Business

When heavy-duty engines with selective catalytic reduction technology start rolling in 2010, truckers refilling their trucks’ urea tanks will need to follow strict guidelines to protect the product’s purity to avoid damaging the aftertreatment system, urea experts said.

A total of 3,640 tractors manufactured by Paccar Inc. are being recalled because parts on the diesel particulate filter, or DPF, can fail, causing the component to separate from the chassis and fall onto the road.

Ontario trucking companies will be able to apply for provincial grants for anti-idling devices, thanks to a $C15 million program by the provincial government, the Ontario Trucking Association said Monday.

Construction spending fell 0.3% in September, the Commerce Department said Monday.

Specialty truck maker Oshkosh Corp. said Monday its fiscal fourth-quarter profit dropped 37% from a year ago, to $53.6 million, or 72 cents per share, from $85.4 million, or $1.14, a year ago.

Canadian transportation firm TransForce Inc. said its third-quarter net income slipped to C$26.5 million, or 31 cents per unit, from C$28.5 million, or 33 cents, a year ago.

The pace of trucking bankruptcies slowed during the third quarter — to 785 from 935 in the second quarter — but rather than signaling a turn, the decline was, as one analyst put it, “only a lull in the storm.”

Growth in U.S. truck tonnage slowed significantly in September as the national economy contracted during the third quarter, and a major freight-matching service said last week the spot market for truckload service fell well below year-ago levels as the fourth quarter got under way.