Trucking News

Alabama-based truckload carrier AMX is raising driver pay, but wants to do so in a way that will allow the carrier to maintain increased wages when demand – and rates – recede.

US trucking companies reversed a three-month decline in jobs in March, but they haven’t escaped the employment crater created by the COVID-19 pandemic and recession.

US trucking companies already running at full capacity will soon be receiving even more freight as manufacturing activity expands.

The JOC Truckload Capacity Index rose 2.1 percentage points in the fourth quarter, as some of the largest US truckload carriers expanded dedicated business or replaced older rigs.

Truck driver pay is improving, and that may be keeping more drivers behind the wheel, rather than jumping from job to job.

San Francisco-based Baton, the developer of a software-based drop-zone model linking truckload with final-mile in Los Angeles, has landed a $10.5 million funding round to expand the concept into other North American cities.

Rapid e-commerce delivery requirements, as well as capacity shortages and equipment imbalances, are spurring the growth of transloading near US seaports, speakers at TPM21 said.

A veteran of freight broker GlobalTranz has landed an $8 million funding round to enhance a multi-carrier marketplace and transportation management system for less-than-truckload shippers.

The Commerce Department will push ahead with an anti-dumping duty on Chinese-built marine chassis, which would raise prices on equipment at a time when there are dislocations and shortages in several US ports and rail hubs.

A partnership between TMS provider SupplyStack and visibility company project44 is emblematic of a growing need for European shippers to embed visibility into their shipment management workflow.

Shippers and customers are turning to tracking tools to understand where parcels are in networks and when they will be delivered as e-commerce parcel volumes grow.

Tight truck capacity is a prime reason for the growth of dedicated trucking, but not the only one. Shippers are using dedicated as a tool to influence customers and reshape supply chains.

As the market careened downhill in the first half of 2020, many of the largest truckload carriers began reducing their fleets, and many did not begin adding trucks when demand returned and capacity tightened.

Modal-switching technology tested by MIT and broker GlobalTranz is showing that shippers can save costs by grouping less-than-truckload linehaul freight to multi-stop truckloads.

Although the less-than-truckload sector is experiencing unprecedented growth thanks to changes in the e-commerce supply chain, it is still operating with the shackles of decades past and has largely been shielded from new entrants.

Visibility into inventory levels is helping retailers to better position stocks closer to customers while providing more last-mile delivery options.

The rise of e-commerce is leading to growing competition for long-haul truck drivers from local and short-haul businesses, according to a study from Coyote Logistics and Emsi.

Shippers are adding regional, local, and crowd-sourced carriers to the mix of last-mile providers to mitigate costs and delays, TPM21 panelists said.

US freight demand is “through the roof” after supply chains broke down during February’s winter storms, trucking companies say. More freight may be shifting from spot markets to contractual partners as networks are restored.

Small regional or localized LTL carriers may also be riding the e-commerce wave, providing capacity for local fulfillment and delivery, while their larger competitors carve out middle-mile business.

Greater use of drop trailer pools and e-commerce sales are generating demand for yard drivers — also referred to as hostlers — to handle trailers at warehouses and distribution centers, but those drivers are in short supply.

The transportation and warehousing sector lost fewer jobs than anticipated in February, but trucking companies saw deeper than expected job losses in a storm-wracked month.

Freight broker Tucker Company said COVID-19 pushed truck drivers to make the switch to larger carriers, but the rise in spot trucking rates is likely to swing them back to smaller fleets.

The digitization of truck manufacturing will directly benefit shippers by creating more capacity and making more capacity readily available, a study by IBM suggests.

To secure capacity, truck shippers must offer freight that ‘fits’ a carrier’s network of lanes, vehicles, and drivers, speakers at a virtual TPM21 panel said.

Old Dominion Freight Line in February handled more and heavier LTL shipments than a year ago as shippers hit hard by winter storms searched for truck capacity.

Knight Swift CEO Dave Jackson tells JOC’s virtual TPM21 conference that trailer pools, agility, and long-term thinking is the way carriers and shippers can reduce the wild swings seen in trucking rates since 2017.

COVID-related dock bans on truck drivers and greater use of digital receipts are leading to more clashes over short or damaged shipments, according to speakers at a T&LC webinar.

FloorFound partners with a network of transportation and logistics providers to handle the return — or resale — of oversized e-commerce goods such as furniture and appliances.

Truckload carrier Werner Enterprises is expanding its Edge technology platform to brokerage partners and shippers, tightening its focus on landside logistics after offloading its ocean and air forwarding unit.

Less-than-truckload carrier Yellow is opening 12 driver training schools as operators across the US trucking industry are struggling to find enough experienced drivers to satisfy growing industrial and retail freight demand.

Relay Payments is expanding its "lumper payment" platform, allowing truck carriers and brokers to automate the settlement of cargo unloading fees to receiving facilities.

Texas is the epicenter of supply-chain damage caused by Winter Storm Uri, but the disruption is being felt nationwide. Mexican imports by truck may be delayed for days.

Cross-border carriers lack a load board analogous to the widely-used tools available to drivers on US domestic moves, something the broker and technology provider Forager is attempting to address.

A growing gap between inventory and sales in many US business sectors is projected to drive replenishment, expedited shipping, and high levels of imports for months to come.

Old Dominion Freight Line is closely following big box retail customers, adding new service centers as e-commerce spurs construction of new distribution centers.

Increasing US truck freight demand from ports to factories may slow the decline in spot truckload rates seen by DAT, while contract motor carriers take on more business.

Investment continues to surge into technologies that enable small truckload carriers to improve administrative and operational aspects of their businesses, with SmartHop’s $12 million funding round the latest example.

The loss of 84,300 trucking and warehousing jobs in January -- actual numbers before seasonal adjustment -- makes prospects for tighter capacity and higher rates for US shippers in the months ahead more certain.

The former YRC Worldwide is expanding, not shrinking, Yellow CEO Darren Hawkins says, with plans for streamlined pricing and more regional services as it radically overhauls its business.