Are third-party logistics providers a necessary division in the trucking industry? My opinion is “yes.” We are a group of people who work hard to keep customers and drivers happy, at an agreeable rate.

Eighty-two maintenance technicians will compete for national industry honors, while fleet managers grapple with clean-vehicle technology options and universal equipment warranties at SuperTech and the fall meeting of the Technology & Maintenance Council.

Union Pacific Corp. said its new Joliet (Ill.) Intermodal Terminal will support customer growth by boosting international and domestic container capacity and improving rail traffic efficiencies in the Chicago area, the nation’s largest rail center.

Logistics provider the Phoenix Group landed a construction logistics contract with the Mexican division of H.E.B. Grocery Co. of Houston that will more than double the size of its construction management division, Phoenix said.

PITTSBURGH — Alex Bugeya of Ontario, Canada, became a competitor for the first time this year and earned the right to represent his province at the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s North American Inspectors Championship here.

Norfolk Southern Corp. said it plans to build a $95 million intermodal terminal in Greencastle, Pa., along the railroad’s proposed Crescent Corridor project to move freight between the South and the Northeast.

PITTSBURGH — Day-to-day on the job, driving a truck is a mostly solitary occupation, which explains in part why the National Truck Driving Championships attract so many repeat contestants, coming back year after year to rub shoulders with other top drivers from around the country, as well as to carry on their quest for a trophy.