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January 11, 2000 10:15 AM, EST

Carriers that haul refrigerated cargo are planning to raise freight rates by as much as 10% this year.

The increases follow similar moves by dry van truckload carriers in recent weeks ("Truckload Seeks Rate Hikes," 12-20, p. 1). Many less-than-truckload companies instituted rate hikes around 5% during the busy fall shipping season and later in 1999.

“We actually started 8 to 10 weeks ago,” said Jack Liles, chairman of KLLM Transport Services in Jackson, Miss. “We realized in the fall that we had to do something.”

Fleet executives say higher rates are desperately needed to offset rising costs for a wide range of expenses, including driver wages, equipment and insurance, and to recover the extra cost of diesel fuel used to run refrigeration units on trailers.

For the full story, see the Jan. 10 print edition of Transport Topics. .