Business

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s decision to cut the maximum allowed stopping distance for large trucks by 30% will increase truck buyers’ costs somewhat, but will not force a widespread shift to new technology such as air disc brakes, industry groups and manufacturers said.

A sharp drop in intermodal business helped to drag down second-quarter earnings for the largest North American railroads.

Navistar Inc.’s 2010-compliant engines will sell for $6,000 to $8,000 more than its previous generation of engines, the company said last week.

American Trucking Associations’ tonnage index declined 13.6% in June from year-ago levels, the biggest such decline since early 1996.

Finance and leasing industry officials said a proposal to reclassify equipment leases as a form of debt or asset, rather than an expense, would be difficult and costly for most companies to comply with.

The House moved quickly last week to shift $7 billion to the nearly depleted Highway Trust Fund, and the Senate followed suit, although Senate leaders continued to advocate for extending current highway legislation for 18 months.

YRC Worldwide’s $255 million second-quarter loss reported July 30 capped a generally miserable round of earnings reports for publicly traded carriers pounded by falling rates and tonnage.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission last week began laying the groundwork for a stronger regulatory hand over oil traders and investors, with a series of hearings and a report on trading patterns that could lead to limits on some purchases of futures contracts.

The U.S. economic downturn and the resultant oversupply of for-hire hauling capacity curtailed the growth of many corporate-owned truck fleets during the past year.

The U.S. average retail diesel price rose 3.2 cents a gallon last week to $2.528, the first increase in five weeks, the Department of Energy reported.