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Westport Innovations Inc. and Caterpillar Inc. last week announced plans to collaborate on the development of natural gas technology for mining and off-road trucks as well as for freight locomotives, marking the latest trend in the spread of natural gas as an alternative fuel source.

Trucking technology providers Vigillo and Magellan have launched new products designed to help carriers comply with safety regulations and improve navigation.

Celadon Trucking Services said it has agreed to buy a portion of the equipment owned by Hiner Transport LLC. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Wholesale inventories rose 0.6% in April as sales increased, the Commerce Department said Friday.

The U.S. trade deficit shrank by 4.9% in April as a drop in imports more than offset the first exports decline in five months, the Commerce Department said Friday.

U.S. retail diesel prices declined for the eighth straight week as trucking’s main fuel fell 5.1 cents more to a national average of $3.846 a gallon, according to the Department of Energy.

A major coalition of freight stakeholders and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) have urged Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to create a high-level intermodal freight office with a director who reports directly to him.

Faced with increasing criticism from the trucking industry, federal regulators are giving motor carriers more time to comment on how changes in new safety rules could affect their safety-measurement system scores, a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration spokeswoman said last week.

LANDOVER, Md. — Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance inspectors spent 72 hours in stepped-up trucking safety enforcement last week, pulling over trucks and buses on highways and at inspection locations throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico.