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WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood an-nounced last week he will take steps to try to further curb distracting driving activities such as text messaging or using a cell phone or a Global Positioning System device.

Maersk Line’s chassis rental fee went into effect at the Port of New York and New Jersey on Aug. 3, and although there were not any freight disruptions, the head of a trade group for drayage haulers said that the rollout could have gone smoother.

Soft drink and snack food maker PepsiCo Inc. said it will reacquire two bottling companies it spun off 10 years ago, spending $7.8 billion in cash and stock to create the largest private fleet in the United States and Canada, in an effort to make its supply chains more efficient.

Manufacturer ArvinMeritor Inc. said it lost $162 million in the April-to-June quarter, while also announcing last week it has found a buyer for its light-vehicle wheels business and has stepped up its marketing effort for truck disc and drum brakes ahead of the government’s new truck stopping-distance rule.

The selective catalytic reduction process that most engine manufacturers will use to comply with 2010 federal diesel emission standards could emit toxic byproducts, the California Air Resources Board’s top researcher wrote in a recent letter filed in federal court by Navistar Inc.

Several measures affecting trucking advanced in Congress recently as a key Senate committee ap-proved a bill to allow trucks weighing more than the federal limit on Interstate 95 in Maine, and a bill providing tax incentives for idle-reducing units was introduced in the House of Representatives.

U.S. retail fuel prices continued to rise last week, as the average cost of a gallon of diesel climbed 2.2 cents to $2.55 a gallon, while gasoline jumped 5.4 cents to $2.557, the second straight week of increases, the Department of Energy reported.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board and its sister organization are working jointly on reviewing changes to the current U.S. Financial Accounting Standards 13 and International Accounting Standards 17 for leasing.