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Intermodal freight volume declined 16% in the first quarter of 2009 from a year earlier, in part because of stiffer truck competition for trailer shipments, the Intermodal Association of North America reported.

Details of the Environmental Protection Agency’s record $10.5 billion fiscal 2010 budget proposal — a 37% increase — quickly set off a partisan debate in Congress last week over the agency’s plans to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

Registrations of new trailers plummeted 62.5% in the first quarter as the economy weakened, and industry executives and analysts said trailer manufacturing was headed for its worst year since 1975.

Heavy-duty U.S. truck sales continued at a dismal pace in April, as monthly volume fell 44.4% from a year earlier, when sales were already declining. Year to date, sales are now 32.5% behind the comparable period of 2008, according to the latest monthly survey from WardsAuto.com.

The average price of retail gasoline soared last week, jumping 16.2 cents a gallon to a U.S. average of $2.24, leapfrogging diesel, which rose 3.1 cents to $2.216. Gasoline prices exceeded diesel for the first time in nearly two years.

Trucking is just beginning to glimpse benefits from the federal economic stimulus program, which could produce about $1.1 billion in carrier revenue over the next two years for moving materials used in infrastructure projects, industry and federal officials said.

Initial jobless claims rose last week while the number of people receiving continuing claims set a record for the 15th straight week, the Labor Department said Thursday.