Tag: transportation

Rail Safety in the Spotlight after Derailments

US railroads typically transport more than two million carloads of hazardous material each year including many chemicals that are hazardous including fertilizer, ethanol, crude oil and chlorine. The train derailment on Feb 3rd 2023 in Ohio has made news headlines all over the world. Since then, other train derailments have been in focus and now... Read more »

ChemCeed Attends Junior Achievement Career Fair

  Last month, ChemCeed Operations & Compliance Manager, Alyssa Michaels, and Vice President, Rolly Enderes attended their alma mater, McDonell High School’s Junior Achievement Career Day. Over 150 students attended the event, called “JA in a Day,” which gave them the opportunity to see and explore different industries for future careers. Along with a career... Read more »

Potential Rail Strike Looms Near

  US rail workers could be headed for a nationwide strike if an agreement is not reached within days, which could be a devastating blow to the economy and manufacturing.  Union members voted in July to strike, seeking better quality-of-life provisions in their contracts. These provisions center around attendance policies and vacation and sick days. ... Read more »

The Rising Cost of Energy in Europe and the Effect on Chemical Distribution

While the Russian invasion of Ukraine has largely fallen from the daily headlines, the economic effects of the conflict are still being felt worldwide.  Prior to the conflict, the European Union (EU) imported 40% of its natural gas from Russia, with Germany as their largest consumer.  Nearly 1/3 of Germany’s natural gas was supplied by... Read more »

Clean Truck Transformation

As of early spring, six states passed Advanced Clean Truck rules that will require the makers of large trucks (8,500 pounds or more), to increase the production and sales of zero-emission vehicles. The goal of this new mandate is to reduce and/or eliminate greenhouse gas emissions and conventional air pollutants. In the US, medium and... Read more »

Is Trucking Actually Getting Worse?

By this point in the year 2021, the bottlenecked and congested ports, backed up rail lines, and pinched trucking capacities are nothing new, and most of us have adapted and gotten used to longer lead times, delays, and skyrocketing costs. After emerging into the post-pandemic world, there was hope that these logistical nightmares would begin... Read more »

Prices on the Rise: Supply & Demand and Transportation Woes Drive Prices Up

The petrochemical market is reacting to volatility and widespread price increases for the past few consecutive months, leaving many buyers wondering what the reasons are behind it. Companies are especially feeling this added pain just as manufacturing makes its attempt at recovery in the post-pandemic world. Simply stated, there are two primary factors driving these... Read more »

Ocean Freight Continues to Pose Serious Supply Chain Problem

As companies return to work from the holidays, major delays at U.S. ports around the country continue to cause supply chain headaches. This persistent port and rail ramp congestion and container chassis shortages were a problem heading into the new year, and there seems to be no end in sight. The excessive detention and demurrage... Read more »

Winter Arrives Early

Transportation and weather are two things that don’t mix. Every year transportation companies lose about $3.5 million to severe weather events. These delays not only affect the transportation companies, they affect the drivers, the consumers, the shippers, and the list could go on. Last year closures in March impacted more than 300,000 vehicles a day,... Read more »