Business

Shippers said potential cuts in driving time and total work hours sought by the opponents of the current hours-of-service rule could force costly changes in the supply chain and further tighten capacity.

Truckload carrier Swift Transportation could be returning to the ranks of the publicly traded trucking companies, according to a registration statement filed last week, a move that could allow the sale of as much as $700 million in stock.

Two more of the world’s five largest shipping companies announced plans to gradually pull out of the U.S. chassis supply business just as new federal chassis safety rules are being implemented.

The number of fleets that raised driver pay in the second quarter increased sharply, and continuing difficulties in attracting new drivers could spark another round of increases in the third quarter, several industry experts have said.

President Obama signed into law a financial reform bill that includes provisions aimed at reducing speculative trading in commodities such as crude oil and diesel fuel and limiting the fees that credit-card companies can charge merchants for their services.

U.S. retail diesel prices dipped 0.4 cent last week to $2.899 a gallon, the ninth decrease in the national fuel average during the past 10 weeks, the Department of Energy reported.

Ocean shipper Horizon Lines earned a profit of $3.7 million, or 12 cents a share, in the second quarter, compared with a loss of $31.1 million, or $1.02, a year earlier.

Ryder System said Friday its second-quarter profit increased to $29.8 million, or 56 cents a share, from $22.9 million, or 41 cents, a year ago.

Canadian National Railway Co. said its second-quarter net income rose 21% to C$534 million, or C$1.13 per share, from C$387 million or 82 cents per share, a year earlier.