<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Showing off a photo transmission system that potentially could eat into shipments of small package c</div>

Showing off a photo transmission system that potentially could eat into shipments of small package c

<div>Showing off a photo transmission system that potentially could eat into shipments of small package carriers, the president of Aldus Corp. told securities analysts he is happy to see profits nearly double.Paul Brainerd, chief executive officer for the Seattle-based software company that manufactures the PageMaker desk-top publishing system, called the 87 percent increase in first quarter earnings exceptional.The company earned $3.1 million, or 24 cents a share, on revenue of $15.9 million compared with earnings of $1.7 million, or 15 cents a share, on revenue of $8.2 million a year earlier.But Mr. Brainerd cautioned that such growth can't continue indefinitely....

Showing off a photo transmission system that potentially could eat into shipments of small package carriers, the president of Aldus Corp. told securities analysts he is happy to see profits nearly double. Paul Brainerd, chief executive officer for the Seattle-based software company that manufactures the PageMaker desk-top publishing system, called the 87 percent increase in first quarter earnings exceptional.The company earned $3.1 million, or 24 cents a share, on revenue of $15.9 million compared with earnings of $1.7 million, or 15 cents a share, on revenue of $8.2 million a year earlier. But Mr. Brainerd cautioned that such growth can't continue indefinitely. It's like (Microsoft Corp. Chairman) Bill Gates says, when you get up to a certain point, the big percentage increases are difficult to keep up, Mr. Brainerd said at a briefing for Wall Street analysts. Aldus does not forecast its earnings, but Mr. Brainerd noted that securities analysts generally are predicting Aldus earnings of $1.03 to $1.07 a share for 1988. This compares with 1987 company earnings of 66 cents a share. Both Mr. Brainerd and Bill McAleer, Aldus vice president of finance, attributed the first quarter profit jump to the introduction of Freehand, an Aldus program for graphic artists, shipped during the last seven weeks of the quarter. The executives also reassured analysts that rapid growth of international sales does not mean the domestic market desk-top publishing software is becoming saturated. Mr. Brainerd said domestic sales rose $3 million to $4 million between the last quarter of 1987 and the first quarter of 1988. Aldus, which has major subsidiaries in Europe, earned 39 percent of its first-quarter revenue outside the United States. That figure is expected to rise even higher in June, when the company releases its Japanese version of PageMaker. Mr. Brainerd, a former journalist whose parents owned a photography business, showed off a Canon electronic camera that captures up to 50 photos directly onto a miniature computer disk. A new Aldus program known as Snapshot can then bring up the black-and- whit e photo on a personal computer screen for editing, or transmit it by phone or data network to a remote site. Most businesses moving photos or detailed illustrations currently must use overnight delivery services. The Snapshot program also can take images from a video camera, allowing an editor to select the best frozen images from videotapes that may be hours long. Mr. Brainerd said Snapshot currently produces acceptable quality for black-and-white reproduction at sizes up to five by seven inches with reduced quality at larger sizes. In addition, the computerized system works best with coarse images such as those used in newspapers and isn't adequate for high-density images used, for example, in slick magazine reproduction. Scott Campbell, an Aldus graphic designer who has used the photo system, said that a quality video camera for the system would cost $1,600 to $2,500, and an electronic still camera would cost about $1,000. He pointed out, however, that a conventional 35-millimeter camera typically costs several hundred dollars and that the electronic system makes the photos available immediately,

ALDUS PHOTO TRANSMISSION SYSTEM COULD HURT SMALL PACKAGE CARRIERS

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">One analyst says it is almost certain that rates in some parts of the country will climb because of the missing capacity next week, especially in warmer agriculture-dominant states now producing their first crop of the season.</div>

One analyst says it is almost certain that rates in some parts of the country will climb because of the missing capacity next week, especially in warmer agriculture-dominant states now producing their first crop of the season.

Feature image

<div class="phx-topic">When hundreds of law enforcement officers from the US, Mexico and Canada hold the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) annual International Roadcheck May 12-14, trucking leaders say it is likely to further tighten trucking capacity and nudge freight rates even higher. “I think we are going to see a Roadcheck like we haven’t seen in many, many years,” said Dean Croke, principal analyst for DAT Freight and Analytics. “You’re going to see more drivers that just take the week off and a lot of capacity has already left the market.” Croke said DAT did a survey of 534 carriers a couple of weeks ago, with 18% of respondents indicating they would idle their rigs next week. “They (are) parking their trucks and are not driving,” he said. As drivers seek to avoid the scrutiny of Roadcheck inspections, it comes as the federal government has been <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/house-committee-advances-bill-targeting-non-domiciled-commercial-drivers-licenses-6188801">aggressively enforcing regulations concerning non-domiciled commercial driver licenses (CDLs)</a>. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said this week more than 28,000 truck drivers have been taken off US roads since June 2025 because of the DOT’s tougher enforcement of standards, including English language proficiency requirements. The CVSA official tasked with organizing and running Roadcheck said it is unfortunate that some drivers plan to park their trucks, even as rates are increasing and, for those drivers who will be on the road, there is money to be made. “Everybody knows they're trying to avoid inspections,” CVSA’s roadside inspections specialist Jeremy Disbrow said. “The benefit they have is that they know this is coming. This gives them an opportunity to make sure their truck is in good working order. I hear from the industry all the time that they want inspections, voluntary inspections, to improve their safety, so I don’t see why this would be harmful to them.” CVSA said inspectors will “conduct high-volume, 37-step Level I inspections across North America, with a specific focus on electronic logging device (ELD) compliance and cargo securement.” “Drivers with critical violations will be placed out of service,” it said. <h3>Ag shipments boost rates in warm-weather states </h3>Croke said it is almost certain that rates in some parts of the country are going to climb because of the missing capacity during Roadcheck, especially in warmer agriculture-dominant states now producing their first crop of the season. “The bigger thing that's going to happen this week or next week in particular is the impact on produce, particularly in the Southeast and Florida,” Croke said. “What you're about to see in the Southeast are spot rates for refrigerated carriers that go through the roof.” The May 4 Market Insights report from FTR Transportation Intelligence and <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/truckstop.com/__;!!DEyr4sPAfcQg!TOzvrYUpg7BvtqQHiQeR3G7R9phVZqhjofT6CToxKWRKprPm8yF-BnSUCm_ktEUV4jA7GiFwWng3c9Cu6OguzWS93Y_mMX8z$">truckstop.com</a> showed broker-posted spot rates were at an all-time high for all equipment. The FTR dashboard showed inbound truckload reefer and flatbed rates in New England are the highest in the country at $3.67 per mile, with flatbed rates at $4.20. New York and Pennsylvania are slightly lower at $3.59 for truckload reefer, while flatbed rates are at $3.87. Reefer rates are $3.39 per mile in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Delaware. Flatbed rates there are $3.55 a mile. One example of produce likely to be impacted by higher reefer shipping rates is Georgia’s popular Vidalia onions. The 2026 season is in full swing, and the latest US Department of Agriculture National Shipping report said because the 200 million pounds of the popular sweet onions are grown in only 20 Georgia counties, “Vidalia shipments will likely face competitive freight markets.” <h3>Surging diesel prices </h3>Meanwhile, even before Roadcheck, Florida law enforcement officials had been aggressively enforcing traffic and other laws as part of “Operation Highway Shield,” tightening capacity in that state. The effort ran from March 23-26, with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement inspecting more than 3,300 commercial vehicles. Officials said 176 drivers were removed from service. Fifty-four were for language-related deficiencies, 35 now face criminal violations, and 42 were taken into custody for immigration-related issues. That comes as diesel prices have surged amid the war with Iran and closure of the Strait of Hormuz. AAA said the average diesel price in the US on May 5 was nearly $5.66 per gallon, up 20 cents in just a week and $2.13 higher since the beginning of military hostilities in late February. Croke said Roadcheck will mean a period of several weeks where freight haulers who stay on the road will likely face increased police activity, but with an opportunity to make substantially more money in a relatively short period of time. ”You’ve got even fewer trucks for the demand, and that means rates go even higher,” he said. “I’ve said what we have is stabilizing demand meets constrained supply.” And he says the next month will be volatile. “Rates will spike and then come back down when carriers come back into the market,” Croke said. “There will be a period of 10 to 14 days after Roadcheck where the market will start to stabilize and come back to normal. (But) May is going to be a great month for a lot of carriers.” Contact Dan Ronan at <a href="mailto:contactdanronan@gmail.com">contactdanronan@gmail.com</a>. </div>

