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The string of fevered increases in U.S. retail diesel and gasoline prices broke last week as the Department of Energy reported declines for both of the products.

Fleets ordered 23,300 Class 8 trucks in North America during February, 4.2% more than they had a year earlier, ending a string of 13 straight year-over-year declines, according to ACT Research.

Wholesale inventories jumped 1.2% in January, the largest increase in more than a year, the Commerce Department said Friday.

Longshoremen and the Port of New York and New Jersey have reached a tentative six-year labor agreement, Reuters reported.

Westport Innovations Inc. said its natural-gas engine sales declined for the fourth quarter but rose 25% for the year on higher North American and international demand.

Interestingly, regardless of company size or type of operation, trucking companies share common failure points — activities or programs they lack that have a negative effect on profitability.

The word out of the Truckload Carriers Association annual meeting last week is that freight capacity is already beginning to look pinched, even as the number of people applying for driver jobs is falling sharply.

Truck maintenance directors are gathering for the annual meeting of American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council March 11-14 in Nashville, Tenn., to tackle some of the most pressing challenges facing fleets today.

Global truck sales should expand by 4.3% this year over the 2012 level, boosted by medium-duty models and nations with developing economies, according to a report from consulting firm Frost & Sullivan.