http://www.aacb.com/Bringing Cross-Border Opportunities to You. Business Without Borders.en-usafan@aacb.com?2005 A & A Contract Customs Brokers Ltd.Thu, 2 Sep 2010 12:23:49 PDT5http://www.aacb.com/images/PoweredByAA.gif15546http://www.aacb.com/publications/cc/article.asp?id=1266http://www.aacb.com/publications/cc/article.asp?id=1266
?The designations of Air Canada and Sunwing Airlines demonstrate the excellent working relationship between Canada and Mexico, and the strength of the bilateral air market,? said Minister Strahl. ?They will also benefit Canadians by providing greater choice for travel between both countries.?

These designations allow Air Canada to serve the additional routes of Regina-Cancun, St. John?s-Cancun and Montréal-Cozumel, and Sunwing to serve the additional route of Montréal-Cozumel. Under Canada?s international air transportation policy, all Canadian air carriers may apply to the Minister of Transport for designation to operate scheduled international air services. These latest designations were made possible by the 1961 Canada-Mexico bilateral Air Transport Agreement, as amended in 1999 and 2007.

The Government of Canada is proud of its record in providing more choices to Canadians for their international air travel. Since January 2006, the Government of Canada has negotiated open, new or expanded air service agreements with a total of 51 countries, including:

open skies-type agreements with nine countries: the United Kingdom (UK), Ireland, Iceland, New Zealand, Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, South Korea and El Salvador; expanded agreements with nine countries: Portugal, Brazil, Mexico, Japan, Jordan, Singapore, the Philippines, Morocco and Cuba; new ?first-time? agreements with nine countries: Algeria, Kuwait, Serbia, Croatia, Panama, Turkey, South Africa, Ethiopia and Tunisia; and a comprehensive air transport agreement between Canada and the European Union?s 27 member states. This includes the UK, Ireland and Portugal, as well as Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia, with which Canada did not previously have air agreements. ? 30 ?

Contacts: John Babcock Press Secretary Office of the Honourable Chuck Strahl Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, Ottawa 613-991-0700 Media Relations Transport Canada, Ottawa 613-993-0055 Transport Canada is online at www.tc.gc.ca. Subscribe to news releases and speeches at www.tc.gc.ca/e-news and keep up-to-date on the latest from Transport Canada.

This news release may be made available in alternative formats for persons living with visual disabilities.

Date Modified: 2010-08-31

Source: Transport Canada]]>Wed, 1 Sep 2010 15:46:00 -0800http://www.aacb.com/publications/cc/article.asp?id=1265http://www.aacb.com/publications/cc/article.asp?id=1265
Most recently, a truck driver was killed two weeks ago when his tractor-trailer cut through the guardrail on the Vedder Canal Bridge west of Chilliwack and plunged into the water below.

The incident sparked calls to make safety improvements to the bridge and a nearby span.

Transportation Minister Shirley Bond announced that work on both Hwy 1 bridges will include extending concrete roadside barriers by 150 metres; adding more reflectors to the barriers and to the guardrails "to increase driver awareness"; and adding a second row of rumble strips to the approaches.

As well, concrete barriers with reflectors will be installed along both bridges to reduce the potential of vehicles striking the railings.

B.C. Trucking Association President Paul Landry urged the ministry to look into the matter. He said that a string of crashes on the bridge indicates that something more than driver error could be involved.

The most recent crash was the fourth accident on the bridges in the last five years involving a semi-trailer and the third fatality.

Source: Today’sTrucking.com ]]>Wed, 1 Sep 2010 14:04:00 -0800http://www.aacb.com/publications/cc/article.asp?id=1264http://www.aacb.com/publications/cc/article.asp?id=1264
AAR says 236,404 total trailers and containers were moved that week -- up 22.4 percent from the same week in 2009, and up 2.6 percent compared with 2008.

Weekly container volume, a large subset of intermodal, was the highest on record, also for the second consecutive week, up 24.2 percent compared with the same week in 2009, and up 11.5 percent with the same week in 2008.