When hundreds of law enforcement officers from the US, Mexico and Canada hold the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) annual International Roadcheck May 12-14, trucking leaders say it is likely to further tighten trucking capacity and nudge freight rates even higher. “I think we are going to see a Roadcheck like we haven’t seen in many, many years,” said Dean Croke, principal analyst for DAT Freight and Analytics. “You’re going to see more drivers that just take the week off and a lot of capacity has already left the market.” Croke said DAT did a survey of 534 carriers a couple of weeks ago, with 18% of respondents indicating they would idle their rigs next week. “They (are) parking their trucks and are not driving,” he said. As drivers seek to avoid the scrutiny of Roadcheck inspections, it comes as the federal government has been aggressively enforcing regulations concerning non-domiciled commercial driver licenses (CDLs) . Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said this week more than 28,000 truck drivers have been taken off US roads since June 2025 because of the DOT’s tougher enforcement of standards, including English language proficiency requirements. The CVSA official tasked with organizing and running Roadcheck said it is unfortunate that some drivers plan to park their trucks, even as rates are increasing and, for those drivers who will be on the road, there is money to be made. “Everybody knows they're trying to avoid inspections,” CVSA’s roadside inspections specialist Jeremy Disbrow said. “The benefit they have is that they know this is coming. This gives them an opportunity to make sure their truck is in good working order. I hear from the industry all the time that they want inspections, voluntary inspections, to improve their safety, so I don’t see why this would be harmful to them.” CVSA said inspectors will “conduct high-volume, 37-step Level I inspections across North America, with a specific focus on electronic logging device (ELD) compliance and cargo securement.” “Drivers with critical violations will be placed out of service,” it said. Ag shipments boost rates in warm-weather states Croke said it is almost certain that rates in some parts of the country are going to climb because of the missing capacity during Roadcheck, especially in warmer agriculture-dominant states now producing their first crop of the season. “The bigger thing that's going to happen this week or next week in particular is the impact on produce, particularly in the Southeast and Florida,” Croke said. “What you're about to see in the Southeast are spot rates for refrigerated carriers that go through the roof.” The May 4 Market Insights report from FTR Transportation Intelligence and truckstop.com showed broker-posted spot rates were at an all-time high for all equipment. The FTR dashboard showed inbound truckload reefer and flatbed rates in New England are the highest in the country at $3.67 per mile, with flatbed rates at $4.20. New York and Pennsylvania are slightly lower at $3.59 for truckload reefer, while flatbed rates are at $3.87. Reefer rates are $3.39 per mile in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Delaware. Flatbed rates there are $3.55 a mile. One example of produce likely to be impacted by higher reefer shipping rates is Georgia’s popular Vidalia onions. The 2026 season is in full swing, and the latest US Department of Agriculture National Shipping report said because the 200 million pounds of the popular sweet onions are grown in only 20 Georgia counties, “Vidalia shipments will likely face competitive freight markets.” Surging diesel prices Meanwhile, even before Roadcheck, Florida law enforcement officials had been aggressively enforcing traffic and other laws as part of “Operation Highway Shield,” tightening capacity in that state. The effort ran from March 23-26, with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement inspecting more than 3,300 commercial vehicles. Officials said 176 drivers were removed from service. Fifty-four were for language-related deficiencies, 35 now face criminal violations, and 42 were taken into custody for immigration-related issues. That comes as diesel prices have surged amid the war with Iran and closure of the Strait of Hormuz. AAA said the average diesel price in the US on May 5 was nearly $5.66 per gallon, up 20 cents in just a week and $2.13 higher since the beginning of military hostilities in late February. Croke said Roadcheck will mean a period of several weeks where freight haulers who stay on the road will likely face increased police activity, but with an opportunity to make substantially more money in a relatively short period of time. ”You’ve got even fewer trucks for the demand, and that means rates go even higher,” he said. “I’ve said what we have is stabilizing demand meets constrained supply.” And he says the next month will be volatile. “Rates will spike and then come back down when carriers come back into the market,” Croke said. “There will be a period of 10 to 14 days after Roadcheck where the market will start to stabilize and come back to normal. (But) May is going to be a great month for a lot of carriers.” Contact Dan Ronan at contactdanronan@gmail.com .

