Government

American Trucking Associations has launched a campaign to protect the trucking industry’s use of independent contractors, a move officials said is needed to counter recent court decisions and an increasingly “hostile” legislative environment.

A storm with hurricane-force winds and torrential rainfall swept across the Pacific Northwest early last week, snarling transportation in Washington and Oregon and flooding a crucial freight-carrying highway.

The average price of retail diesel slipped below its record high last week, dipping 2.8 cents to $3.416 a gallon, the U.S. Department of Energy reported, citing a decline in demand for distillate fuels.

Interstate 5 near Chehalis, Wash., reopened to truck traffic Thursday night after road crews drained the highway that had been closed since Monday due to flooding from storms, the Seattle Times reported.

Velocity Express Corp. said its board authorized a 1-for-15 reverse stock split, effective Friday morning.

Air and ocean freight forwarder UTi Worldwide said Thursday its fiscal third-quarter profit rose 14% to $34.9 million or 35 cents a share, from $30.5 million or 31 cents a year ago.

Logistics and delivery firm Dynamex Inc. reported its fiscal first-quarter net income rose to $4 million or 39 cents a share, from $3.6 million or 34 cents a year earlier.

Patriot Transportation Holding said that Chief Executive Officer John Anderson will retire in February. He will be succeeded by John Baker.

The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, which represents 4,500 locomotive engineers and conductors, reached an agreement with rail line Canadian Pacific on a revised tentative five-year contract settlement, CP said.