Equipment

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

   European farmers will be able to quickly receive time-critical parts for malfunctioning farm equipment on weekends and holidays during the upcoming harvest season with the help of German emergency logistics provider time:matters.     The independent courier, which is co-owned by Lufthansa Cargo, said it will rush spare parts for harvesting machines to their destination within a day to help minimize downtime and revenue losses.     time:matters arranges...

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

   The U.S. Coast Guard said it's monitoring salvage efforts on the 900-foot container ship MSC Idil after an explosion that occurred on Friday.    The ship was about 60 miles north of Puerto Rico, in transit to Barcelona, Spain when the explosion happened. The Coast Guard said it has not been on the ship, but was told the likely cause involved welding.    The Coast Guard cutter Key Largo is on scene with the MSC Idil ready to provide any rescue assistance, while monitoring...

Thursday, May 10, 2012

   Cargotec has changed the roles of several executives to further implement its marine and terminal business strategy.    In specific, Cargotec aims to grow its marine activities in Asia, especially in offshore, and accelerate the improvement of its terminal business to enable growth.    Chief Operating Officer Pekka Vauramo has been appointed executive vice president for marine, effective Aug. 1. He will continue as deputy to President and Chief Executive Officer Mikael M...

Thursday, May 10, 2012

   Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.-based NationaLease has appointed Dean Vicha to president.    Most recently, Vicha served as vice president of national accounts. Earlier, he served as vice president of member services and as a national account executive. Before coming to NationaLease in 2005, Vicha was director of business development for Ryder System, as well as served in a number of roles at Rollins Leasing Corp.    NationaLease is one of the largest truck leasing companies in N...

Wednesday, May 09, 2012

   Ryder System, a third-party logistics services provider, has expanded its food packaging and distribution capability through enhancements at its facility in Beaver Dam, Wis.    The Beaver Dam Logistics Center (BDLC) serves food manufacturers with frozen and refrigerated requirements.    BDLC was recently expanded with a 15,000-square-foot, temperature-controlled addition Ryder will use to target companies needing to package refrigerated and frozen foods, vegetables, frui...

Wednesday, May 09, 2012

   The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday said Direct Resource Inc. has agreed to pay the government $450,000 to resolve allegations that it falsely claimed payment in violation of the Trade Agreements Act (TAA), which prohibits the sale of products to federal agencies from countries that do not have a reciprocal trade agreement with the United States.     The Columbus, Ohio-based company allegedly knowingly sold products from China, a country that does not have such an agr...

Tuesday, May 08, 2012

   Using a newly purchased chassis pool, third-party logistics service provider Regal Logistics said it is now ready to meet demand requirements for on container transport service at piers in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, including the ports of Tacoma and Seattle.    The company said it is responding to a market vacuum as steamship lines eliminate chassis provisions at ports to cut costs, a trend it said is already affecting operations on the West coast.     “In mos...

Tuesday, May 08, 2012

   The intermodal and logistics company Pacer International said it has entered a multiyear agreement to have CSX remain its primary rail carrier in the eastern United States.    It said together with existing agreements between Pacer and CSX, the new deal provides terms of service for shipments in Pacer’s private fleet of more than 18,000 containers.    Dan Avramovich, Pacer’s chief executive officer, said the new agreement would provide the foundation for Pacer ...

Monday, May 07, 2012

   According to the University of Hawaii at Manoa, future warnings of deadly and disruptive tsunamis may come from commercial vessels, especially those with newer tracking and navigation systems.    The discovery came from the university's research vessel, Kilo Moana , which found that ship GPS can be used to determine sea surface height changes.    On its way from Hawaii from Guam, the ship was traveling when a tsunami was generated by the 8.8 earthquak...

Friday, May 04, 2012

   Schneider National has announced plans to swap out roughly one-third of its fleet by the end of 2012.    The trucking company is investing in 3,000 new 2012 and 2013 tractors, chiefly from Freightliner. Schneider said it’s replacing trucks at a rate of 75 per week.    With this refresh, the company is adding in a series of upgrades to the fleet. The most touted is a new safety upgrade with the OnGuard collision mitigation system that assists drivers with noticing and avo...

