Gary Salisbury, president and CEO of Fikes Truck Line, Hope, Ark., was elected chairman of the Truckload Carriers Association for 2011-2012 at TCA’s annual meeting in San Diego.

Rochelle Gorman, CEO of CalArk International, received the first Influential Woman in Trucking award this week at the Truckload Carriers Association meeting in San Diego.

Freight matching service Internet Truckstop has introduced a messaging service for users of its website.

Truckload carrier P.A.M. Transportation Services said its fourth-quarter loss was smaller than a year ago.

Profits increased sharply at most of the eight publicly traded truckload carriers that issued earnings reports last week, with gains coming mostly through rate increases rather than volume growth in the uneven, but modestly growing, freight market.

Unfamiliar words such as “stability” and “price increases” are creeping into the less-than-truckload sector’s vocabulary these days, after a turbulent two years of rate cutting, market-share swings and some astronomical losses.

P.A.M. Transportation Services reported a third-quarter loss Wednesday, citing a softer freight market and increased costs.

Third-quarter earnings rose sharply at four publicly traded truckload companies, as they were able to accelerate the pace of rate increases in a steady freight market.

Integrated Freight has acquired refrigerated truckload carrier Bruenger Trucking Co. for $11 million, the companies said.

Following recent rate increase announcements by three major less-than-truckload carriers, industry experts said the LTL sector has turned the corner toward profitability, with shipment volumes, tonnage and rates all improving, but not yet soaring.