LTL

The expansion of the three companies, all representing different modes across the US-Canadian border, underscores the depth of the relationship between the two economies.

An auction of Yellow’s 174 owned terminals is scheduled for Tuesday, with winning bids to be disclosed on Friday while a separate battle continues over 149 leased terminals.

With its systems restored, the LTL carrier plans to “lean into” technology development and investment for greater security and visibility.

Large LTL trucking providers are raising tariff rates 5% to 8% on average, but the LTL PPI slowed its growth to under 1% in October.

The expedited less-than-truckload provider has asked a Delaware court to let it kill the controversial deal that has caused its share price to plummet and raised the ire of activist investors.

Jack Cooper Transport wants to outbid other truckers for the assets of the bankrupt less-than-truckload provider, but it’s not clear how the bid would work.

Freight forwarder Omni isn’t giving up on a merger with Forward and is moving to force completion of the deal despite Forward’s cold feet. 

With hundreds of terminals on the market, LTL trucking companies are setting their sights on Yellow’s sites and other properties as they expand and optimize networks to handle more freight.

The apparent change of heart from Forward management comes as Forward activist investors opposed to the $150 million deal try to oust the company’s chief executive.

Less-than-truckload freight once hauled by Yellow is being “reallocated” among carriers, and rates are rising, but an underlying economic impetus for a surge in LTL demand is still missing.

Ancora Alternatives is seeking a special shareholder meeting to replace members of Forward’s board of directors, including CEO Tom Schmitt, with the ultimate goal of killing the acquisition of Omni, which Ancora blames for a steep drop in Forward’s stock value. 

Motor carriers may be concerned that in what is still a tight job market, any employees who are let go temporarily would not be available when demand rises again.

The fourth-largest US less-than-truckload carrier said it had restored many of its core systems by Sunday, while continuing to pick up and deliver freight despite a week of disruption.

Brokered LTL freight may be the first freight diverted away from Estes, and it may be harder for those transactional shipments to find alternate carriers.

A systems outage that has left less-than-truckload carrier Estes grappling with email, website and data exchange issues is the latest such incident to befall the logistics and transportation industry.

Cross-border trade with Mexico is one of the few hot spots in trucking, but fuel prices and other costs are putting more pressure on rates.

Rising labor costs — both behind the wheel and at the warehouse, elevated diesel prices and cross-dock scarcity in major cities are making it more costly to run transportation networks, attendees at the Journal of Commerce’s Inland Distribution Conference were told.

Less-than-truckload freight once hauled by Yellow is being redistributed among other carriers in waves as shippers shop for the best fit in price, capacity, technology and service.

A US bankruptcy court approved a $1.525 billion bid by Estes Express Lines to be the “stalking horse” that sets the floor price for Yellow’s terminals at auction, controlling their sale in November.

Estes Forwarding Worldwide, a subsidiary of the LTL trucking provider, is buying Superior Brokerage Services, a step that increases Estes’ ability to offer end-to-end logistics services as other providers look to do the same.

While the country’s second-largest LTL provider gained shipments in August after the demise of Yellow, it sees no signs that overall freight demand is improving.

Saia and XPO are the latest LTL carriers to report volume gains in August, a month when trucking employment dropped more than 2% following Yellow’s shutdown.

Regional LTL carrier A. Duie Pyle and point-to-point trucking firm Hercules Freight are finding opportunities to expand as shippers adjust to the loss of Yellow’s capacity.

ArcBest less-than-truckload (LTL) subsidiary ABF Freight is taking on additional volume and raising rates as a broad realignment of the US LTL sector gains speed.

Control of Yellow’s real estate may determine who gets to expand in the less-than-truckload (LTL) sector, and who must scramble to find property.

Some logistics managers report longer transit times and delivery delays, as well as higher costs, as remaining LTL providers divide the freight once hauled by Yellow. 

A ‘stalking horse bid’ from Estes, a rival trucking company, would set a floor for any competing bids for the more than 160 properties owned by Yellow.

More than 60 buyers are said to be scrutinizing the terminals and assets of defunct LTL carrier Yellow as freight volumes rise at its former US trucking competitors.

Omni’s international and US forwarding customers are expected to send more freight to Forward Air’s expedited less-than-truckload network in the US. 

The current freight downturn could continue until mid-2024, thanks to lower manufacturing output, high levels of employment and excess capacity, experts told the Journal of Commerce Thursday.

The merger of third-party logistics provider Omni and expedited less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier Forward Air will create a more multimodal LTL network focused on high-value freight.

Yellow lost money in its last six months as shippers moved freight elsewhere and non-operating expenses, including debt payments and interest, consumed shrinking operating profits.

The US economy is improving, but the gains in recent months haven’t translated into additional freight, nor an additional surge in trucking employment.

The third-largest US less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier said Sunday it plans to use debtor-in-possession financing to support the sale of assets, while CEO Darren Hawkins blamed the Teamsters union for its collapse.

Shipment volume at the third-largest LTL carrier in the US jumped nearly 9% in July from a year ago and 3.2% from June as shippers moved freight away from rival carrier Yellow.

The number of large US less-than-truckload carriers is shrinking, but the remaining operators are more profitable, have higher revenues and play a bigger role in customer’s supply chains.

Hedging and short selling made Yellow a “meme stock” early this week, but experts say rumors of a comeback are as wildly misplaced as investors’ cash.

The loss of the third-largest US less-than-truckload carrier is hitting a broad tranche of smaller, less-sophisticated shippers hard as they struggle with volatile rate hikes, logistics providers say.

A challenging operating environment pulled down revenue and earnings at DHL, but the Germany-based integrator remains in a highly profitable position ahead of an uncertain second half.

US shippers gained some security in the LTL market as Teamsters at TForce approved a new contract with the LTL carrier.