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More than 500 former employees of transportation conglomerate CNF Inc. and its one-time subsidiary Consolidated Freightways have filed a class-action lawsuit alleging CNF and its actuarial firm caused their pension fund to become underfunded, costing retirees millions in lost benefits.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration denied petitions from a diverse collection of businesses requesting changes in its new hours-of-service rules, the agency said Aug. 25.

Less-than-truckload carrier Yellow Corp., which is set to become the largest LTL carrier in North America after it acquires Roadway Corp., could find itself facing stiff competition from the parcel sector in coming years because of the changing face of the LTL market, analysts and trucking executives said.

Several truckload carriers sent mixed signals recently on whether Class 8 trucks with new-model engines meeting federally mandated emission standards are being embraced by the industry.

Retail sales of heavy-duty trucks dropped 1.8% in June, compared with already weak sales in the corresponding month of 2002, as analysts said fleets continued to refrain from upgrading equipment because of conflicting reports about the performance of new-model engines.

Nine months after the nation’s third-largest less-than-truckload carrier declared bankruptcy, tightening capacity and pumping up freight volumes for surviving carriers, analysts and fleets said those gains were being diluted by the weak economy and by turf wars for regional freight that created excess capacity.

Truckload carrier Schneider National Inc. closed two of its Teamster-represented subsidiaries June 28 and 29 after failing to reach a labor contract that would free it from the financially strapped Central States Pension Fund.

NEW YORK — In an effort to take advantage of what analysts are calling the fastest-growing segment of the less-than-truckload market, three carriers said they were exploring next-day market ventures, with at least one planning to launch a pilot program later this year.

NEW YORK — Even as the trucking industry continues to evaluate new diesel engines that hit the market in October, fleet officials expressed concerns about federally mandated emissions levels that Class 8 engines must meet in 2007.

NEW YORK — Top officials of several national truckload and less-than-truckload carriers said they would avoid adding cargo capacity this year because of flat freight volumes and few signs that the economy is growing.