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Trucking leaders from sometimes-conflicting segments of the industry are flirting with the idea of jointly submitting a proposal to Congress to mandate some sort of surcharge mechanism when fuel prices increase.

With a new, almost evenly divided Congress about to begin work, members of the Distribution and LTL Carriers Association are taking a fresh look at several key legislative issues at its 2001 annual meeting at the Sheraton Maui in Hawaii this week.

The Defense Department is slated to approve a new regime for paying fuel surcharges in late January that will then go into effect April 1, according to an official of the Military Traffic Management Command.

Legal disputes over the electronic technology that is supposed to activate a critical antilock braking system warning light have come to a head and now threaten to stop production of truck tractors and trailers.

A resolution has been introduced in the Kentucky House of Representatives that, if adopted, would begin anew the fight over that state’s ton-mile and usage taxes.

The Minnesota Trucking Association expects a bill requiring that all diesel fuel sold in the state be part biodiesel to be introduced in the legislature within the next few weeks.

The roster of players in the truckload sector of the industry will continue changing drastically this year, according to a survey of stock analysts who follow trucking.

The Federal Reserve’s Jan. 3 cut in short-term interest rates is not likely to have an immediate impact on the sale of new and used trucks, despite increasingly aggressive sales promotions manufacturers and dealers are taking.

With both the manufacturing and retail sectors signaling a crunch in December, and with more trucking and other transportation companies warning in January about rising losses as their customers retrench, the Federal Reserve should cut interest rates another half-point at the end of this month.