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By now, everyone involved in trucking has experienced in some way a shortage of truck availability — and we’re only in the beginning of the second quarter. Transport Topics’ April 26 issue had a front-page story on fleet failures that quoted some interesting statistics: More than 7,100 carriers have been lost since the middle of 2008, with 730 failing during the first quarter of 2010.

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Intermodal volume in the first four months of 2010 is surging ahead of 2009 levels, powered by a sharp rise in domestic container shipments and renewed growth in international freight, a trade group said.

U.S. registrations of used Class 8 trucks jumped to 69,474 vehicles in the first quarter of the year, nearly 54% more than the same period in 2009, R.L. Polk & Co. said.

Canadian truckers called on their federal government to junk its plan to implement a national 2% biodiesel mandate, saying that a government study found the cost of the mandate would be nearly five times greater than the benefit.

Roadrunner Transportation Systems Inc., Cudahy, Wis., has completed trucking’s first initial public stock offering since 2003, raising $148.4 million to repay debt as the company considers acquisition.

More than two dozen transportation advocacy groups have asked the drafters of a Senate energy and climate bill to reconsider their legislation to allocate new revenue from transportation-based motor fuel fees to “activities entirely unrelated to improving the nation’s transportation infrastructure.”

This Editorial appears in the May 24 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

At a time when trucking has its pick of more communications options than ever, an increasing number of federal regulations has influenced not only when carriers adopt technology but also what technology they invest in.

The average price of retail diesel dipped 3.3 cents to $3.094 a gallon last week, the largest decline since Feb. 1, according to the Department of Energy.

Wal-Mart Stores is seeking to take over its U.S. transportation services from suppliers in an effort to reduce the cost of hauling goods, Bloomberg reported Friday.