���ϳԹ���

The Department of Transportation said Tuesday it is asking private industry, research organizations, and state and local governments for commercially available technology to fight congestion and improve the safety within the U.S. transportation system.

Old Dominion Freight Line said it would purchase some assets of Bullocks Express Transportation, a Denver-based trucking company.

American Trucking Associations has launched a campaign to protect the trucking industry’s use of independent contractors, a move officials said is needed to counter recent court decisions and an increasingly “hostile” legislative environment.

Secured Digital Applications, a provider of asset-tracking services, has unveiled its new pocket-size Bluetooth Global Positioning System receiver, saying it offers a cheaper alternative to comparable vehicle-mounted systems.

Forward Air Corp. said it has entered into an agreement to acquire certain assets of Black Hawk Freight Services, a privately held provider of transportation services headquartered in Milan, Ill.

Performance Transportation Services, a Wayne, Mich., auto transporter, said it, along with certain subsidiaries, will file for chapter 11 bankruptcy as part of a $67 million deal to sell nearly all of its assets to Allied Systems Holdings.

ATLANTA — UPS Inc.’s incoming chief financial officer told shippers here what freight carriers have long heard: The U.S. transportation network is so clogged — and getting worse — that Congress must create an infrastructure improvement plan and pay for it with dedicated taxes on the system’s users.

ORLANDO, Fla. — With idling restrictions increasing in states and localities around the country, carriers are increasingly interested in buying systems that will allow drivers to keep their truck cabs cool or heated and to operate electrical “hotel” appliances such as televisions or computers.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said Monday that that starting later this month, trucks crossing the U.S.-Mexico border as part of a new demonstration program will use satellite-based technology developed by Qualcomm Inc. to track trucks.

Return on investment is a standard measurement of the dollar value of an information technology system. Small or medium-sized fleets likely focus their financials on cost per truck — “per seat,” in the IT lexicon.