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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.

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.

The decision by two major engine manufacturers, Cummins Inc. and Navistar International, to build 2010 heavy-duty diesel engines without selective catalytic reduction technology has upset truck sales forecasts for the 2009 and 2010 truck markets.

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.

Ryder System said Friday that that aerospace firm Boeing Co. has chosen Ryder to provide global transportation management services.

The California Air Resources Board, in a September staff report, proposed to require Class 8 trucks to be outfitted with fuel-efficiency technologies such as cab fairings, skirts, low-rolling-resistance tires and automatic tire-inflation systems by 2010.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Cummins Inc. said it will not use selective catalytic reduction for its 2010 heavy-duty engines, making it the first manufacturer to reject the urea-based system widely used in Europe to cut emissions.