LTL

Shippers are rethinking both long-term and short-term truckload contracting and pricing strategies as freight levels rise from spring’s recessionary lows.

Shippers looking to cut costs should examine how much digital integration they have with their less-than-truckload (LTL) partners and whether their transportation and dock operations are as efficient as possible, panelists told JOC Uncharted.

The US government’s $700 million loan to YRC Worldwide guarantees LTL stability in an uncertain economy.

The US CARES Act loan to YRC Worldwide keeps US military LTL shipments moving, and gives the US taxpayer a nearly 30 percent share in the company.

Shippers split between those growing during recession and those struggling need to focus on long-term supply-chain improvements to reduce costs, rather than short-term rate cuts.

The pandemic-inspired shift to online shopping will have lasting effects on shippers’ transportation choices, according to the CSCMP State of Logistics Report.

Payroll Protection Program loans could keep struggling small trucking companies in business, and prevent a truck capacity crunch shippers fear — if enough carriers apply for them.

The addition of Gusgo Transport to its operating subsidiaries gives TFI deeper access to international containerized freight moving between the US and Canada.

Business is slowly coming back, but safety concerns will force changes in ways carriers, shippers operate, Pitt Ohio CEO Chuck Hammel says.

Lower fuel prices are helping small trucking businesses survive the worst economy since the 1930s, according to Donald Broughton, which means shippers may find more truck capacity and less pricing pressure than expected this fall.

Shipments were down year over year in May at less-than-truckload carriers ODFL and Saia, but not by as much as in April, a sign the US industrial economy is beginning to improve.

The acquisition of FMIC from Chainalytics helps transform DAT Solutions into a broader freight intelligence business aimed at enabling shippers, brokers, and truckers to understand freight costs and pricing.

Regulators are expanding the area covered by the short-haul exemption to trucking hours of service rules, and that brings opportunities to drayage and e-commerce delivery carriers.

The new final US hours-of-service rule gives truckers more flexibility in how they use their daily hours, but shippers get a gift of capacity that could help extend their pricing power.

YRC Worldwide says a double-digit drop in freight volume will accelerate efforts to consolidate its less-than-truckload networks while keeping its individual carrier brands.

The recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has erased years of trucking employment gains, bringing payroll headcounts below 2006 levels, US data shows.

A 9 percent boost in organic last-mile revenue signals more consumers are purchasing goods, including heavy goods, at home, a trend XPO’s CEO thinks could be permanent.

A survey by two US trucking organizations reveals a shift in capacity to shorter haul lanes as the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly changes trucking markets and the mix of freight.

Trucking companies large and small are focused on getting through the next month or two, after which they hope freight volumes will begin to recover. But that recovery may be a long one.

A new international distribution center in Houston blends US trucking and containerized imports as less-than-truckload carrier Averitt reaches deeper into US consumer markets.

An American Transportation Research Institute analysis of vehicle location data across six states shows trucking activity plummeting 8 to 10 percent in April as the COVID-19 lockdown spread across the US.

Daimler and Volvo will combine efforts to develop hydrogen fuel-cell technology for heavy electric trucks to meet future emissions and shipper sustainability targets.

Job losses, damage to small business shippers, and diminished expectations for a fast restart for truck freight push pandemic recovery into 2021.

XPO Logistics CEO Bradley S. Jacobs believes the US and global economies will recover in “fits and starts” in the second half of 2020, and supply chains will become more resilient.

Detention is a problem for truckers in the best of times. It’s worse amid the pandemic as shippers handle high volumes with fewer dock and warehouse workers available.

YRC Worldwide can breathe easier as its creditors waive restrictions on EBITDA, cash payments. An activist investor, however, wants to force change at the company.

Regional carrier A. Duie Pyle is cutting wages from the top and asking for volunteers to take temporary furloughs as COVID-19 ravages freight volumes in the Northeast.

Trucking companies need plans to keep their drivers healthy, financially whole, and on the road amid the coronavirus outbreak. They need plans for when they get sick, too.

The 50 largest US trucking operators in the United States saw revenue growth throttle back considerably in 2019, but 2020 is shaping up to be even worse.

US trucking companies are preparing to brake hard once the current surge of essential freight fades. The loss of demand and capacity will complicate the eventual recovery.

Demand for essential goods and medical supplies is drawing truck capacity even as business shutdowns dry up other sources of freight, a trend that could result in displaced capacity.

Truck drivers can both drive and work beyond regulatory limits if they’re hauling essential goods during the COVID-19 pandemic, and shippers need to do whatever they can to make that easier.

Truck capacity is being tightened in drive-thru-sized bites as restaurant and rest stop closings delay drivers.

As COVID-19 response unfolds, restricted business operating hours, potential closures could complicate deliveries, solidifying a soft trucking market.

In picking former Home Depot CFO Carol Tomé as CEO, UPS puts a former customer from retail e-commerce leader in the driver’s seat.

Long-haul LTL carrier YRC Freight is expanding a next-day service offering in Texas, where its parent company previously had no regional footprint.

Truck demand and spot rates are rising as consumers stockpile goods amid the spread of the coronavirus, but truckers worry about potential loss of work due to quarantines.

Shippers with an eye on instability in US markets are considering innovative contract terms, including the use of volume guarantees and flexible rates.

Compared with the freight boom of 2018, last year was disappointing for US less-than-truckload carriers, but pricing discipline allow the largest operators to maintain — and in some cases increase — their top line revenue.

The coronavirus outbreak will amplify pricing and capacity swings in US trucking this year, and logistics experts warn that will mean a price shock for shippers.