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The average retail price of diesel jumped 8.2 cents to $4.727 a gallon last week, more than wiping out the entire 7.8-cent drop in the price of trucking’s main fuel over the previous five weeks, the Department of Energy reported July 7.

Thousands of used trailers are sitting unsold and gathering dust, as freight demand remains tepid and carriers that would typically up-grade their fleets are postponing purchases, spending their money on fuel instead, according to industry experts.

Cargo ships would have to reduce their emissions under federal legislation approved by Congress, which President Bush is expected to sign into law, the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper reported Wednesday.

California clean-air regulators propose to force all older highway trucks running within state boundaries to be retrofitted first with diesel particulate filters, costing $8,000 to $20,000 and more, and then with equipment that reduces output of nitrogen oxides, in a complicated, staggered schedule in effect from 2010 through 2022.

High fuel prices are dampening demand for diesel and gasoline, and more Americans will stay home this Fourth of July holiday than last year, a truck stop trade group said Thursday.

Two federal lawmakers joined the head of the Motor Transport Association of Connecticut in calling for action to help relieve soaring fuel prices that are driving trucking companies out of business, the Connecticut Post reported Thursday.

The average price of a gallon of retail diesel dipped 0.3 cent last week, to $4.645, making June only the second month so far in 2008 during which the average did not rise, the Department of Energy reported.

Truckers protested high fuel prices in London and in India Wednesday, blocking streets and parking rigs, Bloomberg reported.