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The Senate Commerce Committee approved a bill to create a national freight program that its sponsors said would boost America’s global economic competitiveness, improve its mobility and promote energy conservation.

Federal regulators last week took initial steps to clarify procedures that have created uncertainty as to whether motor carriers, intermodal equipment providers, brokers and freight forwarders can pay a civil fine for violations without admitting guilt or liability.

Heavy-duty U.S. truck sales continued their robust expansion in November, jumping 77% from the same month in 2010 and surging past the 57.7% growth rate for the year’s first 11 months, according to a Dec. 12 report from WardsAuto.com.

Truck driver turnover is increasing steadily and exceeding pre-recession levels at both large and small truckload fleets, propelled by a combination of higher freight volumes and tighter regulations, industry experts have said.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said it won’t make current hazardous materials motor carrier information available to the public until 2013, despite brokers’ complaints that its data are rife with errors and aren’t updated fast enough.

For parcel carriers, the reported surge of online shopping has been a boon for their businesses, companies said.

Transplace Inc. has announced it has been chosen to manage the truckload contracts as well as freight audit and payments of composites and coatings manufacturer Reichhold Inc.

Ceva Logistics said it has expanded its less-than-container load consolidation services by introducing 30 new services.

Alexander & Baldwin Inc., an ocean carrier and logistics and real estate firm based in Honolulu, plans to split into two separate, publicly traded companies.

The vision is to have almost every truck equipped with shore-power-friendly systems and to have ubiquitous shore power so that anywhere truckers think about idling for any length of time, they have an alternative.