°®¶¹´«Ã½

Freight factoring is on the upswing this year as traditional banks apply stringent lending standards and truckers who are most likely to sell invoices benefit from a robust spot market, industry executives say.

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Mack Trucks introduced the Mack Anthem, its long-awaited new highway tractor, to an arena packed with dealer representatives, who company executives thanked for their patience and who were promised a truck that boasts gains in fuel efficiency, driver comfort and technological innovation compared to previous models.

Hurricane Irma may now be gone, but its fallout will continue to haunt Florida for at least the next few days as the largest U.S. gasoline market after California and Texas thirsts for the fuel.

The U.S. average retail price of diesel rose 4.4 cents to $2.802 a gallon on the heels of Hurricane Irma slamming into Florida on Sept. 10 and disrupting fuel supplies there.

TA Truck Service, a unit of TravelCenters of America, moved its national call center to a 32,000-square-foot facility so its RoadSquad unit can expand its customer base to provide services for additional fleets nationwide.

Oil rose as Irma weakened to a tropical storm after hitting Florida, while Gulf Coast refining continued to recover following storm Harvey.

Truckers who hauled gasoline to Texas last week from Florida may run the same route in reverse next week as Hurricane Irma bears down on the Sunshine State.

Long lines at fuel refineries are shortening, but the crush in demand for fuel caused by Hurricane Harvey is still putting pressure on fleets that serve the petroleum industry.

MIAMI — Florida residents picked store shelves clean and long lines formed at gas pumps Sept. 6 as Hurricane Irma, a Category 5 monster with potentially catastrophic winds of 185 mph, steamed toward the Sunshine State and a possible direct hit on the Miami metropolitan area of nearly 6 million people.