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Parcel couriers are consuming technology voraciously to provide their drivers with sophisticated hand-held delivery devices, route their trucks more efficiently and create appealing Web sites where their customers and their customers’ customers will choose to do business instead of making telephone calls to carrier personnel.

UPS and FedEx so dominate the American public’s mind when it comes to parcel shipping, it took an international invasion from Deutsche Post’s DHL division to significantly alter the market. However, there are smaller parcel couriers serving niche markets and they, too, are investing in technology.

The average national price of self-serve regular gasoline rose 4 cents to $2.95 a gallon in the two weeks ended Friday, according to the latest Lundberg Survey of filling stations released Sunday.

Environmental Protection Agency officials met Monday with trucking industry and environmental leaders and makers of diesel technology engines, as the Jan. 1 compliance date for 2007 new diesel emissions standards draws closer.

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Smoke from brush fires mixed with fog prompted Florida authorities to close parts of Interstate 95 between Daytona Beach and the Cape Canaveral area, news reports said Monday.

Tank truck carrier Quality Distribution reported net income of $4.5 million or 23 cents a share in the first quarter, up from $2.9 million or 15 cents a year ago.

The South Carolina Department of Transportation has submitted an "expression of interest" to the Federal Highway Administration seeking permission to toll Interstate 95 from North Carolina to Georgia, American Trucking Associations said.

The House overwhelmingly approved a bill Thursday to screen most incoming cargo for radiation at U.S. ports, the Associated Press reported.

U.S. payrolls rose by 138,000 in April and the unemployment rate held at 4.7%, the Labor Department reported Friday.