Business

As the trucking industry gathers in Phoenix for American Trucking Associations’ annual meeting, the national economic climate is much improved from the gloom that surrounded last October’s meeting in Las Vegas.

Officials with the largest package delivery companies said they are in the early stages of preparing themselves for the familiar flood of holiday shipments.

American Trucking Associations members gathering this week in Phoenix will meet to discuss economic recovery, the future of trucks and engines and the political and regulatory issues facing the industry.

A strong surge by Freightliner Trucks helped lead heavy-duty U.S. retail truck sales to a 21% increase in September, the ninth straight month of improved Class 8 sales from last year, WardsAuto.com reported.

President Obama last week pushed Congress to move forward with a $50 billion spending package for transportation infrastructure, his second such plea in five weeks.

McLeod Software’s purchase of Enterprise Information Solutions positions the No. 2 provider of enterprise software for motor carriers to compete for the first time for business from less-than-truckload companies — a trucking niche that appears hungry for new technology, vendors said.

Fuel prices surged for a second week as the U.S. retail diesel average hit $3.066 a gallon, 6.6 cents higher than a week ago, the Department of Energy reported.

Greatwide Logistics Services said Oct. 7 it has substantially increased the operations capacity and capabilities of its transportation operations center by implementing new software programs.