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This week’s issue of Transport Topics includes some interesting news about the federal government’s new safety regime for trucking, Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010, including that the program is going to be renamed.

Detroit Diesel Corp. said it will spend $194 million to renovate its 72-year-old Redford, Mich., plant, the latest example of truck makers pouring investments into diesel engine facilities to manufacture the complicated new power plants and vertically integrate production.

The federal government’s Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 is supported by the trucking industry but needs some changes, a trucking executive testifying for American Trucking Associations told a congressional panel Wednesday.

About the two May 17 “rate setting” letters: It’s important for trucking companies to understand that we are the ones who set the rates.

Air pollution at the Port of Long Beach, Calif., declined in 2009 for the third consecutive year, and diesel particulate matter has fallen more than 50% since 2005, in part because of the port’s clean truck program, port officials said

President Obama’s recent announcement that he was kicking off a major effort to improve the fuel efficiency of commercial vehicles was welcome news to the trucking industry.

Reading the May 24 “Opinion” column on how hard it would be for the smaller freight brokers to exist with a higher bond, my heart goes out to them, but my sympathies run with the trucking companies that use these brokers, small or large.

American Trucking Associations, truck manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have urged the Senate to address a research and development bill on increasing fuel efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in medium- and heavy-duty trucks.

Transport Topics Online will be closed Monday for the Memorial Day holiday. Please check back on Tuesday, June 1, for the latest trucking and freight transportation news.

Clearly, apprehension over the potential ramifications of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s new truck safety ratings program is growing as we move closer to full implementation of the plan.