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The increase in new Class 8 deliveries in 2011 hasn’t yet done anything to ease the scarcity of used vehicles and, if anything, has added even more upward price pressure, industry executives and analysts said.

Prasad Sharma has been promoted to senior vice president and general counsel of American Trucking Associations, ATA said Monday.

Five publicly traded truckload carriers have reported higher quarterly earnings, helped by higher rates and improved productivity.

Robert Digges Jr., vice president and chief counsel for American Trucking Associations and a top attorney for ATA’s Litigation Center, is retiring from his post effective Jan. 27, ATA announced last week.

Slowly but surely, trucking is emerging from recession, and trucking company leaders all over the country are anxiously watching the bottom line, determined not to falter now that the sun is finally coming out.

Orders for new Class 8 trucks jumped 68.6% last year from 2010, as the year closed with an 11.8% increase in December from a year earlier, according to ACT Research Co.

The Women In Trucking Association is accepting nominations for its second annual Influential Woman of the Year award.

Trucking industry mergers and acquisitions are expected to surge this year because of factors such as tight capacity and eager private-equity buyers, several industry experts have said.