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BALTIMORE — Fleets that adopt electronic logging devices are encountering challenges from competitors who don’t use them and who poach their drivers and customers, three carrier officials said last week.

U.S. truck owners registered more heavy-duty vehicles in the year’s first quarter than a year earlier, but also purged older trucks at an even faster rate, causing the nation’s Class 8 fleet size to drop for the fifth time in the past six quarters.

The average cost of a gallon of retail diesel fell 6.4 cents to $3.997 a gallon last week, the largest weekly drop in a year, the Department of Energy reported.

Consumer confidence continues to improve in May, according to the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index released Friday.

Computer Sciences Corp. announced it has won a $42 million, three-year contract from the U.S. Postal Service to repair mail containers, trays and sacks at a postal facility near Los Angeles.

Consumer personal spending rose 0.4% in April, the Commerce Department said Friday.

Austin, Texas, motor carrier and logistics service CLX Medical has begun offering flatbed and step deck trucking logistics from its trucking division in McAlester, Okla.

It was heartening to hear last week from a bipartisan group of heavy-hitters in the U.S. Senate that they were prepared to lead the charge to get a transportation funding bill through Congress.

The Government Accountability Office is preparing a report on motor carriers that have their operating authority revoked only to come back with a different name to apply for authority again.