Thursday, May 03, 2012

   Air Pacific, the national carrier of Fiji, has picked CHEP Aerospace Solutions to supply and manage its fleet of Unit Load Devices (ULDs) under a new three-year contract.    CHEP will provide Air Pacific with containers and pallets from its global pool of more than 45,000 ULDs, eliminating administration and reducing costs for the airline to position, maintain and manage its own ULD fleet. As Air Pacific transitions to a fleet of newer, more fuel-efficient planes, CHEP w...

Wednesday, May 02, 2012

   Envirotainer, a Swedish manufacturer of temperature-controlled air cargo containers, has named Gustaf Ljunggren to chief executive officer.    He replaces Niklas Prager, who has opted to leave his position at the company and return to a post on the Envirotainer board.    Ljunggren has held senior positions in logistics, production and business development, including positions with Unilever and as CEO of Inflight Service Europe.    In the past year, Envirotainer...

Thursday, April 26, 2012

   Intelleflex and DeltaTRAK have announced a partnership to broaden the use of Intelleflex’s RFID-based readers and data services as well as DeltaTRAK’s line of environmental monitoring products.    Intelleflex, whose on-demand data visibility services are largely used to monitor the freshness of perishable foods and pharmaceuticals, said the partnership will expand DeltaTRAK’s cold chain solutions to its RFID tags. The Intelleflex XC3 Technology-based tags and readers will also be o...

Thursday, April 26, 2012

   Southern Air Holdings today has taken ownership of its fourth B777 freight at Boeing’s headquarters in Everett, Wash.    Southern Air is the only ACMI (aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance) operator to fly the B777 freighter, enabling it to serve customers with fewer stops, shorter cargo delivery times and lower handling costs. These freighters offer the most cargo capacity and longest flight times in the industry, making it possible to connect intercontinental markets overni...

Thursday, April 26, 2012

   Donjon Marine Co. has appointed John Noble as managing director of its U.K. operations.    Noble has worked in commercial shipping since 1962 when he joined HMS Conway, the pre-sea training school in the United Kingdom. He served as a deck officer in the British Merchant Marine sailing with shipping lines Blue Funnel and Palm Line.    After serving as a claims executive with Thomas Miller (UK P & I Club) during the late 1970s, he opened the London office of Murray Fe...

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

   Pacer International and CRST International said Tuesday they have agreed to multi-market dedicated drayage agreements focused on driving intermodal drayage efficiencies and providing incremental capacity for Pacer.    CRST has formed a separate operating unit, CRST IMX, within its dedicated services subsidiary to provide the service. CRST IMX will market, sell, and operate its intermodal drayage network and other short-haul trucking services.    The initial focu...

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

   Crowley said its Titan Salvage unit has been awarded a contract to remove the Costa Concordia wreck from Giglio Island in partnership with the Italian firm Micoperi.     The work will begin in early May, subject to final approval from the Italian authorities. The job is expected to take about 12 months.    Removal of fuel from the ship was completed on March 24, more than two months after the Jan. 13 disaster which killed 32 people and injured scores of ot...

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

   The U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command accepted delivery of its newest dry cargo/ammunition ship, USNS Medgar Evers (T-AKE 13), during a ceremony at the General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard in San Diego on Tuesday.    The ship, which was christened Nov. 12, 2011, honors slain civil rights leader Medgar Wiley Evers, who is remembered for his efforts to end segregation at the University of Mississippi in the 1950s and for his opposition to Jim Crow laws in the 1960s.    "As ...

Thursday, April 19, 2012

   Three air cargo charter brokers have started the Global Charter Alliance (GCA), a consortium of independent brokers.    GCA’s founding members are Pacific Airlift of Singapore, The Charter Store in the United States, and recently-formed NEO Air Charter of Germany. They said they will work together to exploit operational efficiencies; share contacts, market intelligence and other information; leverage collective buying power; and benefit from economies of scale.    “...

Friday, April 13, 2012

   CHEP Aerospace Solutions has acquired an air cargo equipment manufacturing site in Copenhagen from Nordisk Aviation Products.    This follows the acquisition of Driessen Services by CHEP’s parent company Brambles in November 2011.    Located at Copenhagen Airport, the site provides capacity to repair up to 12,000 Unit Load Devices (ULDs) annually, in addition to thousands of galley carts. As the home of Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) and increasingly a distribution...

