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The number of Class 8 vehicles operating in the United States totaled 3.641 million units in the second quarter, an increase of less than 1% over the same quarter in 2008, transportation research firm R.L. Polk & Co. said.

Trucking company failures declined to 370 during the second quarter, plunging 61.9% from the 970 recorded a year earlier, despite the economic turmoil that has sent fleet profits reeling. But the stock analyst who prepared the data warned that the bankruptcy improvement wasn’t a sign of better times.

With total U.S. container import traffic down more than 20% in the first half of 2009 compared with a year ago, all pieces of the supply chain are feeling the pain of the recession.

Truck component maker Eaton Corp. said that it would provide the electric power systems for 378 Class 5 electric hybrid plug-in vehicles under a federal grant, which it called the “largest commercial hybrid deployment” ever.

The Teamsters sent new ballots to union workers at the New Penn regional trucking unit of YRC Worldwide Inc. who last month voted down a second round of pay and benefit cuts.

U.S. biodiesel production has been rocketing upward in each of the past 10 years and reached 690 million gallons last year, but industry officials and analysts said it would drop this year by half to 350 million gallons or as low as 250 million gallons.

The battle over how to best accomplish clean-truck programs for drayage fleets has moved from California ports and courtrooms to the halls of Congress.

U.S. Class 8 retail sales fell for the seventh consecutive month — this time by 32.9%, WardsAuto.com reported, and a market forecaster predicted that no substantial change is likely until the second half of next year.

PITTSBURGH — Day-to-day on the job, driving a truck is a mostly solitary occupation, which explains in part why the National Truck Driving Championships attract so many repeat contestants, coming back year after year to rub shoulders with other top drivers from around the country, as well as to carry on their quest for a trophy.

Diesel prices rose for a fourth straight week, gaining 2.7 cents to its highest price in nine months, $2.652 a gallon, the Department of Energy said Aug. 17.