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OXON HILL, Md. — Truck dealers and their fleet customers who feel forced to concern themselves with government environmental regulations should consider embracing the subject, as “green” issues carry increasing weight with the shipping business community and conservation can lead to better profitability, said panelists at a dealer workshop here.

Construction spending rose in March for the first time in six months, the Commerce Department said Monday.

Transportation software firm Xata Corp. said Monday it lost $443,000, or 5 cents per share, in its fiscal second quarter, compared with a loss of $1.3 million, or 17 cents, a year ago.

The Environmental Protection Agency is close to proposing standards for ethanol use, but officials face a question on whether or not ethanol’s indirect effects on the environment should be considered in the rule-making process, the Associated Press reported Sunday.

Truckload carrier P.A.M. Transportation Services reported a first-quarter loss of $3.4 million, or 36 cents per share, compared with a loss of $2.8 million, or 29 cents, a year ago.

The most onerous and misguided portions of the plan by the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to reshape the trucking industry there have been enjoined by a federal court, at least for now.

Weak Class 8 truck sales around the world led to plunging revenue and either losses or vastly diminished first-quarter profits for three of the four major heavy-duty truck manufacturers and both independent engine makers operating in North America.

The Obama administration is continuing to work on a plan to restart cross-border trucking between the United States and Mexico, even as the two countries battle the spread of “swine flu.”