Friday, April 13, 2012

   Swissport International, a global provider of air cargo handling, now provides its customers and other partners with a track-and-trace service for mobile devices.    Built on Swissport’s Freightfinder, a track-and-trace service that has been available on the Web, the new mobile version will allow customers to check the status of shipments from smartphones and tablets. The company said its mobile service supports Android devices, BlackBerrys, iPhones, and iPads.    Unlike...

Friday, April 13, 2012

   The U.S. Commerce Department on Thursday reported that the country’s goods and services exports in February were up 0.1 percent from January to reach a record $181.2 billion.    In addition, record highs were seen in U.S. exports of total services ($53.2 billion), and capital goods exports ($43.2 billion).    The trade deficit narrowed by $6.5 billion from January to February, to $46.0 billion. This reflected a $6 billion decrease in the goods trade deficit and a $0...

Thursday, April 12, 2012

   Air Methods Corp., a global provider of air medical transportation, said it's consolidating its management to improve operations efficiency.    The company has eliminated its chief operating officer position, held by Paul Tate. The responsibilities are being distributed among senior staff and Tate is transitioning to a consultant role in the company.    Air Methods is one of the larger air medical transport services for U.S. hospitals and currently op...

Thursday, April 12, 2012

   The United States and Brazil this week entered a public-private partnership to enhance bilateral aviation cooperation in areas such as airport expansion, airspace management, safety and security.    “These programs will support Brazil's aviation infrastructure development priorities, while connecting U.S. companies to the growing business opportunities in the sector,” said the U.S. Trade and Development Agency.    As a result of rapidly increasing air traffic due to...

Monday, April 09, 2012

   U.S. railroads moved 5.8 percent fewer new carloads in March compared to a year ago, but intermodal volume increased 3.5 percent to 928,350 containers and trailers, the Association of American Railroads reported Thursday.    Intermodal traffic grew for the 28th consecutive month.    The decline of 69,190 carloads to 1,123,298 was led by coal. Shippers also moved less grain, chemicals, nonmetallic minerals and farm products last month than in March 2011. Twe...

Monday, April 09, 2012

   The Singapore Armed Forces has agreed to a deal to allow the Dutch military to store small arms and ammunition at its outpost, according to a report in Singapore’s Straits Times .    “The arms will be used by Dutch military teams who sail on board Dutch-flagged merchant vessels, which pass through the piracy-infested waters off the Somali Coast and the Gulf of Aden,” the report said. “These military teams - known as vessel protection detachments (VPD) - are deployed on b...

Thursday, April 05, 2012

  Brian Sondey, chairman, chief executive officer and president of TAL International Group, Inc., has been elected chairman of the Institute of International Container Lessors for 2012, He succeeds Peter Younger of Cronos, Ltd.   Organized in 1971, the IICL is a trade association, representing lessors of maritime containers and intermodal chassis. Its member companies, Beacon, CAI, Cronos, Dong Fang, Flexi-Van, Florens, Seaco, SeaCube, TAL International, Textainer, Touax, TRAC Interm...

Thursday, March 29, 2012

   U.S. Commerce Secretary John Bryson promoted partnerships between U.S. and Indian businesses as he discussed the U.S.-India trade relationship during meetings with several Indian government officials in New Delhi Tuesday during a five-day trade mission to India.    “It’s clear that if American and Indian businesses work together, we can build India’s infrastructure in a way that brings inclusive growth, greater prosperity, and job creation in both countries,” Bryson said. “U.S. co...

Monday, March 26, 2012

   Old Dominion Freight Line has opened a container drayage operation in the Port of Oakland.    "Co-located with our San Francisco service center, the Oakland container drayage operation will strengthen our network in California, which includes a container drayage facility in Los Angeles and 12 less-than-truckload (LTL) service centers across the state," said Wayne Bersch, the company's director of container operations, in a statement.    Earlier this year, ...

