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The latest tonnage report from American Trucking Associations shows that freight levels in June were 6.8% higher than they were a year ago, the biggest gain in five months.

Class 8 truck sales and orders have continued to outpace the expectations of analysts and company executives, creating a round of hiring at truck plants and a healthy backlog of orders that should keep the plants busy for months to come.

This issue of Transport Topics includes our extremely popular Top 100 ranking of the largest for-hire motor carriers in the United States and Canada.

Congratulations to the U.S. Department of Transportation for finalizing the cross-border trucking program with Mexico.

It’s sort of a good problem to have, shortages. It’s a problem that means times are good. Suppliers of components that go into Class 8 trucks say they’re barely able to keep up with demand, as truck manufacturers shift into high gear to meet carriers’ desire to replace their aging vehicles.

Imagine a time when a statewide trucking organization, in order to help its state government pay for necessary improvements to roads and bridges, supports a proposal that the state float a bond issue to cover the work and volunteers to have its members pay most of the bills for the work through a jump in the diesel fuel tax.

Now that the comment period on the latest twist in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s long, drawn-out trek to a permanent hours-of-service rule has expired, it’s time for the agency to reaffirm its support for the very successful regulation that already exists.

It was heartening to hear last week from a bipartisan group of heavy-hitters in the U.S. Senate that they were prepared to lead the charge to get a transportation funding bill through Congress.

There’s no doubt that the failure of some shippers and consignees to promptly load or unload trailers is a serious issue for the trucking industry. Because of this, most fleets have added detention rules into their contracts with their customers, detailing just how long it should take for a trailer to be loaded or unloaded.

The news from the Obama White House that it has no intention of pursuing a new tax regime based on the number of miles vehicles travel is most welcome for the trucking industry.