������ý

The Department of Transportation said Tuesday it is asking private industry, research organizations, and state and local governments for commercially available technology to fight congestion and improve the safety within the U.S. transportation system.

American Trucking Associations has launched a campaign to protect the trucking industry’s use of independent contractors, a move officials said is needed to counter recent court decisions and an increasingly “hostile” legislative environment.

Secured Digital Applications, a provider of asset-tracking services, has unveiled its new pocket-size Bluetooth Global Positioning System receiver, saying it offers a cheaper alternative to comparable vehicle-mounted systems.

Financial firm Barclays Global Investors, which had been the largest shareholder in Ryder System, has reduced its stake in Ryder by more than 50%, Bloomberg reported.

A large storm system that left ice on roads from the Plains to the Northeast has caused blackouts and led to at least 13 traffic deaths, the Associated Press reported Monday.

Truckload carrier Landstar System will increase fourth-quarter revenue in the “mid-single-digit range,” Chief Executive Officer Henry Gerkens said in a conference call with investors, Bloomberg reported.

Ryder System said Friday it will combine its U.S. and International Supply Chain Solutions business units to form a single integrated organization to serve SCS customers globally.

Performance Transportation Services, a Wayne, Mich., auto transporter, said it, along with certain subsidiaries, will file for chapter 11 bankruptcy as part of a $67 million deal to sell nearly all of its assets to Allied Systems Holdings.

Private Equity firm Fenway Partners, New York, N.Y., said Monday it acquired Canadian transportation firm Consolidated Fastfrate.

ATLANTA — UPS Inc.’s incoming chief financial officer told shippers here what freight carriers have long heard: The U.S. transportation network is so clogged — and getting worse — that Congress must create an infrastructure improvement plan and pay for it with dedicated taxes on the system’s users.