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Governmental mandates may be needed to ensure protection of hazardous materials shipments, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said in the agency's final version of its report on technologies to protect hazmat shipments.

The Surface Transportation Board, responding to a petition filed by CSX Transportation, declared the District of Columbia's partial ban on hazardous materials shipments through the city was pre-empted by federal law.

Electronic devices aimed at preventing a Class 8 truck from being hijacked were unveiled by International Truck and Engine Corp. on March 16.

The prices paid by U.S. consumers last month frost 0.4%, the largest increase in fourth months as the cost of gasoline and airfare spiked, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.

The Cronos Group, a lessor of intermodal freight containers, said Tuesday it had net income of 51 cents per share or $3.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2004, up from the 30 cents per share or $2.4 million it earned in the same period the previous year.

The sales of existing homes fell by 0.4% in February to an annual rate of 6.79 million, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday.

A federal judge could issue a ruling on the District of Columbia’s proposed ban on the transportation of hazardous materials in the next two weeks, news services reported Wednesday.

An explosion at a BP petrochemical plant near Houston Wednesday temporarily closed the Houston Ship Channel and sent gasoline prices spiking, news services reported.

The price of crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell roughly 4% in trading Wednesday before closing down $2.22 at a two-week low of $53.81, news services reported.