Trucking News

Transport, Trade and Regulation News

Truckload

Surface

Annual ‘Roadcheck’ likely to tighten US trucking capacity, boost rates 

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">But CEO Vincent Clerc said while the carrier assesses the situation with the view of eventually restarting some services through the region, Maersk would be taking a cautious approach, with the safety of seafarers the “first priority.” </div>

But CEO Vincent Clerc said while the carrier assesses the situation with the view of eventually restarting some services through the region, Maersk would be taking a cautious approach, with the safety of seafarers the “first priority.”

<div class="phx-topic">An end to the war in the Middle East would raise the prospect that the other key shipping corridor in the region — the Red Sea/Suez Canal — could be a viable option once again for commercial shipping, Maersk’s CEO says. Red Sea transits were halted when the war broke out in late February, just as ocean carriers were launching a tentative return to the route that had mostly been off-limits since late 2023 when Houthi militants in Yemen began attacks on vessels as a show of solidarity for Hamas in its war with Israel. Those attacks ended late last year amid a fragile ceasefire, prompting carriers to resume Red Sea transits on a small scale. But the route became effectively off-limits again when the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on Feb. 28. Tehran is reportedly considering the latest US peace plan, despite warships from both sides exchanging fire this week. Should the conflict end, there are hopes that Houthi militants – supported and supplied by Tehran – will allow safe passage for commercial shipping eager to return to the Red Sea/Suez Canal route. Maersk CEO Vincent Clerc said an end to the war would bring the Red Sea back into the frame for the Copenhagen-based carrier, and he pointed out that no attacks have been reported in the Red Sea so far this year. But Clerc, speaking to analysts during <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/maersk-passing-500-million-monthly-fuel-bill-to-customers-in-full-ceo-6216319">Maersk’s first-quarter earnings call</a> Thursday, said while the carrier assesses the situation between the US and Iran with the view of eventually restarting some services through the Red Sea, Maersk would be taking a cautious approach, with the safety of seafarers the “first priority.” He also said the safety threshold required by Maersk appeared to higher than that being applied by other carriers. “There is no doubt that we have a bit of a different threshold than some of our competitors that are going through the Bab el-Mandeb (Strait) today,” Clerc said. The Maersk CEO was clearly referencing CMA CGM, which has sent several ships via the Red Sea this year and just last week safely sailed its 23,876-TEU CMA CGM Grand Palais through the Bab el-Mandab Strait and Suez Canal en route to Malta from Singapore. Clerc also noted that some carriers in the Strait of Hormuz were taking “different chances than we did and have had either people being detained or people getting injured.” That, again, appeared to refer to CMA CGM, which on Tuesday had a vessel hit by a projectile while sailing past the coast of Oman at night. CMA CGM said in a statement the attack on the CMA CGM San Antonio injured an undisclosed number of seafarers and damaged the vessel. “The injured crew members have been evacuated and are provided with the necessary medical care,” the carrier said. “CMA CGM is closely monitoring the situation and remains fully mobilized alongside the crew.” <h3>Limited naval escort capacity </h3>Any return to Red Sea voyages would have to be gradual, Clerc said, because there was limited naval capacity to escort vessels passing through the Houthi-controlled Bab el-Mandeb. “There's only so many services that we could send through the Red Sea, and I would think that others will have the same issue,” Clerc said. “For it to be a full return, we would need to feel comfortable with the safety and security assessment that we could sail without any monitoring “I have no idea, given the volatility of the situation between the US and Iran, when that is going to be,” he added. “It could be very soon, or it could take a while.” Sailing via the Red Sea on Asia-Europe/Mediterranean and Asia-US East Coast trades is far shorter than voyages around southern Africa, and with bunker fuel prices significantly higher than before the Middle East war started, there are savings in time and costs to be had. The Red Sea route adds 31% to Asia-North Europe transit times and more than 60% to east Mediterranean destinations, some 10 to 14 days of additional sailing time that increases fuel consumption by as much as 40%, according to Sea-Intelligence Maritime Analysis. Bunker prices assessed May 7 in Singapore of $816 per metric ton, while almost 30% lower than the high reached in mid-March, were still 60% higher than the late February prices before the Middle East war began, according to Ship &amp; Bunker. ”When you’re sailing from India to the Mediterranean, you’re going to burn a lot less fuel by going through the Red Sea than if you have to use the long route as we do today,” Clerc told analysts. A resumption of Red Sea transits would also release capacity into the market that Clerc said would allow carriers to slow ship speeds, mitigating the rate-destroying impact of additional tonnage while lowering fuel consumption in a high-priced bunker market. Contact Greg Knowler at <a href="mailto:greg.knowler@spglobal.com">greg.knowler@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

