Business

A loosening of the tight capacity for freight hauling now makes the fuel-surcharge programs — upon which motor carriers depend to insulate them from fuel price spikes — vulnerable to demands for change by shippers.

U.S. freight volume fell 1.7% in February compared with business levels of a year ago, marking an eighth straight monthly decline.

The U.S. average retail price of diesel fuel dipped by 0.5 cent to $2.676 a gallon last week, its second straight tiny decline, the Department of Energy said.

Several parts of the Capital Beltway, Interstate 95/495 near Washington, D.C., will be closed temporarily this weekend due to scheduled work, the Maryland State Highway Administration said.

The U.S. government may have to pay a penalty of more than $2 billion if it does not open its roads to Mexican trucks, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration John Hill told a House subcommittee Thursday, Bloomberg reported.

Consumer personal spending and incomes each rose 0.6% in February, the Commerce Department said Friday.

A court hearing on a Ford Motor Co. contract dispute with engine maker Navistar International Corp. has been postponed until next week, Bloomberg reported.

Rail intermodal traffic fell 4.7% last week compared with the same week last year, while rail carloads fell 2.7%, the Association of American Railroads said Thursday.

EGL Inc. Chief Executive Officer James Crane said Apollo Management Group, which is bidding to buy the company, was not prepared to make an offer before EGL accepted Crane’s lower per-share bid, Bloomberg reported.