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The failure of Congress to pass legislation to provide funding to improve and expand the nation’s highway system has left many roads covered with cracks, potholes and uneven pavement, which are creating additional challenges for some vehicle suspension makers, according to company officials.

Heavy-duty truck sales in the United States climbed 35.5% in May to 18,012 from the same month last year, reaching the second-highest total in the current growth cycle as carriers continued to renew their fleets.

A federal appeals court overturned a stopgap Environmental Protection Agency regulation that allowed Navistar Inc. to pay fines to sell heavy-duty diesel engines that do not meet 2010 emissions standards.

Driver turnover at small truckload fleets rose sharply in the first quarter to 71% from 55% in the fourth quarter of 2011, the largest quarter-to-quarter increase in seven years, propelled by financial pressures and other factors, American Trucking Associations reported.

The proposed increase in surety requirements would eliminate at least 75% of the transportation broker industry.

With electronic logging devices, the hours are what they are. Drivers either have the hours to run a dispatch or they do not. The pressure shifts from the driver having to be “creative” with the log, to the dispatcher being creative with finding a solution to getting the freight serviced.

A number of things are conspiring to push driver turnover rates up for smaller carriers, even as larger fleets have been more successful in keeping a lid on employee churn.

Consumer confidence dropped in June to the lowest level this year, according to the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index released Friday.

FedEx Corp. said Thursday that its FedEx Express business unit has completed its acquisition of the Polish courier Opek Sp.z o.o. Terms were not released.

Logistics software provider Descartes Systems Group said it has signed an agreement to purchase Integrated Export Systems Ltd. for about $35 million in U.S. dollars.