An end to the war in the Middle East would raise the prospect that the other key shipping corridor in the region — the Red Sea/Suez Canal — could be a viable option once again for commercial shipping, Maersk’s CEO says. Red Sea transits were halted when the war broke out in late February, just as ocean carriers were launching a tentative return to the route that had mostly been off-limits since late 2023 when Houthi militants in Yemen began attacks on vessels as a show of solidarity for Hamas in its war with Israel. Those attacks ended late last year amid a fragile ceasefire, prompting carriers to resume Red Sea transits on a small scale. But the route became effectively off-limits again when the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on Feb. 28. Tehran is reportedly considering the latest US peace plan, despite warships from both sides exchanging fire this week. Should the conflict end, there are hopes that Houthi militants – supported and supplied by Tehran – will allow safe passage for commercial shipping eager to return to the Red Sea/Suez Canal route. Maersk CEO Vincent Clerc said an end to the war would bring the Red Sea back into the frame for the Copenhagen-based carrier, and he pointed out that no attacks have been reported in the Red Sea so far this year. But Clerc, speaking to analysts during Maersk’s first-quarter earnings call Thursday, said while the carrier assesses the situation between the US and Iran with the view of eventually restarting some services through the Red Sea, Maersk would be taking a cautious approach, with the safety of seafarers the “first priority.” He also said the safety threshold required by Maersk appeared to higher than that being applied by other carriers. “There is no doubt that we have a bit of a different threshold than some of our competitors that are going through the Bab el-Mandeb (Strait) today,” Clerc said. The Maersk CEO was clearly referencing CMA CGM, which has sent several ships via the Red Sea this year and just last week safely sailed its 23,876-TEU CMA CGM Grand Palais through the Bab el-Mandab Strait and Suez Canal en route to Malta from Singapore. Clerc also noted that some carriers in the Strait of Hormuz were taking “different chances than we did and have had either people being detained or people getting injured.” That, again, appeared to refer to CMA CGM, which on Tuesday had a vessel hit by a projectile while sailing past the coast of Oman at night. CMA CGM said in a statement the attack on the CMA CGM San Antonio injured an undisclosed number of seafarers and damaged the vessel. “The injured crew members have been evacuated and are provided with the necessary medical care,” the carrier said. “CMA CGM is closely monitoring the situation and remains fully mobilized alongside the crew.” Limited naval escort capacity Any return to Red Sea voyages would have to be gradual, Clerc said, because there was limited naval capacity to escort vessels passing through the Houthi-controlled Bab el-Mandeb. “There's only so many services that we could send through the Red Sea, and I would think that others will have the same issue,” Clerc said. “For it to be a full return, we would need to feel comfortable with the safety and security assessment that we could sail without any monitoring “I have no idea, given the volatility of the situation between the US and Iran, when that is going to be,” he added. “It could be very soon, or it could take a while.” Sailing via the Red Sea on Asia-Europe/Mediterranean and Asia-US East Coast trades is far shorter than voyages around southern Africa, and with bunker fuel prices significantly higher than before the Middle East war started, there are savings in time and costs to be had. The Red Sea route adds 31% to Asia-North Europe transit times and more than 60% to east Mediterranean destinations, some 10 to 14 days of additional sailing time that increases fuel consumption by as much as 40%, according to Sea-Intelligence Maritime Analysis. Bunker prices assessed May 7 in Singapore of $816 per metric ton, while almost 30% lower than the high reached in mid-March, were still 60% higher than the late February prices before the Middle East war began, according to Ship & Bunker. ”When you’re sailing from India to the Mediterranean, you’re going to burn a lot less fuel by going through the Red Sea than if you have to use the long route as we do today,” Clerc told analysts. A resumption of Red Sea transits would also release capacity into the market that Clerc said would allow carriers to slow ship speeds, mitigating the rate-destroying impact of additional tonnage while lowering fuel consumption in a high-priced bunker market. Contact Greg Knowler at greg.knowler@spglobal.com .

Container lines

Asia-Europe

Container Shipping News

Maritime

Maersk mulls potential Red Sea return as hopes rise over US-Iran deal

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The carrier’s purchase of FirstFleet raised its truck count substantially, but overall capacity still contracted in the first quarter, according to the Journal of Commerce’s index.</div>

The carrier’s purchase of FirstFleet raised its truck count substantially, but overall capacity still contracted in the first quarter, according to the Journal of Commerce’s index.

<div class="phx-topic">An acquisition that inflated one large carrier’s truck count by 28% pushed the first-quarter Journal of Commerce Truckload Capacity Index (TCI) up 6.3 percentage points to 79.8%. However, eliminating the gain from that merger, the index would have declined. That indicates capacity at large truckload carriers is still tightening after the TCI fell 20.8 percentage points over three and a half years, starting in the 2022 second quarter. Shippers are likely to feel the impact from that tightening in upcoming bids. “We expect pricing gains to continue with more meaningful improvement in the third and fourth quarters,” Werner Enterprises CEO Derek Leathers said during an April 28 earnings call. Werner hiked contract rates by mid-single-digit percentages in the first quarter. Werner acquired FirstFleet, a dedicated carrier with about 2,400 trucks, in December. Excluding Werner, the TCI, a measure of actual trucks available at a group of large publicly-owned carriers, would have dropped to 70.9% in the first quarter. <div class="wrapper-narrow"><dynamic-object type="jocchartid" resource-id="37b149d1-14d5-4221-933a-12c01811c4a6"></dynamic-object></div>“Demand has not moved a lot,” Adam Miller, CEO of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings, told the Journal of Commerce. “It’s still muted, but [tender] rejections are way up, and spot rates are way up ... That’s supply driven.” “I think everything right now is being supply-induced on the capacity side,” Frank Lonegro, CEO of truckload carrier Landstar System, told analysts during an April 28 earnings call. “If we see an incremental uptick in demand, you’re going to see it on the volume side.” <h3>Shift toward dedicated trucking </h3>Werner’s $245 million acquisition of FirstFleet came just as declining truckload capacity began pushing up spot market rates in late 2025. The Journal of Commerce average shipper-paid spot rate jumped from $2.27 per mile in November to $2.46 per mile in December. The all-inclusive average rate, which represents rates charged by third-party freight brokers to shippers, including fuel surcharges, had reached $2.87 per mile by May. That’s a 34% year-over-year increase from an average rate of $2.14 per mile in April 2025. FirstFleet “created a significant amount [of] more density across certain geographies in our network,” that created “a multiplier effect” on Werner’s dedicated business, Leathers said on his company’s earnings call. At the same time, Werner has been restructuring its traditional one-way truckload business, changing its freight mix and shrinking its one-way truck fleet by 11% year over year. In the first quarter, revenue per one-way truck rose 9.6%, Werner said. Werner exemplifies a shift by large carriers <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/large-us-truckload-carriers-shifting-assets-to-expand-dedicated-services-5935831">toward dedicated trucking</a>, with its higher profit margin, and away from more volatile one-way truckload service. As that shift continues, shippers will rely increasingly on midsize and smaller carriers to move one-way shipments. Contact William B. Cassidy at <a href="mailto:bill.cassidy@spglobal.com">bill.cassidy@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

