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Southern California port officials and state environmental regulators continued pressing their campaign to reduce heavy-truck diesel emissions, approving several controversial measures during 2008 that some truckers said will lead to severe economic hardships.

The Intermodal Association of North America’s board of directors has elected Greg Stefflre, CEO of Rail Delivery Services, Fontana, Calif., as its chairman for 2009.

With fuel prices going down, including diesel, truckers are still shutting down and still saying they aren’t making money — proving my own view that the problem is other than fuel prices.

Cargo traffic at ports in China declined for the first time in at least seven years last month, Bloomberg reported.

Durable goods orders fell 1% in November, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.

Consumer personal spending fell 0.6% in November, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.

A coalition of advocacy and labor groups last week again challenged the revised driver hours-of-service rule, asking the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to reconsider provisions in the rule that allow truckers to drive 11 hours in a workday and reset their weekly hour limit by taking 34 hours off.

Transport Topics Online will be closed Thursday and Friday for the Christmas holiday. Please check back on Monday, Dec. 28, for the latest trucking and freight transportation news.

Ryder System said Tuesday it has completed its acquisition of a Canadian logistics firm with operations in China.