Trucking News

The less-than-truckload industry is positioned to ride through a rocky soft patch in the economy and even a short recession with higher pricing, carrier executives at the SMC3 Connections conference said.

European logistics company DB Schenker will offer US shippers a more integrated package of domestic and international services by adding truckload carrier USA Truck to its Land Transport division.

Arrive Logistics is seeking to help owner-operators navigate a slowing freight market by opening opportunities to private fleets, which grew in number during the capacity-constrained pandemic period.

Long-haul LTL carrier Roadrunner is cutting transit times in 66 lanes and adding more direct routes and truck drivers as freight demand from its shippers remains strong, company executives say.

Freight procurement specialist Transporeon has added a freight matching component to its product suite to help brokers tender spot freight to carriers already in their network.

Despite softening spot rates in some modes, overall supply chain costs are rising, with higher interest rates putting more pressure on inventories, according to the CSCMP State of Logistics report.

C.H. Robinson Worldwide says the changing trucking market is driving up demand for automated spot pricing quotes by double-digit percentages.

P.A.M. Transportation’s purchase of Northeastern carrier Metropolitan Trucking is the latest in a string of regional acquisitions by large national companies aimed at expanding services for shippers.

US producer price indexes show overall transportation costs and total trucking costs moved higher still in May, and S&P Global expects the trend to continue.

A drayage technology provider in the ports of LA and Long Beach that has prioritized dual transactions for its driver network said it is seeing a majority of moves in 2022 involve coordinated empty container drop-offs and laden import pickups.

Pall-Ex Group, a franchise network of more than 700 truckers hauling palletized freight across Europe, wants to set up shop in the US and is looking for a beachhead in the LTL market.

US spot truckload rates are showing signs of stabilizing after recent declines, but analysts are uncertain how the market will play out as retailers determine their appropriate mix and level of inventories.

Acquisitions are a tool with which profitable large carriers such as Schneider National and Heartland Express are expanding their footprints and their portfolio of services, despite market headwinds.

The cooling of trucking’s transactional spot market signals a “realignment,” not a contraction, as shippers cement contractual agreements and freight demand rises, albeit more slowly.

The addition of 22,500 trucking employees in May after a 14,900-gain in real jobs in April reveals a trucking sector confident in continuing freight demand as markets realign in 2022.

The acquisition of Smith Transport by Heartland Express points to continued strong freight demand as the shipping market seeks a new balance between contract and spot freight.

Expanded use of trailer pools will help ‘consolidate truckload services’ and speed goods more efficiently, but first trucking companies, brokers, and shippers need more trailers.

Drayage technology rollup Envase has added GeoStamp, a GPS-based port and drayage visibility and analytics provider, to its roster of tools for port carriers and intermodal providers.

An unexpectedly large drop in spot market capacity last week during the annual “Roadcheck” program pushed dry-van and refrigerated spot rates up for the first time since January, according to DAT.

US Labor Department data that includes contract rates shows no drop in overall truck pricing in April, despite a truckload spot market rate plunge.

Technology provider Draying.io wants to use its experience in developing a transportation management tool for carriers to help shippers automate the sourcing and pricing of port moves.

For some US retailers, inventories are too high, but others are steadily building stockpiles to mitigate supply chain risks ahead of the year-end holidays, keeping freight demand high.

Increases in industrial production and retail sales in April suggest continuing strength in overall freight demand, despite tumbling truckload spot rates.

US truck driver detention continues to disrupt landside supply chains, but 3PLs and technology firms are redoubling efforts to help shippers optimize the flow of trucks through their gates.

The debate over whether a freight recession is starting in US trucking is getting hotter as spot rates decline but other demand and pricing indicators stay positive.

Amazon Freight has created its first direct integration with a transportation management system provider, piping its capacity of 40,000 owned trailers and third-party drivers to MercuryGate’s base of shipper users.

Demand for LTL capacity is rising even faster than carriers can add terminals and doors, pushing rates higher still.

Truckload spot rates out of California have fallen for five straight months, but some believe demand will rebound as the COVID outbreak in China subsides and front-loaded cargo ordered to beat potential labor disruption on the West Coast hits the ports.

Forward Air is acquiring a Seattle-based drayage company as part of its strategy to direct more transloaded international container freight to its expedited LTL network.

For-hire trucking employment soared past seasonal expectations in April, underscoring strong demand despite declining spot market pricing.

Shipper demand for more integrated port-to-door logistics is driving development of new, denser distribution networks, with facilities popping up in previously overlooked locations, Ryder System said.

More than 40 percent of drivers at small truckload carriers surveyed by technology provider SmartHop have entered the industry over the past two years, but many are considering moving to larger carriers for stability.

Knight-Swift now gets 13 percent of its revenue from its regional less-than-truckload subsidiaries, as it adds terminals and expands from a “super-regional” to a national footprint.

US shippers’ need for truck capacity guarantees in a volatile market is pushing more freight away from the spot market to contract carriers, especially the largest fleets such as Knight-Swift.

Venture capital investors have plunged $410 million into Convoy, as one of the more notable digitally native freight brokers seeks to expand its reach to small truckload carriers and large shippers.

Carrier executives say US transportation markets are stabilizing, with spot rates falling as freight shifts to contract carriers, but new approaches to contracting and planning are needed to control costs.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services said there is more intermodal demand than available capacity, and it downplayed the likelihood of an imminent freight recession.

Recent gains in manufacturing activity, including consumer goods production, suggest continued expansion of US freight demand while dampening worries about retail spending.

Trucking revenue broke records in 2021, riding on a wave of mergers and acquisitions as well as swelling rates and unrelenting demand, and analysts forecast that 2022 will continue the positive trend.

Truckload spot rates have cooled considerably in the last 45 days, but a larger freight recession may not be on the horizon given demand remains strong in other modes of commercial transportation.