An acquisition that inflated one large carrier’s truck count by 28% pushed the first-quarter Journal of Commerce Truckload Capacity Index (TCI) up 6.3 percentage points to 79.8%. However, eliminating the gain from that merger, the index would have declined. That indicates capacity at large truckload carriers is still tightening after the TCI fell 20.8 percentage points over three and a half years, starting in the 2022 second quarter. Shippers are likely to feel the impact from that tightening in upcoming bids. “We expect pricing gains to continue with more meaningful improvement in the third and fourth quarters,” Werner Enterprises CEO Derek Leathers said during an April 28 earnings call. Werner hiked contract rates by mid-single-digit percentages in the first quarter. Werner acquired FirstFleet, a dedicated carrier with about 2,400 trucks, in December. Excluding Werner, the TCI, a measure of actual trucks available at a group of large publicly-owned carriers, would have dropped to 70.9% in the first quarter. “Demand has not moved a lot,” Adam Miller, CEO of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings, told the Journal of Commerce. “It’s still muted, but [tender] rejections are way up, and spot rates are way up ... That’s supply driven.” “I think everything right now is being supply-induced on the capacity side,” Frank Lonegro, CEO of truckload carrier Landstar System, told analysts during an April 28 earnings call. “If we see an incremental uptick in demand, you’re going to see it on the volume side.” Shift toward dedicated trucking Werner’s $245 million acquisition of FirstFleet came just as declining truckload capacity began pushing up spot market rates in late 2025. The Journal of Commerce average shipper-paid spot rate jumped from $2.27 per mile in November to $2.46 per mile in December. The all-inclusive average rate, which represents rates charged by third-party freight brokers to shippers, including fuel surcharges, had reached $2.87 per mile by May. That’s a 34% year-over-year increase from an average rate of $2.14 per mile in April 2025. FirstFleet “created a significant amount [of] more density across certain geographies in our network,” that created “a multiplier effect” on Werner’s dedicated business, Leathers said on his company’s earnings call. At the same time, Werner has been restructuring its traditional one-way truckload business, changing its freight mix and shrinking its one-way truck fleet by 11% year over year. In the first quarter, revenue per one-way truck rose 9.6%, Werner said. Werner exemplifies a shift by large carriers toward dedicated trucking , with its higher profit margin, and away from more volatile one-way truckload service. As that shift continues, shippers will rely increasingly on midsize and smaller carriers to move one-way shipments. Contact William B. Cassidy at bill.cassidy@spglobal.com .

Truck brokers

Werner acquisition boosts Truckload Capacity Index despite low demand

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The software vendor said shippers can move away from having intermediaries manage bookings by automating the process and tying it to performance data that FourKites holds. </div>

The software vendor said shippers can move away from having intermediaries manage bookings by automating the process and tying it to performance data that FourKites holds.

<div class="phx-topic">Software vendor FourKites has launched a tool aimed at helping shippers wean themselves off a historical reliance on third-party logistics providers to execute ocean freight bookings with container lines. The new tool, called Booking Connect for Ocean, automates the booking request, confirmation and shipment creation processes associated with international container moves. “The traditional ocean booking process, even for the largest and most sophisticated shippers, is highly fragmented,” Priya Rajagopalan, president of product, technology and operations at FourKites, told the Journal of Commerce. “Carrier-forwarder coordination loops run through email and phone over different continents. It’s hard to look at and say where there are opportunities for improvement. Structurally, this feel like it’s a valuable process to solve.” Rajagopalan said the new tool, unveiled this week, allows shippers to base booking decisions on ocean carrier performance, reliability and transshipment data that FourKites has accumulated for more than a decade as a transportation visibility provider. The company in early 2025 shifted its product focus to agentic solutions that comprise what it calls an artificial intelligence (AI)-led control tower solution. “This is not intended to be a better [user interface] for rate shopping,” Rajagopalan said. “It’s trying to deliver an outcome. So it’s not just recommendations, but you can enforce your routing guide on the fly using natural language.” <h3>‘Rational step forward’ </h3>The tool allows a shipper to prompt the booking process through a digital agent, including specifying rules or thresholds, such as limiting the number of containers on a specific sailing, or divvying up volume to different carriers based on a shipper’s allocation strategy. Booking Connect provides shippers with recommendations along four dimensions: cost, transit time, an optimized tradeoff between cost and transit time, and historical performance factors such as port congestion or schedule reliability. “The shipper can choose which one is most important to them,” Rajagopalan said. She described the development of the booking tool as a “rational step forward” in FourKites’ product development because confirmed ocean bookings need to be based on data that is currently scattered across systems or held predominantly by logistics intermediaries. It can also be more automated than it has historically been, she said. “Rejected bookings surface alternatives immediately and can re-book within pre-configured rules,” FourKites said in a statement about the product launch. “Tracking begins automatically upon confirmation, with milestone visibility from port of loading through final delivery.” While the tool is ideally used by a shipper, Rajagopalan said shippers who still prefer to outsource booking management to their forwarders could enable the use of Booking Connect. FourKites has some 3PL customers among its largely shipper-focused client base. Contact Eric Johnson at <a href="mailto:eric.johnson@spglobal.com">eric.johnson@spglobal.com</a>. </div>

Software vendor FourKites has launched a tool aimed at helping shippers wean themselves off a historical reliance on third-party logistics providers to execute ocean freight bookings with container lines. The new tool, called Booking Connect for Ocean, automates the booking request, confirmation and shipment creation processes associated with international container moves. “The traditional ocean booking process, even for the largest and most sophisticated shippers, is highly fragmented,” Priya Rajagopalan, president of product, technology and operations at FourKites, told the Journal of Commerce. “Carrier-forwarder coordination loops run through email and phone over different continents. It’s hard to look at and say where there are opportunities for improvement. Structurally, this feel like it’s a valuable process to solve.” Rajagopalan said the new tool, unveiled this week, allows shippers to base booking decisions on ocean carrier performance, reliability and transshipment data that FourKites has accumulated for more than a decade as a transportation visibility provider. The company in early 2025 shifted its product focus to agentic solutions that comprise what it calls an artificial intelligence (AI)-led control tower solution. “This is not intended to be a better [user interface] for rate shopping,” Rajagopalan said. “It’s trying to deliver an outcome. So it’s not just recommendations, but you can enforce your routing guide on the fly using natural language.” ‘Rational step forward’ The tool allows a shipper to prompt the booking process through a digital agent, including specifying rules or thresholds, such as limiting the number of containers on a specific sailing, or divvying up volume to different carriers based on a shipper’s allocation strategy. Booking Connect provides shippers with recommendations along four dimensions: cost, transit time, an optimized tradeoff between cost and transit time, and historical performance factors such as port congestion or schedule reliability. “The shipper can choose which one is most important to them,” Rajagopalan said. She described the development of the booking tool as a “rational step forward” in FourKites’ product development because confirmed ocean bookings need to be based on data that is currently scattered across systems or held predominantly by logistics intermediaries. It can also be more automated than it has historically been, she said. “Rejected bookings surface alternatives immediately and can re-book within pre-configured rules,” FourKites said in a statement about the product launch. “Tracking begins automatically upon confirmation, with milestone visibility from port of loading through final delivery.” While the tool is ideally used by a shipper, Rajagopalan said shippers who still prefer to outsource booking management to their forwarders could enable the use of Booking Connect. FourKites has some 3PL customers among its largely shipper-focused client base. Contact Eric Johnson at eric.johnson@spglobal.com .

