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With expectations of record-shattering orders over the Internet this Christmas, package carriers may want to hire Santa and Mrs. Claus to drive trucks, and some frazzled online retailers will certainly need a team of elves if they want to fulfill orders.

Some of the nation’s biggest truckload carriers, facing rising costs for equipment, drivers, fuel and insurance, are beginning to ask shippers to pay more for freight deliveries.

New York City officials warn the trucking industry that they intend to increase enforcement of the city’s vehicle size restrictions.

Volvo AB and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. have completed an agreement to form an alliance that is expected to open new markets to both manufacturers in the United States and elsewhere around the world.

Landstar System installed G. Tom Beam as president of its Landstar Ligon subsidiary, taking the first step in what is expected to be a concerted effort by Landstar management to reverse a proposed unsatisfactory safety rating by the Department of Transportation.

The leader of the nation’s largest trucking trade association has challenged the railroad industry to engage in a “new dialogue” aimed at “assuring fast, frequent, safe freight delivery” and called for a summit early next year between the transportation modes.

The national average price of diesel fuel provided a little holiday cheer by dropping for the second consecutive week. But the fall to $1.288 a gallon prompted one analyst to warn that the oil market was in a purge-and-binge mindset.

Days after President Clinton signed legislation creating a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the head of the Department of Transportation’s watchdog office encouraged the new agency to use the tools it has to improve truck and bus safety.

A lot of ideas are circulating about the qualities that the first head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ought to possess.

Trucking executives who think there’s little they can do to prevent cargo theft should talk to Gary Fitzsimmons.