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The national average price of diesel fuel dipped to $1.307 on Jan. 10, the first drop in three weeks, tracking a drop in crude oil prices to $24.23 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Private firms kicked in $53 million toward the National Transportation Exchange's efforts to match empty long-haul trailers with shippers.

Spending on third-party logistics grew 16.5% to an estimated $46 billion in 1999, according to Armstrong & Associates, a research firm in Stoughton, Wis.

This afternoon's headlines: Hub Group launches home delivery service; New Jersey nixes overtime pay for truckers; and Cushing elected to board of Trailer Bridge.

In the news this morning: N.J. Gov. Whitman signs bill setting fines fortruck ban violations; Proposed Calif. rule on diesel engines fuels debate; and Texas Trucking Assoc. to offer safety seminars.

Frozen Food Express Industries is restructuring its operations, eliminating about 150 non-driver employee positions and reducing the size of its trailer fleet by more than 20%.

Trucking labor historians will look back on 1999 and note that it was the year a second Hoffa took over the helm at the Teamsters union and frustrations with port operations on both coasts came to a head.

Trucking companies in Illinois can expect beefed-up enforcement of a state law that distinguishes, for unemployment insurance purposes, employees from independent contractors.

This afternoon's headlines: Marten Transport sees higher fourth quarter net; U.S. trucking execs eye merger with Professional Transportation Group; and Trucker Buddy weighs its future.