ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø

This afternoon's headlines: UPS in China package venture with sea lines; Insulin-using truckers fight to stay behind the wheel; and Three carriers merge to form The Expediting Co.

Closing arguments have been filed in a lawsuit challenging Idaho’s weight-distance tax, which the trucking industry hopes will end some exemptions for timber and mineral carriers.

In the news this morning: Mexico halts plans to widen border highway; Covenant Transport expands staff, headquarters; and Hino Motors eyes partnership with U.S. truck maker.

Walter Sutton has been named acting deputy administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, replacing Gloria Jeff, who resigned earlier this month to rejoin the private sector.

Long-haul truck drivers would be limited by new federal rules to 12 hours of driving and monitored by electronic recorders, according to a well-placed Transportation Department source.

The national average price of diesel fuel dipped to $1.307 on Jan. 10, the first drop in three weeks, tracking a drop in crude oil prices to $24.23 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Forward Air Corp., a Greeneville, Tenn.-based carrier whose stock price has soared from $9.13 a share to $50.25 a share over the past year, has announced a 3-for-2 stock split.

Private firms kicked in $53 million toward the National Transportation Exchange's efforts to match empty long-haul trailers with shippers.

Spending on third-party logistics grew 16.5% to an estimated $46 billion in 1999, according to Armstrong & Associates, a research firm in Stoughton, Wis.

This afternoon's headlines: Hub Group launches home delivery service; New Jersey nixes overtime pay for truckers; and Cushing elected to board of Trailer Bridge.