LTL

The latest year-over-year comparisons are clearing up LTL market distortions caused by Yellow’s failure and revealing weak demand, but tight capacity is pushing up rates.

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

The possible sale of DHL Freight’s US regional LTL arm to Jack Cooper would be the latest in a series of acquisitions aimed at building larger LTL networks.

Reduced overall capacity, higher pricing and more dense and efficient networks are defining characteristics of the post-Yellow LTL market.

Disruption to inland supply lanes and the location of truck capacity would be possible if rail and port strike threats prove real, analysts told a Journal of Commerce webcast.

Producer price indexes and the Cass Freight Index show slight increases in truck pricing and volumes in July, but not a rapid turnaround.

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

Large truckload providers have been jettisoning trucks at an historic pace in an imbalanced market, but they are making more efficient use of their remaining trucks.

Large LTL trucking companies including XPO, Saia, ODFL and Knight-Swift are increasing volumes by diversifying and going deeper into shipper supply chains as they add customers.

Uber Freight is managing a growing internal LTL network within Canada and cross-border trade, and others are looking for ways to create “alternative” LTL services.

The takeover of Los Angeles-based Dependable Highway Express (DHE) allows Knight-Swift to reach 70% of the US population with its LTL services.

The sale of European Surface Transportation to German-based brokerage sennder is part of a drive to strengthen operations that C.H. Robinson considers core to its business.

Saia, Knight-Swift and other LTL carriers are moving ahead with plans to open terminals once owned by bankrupt Yellow, despite higher costs.

More business from logistics partners and retailers helped increase daily shipment count for the second-largest US LTL provider, but year-over-year comps are about to get tougher.

The third-largest US less-than-truckload provider is expanding its service centers along the US-Mexico border, anticipating an increase in northbound industrial freight. 

Pitt Ohio is the latest LTL carrier to announce additional next-day lanes as the redistribution of former Yellow terminals creates opportunities to speed freight.

Speakers at the SMC3 Connections Conference this week warned that US truckload pricing will rise slowly heading toward 2025, although others expect a faster move.

As FedEx Freight increases revenue and profitability, the transportation and logistics company is considering potential steps to “unlock sustainable shareholder value.”

Despite a 7.1% unadjusted month-to-month increase in mostly contractual truck tonnage, more data is needed before the American Trucking Associations will call it a “recovery.”

The preliminary agreement avoids a strike that could have created traffic jams along the US-Canada border, disrupting trade and manufacturing. 

Shippers need to consider contingency plans for truck shipments crossing the US-Canadian border in case Canada’s Customs and Immigration Union calls a strike this week.

Last month’s actual trucking employment gain was lower than expected as the US economy added more jobs in service industries such as hospitality and healthcare. 

Saia’s 18.6% year-over-year gain in LTL shipments in May underscores the ongoing impact of Yellow’s bankruptcy, while larger ODFL reports smaller “Yellow-free” gains in volume.

Yellow still has 130 terminals that could be sold, but they’re not quite ready for the auction block, bankruptcy court testimony revealed this week.

Earnings records show several big LTL carriers are expanding their tractor and trailer fleets in the post-Yellow market to keep pace with terminal expansion.

Like many of its LTL competitors, XPO is using former Yellow terminals to build density in major freight markets such as Baltimore-Washington, D.C.

Average US truckload pricing has hardly risen since last June, while less-than-truckload costs continue to climb due to tighter capacity.

The expedited surface transportation provider said it has kept customers and is adding business but needs to “aggressively” address profitability after a first-quarter loss.

Candor Expedite’s new service is designed to let perishables shippers use lower-cost freight modes and reduce product spoilage.

The third-largest US LTL provider is joining competitors renovating and opening terminals acquired from Yellow and expects to complete that work by early 2025.

Although electric trucks are improving, the electricity and charging networks needed to power them are not ready, Pitt Ohio’s Taki Darakos told a US House committee.

The LTL carrier said it will open 15 to 20 terminals this year in a cadence that will help improve efficiency in its network.

The transportation holding company has set a multi-year “medium-term” LTL revenue target of $2 billion, nearly double its 2023 LTL revenue.

The second-largest US LTL provider is protecting its “excess capacity,” and investing in terminals, equipment and people while waiting for improved freight demand.

With Class 8 truck orders dropping, ACT Research believes rising US freight demand will hit tightening truck capacity sooner rather than later.

XPO, Estes and Saia are starting to reopen terminals they acquired from bankrupt Yellow, adding to LTL trucking capacity as they pursue new business.

There are signs of growth in the latest Cass Freight Index, but US transportation markets lack a catalyst that would accelerate volumes.

A rebuilt facility with 75 dock doors and parking for 300 trailers will anchor Roadrunner’s network in the Southeast as the less-than-truckload carrier expands.

Improving economic indicators are drawing small carriers back to trucking, while the LTL market continues settling post-Yellow, analysts told a Journal of Commerce webcast.

A rebound in the US Freight Transportation Services Index is the latest of several indicators pointing to stronger seasonal freight activity, but excess capacity is diluting the impact of demand.