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The national average price of diesel fuel dipped to $1.307 on Jan. 10, the first drop in three weeks, tracking a drop in crude oil prices to $24.23 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

A steep decline in orders for new Class 8 big rigs in 2000 may be a result of a fundamental change in trucking, a transportation research analyst thinks.

Rumbling from the latest proposed rail merger involving U.S. and Canadian companies got louder at the first public session of an organization created to track the progress of the Conrail breakup, which took place in June.

Sales of Class 8 trucks in December pushed 1999’s retail total to 262,316 units, shattering the record of 1998 by nearly 53,000 vehicles. But manufacturers fear a sharp drop in orders in 2000.

The Northeast may never again have the levels of rail freight service achieved by Conrail, judging by what Norfolk Southern and CSX representatives refused to say during a meeting with shippers.

The national average price of diesel fuel dipped to $1.307 on Jan. 10, the first drop in three weeks, tracking a drop in crude oil prices to $24.23 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Truck manufacturers are reducing production and cutting their payrolls, even before final sales figures are in for 1999, the biggest year in history for the sale of Class 8 trucks.

The price of diesel fuel left 1999 the way it spent most of the year – heading upward. In the process, it pushed three more carriers – Federal Express, Airborne Express and Viking Freight System – to implement fuel surcharges.

The track left by diesel prices in 1999 offered a wild ride, from the lowest level of a decade to the highest point seen in years, with several ups and downs along the way.

Sales of Class 8 tractors blazed a record-setting pace through 1999, and a series of foreign mergers and deals changed the landscape of the truck-making industry.