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This afternoon's headlines: Werner Enterprises posts weaker fourth-quarter earnings; Swift Transportation posts record earnings; and American Freightways plans seven-state expansion.

In the news this morning: FedEx looks to expand into e-commerce; J.B. Hunt logistics unit creates bid system for truckers; and Volvo's order backlog rises while workers furloughed.

The leadership of the Truckload Carriers Association has recommended the group integrate with American Trucking Associations, a key tenet of the larger group’s reorganization plan.

Sales of Class 8 trucks in December pushed 1999’s retail total to 262,316 units, shattering the record of 1998 by nearly 53,000 vehicles.

The Northeast may never again have the levels of rail freight service achieved by Conrail. That assessment comes not from what Norfolk Southern and CSX representatives said during a meeting with shippers Jan. 11, but from what they refused to say.

Trucker pay will finally start to go up industrywide this year, under pressure from a pervasive driver shortage, and the money to fund those raises will come from shippers in the form of rate increases, according to five industry experts who participated in Transport Topics’ 11th annual Management Outlook Forum.

Better pay for over-the-road truck drivers leads to a better safety record, a study has concluded.

New rules targeting how many hours truckers can legally drive and what companies must do to protect their employees from workplace injuries will probably top the list of this year’s federal regulatory initiatives.

New Jersey wants to resume collection of a hazardous waste hauler fee that was struck down and then reinstated by separate court decisions.

In recent years, California truckers and environmentalists have tussled over diesel emissions in what could be the opening skirmishes of a coming national war over the health effects of truck exhaust.