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Wal-Mart Stores said it will test two types of diesel-electric hybrid trucks and two types of alternatively fueled trucks as part of a continuing effort by the world’s largest retailer to double the fuel efficiency of its 7,200-truck fleet by 2015.

Your newspaper this week shows just how difficult things are for carriers these days, as freight rates and volumes continue to nose dive while shippers push for lower fuel surcharges and better deals.

California environmental regulators said last week the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has granted the state a waiver that will allow enforcement of its regulation requiring emission-control retrofits on refrigerated trucks and trailers.

Paccar Inc.’s parts dealers are offering the company’s Engine Control Systems Purifilter, an aftermarket passively regenerating diesel particulate filter approved by the California Air Resources Board for installation and use in a wide variety of Class 8 trucks.

Wal-Mart Stores will test two types of hybrid trucks and two types of alternatively fueled trucks, the company announced Monday.

Eight publicly traded truckload fleets weathered the fourth quarter recession by lowering costs, including fuel, and posted earnings that either topped or came close to the year-earlier period.

U.S. retail diesel prices continued to edge down last week, as the average dipped 2.8 cents to $2.268 a gallon, the Department of Energy reported.

American Trucking Associations will exhaust all legal avenues to fight employee-only concession requirements contained in the Port of Los Angeles’ clean trucks plan, ATA President Bill Graves said.

After surviving a record run-up in fuel prices during 2008, shippers and carriers now face an even bigger supply chain challenge: coping with a sharp downturn in freight volume as businesses cut back on production in response to lower sales.