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NEW YORK — Truckload carrier executives said they were signing shorter-term contracts with shippers and adjusting how they collect fuel surcharges to better use equipment and control operating costs amid tight capacity, high driver turnover and sharply rising fuel costs.

NEW YORK — Truckload carriers could raise freight rates as much as 8% in 2005, fleet officials and analysts said, as high freight volumes keep capacity tight and an inability to hire qualified drivers limits carrier expansion..

Truckload carriers said driver pay increases and inability to recoup sharply rising fuel costs tempered their profits during the third quarter, even as they pushed profits sharply higher amid strong freight volumes and tight capacity.

Truck makers’ inability to keep pace with Class 8 demand could lead to soaring equipment prices for years to come, fleets and analysts said, prompting some motor carriers to lock in deals now to guarantee price and delivery — and to plan future purchases sooner than they normally would.

Some insurance brokers stopped writing insurance policies after several hurricanes rampaged across the southern and eastern United States, potentially hitting carriers with higher costs just after the storms caused business losses, fleet and insurance representatives said.

Annette Sandberg, head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, said Tuesday that changing the federal hours-of-service rules for truck drivers would cause widespread disruptions across the trucking industry and significantly hamper the agency’s ability to coordinate enforcement efforts.

Sales of heavy-duty trucks surged 59.8% in August to their highest level in more than four years, driven largely by replacement orders from fleets that held onto aging trucks during the 2001 recession and after the shift to new-era engines in 2002.

As health-care costs continue to skyrocket, motor carriers said they are exploring a multitude of ways to mitigate costs that are impinging on profitability.

Truckload carriers could see demand outpace their hauling capacity by as much as 25% during the peak shipping season now under way, a transportation analyst warned, as freight industry officials said they were facing a period in which they could be starved for capacity.

For the first time in the current economic cycle, less-than-truckload carriers said finding qualified drivers was a growing concern as the expanding economy lured employees to other jobs and as low pay and increased security measures deterred people from entering the industry.