Transportation Topics

Great Dane Trailers president and chief operating officer Phill Pines will retire at the end of this year after more than 50 years in the trailer industry, the company said Thursday.

Initial jobless claims fell by 21,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

With the trucking industry slowly emerging from hard times at last, it ought to be unalloyed good news that motor carriers are reporting fewer workers' compensation claims than before. Unfortunately, it is also true that both the average cost per claim and injury rate are higher for trucking than other industries.

Diesel's national retail price will average $2.98 a gallon this year, the Department of Energy said in boosting its most recent prediction by 2 cents.

Daimler Trucks North America said it has reached new three-year collective bargaining agreements covering union workers at its truck plant in Portland, Ore.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) is seeking ideas on reducing costs at the state's 41 rest areas and welcome centers, 19 of which were closed last summer, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Wednesday.

Public-private intermodal projects in Ohio and Georgia that involve CSX Transportation moved a step closer to completion this month.

Diesel fuel's national average fell 3.2 cents to $2.924 a gallon, its seventh decline in eight weeks and matching the lowest price since mid-March, the Department of Energy said Tuesday.

The U.S. economy's service sector expanded in June but its expansion rate fell to a four-month low, the Institute for Supply Management said Tuesday.

Oil prices rose Tuesday for the first time in six trading days to just under $73 a barrel as the dollar weakened against the euro, Bloomberg reported.

Ultra-low-sulfur-diesel fuel, once feared by many truckers as potentially harmful to engines and fuel efficiency, will become by Dec. 1 the only legal fuel allowed for all on-highway diesel-powered vehicles.

The California Air Resources Board has awarded $200 million in Proposition 1B funds to help cut emissions from heavy-duty trucks and other sources in the state's four busiest trade corridors.

Cummins Inc., the last independent heavy-duty diesel engine maker in the United States, announced several overseas business developments.

Volvo Trucks North America and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the company is recalling nearly 64,000 trucks in the United States for a possible steering linkage problem.

Less-than-truckload carrier Con-way Freight said it won more business from Caterpillar Logistics Services.

U.S. factory orders declined 1.4% in April, the biggest drop since March 2009, the Commerce Department said Friday.

The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 9.5% in June, though payrolls fell for the first time this year, the Labor Department said Friday.

Intermodal rail traffic jumped 20.5% last week compared with a year ago, the Association of American Railroads said Thursday.

Covenant Transportation Group said Thursday it expects to report a second-quarter profit of 12 to 20 cents per share.

President Obama marked the 10,000th road project funded by last year's stimulus law in Columbus, Ohio, earlier this month, marking the beginning of what is being dubbed "Recovery Summer," a six-week surge of infrastructure projects funded by the stimulus.