Logistics Technology News

Supply chain

FourKites takes aim at automating ocean bookings for shippers

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">A Journal of Commerce review found several instances where the promotional trucking awards appear to reflect service performance, rather than a strong safety culture or the skill of the drivers behind the wheel.</div>

A Journal of Commerce review found several instances where the promotional trucking awards appear to reflect service performance, rather than a strong safety culture or the skill of the drivers behind the wheel.

<div class="phx-topic">Shippers often assume the honors bestowed by freight brokers on the truck carriers they use mean the carriers are doing things the right way, including — and perhaps most importantly — operating safely on US highways. But a Journal of Commerce review found several instances where that assumption is not necessarily accurate. Indeed, the awards themselves — which are essentially self-congratulatory promotional marketing for the brokers and carriers involved — appear to reflect service performance, rather than a strong safety culture or the skill of the drivers behind the wheel. In a recent example that received a lot of publicity for all the wrong reasons, broker C.H. Robinson Worldwide gave a “Carrier of the Year” award to SuperEgo Holding last September, an honor the broker said recognizes those that “exemplify the best in the industry.” But SuperEgo later became the subject of <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-dangerous-trucking-schemes-putting-americans-at-risk-60-minutes-transcript/">a CBS 60 Minutes investigation</a> that found the carrier and related entities were tied to 15,000 safety violations and 500 accidents over two years. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is also investigating SuperEgo over allegations it operated as a “chameleon” carrier, meaning a trucking company that shuts down and rebrands itself under a new name to evade federal safety enforcement, fines, insurance scrutiny or poor safety records while operating with the same management. But SuperEgo was not the only “award-winning” carrier with a high-risk profile. A review by the Journal of Commerce found that C.H. Robinson, Echo Global Logistics and Uber Freight have honored other carriers with serious safety or driver qualification issues on their records. While none of the carriers recognized were officially deemed “unsafe” by federal regulators, their records highlight a gray area: what shippers believe a “Carrier of the Year” award actually represents. Other large US brokers appear not to publicly announce their carrier honors, if they even have them at all. <h3>Gray area on carrier vetting </h3>Shippers rely on brokers to thoroughly vet the carriers handling their freight, but what that vetting entails can be nebulous. For the brokers that announce awards, they are typically made to recognize operational performance metrics such as accepting tenders, on-time delivery, providing tracking visibility, and offering competitive pricing. For shippers, however, the award designation may imply that the carrier is operating legally, safely, and with qualified drivers behind the wheel. Adam Miller, CEO of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings, said shippers often assume safety is a consideration when carriers are selected to haul loads. “The shippers I talk to, they just make the assumption you’re doing everything you can around safety,” he told the Journal of Commerce. “When a driver exhibits bad behavior or unsafe behavior, you are at a higher risk for having an accident, even a serious accident.” Miller said most “Carrier of the Year”-type awards are not tied to safety, but rather how much capacity a carrier provides and at what rates, even though shippers may view the awards as broader endorsements of safe, low-risk carriers. Knight-Swift <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/knight-swift-making-safety-related-cuts-to-brokerage-fleet-6210440">culled 30% of third-party carriers</a> out of its logistics division in the first quarter, citing increased vetting to ensure higher safety standards and in a bid to reduce the likelihood of cargo theft. But the brokerage industry as a whole, whether it’s handing out awards or not, passes no judgment on whether a carrier is fit to operate. For that, it relies on FMSCA, according to Chris Burroughs, president of the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA). The TIA represents 1,800 third-party logistics companies in North America. “If the FMCSA can’t decipher [who is safe to operate], how is the general public supposed to decipher it?” Burroughs told the Journal of Commerce. <h3>Does safety scoring predict accident risk? </h3>Through its Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program, the FMCSA measures trucking companies on six criteria: unsafe driving, crash indicators, hours-of-service compliance, vehicle maintenance, controlled substances or alcohol, and driver fitness. The criteria are published in the online Safety Measurement System (SMS). Crash indicators measure patterns of high crash involvement, such as frequency and severity, according to FMCSA. The SMS data is used by FMCSA to prioritize carrier “interventions,” but Burroughs argues the scores are not reliable enough for brokers to make decisions on carriers. “Brokers may review publicly available data as part of their overall due diligence, but that data is incomplete, can be misleading, and cannot be used to make definitive safety determinations,” he said. The CSA scoring data does not constitute a safety rating, Burroughs pointed out. The FMCSA only assigns a safety rating of “satisfactory,” “conditional,” or “unsatisfactory” after an on-site review of a company’s safety procedures and regulatory compliance. Still, more than 90% of existing trucking companies in the US have not been rated by the FMCSA, according to the agency, and some companies have