Trucking News

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.

Better use of existing trucks and trailers is creating truckload capacity and reducing transportation costs, but it’s not clear how long that fresh capacity will be available, DAT principal analyst Dean Croke says.

The shift of containerized freight from the West Coast to the Gulf Coast and Southeast is absorbing truck capacity in those regions and pushing up spot rates, including rates from Houston to California.

Forwarding software provider Magaya is wading into the less-than-truckload technology market with an automated pricing tool meant to help its customers quote faster to shippers.

Fresh off a seed funding round in February, truckload pricing intelligence provider Greenscreens.ai has built connectivity with procurement technology partners FreightFriend and 3Gtms.

Freight marketplace Emerge has designs on reshaping the truckload procurement space in North America, with an ambitious target of $20 billion in freight spend through its platform this year.

Base US truckload spot rates are falling, but higher fuel costs and market volatility are limiting over-the-road savings for shippers.

XPO’s intermodal division has been sold to STG Logistics, an LCL provider that primarily transloads international cargo in Los Angeles and Long Beach and uses 53-foot intermodal containers to distribute goods across the US.

After two incredibly tight years, the availability of truckload equipment and drivers is on the rise in the US, but constraints on capacity growth remain in place.

Growing e-commerce and import-export business is pulling Northeast regional LTL carrier A. Duie Pyle south to Virginia, where it plans to open three terminals and connect to ports.

The sudden increase in fuel-related shipping costs caused by the war in Ukraine is already changing how shippers plan to move goods within the US, forcing them to consolidate shipments and even change modes.

While truckload rates off the West Coast have fallen in the last two months, analysts believe rising fuel prices will spur a rapid increase in shipper costs in the coming weeks.

Less-than-truckload provider Yellow denied liability but agreed to settle a longstanding allegation that it charged the US Department of Defense too much for certain shipments before 2013.

Insurance technology provider Loadsure plans to use an $11 million funding round to expand in the US freight market and serve forwarders managing international shipments.

The truckload and less-than-truckload markets are closer than ever, as retail demand and inventory replenishment put pressure on capacity, Knight-Swift CEO David Jackson says.

XPO Logistics is spinning off its North American truckload brokerage business and looking to sell off its intermodal group.

Combined revenues among the 25 largest US LTL trucking companies jumped more than 20 percent in 2021, and the market conditions that allowed for that record-setting revenue growth remain firmly in place in early 2022.

Double-digit increases in tonnage and volume at two of the largest less-than-truckload carriers in February reflect strong overall demand from US retail and industrial shippers.

Fifteen of the top 25 US truckload carriers grew their revenue by double-digit percentages in 2021, with their expansion fueled by acquisitions and new services.