ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø

Ryder System said it will combine its two primary businesses — Ryder Transportation Services and Ryder Integrated Logistics — and create a separate captive finance subsidiary in an effort to improve client service and enhance the company’s long-term growth.

As if rising diesel fuel prices haven’t put enough of a dent in trucking’s pocketbooks in recent months, the industry can now look forward to potentially skyrocketing costs for insurance needed to maintain operations as the new year begins.

Congress has vacated Washington for the year, leaving behind a slew of legislation for President Clinton to review and sign after his return from the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle. If trucking has its way, tops on the president’s to-do list would be signing legislation creating the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

At a time when transportation trade groups are struggling to retain membership, the Transportation Intermediaries Association is undergoing a growth spurt.

The Environmental Protection Agency is creating a Web site on testing programs related to emissions from mobile sources.

With customer satisfaction at an all-time high following an internal reorganization of Yellow Freight System, the less-than-truckload carrier’s parent corporation plans to continue improving its operations and use of technology while examining cost-cutting measures at its other trucking affiliates.

Trailer shipments in the first nine months of 1999 were down from last year, but still strong enough to be on track to make this year the second biggest in the industry’s history.

The price of crude oil has more than doubled this year to $27 a barrel, but the rise has not cooled off the hot U.S. economy, which is headed toward record growth.

The U.S. Capitol’s first intermodal Christmas tree landed in Washington Nov. 29, after wending its way more than 3,000 miles, via two truck trips, a tour across the state of Wisconsin, and a journey over the rails.

Gloria J. Jeff will leave her position as deputy administrator of the Federal Highway Administration on Jan. 3 to join an engineering firm.