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Small fleets and independent owner-operators, expected to bear the brunt of the coming shakeout in trucking, are getting a helping hand from an unlikely source.

AB Volvo transferred some 41 million shares of its stock to Renault SA Jan. 2 as payment for 100% of the shares in the French company’s truck business.

Volvo Trucks North America no longer wants to talk about its much-advertised “Cost Per Mile” program since it was sued by Great Southern Truck Co., which claimed VTNA’s failure to honor the program’s financial commitments contributed to the Volvo dealer’s bankruptcy.

Ralph B. Ryder, a founding member of Ryder System, died of heart failure on Dec. 28 at a hospital in Coral Gables, Fla. He was 90.

With constituents shivering in the deep freeze that has gripped much of the nation, several Midwestern governors suspended hours-of-service regulations for fuel truck drivers.

Global parcel giant United Parcel Service is buying freight forwarder Fritz Cos. for $450 million in stock, the companies announced Wednesday morning.

New statistics from a Toronto researcher reveal that the life expectancy for male truck drivers is 15 years less than for the rest of the male population of the United States, and a poor diet is to blame.

In the news this morning: Cummins laying off 140 at Ind. plant; UPS said to eye Manila hub; Crude prices up slightly on gasoline stockpile ideas; and more.

Today's technology headlines: America Online, Psion in handheld email, instant message pact; ShipDesk.com goes under; 3Com exec ponders the future of wireless technology; and more.

Emery Worldwide Airlines has lost a round in court in its effort to block an possible airfreight deal between the U.S. Postal Service and FedEx when a federal court refused to issue an injunction against such an agreement.