The nation’s heavy-duty truck fleet shrank 1.5% in the second quarter from a year earlier to 3.5 million vehicles, as companies continued purging older trucks but held off buying new ones in response to slow economic growth and regulatory uncertainty, R.L. Polk & Co. said in a new report.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has issued a revised proposal to streamline the agency’s registration process for motor carriers, brokers and freight forwarders — and eventually help the agency identify so-called “chameleon” operators.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has issued a revised proposal to streamline the agency’s registration process for motor carriers, brokers and freight forwarders — and eventually help the agency identify so-called “chameleon” operators.

The number of new commercial trailers registered in the United States in 2010 reached 105,471, a 42% increase from the previous dismal year, R.L. Polk & Co. reported.

Booming dry-van sales led to a surge in U.S. trailer registrations in the third quarter, as buyers registered 35% more new trailers than in the corresponding period of last year, R.L. Polk & Co. reported.

U.S. registrations of new Class 8 trucks increased 7.8% in the second quarter compared with the same 2009 period, but failed to keep up with equipment retirements, as the total of heavy-duty trucks registered in June declined slightly from last year, according to R.L. Polk & Co.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration last week announced that fees for the Unified Carrier Registration program would nearly double, and officials familiar with the program said the fees soon may need to rise even higher to satisfy states’ need for revenue.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration released the 2010 fees for the Unified Carrier Registration program Monday, more than doubling the levy across the board but setting it slightly lower than the agency had proposed last year.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said last week that even though it hasn’t set 2010 fees for the Unified Carrier Registration, states may begin collecting some revenue from carriers using last year’s fee levels.