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Nicole Nason, President Bush’s nominee to lead the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, pledged to make the nation’s highways and roads safer for families while tackling issues like vehicle rollovers and teenage crashes, the Associated Press reported.

Truckload carrier P.A.M. Transportation Services reported a fourth-quarter profit of $4.3 million or 41 cents a share, rising from $1.8 million or 16 cents for the same period in 2004.

U.S. wholesale inventories rose 1% in December, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

Toronto-based transportation and logistics firm Vitran Corp. said Thursday its profit rose to a fourth-quarter record $5 million or 39 cents a share, up from $4.4 million or 34 cents a year earlier.

Truck trailer maker Wabash National Corp. late Wednesday reported fourth-quarter net income of $19.7 million or 55 cents a share, up from $13 million or 39 cents for the same period a year earlier.

General Motors and Ford Motor Co. are forming partnerships with energy companies on projects that could make ethanol a more mainstream fuel, USA Today reported Thursday.

The number of workers filing initial unemployment claims rose by 4,000 last week to 277,000, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Despite a downturn in the domestic automotive industry, some segments of U.S. manufacturing are thriving, including heavy-equipment makers, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

Trucking and railroads, once bitter rivals, now find themselves working to keep up with surging freight volume by improving the flow of freight through the nation’s ports and rail terminals.

Transportation and third-party logistics firm Pacer International said its fourth-quarter net income rose 20% to $20.4 million or 54 cents a share, from $17 million or 44 cents a share in the previous fourth quarter.