Friday, March 23, 2012

   Smiths Detection has named Sal Cipres its new head of global programs, overseeing the company's work in transportation, military, ports and borders, emergency response and critical infrastructure markets.    Cipres was formerly general manager of Smiths’ Edgewood, Md. facility and director of global chemical and biological programs.    Smiths develops government-regulated technology products that help detect and identify explosives, chemical and biological agents, r...

Friday, March 23, 2012

   Klinge Corp. has introduced a new and lower-cost version of its blast freezer container, which quickly freezes cargo to -60°C (-76°F).    The new version of its CBU-30 freezer follows the company's acquisition of Denmark’s Norfrig Equipment last year and the decision to shift production to the company’s headquarters in York, Pa.    The company has also introduced a “marinized and ruggedized” nose-mount freezer, NMF-371, which it says is tailored to ocean shipmen...

Thursday, March 22, 2012

   FastShip Inc., a company that once proposed building high-speed containerships for a service that would offer a lower-cost alternative to air freight, filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code on Tuesday.    Roland K. Bullard II, president of Fastship and two affiliates, FastShip Atlantic and Thornycroft, Giles & Co. Inc., said in a declaration with the court that "the combination of deal fatigue and the collapse of the global economy in 200...

Thursday, March 22, 2012

   Marken, a global clinical supply chain service provider with a presence in more than 150 countries, has started a new shipping system designed specifically for biological samples and clinical trials.    Marken’s BioSystem is the latest addition to its biological-related logistics services and focuses on long-term temperature control as well as standardized box dimensions for freight costs and dry ice use.    The company said the new system will be available at ...

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Bryson    U.S. Commerce Secretary John Bryson will lead a trade mission of 16 companies to India on March 25-30, making stops New Delhi, Jaipur and Mumbai.    During the mission, Bryson will meet with senior Indian government officials to advocate for U.S. export opportunities in India’s rapidly expanding infrastructure sector, and promote investment opportunities in America – both priorities of the Obama administration.    The companies attending the mission include Autode...

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

   The private investment firm Littlejohn & Co. said Tuesday that it had completed its previously announced acquisition of Direct ChassisLink, Inc. (DCLI). from Maersk Inc.    DCLI owns or leases about 66,000 chassis and rents them to drayage companies and liner carriers in the United States. It has a network of 129 sites located on or near key ports and other intermodal hubs around the country.    Littlejohn named William J. Shea Jr. chairman an...

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

   The total capacity of cargo vessels delivered in 2011 was double that of 2007, according to the Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics’ analysis of IHS Fairplay data.    In terms of deadweight tons, the global fleet saw 164.5 million metric tons of capacity, up from 146.5 million metric tons in 2011 and 82.5 million metric tons in 2007.    The preponderance of the new deliveries come in the form of bulk carriers and tankers. Those two categories represented ne...

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

   The Maritime Administration will provide nearly $10 million in grants to 15 small U.S. shipyards to pay for modernizations intended to increase productivity and help these operations compete in the global market.    The largest grants went to shipyards in Charleston, S.C.; Ameila, La.; Tampa, Fla.; Cleveland; and Seattle.    MarAd received 141 grant applications requesting $123 million in assistance. Its Small Shipyard Grant Program funds a ...

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

    Intelligrated has relocated its Dallas-based southwest regional operations to larger facilities in Coppell, Texas.    Headquartered in Cincinnati, Intelligrated makes and installs material handling automation systems such as conveyor and sorting systems, palletizers and robotics, order fulfillment systems, warehouse control software and advanced machine controls.    The company said the facility move was due to growth and successful bidding on several recent orders...

Monday, March 19, 2012

   APM Terminals said a new container terminal which it plans to open in the Maasvlakte II area of the Port of Rotterdam in November 2014 will feature a new type of automated equipment.    "We have designed the terminal to serve the largest containerships in the world with higher productivity and service level consistency day-in, day-out, while operating in a safe, environmentally-friendly way," said Frank Tazelaar, managing director for APM Terminals Maasvlakte II. "Our estimat...

Monday, March 19, 2012

   The Coast Guard announced Friday publication in the Federal Register of a final rule  on standards for living organisms in ship ballast discharged into waters of the United States.    The Coast Guard specifically seeks to establish a standard for the allowable concentration of living organisms in ballast water discharges. The agency is also amending its regulations to include an approval process for ballast water management systems.    "Once full...

