Fuel

Wal-Mart Stores will test two types of hybrid trucks and two types of alternatively fueled trucks, the company announced Monday.

Paccar Inc.’s parts dealers are offering the company’s Engine Control Systems Purifilter, an aftermarket passively regenerating diesel particulate filter approved by the California Air Resources Board for installation and use in a wide variety of Class 8 trucks.

Rates for freight services bought on the spot market have nose dived to 1990s levels as shrinking fuel surcharges have sent prices falling further while the recession continues to ravage shipping demand.

After surviving a record run-up in fuel prices during 2008, shippers and carriers now face an even bigger supply chain challenge: coping with a sharp downturn in freight volume as businesses cut back on production in response to lower sales.

American Trucking Associations will exhaust all legal avenues to fight employee-only concession requirements contained in the Port of Los Angeles’ clean trucks plan, ATA President Bill Graves said.

U.S. retail diesel prices continued to edge down last week, as the average dipped 2.8 cents to $2.268 a gallon, the Department of Energy reported.

Eight publicly traded truckload fleets weathered the fourth quarter recession by lowering costs, including fuel, and posted earnings that either topped or came close to the year-earlier period.

Ultra-low-sulfur diesel, the standard fuel of heavy-duty trucking since late 2006, has more energy content than engineers originally had expected, a welcome surprise, according to a study from the American Transportation Research Institute.