Business

Sales of Class 8 used trucks and orders for new trailers fell in November from the previous month, according to ACT Research.

Initial jobless claims dropped by 12,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted last week to raise tolls for trucks and cars on its six bridges and two tunnels, effective March 1.

America’s natural-gas boom has the potential to be another big win — if we work together to do it the right way. But if we don’t get it right, substituting natural gas for diesel in our longhaul trucking fleet could just as easily become a losing proposition for everyone concerned.

This was a year of generally steady, but modest, gains for the economy as a whole — and trucking in particular — as detailed in this issue of Transport Topics.

While the attention of the nation was focused for much of the year on the costly and protracted presidential election campaign, trucking probably will look back on 2012 as a turning point for the adoption of natural gas as a viable alternative fuel for heavy-duty fleets.

U.S. retail truck sales and freight tonnage — two key barometers of the industry’s health — moved in opposite directions in November, and for different reasons.

Retail diesel prices continued to decline last week, falling 4.6 cents to $3.945 a gallon, while gasoline prices fell to their lowest level of the year, the U.S. Department of Energy reported.