Government

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.

The U.S. Senate confirmed several key cabinet posts, including Ray LaHood as secretary of transportation, but the Obama administration has yet to announce the president’s choices to lead several key transportation agencies within DOT.

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.

The House of Representatives last week approved an $819 billion package of spending and tax cuts aimed at boosting the economy, but with less spending on such projects as roads and bridges than some key legislators wanted.

Less-than-truckload carriers in the fourth quarter were hammered by sagging tonnage and fiercely competitive pricing, several of the largest publicly traded LTLs said last week.

Oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. Friday reported a 2008 profit of $45.2 billion, breaking its own record for a U.S. company, although its fourth-quarter earnings fell 33% from a year ago, the Associated Press reported.

The U.S. economy contracted 3.8% in the fourth quarter, the biggest drop since 1982, though it grew for the year, the Commerce Department said Friday.

U.S. consumer confidence improved this month, according to the Reuters/University of Michigan’s final monthly consumer sentiment index released Friday.

Manufacturing activity in the Chicago region contracted in January for a fourth straight month, the National Association of Purchasing Management said Wednesday.