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WASHINGTON — The first-ever proposed federal commercial truck fuel-efficiency and carbon emissions standard could cause an industry pre-buy before it becomes effective in 2014, or drive motor carriers to delay retirement of their fleets, a transportation consultant said.

In the wake of a federal proposal to replace driver logbooks with electronic onboard recorders at most motor carriers, technology companies said they are preparing for another round of meetings with federal officials to fine-tune the technical requirements for these devices.

Trucks hauled the vast majority of freight in the United States, according to the Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

Two transport issues left over from the last Congress are moving in different directions on Capitol Hill in the early days of the current congressional session.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration last week proposed requiring nearly all interstate commercial motor carriers to install electronic data recorders to monitor their drivers’ hours-of-service compliance.

Construction spending dropped 2.5% in December to the lowest level in a decade, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

Transportation and third-party logistics firm C.H. Robinson Worldwide reported a fourth-quarter profit of $103.2 million, or 62 cents a share, up 17.6% from $87.7 million, or 52 cents, a year earlier.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration proposed a regulation Monday that would require interstate truck and bus companies to install electronic onboard recorders in vehicles to monitor drivers’ hours of service.

Thirty-one state trucking associations have asked the federal government to study safety issues posed by snow and ice accumulation on trucks.