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Instead of singing Auld Lang Syne at midnight, teams of federal government staffers will be poised to pounce on any significant computer problems that arrive with the millennium.

A spokeswoman for Landstar System said last week the Jacksonville, Fla.-based company is working “feverishly” to resolve problems that led the Department of Transportation to propose an unsatisfactory safety fitness rating for one of its subsidiaries, Landstar Ligon.

Illinois lawmakers provided relief to intermodal truckers who are often stuck with faulty equipment by passing a law that makes the owners of chassis, trailers and containers responsible for their condition.

An Overnite Transportation Co. driver was shot and wounded Dec. 1 in Memphis, Tenn., leading to charges by Overnite officials that Teamsters were responsible for the shooting.

Word that U.S. authorities are pulling over Canadian truck drivers and deporting them — minus their equipment in some cases — has angered truckers north of the border.

The Teamsters union, after decades of on-and-off campaigns to organize owner-operators in the nation’s seaports, is preparing for another shot at the brass ring.

As many as 100 combination vehicles will be on the roads this winter testing antilock braking systems equipped with the controversial PLC4Trucks integrated circuit chip, which is supposed to activate an in-cab warning light if a trailer’s ABS malfunctions.

Federal officials have a vision of a seamless transportation system throughout the Western Hemisphere in which trucks and passengers can pass from country to country without stopping at borders for customs, safety checks and any other clearance.

Louisiana transportation officials blame heavy cross-border truck traffic for the state’s No. 2 ranking for having the country’s worst roads in an owner-operator magazine.