safety ratings that were assigned years or even decades ago. The FMCSA does not have the staff or resources to visit, inspect, and provide a safety rating for all motor carriers in the US. A 2017 review by the National Academy of Sciences found that the CSA safety scoring system is “structured in a reasonable way” and “defensible” for identifying higher-risk carriers. But the authors also questioned how precisely those scores reflect crash risk. The federal government has focused intensely on highway safety through its SAFE ROADS initiative, including <a href="https://www.joc.com/article/house-committee-advances-bill-targeting-non-domiciled-commercial-drivers-licenses-6188801">the high-profile crackdowns</a> on non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) and English Language Proficiency (ELP) requirements. <h3>‘Winners’ with higher-risk profiles </h3>Despite the studies on CSA scores, some indicators have a clear nexus with highway safety. A carrier with repeated severe violations, such as operating a vehicle with defective brakes or excessive speeding, presents a higher risk of getting into an accident. The Journal of Commerce found several carriers that were given awards by brokers despite having enough serious violations to trigger FMCSA intervention or be officially deemed “high risk.” MEB Express, which won a C.H. Robinson “Carrier of the Year” award alongside SuperEgo, had eight violations for traveling at least 10 miles per hour over the speed limit in the last two years, two violations for inattentive or distracted driving, and two violations for not having a proper CDL or medical certificate, according to the FMCSA. Another C.H. Robinson “Carrier of the Year” winner for 2025, Garesp Transportation, received six violations for either making “a false report in connection with a duty status” or “failing to have a record of duty status,” the FMCSA said. Both revolve around data from electronic-logging devices (ELDs), which are required for interstate commerce to “directly combat the primary cause of fatigue-related accidents,” according to the agency. Both are small carriers: MEB owns 80 trucks; Garesp owns 30. C.H. Robinson gives several “Carrier of the Year” awards, depending on the fleet size of the trucking company. Since last September when the awards were announced, both MEB and Garesp have continued to rack up violations. Five MEB Express drivers were taken out of service for failing an ELP exam, according to the FMCSA, while three Garesp drivers were taken off the road for not possessing a valid CDL or violating restrictions placed on their CDLs. Contacted by the Journal of Commerce about its award distribution and the companies that received FMCSA violations, C.H. Robinson noted that there were 24 different winners last September, including owner-operators, small carriers, large carriers, and holding companies with affiliated carriers such as SuperEgo. The broker also said all winners meet the standards set by the FMCSA to legally operate. “The awards are chosen by an internal committee and are based on exceptional service to our customers, such as reliable tracking updates, on-time performance and delivering on customers’ unique requirements,” C.H. Robinson wrote in a statement. But it also acknowledged it is considering changes in determining how carriers are chosen for recognition, saying, “As a part of our commitment to continuous improvement, we are reviewing our criteria for future carrier awards.” <h3>C.H. Robinson not alone </h3>Other brokers have also given promotional awards to carriers with high-risk profiles. Uber Freight named CloudTrucks a “Carrier of the Year” last month, even though federal regulators in February flagged the carrier’s driver fitness record, noting multiple out-of-service violations tied to driver qualifications. The FMCSA officially identified the carrier as “high-risk” in March 2025. “CloudTrucks’ on-road safety data, including driver fitness violations, indicate ongoing safety management concerns,” the FMCSA wrote in February. “CloudTrucks was cited for 27 driver fitness violations in the past two years during inspections, 20 of which were out-of-service violations." Uber Freight discloses the criteria for its “Carrier of the Year” award on its website; safety was not among them. Uber did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the Journal of Commerce. In 2024, Echo Global Logistics awarded a “Carrier of the Quarter” award to Fortune Transport, despite Fortune triggering federal intervention thresholds for hours-of-service compliance and crash indicators. In a third category — vehicle maintenance — the carrier was only 0.9 percentage point below a formal FMCSA intervention, according to a carrier profile obtained by the Journal of Commerce through a third-party platform. An FMCSA intervention includes warning letters, increased roadside inspections, and possible on-site investigations. Fortune Transport owns 13 trucks. “Echo’s ‘Carrier of the Quarter’ awards are based on operational performance within our network, including factors such as on-time delivery, low cancellations, consistent tracking, and overall service,” the company said in a statement to the Journal of Commerce when asked about the award to Fortune. “Echo maintains a comprehensive carrier onboarding process and operates in compliance with Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration requirements and all applicable laws and regulations.” The broader issue for shippers remains: Operational excellence and highway safety are not always the same thing. While a “Carrier of the Year” award may recognize service performance, unless the criteria clearly state otherwise, it should not be interpreted as a guarantee that every load is being hauled by safe, low-risk and legally qualified drivers. Contact Ari Ashe at <a href="mailto:ari.ashe@spglobal.com">ari.ashe@spglobal.com</a>.       Senior Editor William B. Cassidy and Special Correspondent Dan Ronan contributed to this report. </div>