Trailer volume rose 12.4 percent last week compared with the same week in 2009, but fell 30.5 percent compared with 2008. In order to offer a complete picture of the progress in rail traffic, AAR reports 2010 weekly rail traffic with comparison weeks in both 2009 and 2008.

Carload traffic continued moderate weekly gains, with U.S. railroads originating 296,634 carloads for the week, up 6.2 percent compared with the same week in 2009, but down 11 percent from the same week in 2008.

Fourteen of the 19 carload commodity groups increased from the comparable week in 2009. Those posting the most significant increases were metallic ores and metals and metal products. All 19 carload commodity groups were down in comparison to 2008, though.

Canadian railroads reported volume of 71,033 cars for the week, up 10.5 percent from last year, and 50,999 trailers or containers, up 21.7 percent from 2009. For the first 33 weeks of 2010.

Canadian railroads reported cumulative volume of 2,382,683 carloads, up 20.8 percent from last year, and 1,531,922 trailers or containers, up 15.4 percent from last year.

Source: Today’sTrucking.com ]]>Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:09:00 -0800http://www.aacb.com/publications/cc/article.asp?id=1263http://www.aacb.com/publications/cc/article.asp?id=1263
On Monday, Aug. 30, the U.S. Energy Information Administration is reporting that fuel prices have dropped in eight of the nine regions of the country. The Rocky Mountain region is again the only one reporting a slight three-tenths of a cent increase from a week ago to average $3.019 per gallon.

A year ago, diesel was selling for around $2.674, about 26.4 cents per gallon less than it is now. Diesel prices are still above the $3 mark in four of the regions, down from five regions a week ago.

The Lower Atlantic region again beat out the Gulf Coast region with the lowest fuel prices for the second straight week, as prices there dropped 2.4 cents to average $2.886. Prices dropped an average of 2.8 cents in the Gulf Coast region to $2.888 per gallon.

The California region is again posting the highest diesel prices at $3.150 per gallon, despite a drop of 2.1 cents from a week ago.

National average ? $2.938 East Coast ? $2.930 New England ? $2.996 Central Atlantic ? 3.020 Lower Atlantic ? 2.886 Midwest ? $2.909 Gulf Coast ? $2.888 Rocky Mountain ? $3.019 West Coast ? $3.101 California ? $3.150

Source: Land Line Magazine]]>Mon, 30 Aug 2010 19:23:00 -0800http://www.aacb.com/publications/cc/article.asp?id=1262http://www.aacb.com/publications/cc/article.asp?id=1262
According to a report by truckinginfo.com, last week a federal judge in California upheld the Port of Los Angeles’ concession program for drayage carriers, setting the stage for an appeal by the trucking industry.

Judge Christina A. Snyder of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California found that the concession program is legal because the port is a private business, which makes it exempt from the law that says only the federal government has the authority to regulate trucking business operations.

While the American Trucking Associations is supportive of the port?s Clean Air program overall, there are a few aspects of the program the ATA contested. Last year, a panel of judges thought there was some merit to the ATA?s claims and put an injunction on some of the concessions in the program.

In the tentative ruling last year, Judge Snyder ordered an injunction against seven key concession requirements, including one of the main points of contention that would require all operators to be company drivers and would ban independent owner-operators from the Port of Los Angeles.

The LA Port?s position is that owner-operators will not be able to afford modern engines that are necessary for the port to reach the Clean Port targets.

In this recent development, because the judge’s decision is a finding, rather than a ruling, the current injunction against the concession program remains in place, said Curtis Whalen, executive director of the Intermodal Motor Carriers Conference of the American Trucking Associations.

In the near future, Judge Snyder will issue a ruling based on her finding, and it?s possible she will keep the injunction in place in the expectation of an appeal by ATA, but Whalen expects she will lift it. At that point ATA will appeal either back to the District Court or to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit - most likely the latter, Whalen said.

Source: Today’sTrucking.com]]>Mon, 30 Aug 2010 18:57:00 -0800