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Lower oil prices, moderate economic growth and a drop in interest rates should bode well for trucking in 2001 — at least for companies that survive the bankruptcies and consolidations predicted to sweep the industry.

Final comments on the Department of Transportation’s proposal to change the hours-of-service rules are due by close of business Dec. 15, but at least two trucking groups beat the last-minute rush. National Tank Truck Carriers and the Distribution & LTL Carriers Association filed in late November, requesting a review of driver on-duty time and the costs of implementing the rule changes.

A group representing most of the nation’s car haulers has ended its 65-year affiliation with American Trucking Associations.

Mexican trucks will not be rolling into the United States anytime soon, contrary to what recent news reports may have suggested, an expert on the North American Free Trade Agreement said.

A news report from Mexico City Mexico City quoted an unidentified U.S. Department of Transportation official as saying the United States will appeal a decision of the North American Free Trade Agreement arbitration panel which found fault with the U.S. refusal to open the border with Mexico to international trucking.

A trucking feud, ignited over the remains of a bankrupt motor carrier, has been settled by the parties without a shot being fired, but not before a Tennessee court became involved.

If the four experts who participated in Transport Topics’ 2001 Management Outlook Forum have it right, next year could be a pretty good time for most segments of the trucking industry.

If you are one of those who clapped for Tinker Bell, you’ll love this report by Bear, Stearns & Co. Equity Research.

Mathematics purists know the new millennium really starts Jan. 1, 2001, and a prominent Wall Street analyst believes that will be the beginning of a year when truckload stocks finally soar above the rubble of 1999 and 2000 left by motor carriers that just could not make it.