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Here’s a double-barreled dose of worrisome news: Trucking wasted some $27 billion in fuel and lost productivity during 2011 due to congestion in the nation’s largest urban areas; fuel prices spiked in the most recent survey by the Department of Energy, 9.5 cents a gallon for diesel and 18.1 cents for gasoline.

Officials in El Paso, Texas, and Juarez, Mexico, said they are proceeding with an elevated, electric rail shuttle to move truck trailers and intermodal freight containers across the border that separates the two cities.

Dockworkers and management at ports along the East and Gulf coasts reached a tentative, six-year agreement that averted a potential strike that could have started on Feb. 6.

Daimler AG said its global heavy-truck profit fell 29% in the fourth quarter, and Volvo AB said worldwide earnings in the unit including trucks fell 82%. Both truck makers also offered cautious outlooks for North America and around the globe.

North American truck buyers ordered fewer Class 8 trucks in January than they did a year ago, but total orders still topped the 20,000 mark for the fourth straight month, ACT Research reported.

The Arizona Trucking Association selected Tony Bradley as its new president last week, ending a three-month search.

WASHINGTON — Natural gas-powered heavy trucks could represent a 40% to 50% market share by 2050 if the fuel retains its significant price advantage over diesel, according to an update of a two-year National Petroleum Council study.

Trucking fleets wasted some $27 billion on fuel and wages as their vehicles sat in traffic jams around the country during 2011, according to a new report from Texas A&M University’s Transportation Institute.

Independent engine maker Cummins Inc. extended its lead as the primary supplier to the North American heavy-duty diesel truck market last year, growing its market share to 40.4%, from 39.1% in 2011, WardsAuto.com reported.

Retail fuel prices rose significantly last week, with the diesel average jumping 9.5 cents a gallon to $4.022 — the largest spike since August — and gasoline leaping 18.1 cents — the most in nearly two years, according to the Department of Energy.