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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.

The Obama administration is continuing to work on a plan to restart cross-border trucking between the United States and Mexico, even as the two countries battle the spread of “swine flu.”

California environmental regulators have approved a new standard that will require a 10% reduction in the carbon content of transportation fuels by 2020 and encourage a transition to nonpetroleum-based fuels.

Manufacturing in the U.S. improved last month but still showed overall contraction, the Institute for Supply Management said Friday.

U.S. factory orders fell in March after rising the month before, the Commerce Department said Friday.

U.S. consumer confidence improved in April to the highest level since late last year, according to the Reuters/University of Michigan’s monthly consumer sentiment index released Friday.

Truckload carrier P.A.M. Transportation Services reported a first-quarter loss of $3.4 million, or 36 cents per share, compared with a loss of $2.8 million, or 29 cents, a year ago.