Safety

Ryder System’s fourth-quarter profit rose 12% to $65.8 million or $1.08 cents a share, from $58.8 million or 92 cents a year earlier.

Patriot Transportation Holding reported net income of $2.2 million or 69 cents a share for its fiscal first quarter, up from $1.9 million or 62 cents a year earlier.

Big thunderstorms and tornadoes blew through central Florida Friday, killing as many as 19 people and causing accidents on interstates, including one that tossed a tractor-trailer airborne, news reports said.

Less-than-truckload carrier Saia Inc. said Thursday it has acquired Wisconsin-based LTL company Madison Freight Systems for about $2.5 million.

The Institute for Supply Management’s January manufacturing index showed a contraction, as factories reined in orders to trim inventories, ISM said Thursday.

Truckload carrier Landstar System’s fourth-quarter net income fell to $28.7 million or 50 cents a share, from $41.8 million or 70 cents a year earlier.

TSA Awards TWIC Contract to Lockheed Martin • Canada Passes Border Security Bill • Railroads to Get More Safety Scrutiny • EU Customs Chief Criticizes Cargo-Screening Measure

Hino Motors Ltd., Japan’s largest maker of heavy-duty trucks, saw its fiscal third-quarter profit drop 45% as the company spent more to develop new models and expand production, Bloomberg reported.

Click here to write a Letter to the Editor.WASHINGTON — Shippers would like to see a switch to larger trucks, and U.S. safety inspectors monitoring size-and-weight rules could have more technology at their disposal in the coming years, according to a Transportation Research Board panel discussion here.

The Surface Transportation Board ruled that freight railroads not calculate their fuel surcharges as a percentage of their base rates.