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The legislative process is slow and often Byzantine, but every now and then, progress is apparent to the naked eye. Such was the case on Capitol Hill last week as Congress took tangible steps toward ordering the creation of a federal administration to oversee trucking’s safety programs.

An alliance between the Teamsters union and the Department of Energy will put displaced government employees back to work as truck drivers.

Ken Gold had no way of knowing in 1986 when he started hauling sand and gravel that a few side jobs transporting motorcycles for friends would evolve into successful operation of GoldRush Motorsports, a specialized trucking fleet for racing.

When Ford Motor Co. issued a mandate that all of its suppliers comply with ISO 9002, an international standard for quality, A.D. Transport Express had little choice but to go along with the program. After all, Ford was the $30 million carrier’s largest customer.

The Department of Transportation’s inspector general went too far when it searched a trucking company’s offices and seized its records last year, said a federal judge in Phoenix.

Comdata, the leader in the trucking fuel-card business, has settled a complaint by the Federal Trade Commission by agreeing to license its card-processing system to its competitors.

Truckers are watching their profits erode as diesel prices continue to climb, with FDX Corp. and J.B. Hunt Transport Services telling investors that high fuel costs have cut into their earnings.

A week after Hurricane Floyd marched up the East Coast’s I-95 corridor, some towns and highways in North Carolina remained under water, disrupting freight service.

Nearly 10 years after signing its first contract to move truckload shipments by rail, J.B. Hunt Transport Services has decided to separate its intermodal operations from its truckload van business.