Business

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead (R) has signed a bill that will add a dime to the state’s 14-cent-per-gallon tax on diesel and gasoline.

Shippers, brokers and freight forwarders are using new data services and software programs to monitor more closely the safety, performance and financial health of freight haulers before committing to hire them — driven partly by concern about liability risks if they use a carrier with a poor record and partly by the sheer availability of data.

European package carrier TNT Express reported a fourth-quarter loss and said it would sell units in Brazil and in China, Reuters reported.

Two of the trucking industry’s technology suppliers, Trimble Navigation Ltd. and XRS Corp., recently reported improved financial results for the final quarter of 2012, while McLeod Software said its full-year sales reached a record high.

Panther Expedited Services said it appointed R. Louis Schneeberger the company’s new CEO, replacing former CEO Andrew Clarke, who resigned.

Taking the steering wheel out of a driver’s hand may sound crazy in an era when traffic congestion and driver distractions are growing by leaps and bounds, but that’s exactly what Internet search giant Google and Volvo Trucks are working on, while the U.S. Department of Transportation is testing communications technology that could potentially link several vehicles in a series.

Gasoline prices have risen for 32 straight days to $3.73 a gallon, a four-month high, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

There’s no real mystery as to why otherwise intelligent fleet operators so often negotiate full-service leases using only big, round numbers. Reason No. 1 is that they simply don’t know their actual, detailed maintenance costs.

Well, at least we’re getting lip service related to fixing the nation’s ailing and neglected infrastructure network. Now, if we can just get some concrete action.