Safety

The president of trucking software provider TMW Systems said he does not expect a slowdown in sales this year, even as some trucking companies face a downturn in demand for freight-hauling services.

The maintenance managers of two vehicle leasing companies expect few problems in their shops as the truck-operating industry shifts to the next generation of lower-emission diesel engines.

American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted truck tonnage index jumped 3.9% in December, following a 3.6% downturn in November.

State police said wreckage from a 50-vehicle chain-reaction crash was cleared and a 10-mile stretch of Interstate 90 east of Erie, Pa., was reopened shortly after 3 a.m. local time following a big snowstorm, the Associated Press reported.

Truckload carrier Swift Transportation Co. said late Wednesday its fourth-quarter profit fell from a year earlier due to a “soft freight environment.”

Ford Motor Co. lost $5.8 billion in the fourth quarter amid slumping sales and huge restructuring costs, pushing the No. 2 U.S. automaker’s s loss for the year to $12.7 billion, the largest in its 103-year history, the Associated Press reported.

Truckload carrier Knight Transportation said late Wednesday that its revenue and income for the fourth quarter and full-year 2006 reached records.

Canadian freight railroad Canadian National Railway Co. reported its fourth-quarter net income rose 16% to C$499 million, with earnings-per-share rising to 95 cents.

The Transportation Department’s recent proposal to use electronic onboard recorders to monitor driver hours is “weak” and ineffective, safety advocacy groups said last week, while some trucking industry organizations applauded the plan.

Click here to write a Letter to the Editor. The problem is not with the “black box,” it’s with the 14-hour rule. We are not children, we are professionals. So why doesn’t anyone understand the problem? We are always up against the wall when it comes to hours of service.