Continuing economic growth and mounting trucking costs, especially for driver pay, will set the stage for higher freight rates in 2000, Management Outlook Forum panelists agreed.

Truck drivers hold the key to success for much of the industry in 2000, but a carrier executive and the leader of an owner-operator group disagree on the best approach to keep the ranks filled.

Truck drivers hold the key to success for much of the industry in 2000, but a carrier executive and the leader of an owner-operator group disagree on the best approach to keep the ranks filled.

USFreightways Corp. has agreed to acquire Transport Corporation of America, a large publicly owned truckload carrier based in Minneapolis, for USFreightways stock valued at about $150 million.

Combined Transport has purchased flatbed truckload carrier Sunrise Express of Vancouver, Wash., in a move that is expected to increase revenue by 20% and improve its service offerings.

Forward Air Corp., a Greeneville, Tenn.-based carrier whose stock price has soared from $9.13 a share to $50.25 a share over the past year, has announced a 3-for-2 stock split.

Spending on third-party logistics grew 16.5% to an estimated $46 billion in 1999, according to Armstrong & Associates, a research firm in Stoughton, Wis.

Frozen Food Express Industries is restructuring its operations, eliminating about 150 non-driver employee positions and reducing the size of its trailer fleet by more than 20%.

On the heels of increases by dry van and truckload lines, carriers that haul refrigerated cargo are planning to raise freight rates by as much as 10% this year.

Federal transportation safety officials decided to let Landstar Ligon retain its satisfactory safety rating after a review found the company to be in compliance with safety regulations.