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A few stories in this edition of Transport Topics illustrate quite well the current state of the national economy.

Profits increased sharply at most of the eight publicly traded truckload carriers that issued earnings reports last week, with gains coming mostly through rate increases rather than volume growth in the uneven, but modestly growing, freight market.

Federal regulators last week proposed a rule to require tank truck carriers who haul flammable liquids to either retrofit their existing tankers to protect their wetlines or install a system to purge product from those lines.

Trucks account for only 7% of the miles traveled in the nation’s urban areas but they shoulder 29% of the costs that urban traffic congestion produces annually in wasted time and fuel, according to the annual Urban Mobility Report from the Texas Transportation Institute of Texas A&M University.

President Obama said during his State of the Union address that the federal government should “redouble” its efforts to upgrade the nation’s infrastructure, a message met with praise from industry and labor groups.

More than two dozen retail and shipper organizations, including the National Industrial Transportation League and the National Retail Federation, have urged congressional leaders to advance legislation that repeals the antitrust immunity that ocean liner carriers have enjoyed since 1916.

More than 30 carrier and shipper organizations, including American Trucking Associations, have banded together to seek a House Committee hearing to spotlight problems with the new federal hours-of-service proposal.

Businesses involved in supplying diesel exhaust fluid needed for about 75% of the nation’s newest heavy-duty trucks say they easily will meet the expected 300% increase in demand this year.

FedEx Freight, the second-largest less-than-truckload carrier in the nation, said it plans to use rail intermodal service for the first time as part of new “economy” freight service, beginning Jan. 31.

An executive with Navistar Inc. said the company has received orders for nearly 50,000 International trucks with its 2010-compliant MaxxForce engines and already has shipped 26,000 of them to customers.