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After reading the Jan. 16 article titled “Gasoline, Other Fuels Top U.S. Exports” (p. 24), it occurred to me to ask why we — the United States — are exporting gasoline and other fuels with the obvious demand that is domestic.

If you’re an owner-operator and your wheels aren’t turning, you’re not making money. If another vehicle slams into your truck when you have the right of way, it means you’re facing downtime through no fault of your own.

Five companies in various trucking sectors recently announced diverse steps to increase driver compensation, as carriers tackle the growing need to keep and attract drivers in a strengthening freight environment.

Class 8 tractors have long been the standard for U.S. for-hire carriers, yet for certain service lines, even the most venerable of heavy-duty fleets are now buying Class 6 and 7 trucks and sometimes even smaller cargo vans.

The Environmental Protection Agency is investigating whether Navistar Inc. completed assembly of 7,600 heavy-duty 2009 model truck engines in 2010, thereby making them noncompliant with current emission regulations.

U.S. Class 8 truck sales grew sharply in January, jumping 52.9% compared with the first month of 2011, as all manufacturers posted gains of more than 40%, with the exception of Volvo Trucks, which dropped 5.2%.

American Trucking Associations has asked a federal appeals court to throw out the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s recently published hours-of-service rule and is likely to challenge specifically the rule’s 34-hour restart provision.

Fleet maintenance directors and their suppliers will return to Tampa, Fla., this week to discuss ever more complicated techniques for eking out new slender margins of efficiency to keep the nation’s trucks rolling down highways longer and more smoothly.

President Obama last week proposed spending $476 billion on transportation over the coming six years in a plan that includes $50 billion for immediate infrastructure spending to spur job creation.

Congress last week dropped a proposed extension of a tax break, credited with dramatically boosting truck sales in 2011, from a bill that extends the federal payroll-tax holiday, but a Democratic lawmaker said the tax incentive could be passed later in the year.