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Truck tonnage rose 7.8% in May compared with the same month last year, according to American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted for-hire Truck Tonnage Index. The index was up 0.7% in May compared with April.

A surge in demand is coming for diesel and related fuels as shipping companies close in on a deadline to reduce sulfur emissions.

The U.S. trucking industry is continuing to adjust to the federal electronic logging device mandate that took effect late last year.

The rise in freight being carried nationwide led to a rise in truck driver turnover in the first quarter as large trucking firms demanded more qualified drivers to transport goods.

KLLM Transport Services will institute another pay hike for company drivers, bringing the increase to 30% in just the past eight months, the Jackson, Miss.-based over-the road carrier announced.

In a small side room at Washington’s Union Station, this year’s Infrastructure Week kicked off with a keynote address from Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. She again pointed to the private sector and state and municipal officials as being the key drivers on infrastructure funding. Before the secretary’s address, Austin, Texas, Mayor Steve Adler had offered the infrastructure intelligentsia in attendance a different message. A look at the week ahead for trucking on Capitol Hill.

XPO Logistics this year plans to spend more than $90 million to purchase 770 new tractors for its less-than-truckload network in North America.

Tim Sylvester, CEO of Kansas City, Mo.-based Integrated Roadways, thinks his startup company’s “smart pavement” — bristling with sensors and the latest fiber-optic and wireless technology — could be a lifesaver in mishaps.

State officials figure the Volkswagen diesel emissions testing scandal added an extra 10,000 tons of noxious nitrogen oxide to California’s air. To make up for it, the state will use $423 million of Volkswagen penalty money to cut the same amount of nitrogen oxide by subsidizing the purchase of zero-emission trucks, buses and other vehicles.

Used truck sales in April reached 22,900, up 9% from 21,000 in the same month in 2017, according to ACT Research Co.’s industrywide estimate.