American Trucking Associations named its driver and safety manager of the year at the associations’ Safety and Loss Prevention Management Council fall conference Sept. 22 and announced the winners of its 2004 National Truck Safety Contest the same day.

ATLANTA — Tightened capacity, outdated infrastructure and driver shortages will be key issues hampering less-than-truckload carriers in the coming year, analysts and less-than-truckload industry executives said at a shippers’ conference here.

The Environmental Protection Agency said the trucking industry’s lack of interest prompted the agency to cancel its plan to develop “clean corridors” in which fleets could buy ultra-low-sulfur fuel in 2005 to test 2007 diesel engines under actual operating conditions. br clear=all>

California lawmakers passed a bill that would require all trucks entering the state to meet federal emissions standards that were in effect the year the truck was manufactured and drivers would have to provide evidence that the truck meets those standards.

The California Legislature passed a bill that officials said would prevent shipping lines from unilaterally terminating business relationships with intermodal trucking companies.

IdleAire announced it would install its truck stop electrification technology at all 126 TravelCenters of America locations over the next three years, with a price tag of more than $1 million per site.

SALT LAKE CITY — Before 3,000 cheering spectators here, FedEx Freight’s Wayne Crowder became the first person in the 67-year history of the National Truck Driving Championships to win honors as both the Rookie of the Year and the Grand Champion, for 2004.

Officials in Louisiana, California and New York recently said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had not responded to their requests to use gasoline blends without the oxygenate known as ethanol, which is an EPA requirement in those states.

Major players in the trucking industry are trying to forge a consensus over what financial incentives they will ask Congress to provide to encourage the use of cleaner-burning diesel engines as the effective date of new federal pollution rules draws nearer, officials said.

Thousands of drivers who applied for the Free and Secure Trade program at the U.S.-Canadian border have not followed up with required in-person interviews, said Chris Kealey, a spokesman for the Canada Border Services Agency. The FAST program pre-approves drivers so they could cross the border quickly.