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American Trucking Associations said it has hired Dean Ford as senior vice president for membership and marketing.

WASHINGTON — The Transportation Department has not decided whether to challenge a federal appeals court decision that delayed opening the United States’s southern border to Mexican trucks and is preparing to study the environmental consequences of allowing them, DOT officials said last week.

The Food and Drug Administration proposed new food transportation security rules covering recordkeeping and detention of shipments, rules that agricultural product haulers said could jeopardize the tight schedules they work under to deliver fresh produce.

Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta named John H. Hill to be chief safety officer and assistant administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

WASHINGTON — Sitting behind a notebook thick with hours-of-service details, acting Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator Annette M. Sandberg said the agency designed its new rules to include the latest research on driver fatigue and allow for flexibility in the highly diversified trucking industry.

The defense spending act President Bush signed last week directed that the $20 million in truck security grants Congress gave to the Transportation Security Administration in February should be used to fund the American Trucking Associations Highway Watch program.

LA QUINTA, Calif.- Leaders of the American Moving and Storage Association endorsed alternative consumer protection legislation they hope Congress will pass instead of a bill introduced March 4 that AMSA said would decimate the industry by exposing it to much greater liability for damage.

The New York City Council began to consider legislation to make sure truckers use specified routes.

LA QUINTA, Calif. - Tighter security restrictions since the 9/11 terrorist attacks have created delays, higher costs, more inspections and more cargo damage for international movers.

LA QUINTA, Calif. — Rates the U.S. military pays movers are a source of strength in an overall soft moving-and-storage market, according to people at the American Moving and Storage Association’s annual conference here.