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Transportation software firm Xata Corp. said Monday it lost $443,000, or 5 cents per share, in its fiscal second quarter, compared with a loss of $1.3 million, or 17 cents, a year ago.

Outside of short-term survival, the biggest risk to a trucking company operating in a recession is how it is positioned when freight levels return.

The most onerous and misguided portions of the plan by the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to reshape the trucking industry there have been enjoined by a federal court, at least for now.

WASHINGTON — With the expiration of the current highway authorization just five months away, leaders in the House and Senate said they were preparing to draft its replacement with an eye on major structural changes.

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario — ArvinMeritor Inc. officially opened its new remanufacturing facility here for its Mascot Truck Parts division, the latest development in the company’s expanding presence in this niche of the truck equipment business.

A federal judge last week issued a preliminary injunction blocking many of the provisions in the clean trucks plans of the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, including the controversial ban on independent drayage owner-operators at Los Angeles.

The refrigerated sector of the trucking industry has been the only healthy activity for fleets in the current recession. Refrigerated truckload shipments grew slightly from last year, but dry vans, tankers and flatbeds all dropped substantially, industry executives and American Trucking Associations said.

Weak Class 8 truck sales around the world led to plunging revenue and either losses or vastly diminished first-quarter profits for three of the four major heavy-duty truck manufacturers and both independent engine makers operating in North America.

Corporate-owned truck fleets are facing growing pressure to justify their in-house freight operations as manufacturers and retailers target transportation expenses in response to the sharp nationwide downturn in sales.

Truck tonnage fell in March to its lowest level in seven years, as it declined 12.2% below the levels recorded one year earlier, according to an April 27 report from American Trucking Associations.