Business

The two-week-old federal government shutdown has brought business with the U.S. military to a near standstill, according to several fleet executives.

New Class 8 truck orders climbed 27.4% in September from year-ago levels to 20,100, the highest total since May, according to preliminary figures from ACT Research.

Philip Byrd Jr., a fleet manager with Bulldog Hiway Express and the son of Philip Byrd Sr., Bulldog’s CEO and the next chairman of American Trucking Associations, died Oct. 3 from complications of an extended illness. He was 34.

Some prominent truckload fleets will report weak third-quarter earnings in part because of lost productivity related to the hours-of-service rule change that took effect July 1, company officials and analysts said.    

Congress has passed and sent to President Obama for his signature legislation to require the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to conduct a full rulemaking process on the testing and treatment of truck drivers for sleep apnea, rather than issuing guidance.    

The national diesel price average slipped 2.2 cents to $3.897 a gallon last week, the first time it has declined at least four straight weeks since early July, the Department of Energy reported.

Trucking rates are expected to peak this fall before conditions decline as the industry absorbs the impact of the hours-of-service rule change, according to FTR’s Trucking Conditions Index.

The Oklahoma Transportation Commission adopted a $6 billion, eight-year, highway-and-bridge construction plan, the Associated Press reported.

Consumer confidence fell to a nine-month low this month, according to the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index.