Business

About Business News...

Transport Topics business coverage focuses on the financial, economic, and commercial aspects of the modern freight business. Looking at both the microeconomic and macroeconomic forces shaping bottom lines, the news in this category includes labor news, jobs reports, tonnage and sales indicators, operations analysis, money and banking, mergers, acquisitions, e-commerce, bankruptcy, insurance issues, and more.

Government, Business

Expected Hours-of-Service Change Tops Agenda for Phoenix Meeting, ATA’s Leadership Says

Changes to the federal truck driver hours-of-service rule are among many issues trucking executives are likely to focus on when American Trucking Associations’ members gather in Phoenix for their annual meeting, the federation’s chief executive officer told Transport Topics.

October 4, 2010

QuickBooks for Trucking: Connecting QuickBooks to Your TMS

Learn how Truckbase connects QuickBooks for trucking and your TMS to help you marry your trucking-specific data in your TMS with your financial data in QuickBooks.

Business, Logistics

New Trailer Orders Soar 55% as Freight Grows, ACT Says

Orders for new commercial trailers jumped 55% in August over the comparable month last year, and new orders for the year to date are now 71% above the first eight months of 2009, ACT Research Co. reported.

October 4, 2010
Business, Safety

LaHood Blasts Insurance Group that Claims Texting Bans Are Ineffective

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety drew an angry rebuke from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood over a study the group released that showed no relation between texting bans and fewer car crashes.

October 4, 2010
Business

FedEx Freight Will Return to Profitability Through LTL Restructuring, Logue Says

The impending combination of FedEx Corp.’s two less-than-truckload networks is a “game-changing growth strategy” that will return FedEx Freight to profitability while maintaining volume in a slimmed-down LTL operation, the company’s top executive said last week.

October 4, 2010
Editorial, Business

Steady Economic Growth

The latest economic reports continue to show steady growth in the domestic economy, and fleets are buying more tractors and ordering more trailers as freight levels now have exceeded year-ago levels for nine consecutive months.

October 4, 2010
Letters to the Editor, Business, Safety, Government, Autonomous

Letters: Truck Deaths Down, Broker’s Bond, CVSA & Zero Fatalities, Another Step-Van Fan

I just read the great news in your well-written article in Transport Topics, headlined “Truck Deaths Plunge 20%; NHTSA Says 2009 Was Safest Year on Record.”

October 4, 2010
Business

Union Agrees to More Pay Cuts to Save YRC $350 Million a Year

YRC Worldwide Inc. and the Teamsters last week agreed on a third round of financial concessions that the less-than-truckload carrier said would save it $350 million annually.

October 4, 2010
Business

Barge Line Raising Funds to Expand Mexico Service

SeaBridge Freight Corp., which moves containers by barge from the U.S.-Mexico border to Florida, is expanding via an unusual route — a “reverse merger” and an injection of federal funds to double its current one-barge operation and add heavy-weight container capacity.

October 4, 2010
Business

YRC Chief Zollars to Retire After Recovery Plan Is Done

William Zollars, the chief executive officer who built YRC Worldwide Inc. into a $10 billion freight company and then navigated the company through large losses during the recession, said last week that he will retire when the company’s comprehensive recovery plan is completed.

October 4, 2010
Government, Business, Technology, Equipment

Bill Would Require EOBRs on All Trucks

Two U.S. senators, with the support of some of the nation’s largest trucking fleets, introduced legislation last week that would require all trucks to use electronic onboard recorders to monitor their drivers’ hours of service.

October 4, 2010