On Wednesday, autonomous trucking startup TuSimple went private after voluntarily delisting from Nasdaq following two years of stock and boardroom drama. FreightWaves’ Alan Adler writes, “TuSimple was the first autonomous trucking company to demonstrate driverless operations on an open highway. One of its trucks traveled 80 miles with no human on board from Tucson, Arizona, to Phoenix in December 2021.”

The freight recession may ease earlier than expected, according to recent comments from Morgan Stanley analyst Ravi Shanker. In a call to clients on Monday, Shanker said, “Shippers continue to remain on reorder ‘strike’ while they wait for stronger signals or more favorable conditions on macro but while destocking at the same time, which could lead to everyone wanting to restock at the same time, when the coast clears (or they run out of inventory).”

In December, a federal appeals court ruled that company team drivers’ time spent in sleeper berths after eight hours can be compensated under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The case involved a former CRST trainee who sued CRST in 2016 alleging that the team-based driver training program violated the FLSA based on the carrier’s compensation policy.

The National Transportation Institute (NTI) recently released Q4 2023 driver pay data that shows driver earnings continue to climb in spite of the freight market undergoing a correction. Drivers’ base mileage pay brackets saw a shift, with the 40-to-50-cents-per-mile pay bracket falling 5.2% year over year as fleets raised wages to attract and retain drivers. The 50-to-60-cents-per-mile bracket saw a 6.1% y/y increase.

A report released Monday by the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) examines the costs and potential impacts associated with California’s push for zero-emission vehicles. This report is a companion to a December 2022 ATRI report titled “Charging Infrastructure Challenges for the U.S. Electric Vehicle Fleet.

On Wednesday, FreightWaves hosted the Domestic Supply Chain Summit, a virtual event with RXO Chief Strategy Officer Jared Weisfeld as the keynote speaker. The interview, conducted by enterprise trucking carrier expert Thomas Wasson, included an outlook for 2024 and highlighted the biggest supply chain challenges and opportunities.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on Monday published a notice in the Federal Register that the state of Florida is seeking an exemption to the CDL testing regulation pertaining to skills testing.

On Wednesday the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) released a report that examined causes and impacts of predatory heavy-duty towing. The report defined predatory towing in which “a T&R [towing and recovery] company egregiously overcharges, illegally seizes assets, damages assets by use of improper equipment, or illegitimately withholds release of a truck, trailer, and/or cargo.”

FreightWaves’ Rachel Premack wrote an article on Wednesday outlining her experience attending a truck driver training conference in Corpus Christi, Texas, by the National Association of Publicly-Funded Truck Driving Schools (NAPFTDS). Premack sought to get more information on a fundamental disagreement in trucking that involves driver turnover and whether there is an ongoing driver shortage.

The changing freight media landscape was on full display at the F3: Future of Freight Festival last week in Chattanooga Tennessee, as influencers, salespeople, presenters and executives intermingled during and after the events.

On Thursday FreightWaves presented the FreightTech 25 awards, which were chosen independently by a panel of CEOs, industry leaders, academics and investors who scored the companies. Chattanooga, Tennessee-based accounting and auditing firm HHM administered the vote. The awards recognize the most innovative and disruptive companies in the freight technology sector.

The Convoy saga has taken another turn as venture-backed freight forwarder Flexport announced Wednesday that it has acquired Convoy’s technology stack for an undisclosed sum. This comes after Convoy, which was valued at $3.8 billion from its final funding round 18 months ago, shuttered operations on Oct. 19.

On Wednesday the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) released its latest Cost of Congestion study showing U.S. highway traffic congestion added $94.6 billion in costs to the trucking industry.

Seattle-based digital freight broker Convoy on Wednesday canceled all shipments from its marketplace and company representatives promised more details of a business transition were forthcoming. By Thursday, company employees were told in a meeting that Convoy was “closing down its core business operations.”

A Q3 shipper survey by Morgan Stanley suggests the freight industry has moved “deeper into limbo” as completion of an excess inventory purge now leads to uncertainty as there is no immediate need to restock.

