Truck tonnage gains premature: ATA

ARLINGTON, Va. -- A boost in U.S. truck tonnage from the first two months of the year were erased in March as the American Trucking Associations' For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index fell 4.5 percent in March -- the first month-to-month decrease of 2009.

Paccar bottom line plummets in 1Q

BELLEVUE, Wash. -- Commercial truck maker Paccar says its first-quarter profit plummeted 91 percent.

ArvinMeritor opens new Ontario Mascot parts plant

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. -- When a door closes in Canada, another opens for ArvinMeritor.

BC International truck dealer unites franchises

VANCOUVER-- Co-Van International Trucks is changing its name to Harbour International Trucks and will unite three companies Co-Van, Cascadia, and Westlang into one cohesive group.

Chrysler to shut down all plants as part of restructuring

TORONTO -- Southern Ontario truckers hauling car and truck parts to Chrysler will have to look for freight elsewhere -- at least for the next couple of months.

Modest uptick in equipment interest: survey

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- More fleets plan on buying new equipment than they did earlier in the year, market research firm CK Commercial Vehicle Research reports.

Trailer maker makes layoffs permanent

LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Wabash National announced that the 790 plant workers it previously laid off will not be coming back to work anytime soon.

Nova Scotia infrastructure gets federal boost

HALIFAX -- The federal government has pledged a little more than $200 million in infrastructure projects in Nova Scotia, a good chunk of which will help improve the highway system.

Customers get a say in Navistar engineering

WARRENVILLE, Ill. -- Navistar is looking to customize the consumer experience and has formed a special engineering division to analyze customer suggestions.

April truck sales dip again

NASHVILLE, Ind. -- Preliminary data released by FTR Associates shows Class 8 total net orders for all major North American OEMs are down 9 percent in April 2009 from the month before, totaling 7,935 units.

ZF, Continental form hybrid truck drive alliance

BERLIN, Ger. -- ZF and Continental AG have finalized a strategic alliance to develop and produce hybrid drives for commercial vehicles.

Continental teams up with euro firm for NA retread deal

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Continental's new ContiTread, a retread product manufactured by Marangoni with the same rubber compounding, will be available in the U.S. and Canada for fleet customers through current Continental and MTNA dealers.

Import drop outpaces export declines

OTTAWA -- Depressed volumes is being blamed for more Canadian merchandise imports and exports declines in March.

Freightliner delivers M2 hybrid to propane hauler

MORENCI, Mich. -- Freightliner Trucks has built a delivery truck for a Midwest propane distributor using Eaton Corporation's diesel-electric hybrid drive system. It is the first application of the parallel electric hybrid system to a hazardous material delivery application, Freightliner claimed.

Trailer makers feeling worst of recession

NASHVILLE, Ind. -- Freight demand is so weak in North America that the trucking industry as a whole probably "doesn't need any new trailers at all."