������ý

A Volvo truck powered by a hybrid electric engine will be the first to hit the road under the U.S. Army’s 21st Century Truck Initiative.

New technologies and services are making it easier — and cheaper — for regional and local less-then-truckload freight carriers to improve their productivity. The real issue, however, is not whether the technology may aid the carriers, but whether the carriers are ready to embrace it, according to people who sell the technology.

Railroad management and labor unions have agreed on changes they want to make in the Railroad Retirement Act, and now they want Congress to enact them.

With diesel costing more than $2 a gallon at the pump in some areas of the nation, truck operators and their trade organizations turned last week to Washington to do something — anything — to stem the alarming tide of rising fuel prices.

Freightliner Corp. President James L. Hebe warned that the entire trucking industry faces a “virtual crisis” of falling used truck prices that threatens to undermine the economic viability of the nation’s fleets, truck manufacturers and truck finance companies.

In many ways, White’s Truck Stop is more like a museum than a place where 18-wheelers pull in for food and fuel. But uniqe establishments like this are rapidly disappearing from the landscape.

Demand for freight transportation remained firm in the first few weeks of January, easing fears of an economic slump in the aftermath of a robust fourth quarter and the buildup of inventory over Y2K concerns.

Overnite Transportation Co. accused Teamsters President James P. Hoffa and other union officers of engaging in a pattern of illegal activities, including attempted murder and extortion, to secure a labor contract.

A surprise blizzard forced the postponement of the Jan. 25 christening of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, but the agency continued to take shape as federal officials outlined plans for its operations.

The growth of electronic commerce coupled with historically low inventory levels and an expected rise in short-haul business should enable less-than-truckload carriers to grow faster than other freight transportation segments through 2002, according to an economic analyst.