Safety

ORLANDO, Fla. — New products shown at the Technical & Maintenance Council’s recent meeting here ranged from a high-tech flatbed trailer to a low-tech mud flap, along with a seat and sleeping pad that combine New Age philosophy with Texas Instruments engineering.

ORLANDO, Fla. — An empty booth at the Technology & Maintenance Council’s 2009 Transportation Technology Exhibition marked the spot where auxiliary power manufacturer Rigmaster Power Corp. was to display its wares.

With so much attention being placed on the economic stimulus legislation, trucking has not been able to uncover much about the Obama administration’s transportation policy, said Bill Graves, president of American Trucking Associations.

Some truckload fleets said they are selectively cutting driver pay for the first time in years to counter cost pressures as the recession dries up freight demand.

State truck registration fees would more than double under a proposal being prepared for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration under a two-year-old system Congress set up to reduce fees for for-hire carriers.

ORLANDO, Fla. — With the United States in a recession, the federal government is commanding a larger presence, two business lobbyists said, and while that does bring with it the potential for trouble, many executives at a manufacturers’ conference here welcomed the potential for help.

California environmental regulators are drawing up plans to issue vouchers as early as this spring to small fleets to help them pay for replacing old trucks with units carrying a 2007 or newer diesel engine.

Listening to the television pundits trying to divine the future of our economy, I am not unlike millions of people worldwide. We are all watching Washington, waiting for a panacea to the economic woes.

Germany-based truck maker MAN AG will cut costs and extend reductions in its employees’ work hours after the recession and declining sales caused its fourth-quarter profit to plunge by almost half, Bloomberg reported.