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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The nation’s trucking fleets should consider “pre-buying” vehicles with current-model engines over the next few years to avoid high costs associated with the next generation of lower-emission products that will hit showroom floors in 2007, according to industry economist Martin Labbe.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Executives from four of the largest U.S. heavy-duty trucking fleets urged the federal government to provide financial incentives to help offset anticipated higher purchase and maintenance costs for the next generation of lower-emissions diesel engines.

As the price of steel keeps pushing higher amid increased demand and limited supply, manufacturers of trucks, trailers and components last week said they would increase their prices to consumers to try to offset rising input costs.

Surging demand for domestic steel is pushing more loads onto motor carriers that haul those products, industry officials and analysts say, as steel-reliant industries facing tight deadlines and limited supplies turn to trucks for quicker shipments than rail can provide.

The Truckload Carriers Association named Tennessee Trucking Association President Christopher Burruss to be the next president of the national TL group.

Stock analysts said they expected to recommend buying or holding trucking stocks longer than they normally do when the economy is expanding because a rare convergence of market forces could significantly improve motor carriers’ profit margins throughout this year, as long as they can avoid adding capacity..

Less than three months after tank-truck carrier Quality Distribution initially offered its stock to the public, lawyers representing people who bought some of the shares have sued the company, alleging that its prospectus was false and misleading because it overstated financial results.

Six years ago, Werner Enterprises outfitted 6,800 trucks with software that recorded driving data in real-time as a way of testing how well capturing driver hours electronically might work in the truckload business.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Leavitt has agreed to participate in the Diesel Engine Emissions Summit II next month.

Two months after the Distribution and LTL Carriers Association’s president resigned to practice law, the group said it was beginning discussions with several organizations about its future management and direction.