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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is eyeing an even more expansive mandate for electronic onboard recorders than it indicated earlier this year, sources told Transport Topics.

Several trade groups told federal regulators that requiring more detailed information on applications for special permits to haul hazardous materials will not increase hazmat safety and will increase the paperwork burden on applicants.

Intermodal freight continued to surge during August, topping pre-recession levels and reaching the highest point this year, driven by a combination of domestic and international growth, experts said.

The Port of Los Angeles said it would delay enforcement of a ban on independent drayage operators despite a federal judge’s ruling upholding the legality of that ban as part of the port’s controversial clean-trucks plan.

Trucking executives, fuel vendors and manufacturers of aftermarket engine technology said it is easier to get an alternative-fuel vehicle onto a motor carrier’s lot than it is to get a viable alternative fuel into a truck’s tank.

Intermodal fleets expect a tough financial and operational transition period as ocean carriers move the responsibility for chassis onto carriers that make international cargo deliveries, according to several carrier officials.

The Transportation Intermediaries Association is pressing the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to shut down more companies that fail to provide adequate funds to reimburse fleets when brokers fail to pay carriers.

The U.S. retail diesel and gasoline price averages both declined for the third straight week, the Department of Energy said Aug. 30, with diesel dipping 1.9 cents a gallon to $2.938 and gasoline shedding 2.2 cents to $2.682, the lowest level in six months.

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