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A traffic manager for a New Jersey mail-order company pleaded guilty to pocketing more than $74,000 in kickbacks and hiding the income from the Internal Revenue Service. William Surdakowski pleaded guilty June 14 to failing to report $74,889 in taxable income that he received in 1994 for awarding business to a trucking company in Virginia. The name of the firm was not released.

Car drivers may soon have access to a collision warning system similar to the Eaton-Vorad system on some trucks today. General Motors, along with Delphi Electronics Systems of Troy, Mich., and the U.S. Department of Transportation will spend $35 million over the next five years to develop the technology, Secretary of Transportatoin Rodney Slater announced.

National average diesel fuel prices jumped to their highest level in 17 months during the week ending June 28, and the surge in diesel prices over the past three weeks has cost trucking companies an estimated $9 million, according to analysts. The average diesel price rose a half-cent to $1.087 a gallon, after the previous week’s steep 1.4-cent gain, the Department of Energy reported.

The Defense Department has agreed to conduct a test of the PowerTrack payment program to study its economic impact on freight carriers. PowerTrack is an electronic payment system that DOD plans to use it to pay contract carriers for the Army and Air Force, among others. The new procedure has raised concern among some carriers because it would raise costs.

C.H. Robinson Worldwide plans to acquire some of the assets and certain liabilities of freight forwarder Vertex Transportation, a unit of Country Wide Transport Services of Rochester, N.Y. C.H. Robinson of Minneapolis will pay between $6.5 million and $7 million above the net book value of the assets being acquired and liabilities assumed, company officials said.

Eight days after obtaining an expanded line of credit, United Road Services of Albany, N.Y., said it will search for a new chief executive “who will build, manage and lead this company into its next stage of development.” Edward T. Sheehan, a former executive at United Waste System, stepped down as chairman and chief executive officer, although he will continue to serve on the board of directors.

The contract between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the group that represents company management on the West Coast waterfront expired July 1. An extension of the deadline was expected so that negotiations can continue. American Trucking Associations has threatened to sue if the agreement includes a provision to let ILWU members take over trucking work, which is now done by independent contractors in the ports.

Comdata Corp. and 18 Wheels of Hope organizers put the final nail in the coffin of their partnership with Oklahoma City-based charity Feed The Children. The decision to detach from the charity came days after a news report that Feed The Children founder Larry Jones defaulted on nearly $1 million in a business deal that the charity had financed.

The General Accounting Office is placing the blame for federal highway safety regulators’ ineffectiveness on a dearth of useful information on truck crashes. The report, commissioned by Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.) and released June 29, rehashes much of the congressional testimony given three months ago by Phyllis F. Scheinberg, associate director for transportation issues at GAO.

Mexican motor carriers have been found operating illegally in 28 U.S. states — far beyond the narrow border zones to which they are restricted, according to the Department of Transportation’s inspector general, Kenneth Mead. His finding was made public at a June 24 Capitol Hill press conference by Reps. Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.), Rep. Jack Quinn (R-N.Y.) and Teamsters President James P. Hoffa, who jointly called for an investigation of the extent of the problem.