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Executives of IdleAir, a truck stop idle-reduction equipment operator, defended their service after sharp criticism from the company’s former largest landlord.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said a new federal rule will expand the enforcement authority of federal regulators to conduct “enhanced inspections” and investigations of packaged hazardous materials.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the Transportation Security Administration have conducted several dozen overlapping fleet inspections, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report about wasteful and duplicative federal programs.

Truck and engine maker Navistar Inc. said it has won regulatory approval for its 15-liter power plant, which it will unveil later this month at the Mid-America Trucking Show, and that it has submitted documents to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and California Air Resources Board for a 13-liter engine that meets nitrogen oxide limits without the use of emission credits.

Truck and engine maker Navistar Inc. has taken a new tack in its drive to offer new motors, joining a company that had developed a radical design that it says offers fuel efficiency and weight improvements.

The U.S. economy added 192,000 jobs in February, including 11,200 in trucking, the largest monthly gain for the industry since 1995, the Department of Labor reported.

Trade organizations representing motor carriers, shippers, and retailers continued their campaign against the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s proposed hours-of-service rule change, making last-minute appeals last week that the agency withdraw the rule and claiming it would hurt supply chain productivity and highway safety.

Even with the proper security credentials, it’s a bit of a crapshoot every time one of Kevin Hogan’s company trucks leaves a terminal in Ontario for a border crossing with a load of freight bound for the United States.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will require all Mexican trucks entering the United States to be equipped with electronic onboard recorders — and will pay for them — an agency spokeswoman said last week.

The National Truck Equipment Association installed Steven Sill, president of the Aspen Equipment Co., as its new president, replacing Allen Birmingham.