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RAIL CYBER SECURITY SUMMIT

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RAIL CYBER SECURITY SUMMIT

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Global experts prepare to gather Feb. 19-20 in The Netherlands to discuss the threat of cyber security to rail and tips on managing and mitigating risks through two days of presentations and case study evaluations. This year’s Rail Cyber Summit will provide an array of opportunities to gain a competitive advantage in the rail industry along with education and networking options.

The fourth annual summit, which is being held this year at the Crowne-Plaza hotel in Amsterdam, features open discussions on managing threats and potential security solutions within the railway sector and rail 4.0 supply chain.

Topics to be addressed include: the integration and convergence of IT and OT; how to manage and mitigate the risk of cyber threat; managing supply chain and third-party risk; identifying and addressing blind spots; innovations in detection and mitigation; configuration management; incorporating resilience into information systems; and critical control system components.

“This event will give those working in and around the industry the knowledge they need to ensure they have the right tools to incorporate resilience into information systems, critical control system components and business processes throughout their organization,” says Cyber Senate founder James Nesbitt.

Archives, Global Trade Daily, Rail

Swiss Rail Frequency to Increase in 2019

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Starting January 10, Schweizerzug will increase rail services from Frenkendorf and the Port of Antwerp from two to three weekly roundtrips in an effort to alleviate capacity constraints while improving rail capacity for 2019, according to a release from the Swiss company this week.

The expansion of services directly impacts importers, exporters, and shippers as the Swiss rail freight operator continues providing alternative methods of transportation. More recently, the Swiss company has provided daily services from Frenkendorf train terminal and Niederglatt.

Additionally, three weekly services will continue to the Port of Rotterdam as well as the Port of Antwerp through German hub in Neuss.

Roman Mayer, CEO of Schweizerzug AG, commented:

“We are excited about this next step in Schweizerzug’s ongoing expansion to offer our customers more connectivity and services between Switzerland and Antwerp. Shippers in both Switzerland and neighboring regions will profit from our reliable and time-saving rail services.”

“The events of the past few months have underscored yet again just how vital rail is – and will remain – for the transport of goods. Schweizerzug plans to continue further developing its range of transport products to meet market demand with the very best level of service available.”

Source: Schweizerzug

Archives, Global Logistics, Global Trade Daily, News

Logistics Costs For US Companies Climbed in 2013

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Lombard, IL – Logistics costs for US-based businesses climbed by 2.3 percent last year to $1.39 trillion, according to the latest State of Logistics Report (SOL), released by the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) and Penske Logistics.

According to the SOL, the first five months of 2014 “have had the strongest freight performance since the end of the Great Recession, with freight shipments up 13.1 percent.”

Yet, the report said, logistics as a percent of US gross domestic product (GDP) declined for the second year in a row, “indicating that the logistics sector is not keeping pace with the growth in the overall economy.”

Based on the SOL, Penske Logistics sees moderately improving US economic conditions, in the form of better dedicated contract carriage growth; a solid near- and long-term automotive sector outlook; and an improving manufacturing sector, also evidenced in the May reading published by the Institute for Supply Management that showed the fastest pace of manufacturing growth this year.

The nation’s supply chain sector, the report said, “faces distinct challenges, including a significant employment gap in the form of a serious shortage of truck drivers to handle the immense amount of inventory that needs to be moved around the country.”

To address this problem, the SOL said, “the industry is raising driver wages, but it remains the most pressing issue hampering sector growth. In fact, by the end of last year, despite strong inventory growth at warehouses, SOL recorded a record low rate of shipments, with inventory not moving swiftly enough, and the cost to store inventory rising. “

This employment gap/driver shortage “could continue to take its toll on the industry, and is an interesting phenomenon to juxtaposed against the labor force participation rate, which sits at historic lows.”

The SOL found that trucking costs topped the list of transportation costs in 2013 at $657 billion; railroad costs came in at $74 billion; water (ocean and inland waterways), $37 billion; air, $33 billion; and freight forwarder costs, $38 billion.

06/18/2014

 

 

 

 

Archives, Global Logistics, Rail

Union Pacific Christens New Intermodal Terminal

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Santa Teresa, NM – Officials from the Union Pacific Railroad and the State of New Mexico were on-hand recently to officially christen the rail carrier’s new $400 million, 300-acre rail facility in Santa Teresa.

The facility sits on a 2,200 tract of land purchased by the UP and is located near the city’s three industrial parks and the Santa Teresa port of entry.

The new terminal includes one of Union Pacific’s largest fueling facilities and the railroad’s largest intermodal freight terminal along the US-Mexico border.

The high-tech intermodal terminal opened April 1 and is expected to process more than 170,000 freight containers this year. It is to be expanded in future years to eventually handle 700,000 containers a year.

Union Pacific generated about $4 billion in intermodal business last year — 20 percent of its total freight sales of $20.7 billion.

The state Legislature’s passage of a bill exempting Union Pacific from paying locomotive fuel tax was a key piece to get Union Pacific to build the facility, officials said. That bill was signed by New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez in March 2011. Construction began in the summer of that year.

A series of land swaps between the state, the federal government, and the Union Pacific allowed the railroad to acquire the 2,200 acres in Santa Teresa, most of it owned by the Bureau of Land Management, according to the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission.

06/17/2014