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New technologies and services are making it easier — and cheaper — for regional and local less-then-truckload freight carriers to boost productivity. But are carriers ready to embrace them?

The federal government is looking into the adequacy of truck parking facilities again, conducting a nationwide survey of truck drivers to gauge their parking needs.

In the news this morning: Rhode Island truckers protest high cost of diesel; Steep fuel prices take a bite out of truck stop business; and Minnesota truckers to help watch Interstate 35.

USFreightways Corp. and Transport Corp. of America have called off a $150 million plan to merge the companies.

Parts of the eastern United States were hammered again by escalating diesel fuel prices, led by a 15.3-cent surge in the Central Atlantic region and 13-cent increase in New England in the course of a week.

Trucking and the state of New Jersey are heading to federal court to do battle over the ban that prohibits many out-of-state trucks from running on most of the state’s secondary road system.

Ford Motor Co. has enlisted the logistics arm of United Parcel Service to oversee its delivery network, a deal the auto maker hopes will reduce by up to 40% the time it takes to deliver vehicles to dealers and customers and help it cut costs.

Put the cellular phone down when you’re driving. That’s the message some legislators in 10 states hope to deliver to all drivers, four-wheelers and big rigs alike.

Speculation that the Department of Transportation’s proposal to reform driver hours-of-service regulations may force the industry to adopt paperless logging systems presents trucking executives with an new quandary: What’s coming on market that will fill the bill?

Bring together an American trucking industry in desperate need of qualified drivers and a U.S. territory searching for ways to create jobs for its residents, and it just may be a match made in heaven.