Trucking News

As shippers race to get goods from Mexico and Canada into the US before full implementation of 25% tariffs Wednesday, they’re beginning to rethink supply chains.

Both volumes and rates in the flatbed sector of the truckload spot market are rising as importers rush industrial products through US ports and across the border.

Excess capacity and waning US import demand caused in part by tariff uncertainty could put further downward pressure on drayage pricing in the second quarter.

The port authority on Wednesday completed an expansion of Inland Port Greer ahead of the opening of the near-dock Navy Base Intermodal Facility (NBIF) at the Port of Charleston later this year.

In a move to better utilize its leased pool of trailers, Uber Freight has partnered with software vendor Optimal Dynamics to bundle loads for drivers across 10 trailer pool locations.

Acquisitions continue in the domestic freight market, with Descartes buying 3GTMS to continue a decade-long spree of purchases.

While there is no strong demand trigger for LTL freight on the horizon, providers continue to add terminals and lanes to growing networks.

Groups representing transportation providers, retailers and manufacturers are calling for Congress to create a cargo theft task force blending the resources of multiple agencies as cargo crime spreads.

A revision to monthly employment data shows a smaller pool of employees at for-hire trucking companies and a potential tilt toward brokers and small carriers.

Some analysts see green shoots that could signal higher US freight demand, but those encouraging signs remain fragile in an uncertain economy.

US-bound spot truck shipments from Canada are shrinking but rates are rising, while Mexico-US spot market shipments outpace pricing, according to DAT Freight & Analytics.

The visibility market has bifurcated into standalone vendors too small to be captured by Gartner’s “Magic Quadrant” report and larger vendors whose platforms extend far beyond what the report evaluates.

Spot rates soared as the deadline for US tariffs approached this week, and now many shipments are stranded in transit, according to logistics providers.

Truckload spot shipments and pricing in trade corridors such as Toronto-to-Chicago have soared since the US election, but the increases flow in both directions.

Acquisition activity in the truckload space continues, with price benchmarking vendor Greenscreens.ai the latest to sell.

A drop in consumer confidence, spurred by higher inflation and tariff fears, makes a significant increase in freight demand and truck rates less likely until late in 2025.

Supply chain security technology provider Overhaul forecasts another big year for cargo theft in 2025, although not as big as a 49% year-over-year increase in 2024.

Dayton Freight Lines and A. Duie Pyle are partnering to provide next-day service from the East Coast to all parts of Ohio as shippers demand more speed.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will accept additional comments on a proposed rule that would require brokers to make transactional data available to carriers.

The Journal of Commerce Truckload Capacity Index hit a 10-year low in the fourth quarter, but its rate of decline has slowed considerably as truckload pricing begins to rise from its bottom.

A 5.8% jump in the less-than-truckload producer price index in January accompanied growth in US manufacturing orders and output.

project44 is the latest established software provider to release a suite of artificial intelligence agents amid a torrent of startups building tools for logistics providers and shippers.

While trucking companies and intermodal carriers believe contract rates will rise this summer, shippers are skeptical given past predictions that have fallen by the wayside.

A slow shift away from one-way truckload toward dedicated is reshaping the top tier of truckload carriers, a transformation that may accelerate in a freight recovery.

The largest US freight broker expects the first quarter of 2025 to be weak for trucking as the freight recession remains in place, but it is converting more customers to use its services for ocean freight.

New freight classifications that will take effect this summer could raise costs for less-than-truckload shippers that don’t begin working with carriers now, speakers at the SMC3 conference said.

Speakers at SMC3’s Jump Start 25 conference see advance signals of better demand growth for freight in 2025, but the pace and extent of that growth are still uncertain.

The former Wisconsin congressman and Fox Business host was confirmed by a 77-22 vote on Tuesday.

Changes in supply chains, rising manufacturing demand and even the collapse of Yellow have more LTL trucking firms looking for business on the US-Mexico border.

A “pivot” from LTL acquisitions and terminal openings may signal greater belt-tightening by trucking companies in a continuing soft market.

The announcement comes less than a month after FedEx said it would spin off FedEx Freight, which would be the largest standalone LTL provider in North America by revenue.

With plenty of truck capacity still available, US shippers are trying to tamp down rising truck rates without driving off their current truckload carriers.

A handful of companies unveiled new products in the last week intended to enable decision-making based off the visibility data they provide.

The US producer price index shows LTL pricing has been flat since September, but carriers continue to push for annualized increases in service contracts.

Shipper-paid spot truck pricing from major US ports rose faster than the average US rate in late 2024 as importers prepared for a potential longshore strike.

The lack of sustained underlying freight demand is keeping contract truckload rates close to flat, analysts and shippers say, despite a late-year seasonal gain in spot rates.

The acquisition is part of a surge in logistics M&A transactions aimed at simplifying access to systems and services for shippers and brokers.

Pitt Ohio’s acquisition of Sutton Transport is the latest in a string of acquisitions rebuilding the LTL sector from the middle out, and more regional acquisitions are expected.

More uptake of transactional pricing in the less-than-truckload market is a sign that some carriers are targeting smaller or more infrequent LTL shippers.

Shippers must weigh the merits of a single-source relationship on drayage through key ports over splitting volume among regional and national carriers, or even brokers.