ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø

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.

Heavy-duty retail truck sales in the United States fell 53.1% in October, the sixth straight month in which sales fell 50% or more below 2006 levels, according to WardsAuto.com.

U.S. diesel fuel prices rose another 12.2 cents last week to $3.425 a gallon, the second consecutive record high and the eighth increase in the past nine weeks, the Department of Energy said.

Contract Freighters Inc., Joplin, Mo., said it will raise pay for all drivers by 1 cent per mile.

Manufacturing growth in New York state dipped in October, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Thursday.

Manufacturing levels strengthened in the Philadelphia area this month, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said Thursday.

A federal appeals court ruled that Department of Transportation failed to take into account the value of reducing carbon emissions in setting the rules for 2008-2011 model light trucks and sport utility vehicles, Bloomberg News reported Thursday.

The Department of Transportation’s freight transportation services index for September fell 1.6% compared with a year ago, DOT said Wednesday.

Business inventories rose 0.4% in September, while sales increased 0.6%, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.