Congress May Divert Funds to Aviation From Trucking

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ASHINGTON — Nearly $60 million that Congress appropriated to fund Operation Safe Commerce, intended to develop an intermodal freight plan to ensure that ship containers are moved securely by trucks across the country, may be diverted to help the aviation industry, lawmakers said last week.

OSC was established to demonstrate container security and tracking technologies at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, New York and New Jersey, and Seattle and Tacoma. Those six locations account for about 75% of the international shipments that arrive in the United States, said members of Congress.

Without money to develop a compatible technology to secure freight shipments at all ports, trucking could face a myriad of different technologies to move freight inland, said Todd Webster, a spokesman for Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.).

For the full story, see the June 9 edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.

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