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Natso Inc., a trade organization of truck stop owners, has taken sides with the trucking industry in opposing a reduction in driving hours for big rig drivers, but not all of the association’s members agree.

The federal government fleshed out its rhetoric on highway safety Feb. 7, when it announced it was seeking a 54% increase in funding for fiscal 2001 — to $279 million from $181 million this year — for its newly formed motor carrier safety agency.

The Clinton administration proposes to spend a record $29.3 billion on roads and bridges in fiscal 2001, but the federal-aid program still faces diversions of tax revenue, and that drew some complaints.

Two United Parcel Service customers are suing the package delivery giant, claiming that they were charged too much to insure their packages.

Companies that haul containers and trailers from ports and rail terminals — long considered the weakest link in the transportation supply chain — are being targeted in two separate efforts to consolidate local intermodal carriers into national powerhouses.

STA United, a drug-testing company that primarily serves the trucking industry, has been acquired by DAC Services, a company that provides carriers with background checks on driver applicants.

Driving a rig around Indianapolis or Atlanta can be like playing dodge ball in a broom closet for William C. Mayhew and other truckers who must contend with lane restriction laws in these metropolitan areas and others like them across the country.

USFreightways Corp. and Transport Corporation of America last week canceled a planned merger as falling stock prices reduced the value of the transaction.

The top-to-bottom overhaul of American Trucking Associations entered its final phase last week with the new budget adopted by its executive committee at the Winter Leadership Meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.