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Trucking’s top financial executives heard some encouraging words at the National Accounting & Finance Council’s Management Conference and Exhibit Forum June 27 to 29, as one economist predicted that the best is yet to come for the U.S. economy.

Dockworkers and truck drivers at six Overnite Transportation terminals went on strike Monday, according to the Teamsters union. About 1,400 union workers walked off their jobs at three terminals in the Atlanta area and one each in Memphis, Tenn.; Kansas City, Mo., and Indianapolis.

Congestion problems that have troubled Norfolk Southern since it took over part of Conrail a month ago seem to be easing, but customers continue to report inadequate service on the Virginia-based rail line. United Parcel Service complains of delays ranging from 2 to 10 hours.

Federal transportation regulators are investigating whether Stamford, Conn., city officials illegally subjected city truck drivers to drug and alcohol testing. Officials from the Federal Highway Administration say a complaint from the Stamford Teamsters union prompted the probe.

A group of five tank truck carriers will begin a collaborative effort to exchange loads and share tank cleaning facilities on July 7. The pooling arrangement by the Alliance of Bulktruck Carriers was recently approved by the Surface Transportation Board. Initial operations will be limited to shipments from five states.

A fourth person has been charged with selling commercial driver licenses in Ohio, and the state has revoked the CDLs of 15 truckers suspected to have been involved in the scheme. State investigators say Michelle L. Black signed a waiver for a trucker to bypass the driving skills test, but the applicant did not qualify for the exemption.

A settlement between the Department of Transportation, Georgia transportation officials and environmental groups will cut off funding for 44 road improvement projects in the Atlanta area. The blocked construction includes work on interchanges of Interstates 20, 75 and 285 as well as numerous state highways and local roads.

A Public Citizen and Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways study reported that between 1993 and 1998 trucking made $14 million worth of political contributions and spent more than $15 million on lobbying. “The more money they give, the less they’re regulated. It’s congressional protection money — you pay them to leave you alone,” said Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen.

A traffic manager for a New Jersey mail-order company pleaded guilty to pocketing more than $74,000 in kickbacks and hiding the income from the Internal Revenue Service. William Surdakowski pleaded guilty June 14 to failing to report $74,889 in taxable income that he received in 1994 for awarding business to a trucking company in Virginia. The name of the firm was not released.