S&P Global Platts Supply Chain Challenges and the Infrastructure Bill Webinar

Supply chain investment: where will the impact be felt, and where are the opportunities and challenges?

The US Infrastructure Bill has been rightly claimed as a once-in-a-generation achievement. It is a major new piece of legislation, with the prospect of modernizing and upgrading a wide array of technologies and industries. The bill will help with enormous infrastructure problems gripping the US—physical infrastructure that is badly in need of repair and improvement. The legislation provides for investment across the board, in ports, terminals, urban transportation, roads, railroads, broadband, and a wide range of other areas.

This event focuses on the effects of the infrastructure bill related to supply chain challenges. The bill will directly impact many of the bottlenecks in physical infrastructure: where will the impact of investment be felt, and where are the opportunities and challenges for private and public investment?

We will examine the dimensions of the supply chain crisis and its grip on US infrastructure. Will infrastructure investment clear up most of the problems, or are there other areas where investment needs to be made (private or public sector)?

This event will have a lot of value for public and private sector investors. Where are the near- and long-term investment and finance opportunities? Where should the focus be—how do we define and address the short- and long-term problems of infrastructure?

Key topics we'll cover

• The impact of the Infrastructure Bill
• Understanding the bill
• Investment priorities
• What’s the time frame?
• Understanding supply chain challenges
• What’s caused the supply chain problems
• Insights into China’s ongoing logistical challenges
• Looking at key areas including transportation and ports
• Developing new solutions—short and long term

What's included

You can expect live presentations, real-time interaction, and the opportunity to engage in questions and answers with the speakers throughout, right from your desk (desktop or laptop; please note that this event is not accessible from a mobile device).

Who should attend

Supply chain problems and infrastructure investment have a broad impact. This event is ideally suited to investors and developers in electric power, transportation, shipping, oil and gas, and a wide range of commodities and energy sectors.

Speakers

Craig Allen

President
US-China Business Council

On July 26, 2018, Mr. Allen began his tenure in Washington, DC, as the sixth President of the United States-China Business Council (USCBC), a private, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization representing over 200 American companies doing business with China. Prior to joining USCBC, he had a long, distinguished career in US public service, beginning with the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA). From 1986 to 1988, he was an international economist in ITA’s China Office. In 1988, he transferred to the American Institute in Taiwan, where he served as Director of the American Trade Center in Taipei. He held this position until 1992, when he returned to the Department of Commerce for a three-year posting at the US Embassy in Beijing as Commercial Attaché. In 1999, he became a member of the Senior Foreign Service, later becoming Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asia at the US Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration, and then Deputy Assistant Secretary for China. He served as US Ambassador to Brunei Darussalam from 2014 until July 2018, when he transitioned to President of the US-China Business Council. Mr. Allen received a B.A. from the University of Michigan in Political Science and Asian Studies and a Master of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.

George Griffiths

Managing Editor, Global Container Freight
S&P Global Platts

Mr. Griffiths is the Managing Editor for Global Container Freight at S&P Global Platts. He has worked on the Platts Containers desk since 2018, building and curating the offerings that Platts has, whilst pricing major trade lanes around the world for both container freight rates and their associated bunker charges. He also writes weekly and monthly reports on the current state of play in the container market, and regularly speaks at conferences and webinars around the world on these topics. Prior to this, he worked on the Agriculture desk at S&P Global Platts looking at the EMEA biofuels markets.

Caroline Mays

AICP Director, Freight, Trade, and Connectivity Section
Texas Department of Transportation

Ms. Mays joined the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) in late 2012 and has held several positions including, Statewide Freight coordinator, Freight Planning Branch manager, director of Freight and International Trade/Border Section. She currently serves as the director of Freight, Trade, and Connectivity. She is charged with developing and managing TxDOT’s multimodal Freight Planning Program, International Trade and Border Planning Program, and Statewide Corridor Planning Program. She is responsible for overseeing the Texas Freight Advisory Committee and the Border Trade Advisory Committee and she has been instrumental in the development of the state’s multimodal Texas Freight Mobility Plan and is currently leading the development of the Texas-Mexico Border Transportation Master Plan and overseeing multiple corridor studies throughout the state. Ms. Mays is a member of the American Planning Association and the American Institute of Certified Planners. She serves as the vice-chair of AASHTO’s Special Committee on Freight and is a member of AASHTO’s Committee on Transportation Systems Operations Working Group on Freight Operations. She was recently appointed to the World Road Association (PIARC) Technical Committee on Freight. Ms. Mays holds a bachelor’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Waterloo, Canada and a master’s degree of Science in Planning from the University of Toronto, Canada.

Rocky Moretti

Director of Policy and Research
TRIP (National Transportation Research)

Mr. Moretti is the director of policy and research for TRIP, a Washington, DC – based nonprofit organization that prepares reports on a variety of transportation issues, including traffic congestion, traffic safety, road and bridge conditions, transportation planning and air quality. He has been with TRIP since 1992, where he researches, writes and edits numerous state and national reports. In 2007 he served on the Blue Ribbon Panel of Transportation Experts, which was selected by the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission to inform their deliberations over the future of the nation’s surface transportation policy. He also served from 1998 to 2002 as the executive director of the Alliance for Clean Air and Transportation, a coalition of transportation and environmental groups formed by the US EPA and US DOT to help promote actions that could result in cleaner air and reduced traffic congestion. In 2005, he served as chairman of Road Gang, an informal group of business, government and association professionals from the highway transportation industry in the Washington, DC area. Mr. Moretti continues to participate in numerous transportation forums and panels hosted by organizations including the Transportation Research Board, the ENO Foundation, and the Federal Highway Administration.

Elaine Nessle

Executive Director
Coalition for America’s Gateways and Trade Corridors

Since 2015, Ms. Nessle has served as Executive Director of the Coalition for America’s Gateways and Trade Corridors. Founded in 2001, the Coalition is dedicated to the expansion and modernization of America’s freight and goods movement infrastructure. Its members include leading transportation associations, major ports, trade corridors, state and local government agencies, railroads and engineering companies. As Executive Director, she helps unite a large and growing number of public and private organizations around the need for increased federal investment dedicated to intermodal freight infrastructure. She manages the Coalition’s work to increase awareness of the benefits of trade infrastructure development and to coordinate legislative strategy and support. Ms. Nessle graduated from St. Bonaventure University with a B.A. in journalism and mass communications. In 2019 she was appointed by the Transportation Research Board to serve on its Standing Committee on Truck Size and Weight.

Bill Sullivan

Executive Vice President for Advocacy
American Trucking Associations

Mr. Sullivan is the executive vice president of Advocacy for the American Trucking Associations, the nation’s leading organization representing the interests of the trucking industry. As executive vice president, he leads ATA’s efforts to advance a pro-trucking, pro-safety, pro-efficiency agenda on Capitol Hill, before federal regulators and in state capitals around the country. Before joining ATA, Mr. Sullivan was legislative director for Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), overseeing and managing the senator’s legislative staff and efforts. Previously, he was appropriations liaison for the Department of Justice and worked for Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Trout Unlimited. Mr. Sullivan has a bachelor’s degree and an MBA from the University of Tennessee.

Agenda

Times are US Eastern (ET / GMT-05). Agenda subject to change.