FreightWaves on Tuesday interviewed Angela Acocella, postdoctoral researcher at Tilburg University and researcher with the MIT Center of Transportation and Logistics looking at the impact of ghost lanes on shipper and carrier networks.

Confusion erupted on Monday following reports that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration was looking to set a 68 mph maximum speed setting for trucks newer than the 2003 model year.

A report published Tuesday by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) must make its complaint database more transparent and publicly available.

At a Morgan Stanley investor conference Tuesday, trucking executives predicted a muted peak season after acknowledging the industry is in the midst bottom of the freight cycle while hoping for some improvement in 2024.

In an article published Tuesday, FreightWaves CEO and founder Craig Fuller made a case that the trucking industry is not consolidating anytime soon.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on Wednesday released parameters on data collection for a new study to determine the impact of detention time on drivers. The Information Collection Request (ICR) was submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval and opened the window for public comments.

On Thursday, self-driving trucking company Kodiak Robotics and Pilot Co. opened their first truckport for autonomous vehicles at the Pilot Travel Center in Villa Rica, Georgia. According to the news release, the truckport will be used by Kodiak to launch and land its autonomous trucks and serve as a hub for drivers to pick and drop off loads for first- and last-mile deliveries.

Proposed rulemaking on automatic emergency braking (AEB) introduced in June by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is getting more pushback from a coalition of state law enforcement officials and brake manufacturers that argue more dialogue is needed before moving forward.

Media outlet TMZ reported that singer-songwriter Taylor Swift gave each truck driver who worked as part of her Eras Tour a bonus check of $100,000 before her Santa Clara, California, show last Saturday.

The saga of less-than-truckload carrier Yellow may be coming to a close based on reporting that Yellow’s senior vice president of sales told staff their last day would be this Friday, and that the carrier would file for bankruptcy on Monday.

Truckload and multimodal carrier J.B. Hunt told analysts on an earnings call Tuesday that it’s still too early to tell how the 2023 peak season for freight will turn out.

The first meeting of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Truck Leasing Task Force (TLTF) discussed and drafted recommendations on Tuesday regarding limiting or eliminating the power a trucking company has over lease purchase agreements with drivers.

The freight recession’s impact on small fleets and owner-operators gained mainstream media attention on Monday with an article by Shannon Pettypiece, a senior policy reporter for NBC News. The article related the story of Arnesha Barron, a 39-year-old driver who in 2021 became an owner-operator after working at a trucking company for six years.

Negotiations between the Teamsters union and Yellow Corp. remain ongoing, with the fate of the nation’s third-largest LTL carrier hanging in the balance. Yellow is facing stiff resistance from the Teamsters over proposed operational changes that would consolidate operations between purchased regional carriers New Penn and Holland and integrate them into Yellow’s nationwide network.

Consulting firm Kearney recently released its 34th annual Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) report, “State of Logistics 2023: The Great Reset.” A major theme of the report is the great rebalancing from the carrier-dominated market of the past two years to a shipper-focused one as freight volumes fell against a backdrop of higher truckload capacity. The report notes that total U.S. logistics costs rose 19.6% in 2022 to a record $2.3 trillion or 9.1% of U.S. gross domestic product.

A proposal by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to alter and expand reporting categories for crashes is drawing criticism from the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which argues the FMCSA should take stronger action to protect driver safety records.

At the recent UBS Global Industrial and Transportation Conference, Heartland CEO Mike Gerdin and Vice President of Finance Josh Helmich highlighted freight market weakness and outlined the retention impact of their driver minimum pay program.

Using the California Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) rule, the Biden administration’s proposed Phase 3 truck rule sees the EPA potentially imposing stricter standards on carbon dioxide emissions for truck makers and buyers.

On Wednesday, FreightWaves founder and CEO Craig Fuller sat down with Zach Strickland, FreightWaves’ head of freight market intelligence, to discuss freight market conditions and expectations.

