Equipment

Trucking companies, owner-operators and shippers at the Port of Oakland, Calif., and Oakland’s World Trade Center will be able to track freight using Global Positioning System technology starting in about six months.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s safety rating system has been improved but is still not ready to return to public view, said the Department of Transportation’s inspector general.

Federal officials ordered a recall of tires made in China after their U.S. distribution company disclosed that the Chinese manufacturer had stopped including a safety feature that prevented tire treads from separating, the New York Times reported.

Truckload carrier C.R. England and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association each claimed partial victory after a federal district court ruled on a case involving federal truth-in-leasing regulations.

Class 8 truck makers said they are offering electronically controlled air disc brakes as an option in 2007 models, promoting them as safer and easier to maintain than the drum brakes most U.S. heavy trucks use.

The U.S. heavy-duty truck fleet was about 4.8% larger at the end of the first quarter than it was in the comparable period last year, according to new data from R.K. Polk & Co.

Trucking executive Patrick Quinn proposed building a system of dedicated truck-only lanes to streamline freight movement and the idea has been “well received” by members of a U.S. commission.