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Air and ocean freight forwarder UTi Worldwide's fourth-quarter net income rose to $23.6 million or 24 cents a share, from $9.7 million or 10 cents a year earlier.

Forty-three employees of a distributor for diesel engine manufacturer Cummins Inc. went on strike Sunday at a plant in South Charleston, W.Va., the Associated Press reported.

The U.S. EPA said last week that diesel engine manufacturers who want to use selective catalytic reduction to meet EPA’s 2010 emission rules must supply the urea SCR requires and prove it will be available to truck drivers using those engines.

A loosening of the tight capacity for freight hauling now makes the fuel-surcharge programs — upon which motor carriers depend to insulate them from fuel price spikes — vulnerable to demands for change by shippers.

U.S. freight volume fell 1.7% in February compared with business levels of a year ago, marking an eighth straight monthly decline.

The U.S. average retail price of diesel fuel dipped by 0.5 cent to $2.676 a gallon last week, its second straight tiny decline, the Department of Energy said.

Several parts of the Capital Beltway, Interstate 95/495 near Washington, D.C., will be closed temporarily this weekend due to scheduled work, the Maryland State Highway Administration said.

The U.S. government may have to pay a penalty of more than $2 billion if it does not open its roads to Mexican trucks, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration John Hill told a House subcommittee Thursday, Bloomberg reported.

Consumer personal spending and incomes each rose 0.6% in February, the Commerce Department said Friday.

A court hearing on a Ford Motor Co. contract dispute with engine maker Navistar International Corp. has been postponed until next week, Bloomberg reported.