���ϳԹ���

People stuck their heads through the back door of the big sleeper box from Indiana Custom Trucks on display at the recent Great American Trucking Show in Dallas. “C’mon in, folks,” urged John Miller, a sales representative for ICT, sitting in the sleeper’s dining nook. “Take a look around.”

Trucking companies have shot themselves in the foot by failing to improve driver wages sooner, a consultant to the industry warned at a recent transportation conference.

Carriers that have not done any testing to see if they are ready to dodge the computer problems associated with the changeover to the Year 2000 had better be prepared to unravel an awful mess when they show up for work Jan. 1 — if they can get in the building at all.

Determined to prove that technology can prevent truck accidents, the federal government is plunking down $3.5 million to field-test the most promising safety gear on in-service trucks.

The fight over union representation at Overnite Transportation Co. took several dramatic turns last week, with the company filing a defamation lawsuit against the Teamsters, and a federal judge denying a request for a temporary restraining order to stop rail workers from joining a threatened Teamsters strike against the carrier.

Two New Jersey legislators plan to introduce a truck safety package that doubles the points truckers receive for some moving violations and triples the commercial driver license fee to fund a truck enforcement group within the State Police.

Covenant Transport, Chattanooga, Tenn., purchased the assets of ATW Inc., a long-haul truckload carrier based in Greensboro, N.C., in a move that furthers Covenant’s expansion efforts and is expected to improve its earnings.

After a one-week respite, the price of diesel fuel resumed its rise last week, reaching $1.234 a gallon, prompting investment analysts to lower their earnings estimates for freight carriers.

The legislative trigger attached to the Department of Transportation’s spending bill for the new fiscal year is about to be pulled, and the target is the Office of Motor Carrier and Highway Safety.

American Freightways Corp. says its third-quarter earnings rose 75.6% over last year because of growth in two new markets.