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Shippers are asking carriers and logistics companies to handle their entire books of freight, with truckload, less-than-truckload, intermodal and parcel deliveries in the mix, transportation software makers said.

Southern California port truckers, crippled by extensive delays, intend to seek the first-ever federal hours-of-service rule waiver for the sector in a bid to free up clogged cargo at the two largest U.S. ports.

Diesel fuel’s national average retail price fell 2.2 cents to $3.733 a gallon, the 14th straight week without an increase and 25th drop in the past 30 weeks, the Department of Energy reported.

Conflicting appeals and state court and National Labor Relations Board decisions on when independent contractors should be reclassified as employees ultimately could help persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to review the controversial issue that some carriers say threatens the contractor business model.

RALEIGH, N.C. — Duane Long has run everything from an array of companies with more than 2,000 employees to a logistics firm with 40 trucks, a breadth of experience that he brings to his new role as chairman of American Trucking Associations.

Shippers can expect to pay more to secure freight-hauling capacity as truck and rail carriers raise rates to cover rising costs and to fund investments in equipment and infrastructure, according to transportation and logistics executives.

Con-way Freight workers in Laredo, Texas, have become the first workers at the less-than-truckload carrier to be represented by a union, and additional Teamsters organizing efforts are advancing at three of the carrier’s Southern California terminals.

Nearly 50 miles of Interstate 15, a critical western freight artery, was closed last week after floods severely damaged the highway north of Las Vegas, forcing thousands of truckers to take costly detours from Southern California to Montana.