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February 16, 2000 9:45 AM, EST

NEW YORK — Electronic commerce remains a hot topic in transportation despite the lukewarm reaction some of Internet’s biggest deliverers have received from Wall Street in the wake of the holiday rush.

The Internet was a dominant point of discussion at a Global Transport Conference held by Bear Stearns, a New York brokerage firm, as companies and investors talked about how the transportation industry plans to take advantage of the increase in online buying.

Package deliverers, which get most of the freight-hauling business derived from electronic commerce, didn’t get the boost some expected from the $7 billion in online holiday sales in 1999,due, in part, to rising fuel prices.

The potential rewards of the new markets have piqued the interest of many trucking companies, but there are numerous challenges separating transportation companies from a big payday.

For the full story, see the Feb. 14 print edition of Transport Topics. .