UPS to Raise Rates, Test Hybrid Trucks

United Parcel Service of America Inc., the world’s top package-delivery company, said it will raise rates about 2.5% next year, the smallest increase in 11 years, helped by the lowest oil prices in more than a decade. Separately, UPS said it will test a hybrid gasoline-electric truck starting early next year as it seeks to lower automobile emissions and fuel costs. The trucks to be tested in Los Angeles, Atlanta and Johnson City, N.Y., can use half the fuel needed by conventional trucks and reduce emissions 90%. The technology used in the UPS trucks, developed by Navistar International Corp. and Lockheed Martin Corp., is also used by General Motors Corp. in a hybrid bus built for New York’s transit system. Low-emission vehicles are becoming a necessity as state and municipal officials enact stricter auto pollution regulations. UPS said its new rates for most domestic air express and ground shipments will take effect Feb. 8. The company doesn’t plan to raise rates for shipments sent to other countries from the U.S. Closely held UPS, based in Atlanta, operates in more than 200 countries and territories.