Load board fraud is gaining attention after The Wall Street Journal reported Truckstop, a leading load board provider, found reports of fraud increased 400% from Q4 2021 to Q4 2022, the highest level since 2004, when it began tracking the data. This article prompted Craig Fuller, CEO and founder of FreightWaves, to write an article on Tuesday arguing for massive load board providers to take greater responsibility for instances of fraud that take place on their platforms.

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) is holding its annual International Roadcheck next Tuesday through Thursday.

SONAR ocean container booking data suggests that the predicted freight rebound in the second half of 2023 may be increasingly unlikely. Import and ocean container booking data is typically used as a leading indicator for future truckload volumes, as containers are offloaded in ports and transferred into intermodal or truckload orders.

The demand for skilled technicians to keep shops and maintenance terminals running continues to challenge recruiters due to high demand. A major source of lost utilization for fleets on the road is getting their vehicles repaired in a timely manner. A lack of technicians continues to plague shops, creating extra downtime and work order backlogs.

Earnings season is upon us and the freight recession lingers worse than salmonella-carrying potato salad at a tailgate party. Wisconsin-based truckload carrier Martin Transport reported its Q1 2023 earnings Tuesday. While operating revenue improved 3.7% from $287.3 million in Q1 2022 to $298 million this year, the actual operating income declined from $35.9 million to $29 million.

Trucking safety advocates are at odds with corporate-backed attempts at implementing a roadside safety exemption for autonomous trucks. For those unaware, current regulations require drivers to use three emergency reflective triangles, or at least six fusees or three liquid-burning road flares, if they stop on the road for reasons other than traffic.

It has been just over a year since Craig Fuller, CEO and founder of FreightWaves, wrote an article titled “Why I believe a freight recession is imminent,” published March 31, 2022, in which he predicted the U.S. trucking market was heading toward a significant downturn.

Rachel Premack, editorial director at FreightWaves, was interviewed Tuesday about her article on the impact of the ELD mandate five years later.

Last month, CloudTrucks surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults about general perceptions of truck drivers and if they have heard of the truck parking shortage. The results, published in CloudTrucks’ 2023 Truck Parking Shortage Survey, highlight that while Americans generally have a positive view of truck drivers, most respondents didn’t know that the parking shortage had a major impact on their quality of life.

A plan to allow 18-to-20-year-old truck drivers to haul interstate cargo got a sharp rebuttal at the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) conference by Knight-Swift President and CEO David Jackson. The plan was conceived as a way to address the driver shortage and is strongly supported by the Biden administration and the American Trucking Associations (ATA).

Falling spot rates, falling contract rates and falling revenues create rising stress and blood pressure in truckload operations teams.

On Tuesday, FreightWaves Research released survey data suggesting declining freight conditions are impacting owner-operators especially hard. An important takeaway is the potential for many more owner-operators to leave the industry if conditions do not improve.

On Thursday, according to a news release, BP Products North America Inc., a subsidiary of BP, reached an agreement to purchase TravelCenters of America for $1.3 billion in cash. The purchase of TA is expected to add around 280 travel centers and double BP’s global convenience gross margin.

FreightWaves’ Noi Mahoney reports that, according to CargoNet data, a surge in cargo thefts near the end of 2022 led to an estimated $223 million in goods being stolen across Canada and the U.S. 

Christopher Thornycroft, executive vice president at Redwood, joined us to talk about the Lunar New Year and what it means for freight demand. For those unaware, the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday began Jan. 22 and typically lasts two weeks. This year, it will end with the Lantern Festival on Sunday.

A report published Wednesday by Morgan Stanley Research highlights demand expectations and how carriers and brokers are hungry for freight.

Josh Smith, vice president at Variant and over-the-road operations at U.S. Xpress, spoke to FreightWaves about the Variant program and how technology and operations are vital to success in trucking.

On Tuesday, FreightWaves interviewed Werner Chief Information Officer Daragh Mahon about the company’s recent partnership with Samsara, diving into how AI and updated legacy systems are transforming Werner’s 8,500-truck fleet. 

