Knight Reports Lower 2Q Earnings

Truckload carrier Knight Transportation’s second-quarter profit fell to $12.7 million, or 15 cents a share, from $18.2 million, or 21 cents, a year ago.

Volvo’s Earnings Improve; Truck Orders Drop

Volvo AB said Wednesday its second-quarter earnings jumped 28%, as rising sales in Europe overcame a downturn in North America, Bloomberg reported.

Hurricane Dolly Bypasses Gulf Oil Rigs

Hurricane Dolly made landfall on the South Texas coast Wednesday as a Category 2 hurricane, but the storm bypassed most major oil installations in the Gulf of Mexico, news services reported.

House OKs Additional Highway Funding

The House approved a bill by a lopsided margin Wednesday that would restore $8 billion to the federal Highway Trust Fund to avert an expected revenue shortfall in the coming fiscal year.

Paccar Sets Executive Promotions

Truck maker Paccar Inc. said that the company’s president, Tom Plimpton, will become vice chairman, and that Jim Cardillo will become its president, effective Sept. 1.

Fed ‘Beige Book’ Cites Difficult Economy

U.S. economic activity remained generally weak in June and early July, and several regions reported trucking companies were having a hard time recouping higher costs, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday.

For-Hire Carriers Endured a Painful Year, But Certain Niches Thrived, TT 100 Shows

It has been a year of retrenchment for most, but not all, of the largest for-hire carriers in the United States and Canada, as fleets scramble to cope with record fuel prices and weak freight demand.

June Truck Sales Rise 9.5%

Heavy-duty U.S. retail truck sales grew by 9.5% in June, compared with year-ago levels, and ended a streak of 17 consecutive months of contraction, according to the latest survey by WardsAuto.com.

Smaller Fleets Seeking Buyers as Strategy to Avoid Bankruptcy

Behind this year’s surge in trucking company failures, brought on largely by the double-whammy of slow freight and skyrocketing fuel prices, is another ominous trend: a sharp increase in the number of motor carriers asking larger competitors to buy them out.

Diesel Rises 3.7¢ to Record $4.764; Crude Drops

The U.S. retail diesel average rose 3.7 cents last week to another record, $4.764 a gallon, the Department of Energy reported, while the price of crude oil posted its largest single-day drop in 17 years on July 15.