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Following recent rate increase announcements by three major less-than-truckload carriers, industry experts said the LTL sector has turned the corner toward profitability, with shipment volumes, tonnage and rates all improving, but not yet soaring.

HANOVER, Germany — The magic word at last week’s opening of the world’s biggest truck show seemed to be “survival,” as various manufacturers congratulated themselves and their remaining competitors for having survived the worst economic times since the end of World War II.

NEW YORK — Many carriers, particularly in the truckload sector, said they are winning rate increases from shippers that typically are at least 5%, reflecting the industry’s tight capacity.

U.S. Class 8 truck sales climbed 23.5% in August from year-ago levels, pushing sales for the first eight months of 2010 to 16.5% higher than last year’s results for the comparable period, WardsAuto.com reported.

New orders for Class 8 trucks in North America climbed sharply in August, two commercial vehicle research companies said in preliminary reports.

Rainer Schmueckle, the former head of Daimler Trucks North America, has left parent company Daimler AG after heading the German company’s Mercedes-Benz auto unit for five years, Bloomberg reported.

Used truck sales and prices are climbing steadily as fleets hunt for cost-effective alternatives to new trucks, according to a new research report and industry officials.

Registrations of used Class 8 trucks nearly doubled in the second quarter, far outpacing new truck activity as fleets snapped up both late-model used tractors and older vehicles, a new R.L. Polk & Co. report said.

The Mexican government last week imposed a second round of retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports to protest the closing of the common national boundary to cross-border trucking and said the United States has yet to propose a plan to allow trucks from Mexico to deliver in the United States.