A Republican-backed bill introduced by U.S. Rep Brian Mast, R-Fla., seeks to exempt underage truck drivers from rules that prohibit them from hauling containers to and from marine terminals.

Wabash and J.B. Hunt Transport have signed a multiyear deal that will supply J.B. Hunt with 15,000 trailers. The size and scope of the pact are significant, as the past two years saw pandemic-related supply chain disruptions throttle up new trailer orders, causing the average age of existing trailers to rise.

On Tuesday, FreightWaves interviewed Josh Bouk, president of Trax Technologies, about the recent Securities and Exchange Commission rule-making recommendation back in March 2022 regarding scope 3 emissions. Scope 3 is a part of a larger greenhouse gas emissions overhaul by the SEC, the intent being for companies to disclose their impact on the environment.

Bob Biesterfeld, president and CEO of C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc., stepped down Tuesday. FreightWaves’ Mark Solomon wrote that according to a person familiar with the matter, this departure had been planned months in advance and mostly was a matter of timing. 

Persistently higher inventory levels are causing a drag on truckload tender volumes as 2023 begins. 2019 and 2018 SONAR data indicates we may approach levels of pre-pandemic seasonality, but higher truckload capacity will continue to negatively impact rates until enough truckload supply leaves the market.

Outbound tender rejection rates, a measure of the percentage of truckload shipments tendered to carriers by shippers, have reached a record at 5.05%. For trucking, this will be a cause of mostly stress instead of celebration. 

Uber Freight recently released a report on contracted rates. Its consensus is that contract rates are indeed falling, but like a game of contracted musical chairs, we still do not know when the music will stop. 

Atoke, a town of 3,000 people nestled in the Choctaw reservation in southeast Oklahoma, used to be home to herds of buffalo and bison (there is in fact a difference). Now this reservation, a hidden 11,000-square-mile parcel of land, has become one of the largest drone delivery testing sites in the world, according to FreightWaves’ Jack Daleo. 

One of the most interesting takeaways in the chart above details how traditional freight brokerages that have built and marketed their own apps have taken the lead in downloads over third-party load boards.

urricane season can frequently — and unexpectedly — change the trucking dynamic. Part of this involves the positioning of equipment in anticipation for hauling FEMA freight.

Inbound container volumes into the U.S. bode poorly for future trucking volumes. Trucking is the critical node for transporting goods, handling over 70% of freight in the U.S. at a given time.

The American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index increased 2.8% in August after a disappointing 1.5% drop in July. The ATA data primarily relates to contracted freight tonnage volumes and is a useful indicator of shipping activity.

The outlook for trucking companies buying new or used Class 8 trucks can best be described like a 2005 Facebook relationship status — “It’s complicated.” 

FreightWaves, in partnership with MerQube, an index provider, on Tuesday released a supply chain tech index. This index is composed of companies identified by FreightWaves and MerQube as supply chain tech companies and traded on developed market exchanges.

U.S. Xpress is going through a reorganization following a recent round of layoffs. The technology-driven Variant program will be merged into a larger Highway Services group, which will include the legacy over-the-road business and the USX freight brokerage.

Driver training schools are seeing an influx of those interested in joining the trucking industry. 

For many over-the-road drivers, a major source of their meals can come from C-store locations built into truck stops like Love’s, Flying J and Pilot.

A former dispatcher outlines his career path in the wild world of trucking. The only certainty is just how chaotic trucking can get.

The trucking business is often cyclical, and understanding the changes in profitability is a great barometer for the general macroeconomic outlook.

On Monday, the Iowa-based truckload carrier acquired several assets from the Contract Freighters Inc. (CFI) portfolio

FreightTech 100 nominations end soon It’s the second most wonderful time of the year behind college football returning. If you or someone you know is innovating or disrupting the freight […]

Rail service levels are impacting trucking intermodal growth plans. At a Deutsche Bank transportation conference on Tuesday, J.B. Hunt noted that intermodal demand remained strong but poor rail service appears to be creating a bottleneck. 

