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The cost advantage offered by shipping direct and avoiding paying for warehousing and inventory is dwindling, possibly forever, as the price of fuel rises. As a result, more carriers have started looking at warehousing to play a larger role in the logistics process.

The Columbia River Crossing between Portland, Ore., and Vancouver, Wash., has received national priority status from the White House to expedite the project, the U.S. Department of Transportation said late Tuesday.

Transportation and third-party logistics firm C.H. Robinson Worldwide said Monday it has acquired Transera International Holdings Ltd., a project forwarding company based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

The national average retail price of diesel fell 11.5 cents to $4.603 a gallon last week, the largest one-week drop in nearly two years and the second consecutive weekly decline, the Department of Energy reported.

Gasoline prices dropped 11.7 cents in the two weeks ended Friday to a national average of $3.9959 a gallon, the first time in more than a month that the average has fallen below $4 a gallon, the latest Lundberg Survey of filling stations said.

The Environmental Protection Agency postponed until early August its decision on whether to grant a request from Texas to cut the national renewable fuels mandate in half, citing the huge number of comments EPA has received on the issue, which has pitted livestock growers against grain producers.

The national average price of retail diesel fell 11.5 cents to $4.603 a gallon, the Department of Energy reported Monday.

Third-party logistics company and freight broker Hub Group’s second-quarter net income rose to $15 million, or 40 cents a share, from $13.8 million, or 35 cents, a year ago.

Union Pacific Corp. said Thursday its second-quarter profit rose 19%, on higher demand for agricultural transportation.