Safety

Tank and bulk carrier Patriot Transportation Holding said Wednesday its fiscal second-quarter net income rose to $1.4 million, or 45 cents a share, from $626,000, or 20 cents, a year ago.

The U.S. economy’s service sector rate of contraction slowed last month, the Institute for Supply Management said Tuesday.

The Environmental Protection Agency is close to proposing standards for ethanol use, but officials face a question on whether or not ethanol’s indirect effects on the environment should be considered in the rule-making process, the Associated Press reported Sunday.

Transportation software firm Xata Corp. said Monday it lost $443,000, or 5 cents per share, in its fiscal second quarter, compared with a loss of $1.3 million, or 17 cents, a year ago.

The most onerous and misguided portions of the plan by the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to reshape the trucking industry there have been enjoined by a federal court, at least for now.

A federal judge last week issued a preliminary injunction blocking many of the provisions in the clean trucks plans of the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, including the controversial ban on independent drayage owner-operators at Los Angeles.

The refrigerated sector of the trucking industry has been the only healthy activity for fleets in the current recession. Refrigerated truckload shipments grew slightly from last year, but dry vans, tankers and flatbeds all dropped substantially, industry executives and American Trucking Associations said.

Corporate-owned truck fleets are facing growing pressure to justify their in-house freight operations as manufacturers and retailers target transportation expenses in response to the sharp nationwide downturn in sales.

Truck tonnage fell in March to its lowest level in seven years, as it declined 12.2% below the levels recorded one year earlier, according to an April 27 report from American Trucking Associations.

A pair of congressmen introduced legislation late last month to provide tax credits for fleets purchasing four types of safety technology.