Business

YRC Worldwide Inc. reported a first-quarter loss of $274.1 million, nearly the same as a year earlier, but the less-than-truckload carrier cited steady progress in reducing operational losses in the most recent period.

Frustrated with recent public comments by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and other Department of Transportation officials, American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves lashed out at policies and statements that he said tilt the playing field away from trucks and toward rail transport.

Navistar International Corp. announced that it has resolved its lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which had challenged EPA’s guidance to engine makers for certification of 2010 engines using selective catalytic reduction to cut emissions.

Less-than-truckload carriers as a group posted solid volume gains and stabilized their shaky revenue environment in the first months of 2010, experts said.

After facing off in federal court in Los Angeles last month, attorneys for American Trucking Associations and the Port of Los Angeles are expected to file their final post-trial briefs this week in the contentious court dispute over parts of the port’s clean trucks program.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has broad support for its move to bar truck drivers from texting, according to public comments on the proposed rule filed with the agency.

The nation’s three largest manufacturers of commercial truck tires have raised prices for the second time this year in reaction to sharp increases in the costs of their primary components — rubber, oil and steel — although world economic developments have taken some of the air out of commodity prices.

American Trucking Associations, along with several key industry groups and manufacturers, asked the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to change its final rule on electronic onboard recorders, saying the technical specifications laid out by the regulation were not achievable.

The average retail price of U.S. diesel jumped 4.4 cents to $3.122 a gallon last week, its highest level in more than 18 months, the U.S. Department of Energy reported.

Echo Global Logistics said its first-quarter profit jumped to $1.2 million, or 6 cents per share, compared with a loss of $200,000, or 2 cents, a year ago.