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The economic recovery and understanding how of government regulations will affect business will be key themes of the National Tank Truck Carriers’ annual conference, scheduled for May 10-12 in Chicago. 

CINCINNATI — A strengthening freight market is leading to higher freight rates, and more loads are going unclaimed, attendees at the National Private Truck Council’s annual management conference said. 

Business got so bad for Jack McDevitt Jr.’s Mack, Volvo and Peterbilt truck dealerships that he shuttered one of his locations last spring and laid off 60 people, including his son. 

Trucking company failures leaped to 730 during the first quarter, the largest number since the third quarter of 2008, as the recession continued to take a toll on freight carriers, said Donald Broughton of Avondale Partners.

Most publicly traded trucking companies have reported improved first-quarter earnings, adding evidence that the economic recovery is moving forward and offering hope that the second quarter will be even stronger.

New orders for Class 8 trucks in March rose 28% from a year earlier, the second month in a row they have climbed, as buyers put requests for 11,285 new vehicles on the books, according to ACT Research Co. 

The future of the new, publicly owned bridge at Windsor-Detroit rests with the Michigan Legislature. By June 1, we will know whether the Detroit River International Crossing — or the Gordie Howe Bridge as I call it — will be built, or whether it will be shelved and, perhaps never constructed, or at least not in the lifetime of most of us. 

Existing home sales rose in March for the first time in four months, the National Association of Realtors said.

New home sales grew in March by the most since April 1963, the Commerce Department said Friday.