Dakota. They recently calculated that North Dakota just topped an average output of 1 million barrels of oil per day. MORE

Jason Schenker from Prestige Economics, spoke at our SCRC meeting, and pointed out that OPEC members really don’t see smaller drillers in North Dakota as a threat. Oil prices continued to plummet last week to below $60, and experts predict that it could continue to drop. All of a sudden, what seemed like a boost to the global economy has caused consternation and worry among economists, as the recognition that the oil supports jobs across a number of important sectors. MORE

These executives provided an overview of the incredible growth in the natural gas pipeline structure that is being driven by the massive shale gas reserves in North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and Ohio that are driving the need for gas and LNG distribution lines. I had the pleasure and honor of attending the 2nd annual Supplier Forum, hosted by Union Gas & Spectra Energy in Hamilton, Ontario at the end of April. MORE

percent, followed by North Dakota, 2.5 Unemployment levels are at an all time low. Economists are trumpeting about the economy, and how great this is for everyone. Employers added 228,000 jobs in November, while the unemployment rate remained at a 17-year low of 4.1%, the government reported in December. The report also showed that on average weekly paychecks increased by 3.1% over the last 12-months, the first time that reading has topped 3% in nearly seven years. MORE

The surge in bulk tank car shipments from the Bakken region of North Dakota, coupled with the severe winter conditions that have been experienced throughout this region have led to what is reported to be a major snarl in rail traffic that is now cascading itself among various supply chains. MORE

VAN TRENDS: Oregon and North Dakota are showing as dark red on the Hot States map above, due to a relative shortage of trucks, but there aren't necessarily a lot of loads available in either state. MORE

Look for loads of trees leaving Oregon, and potatoes out of Idaho or North Dakota. Those other dark red areas on the Hot States map, in Montana and South Dakota, signal a shortage of trucks without a lot of available loads. MORE

Natural gas is a by-product of the fracking / oil production process in the Bakken oilfields of North Dakota and the Permian Basin of West Texas, as well as lesser fields, and a primary product in the Marcellus Shale. MORE

The track record suffered a blow earlier this month when the Navy revealed that the commissioning of the North Dakota would be delayed because of design issues and problems with parts from an outside supplier. Discussion Questions: Read the following article carefully. What are the details of the contracts that that the Navy struck with General Dynamics and Huntington Ingalls? Would not it have been better if the Navy had only awarded one contract? MORE

Emergency Directive for Crude Oil Shipments At the end of April, we posted a breaking news commentary concerning a CSX freight train hauling tank cars consisting of crude oil originating from North Dakota’s Bakken region had derailed in downtown Lynchburg Virginia. It’s the end of the work week and we wanted to update our readers to previous Supply ChainMattersposted commentaries in the following news related snippets. New U.S. MORE

From the Short North in Columbus to the Northeast in Minneapolis, entire neighborhoods are being revamped into tech meccas outfitted with the amenities, housing, and features that are drawing entrepreneurs and startups to call the refurbished brick warehouses home. MORE

One of the major game changers in this state is the development of “fracking sands”, that are being used in oil exploration for directional drilling in North Dakota, Western Canada, and the Canadian Maritimes. I spent the day in Washington DC listening to a variety of really intelligent people talk about transportation planning models. This may not sound like everybody’s idea of fun, but I found the discussion compelling and fascinating. MORE

This week’s West Virginia train derailment involving a CSX train hauling a 109-car oil tanker train of crude oil from the Bakken North Dakota fields has significant repercussions. Yet another incident involving hazardous crude oil rail transport has occurred in the United States. News media and the CSX itself have confirmed that this train was hauling the newer CPC 1232 tank cars, those that have been billed as being far more explosion resistant and safe. MORE

Today, there are 8 states in the country, including Nevada, California, Michigan, Florida, North Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and Arizona that are allowing the testing of self-driving vehicles on certain roadways.”. Will there be a future for driverless trucks in logistics? MORE