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NEW YORK — Shippers will move more freight over the rail-truck intermodal network next year because of falling truck capacity and rising freight rates, according to several transportation industry officials.

An improving economy, along with the pending federal changes in driver work hours, are creating new competition for drivers for a growing number of trucking firms, forcing some to raise compensation for the first time in years, according to trucking company officials and industry analysts.

NEW YORK — Motor carriers said they soon would increase freight rates and more stringently enforce collection of detention fees to offset the expected costs of lost productivity and higher driver wages resulting from new federal work rules.

A group of major U.S. transportation companies said they won the right to collect up to $8 million from WorldPoint Logistics, when a Seattle judge ruled carriers’ bills of lading may be enforced during bankruptcy proceedings.

SAN ANTONIO — Motor carriers that have seen liability insurance rates spike to unprecedented levels in recent years are now facing a similar scenario concerning workers’ compensation insurance, trucking and ATA officials said at the Management Conference & Exhibition here.

Truckload carriers that must implement new federally mandated driver work rules in January could face lost productivity, tighter capacity and higher operating costs, ultimately requiring them to increase driver pay and hike freight rates, according to several trucking analysts and industry executives.

Motor carriers saw freight volumes decline 9.5% in August after rising for several months because of decreased manufacturing levels, low retail sales and the East Coast-Midwest blackout, said American Trucking Associations Chief Economist Bob Costello.

WASHINGTON — John Ficker, the new president of the National Industrial Transportation League, said the association representing large shippers was financially healthy, even though it has tapped its financial reserves in recent years, and that it was continuing to discuss possible affiliations with other trade groups.

When the United States went to war with Iraq last March, Canadian Labatt Brewing Co. found itself with a big problem on the home front.

To make sure goods move across the U.S.-Canada border with as few interruptions as possible, several third-party logistics companies told Transport Topics they work with customers to adjust inventory levels throughout the supply chain to prevent border delays for time-sensitive shipments.