Friday, March 16, 2012

   Canadian Pacific Railway said it has reached a multi-year agreement with Unimin Corp. of New Canaan, Conn., for the movement of fracking sand from Unimin's new facility in Tunnel City, Wis., to North Dakota, Texas, Colorado and elsewhere.    CP will become the exclusive railroad at the facility which is slated to open in 2013 and will produce 2 million tons of fracking sand annually.    Fracking sand is used in hydraulic fracturing of oil and gas wells. It is p...

Thursday, March 15, 2012

   The Texas port of Corpus Christi officially started operations this week of six large wind turbines as part of the first phase of its Harbor Wind Farm.    The project, which was developed by Revolution Energy on the north side of the Port Corpus Christi Inner Harbor, is one of the first wind farms located on industrial port property in North America.    Revolution Energy began developing the Harbor Wind project in 2006. The $20 million project was financed using new mark...

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

   Canadian National Railway said Tuesday it has introduced new import/export container train services between the Port of Prince Rupert in British Columbia and Calgary in Alberta.     The railroad will also start service to Edmonton in June.    "Alberta is one of the fastest growing industrial and consumer based economies in North America and has a fast increasing need for efficient supply chains, the railroad said.    CN said it will rel...

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

   Vangard Voice Systems and BellHawk Systems Corp. have announced a joint collaboration effort to create a set of voice-directed productivity enhancements to cloud-based warehouse management systems, manufacturing and supply chain management solutions.    The partnership will focus on Vangard’s cloud-based mobile voice service built for hands-free voice productivity to mid-sized industrial organizations such as manufacturers and food processors.    The WMS service, built on...

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

   The Alabama State Port Authority said the Pinto Terminal in the Port of Mobile began handling the largest import steel shipment in the port's history on Tuesday.    The vessel Shi Dai is delivering 4,259 carbon steel slabs weighing in at 94,210 metric tons.    Jimmy Lyons, director and chief executive officer for the port authority, said volumes at Pinto "are skyrocketing as the ThyssenKrupp rolling mill continues to ramp production. We’ve long known this mill a...

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

   California's Port of Stockton has added 5,825 feet of new track in a public-private partnership with Union Pacific Railroad and Metro Ports.    The $1.2 million addition to the east port interchange tracks forms a loop that will allow inbound and outbound trains to operate without interfering with operations at the port's east complex.    The improvement will enable the port to receive an additional three bulk cargo unit trains with export iron o...

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

   The United States on Monday says it largely prevailed in a World Trade Organization dispute over claims by the European Union related to The Boeing Co.    In specific, the WTO Appellate Body rejected claims that the United States provided massive trade-distorting subsidies to Boeing and affirmed a dispute settlement panel’s March 2011 finding that most of the programs challenged by the EU were not subsidies. Further, the Appellate Body affirmed that the value of WTO-inconsistent s...

Friday, March 09, 2012

   Australian Rail Track Corp. (ARTC), the government-owned operator of Australia’s freight rail network, has begun replacing its older communications systems used on 704 privately owned trains in hopes to remove a hinderance to interstate shipping.    The new system, based on Telstra’s Next G network, will unify the six UHF and VHF radios that were previously used by trains to communicate with control centers in each state. The unified radios will meet all the different technol...

Thursday, March 08, 2012

   Huawei, a communications technology provider, has entered an alliance with IBM Global Business Services to develop an application for the enterprise mobility market.    The work, which will fall under the “Smart Workspace@Mobile” brand, will focus on mobile office needs, specifically automation, service channels, and enhancing asset and logistics management.    Wan Biao, chief executive officer for Huawei Devices, said the application will address growing ...

Wednesday, March 07, 2012

   Scandinavian Airlines has appointed CHEP Aerospace Solutions to supply and manage its air cargo equipment, or Unit Load Devices (ULDs), under a five-year contract.    CHEP provides SAS with containers and pallets from its global pool of more than 45,000 ULDs, removing the cost and hassle for SAS to position, repair and manage its own fleet.    SAS will have an option to transition to using lightweight containers supplied from CHEP’s pool, allowing the airline to redu...

