91ÊÓƵ

Technology has given dispatchers more tools to be efficient, but it hasn’t eliminated the heart-popping stress of the job.

Dispatcher Jeff Raymond has the raw nerves of a high-wire artist with every movement focused on maintaining a balance of schedules, equipment and personnel in dealing with truckers and responding to the needs of customers.

Voicing renewed optimism in the heavy truck market, Michel Gigou, president of Mack Trucks, introduced a new, lightweight, day-cab version of the over-the-road Vision model.

The first shot in what is expected to be a rapid consolidation of Internet-based transportation companies was fired last week with a proposed merger of Logistics.com and QuoteShip.com.

The Truckload Carriers Association does not plan any more integration discussions with American Trucking Associations, according to TCA Chairman Robert Hansen.

Illinois lawmakers responded to dizzyingly high fuel prices by suspending the state’s 5% sales tax on diesel and gasoline for six months.

The Professional Truck Drivers Institute is walking slowly down the road to independence.

The discovery of the bodies of 58 Chinese immigrants who died in a truck while trying to sneak into England prompted outrage overseas and forced European officials to step up efforts to stop human smuggling.

The Idaho Department of Transportation Board voted to add nearly 30 more state highways to the list of roads that trucks pulling 53-foot trailers may travel without a special permit.

Stronger, better, longer-lasting tires could bring tax difficulties for trucking companies, according to the taxation committee chairman of an American Trucking Associations council.