Trailer pools as a hedge against contract rate declines, Electric truck infrastructure — breakthroughs versus misconceptions

ATRI: Costliest year ever in trucking On Wednesday, the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) released its annual report on the operational costs of trucking. The report, which has been published […]

Legal battle over trucking independent contractors The trucking owner-operator business model is getting more legal challenges. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court decision in May […]

Trailer pool services are gaining adoption. Wabash, a major manufacturer of equipment, recently announced a partnership with Phoenix-based freight brokerage FreightVana to supply the company with its trailer-as-a-service (TaaS) platform.

FreightWaves recently conducted a survey of owner-operators outlining business issues and outlooks on profitability in 2022 compared to the previous year.

A common theme during the downward swing in the cyclical freight market cycle is the movement of owner-operators in and out of large fleets.

The Port of Oakland in California is experiencing a work stoppage and limited access to the container terminals as truckers escalate their protests against the state’s AB5 law.

New rules proposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding disclosure of climate-related risks and greenhouse gas emissions could greatly impact the trucking industry.

The protests stem from the potential impact the AB5 law will have on the over 70,000 owner-operators who operate in California.

Loaded and Rolling: Holiday impact on trucking; CA AB5 law goes into effect; Inflation headwinds batter consumer spending in May

There are a few key factors to consider when looking to book spot market freight, according to my seven years as a freight broker.

J.B. Hunt showcases its tech-enabled multimodal marketplace to streamline efficiency

TransForce showcases digital recruiting platform, matching drivers and carriers through technology

Emerge, a tech startup based in Scottsdale, Arizona, is showcasing its AI-powered, dynamic Freight Procurement platform as part of its seven-minute live demo during The Future of Supply Chain event in Northwest Arkansas.

Drivewyze, a leader in connected truck services and operator of the largest public-private weigh station bypass network in North America, is showcasing its Safety+ safety suite during a seven-minute live demonstration.

Network Transport completes its move into a new, larger company headquarters as part of its expansion strategy, which adds 100 jobs over the next 12 months.

In today’s episode, we talk about the challenges of tracking freight, and how we can change telephone calls into telematics updates. Our special guest is Ryan Rogers, CEO of freight location tracking startup TextLocate.

For many large carriers, communication is automated, but those fleets are in the top 1% of all registered carriers. For the rest of trucking, tracking still involves a phone call. In this episode, we look at ways to make tracking methods transparent and available to all.

Is it possible to make this simpler?

Sandeep Kar, chief strategy officer at Noregon Systems, joins FreightWaves’ Global Supply Chain Week to talk about major changes and challenges facing the automotive industry.

MIT’s David Correll and aifleet’s Marc El Khoury join Thomas Wasson on this episode of Loaded and Rolling to talk about the much-touted driver shortage.

Driver as a service: J.B. Hunt becomes Waymo’s first self-driving freight customer, Commentary: The dangers of dwell, Market update: Outbound tender rejections decline amid rising spot rates

Supreme Court blocks COVID vaccine mandate for large businesses On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision that blocked enforcement for vaccine or testing requirements for large private […]

FreightWaves’ Top 500 Largest For-Hire Carriers list FreightWaves just released the inaugural Top 500 list of the largest for-hire trucking fleets in the U.S. The ranking is based on tractor […]

Driver recruiting challenges, pay and demographics trends Driver recruiting remains a key challenge heading into 2022 due to pandemic, demographic and economic trends. Pay and wages remain a central theme […]

Cybersecurity and large fleets: Risks of cyberattacks on the rise Cybersecurity is becoming a major topic in trucking due to recent publicized ransomware attacks against motor carriers. Ransomware is a […]

Struggling for capacity: A briefing on fleet availability The holiday season in trucking traditionally sees lower driver activity due to the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. The driver’s home time […]

Trucking trends of 2021: Buying growth, expanding capabilities It’s the end of the year and for the trucking industry, disruption, record profits and new opportunities are all major themes to […]