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Registration fees that trucking companies and freight brokers must pay will more than double to as much as $83,000 in 2010 under a plan put forward by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration last week.

Some key manufacturing indicators showed gains last week, a sign the economy is shifting from recession to expansion, several economists said. However, they warned that the turnaround is uneven, which makes business statistics confusing and trends difficult to track clearly.

An organization of truckers, shippers and ocean carriers said it is partnering with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to develop a voluntary SmartWay certification process for port drayage operators.

Total vehicle-miles traveled on U.S. highways increased 2% in June to 256.7 billion miles compared with June 2008, the second year-over-year increase in the past three months, the Federal Highway Administration reported.

Eighty-two maintenance technicians will compete for national industry honors, while fleet managers grapple with clean-vehicle technology options and universal equipment warranties at SuperTech and the fall meeting of the Technology & Maintenance Council.

Domestic intermodal continues to be a relatively strong performer and an attractive alternative for motor carriers today in weak freight markets, said an industry official and two analysts.

Fleets shouldn’t expect a pickup in freight business anytime soon, because wary consumers remain reluctant to spend and shippers continue to stock less inventory, fleet executives and industry experts said.

After a grim season of second-quarter truckload earnings reports, robust August postings on a key freight load board hint the month just ended might be a turning point for the truckload sector.

Advocacy groups led by Public Citizen, once again taking the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to court over its driver hours-of-service regulation, said increasing allowed driving time and allowing a reset of weekly hours have led to more fatalities caused by fatigued driving.

U.S diesel prices continued their summer-long climb last week, inching up 0.6 cent to $2.674 a gallon, according to the Department of Energy retail fuel survey.