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Express package carrier Velocity Express, Westport, Conn., said it has appointed John McAlpin as president and chief operating officer.

Intermodal freight volumes showed their first year-over-year gain in 15 months during December as the U.S. economy improved, raising hopes for a resurgence, said the latest Intermodal Association of North America market report.

WASHINGTON — Officials attending American Trucking Associations’ Winter Leadership Meeting here last week said they were more optimistic about the future than they were a year ago, because the economic fortunes and political winds appear to be changing.

The lengthy and ongoing truck sales drought caused America’s Class 8 truck fleet to contract 2.1% during the fourth quarter, the first such decline since the third quarter of 2008, according to the year-end report on commercial vehicle registrations by R.L. Polk & Co.

Orders for new trailers rose 10% in January, compared with 2009, ACT Research Co. LLC reported last week, but the increase may not signal the start of a prolonged recovery, an ACT analyst said.

The U.S. Senate last week passed legislation that would extend current highway legislation and transfer $20 billion to the Highway Trust Fund, but a key legislator reportedly said the Senate bill would not pass the House of Representatives, which already has approved a broader, more expensive measure.

While U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson indicated last week that her agency was moving forward with plans to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, opposition to a Senate cap-and-trade bill seemed to be gaining enough momentum to block its passage.

The demise of IdleAire, the largest U.S. truck-stop electrification vendor, leaves the door open for several smaller operators that hope to build their own businesses with a simpler product.

Over the past decade, a growing number of fleets have begun outsourcing more of their tire maintenance needs as a way to save on machinery, equipment and training costs.

The average price of diesel around the nation jumped 7.6 cents a gallon to $2.832, as fuel reversed a five-week downward trend, the Department of Energy reported last week.