FedEx chief: ‘Every mode of transportation’ needs improvement

FedEx Freight CEO Bill Logue said that every mode of transportation needs significant improvement, according to a Forbes magazine report.

Speaking at National Industrial Transportation League’s conference in Houston on Monday, Logue said that the U.S. transportation network was falling far behind where it needs to be.

“We must begin to address aging infrastructure across every mode of transportation,” he said, according to the report. “We cannot solve tomorrow’s challenges with yesterday’s approaches.”

{mosads}Logue cited what he said was stagnation in the U.S. aviation and port systems as examples.

Logue said the current airplane navigation system, which is based on World War II-era radar technology, has not changed “since the 1950s.”

He added that “many of the nation’s ports are already experiencing congestion and delay.”

Lawmakers are considering an $8.2 billion bill to boost ports and waterways, and the Federal Aviation Administration is seeking to build a new satellite airplane navigation system known as NextGen.

The water infrastructure bill includes only authorizations for future port project appropriations that would still have to be approved by lawmakers, however, and the complete funding for the NextGen has not yet been approved.