Government

The U.S. Postal Service lost $8.5 billion in its fiscal 2010, more than twice the loss of the last year, Bloomberg reported.

Consumer confidence increased this month, according to the monthly Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index released Friday.

Earlier this year, American Trucking Associations released a very upbeat forecast for U.S. freight transportation. That’s good news, but motor carriers will be challenged to keep pace with this growth.

South Carolina is issuing special weight permits under a new state policy that allows international shipping containers weighing up to 100,000 pounds to run on the state’s roads, up from the previous 90,000-pound limit.

Although private sector employment increased by 159,000 overall during the month of October, for-hire trucking employment only grew by 300, according to the Labor Department.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has ordered a Colorado carrier to install electronic onboard recorders on its fleet by March, after deeming the trucking company in violation of federal hours of service rules.

The voters have spoken, and analysts and pundits are busily trying to explain the shifts in the political landscape that will result from the overwhelming Republican victory.   But one immediate potential gain that emerged from the cacophony of chatter in the wake of the election is a chance to move transportation and infrastructure improvement programs along quickly.

A series of proposed amendments to California’s emissions-reduction regulations for heavy trucks would save the trucking industry more than $3 billion, in part by delaying some compliance requirements, according to a new report by the state’s environmental regulatory staff.

California environmental regulators plan to plug a pair of loopholes in the state’s drayage regulation that allow some operators to game the system, port officials and state regulators said.