Shippers often assume the honors bestowed by freight brokers on the truck carriers they use mean the carriers are doing things the right way, including — and perhaps most importantly — operating safely on US highways. But a Journal of Commerce review found several instances where that assumption is not necessarily accurate. Indeed, the awards themselves — which are essentially self-congratulatory promotional marketing for the brokers and carriers involved — appear to reflect service performance, rather than a strong safety culture or the skill of the drivers behind the wheel. In a recent example that received a lot of publicity for all the wrong reasons, broker C.H. Robinson Worldwide gave a “Carrier of the Year” award to SuperEgo Holding last September, an honor the broker said recognizes those that “exemplify the best in the industry.” But SuperEgo later became the subject of a CBS 60 Minutes investigation that found the carrier and related entities were tied to 15,000 safety violations and 500 accidents over two years. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is also investigating SuperEgo over allegations it operated as a “chameleon” carrier, meaning a trucking company that shuts down and rebrands itself under a new name to evade federal safety enforcement, fines, insurance scrutiny or poor safety records while operating with the same management. But SuperEgo was not the only “award-winning” carrier with a high-risk profile. A review by the Journal of Commerce found that C.H. Robinson, Echo Global Logistics and Uber Freight have honored other carriers with serious safety or driver qualification issues on their records. While none of the carriers recognized were officially deemed “unsafe” by federal regulators, their records highlight a gray area: what shippers believe a “Carrier of the Year” award actually represents. Other large US brokers appear not to publicly announce their carrier honors, if they even have them at all. Gray area on carrier vetting Shippers rely on brokers to thoroughly vet the carriers handling their freight, but what that vetting entails can be nebulous. For the brokers that announce awards, they are typically made to recognize operational performance metrics such as accepting tenders, on-time delivery, providing tracking visibility, and offering competitive pricing. For shippers, however, the award designation may imply that the carrier is operating legally, safely, and with qualified drivers behind the wheel. Adam Miller, CEO of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings, said shippers often assume safety is a consideration when carriers are selected to haul loads. “The shippers I talk to, they just make the assumption you’re doing everything you can around safety,” he told the Journal of Commerce. “When a driver exhibits bad behavior or unsafe behavior, you are at a higher risk for having an accident, even a serious accident.” Miller said most “Carrier of the Year”-type awards are not tied to safety, but rather how much capacity a carrier provides and at what rates, even though shippers may view the awards as broader endorsements of safe, low-risk carriers. Knight-Swift culled 30% of third-party carriers out of its logistics division in the first quarter, citing increased vetting to ensure higher safety standards and in a bid to reduce the likelihood of cargo theft. But the brokerage industry as a whole, whether it’s handing out awards or not, passes no judgment on whether a carrier is fit to operate. For that, it relies on FMSCA, according to Chris Burroughs, president of the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA). The TIA represents 1,800 third-party logistics companies in North America. “If the FMCSA can’t decipher [who is safe to operate], how is the general public supposed to decipher it?” Burroughs told the Journal of Commerce. Does safety scoring predict accident risk? Through its Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program, the FMCSA measures trucking companies on six criteria: unsafe driving, crash indicators, hours-of-service compliance, vehicle maintenance, controlled substances or alcohol, and driver fitness. The criteria are published in the online Safety Measurement System (SMS). Crash indicators measure patterns of high crash involvement, such as frequency and severity, according to FMCSA. The SMS data is used by FMCSA to prioritize carrier “interventions,” but Burroughs argues the scores are not reliable enough for brokers to make decisions on carriers. “Brokers may review publicly available data as part of their overall due diligence, but that data is incomplete, can be misleading, and cannot be used to make definitive safety determinations,” he said. The CSA scoring data does not constitute a safety rating, Burroughs pointed out. The FMCSA only assigns a safety rating of “satisfactory,” “conditional,” or “unsatisfactory” after an on-site review of a company’s safety procedures and regulatory compliance. Still, more than 90% of existing trucking companies in the US have not been rated by the FMCSA, according to the agency, and some companies have safety ratings that were assigned years or even decades ago. The FMCSA does not have the staff or resources to visit, inspect, and provide a safety rating for all motor carriers in the US. A 2017 review by the National Academy of Sciences found that the CSA safety scoring system is “structured in a reasonable way” and “defensible” for identifying higher-risk carriers. But the authors also questioned how precisely those scores reflect crash risk. The federal government has focused intensely on highway safety through its SAFE ROADS initiative, including the high-profile crackdowns on non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) and English Language Proficiency (ELP) requirements. ‘Winners’ with higher-risk profiles Despite the studies on CSA scores, some indicators have a clear nexus with highway safety. A carrier with repeated severe violations, such as operating a vehicle with defective brakes or excessive speeding, presents a higher risk of getting into an accident. The Journal of Commerce found several carriers that were given awards by brokers despite having enough serious violations to trigger FMCSA intervention or be officially deemed “high risk.” MEB Express, which won a C.H. Robinson “Carrier of the Year” award alongside SuperEgo, had eight violations for traveling at least 10 miles per hour over the speed limit in the last two years, two violations for inattentive or distracted driving, and two violations for not having a proper CDL or medical certificate, according to the FMCSA. Another C.H. Robinson “Carrier of the Year” winner for 2025, Garesp Transportation, received six violations for either making “a false report in connection with a duty status” or “failing to have a record of duty status,” the FMCSA said. Both revolve around data from electronic-logging devices (ELDs), which are required for interstate commerce to “directly combat the primary cause of fatigue-related accidents,” according to the agency. Both are small carriers: MEB owns 80 trucks; Garesp owns 30. C.H. Robinson gives several “Carrier of the Year” awards, depending on the fleet size of the trucking company. Since last September when the awards were announced, both MEB and Garesp have continued to rack up violations. Five MEB Express drivers were taken out of service for failing an ELP exam, according to the FMCSA, while three Garesp drivers were taken off the road for not possessing a valid CDL or violating restrictions placed on their CDLs. Contacted by the Journal of Commerce about its award distribution and the companies that received FMCSA violations, C.H. Robinson noted that there were 24 different winners last September, including owner-operators, small carriers, large carriers, and holding companies with affiliated carriers such as SuperEgo. The broker also said all winners meet the standards set by the FMCSA to legally operate. “The awards are chosen by an internal committee and are based on exceptional service to our customers, such as reliable tracking updates, on-time performance and delivering on customers’ unique requirements,” C.H. Robinson wrote in a statement. But it also acknowledged it is considering changes in determining how carriers are chosen for recognition, saying, “As a part of our commitment to continuous improvement, we are reviewing our criteria for future carrier awards.” C.H. Robinson not alone Other brokers have also given promotional awards to carriers with high-risk profiles. Uber Freight named CloudTrucks a “Carrier of the Year” last month, even though federal regulators in February flagged the carrier’s driver fitness record, noting multiple out-of-service violations tied to driver qualifications. The FMCSA officially identified the carrier as “high-risk” in March 2025. “CloudTrucks’ on-road safety data, including driver fitness violations, indicate ongoing safety management concerns,” the FMCSA wrote in February. “CloudTrucks was cited for 27 driver fitness violations in the past two years during inspections, 20 of which were out-of-service violations." Uber Freight discloses the criteria for its “Carrier of the Year” award on its website; safety was not among them. Uber did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the Journal of Commerce. In 2024, Echo Global Logistics awarded a “Carrier of the Quarter” award to Fortune Transport, despite Fortune triggering federal intervention thresholds for hours-of-service compliance and crash indicators. In a third category — vehicle maintenance — the carrier was only 0.9 percentage point below a formal FMCSA intervention, according to a carrier profile obtained by the Journal of Commerce through a third-party platform. An FMCSA intervention includes warning letters, increased roadside inspections, and possible on-site investigations. Fortune Transport owns 13 trucks. “Echo’s ‘Carrier of the Quarter’ awards are based on operational performance within our network, including factors such as on-time delivery, low cancellations, consistent tracking, and overall service,” the company said in a statement to the Journal of Commerce when asked about the award to Fortune. “Echo maintains a comprehensive carrier onboarding process and operates in compliance with Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration requirements and all applicable laws and regulations.” The broader issue for shippers remains: Operational excellence and highway safety are not always the same thing. While a “Carrier of the Year” award may recognize service performance, unless the criteria clearly state otherwise, it should not be interpreted as a guarantee that every load is being hauled by safe, low-risk and legally qualified drivers. Contact Ari Ashe at ari.ashe@spglobal.com .       Senior Editor William B. Cassidy and Special Correspondent Dan Ronan contributed to this report.

Safety assumptions appear misguided in ‘carrier of the year’ honors

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