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Trailer orders in February reached the highest level in two years, fueling manufacturers’ hopes that their business momentum is improving after 2009 production sank to a 34-year low, industry officials said.

Brokers are facing a number of critical new challenges as the economy recovers and government intervention threatens the business environment, industry experts said.

A few fleets are starting to raise driver pay, as freight demand and the need for more drivers increase this spring, reversing the pattern of the past couple of years that kept wages steady or reduced them, the National Transportation Institute said.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Fuel consumption of heavy-duty trucks should improve by more than 40% to 10 miles per gallon by 2020, the CEO of Daimler Trucks North America said last week, as truck and engine makers made fuel economy a central theme at the Mid-America Trucking Show here.

It’s wise not to get too giddy, but it definitely appears things are improving for the economy — and for trucking.

PeopleNet Communications said it won a contract with Frozen Food Express Industries Inc., under which PeopleNet will replace Qualcomm Inc. as the refrigerated carrier’s mobile communications vendor.

The U.S. unemployment rate held at 9.7% in March, though payrolls increased by the most in three years, the Labor Department said Friday.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Friday issued a rule that will require carriers with serious patterns of hours-of-service violations to user electronic on-board recorders in all vehicles.