New Rules for Truckers – The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) issued new rules regulating the amount of hours truckers can work. These restrictions will go into effect in 2013 and aim to reduce driver-fatigue related accidents. The new rules will decrease a trucker’s maximum work week from 82 to 70 hours. Though safety advocates have been unsuccessful in their push to reduce the daily limit from 11 hours to 10, the trucking industry and manufacturers remain concerned about the impact of new weekly limits on productivity and costs.
Read more from the Miami Herald.
U.S. Stops Short of Calling China a Currency Manipulator – Some in the domestic manufacturing industry were disappointed when the U.S. failed to label China a “currency manipulator” in a recent report. These critics accuse China of artificially lowering its currency value to drive support for its exports. The report, however, did cite that the renminbi (RMB) is “substantially undervalued” and that the U.S. government will continue to pressure Beijing on its exchange rate. Despite its critics, the renminbi has appreciated 12% against the dollar over the past year and a half.
Read more from the New York Times.
U.S. Container Traffic Grew Nearly 4% in 2011 – Annual U.S. container trade grew approximately 3.7% over 2010. Exports grew almost 6% while imports registered just over a 2% increase. The overall growth was only about half of last year’s increase; however, that data represented a rebound from sharp declines in 2009.
Read more from the JOC.
Airport Food Guide – If travel is on the menu for 2012, use the below guide to find your best airport food options. Nearly two dozen U.S. airports are profiled in the eater.com Airport Dining Guide and the authors are excited about the growing list of on-the-fly culinary alternatives.
Read more from Eater.com.
