Business

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Truck makers and dealers have called for a 10% investment tax credit to smooth out the buying cycle of the cleaner burning but more expensive trucking equipment. 

U.S. truck tonnage jumped 7.5% in March from year-ago levels, the fastest monthly increase in more than five years, according to American Trucking Associations.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration last week announced that fees for the Unified Carrier Registration program would nearly double, and officials familiar with the program said the fees soon may need to rise even higher to satisfy states’ need for revenue.

Trailer orders in March soared 165% over the comparable month of 2009, ACT Research Co. reported last week, as the strengthening economy and the brighter picture for the freight industry drove fleets to boost orders over dismal year-ago levels for the sixth month in a row.

Reese Taylor Jr., who was chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission when the Motor Carrier Act of 1980 was implemented, died April 16 in Las Vegas. He was 81.

The U.S. average price of diesel inched higher last week, rising 0.4 cent to $3.078 a gallon and keeping trucking’s primary fuel at over $3 a gallon for the fourth week in a row, the Energy Department reported.

UPS Inc.’s less-than-truckload unit is headed for a return to profitability in 2010 as part of a companywide increase in earnings, which jumped 32.9% in the first quarter, officials said last week.

Truck maker Navistar Inc. has dropped its lawsuit in state court alleging that the California Air Resources Board planned to adopt the Environmental Protection Agency’s formal “guidance” as its policy for the use of selective catalytic reduction technology to meet federal 2010 diesel engine emissions reduction standards.

Oil rose almost $1 Friday to close the trading week near an 18-month high over $86 a barrel, Bloomberg reported.