Infrastructure projects boost productivity and economic activity when countries need it most. Canadian governments have been increasingly comfortable executing new investments that merge private enterprise with the public sector.

Florida East Coast Railway said that longtime trucking and transportation executive James Hertwig will become its chief executive officer, effective July 1.

Logistics firm Expeditors International of Washington said airfreight tonnage has risen 40% in the first three months of 2010 compared to last year, the Associated Press reported.

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

Consumer confidence grew this month to its highest level since March 2008, the New York-based Conference Board reported.

The Obama administration was set last week to outline a path to national fuel-economy standards for large trucks, bringing industry and government officials to the White House to announce a plan that could aim at driving habits as well as equipment changes to reduce fuel use.

Intermodal volume in the first four months of 2010 is surging ahead of 2009 levels, powered by a sharp rise in domestic container shipments and renewed growth in international freight, a trade group said.

Mexico’s president, Felipe Calderon, said last week that the United States and his nation would solve the countries’ ongoing trade dispute caused by the closure of the southern border to longhaul truck traffic.

Third-party logistics provider AutoInfo said its first-quarter earnings rose to $425,000, or 1 cent a share, from $219,000, or 1 cent, last year.