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They might as well post a sign at the entrance to the Alexandria, Va., headquarters of American Trucking Associations, saying “Welcome to the New ATA.”

A solid gain in Transport Topics’s Trucking Stock Index masked the fact that most trucking stocks faired poorly in 1998.

Labor issues intruded upon an otherwise marvelous business environment for the trucking industry in 1998.

The debate on hours of service, which became trucking’s top regulatory priority in 1998, may have taken a favorable turn for the industry.

There were no dull moments for the Federal Highway Administration in 1998. In addition to a restructuring undertaken last year, the agency lived in fear of losing jurisdiction over its Office of Motor Carriers, which has been criticized for getting too cozy with the industry that it oversees.

As the Environmental Protection Agency looked under the hood and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration got closer to climbing into the cab, the trucking industry fended off increased federal regulatory supervision on two fronts in 1998.

The DaimlerChrysler merger created the first global manufacturer of a full range of passenger and commercial vehicles, and shook the automotive industry, which had resisted consolidation.

With the stormy seas of deregulation rocking ocean lines, and the continuing service problems of Union Pacific delaying freight and pushing shippers closer to revolt, the intermodal industry weathered another tumultuous year.

The debate over the government’s use of electronically gathered information took center stage in 1998 as the Federal Highway Department launched a test of a satellite-based vehicle tracking system. During the two-year project, participating carriers will use mobile communication technology instead of paper logbooks to monitor hours of service.