Universal Truckload Services said its third-quarter net income rose slightly from a year ago.

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — The increasing need to conserve driver hours, coupled with the spread of electronic onboard recorders and analytical tools, are driving more fleets to adopt a new yardstick, revenue per hour, to measure productivity, industry officials said.

After battling rivals and rising costs for years, Northeast regional truckload hauler Atkinson Freight Lines has shut its doors.

Five publicly traded truckload carriers have reported higher quarterly earnings, helped by higher rates and improved productivity.

ATLANTA — Large truckload carriers U.S. Xpress Enterprises and CRST International last week said they are expanding their team-driver service offerings to tap the refrigerated truckload market for produce shipments.

P.A.M. Transportation Services reported a third-quarter loss of $1.7 million, or 19 cents per share, compared with a loss of $500,000, or 5 cents, a year ago.

Sharply higher fuel prices put a significant dent in first-quarter earnings for truckload fleets, but seven of the eight companies that have reported thus far still managed to top year-earlier results.

SAN DIEGO — An industry consensus appears to be emerging in support of electronic logging devices to monitor driver hours but not truck performance, as the Truckload Carriers Association endorsed that technology last week and American Trucking Associations moved in the same direction.

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.