91ÊÓƵ

Trailer manufacturer Wabash National Corp. said Friday it has agreed to buy the tank and trailer business of Beall Corp., a maker of aluminum tank trailers and related equipment, for $15 million.

Union Pacific Corp. said Thursday its fourth-quarter profit rose to more than $1 billion on higher chemical, automobile and intermodal shipments.

Eastern freight railroads Norfolk Southern Corp. and CSX Corp. each reported lower fourth-quarter profits from a year ago.

Canadian National Railway Co. reported a higher fourth-quarter profit from a year ago on higher freight volume.

Kansas City Southern reported a smaller fourth-quarter profit but said its revenue rose 7%, boosted by strong intermodal volume.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad will boost crude-oil shipments by 40% this year, helping to offset declines in other cargo, Bloomberg News reported.

Orders for new U.S. trailers tumbled 22.8% to 22,306 in November from the same month in 2011, when new orders hit a recent peak, but manufacturers said they remained very busy at the end of 2012.

Before adding one, two — or several hundred — trailers, a fleet manager needs to determine what equipment’s right for the application and to do it by knowing what’s out there, what’s right for an operation, and the most basic choice of all, whether to buy new or used.

Orders for new freight trailers jumped 29.1% in October from the same month in 2011, the highest monthly total since January, as the end-of-year rush appeared to arrive early, ACT Research reported. Sales totaled 23,597.