The Official Newsletter of The National Defense Transportation Association
June 18, 2025
NDTA-USTRANSCOM FALL MEETING
Register Today
October 6-9, 2025
Registration is now open for the 13th annual NDTA-USTRANSCOM Fall Meeting, October 6-9, 2025, at the St. Louis Union Station Hotel, St. Louis, MO. Join government, military and industry partners at this special venue to learn, share ideas, find solutions and explore this year’s theme: “Powering Global Deployment & Distribution – Ready, United, Decisive!” The Fall Meeting includes general sessions, meetings, an expo hall, and Transportation Academy. Transportation Academy offers more than 60 classes covering relevant logistics and transportation topics designed to promote professional development, training, and education. Continuing Education Units (CEUs) will be available for registrants attending the full program. Learn more in the registration pages. […READ MORE…]
Thank You for Your Support of the SFPC!
NDTA and Christopher Newport University’s Center for American Studies (CAS) jointly presented the NDTA-CAS Surface Force Projection Conference (SFPC) at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Va., June 10-12.
The conference theme, “Challenging the Joint Force Deployment Status Quo — Improving the Large-Scale Deployment Model,” zeroed in on current and future solutions for surface force projection to support a strong national defense.
The SFPC focused exclusively on networking and knowledge sharing with government and industry logistics and transportation experts, members of the Joint Logistic Enterprise, to examine the challenges associated with deploying dynamic forces and moving sustainment to the point of need. The rich educational experience offered attendees opportunities to attend breakout sessions and meetings, engage with notable keynote speakers, moderators, and panelists, and network at receptions and in the Exhibit Hall.
Thank you to everyone who attended and participated in the conference. The SFPC is an incredibly valuable event within the transportation and logistics community—and we could not do it without your support!
Trump Says Trade Deal Reached with China
(Freight Waves) President Donald Trump announced his administration has reached an agreeable trade deal with China. In a Truth Social post, the President said, “Our deal with China is done, pending final approval from Xi and me.”
The post stated that “we are getting a total of 55% tariffs, China is getting 10%” and that the relationship between the two countries is “excellent.” Magnets and any necessary rare earth metals also will be supplied up front by China and the agreement covers Chinese students studying in the United States. […READ MORE…]
Pentagon Calls Shipbuilding a Top Priority, But Congress Says Budget Falls Short
By Mike Schuler
The Department of Defense has placed shipbuilding at the heart of its FY2026 strategy, pledging $5.9 billion to revitalize the US maritime industrial base amid growing concerns over China’s naval expansion.
In a written posture statement submitted to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned that China has over 230 times the shipbuilding capacity of the US, noting that 70% of China’s warships were launched after 2010, compared to just 23% of US vessels. […READ MORE…]
US Will Collaborate on Advanced Air Mobility
PARIS, FRANCE — US Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy announced at the Paris Air Show that the Federal Aviation Administration and four other regulators are collaborating on an advanced air mobility (AAM) roadmap to enable the safe rollout of these aircraft and unleash innovation in our skies. The roadmap puts us on a path to align our standards and remove redundant red tape. […READ MORE…]
Economic Uncertainty Delays Truckload Market Breakout
By
(Freight Waves) The trucking sector is enduring one of its longest and most challenging economic stretches since deregulation. Truckload demand is currently down approximately 30% from its COVID-era peaks. While those peak levels were never sustainable, they lasted long enough to inflate capacity far beyond what the market required. […READ MORE…]
Editor’s Picks
Marine Corps Releases New Details on Drone Competitions Coming to Bases Around the World
Five Marine Corps bases will host drone competitions to test Marine teams from across the fleet on “hunter-killer” drone employment, speed and agility, with the first event occurring at Quantico, Virginia, in November, according to a service message last week and a Marine Corps spokesperson.
US Shifts Warships in Mideast in Response to Israel Strikes
The United States is shifting military resources, including ships, in the Middle East in response to Israel’s strikes on Iran and a possible retaliatory attack by Tehran, two US officials said Friday.
The Navy has directed the destroyer Thomas Hudner, which is capable of defending against ballistic missiles, to begin sailing from the western Mediterranean Sea toward the eastern Mediterranean and has directed a second destroyer to begin moving forward so it can be available if requested by the White House.
US Forward Deploys Dozens of Aerial Tankers Amid Possible Entry into Israel-Iran War
(Military Watch Magazine) The US Air Force has made an unprecedented mass deployment of KC-135 and KC-46 aerial tankers across the Atlantic from bases on the American mainland. Tankers from multiple Western countries are reported to be participating in supporting Israeli Air Force aerial refueling efforts to facilitate strikes on Iran, raising the possibility that these newly deployed tankers may be intended to similarly refuel Israeli assets.
US Navy’s T-54A Marlin Trainer Debuts Operationally
(The Aviationist) The US Navy has declared the Initial Operational Capability (IOC) for the T-54A Marlin II training aircraft in May, Naval Air Systems command (NAVAIR) announced on June 9, 2025, “giving future naval aviators a modern platform to prepare them for the advanced aircraft they will fly in the fleet.” A variant of the Beechcraft King Air 260, the Marlin will replace the older T-44C Pegasus that has been in service since 1977.
USNS Point Loma Ready for Delivery to Navy After Passing Rigorous Sea Trials
(San Diego Union Tribune) The fast transport ship USNS Point Loma has passed its sea trials and will be delivered to the fleet later this month.
The Navy has yet to formally announce where the 338-ft. Spearhead-class ship will be homeported. But San Diego is a possibility because the $235 million vessel is meant to be part of the Pacific fleet.
US Coast Guard to Remove 350 Navigation Buoys in Northeast Waters
(gCaptain) The US Coast Guard has announced plans to discontinue approximately 350 buoys in northeastern waters as part of a broader modernization initiative for aids to navigation.
The proposal represents about 6% of the 5,640 federally maintained aids to navigation in the First Coast Guard District. The change reflects the increasing reliance on modern navigation technologies, including global navigation satellite systems, electronic navigation charts, and electronic charting systems.
CSX Announces Ratification of Labor Deal with Locomotive Engineers
CSX Corporation employees represented by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) have voted to ratify the five-year collective bargaining agreement covering approximately 3,400 locomotive engineers. This is the first ratification reached by a Class I freight railroad with BLET.
GEODIS in Mexico Inaugurates New Office in Guadalajara
GEODIS celebrated the grand opening of a brand-new office in Guadalajara, Jalisco to support its growing Mexico operations. This expansion responds to the growth of GEODIS’ freight forwarding line of business in Mexico, with the new office in Guadalajara now integrating the company’s Americas Center of Excellence (CoE), a strategic hub that includes key logistics operations for the entire Americas region, into the country’s product portfolio.
RateHawk Selects Travelport Air Content to Enrich Trip Offers
Travelport, a global technology company that powers travel bookings for hundreds of thousands of travel suppliers worldwide, and RateHawk, an online B2B platform for booking hotels, air tickets, and transfers, announced a new content distribution agreement. Travelport will be the preferred air content provider for the RateHawk platform, delivering a broad range of multi-source content that includes traditional, new distribution capability (NDC) and low-cost carrier (LCC) content.
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