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October container volume at U.S. ports is expected to drop more than 18% from the same month last year — and down more than 25% from the record-making peak season of October 2006, economic forecasters said.

Gainey Corp.’s plan to reorganize into a trucking company with 80% ownership by an Arizona investor moved a step closer to completion last week after further negotiations yielded a fully supported plan, the company’s CEO said.

PITTSBURGH — Like many other champion truck drivers, Dale Duncan first took the wheel in childhood, on a family farm in Indiana, where his father supplemented the family income by driving a truck.

Cargo thefts have increased against over-the-road trucking firms during the recession, with criminals turning to “basics” such as food and paper products, as well as the traditional high-value loads, though no hard figures exist, American Trucking Associations said.

Tank truck carriers, who haul everything from wine to oil field supplies to industrial chemicals, said their business finally seems to be picking up after months of downward recessionary pressure on freight volumes.

Customer satisfaction with full-service moving companies is on the rise, according to the results of a J.D. Power and Associates survey published earlier this month.

The average retail price of U.S. diesel continued a slow upward creep last week, rising 1.6 cents a gallon to $2.668, a pace fleets said gives them some stability amid recession-driven volume and pricing challenges.

The Betsy Ross Bridge between New Jersey and Pennsylvania will become the first in the Philadelphia area with express E-ZPass lanes, the Associated Press reported.

U.S. consumer confidence slipped slightly in August from July but improved from an earlier forecast this month, according to the Reuters/University of Michigan monthly consumer sentiment index released Friday.

The in-house financing arm of truck maker Navistar International Corp. has signed an agreement for a one-year renewal of a $650 million floor-plan funding facility for its dealers, the company said.