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A new customs program looks to electronic clearances to make border crossings safe, sound and swift.

The result of the Technology and Maintenance Council’s nearly five decades of developing recommended practices covers more than 1,400 pages bound in two volumes.

Ky. Legislature Passes $3 Million Trucking Tax Break • Hoemann Named FMCSA Chief Counsel • NHTSA Will No Longer Make Deals Preventing Vehicle Recalls, Paper Says • Crude Oil Price Falls on U.S. Warm-Up, Possible War Delay • And more ....

Roadway Granted Fast-Track Border Crossing Rights • Debate Continues on UN War Resolution • Customs Service Inks Five-Year X-Ray Deal •

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said Tuesday it will maintain its current quotas for oil production, but will open the spigots to increase supply if a war in Iraq does threaten world oil markets, the Associated Press reported.

The Technology and Maintenance Council, in an effort to become more diversified, extended a membership invitation to managers of specialized and vocational truck fleets in October. Now, incoming chairman Tom Newby wants to tap TMC's growing diversity to expand the range of the recommended practices, the development of which may be the most important work the council does.

Despite an economy that expanded throughout last year, the road ahead for truckload carriers appears to be anything but smooth.

Rising Fuel Costs Seen Threatening Small Truckers • Wholesale Sales Rise in January; Inventories Decline • CF Signs Letter to Sell Canadian Subsidiary • Airlines Facing More Difficulty • And more ...

Qualcomm Preparing System to Track Untethered Trailers • Comdata Reaches Agreement with Document Company • Land Air Selects WebTech for Wireless Fleet Management • Transflo Reaches Deals with Two Carriers •

Fuel prices have reached an all-time high and every expectation is that prices will continue to increase for the foreseeable future. According to American Trucking Associations’ chief economist, Bob Costello, 1,000 motor carriers with five or more trucks are expected to fail with every 10-cent increase in diesel fuel prices.