Wednesday, March 07, 2012

   Chinese crane manufacturer ZPMC on Monday delivered the first four container cranes for the new terminal under construction at the German port of Wilhelmshaven, according to terminal operator Eurogate.    The cranes took two months to reach the North Sea port from Shanghai.    The super post-Panamax cranes can stretch across 25 rows of containers on deck, bigger than any vessel yet on the market. The largest container vessel in operation now is 15,550 TEUs and stretches 2...

Monday, March 05, 2012

   Advent and eModal, two leading developers of port community and chassis management software, have merged.    Carl D’Emilio of Advent will be president of the combined companies, which have taken the name Advent Intermodal Solutions, and will be headquartered at Advent’s office in Murray Hill, N.J.    The changing “chassis paradigm,” wherein many liner carriers are reducing their involvement in the chassis business, is one area that will present new opportunitie...

Friday, March 02, 2012

   Kuehne+Nagel said it's introducing newly developed active wireless sensors which record and transmit the temperature of pharmaceutical air freight shipments as part of its KN PharmaChain product.    The Swiss forwarder said use of these sensors is a major achievement in the segment of "seamless" air freight cold chains for pharmaceutical products.    Generally, security rules prohibit the active use of mobile sensors during air transport. However, together with...

Friday, March 02, 2012

   FleetBoard, a European provider of vehicle logistics management systems, will be marketed throughout Ireland by the Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicles devision.    FleetBoard’s fleet management system is supported by pre-installed hardware on the new Mercedes-Benz Actros, a heavy duty truck first introduced by Mercedes-Benz in the early 1990s. FleetBoard will tailor its three main services specifically to the truck for efficiency and reduce costs.    The company estimates...

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

   The U.S. Navy Military Sealift Command-chartered container ship Green Wave departed McMurdo Station, Antarctica on Feb. 25 after delivering more than 6.8 million pounds of supplies in support of Operation Deep Freeze (ODF).    ODF is the annual Joint Task Force Support For Antarctica mission to resupply the remote scientific outpost.    Green Wave followed Military Sealift Command-chartered tanker Maersk Peary , which brought more than 6.3 million gallons of crucial dies...

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

   The U.S. Export-Import Bank approved an $83.1 million loan guarantee to support the sale of six American-made locomotives, railroad cars, and mining equipment to the Iron Ore Co. of Canada (IOC).    The transaction will support an estimated 500 U.S. jobs across a range of American businesses in six states, including Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin, the bank said.    IOC bought six SD 70 Ace locomotives from Electro-Motive Diesel of LaGrang...

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

   Antwerp-based ocean carrier Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB) has completely divested itself of participating interest in shipbroker Clarksons after an earlier sale of 720,000 shares in early January.    A total of 3.239.650 Clarksons shares were sold by CMB this year, representing $58.5 million. The capital gain – that will be recorded in CMB’s first quarter results – amounts to about $41.5 million.    CMB operates a fleet of bulk ships and passenger and cargo planes.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

     Con-way Freight has been transitioning its sales process from paper to an electronic system for the past five years, and when iPads came out, the carrier soon became hooked on the devices.    “We actually waited for the iPad 2 and that’s what we deployed as it had additional security features as well as the camera, so we can take pictures of customer’s freight,” Ed Conaway, executive vice president of sales for Con-way Freight, told American Shipper .  &...

Thursday, February 23, 2012

   Rockford Solar Partners, a renewable energy development joint venture between Elgin, Ill.-based Wanxiang America and New Generation Power in Chicago, received both U.S. Energy Department and Federal Aviation Administration environmental approval to start building the country’s largest commercial airport-based solar farm to be located at the Chicago Rockford International Airport.    Rockford airport was picked for the 20-megawatt solar project because it offers 70 acres to install ...

Thursday, February 23, 2012

     The U.S. Transportation Department has awarded a $54.6 million loan to Kansas City Southern Railway Co. to buy 30 new General Electric ES44AC locomotives.    These diesel-electric locomotives, built in Erie, Pa., will help KCS meet increasing economic demand, and are more energy-efficient and produce significantly less carbon emissions than the locomotives they are replacing, DOT said.    “We are seeing President Obama’s commitment to rail boost manufacturing all ...