Proponents say simulators give the feel of a real truck in a controlled environment, making it possible to train drivers safely and effectively.

Going mobile with driving simulators helps introduce them to fleets and makes their operating costs more manageable.

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Motor carriers that have been raising freight rates may be able to hold onto them well beyond the peak holiday shipping season because trucking companies are better managing their capacity, costs and customers, transportation specialists said.

Sales of Class 8 trucks leaped 27% in October from a year earlier as manufacturers continued their furious building pace to meet orders for trucks with engines built before the federally mandated Oct. 1 deadline for lower-emission diesel motors.

Mobile communications provider Aether Systems Inc. announced it is now offering GeoTracs, a satellite-based system for monitoring untethered trailers and other assets.

Aether Systems Inc. said it added a vehicle-tracking feature to its MobileMax fleet management system.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Technology and Maintenance Council should be the lead clearinghouse for unbiased test data on cleaner-burning diesel engines entering the market now and in 2007, the head of one of the nation's largest trucking and logistics companies said last week.

As trucking companies joined the transport surge to move stacked-up freight at jammed West Coast ports, industry officials and analysts differed on whether the freight disruption would diminish or enhance the financial performance of carriers and logistics companies that depend on servicing the ports.

A workshop to develop a rating system for brake linings and a keynote address by Gregory Swienton, president and chairman of dedicated carriage and logistics provider Ryder System Inc., are the scheduled highlights of the Technology and Maintenance Council’s fall meeting.

Shrinking truckload capacity in some parts of the country, along with an uptick in demand, is giving motor carriers room to raise their freight rates, trucking executives and analysts said.