Safety

As the recession deepens, there is growing awareness in the transportation industry of the role dispatchers play in keeping third-party logistics firms and freight brokerages competitive, particularly in the areas where dispatch and customer service collide.

U.S. workers’ productivity surged in the second quarter to an annual rate of 6.4%, the fastest in almost six years, the Labor Department said Tuesday.

The Obama administration plans to nominate former FBI agent Erroll Southers to head the Transportation Security Administration, the Associated Press reported.

Three different articles in your July 20 publication underline the huge disconnect between current policymakers’ perception and the realities of our industry.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission should create position limits on energy contracts across all trading platforms to protect the trucking industry from excessive speculation in oil futures, a representative of American Trucking Associations testified at recent CFTC hearings.

Faced with capacity and maintenance limitations and inadequate revenues, states are taking advantage of newer bonding and federally guaranteed loan programs to help underwrite transportation costs, according to a new report.

WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood an-nounced last week he will take steps to try to further curb distracting driving activities such as text messaging or using a cell phone or a Global Positioning System device.

Maersk Line’s chassis rental fee went into effect at the Port of New York and New Jersey on Aug. 3, and although there were not any freight disruptions, the head of a trade group for drayage haulers said that the rollout could have gone smoother.

Manufacturer ArvinMeritor Inc. said it lost $162 million in the April-to-June quarter, while also announcing last week it has found a buyer for its light-vehicle wheels business and has stepped up its marketing effort for truck disc and drum brakes ahead of the government’s new truck stopping-distance rule.

The selective catalytic reduction process that most engine manufacturers will use to comply with 2010 federal diesel emission standards could emit toxic byproducts, the California Air Resources Board’s top researcher wrote in a recent letter filed in federal court by Navistar Inc.