Truckload

Landstar System on Wednesday narrowed its fourth quarter revenue forecast to the higher end of a range after seeing strong trucking demand in October and November, the latest sign of a steadily expanding U.S. economy pushing more freight into the arms of motor carriers.

Net orders for Class 8 trucks in North America topped 40,000 units in November for the second straight month, reflecting motor carriers’ expectations for freight growth in 2015 and broader economic expansion.

The U.S. trucking industry is committing to hire 100,000 military veterans over the next two years to fight a shortage of truck drivers as the military begins to reduce the number of active service members.

Spot market dry van truck rates in the U.S. rose in the week that ended Nov. 22 and are more than 9 percent higher than in the same week a year ago, DAT Solutions said.

The value of U.S. trade with Mexico and Canada increased by $7.8 billion in September, exceeding $100 billion for the seventh straight month as manufacturing activity and freight shipping in all three North American Free Trade Agreement partners expanded.

Trailer orders in the U.S. hit an all-time high in October, exceeding the earlier mark by nearly 9 percent, FTR Associates says.

Collaboration, cooked with perspiration and flavored by imagination with a dash of desperation, is the main course being served at the National Industrial Transportation League’s annual conference and TransComp Exhibition in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Technology that could eventually link trucks in virtual “road trains” will be studied by the American Transportation Research Institute and two Department of Transportation research teams, the research arm of the American Trucking Associations announced this week.

A 15-month streak of record demand for spot market trucks carried into October, when spot market truckload volumes jumped 25 percent year-over-year, DAT Solutions said.

The British economy is expanding more quickly in 2014, putting more freight on motorways. Trucking or road transport operators in the United Kingdom, however, claim they aren’t seeing the profit margins they need to reinvest in their businesses and hire truck or lorry drivers.

Ryder System and Mansfield Clean Energy Partners are teaming up to offer natural gas vehicles and fuel to bulk carriers hauling gasoline and diesel.

A 70 percent increase in truckloads moving from Canada to the U.S. and an improving North American economy boosted Canadian truck freight volumes in October, with spot market volumes rising 21 percent year-over-year, according to TransCore Link Logistics.

As the U.S. economy gets stronger and freight demand rises, large truckload carriers are beginning to add trucks, driving the JOC Truckload Capacity Index up 1 percentage point in the third quarter.

Net orders for the Class 8 trucks that literally keep the economy in motion soared in October, underscoring growing confidence about the strength of the recovery and the outlook for 2015.

Canadian competition authorities gave a green light Wednesday to a deal that makes the biggest trucking operator in Canada — $2.9 billion TransForce — substantially bigger.

Omnitracs expanded its product line and extended its reach into the smaller motor carrier market in the U.S. by acquiring XRS. The acquisition also could help the former Qualcomm subsidiary expand overseas.

Celadon Trucking put more drivers on U.S. highways in the last quarter, and those truckers brought back more revenue and profits for the carrier.

U.S. shippers are getting their goods pilfered less but when theft does happen, the losses are more severe, according to a recently released FreightWatch International study.

Universal Truckload executive vice president and soon-to-be CEO Jeff Rogers spent years running LTL trucking companies, but don't call him an 'LTL guy.'

Universal Truckload Services looks forward to hauling more of a product close to the company’s heart — heavy trucks — and is expanding in vertical markets beyond automotive, particularly energy and retail markets.

An unnamed U.S. retailer will use Orbcomm's asset-tracking system to monitor 16,000 dry and refrigerated trailers in its private fleet.

Heartland benefited from its acquisition last year of Gordon Trucking, which coupled with strong freight demand helped boost third-quarter revenue 66 percent.

Knight Transportation is using sustainable profit to finance sustainable growth, both through acquisition and organic growth, raising driver pay and adding trucks in a tight market.

Swift Transportation's revenue rises, profit soars as freight volumes leave largest U.S. truckload carrier 'overbooked' in the third quarter, even with additional tractor-trailers.

A senior executive of XPO Logistics, one of the largest and fastest growing U.S. third-party logistics providers, says the company sees potential in driverless trucks and is closely following advancements in the technology.

Shippers moving goods to or from U.S. foreign trade zones say there are not enough bonded truckers available to handle their freight, creating delays, shippers tell JOC Inland Distribution Conference

The book is closed on a three-year cross-border trucking pilot project, but the debate over cross-border trucking with Mexico is far from finished.

A stronger, steadier North American economy is generating more intra-Canada truckload freight and cross-border shipping demand from U.S. partners and customers.

U.S. spot market truck rates were stable last week, and while freight volume dropped from the previous week, demand and pricing are still robust, DAT Solutions said.

An analysis of recent lane-by-lane trucking activity in the U.S. turns on their heads some assumptions about spot market load boards and how they’re used by carriers.

Truck capacity is tightening along the U.S.-Mexican border, forcing cross-border shippers to become more innovative, says Sonney Jones, a former shipper and now director of sales in Mexico for Transplace.

Spot market freight volumes on DAT load boards climbed 32 percent year-over-year in September, according to the DAT North American Freight Index, the 14th straight monthly increase.

U.S. shippers turned to J.B. Hunt Transport Services for capacity in the third quarter, whether moving goods on road or on rail. The carrier increased intermodal volumes 8 percent year-over-year in the quarter, despite slower train speeds and limited drayage capacity.

The nation's second-largest truckload carrier is the latest trucking company to boost driver pay significantly, as driver supply tightens in trucking's peak season.

After declining for two weeks, the DAT Solutions national average spot market rates for dry van and flatbed truckloads moved up in the first days of October, propelled by higher freight demand.

Shipper spending rose faster than shipment volume in September, according to the Cass Freight Index, as the economy cooled a degree but U.S. freight rates remained elevated and surface transportation capacity tight amid the inland peak shipping season.

Under new management, Omnitracs eyes international opportunities as global demand for fleet telematics technology grows.