Truck brokers

Cross-border supply chains need to become more integrated and efficient to increase capacity on both sides of a constricted border, logistics executives say.

Some freight brokers are increasing the number of loads they can book per day with software that automates repetitive components of the booking process.

Freight marketplaces report a new storm-related surge in spot volume, lifting transactional pricing as trucking heads toward its peak holiday season.

The truckload spot market is cooling after a surge in rates and volume, but seasonality is expected to give it another boost as year-end holidays approach.

As damage from Helene and Milton is being tallied, logistics experts say the storms won’t do much to accelerate spot and contract truckload pricing in the long term.

Following Hurricane Helene by less than two weeks, Milton will draw more truck capacity to the Southeast, upsetting market balance and pushing spot prices higher.

GenLogs, a technology provider aiming to help US brokers track trucks, uses a network of roadside sensors to passively collect truckload carrier locations.

Brokers looking to tap into the booming US-Mexico trade now have a tool to serve shipper requests to handle cross-border truckload moves.

Investors have put $6.3 million into a startup aiming to provide a procurement and transportation management software alternative to enterprise-focused solutions.

The BlueGrace Logistics Confidence Index shows an uptick in negative sentiment about revenue and orders in late 2024, despite gains in freight volume this summer.

Some non-asset logistics providers are adding LTL volume and revenue as truckload brokerage keeps declining. 

The company believes shippers will benefit from a payments network it has created to help brokers and carriers bill shippers accurately before an invoice is sent out.

The post-pandemic resilience of small fleets has been attributed in part to driver reliance on apps such as the one Convoy built, which Flexport purchased last November.

Amid growing interest in making the truckload appointment scheduling process more efficient, the US visibility provider has added weight to an initiative started in late 2022.

Amid a range of efforts to automate and standardize truckload appointments, a new provider has launched a neutral platform to reduce manual work and errors associated with the process.

The Chicago-based third-party logistics provider said demand from US shippers is drawing it and its competitors deeper into the cross-border freight market.

Demand for drop-and-hook capacity is prompting freight broker Uber Freight to invest in more markets for its Powerloop program, which marries GPS tracking of trailers to available shipper loads.

Rising shipper interest helped propel digital freight marketplace Transfix into LTL through a partnership with Rocket Shipping, and Transfix expects the LTL trend to continue.

As California-based RK Logistics’ high-tech customers move east to new markets, the logistics provider is following by buying New York-based On Time Trucking. 

Increased driver adoption of apps in the truckload industry was driven in part by now-shuttered broker Convoy, whose technology was relaunched Thursday by forwarder Flexport.

CloudTrucks’ acquisition of Shipwell’s brokerage division signals the importance of giving drivers direct access to loads through the technology platform they use to run their business.

None of the most prominent venture-backed names in logistics has had a successful exit yet, but perhaps patience is still required before the industry can say for sure if venture capital is a worthy funding route for company founders.

Cost and long implementation timelines are among the reasons software has been out of reach for smaller shippers, brokers and carriers, a dynamic that newer solutions providers are attempting to change.

An uptick in the West Coast share of Asian imports has already translated into heightened demand for surface transportation.

The largest US freight broker expects more companies to follow Convoy and exit the market as demand remains weak and rates stay low. 

The demise of truckload broker Convoy has highlighted how difficult it is to create differentiation in a market with no dominant player, with Convoy itself to blame for stoking more competition through its technology focus.

Transfix’s investment being announced on the same day Convoy told employees it was winding down operations highlights some of the differences between members of a group broadly defined as “digital brokers.”

The company has long been a lightning rod in the truckload industry, one of a cohort of so-called digital brokers to emerge in the 2010s backed by venture capital investors with an ambition to make the industry more efficient through digitizing processes.

Excess capacity in the truckload market is a chance for shippers to examine whether they or their freight brokers have the right technology tools to effectively price in the contract and spot markets.

Freight brokers, load boards, technology providers and law enforcement are attempting to contain the growing threat of truckload cargo theft and the fraudulent schemes that underpin it.

Two weeks after Forward Air acquired forwarder Omni Logistics, a private investment fund has taken over expedited third-party logistics provider Ascent Global Logistics.

Top 30 freight broker BNSF Logistics said it will use Trucker Tools software to improve visibility and freight matching for its surface transportation customers.

Targeting industrial and retail shippers that need expensive expedited services to meet stringent on-time metrics, freight broker Convoy is offering a product that guarantees shipments will be delivered within a predetermined 30-minute window.

DAT and freight broker Convoy had challenged each other in federal court over business practices related to Convoy attempting to set up a rival load board.

Truckstop is building on its 2022 purchase of carrier monitoring provider RMIS with the acquisition of freight-matching technology provider FrieightFriend.

Nuvocargo will use the new funding to expand its service footprint to all major over-the-road border crossings between the US and Mexico.

Flexport has lured a key figure in the development of Uber Freight and Coyote Logistics in a move likely to shake up the domestic third-party logistics market.

Many businesses are being forced to tighten controls over how goods are shipped and who they ship them with, but the technology that helps them may also be used against them, according to industry sources.

New York-New Jersey port truckers who worked five days per week last year are now down to about half that amount, sending spot drayage rates well below levels seen in 2021 and 2022.

Transportation observers believe the dueling complaints could have implications for the US spot truckload market because DAT is a primary source of available loads that brokers and carriers use to fill their pools of owned or third-party capacity.