Business

I enjoyed the opinion piece titled “To the Swiftest Go the Spoilers” by Phil Romba in the May-June Equipment & Maintenance Update supplement to the May 18 issue of Transport Topics.

Freight levels continue to dive, even as there are increasing signs that the recession’s bottom has been touched and most economists are predicting that U.S. economic growth will resume in the year’s last quarter.

A bill to keep states from tolling existing roads in the National Highway System has been introduced in Congress by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas).

Despite recession-related declines in trade with the United States, Mexico’s potential as an economic power has shippers and fleet executives taking advantage of the emerging market there.

The drop in U.S. truck tonnage accelerated in April, plunging 13.2% below the same month in 2008 to the lowest level since November 2001 — just after the 9/11 terrorist attacks — American Trucking Associations reported last week.

NEW YORK — Carriers and shippers say freight rates continue to drop and with no immediate end in sight, driven by three forces: weak demand, overcapacity and shippers’ moves to cut costs by soliciting new bids.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration plans to have a proposal for opening the U.S.-Mexico border to longhaul trucking ready when Congress returns from its Memorial Day recess, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said, adding that he thought the plan could be implemented as soon as this summer.

A wave of transportation mergers and acquisitions may be on the horizon, as the recession weeds out distressed companies and carriers shop for bargains to help them secure more freight, several industry watchers said.

Before Congress recessed for its Memorial Day break, the House of Representatives passed legislation that could make it easier for employees of FedEx Corp.’s express unit to unionize, and the House energy committee approved a bill that would set up a cap-and-trade program to limit output of greenhouse gases.

Active Transportation said it bought majority ownership in Jack Cooper Transport, a move that consolidates two car haulers at a time when auto industry sales are at the lowest level since 1981.