Business
Transport Topics business coverage focuses on the financial, economic, and commercial aspects of the modern freight business. Looking at both the microeconomic and macroeconomic forces shaping bottom lines, the news in this category includes labor news, jobs reports, tonnage and sales indicators, operations analysis, money and banking, mergers, acquisitions, e-commerce, bankruptcy, insurance issues, and more.
Construction Spending Falls in February
Construction spending dropped 1.1% in February, the largest decline in seven months, the Commerce Department said Monday.
April 2, 2012Oil Holds Near Six-Week Low $103 a Barrel
Oil rose slightly in early trading Monday but held near a six-week low just over $103 a barrel, Bloomberg reported.
April 2, 2012Truck, Engine Makers See Natural Gas as Practical Alternative to Diesel Fuel
LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Truck and engine manufacturers at the Mid-America Trucking Show here declared natural gas the victor in the industry’s search for a practical alternative fuel to diesel, saying they could have three different types of natural-gas engines by 2013 and a nationwide network of 100 fueling stations that offer it by 2014.
April 2, 2012New Engines in Cooling Units to Meet Emissions Mandates
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The two major manufacturers of cooling units for refrigerated trailers said that they have devised new technology that will meet federal emissions mandates for small diesel engines that take effect Jan. 1, 2013.
April 2, 2012IdleAir Debuts Electrification Site in Arizona
IdleAir, which provides truck stop electrification services, said it has opened a location on Interstate 10 in Benson, Ariz., its 26th station in the United States.
April 2, 2012Opinion: Driver Choice and Rear-Impact Crashes
Why do cars run into tractor-trailers stopped on the shoulders of roads? How could anyone miss seeing a tractor-trailer? It happens all too frequently.
April 2, 2012Editorial: Optimism at MATS
The Mid-America Trucking Show, held every March in Louisville, Ky., is the nation’s largest trucking show and a wonderful barometer of what is going on in the industry.
April 2, 2012Congress Mulls Depreciation, Other Trucking Tax Incentives
Congress is considering several bills providing extensions of tax breaks for trucking, including renewal of the bonus depreciation for capital spending on items including trucks.
April 2, 2012FMCSA Could Detect ‘Chameleon’ Carriers With Closer Scrutiny, GAO Report Says
Federal officials could reduce the number of fleets that evade enforcement penalties by gaining new operating authority if they closely compared new motor carriers’ information to old carriers that had legal issues, according to the Government Accountability Office.
April 2, 2012Groups Aim to Cut Hours, End Restart, in HOS Brief
Several interest groups currently challenging the federal government’s hours-of-service rule said they will ask an appeals court to reduce the maximum daily driving limit to less than 11 hours, reject the rule’s definition of driver off-duty time and eliminate the 34-hour restart provision.
April 2, 2012