TTNews.com
Trucking News Throughout the Day.

• Trucking Faced Economic, Regulatory Challenges
  Trucking faced challenges on all fronts in 2007 as credit woes curtailed economic activity, a federal appeals court overturned key provisions of rules governing driver hours and truck equipment suppliers endured another precipitous - but not unexpected - sales slump
• November Truck Sales Fall 54.3%
  Class 8 truck sales in the United States continued to scrape along the bottom in November, with original equipment manufacturers selling 10,309 vehicles - down 54.3% from the 22,539 they sold a year ago.
• YRC Gains Labor Flexibility
  On the heels of YRC Worldwide's settlement with the Teamsters union on a new five-year labor contract with in-creased work-rule flexibility, ABF Freight System said it will offer an ambitious proposal to spend about $825 million to "withdraw from all of the 27 multi-employer pension plans to which we contribute."
• FMCSA Keeps HOS Rule Intact
  WASHINGTON - The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, in a long-awaited response to a ruling striking down key portions of its driver hours-of-service regulation, said it would continue allowing drivers 11 hours behind the wheel daily and letting them reset the weekly limit after a 34-hour break.
• Trailer Registrations Down 24.7%
  Truck trailer sales and production continued to lag through the third quarter, with U.S. registrations of new units down 24.7%, year-over-year, and the decline of industrywide production levels accelerating.
• Truck Fatality Rate Falls in '06
  The number of people killed in large-truck crashes for every mile driven and the rate of fatal crashes involving large trucks fell to all-time lows in 2006, according to a Transport Topics analysis of data from the Department of Transportation.
• Lautenberg Pans Revised HOS; Advocacy Groups Go to Court
  WASHINGTON - The chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee's panel on surface transportation called the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's revised hours-of-service rule "a sham," while advocacy groups asked a federal court to once again overturn portions of the rule.
• Diesel Average Drops 9.1¢ To $3.325
  Retail diesel posted its largest weekly decline of 2007, falling 9.1 cents to $3.325 a gallon following recent inventory gains and lower crude oil prices, the Department of Energy reported.
• ATA to Defend Owner-Operator System
  American Trucking Associations has launched a campaign to protect the trucking industry's use of independent contractors, a move officials said is needed to counter recent court decisions and an increasingly "hostile" legislative environment.
• Spot Freight Market Gains
  The spot market for truckload services showed some signs of increased activity last week as executives with a major carrier and a brokers' load-matching service said the market tightened in October and November, compared with earlier months.
• Storm Strikes Pacific Northwest
  A storm with hurricane-force winds and torrential rainfall swept across the Pacific Northwest early last week, snarling transportation in Washington and Oregon and flooding a crucial freight-carrying highway.