91ÊÓƵ

Trucking companies in Illinois can expect beefed-up enforcement of a state law that distinguishes, for unemployment insurance purposes, employees from independent contractors.

This afternoon's headlines: Marten Transport sees higher fourth quarter net; U.S. trucking execs eye merger with Professional Transportation Group; and Trucker Buddy weighs its future.

Reform of the 65-year-old rules governing how long interstate truckers can drive has been debated for years but it wasn’t until 1999 that there was significant movement on the issue.

In the news this morning: Hoffa leads rally to revive Overnite strike; Thief with reefer swipes shipment of burger patties; and Iowa truck driver loses appeal for workers compensation.

TTNews.com will be closed Monday in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday holiday. Please check back on Tuesday, Jan. 16, for the latest trucking and freight transportation news.

On the heels of increases by dry van and truckload lines, carriers that haul refrigerated cargo are planning to raise freight rates by as much as 10% this year.

Truck manufacturers are reducing production and cutting their payrolls, even before final sales figures are in for 1999, the biggest year in history for the sale of Class 8 trucks.

Two new clean water rules from the Environmental Protection Agency are likely to have a significant effect on trucking companies’ bottom lines — one that may save money and another that could be costly

Looking back on the 20th century, we see major social and technological advances. It was the American Century, as we Americans like to say. It was also, arguably, the century of trucking.

Surface Transportation Board Chairman Linda J. Morgan has some advice for employees of the new Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration: work hard and work fast to implement the instructions given you by Congress.