We still have advertising available in our EXPO book that will be handed out to all attendees. Act today to be included.

We are pleased to announce our featured Luncheon speaker at EXPO 2010 will be John Wiehoff CEO and Chairman of the Board at CH Robinson Worldwide. To make reservations for the Luncheon select the club events tab on our website. We look forward to seeing you at EXPO 2012

                                          February 14, 2012

                                          Registration: 11:00am-11:30am

                                             Program: 11:30am-1pm

                                              Radisson Roseville

                                 2540 North Cleveland Roseville, MN

Dart Transit Company is sponsoring our program in February.  Our speaker will be Larry Gross- Senior Consultant from FTR Associates and founder of Gross Transportation Consulting.

His topic will be “Forecasting in Uncertain Times – FTR’s take on where we’re at and where we’re going in the transportation sector.”

FTR is the industry leader in freight transportation forecasting. Their principal business is forecasting.  Key products include publications and forecasts covering U.S. freight transport by mode, including truck, intermodal and rail carload; NAFTA commercial vehicle sales and production, including heavy and medium duty; US trailer factory shipments; and North American railcar deliveries.

To register go to www.transportationclub.com click on event registration and select club store to register and pay by credit card. Or you can select “printable luncheon registration” The form can be filled out and a check can be mailed to the Transportation Club PO Box 385995 Bloomington, MN. 55438

The cost is $35.00 for members and $40.00 for non-members. We look forward to seeing you.

Thank you to Dart Transit Company for sponsoring this month’s luncheon.

www.dart.net

Topic: Natural Gas, the fuel for the future

The Great Lakes Maritime Research Institute, headquartered in the port of Duluth/Superior has  recently been awarded a contract from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration to study the feasibility of using natural gas as a primary fuel for Great Lakes commercial vessels.  The research plan will include interaction with the European Union that has embarked on a similar study.    While GLMRI will be primarily researching marine transportation, they will also be looking at the feasibility of providing LNG fuel in port areas for rail and trucking so that the liquefaction plants realize economies of scale and air emission improvements can be expanded to other modes. 

UPS just recently started to repower some of their trucks with LNG. It has been reported in Transport Topics that Congress is considering tax breaks for building natural gas fueling stations and millions more in tax breaks to the manufacturers of natural gas vehicles.  The United States has only 133,000 natural gas vehicles vs. 13 million vehicles elsewhere around the world.  It is estimated the nation has as much as 120 years worth of natural gas reserves yet untapped. 

This seminar will review the proposed study along with an outline of the limitations, disadvantages and advantages of natural gas. Examples of successful transportation systems using natural gas as a primary fuel use will be presented.  An open discussion of the potential of future applications of natural gas as a fuel for transportation will follow.

When: March 20, 2012

       2:30 – 3:15 p.m.

Where: Ramada Mall of America, Shoshone Room

2300 East American Boulevard, Bloomington, MN

Presented by:  Richard D. Stewart, Ph D, CTL

Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Superior, the Director of the Transportation and Logistics Research Center, Co-Director of the Great Lakes Maritime Research Institute and Chair of the Department of Business and Economics.

Cost:  ‘FREE’ (courtesy of The Transportation Club of Minneapolis/St. Paul)

If you would like to attend, please email us at office@transportationclub.com.

Space is limited, so don’t delay, SIGN UP TODAY!

Our mission is to provide a forum for exchange of ideas and information concerning transportation in all its aspects. We also seek to foster fellowship within the transportation community.

Today, our membership is more than 300 members. Our diverse membership represent all forms of transportation, including:

“Dedicated to providing a continuing opportunity for education, fellowship, and mutual understanding, while maintaining the highest standards, of and for those persons within the transportation industry.”

“Powered by the Members”

Also if you would like to sponsor a future event the cost is $100.00. Please contact office@transportationclub.com

Our mission is to provide a forum for exchange of ideas and information concerning transportation in all its aspects. We also seek to foster fellowship within the transportation community.

Today, our membership is more than 300 members. Our diverse membership represent all forms of transportation, including:

“Dedicated to providing a continuing opportunity for education, fellowship, and mutual understanding, while maintaining the highest standards, of and for those persons within the transportation industry.”

“Powered by the Members”

Transportation Club gives kids a boost during their hospital stay

A hospital stay can be a tough time for children and their families. For close to eight decades, members of the Transportation Club of Minneapolis & St. Paul have been trying to make it easier by giving their time and money to the University of Minnesota Amplatz Children’s Hospital.

“They’re a wonderful group—I can’t say enough about them,” says Diana Huseth, UMCH director of volunteer services. “They’re just very caring and loving people who want to make a difference in the lives of our patients and families, and they do.”

For nearly a decade, the Transportation Club, a nonprofit organization made up of members of the transportation community in Minnesota, has been hosting monthly parties for patients to ease the stress of their hospital stay and help them feel like a part of a caring community. The club also uses proceeds from its fundraisers to buy gifts to cheer children hospitalized over the holidays and donates volunteer time to wrap them. Its funds also supply hospital playrooms and lounges with toys and other items.

The Transportation Club took the remarkable step of expanding its support with a five-year, $95,000 pledge.

“Parties are great, but the day after, it’s all gone,” says ex-club president Tom Krieger. “[This money] will be spent on bigger-ticket items for the kids to enjoy for a long time.”

Although it’s still under consideration, the new gift may be used to support the hospital’s Child-Family Life Services efforts to help patients and their siblings understand what’s happening to them, or it may be used to enhance art and music therapy offerings.

Child-Family Life Services program manager Tim Knaeble says the new gift will be a big boost in helping kids be kids during their hospital stay. “We feel really fortunate to be working with the Transportation Club,” he says. “To have some ongoing support like this opens a lot of new doors … Their hearts are so big.”

To learn how you can support Child-Family Life Services at the University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital, contact development officer Jen Foss 612-625-1440 jfoss@mmf.umn.edu

Link: http://www.mmf.umn.edu/children/stories/donors/transportation.cfm