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Prodded by soaring fuel prices and the contracting economy, shippers have spent most of 2008 trying to pare transportation spending to meet demands by company executives looking for antidotes to stagnant revenue growth.

Qualcomm Inc. added an in-cab scanning service to its mobile computing system, and launched a new reporting module designed to help carriers monitor how much fuel their drivers are burning, the company said last week.

ORLANDO, Fla. — A fuel-optimization module acquired 12 months ago has since become a leading growth product for software vendor TMW Systems, which held its annual user conference in the heart of this resort-rich peninsula last week.

From maintaining optimum air pressure to avoiding jack-rabbit starts, a truck driver’s actions affect not only the life expectancy of tires but also a vehicle’s fuel efficiency.

More than 1,500 truckers at the Port of Oakland, Calif., have applied for 1,000 subsidies to retrofit their trucks to reduce emissions, the San Francisco Business Times reported Monday.

Wright Express Corp. said it completed its acquisition of Financial Automation Limited, a New Zealand-based international provider of fuel card processing software systems.

Kenworth Truck Co. will make standard on its Class 5-8 trucks a synthetic axle lube that will boost fuel economy by 1%, the company said.

Westport Innovations, which makes alternative fuel transportation technologies, said Monday it has begun trading on the Nasdaq stock market.

Engine manufacturer Cummins Inc. last week reversed its decision to use only exhaust-gas recirculation to meet 2010 emission standards and said it would instead use urea-based selective catalytic reduction to cut the new engines’ fuel consumption.