Truckload

Trucking companies increasingly are investing in trailers, replacing older equipment and rethinking their fleet size as they move to drop-and-hook strategies to maximize use of existing capacity.

Truckload capacity is being pulled to the spot market and the small to midsize carriers that rely on load boards, despite rising spot market prices, according to Scott Moscrip, founder and CEO of load-matching service Internet Truckstop.

Landstar System is preparing for a change in command next year, when James B. Gattoni, CFO since 2007 and president of Landstar since early this year, will succeed Henry H. Gerkens, CEO of the truckload operator since 2004 and for many years CFO as well.

U.S. shippers expect volume growth through their supply chains over the coming year to be less than previously forecast, but they are ready to fork over far more money to ship freight as rates for nearly all modes rise.

This year is showing “abnormally strong” growth in Class 8 truck orders, BB&T Capital Market says.

Specialized truckload operator Daseke acquired Lone Star Transportation and will add the Texas-based heavy hauler to its growing family of trucking subsidiaries.

The deployment of fleet management systems, including mobile communications and tracking systems used in trucking, will double in North America by 2018, according to a Berg Insight forecast.

Strategic acquisitions in the U.S. trucking field continue as truckload carrier Knight Transportation grabs Barr-Nunn for $112.4 million.

Truck rentals are "at an all-time high" as commercial operators seek new ways to match capacity and rising freight demand, a PacLease executive says.

American Trucking Associations Chairman Philip L. Byrd Sr. said the ATA is "bound and determined" to roll back changes to federal rules on drivers' hours of service, and to win revisions in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's Complaince Safety, Accountability program .

Average U.S truckload spot market rates slipped slightly in the week that ended Sept. 20 as the number of shipments on the market dropped 3.5 percent, DAT Solutions said. However, both rates and freight activity are “robust” when compared with a year ago.

Equipment finance activity jumped 13 percent year-over-year in August, a sign of stronger transportation and construction demand and an increase in line with other economic indicators.

Truckers and intermodal operators may be pessimistic by nature, but capacity is tight in both sectors, freight is growing faster than gross domestic product, and rates are on the rise. So it’s time for overland carriers to “stop complaining,” a transportation expert told the IANA conference.

Rail service problems are starting to hurt truckers with intermodal operations, especially those such that move refrigerated goods, a transportation analyst says.

Advances in technology and shipper demand are leading trucking companies toward the 'connected enterprise' and closer ties to customer supply chains.

Despite reports of tight truckload capacity, the number of 'active' trucking firms is rising steadily, QualifiedCarriers.com reports.

After staying flat for most of August, spot market truck rates began rising in early September, possibly en route toward a third peak in 2014 as US trucking’s peak season begins

Cargo theft is about to enter its busiest season, and motor carriers, in particular, are advised to be on guard.

Landstar System expects to post $3 billion in revenue this year as strong freight demand and tight truck capacity boost revenue by double-digit percentages in the early third quarter.

Heavy truck orders in the U.S. continued their long climb in August, rising 29 percent year-over-year as trucking operators replace aging equipment at a faster pace.

Shippers aren’t getting much of a break from high U.S. spot market truck rates.

Boyd Bros. Transportation and Interstate Distributor are the latest U.S. trucking companies to boost truck driver pay as motor carriers scramble to find drivers to move freight.

Spot market truck pricing is unseasonably high in late August, with shippers paying on average 16 cents more per mile for dry van trucks than a year ago, DAT Solutions said.

An analysis of U.S. spot market truckload rates shows truck pricing on a new trajectory since mid-2013: a line that mostly heads upward, with shallower “valleys” than in prior years.

Truck driver fatigue and the truck driver shortage aren’t just North American concerns. European trucking company Waberer’s International — one of the largest trucking operators in Europe — plans to hire 400 truck drivers and give its drivers more rest time as it expands.

North American truckload and intermodal freight rates trended higher in July, when truck tonnage rose more sharply than expected, buoyed by industrial output, imports and automotive shipping.

Strong gains in factory output, especially automotive manufacturing, helped drive U.S. truck tonnage up in July, the American Trucking Associations said. The ATA For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index rose 1.3 percent in July from June, and 3.6 percent year-over-year.

Supply chain disruptions caused by extreme winter weather set the stage for truck rate hikes that pushed transportation costs higher in the first half of 2014, and on through July.

Company by company, truck by truck, motor carrier bankruptcies threaten to sap freight capacity from an already tight truckload shipping market in the U.S. as freight demand rises.

Some large truckload carriers expanded their fleets in the second quarter, but overall capacity remains tight.

After years of talking about the need to increase chronically low pay to attract and keep more truck drivers, trucking companies are beginning to put money on the table.

In a bid to recruit and keep more truck drivers, Con-way Truckload will raise per-mile pay, increase layover pay and offer more incentives to drivers that stay behind the wheel.

Growing optimism about the strength of the U.S. economy, freight demand and their ability to raise rates has more trucking companies thinking expansion. But tight profit margins, rising operating costs and a shortage of truck drivers are likely to check potential growth.

Clean Energy Fuels is expanding its U.S. natural gas network.

Automotive demand, increasingly global in nature, is keeping Universal Truckload Services busy.

Swift Transportation, the largest U.S. truckload operator, got even bigger in the second quarter, but potential growth was restrained, the company said, by a “challenging driver market.”

Landstar’s Henry Gerkens is among those rejecting the possibility of a big drop in freight demand as the third quarter winds down.

The U.S. economic recovery may be slow, but the freight recovery is moving faster, thanks to growth in manufacturing, energy and construction.

What a difference a year — and a $300 million acquisition — can make. The acquisition of Gordon Trucking last November is powering significant growth at Heartland Express...

Spurred by stronger industrial production, consumer spending and housing activity, truckload rates rose 5.2 percent on average in June from a year ago...