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ATLANTA — Next year’s lower-emission truck engines should prove to be as reliable and as fuel efficient as current models, avoiding the problems carriers faced in the last round of emissions cuts, truck and engine builders said.

The Department of Transportation may relax hours-of-service rules for tank-truck drivers after fuel-delivery problems have caused some filling stations to run short of gasoline, Bloomberg reported.

There was some good news for trucking last week in Atlanta, where American Truck Dealers met. Manufacturers of the nation’s major heavy-duty engines said the lower-emission models the U.S. government has mandated for 2007 apparently will not come with another fuel-efficiency penalty.

Heavy-duty components maker ArvinMeritor said its second-quarter net income was $45 million or 64 cents a share, turning around a $33 million or 48 cents per-share loss a year earlier.

The growth rate of Chicago-area manufacturing activity slowed in April, the National Association of Purchasing Management-Chicago said Friday.

The U.S. economy grew at a 4.8% annual rate in the first quarter, following the fourth-quarter’s 1.7% gain, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

American Trucking Associations’ for-hire truck tonnage index dropped 3.2% in March, the second straight decline following a revised 3.6% decline in February.

Grocery store chain Safeway Inc. reported a first-quarter profit but higher fuel costs raised expenses of running its truck fleet.

American Trucking Associations and the Virginia Trucking Association have launched a campaign opposing proposed tolls on Interstate 81 in Virginia. Darrin Roth, director of highway operations for ATA, said the two organizations decided to launch the campaign because there is a real chance Virginia may toll I-81.

Connecticut Democratic legislative leaders and Gov. M. Jodi Rell (R) have reached a compromise deal on a 10-year, $2.3 billion transportation package that will not raise gas taxes or require tolls, the Associated Press reported.