The trucking industry paid at least $14 billion more for its fuel in 2004 than it did a year earlier, as sky-high petroleum costs took a large bite out of fleets’ and shippers’ pockets.

LAS VEGAS — Joseph Chapman, operations manger of truckload carrier Triple S Trucking, said a $16,900 investment earlier this year in more fuel-efficient equipment would turn into more than $77,300 in savings by the end of 2005..

LAS VEGAS — American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves urged members to help further enhance the industry’s public image and to get more involved in the national and local political processes.

Motor carrier executives will hear directly from five of the industry’s major vendors and the federal government’s chief truck safety regulator at American Trucking Associations’ annual Management Conference & Exhibition, the trade group said.

Click here to submit your questions. ransport Topics Publishing Group has announced that Annette Sandberg, head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, would participate in an Internet "chat session" Sept. 28 on the TTNews.com Web site.

Although carrier executives said they were optimistic about prospects for 2004, reports showed that demand for freight-hauling was still weak and unsteady as the new year began.

SAN ANTONIO — Event-data recorders for commercial vehicles will become reality, and the trucking industry should come forward now to shape how they are designed and used before the federal government does, government safety officials said last week..

Monster.com, an online job-matching service whose controversial television commercial early this year prompted protests from trucking groups, has now produced a pro-trucking advertisement that will air on cable television this week, American Trucking Associations announced.

The United States' success in the Iraq war was a positive step for the U.S. economy and the trucking industry, but may not provide the instant economic boost some are expecting, American Trucking Associations' Chief Economist Bob Costello said April 9.

The U.S. army could save millions of dollars in fuel and logistics costs each year by using lightweight structural materials for its trucks, the National Academy of Sciences’ National Research Council said.